001Hello. Thank you. This evening's meeting is uh reconvened at 6:06 p.m. This this is the March 26th, 2026 Laguni Beach Unified School District uh school board meeting. So, a couple of housekeeping items. Um, first of all, I would like to apologize to everyone at the from the last meeting as I mistakenly made a statement at the March 13th meeting. When the room became disruptive, I mistakenly indicated that I would move to close session to continue the meeting. That was incorrect. And in an effort to bring order to the meeting, I did not state it correctly. What I meant to say during the outburst and disruptions is that we could move to clear the room if necessary. This is in alignment with board policy 9323. As a reminder, this is not a pep rally. It's not
002a sporting event, nor is an mun and a debate where points must be earned. This is a business meeting of an elected body that is guided by policies, the Brown Act and ED code. Per bylaw 9323, in order to conduct district business in an orderly and efficient manner, it outlines disruptive behavior identified as engaging in behavior during board meetings that actually disrupts, disturbs, impedes, or renders infeasible the orderly conduct of the meeting and includes but is not limited to a failure to comply with reasonable and lawful regulations adopted by a legislative body pursuant to section 54954.3. Additionally, the board may order the room cleared if necessary and allow members or individuals not participating in such such disturbances may be allowed to rem remain. When the room is ordered cleared due to a disturbance, further board
003proceedings shall concern only further board proceedings shall concern only matters appearing on the agenda. When such a disruptive conduct occurs, the superintendent or designate shall contact lo local law enforcement as necessary. With that, I'd like to reiterate the boardroom expectations. expectations I would imagine any classroom teacher, professional, former and frequently present school board members or even legal counsel and judges would expect in their meetings, classrooms, or during court and legislative proceedings. Please refrain from bringing food into the boardroom. We ask that all attendees listen attentively. Minimize conversations or take them outside. Keep comments constructive and focused on the issues at hand, even when opinions differ. Courtesy and professionalism must guide our interactions. Students are watching. Disruptions, personal attacks, or inappropriate language only takes away from the purpose of the meetings. By showing respect for one
004another and for the process, we create an environment where every voice can be heard and meaningful progress can be made. Thank you. So, we adjourn from close session. We have no report to be made and so we're going to move right into our agenda. Um, okay. So, we need to have the pledge of allegiance. Ivy, can you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh we're going to move to public comment for items not on the agenda. This is a 20 minute section. This is actually a suggestion that was made by a staff member at one of our
005listening sessions. Uh we ran it through legal and looked at surrounding districts and there are districts that are starting to do that in an effort to uh keep the meeting moving forward. So we will have a 20 now and any further um non-aggenda comments will be at the end of the meeting. So clerk Perry, can you call the first speaker? >> Okay, President Morgan, we have six cards. So that would be 18 minutes. So we might get them all in. >> Perfect. and go ahead and students can still go first on non-aggenda items and then we'll put students first at every subsequent item after that on the agenda. >> Okay. Um first Michelle Manda is this on okay. Hi. I uh watched the March 12th, 2026 schoolboard meeting and was dismayed by the comments of
006the two student representatives and the accusations directed at the board chair. I too have witnessed the students texting during meetings. They talk to each other during meetings. The young man especially is disruptive with his constant popping up to get drinks or snacks. Most egregiously, he disappears for extended periods of time, well over a half hour in some meetings. In fact, in this meeting, he also disappeared for quite a long time after he spoke. I would think that if he's not in the room for the discussion, qualified for voting on it. In one meeting, I heard the young lady vote for him because he was this proper. Furthermore, the most disturbing thing I heard in this meeting was that Superintendent Glass told a young man that it was Sher Morgan's opinion and came from her. How
007stunning that a superintendent would release a confidential discussion with a board president and even more so that he would repeat it incorrectly. No wonder there was the students were upset at her. I think the problem starts at the top with the unprofessional behavior of the superintendent. Secondly, the students are definitely distracting and appear to not take their responsibility seriously. They need to be guided to behave professionally if they want to sit on the dis. Perhaps they need an advisor to teach them protocol and respect for the schoolboard members as elected officials because if they continue with this kind of behavior, this is not going to serve them well in life. That's not how people behave. Thank you. And I hope you can fix this problem for all concerned. >> Thank you. Next, Gary Kasich. Clerk
008Perry, while he's coming up, can we identify how the order was was established? >> They came to me numbered and I think they were numbered by >> as people >> by when the people got here. Is that is that right? >> Thank you. >> Uh good evening. It's been a minute since I've been here in person. I'm afraid the last couple meetings were usurped by the birth of my fourth grandchild and the celebration of my mother's 100th birthday. So, it's good to be back. Uh, let me start off again as I always do to thank you all for the time and attention you provide the district in the community. I think we forget to say thank you enough. I have and will likely disagree with each of you or all of you on any particular
009topic, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the service and the time you commit to the community. It's far easier to criticize than it is to lead. So, I hope that the five of you can pull together for the common good of the district and the city. Again, thank you. I know it's not been easy. While various factions will pull you in different directions, it's important to work together to keep your focus. This doesn't mean that you can't have different opinions. It doesn't mean that every vote needs to be five. Diversity of background with differences of opinion should be welcomed in the pursuit of good governance, not vilified. Disagreements need not be divisive. I'm troubled more by any of you withdrawing your effort than I am from topical disputes. I'm going to repeat my objection
010or maybe it's more of a disappointment of board member Melchesky declining to participate on governance subcommittee. One that she is extremely qualified for. I've heard her reasoning. I've heard her follow-up explanation. And I've reviewed them both many times. It's clear and I know she believes it's a waste of her time. But it's hard for me to accept a trustee not trying because of a predetermined and perceived outcome. And please let me be clear. I would be making this comment on any one of you that would refuse to participate. You've all been elected or duly appointed to serve the community. I think it's fair for us to expect you to do so or step aside and let someone else do it. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Shaheen Shik Sidal. Good evening. My name
011is Shaheen Shake S. Um, thanks for giving me the time to speak. I want to continue a conversation that is emerging in this community. How we think about school funding at a time when enrollment is changing and there are broader economic concerns that feel more present. Moments like this ask something of us as a community. They ask us to be clear about how our public systems are designed to work and even more importantly what they are designed to protect. In California, public education is funded through a state directed system. We know this. Property taxes are collected and distributed according to law with school funding dedicated to a specific purpose, educating the students of a community. It means that school funding is not available to be redirected to other local priorities, including city needs, which is
012a kind of a narrative that's been going around. Those allocations to schools are set by law, state law, and they cannot be shifted at the local level. In fact, when funding adjustments happen within California's systems, they have historically moved in the opposite direction from local governments towards schools. reinforcing the state's commitment to education as a public good. At the state level, there have been efforts to address funding differences between districts. Mr. Roy Chowry brought this up at at a prior meeting. The recent SPS43 proposal is one example. It focuses on creating a new state-f funded equalization account to support districts with fewer local resources and relying on variable state revenues and requiring additional voter approval before it could fully take effect. It's a complicated system. I'm happy to talk to anybody about it later. It
013remains under debate and has not become law. What that tells us is something important. Even at the state level, where authority over funding exists, changes to school finance are complex, deliberate, and closely scrutinized. Locally, our responsibility is more immediate, and more direct. We are stewards of a public investment that families, residents, and taxpayers make together, an investment in the education of our children and the long-term strength of this community. And the investment carries a clear expectation that it will be used to stain sustain a strong, stable, and forward-looking education system. As I mentioned before, strong schools and a strong city are not competing priorities. They are actually deeply connected. Our schools are part of what draws families here. They contribute to the stability of our neighborhood. They shape the next generations of our citizens, engaged,
014capable citizens. And that is what we should be protecting. Public education is not a flexible expense. It is a foundational one. And the role of this board is to carry that responsibility with clarity to make decisions that reflect the purpose of the system and the trust placed in it by this community to keep the focus on students and their excellence. And when we do that, we honor the full meaning of public of this public investment, not just as a financial contribution, but a a shared civic commitment to our students and to the future of this town. Thank you. Thank you, Leslie Elliott. Hi, Lesie Elliot. First, I want to say that you guys were so incredibly impressive last week. Um, you could tell by the the energy in the room, uh, that everybody was feeling
015the way that you were. and you said it eloquently and you have extremely bright futures in front of you, guaranteed. You're going to run into a lot of people in life who uh will will try to tell you that you're doing it all wrong or look for any little mistake. Never mind them. They're just grievance people and you just have to learn to get over them. Um second, I heard that earlier. Uh there was a discussion about um hearing sound in the room and I just wanted to point out through personal experience that when I first started having a hearing problem, my family told me and I didn't believe them. And it wasn't until I was taking my granddaughter to school and she was in the back seat and she was talking to me and
016I realized that I couldn't hear her. And that was the thing that made me go to the aiologist and get my hearing aids. So when you are the only one in the room that can't hear and everyone else can, I suggest getting these great little pair of hearing aids and it can change your life. Thank you. >> Thank you, Michelle Hibberg. Um, thank you for allowing the community to participate in these meetings. I do also want to say thank you, Ivy and Logan. You are some of the finest examples of young people who I've ever met. I'm impressed by your grace, by your eloquence, and mostly Oh, I didn't say where I was from. Anyway, my name is Michelle. I'm from Just Gather Wellness and I'm a gratitude teacher. I could feel your gratitude for
017being in a position where you get to represent your fellow students and you're doing a beautiful job and I just want to say thank you so much for that. I also want to apologize that last meeting I came to discuss screen protocols. My CEO will be here to do that today. I can't wait for you to meet her. But I I did fel feel taken over by the animosity I felt in the room. And I'm just so grateful that today it already feels better. And I hope we can have a beautiful meeting because this is philanthropy. This is love for humanity. We're coming together to work together to find solutions with a great leader at our helm and I hope we can have a great meeting. So thank you. >> Thank you. What's our time?
018Uh, Eric, I'm gonna mispronounce this. Bernima. >> Aaron Bryman. >> Oh, Erin. Erin Bryman. Sorry. >> Horrible. >> Right. >> Uh, I wasn't going to speak, but I feel compelled to speak tonight. Um Ivy and Logan, pay no heed to par to um adults in the room that are not being respectful. It's unbelievable to me that Sherry specifically, but you ask of us to be respectful in the room, but the adults in the room are not being respectful. So, and um also as well, Dr. Glass, you are nothing but professional. And um so like I said, I'm not prepared. So this is not going to be articulate, but I want I I know how hard Ivy and Logan work. They're playing sports. They're on model UN. They're countless hours here. They're taking honors AP classes.
019These are the these kids are the bright future. Thank goodness for them and all their cohorts. They are the ones that are going to come back to this community and save us all and um deliver us meals on wheels when we are infirm and unable to do so. These are the kids that we need to invest in and appreciate and be respectful towards and thank every day and thank Dr. Glass every day for putting up with nonsense. So do not take anything that was said earlier. you. This is a very small tiny cross-section of the community. There are thousands upon thousands who are um doing this for you all the time, silently at home while watching or here. And you are the best part of the meeting. And Dr. Glass could give a master class
020on stoicism and professionalism, but you too and all the kids and the staff that come are the best part of the meeting and the only reason I come. So, yay to you. You guys rock. Thank you. >> Do we still have time? Um, Heather Hansen. >> Hi, Heather Hansen. I teach at the high school. I can't really top that. And I I wasn't planning on speaking either, but I also feel compelled to tell you once again uh publicly how impressed I am with you. You are both doing an extraordinary job. Um I know how hard you work. I know how much time and effort and research you put into this. I see it every board meeting and I also see it in the classroom and your preparation. I know your integrity. I know your um
021dedication to this work and to this school. Um and I I just love watching the two of you up here. Every time I'm back there and you speak and like if someone's around, I'm just like, "By the way, they're sophomores. I don't know if you know that. I just want to make sure everyone knows that you're sophomores and you're already so impressive." Um, and I'm so grateful for you and I am so um, impressed by everything that you've done and I'm so lucky that you're both in my classroom and I hope I'll have you in my class again cuz I already don't want to think about the end of the year and not seeing you anymore. So, thank you again and yeah, don't listen to any of the negativity because you guys are doing great.
022>> Thank you. That's all. >> Great. Thank you. Okay, thank you to everyone who spoke. Uh, let's move on to item number six, reports. First up is our bargaining units, CSA and Laboufa. >> Hi, good evening. Um, Laboufa would just like to say we u concluded with our uh second day of negotiations and um we are grateful and uh feeling positive about collaborating um in a in a good way with the district and um that's it for our report tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you um members of the board, President Morgan, thank you for having us. Um, I'm here today on behalf of classified staff in chapter 131 to share our perspective on the current climate within our schools and to advocate for the culture of trust that we have long valued. For many years,
023our district has thrived under forwardthinking leadership. Even when we didn't fully see the visions oursel, we have trusted the big picture. A perfect example of the environment we strive for was our recent ReadAcross America celebration at TW. It was a wonderful week filled with dressup days, book fair, and an author visit. But most notably, the mystery reader kickoff where Dr. Glass visited and shared a book that he loved to read with his own kids um was a highlight for everyone. Seeing him on campus and sharing a favorite book was invaluable for fostering connections. So, thank you, Dr. Glass. That moment reminded students and staff alike that our leaders are invested in our human element of in of education. Having a leadership presence on campus fosters a very calm the very calm that we aim to
024provide for our students. We are eager to continue the negotiations process. We have completed two interestbased bargaining meetings and look forward to seeing where the next meetings lead us. Thank you. Thank you. Um, do we have a report from the SRO? Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Uh, you may notice I'm wearing a little bit more formal attire this evening. I promise I will give you an explanation why, but it's very important that you notice that because it comes full circle with our students later on. Your SRO team has been very very busy over the last few weeks. Uh I'm have no doubt all of you have heard about our recent shelter in place incident that took uh route this past week. Uh there was police activity occurring only two streets away from our high school.
025It didn't pose an immediate threat. Nevertheless, as we say in our business, we play for keeps. So making sure that we in an abundance of caution simultaneously as that's going off on our radio year, I'm putting that over our school radio to communicate with our school and staff to go ahead and act a shelter in place protocol. First and foremost, I need to give a massive round of applause to our school members, our staff, admin, everyone without a hitch kicked into shelter in place mode. Within seconds, our our campus was essentially fortified and made almost an impenetrable barrier to the outside world. while officers looked for a suspect who we found by the way and arrested for multiple charges. So again, I want to give a round of applause to our students and our staff
026and our admin for drilling these shelter in place, for drilling these lockdown drills on a consistent basis. Massive round of applause to you guys. Thank you so much for doing that. That can't go to show how invaluable this partnership of the SRO team and our district is. In normal world protocol without an SRO, it would be I don't know how long it would take for that information to transfer from the police department to our school sites. So in real time as things develop, I'm able to update our staff. My partner is able to patrol the exteriors of the schools while I stayed on foot, maintain a visible presence at the very front of our school as well. So again, that just the proof is in the pudding. This partnership is so important and every SR
027who's ever been, who currently serves or ever will serve is honored to be part of that. But the day is not done. As soon as we cleared that, we were off to the races onto other commitments we have for the rest of the day. Officer Spencer was able to make it to the jogathon over at Elmoro while I stayed in place getting ready for our trophy invitational at the high school where we had several of our own athletes kick some serious butt in several events over two days. So, props to our athletes. We also attended the wildfire tabletop today and also did the job fair at the high school. Again, dividing and conquering with the SRO team where we actually were able to recruit additional 18 students for our our new explore program, which is
028phenomenal. Speaking of our explore program, I promised you I'd give you an explanation on why I'm dressed tonight. We had our first explorer meeting last week with six students and their parents. Not quite the 20 that we initially were hoping for, but six is a great number to start with. And I told every single one of them, the choices you make today will not only impact you today, tomorrow, but it'll impact the rest of your life. So, if you look like a million bucks and you sound like a million bucks, guess what? You're going to perform like you're a million bucks. And we place that into their minds knowing that presentation, the way you carry yourself, the way you speak, the way the way the way you interact with others will truly set yourself up
029for success from today till the end of your days. And that is why I'm dressed as such tonight because I wore the same uniform discussing that with our new explorers. So in short, the SRO team is honored to have this amazing partnership. We're excited to continue our partnership. We're also excited for our TLA Teen Leadership Academy. shameless plug. Coming up in this summer, the dates haven't quite been nailed down yet. We're still working with several vendors and sites to do our trips with, but once they're decided, you will be the first to know. If you have any questions, I'm more than happy to answer them. >> Does anyone have any questions? No. Seeing none, thank you so much. And you look very dapper. Thank you. >> Tell my wife that. Okay, where are we at?
030Okay, now we have um the principal report from Elmoro, Dr. Julie Hatchel. Thank you so much for being here on now. There we go. Good evening. I am pleased to represent our entire Elmoro team to share our midyear report about our site goals for the 202526 school year. This year, our school site council comprised of staff and community members analyzed our site data to deter determine three focus areas for the school that are directly aligned with the district's three overarching goals of our local accountability local control accountability plan or LCAP. While we work on many other things throughout the school year, setting these particular goals help us to focus on the relative areas of improvement without within our school. Connected to the district's goal one in college and career readiness, our goals continue to revolve
031around providing solid differentiated instruction for both language arts and math within our multi-tiered system of support for our students, often referred to as MTSS. Additionally, we continue to explore opportunities for the integration of career exploration at developmentally appropriate levels within the elementary school setting. Within MTSS, we often refer to three levels of support in addition to enrichment for our students. Each day we have a designated block of time called when or whatever I need time that allows our talented staff to differentiate skills-based instruction based upon data analysis for each one of our students. Win time allows us to focus on every student to provide targeted instruction without missing core learning. For our tier one students, we reinforce learning and also provide enrichment opportunities during this time. At the tier 2 level, students generally need to
032fill smaller learning gaps, targeting them to move up to the tier 1 or ongrade level instruction. This is generally where the majority of our students start the school year. At the tier three level, we provide small group instruct in instruction to bridge gaps for students who are generally performing more than one year below grade level. Our MTSS team comprised of our psychologist, counselors, administration, instructional coach, EL teacher, and reading and math MTSS teachers meets weekly to look at student learning goals and progress monitoring data to ensure that the interventions they are receiving are working. Every six weeks, we readjust our groupings and determine where we may need to shift our resources. For example, at our most recent data cycle, we were able to shift some of our support in upper grades so that our MTSS
033instructional aids could provide more support and enrichment with project project-based learning. At our lower grades, we had more tier 2 students in need of both reading and math, and we actually increased the length of wind time and provided an after-school math support program. This slide highlights our beginning of the year to mid-year growth in language arts. As you can see, our teams are making a significant amount of progress in moving students from the tier one into the tier one level while also closing those gaps within tier 2 and tier three. We are also very proud to note that while students started off the year similar to where they were last year, our midyear gains this year have been more significant, moving from 63% last year to 70% mid-year tier 1 proficiency. In math, we are
034also seeing significant growth moving from the 31st to 57th percentile at mid-year proficiency. It is also important to note that this year we piloted two potential math adoptions, ultimately selecting the Amplify curriculum to be fully implemented this fall. When analyzing this year's data, our midyear gains were very significant for the teams who piloted the adoption with kindergarten moving from the 41st to 64th percentile, third grade moving from 11 to 42nd percentile and fourth moving from 42nd to 73rd percentile. related to college and career readiness. Silmor Moro's counseling team led a comprehensive college and career week to build early awareness and durable skill development. Classroom lessons for fourth and fifth graders focused on essential durable skills and introduced students to the Ryascet career interest model to begin identifying strengths and potential career pathways as they prepare
035for middle school and beyond. Students were also introduced to education beyond high school, spotlighting college and CTE pathways. In partnership with Vital Link, our students participated in an interactive onampus career exhibit day featuring industry booths in culinary arts, construction, healthcare, visual and performing arts, and public service. Representatives shared information about career pathways, college majors, and required training, while students engaged in hands-on learning experiences. To further promote a collegegoing culture, our staff highlighted their own educational journeys through college door displays. And our LBHS first generation students spoke about the college selection process and the power of higher education. Our after-school program space run through school power offered 84 classes this year with over 60% of our students taking advantage of exploring interests and talents beyond the school day. We expanded our free offerings this year to
036include a green team class, inviting our third graders to join our popular sea lion squad, and expanding our choir to to primary grades. Whether it's inviting a pilot in the classroom to learn about the letter P in kindergarten, taking a field trip to city hall to learn about city government and public service, or hearing a local author read their treasured books. Students love to explore learning right around the corner from us. For goal two, our team is continuing to enhance student agency, focusing on our positive behavior interventions and support or PBIS and integrating social emotional learning into our MTSS systems. Within this goal area, Elmoro has had much success over the past few years. Our staff, student, and community survey mirroring these areas of support for students indicates a net promoter or satisfaction score of
03750, 10 points above what is considered to be excellent. Our goal is to continue to expand and refine many of the newer programs that we put into place within the last three years. One relative area noted for improvement was standing up to bullying or unkind behaviors and having time to discuss concerns. These data points help to define our goals to continue our focus on PBIS and what we call upstandard behaviors. A cornerstone of developing student agency is the implementation of community circles that focus on restorative practices within our classrooms. These circles may start at very basic levels in early grades by connecting students to one another with shared interests and experiences. They become more and more sophisticated as our staff use them to solve problems with a shared analysis and a shared commitment by our
038students. Elmoro also offers several other volunteer opportunities for our kids to connect to our campus and our community through our third grade random acts of kindness or rack packer assistance leadership or pals green team and sea lion squad. We currently have approximately 75 students involved in these student centered organizations on campus. These groups focus on stewardship, philanthropy and service to our school and our community. They are also used to make studentto student connections to build school spirit to raise student awareness and voice such as with our recent student LCAP session with our pals Dr. Glass and Dr. Cannonburgg. This year we've also been thrilled to increase our student connectivity with our other Laguna Beach schools. Our students have loved engaging in the dance and theater workshops with our high school students and we partner with
039our MUN students and FLO to bring the WLAND learning mobile experience to Elmoro. This year we were happy to expand the offer to our friends at Top of the World and we also welcomed a new station with Ranger Winter from our state park system. We look forward to working with our high school students this spring with a ceramics workshop and a readalong field trip with our kindergarten students. Integrating social emotional learning into PBIS and MTSS with a particular focus on upstander citizenship has been a particular interest to address some of those relative areas of improvement. Within tier 1, we have conducted over 125 classroom guidance lessons in partnership with No Place for Hate and utilizing our SecondStep curriculum. We've held our popular mental health Monday events with help from community members, high school students, and
040our PTA. We've welcomed our high school athletes on campus to speak about character and sportsmanship during PE. And we've also recognized students daily in our morning seaside shoutouts. Our tier 2 and three supports have included 35 students in group counseling, 25 students receiving one-on-one counseling, 77 students serviced for check and connect counseling, and 25 students serviced in our staff mentor program. And our last goal, safe and equitable, safe, equitable, and inclusive schools, also focuses on an enhancement of our MTSS behavioral supports, as well as focusing on the reduction of chronic absenteeism and increasing family and parent engagement. Similar to our other MTSS data analysis, we built in an analysis of behavioral and SEAL data to provide tier supports and interventions for our students. This is an example of the data that we break down to
041analyze or at our MTSS meetings. Identifying upticks in behavior within these categories and helping to plan interventions, shifting supervision, and working with students individually to target any changes in behavior. One of our major focus areas in goal three is to reduce chronic absenteeism. Prior to the pandemic, we were at a 6.5% rate on the 2019 California dashboard. While the national rate stands around 20%, we want to do everything we can to encourage our students to attend school and to be on time. Our MTSS team analyzes this absentee data, holding student success team meetings or SSTs to identify potential barriers to attending schools and or build awareness with parents. We currently have over 275 touch points of communications with our families and we're working with individual students and parents to increase attendance at school. We would
042love to see this gap close as it's a relative area of need at our school and a very very challenging goal to achieve. This year, we've made strategic plans to help facilitate continued education for parents and to provide multiple opportunities for parent engagement in cooperation with our family resource center. Earlier this year, we relaunched the parent toolkit enhancing communication connection and problem solving during elementary years along with the parent power power hour services focused on executive function which was an area of identified need by our parents and our staff. These interaction interactive workshops provide families with practical tools that are aligned to our social emotional learning frameworks including zones of regulation, communication strategies, advocacy guidance, and conflict resolution skills. Our sessions allow for two-way Q&A with our parents and distribution of resources as well as
043follow-up virtual hours to assist with learning and apply these concepts at home. Additionally, we're working with our PTA to diversify committees and to broaden parent engagement opportunities to ensure a broader representation from our school community. We will continue to host meaningful families of family events that welcome our parents, guardians, and community members to our campuses, fostering connection and belonging with our community. To support our new families, we've scheduled campus tours to highlight our programs, including volunteer opportunities in the garden, science lab, and involvement in our schoolwide mental health Mondays. One of the most impactful ways we brought the Lagona Beach community into our school has also been through the expansion of our early childhood learning programs under the direction of Kim Johnson. We've maximized enrollment in our two preschool classes and also offer a class
044for our preschool students who have individual educational programs or IEPs. The addition of these classes have increased our mainstreaming opportunities to 50% of the school day. In addition to our feebased preschool, we added our second transitional kindergarten class which also offers extended day learning opportunities for our families. These programs have been successful in preparing our littles for life as a sea lion or a dolphin at top of the world. In closing, though our focus through our focus on continual improvement and celebration of our achievements, the Elmoro team has experienced much success this year. While these individual awards honor individual members, we know that we achieve success based on the wholeness of our Elmoro team and the support that we receive from our district. Our staff has earned four impressive individual awards and if we can
045comp claim Dr. Cannonburgg as one of our own because her support is invaluable to our team, we'll take her AXA administrator of the year award and bring it as our own. The next step is hopefully being named a gold star school by the NAESP, National Association of Elementary School Principles. And fingers crossed we'll hear about that designation in May. Thank you for your time tonight and for allowing me to share a little bit about what makes our team so incredible for our students, our staff, families, and community. >> Thank you so much for that great report. I've enjoyed all of the time that I've spent with you this week and through our different committees. So, I appreciate that. Is there any questions um for Dr. Hatchel from the board? Member Malchesky. >> Thanks as always
046for a great report. I have two quick questions. One is um I was glad to see all the improvements in the math scores. Um was that the use of the new math program that we have? I know that we just we've been piloting it. Uh, I would say overall our our school has done very well both with and without the the pilot program, but particularly with that pilot program, we did see an increase in scores. Um, we spent a lot of time in partnership with the Orange County Department of Education working on math foundations, the new math framework, and learning how to approach our teaching of math a little bit differently. And that's been over the course of the last three years. So, I think that those investments that we've made are starting to make
047progress, but we're really hopeful in our projection for our CASP scores at the end of the year that we'll be making some significant progress from what we saw last year. >> Great. Thank you. And the other question um on ELA, I mean I I was a broken record last year bringing it up all the time, you know, pretty constantly, but I want to get back to kind of this focus on reading. And do you have any updates about how we're doing in the elementary school about promoting more book reading? >> I would say we we are seeing more enrichment opportunities. when I described our MTSS shift of resources, we are able to particularly at the upper grades offer things like project-based learning focusing on books. Um, when we have those resources during win time that
048we can allocate, we've also still continued with our library program incentives and we do have an extraordinary I have to give a shout out to Elizabeth Lyens. She is just the pied piper of the library at our school. at any time that you come on campus um even if it's an unstructured time during recess lunch before school you will see who are working directly with kids to um fight for books which I think says say says it all our kids are definitely engaging in those programs >> thank you any other question go ahead >> yeah doctor I just wanted to say thank you for the great job you do and your team out there does uh I have some very good friends who have little kids and some of the older kids and the the
049library is um a a real enrichment experience for them and uh I also just think you're uh frankly I'm a big fan. I think you're the model of a strong principle uh and uh you have a lot of leadership there. I also want to tell you that in my work on the facilities um uh ad hoc committee on facilities um I really appreciated what you said about your campus and the fact that you have line of sight um for the whole the whole campus. I'm really worried about top of the world because I want to ask the SRO and and and also ask Dr. glass. Um that you know I'm concerned about blind spots on the campus and I'm concerned about security. Um and um so I just want to say you really opened my
050head up by talking about the fact that out at Elmoro you have that line of sight ability to cover the entire campus and uh um I don't know we're going to be looking at top of the world and what to do up there but um I would really like to have us very much keep security and safety uh in in mind on all the campuses obviously but uh your your focus on that helped me to focus on it so I appreciated that. Thank you, Howard. Um, Dr. Kelly, >> excellent report. U, my question is with the math program, how are you transitioning to the middle school with that program? >> So, I I'm going to be very transparent and I I'm not working on that transition at the middle school. Dr. Mayberry is um as
051well as Mr. Vadal. So, my focus has really been at the elementary level. Um I will share that I we were very excited. Mr. Vidal has opened up many opportunities for our fifth grade teachers and our teams to articulate with uh both the sixth grade, seventh and eighth grade teachers here. So we are learning a lot from each other. Um we focused on learning walks. Um so our teachers are seeing best practices at all of our schools whether it's uh top of the world. we got to observe some math rotations and our teams learned a lot from from Top of the World or coming here at Thirsten or the the high school. We work in that collaborative environment. Um and and it's something that I think is very special about our team here in Lagona.
052>> Thank you, Click Perry. >> Sure. Dr. Hatchel, congratulations on all your growth. And I I noticed also that with the pilot math program, scores really went up, but I understand it's a combination of things you've been working on for the past two several years with the county. Awesome. Um my question one, and maybe I missed this, but what what are the beanstack competitions? Good question. Um it's it's a Mrs. Lyens competition, so you can imagine when Mrs. Lyens brings in a it's a reading book competition where she gives a goal uh where the kids need to earn a certain amount of points throughout the year based upon the books that they read. So our kids are very motivated to want to engage in that. They earn a party at the end of the year
053based upon um their reading. Our fourth grade team, shout out to them. They also do the 40 book challenge and recognize students regularly for reading different genres and engaging in choice reading as well. That's wonderful. That's kind of what you were looking for, too. I know. Um, and my last question is, how often uh do classrooms do your second step program or I know now you also have your your circles. Um, just have >> I would say our our counselor, it seems like they're in a classroom daily. Uh, whether it's second step, we while we do implement the curriculum, we use the data that I had showed you. And when we identify trends, it may be um a trend where there are unkind comments that are going around school in fifth grade. Either Mrs. Lawson
054or Mrs. Wyn will push into the classes and deliver support as well through either a community circle or restorative conversation, our teachers may use that as well. So I think over the years as they've been trained in restorative practices and they know the the curriculum well um it's something that's integrated I would say daily rather than being an isolated instructional tool that we use at our school and that's what makes it successful. >> Thank you um Dr. uh Dr. Glass. >> Thank you Madam Chair. Um excellent presentation. Thank you. Um, a couple of points I wanted to underscore and this happens frequently here at Laguna Beach. Uh, we show our data. We don't often show the comparative context about how good it really is. So, a couple of points I want to make. Both your
055beginning of year to midyear English language arts and math scores on I Ready increased 26% each. So, that is a lot. Um but for context a typical beginning of year to midyear would be 8 to 12 points. Good growth would be 15 points. You got fif you got 26% gain in both of them with students that are already high performing. It's exceptional. The question's been asked, but what's the secret sauce at Elmoro? >> It's it's our team. I got to get I know I have a lot of staff members that are listening tonight and supporting me behind the team. Um we've got an amazing team that collaborates together every week. They work with professional learning communities. They look at their data. They care deeply about our kids and they're focused on each and every child.
056Um, we give our staff members the autonomy to be I trust them to fail forward with what they do in the classrooms and I say that with all loving kindness and administrative confidence that they try things um and most of the time they work. Occasionally they'll look at the data and say oh we need to do that a little bit differently and we learn from that and overall that has given a huge amount of success to our kids. But congratulations to an outstanding team. >> Yeah. And um also your chronic absenteeism, you noted that is something that you're working on. So that's student that's missed more than 10 days. Um it's 12.6%. Um and again for national context probably 23 22% is normal. So you're half that roughly. So it's a really good starting point.
057I know it's something that you're working on. What uh what do you think has uh kept you all from making even more progress on it? Acknowledging that it's good. >> I education of um well, let me back up. I think number one, we have a process right now that's run by Kama Stevens and Christine Wagner that is really focused on looking at our data and we council uh our all of our families. We have conversations with our families um who are identified as either being chronically truent or chronically absent. Our team identifies barriers to um getting our kids to school. And oftent times that may result in counseling. Uh it may results in simple education for parents who don't understand what the what the rules and expectations are. Um, and sometimes it results in a
058contract that we write with a fifth grader who gets to give a pizza party to a class if they're actually there and improve their chronic absenteeism. So, we do everything we can to work with our families and our students in order to see that that number decrease. >> Thank you. And you mentioned the NESP Gold Star School process. What does that look like and when will you know? Oh, it was a lot of essay writing, a lot of data analysis by our team um at the national level and we we should know in May. So hopefully I didn't jinx myself, but they're they're rolling out the awards in May. >> Thank you. Um Logan or Ivy, did you have any questions? No. Okay. Um thank you. I just had a couple real quick ones. the
059um the college and career exploration the wheel that's depicted there is that this that's the same wheel I believe that they used in the cool program that was launched I think last year is that right where they identified the type of learners and and then they had a whole the middle school was a little different because they had different programs based on how they were how they learned is this the same I'm assuming this is the same so just out of curiosity because I I thought it was wonderful and I thought it was such a great way for the kids to identify the type of learner style they were some of the things that might play into that style. But I'm curious as to is there conversation on if they fall into two strong categories,
060if there's interest in one way or the other because I'm my I think my only concern was all especially this young is if we're presenting ideas for a career or an interest are we feeding a narrative that they'll latch on to that might exclude some another possibility. And I say that for example, I have a a programmer, but he actually is a really good artist. Very different skill sets and different sides of the brain. So if we're focusing on one side, are we not tapping in enough to the other? So I'm just curious about how that process works with this with the younger ones. >> That's a great question and I would say that our kids are all over the place with strengths in many different areas and that is something that we'll point out
061with them. Um, we will also recognize that as they experience different learning situations that that may change. Uh, but our basic goal at this point in time is to just get them thinking, think about what possibilities there are. And as we're giving them these career day explorations, they're finding that they love all of the rotations and we'll come back and talk about that. And then they know that there's a lot more they can do beyond that. >> I love that. Thank you. And then I had just one other question on the math um um pilot because I I'm I'm hearing great things at both elementary schools about the math pilot program. How many approximately participate in that? Is it volunt it's voluntary by the teachers and is it all grades and then how many are
062participating? >> It was completely voluntary because it does take a lot of extra time and commitment. And one of the requirements for our our grade levels to participate was that every teacher at the grade level needed to commit to that. So at our school, our kindergarten, third grade, and fourth grade teams participated. And I believe we had Marian, you may need to help me with this. At Top of the World, I believe it was uh first grade, first, second, and fourth. So three teams at each school. Thank you for that. >> Thank you. That's very impressive. Thank you so much. >> I have no further questions. Anyone else? >> Well, are we having discussion or I was just doing questions. I have some comments. >> Oh, this is a principal report. It's not a board.
063It's >> Oh, I have some comments. >> Oh, sure. >> Okay. First, um I know more about your school than any others since seven of my children go there. Uh one of them, the picture's up on the the board and it's it's a sad picture. I'm the e one of the emergency contacts for this kid that six of the seven had to move uh because of uh the rent and uh in my street uh Ocean Way uh they're evicting uh the renters and selling them to mega people. So it's really a dead street. There's very few of us there and six of my seven kids are gone now. Um, but the parents were so happy from preschool throughout as far as what you've done. Congratulations on the student success provided by the assessments. I always
064like to see assessments and the assessments are right on uh as a former tier three student my whole career and we never had an opportunity to get out of tier three that uh I'm just delighted as far as what you do for all the tiers but particularly tier three. Um, thank you for providing the numbers and the percentages. I have harped on this for some time and it just makes it so much easier as far as to understand the data because there's small numbers in a lot of the cells. Uh, the spaceup supported school program, the afterchool program I think is great and I wanted to particularly thank school power for providing the money for that. I know the parents really are great grateful for that. Um the emotional social emotional success I'm delighted with
065and I it's one of one of my favorite areas and um chronic absency is some uh I'm afraid uh in this district you have to work on the parents. Uh I don't think you're going to get it any better than it is. Uh I mean some of my parents uh we go off for a month and take the kids with them and you know and I'm thinking what are you doing? how it would but they have the capacity that they have and they have jobs and they have you know money and so uh that's going to be a hard one to ever get I think down further but thank you >> thank you Dr. Kelly okay thank you so much I really appreciate your presentation >> Dr. >> Thank you Dr. Hatchel okay moving on
066with our agenda we have um executive c cabinet member reports um Mr. Coin. >> Thank you, President Morgan. Um, given the numerous presentations this evening, I'll keep my comments brief, but as the the union leaders have shared, we held day two of negotiations um this week with both CSA and Laboufa, and we continue to enjoy a collaborative relationship in which we use the interestbased bargaining approach to reach mutually beneficial outcomes. And then I just wish everyone a restful and safe spring break, and we look forward to seeing you when we come back on the 6th of April. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, Mr. Roachary, did I get it right? >> Good evening, board president, members of the board. Uh, mine will be briefer than Mr. Conland because Mr. Conland already covered negotiations and again
067wishing everyone a happy spring break. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, Dr. Bry is not here. Dr. Glass. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a brief report on the past couple of weeks. A number of of our staff and students participated in the Patriots Day parade. Thanks to all the principles, staff and students who took part, especially the band students who carried their instruments through town playing the same song repeatedly. So, um it was a treat for everybody. Um from the prior week on March 17th, we held the first uh LCAP community convening at the high school library. We had strong participation and input from that what that will shape our 2627 plan that we'll bring back to the board for consideration. And on March 20th, I joined Elmoro students and families for a jogathon,
068a high energy morning and a good example of uh school and community in action. I did notice that the students start out really fast and then they slow down after a couple laps. That happens to me too. Um but it's it was a definitely a pattern I noticed. um the facilities master plan committee toward top of the world in Thirstston and met to begin narrowing down recommended changes to the plan. Trusty Hill and President both on that committee. So I'll leave the details of that to you to report. I had the chance to visit the school power endowment committee alongside with trustee Malchesky and provide an update on activities in the district and we are so grateful for school power's extraordinary and ongoing investment in our students and our staff. uh from schools this week.
069On Wednesday, I attended a learning walk at Top of the World. Saw strong instructional practice across classrooms, strong positive school uh climate. We've got two incredible elementary schools in this district, and it's just a joy to see them at work. And it was great to see uh our students and staff there tonight. We're sad to miss the 11th graders presenting their Flow Ocean film showcase at um South Coast Theater. The quality of the work in that program continues to astonish me and continues to be exceptional and we're sad to miss it tonight. Also, just building on what Officer Lopez says, thank said, thanks to the students and staff and to the Laguna Beach Police Department for their work together in executing the shelter in place that we had this week. Um, I'll just add my
070thanks to what Officer Lopez said and appreciation for how every how everyone handled that professionally and went right back to work once we were able to have it cleared. Looking ahead, our high school will be formally recognized as ceremony in San Diego on April 9th as a California Green Ribbon Award-winning school. It's the first time the high school has received that honor and reflects what the students and staff are doing every day around environmental stewardship. Uh, as Mr. Rohaterie and Mr. Conland said, "Spring break starts next week and I wish our students, staff, and families some restful time off. Also, as just notice to our community, the lead summer program catalog is now available with registration opening after break. It's an incredible offering that this community provides, this district provides. So, please take a look
071at it. And finally, please mark your calendars. The celebration of arts is April 16th at the high school, uh, which is a wonderful community event that I look forward to attending." Thank you, Madam Chair. >> 14th. April 14th. Sorry. >> It's a great event. Thank you so much for that. Um, okay. Let's move on to our um, uh, governance, our board members reports. Logan and Ivy, do you have anything to report? >> Oh, sorry. Were there any questions for Dr. Glass? >> Go ahead. >> Yeah. Um, Dr. Glass. I was um reviewing some of the reporting that we have and um saw some references to the fact that I guess you met with the student advisory uh group and whatnot and um there uh I think whether you view it in that context or in
072a more general context, there was uh expression of concern about acrimony in the in the on the board and in board meetings. um and uh the um the effect that has on some of the students. Um and I was just going to suggest that um first of all, I've been talking with superintendents and board members at a lot of different school districts around the state. And uh there are a lot of school districts that are having really serious problems right now um and have who have a situation very similar to ours. And um uh I got get some insights from talking to them and and um uh so I just wanted to mention that um you know one of the comments that I would make is that when there's dystopia or when there's uh when
073there's uh conflict and whatnot, it's not a spectator sport. It's it's not something that we just want to watch and see and say, "Well, that's too bad or I agree with this or I disagree with that." But, you know, do something about it. And um I was thinking one thing that might be a good idea and I just wanted to throw it out here and we can talk about it later. >> I need you to be question ask a question so we can move on giving a report. >> So the the uh the the question would be would it be a good idea to maybe convene some board members and some students and some uh and and sort of look at what goes on in board meetings. um go back and look at uh what's
074gone on in some board meetings in the last couple of years um and uh talk with students about um the point being how did it get to the point where we have these kind of problems and also understand that a lot of districts have these kind of problems. >> Thank you for the question uh Trusty Hills. The uh student advisory committee that we have is made up of high school students from LBHS. It's really been a delight to work with them this year. They're empowered to set the agenda on what they want to talk about this year. They've chosen to look at our facilities. They're working on student voice and what that looks like right now. And they have a third topic that that they've chosen around class ranking that they want to look at.
075They'll be bringing their recommendations on the facilities back to you as part of the facilities master plan work. Uh they'll be be providing me and the staff at the high school some recommendations on how their voice uh can be more authentically heard and acted upon. uh and uh we'll we'll still be working on the class rank element. I think uh directly to your question, if the board wishes to have a conversation with students, uh you can put that on the agenda and invite students in and have that in conversation. And I think you've got some incredible young people in this community and that would be a delightful conversation for you and the community to have. >> Yeah, I do too. if there's anything we can do to help with this and set up something that's
076kind of informal so that it's not too structured. Um anyway, if there's anything we can do to help with it, let me know. >> Thank you, Howard. Can you turn your mic off, please? Thank you. Um Logan and Ivy. >> Yes. So, uh obviously the spearhead of our report that we wanted to talk about was Ivy and I. Um the MAI United Nations had a a group of our delegates going to New York City to uh contribute or to compete at uh Nisman which is the number one MUN conference uh in the US and some people say by by definition in the world. So the it was a very big week uh where students got to go visit the stock exchange. I will talk a little bit more about that. we got to go tour
077the United Nations um where we actually also were thank you to Mr. Hills connected with uh his his contact there where we had a fantastic conversation about counterterrorism and um some of the work that uh you and and your partner had done in Micronia which was very very interesting to to hear there were tons of kids who after they walked into the UN building and heard that presentation walked out and said there's nothing more I want to do than work here. Uh, and it was it was so it was it was absolutely incredible that that entire experience. I personally got to um have lunch with Carter while Carter McKenzie while he was there. So he wished all of you on the board, you know, as he took he as he said to me, he said,
078you know, as much as I miss my Thursday nights at the board meetings, I'm really enjoying Colombia. So he he he wanted me to extend his greetings to all of you and and thanks that uh for his time spent on the board as well. and then Ivy Ivy will continue to talk a little bit about it as well. >> All right. So, um the conference that we went to is actually it's the largest conference in the United States. Um and there were people from 70 different countries all over the world coming to fly into this conference. Um it was really interesting to see all the international students and to be able to you know have that experience of interacting with them and I think everyone really appreciated it. Um in terms of the New York
079Stock Exchange, we got a tour. uh we were able to see the inside and get a basic overview of how a stock market works and we got to see actually uh the morning bell ring. Um and I think it was a really cool experience for everyone especially you know those of us in mu interested in finance or pursuing a marketing or business major. Um and then in addition to that we also went to the United Nations. We got a tour of that. It was wonderful. Um, we actually got to see a lot of the art pieces that were donated from different countries and yeah, it was very cool, very historical and um, I think we all had a lovely time. Other than that, for the extension um of our report on stuff related back in
080Laguna, um there's been the CASP testing that um that's scheduled to go on as well as prom week of May 11th and the pep rally for May 15th, clash of classes and uh the ASP elections um have have been going on recently. >> Great. Thank you so much for your report. Uh member Kelly, do Dr. I picked you. >> Okay, we'll start down here. Then I don't care. Clerk Perry, are you ready to give a report? >> Okay, terrific. Please be ready. >> Good evening. I had a busy last couple weeks. In fact, every day this week, I had meetings at the district office. So, Dr. Glass is probably sick of me. I went to hear the state of education in Orange County by Dr. Stefan Bean and board president Morgan went with me. It
081was really interesting. Aiden Carrera, who is an actor from Love on the Spectrum, was the main speaker. He um was bullied a lot and I know we're having that conversation come up in middle school for being odd and different. His dad was very upset about that and wanted to beat up all the kids that were making fun of him. But his dad had another plan. When he went to Santa Ana High School, his dad said, "I'm going to get you a group of bodyguards." And what he did was he talked to the wrestling coach and he had um Aiden start wrestling and he became a pretty good wrestler but everyone on the wrestling team also stood up for him so he didn't have any more trouble with bullying in high school. He had two of
082his teachers there that made a huge difference for him. one was the wrestling coach and the other was the choir teacher because she taught him to breathe and do different voices which he's used in his acting career. So that was that was really great. We also went to hear Katrina Foley and the women making a difference in Orange County and we have so many fabulous women here. I mean men too, but this was for women um that have developed new technologies for um our planet, advancing economic justice, strengthening education systems, um building civic power, and I was especially delighted to meet one of our former students named Taylor Clark. I don't know if any of you know her, but I had contacted her before. or I had gotten her name because she wanted she's very
083entrepreneurial. She got married, went with her boyfriend all during high school. It was from Dana Hills. They got married right after college and had kids and she wanted to stay home and figure out a way to do that. So she they came up with the company Amberella Organics which has uh the stick that's lollipops but they are healthy ones that are made with herbs and um I guess different fruits but the stick has seeds in it. So when you're done with the lollipop you plant the seeds and either herbs or flowers grow and they are doing really well. I mean, at Google, they pass them out to everybody. You can get them at you can get them at Target. Um, so it was fun to talk with her, thinking about if we do get our
084culinary class going to maybe have her come in and talk to the students about how you get your own company going, but also things to do with food. I was busy last week um week before it was California Legislative Week in action and I was assigned to talk to different Congress people about AB 218 and the solveny impacts for that. I spoke with Diane Dixon who's our representative. She was she was very concerned also and others and it was interesting to talk to board members from other school districts and how 218 is affecting them like it's really affecting us. I also um because I believe so much in public education I always I try to get to know or at least meet different people at the state level. So, I've gone to meet uh people
085that are running for state superintendent of schools. I went to meet Michelle Henderson, who's a Democratic candidate. She was great. I went to meet a Republican candidate, Sonia Shaw, and she was also awesome. They're both very passionate about students and students rights. Um I find it's always good to know folks at the California Department of Ed. Um, I've had to contact them before to kind of fact check, but also for other things we needed for our district. I attended the Alisa Niguel job fair with Mr. Hills. Um, it was fun to see the tiny house that students built and look at jobs, upcoming jobs for students. Um, the lady from the surf and sand here is really recruiting good students for summer jobs. She had a whole list of jobs for students. There were two
086different water departments that were trying to entice students to come work for water departments. Um, and there was a scientific um, medical device company. Anyway, and the HVAC people who I was told by one of the top people in AI said that's a really good job to go into. They said, "Yes, we need students. So many of our people are retiring." And like a couple weeks ago when the temperature was so hot, they had so many calls and nowhere near enough people to help people with their air conditioning. Let's see. Um, we had a great meeting with the transportation committee. We have terrific news that we look forward to sharing with you in one of our next meetings. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. You are one of the busiest board members I know. U
087me uh Dr. Manesky >> to speak um at length with Superintendent Bean recently. He's very interesting person. >> Yeah. Um first I want to thank Dr. Glass for adhering to board policy 9150 and letting Ivy and Logan know why they were moved and for treating them with the respect and transparency they deserve and is written into the policy. Um, I attended the Thirstston Middle School PTA meeting and the endowment committee last week. Always grateful for the support of school power. Um, I want to talk a little bit about employee health benefits. It's been raised on the day uh at many of our meetings and I get a lot of questions from the public about this. Um, and some of the talk about it implies wrongdoing and malfeasants. But, um, I think this is a problem
088that's typical of the financial realities faced by school districts across the state and nation. Our district's collective bargaining agreement sets caps on how much the district contributes and those caps are renegotiated periodically. In 2021, the caps were not increased after a decade in which health care costs came in at or below district projections. After COVID, health care costs didn't just rise, they surged. Delayed care, staffing shortages, inflation all hit at once, and increases compound over time. No one anticipated the scale of those increases, which was six to 10% annually and projected to exceed 10% in 2026. As costs rose, the dis the district contributions didn't keep pace. Districts across California are facing similar challenges and we can see what happens when they're not addressed in the right way. In San Francisco and Ntois, rising health
089care costs contributed to teacher strikes. In Dublin, California, labor negotiations stalled. In Chula Fista, some educators face costs high enough to drop coverage altogether. It's a structural issue that uh many public districts face. This may be comparable, I don't know, to what happens, you know, to think of an analogy when insurance costs spike after a wildfire. Homeowners need home insurance, but the market changes around them. and simply absorbing costs or going without home insurance coverage feels unrealistic or unfair. But for health care, the costs are shared between district and individual staff and the problem affects the well-being of our teachers and their families. It appears that the administration did not see this coming and did not understand the need to address immediately those larger structural issues. It also didn't want to shift the burden onto
090teachers and asked the board to fund the gap during the interim. I wish that problem had been addressed earlier. That's why I supported an independent audit of our healthcare expenditures which confirmed that there was no evidence of malfeasants. The teachers association wasn't aware and district staff who have long served this community with integrity didn't anticipate the scale of increases now affecting districts nationwide. Over the past two years, the board has approved budget adjustments to address rising health care costs. At no point were we informed that the negotiated caps were exceeded and no one, including the current board majority, requested additional information about the appropriations. If I had understood it, I would have still wanted the district to find a way to share the burden of rising health care costs so that teachers did not face
091hundreds of dollars per month in additional health care costs. Supporting reasonable health care benefits for the people who educate our children is not a handout. It's a basic responsibility of a functioning school district. After the healthcare audit analysis was shared, the current board in December approved a $1.04 million appropriation to cover the shortfall so that employees would not be harmed. This corrected the cumulative gap since 2021 between the cost of health care and the district's contribution to those costs. Some have cited a larger cumulative figure, but it's misleading and does not reflect the full pattern of contributions over time, including years in which the district paid less toward health care costs than what had been negotiated. Constantly implying misconduct doesn't solve the problem. It distorts it. This issue has been used to undermine confidence in
092our staff, our prior administrators and our prior board members and our current board member more board members have also voted on it. It's harmful. It damages morale, weakens retention and pulls the focus away from our students. School boards exist to solve problems. We should not be weaponizing them. Our responsibility is to support our educators, address the rising cost, and keep our focus where it belongs, on students. That's it. >> Thank you, Dr. Kelly. >> Since our last meeting, uh, I've been inundated with questions from parents, citizens of Lagouna Beach, and even at my St. Patrick's Day dinner that I was invited to that I was quizzed to no end uh by individuals who voted for the majority and their questions was what is happening at the school board? Why are school schoolboard members so confrontental?
093Um and it was I tried to explain it best I could. First I want to apologize to student board members for how they have been treated uh especially last at our last meeting. Uh the misconception about Mr. Marshall's computer use. I just have to laugh about um I'm someone who watches everything. I watch Howard on his phone. I watched Mrs. Morgan when she was using her AI questions. Uh and I watched Logan and I've never seen Logan talking to uh any uh adults. He's been talking to the four 10th graders uh out there. And I brought it to his attention that there are people in the back watching. And I don't know how the people in the back with their X-ray eyes could know what's going on because, you know, I was right here. And
094I, you know, I saw what Logan was doing and I told him one time, you know, you have to watch this because they're even watching in the back. He he closed the computer and he stayed with us for him walking around. I want to say that some of our board members are very long- winded as you've even seen tonight that as I watch you out here yawning and looking at the sky that uh they've lost it. you know, I guess they've never taught, but you when you teach, you always are looking at the students and uh so I apologize to the community also for what's been going going on. Um I have a lot of gratitude since Michelle's here uh for the teachers uh the wonderful teachers that we have. We would not have the
095students that we have pres presenting so conceptually on things that people think someone else made up for them. These two and others that I have met are just fantastic. I could have never done this at 10th grade. I can't do it today. But uh again being a third grouper uh again thank you to the for the teachers for everything that uh that you've done. I al also want to apologize to superintendent class for his treatment by the board. Um, as I previously cited in open session that I have suggested a doctor class that he find a job someplace else that you don't treat a superintendent, especially a new one, the way that this board majority has been treating the superintendent. It's just unheard of. And he's a really good guy and he has really great
096ideas and he he will do a superb job for us. But I would I can't imagine why he'd stay here as far as with the way with the way that you're treating him. Um, I have a handout as far as which I'll I'll pass out later, which is basically some emails that I've gotten that show you just how low it has gotten as far as what people are uh accusing uh the superintendent of and what he should be should be fixing. The superintendent cannot control the unions. The superintendent cannot control the audience. The superintendent cannot control the students while they're here. They're here as the representatives of the students. They're not here as students that he has any jurisdiction over other than they're members of the board. So, uh, all the things that they're making
097Dr. Glass responsible for, I just blow me away as my 40 years in higher education, I just can't believe it. Um, again, I have the emails that I'll I'll pass out. I've taken off the names and so there's there's no identifying uh uh individuals. They were CCD to me and the other board members. Uh they even had a a picture of a student board member in in the emails. It's illegal to take pictures of students. Period. And if you don't know that, you really have missed something in all of the meetings you've attended. Um but um in conclusion, the current problems are not because of students. They're not because of Dr. Class. They're not because of the union. They're not because of the teachers and the staff. The problems are the majority board members. Thank
098you. >> Thank you, member Hills. >> Yeah. Um, first of all, I want to say that uh I'm glad you all had a great trip to New York and the model UN and I was really happy to see that you didn't get caught in the airport or that the snow didn't prevent you from getting over to the UN and meeting with Ambassador Cantor. uh it was a real thrill for me to get the picture she sent of you all in her conference room at the UN and uh I think it's just says something a lot about her that um she wanted to post a picture of her with the the Lagouna Beach model UN program on her UN website and on her personal website but she's so conscientious that she before she did that she
099even though she's not she works for the United Nations So, she doesn't answer to Lagouna Beach School District, but she wanted to protect the students, the parents, the teachers, the district, the superintendent, and she sent a really nice note asking to get permission from the superintendent uh to post the pictures. And uh thank you, Mr. Superintendent, for um confirming that all the kids were had releases um for the photographs. And so, uh she you are now featured on on her UN website. So, and she said, "You you guys were fantastic and it was really wonderful meeting with you." So, I'm glad that worked out. Um, and uh I wanted to also uh respond a little bit to some of the things that member Malesky said about uh health insurance premiums and whatnot. I think that
100um it's not accurate or even honest to um say that um the audit report or anything that's been said about the audit report um indicates that there was no malfeence. Nobody's looking to prove there was malfeence. Um but when you get an audit report from an independent auditor, you have a fiduciary duty to implement the recommendations of the auditor unless you think they're wrong. And what the auditor said in his report was that the payments were um unlawful. They were not done in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement and they weren't done in accordance with the bylaws. And then the audit addressed a lot of the issues about the about what had occurred. But with respect to the subject of malfeasants or um misconduct or material misconduct, the audit report was very clear. It said
101the determination of whether or not there was any legal um uh deficiency or or um misconduct should be made by a legal analysis and the get paid to do that. And um so the point is nobody on this board or in this district that isn't a law enforcement officer or detective that investigates public finance has any business trying to represent whether there was misfeasance, malfeasants or or whatever the case may be. And that's why the board authorized the audit report to be referred to um enforcement authorities as determined necessary. And so um uh but I want to step back a little bit further and say that yes, this is a problem nationally. Um and it's a problem statewide and it's a problem nationally. But the the thing about it is is that what happened here
102um was very anomalous uh by national and by statewide standards. Uh, for example, at the Newport Mesa School District where our former business um director Jeff Dixon works, the way they're dealing with this right now is that he is taking the increased costs out of the paychecks of the employees of that school district. And what he's uh the reason they're doing that is because um the there's increased costs. there's it hasn't been budgeted and so they have no choice and uh again the organizational meeting that they had at that school district uh last December uh the unions were there they expressed their concern and their dismay uh they did it respectfully but they did it very passionately they said you're stealing our Christmas from us by doing this to us but that in fact is
103what Mr. Dixon's doing and that's in fact what the superintendent and the board there is doing. And um the superintendent did a really really good job of stepping in and acknowledging what the union's concern was, acknowledging what the staff was doing and acknowledging what the board was doing and explaining it in a way that everybody could understand to reduce the level of conflict and friction. And I once again recommend anybody that wants to see uh the unions, the board, the staff, um and the superintendent really working together as a functional board, go back to December, what is it, December 9th, I think it is. Uh maybe it's December 12th, I can't remember, but uh and you go to minute 29 and his or 27 and listen to the unions and then go to minute 59
104and listen to the superintendent come in and sort things out. And the reality is that what happened here was not something that was just went unnoticed. Uh the fact is that the one of the earliest years when there was a a a situation where the prices were increasing at a level that people weren't didn't know exactly what to do about it. There was anou signed by Margaret Ward when she was um representing the csea and by Mr. Conlin representing the district and they they recognized that they were they wanted to provide more funding than the caps under the collective bargaining agreement allowed. So this wasn't something that people didn't know. It wasn't something that people didn't understand. Um and the the reality is that there's a lot of different ways of dealing with this. Newport
105Mesa is dealing with it in one way. We dealt with another way. uh other districts are dealing. The one thing that is not an option is to do something that's not lawful. Um and so the situation is that we have a collective bargaining agreement. And our collective bargaining agreement as a matter of contract law says you can't go over the caps. In addition to that, under se under bylaw 9310, it states that the dis the board and the district cannot act inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement. That makes it unlawful because 9310 has the force and effective law. And so the the one thing you can't do when you're faced with a problem like this is to do something that's not lawful. Last thing I'll say is that um member Malchesky says that well this
106board voted for it. Well the fact of the matter is that this board was presented with a budget and there was no discussion or no disclosure that the budget involved going over the caps. So when there's no disclosure disclosure um there's no approval. and we went to board counsel and board counsel said approve the new collective bargaining agreement so you can negotiate with the unions and get back to the caps and that's what we did and so if member Malesi knew last December that we were violating the law she didn't tell us and she apparently did know it because um she thinks that if you voted for it that that somehow meant you knew about it and approved it. So, I had a lot of other things I wanted to talk about tonight, but just
107because member Malchesky made such um a misleading statement, I had to clarify it. >> Thank you, Howard. Um I'm going to try and be brief so we can keep moving forward. Um but I have something I've written out. Um first of all, uh >> how long did I talk? >> Too long. Uh so um first of all um I'm grateful to the courts that found Meta and YouTube liable on social media in the social media addiction trial. Um this is something that I have been following. Dr. um Keller and I have talked about this for years, probably 10, 15 years. Um I'm sure it brought some sense of justice for many parents and what they knew to be true, but it wasn't a known mainstream issue initially enough for anyone to take them serious. Social
108media, video games, all initially developed to tap into the dopamine kick within the brain. I'm impressed by any plaintiff that testified as they had to come to terms with the impact the technology had on them and the altered path their life took as an extension of that addiction. I hope that one of the byproducts of this is that those responsible begin to fund programs that help our students find their way back to nature, outdoors, friendships, and break out of the social isolation that technology does impose upon us all. I attended the spring musical again on Friday with Clerk Perry. It was exciting to see how the actors have grown in their roles. I am forever grateful to the theater booster parents that are working hard to support our students and the staff in their work.
109I attended three ad hoc facility master plan committees. Two meetings took us to and thirsten giving the committee a firsthand look at the excellent status of our school maintenance. Thank you to Ryan Zeta. And to understand additional concerns and needs, as well as the 2023 FM that needs to be updated to ensure we are eligible for all funding support that the state has to offer. I appreciated the diversity of perspectives that came together in this committee because I've attended both schools for over 15 years with my kids and they brought a a view that I um hadn't thought about just being on campus such as the view from the patio out into the field at to. So I thought that was really beneficial. Um the meeting yesterday brought us back together to understand and to
110assess pri start to discuss the priorities and needs so the committee can bring recommendations to the board for consideration. I also attended the transportation committee and I'm excited at the great work that we are doing to improve safety communications and to provide access to all of our local districts to the students and their education. We have students in our district that did not go to our school because they could not access transportation and so I am grateful to the committee um some of the members are here uh for the hard work that we're doing and the opportunity to do this kind of conversations that has been happening for several years and we were not unable to make any progress. So I'm really grateful for that. Um, I'd like to follow up on earlier comments um
111and submitted public comments regarding the March 12th board meeting. I appreciate Leslie E's comment and find that applicable in many ways and I'm appreciative to those that have spoken to me since the last board meeting and continue to hold me accountable for this role that I was elected to. I've taken the time to reflect on the concerns raised during the recent meeting and I appreciate drawing drawing my attention to it so that I can continually improve. After all, isn't that the goal? Continual improvement is a best practice. And don't we all demand continual improvement over perfection? I always appreciate perspective and I welcome it. I've had some fantastic debates and conversations with many community members, including those in the room um throughout the years. I do find it interesting when a different perspective or thought
112resonates with me, especially if it comes from from someone I may or may not align with in other areas. For example, I found a recent comment from the sup Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to be particularly relevant. He was speaking at the Baker Institute for Public Policy this month and emphasized that judicial opinions are subject to criticism and such scrutiny is healthy and comes with the territory of being a judge. I attribute this to the school board as well. Chief Justice Roberts went on to say that while legal critiques are acceptable, the shift from legal analysis to focusing on personalities is dangerous and needs to stop. Those were his words. He noted that when criticism shifts from legal analysis to personal attack attacks, it poses a danger to the judiciary and in our case
113the board, the students and the community. He stated that judges in our case board members work hard and while their opinions are open to scrutiny, the focus should not become personal. Ultimately, he warns that such hostility threatens both the safety of the judges, board members and community members in our case, and the independence of the judicial system. I'm disappointed in the persistent personal attacks against community members in the board that have come to my attention. Um, many of these comments have found their way to me and as I've previously stated, our students are actively observing and unfortunately participating in some of these events. Regrettably, what is perceived by some as positive civics and standing up for is for what is right is perceived by others as a lesson in cyber bullying 101. Adults consider themselves
114leaders. Former school board members as well as students are actively participating in these cyber bullying actions. We invest substantial resources in consultants, programming, and staff to develop and implement programs that support anti-bullying, including cyber bullying, our students social and emotional well-being, kindness campaigns that were seen all over the schools that we were visiting, positive support programs, and behavioral accountability. These practices are recognized and upheld in our bylaws by which apply to students, staff, and parents. However, accountability cannot be situational. It must be consistent. If you're holding me accountable, and I appreciate that, and I will emphasize, it should be consistent, including reflecting our own behavior and commentary, but also the district, its leadership, staff, as well as the process, procedures, and policies that guide us. While many in this room demanded accountability for my speech
115or tone regarding a misinformed statement, why didn't any of those st same stakeholders question the financial position of the district? Why didn't a comment like, "We haven't contributed to fund 17 for seven years or no new programs without reducing elsewhere or no major development projects for the district until we rebuild our reserves." Why aren't these questions being asked by the vocal community present at the last meeting? These are serious concerns and understanding the why is upholding accountability. While there was no stated concern for those same from those same voices demanding that we follow process and procedure upholding contracts, policies and procedures. Why is we have always done it this way acceptable? Why do they not question test scores that are based on a lower standard of achievement postcoid than before? Why are they not concerned
116with the third 35% not meeting standards? Why aren't we we not concerned at the positive things that the board is achieving new programs committees that are all the great work to achieve more opportunities for our students including accessing education in their home district. Why is the vocal Why is my iPad not cooperating? Y is the vocal. Sorry, technology. My apologies. My I'm having technology problems. Why is the vocal voices in the room not asking those questions, expressing concerns? That is accountability. One of the benefits of accountability is that it creates a path to improvement which I promised which is this is what I promised the community along with transparency and oversight. That's what I know I'm doing and that's what I know I am trying to guide the board to uphold. So thank you. So
117that's the end of the reports. I'd like to move on to our first agenda item which is um an information item the update on the restorative practices within a progressive discipline system and the California healthy kids survey. Dr. glass. Dr. Keller, >> good evening. Thank you very much for having me tonight. I'm going to do a 25m minute presentation in 16 minutes. Um, good evening, President Morgan, members of the board, Dr. Glass and community. My name is Dr. Michael Keller. I'm the director of social emotional support. I work with an incredible team of school social workers, school counselors, school psychologists on schoolbased mental health, health and nursing services, college and career education, and an amazing group of teachers and staff that I'm so proud to work with every day. Um before I begin tonight, I'd
118like to briefly just ground this work in a leadership framework. And this is from Gallup. Um, Gallup's national research tells us that people, especially in times of concern, look for four things from leadership. Trust, compassion, stability, and hope. In the context of our schools, in the context of the student discipline, trust means that we have clear expectations and we follow through consistently. And I appreciate what member Morgan, President Morgan had said. Compassion means we support students in learning from mistakes. Stability means we have structured systems. That's really important for this topic and hope means that we believe that students can grow and improve over time and every student is really valuable to us. We want them to learn from their experiences. Our discipline system is designed to deliver all four and our system is structured,
119consistent and grounded in both safety and accountability. So to guide us tonight, we're addressing four key areas. how discipline works, alternatives to suspension, what the data shows, just an up, we have some updates from our from our October presentation, and how to go about promoting safety in our schools. Each of these areas is directly connected to board policy and state requirements. We are required by law to to provide safe learning environments while respecting the rights of all students. And I think that's critically important. um that the constitutional rights that apply to all of us as adults apply to our students. The students sense of belonging while also being held accountable to the behavioral standards in our school community are not competing priorities. They're mutually reinforcing. And I think that's an important concept. We view discipline
120as teaching. And I've said this in the previous presentation, but but the reward of discipline is disciple. And our opportunities for redemption exist alongside clear expectations and consequences. So we've added a little bit of content to this. So our discipline system is governed by education code and board policy. And you can see on the lefth hand side there's many board policies and administrative regulations that are related to potential discipline context or situations. Exclusionary disciplines such as a suspension or expulsion are used when required for safety or mandated by law. And really it's a it's a decision of last resort. And oftentimes it's a it's it's a most high tension situation you can have in inter interacting with a student or a group of students. Documentation of discipline context and all forms are important data points
121for us. Um that's we we use a behavioral threat assessment process that I'll touch on shortly um inside our multi-tered systems of support and that data helps us to know when students have patterns of misconduct we need to focus more attention and resources on those students. We also monitor our data to ensure fairness and proportionality across student groups as required by state and federal guidance. So you can see we have a very structured process for for incidents that are are considered behavioral incidents at school. So every incident follows a structured process. We investigate, we collect evidence, we have conferences with relevant witnesses or the student in question, the conduct in question. We really try to describe and articulate that information. There's documentation that's collected and provided. There's an administrative review process which is really important
122and students and families are included in the process. We want to hear about not only from the student that might be a victim in a particular case or somebody that might be perceived I mean it might be an interactional conflict. So there might be two victims in the case. So we want to ensure fairness, consistency and due process. And we um and we always collaborate on this. We use a multi-tered systems of support process. the site administer typ administrator or an principal or assistant principal will typically lead this work. They'll consult with a district office with Dr. Canterburg or myself and um or Jen Moss if it's a student that's receiving special education services or um interim director of special education and we may even receive legal consult depending on the nature of the case.
123I want to highlight just some updates to our thinking in in the fall of this year. The Center for Prevention and Partnership from the Department of Justice published updated resources for school districts really integrating their behavioral threat assessment and management process into the multi-tered system of support. And it's really it's it's it's very helpful for us to be thinking about that important piece of data documentation over time. We want to identify the concern, want to investigate, of course, similar to what I just shared, assess the level of risk this time and and not only for the individual incident, but really what is the history and what does the whole child situation look like? And then lastly, how do we manage that risk over time? And by risk, I'm not talking about punitive. I'm talking about
124the level of emotionality and potential risk to the community. So we have many alternatives to suspension and these are these truly don't list them all. So state law requires us to use other means of correction before suspension. These include our workaround positive behavioral interventions and supports. Every school works under this framework. We want to explicitly teach and share the behavioral expectations for students at Thirstston. There's minor and major infractions. At other school sites we heard from Dr. tonight about her system. We want to set clear classroom and school rules. Teachers set that at the beginning of the school year and re reinforce those expectations all year long. We use community. We use restorative practices in a community context at the elementary and middle school levels to sit down and talk about social interactions and behavioral
125transgressions and really try to social problem solve as a group of of peers. That's where the power comes from. We see it even with our student board reps. Their ability to think and problem solve and collaborate with each other to get through challenging disagreements is critically important and really helps to deescalate some potentially escalating situations. So all of these things, all these items that you see up here, these don't replace more serious consequences. They're just part of the whole suite of interventions and supports that we provide for students. Intervention is not the absence of discipline. It's how we work to support the student in preventing that escalation and support the behavioral improvement over time. Okay, I wanted to give you some updated information. This is all of our current year data up through March 20th
126of 2026 before we went to publish. And these are all the discipline incidents by categories through March 20th for all schools. And so you can see that suspension lives in the middle of this graph at 30. So there's been 30 school suspensions this year to date. And there potentially could be more. I would predict past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. So um I'm hopeful not. We have tomorrow. Let's have a great spring break. Let's have a great landing in the end of the year. Uh but but all but it suspension doesn't live alone. It lives within all these other pieces. So there might be a of there's always a conference with the student and that's really the number one con point of contact and there's there's a restorative conversation. What were you
127thinking at the time? How do you think it might have impacted other people? What might you do next time in in a similar situation? So that's that's how we use that technology with working with students. I want to give you a bigger legal framework because there's times when the impact on the school setting is so serious that we really have to think about the safety not only of the student in the moment or the potential victims in the moment. We have to think about the impact on the on the school community. The legal framework of suspension and expulsion. Students engaging in physical harm or serious threats of harm to others, dangerous objects, controlled substances, property damage, bullying, which is pervasive and severe. Um, sexual assault or all categories of conduct that might lead to school
128suspension or potentially expulsion. Most notably, schools must try to offer other means of correction to for student behavior, which might include conferences. we've already discussed them, but conferences with a parent and school staff, referrals to school counselors, school psychologists, or school social workers. Uh, and besides suspension, maybe you go to detention, which is served after school, or maybe you go assigned to Saturday school. And then students that have more chronic issues that are similar behavior types, we might develop a behavior support plan, which really is using behavioral technology to identify the problem behavior and teach replacement behaviors for the student and reinforce that that behavior. There are of course exceptions when the im immediate safety or of students or staff are present or if the students behavior violates ED code such as violence. Um if
129a student's present poses an immediate danger to other individuals in the school setting that might result in immediate suspension. Next I want to talk through ED code section paragraph C. So certain behaviors require mandatory suspension and recommendations for expulsion under state law and that includes possessing, selling, or otherwise furnishing a firearm, brandishing a knife, which is showing it at another student to another person, unlawfully selling a controlled substance. And that list can include everything from prescription medication to illegal substances that well all all marijuana is illegal, but selling selling marijuana on campus for for people under 21 committing or attempting to commit a sexual assault or sexual battery and possession of an explosive that's pretty clear that those make sense that that's not those are not safe things on campus. So these are non-negotiable safety
130thresholds. In these cases, safety overrides all other considerations and you as the board are given that case and you make the recommendation for expulsion. That's not a sightbased decision. State law requires that disciplinary records follow students between districts. So when we send a student to another district, their discipline record goes when they're still enrolled in K12 schools. When we receive students from public education, we're also required to receive that information and notify the current teacher about the that the student has had a suspension in their history and the reason why they're suspended. That's required by law. I'm I'm going a little bit over. Sorry, my 16-minute goal. Under California Education Code, the board has the authority to order expulsion in specific circumstances tied to safety and and when considering prior interventions. Expulsion may occur when
131other means of correction such as counseling, behavior supports, or restorative practices have have been attempted with fidelity, but they've they've not been effective in changing the students behavior, and the students violated one of the other education codes under 48900. It may also occur when a student's behavior presents a continuing danger to the physical safety of others. Those are the thresholds. This reinforces that escalation is built into our system. It is structured and it's not discretionary. When safety is at risk, escalation is required under the law. So, let's jump into some of our updates on our data. So, our current suspension rate this year is 1% districtwide. And you can see the other school site uh suspension rates for this year. I'm not presenting the expulsion data for for today. We we've we've had one expulsion
132this year. Um we have had 24 total students that have had a suspension. And let me jump to this one. So, of those uh we've had 30 total suspensions. Some of those students have had repeat suspendable offenses. And again, those are the students that we'd want to add more intervention and supports for. Our mo multiple suspension rate is a really important indicator. 16.6% of our students this year are having multiple suspensions. We definitely want to support them more. Comparably to Orange County, the 2425 multiple suspension rate was 24%. And across the state 29% fully one in three students are having multiple suspension excluded from school. So we have better in my opinion. I mean th this is this is our information to date. It's not last calendar year but or last school year rather but
133I I think the systems of care we have in place to try to make sure that students are not repeat offending is critically important. I also want to share that of all the students that are enrolled currently in school. Well, I just ran a suspension data check on them. 95% of students never get suspended from school. So, it's an extremely rare event. And again, we are thinking about this from an educational perspective. We want students to be successful in our community. We want them to graduate and be successful participants in whatever their life looks like after high school. And so, getting that feedback, which suspension is really ultimately feedback for a student, is really important. And we want them to be and we always have re-entry meetings for students and we want to talk about
134what is going to happen now. Here are the supports are we're going to add the counseling supports, the check-ins with administrators, the safety protocols that we might put in place for various situations. So then looking at some more of the historical data, this chart's been updated since October. We have the now the added California the 2425 data has been published. It wasn't published in October 23rd when we met last, but the state uh suspension rate was 2.9%. Last year we were at 1.7% as a district. Orange County was 1.8%. We're at 1.7%. And you can see again that reflects the data that I shared on that previous slide. So over the last what's important I think is that over the last two and a two and a half years and now this including this current
135year we we're continuing to trend lower than Orange County averages on sus and exclusionary discipline suspensions. Um and we we continue to try to we want to reinforce the idea that our systems of care prevention on the front end supportive intervention through the discipline process monitoring students over time are critically important to try to help support students through those processes. Next, I'm going to be sharing something. I I did a large write up in last week's weekly all the aspects of the California Healthy Kid survey. It was a lot and I and I don't I don't have time to publish the sixth grade one, which I will get to you. I promise it's coming in a couple weeks, but um but we've looked at seventh, 9th, and 11th grade data since I've worked here in
1362017. And actually, I think that data was used as a rationale for why they wanted to hire my position and initially the first two social workers, which I'm really grateful for. We administered the California Healthcare Surveys to students in seventh, 9th, and 11th grades. We had great participation rates. N over 90%. Anything above 60% is considered reliable and valid data for the population of that class. And the good news that we that we survey kids every other year, it's almost a cohort that comes through. Now, of course, kids transfer in and out, but really the bulk of that student population is the same group of students. The ch the California Healthy Kids survey explores student experiences with school engagement and supports, safety, bullying, and violence, and mental health and substance use. These indicators, safety, connection,
137and support are strongly linked to behavior, learning, and school outcomes. And that's what's important. This slide really shows this developmental framework model. We want all those things on the right hand side to be positive academic social social functioning, emotional regulation, compliance with behavioral standards and norms and overall health. Like that's what we want for all kids. If we work backward and look at the left-hand side, we want to be have our levers of control are on these caring relationships, high expectations for students. That's academic and behavioral and opportunities for participation and contribution safe. And then and then if we think about thinking about Maslo's hierarchy of needs when applied to the school setting, safety, belonging, and a sense of purpose to succeed, those conditions directly influence student behavior. So let's start with safety. So these
138are 7th, 9th, and 11th graders. the two 2026 compared to the Orange County average conveniently in orange. Um, our students endorsing that they feel safe or very safe at school, it's 89 to 90%. Which are some of the highest marks that we've had and they continue to trend up and maintain a high level at all grade levels. Seventh grade in particular has jumped up quite a bit. So that's a testament to the great systems work that's happening at the middle school. It's not perfect. We're humans, but we want to continue to work on ensuring that we have students feeling that sense of safety. So, how do we do that? So, we look at let on this chart. One of the areas is school connectedness. The school connectedness item is built on five different survey items.
139I feel close to people at school. I'm happy to be at this school. I feel like I'm a part of this school. The teachers at the school treat students fairly. And then that item we just looked at, I feel safe at school. All those are added aggregated together to make this item. I also compared our results with some of the districts that are kind of considered benchmark districts for us. So Palo Alto is up there in blue and Capistrani Unifi's in green and Orange County average again is in orange. And our students overall agree or strongly agree at very high levels. 78% in seventh grade that they're they're school connected to school. 79% in 9th and 81% in in 11th grade. On the next item, caring adult student relationships. This is foundational. We want students
140to perceive that adults care for them. That's the first line of defense when students could come forward when a problem is early and emerging. Students in bullying situations, we want them to feel like they can come to a trusted or caring adult. So students are reporting strong outcomes and endorsing caring adult student relationships. Um I I want to take note of this. This is showing 2024 data and 2026 data for LBUSD and the Orange County average. So what you can do with this is almost look at it a cohort. So the seventh graders in blue are now the ninth graders in red. So that's increased significantly. That's fantastic. The ninth graders in blue are now the 11th graders in red. Again, a 12 a 12% increase there in that perception of caring adult student relationships.
141And notably, seventh grade has a really strong jump. Seventh grade is in 2026, 76% of students are endorsing that they have caring uh teacher adult student relationships. And these items are I have a teacher or some other adult at my school who really cares about me, who notices when I'm not there. That's really important. And who listens to me when I have something to say. That's one thing that we always work on is like students often report to us that they don't feel like the adults have time for them to share their share their needs. And then lastly from the healthy kids survey high expectations. So this slide also shows the 2024 to 2026 comparative data and you can see similar cohort jumps and overall strong results with teachers having high expectations when compared to
142the OC average and our most recent data in uh 2024. So these three items are there's a teacher or some other adult from my school who tells me when I do a good job, who always wants me to do my best, and who believes that I will be a success. That last item, we we went to a we went to a retreat with some professors from Harvard and across the country. And that last item, the belief that you're going to be successful in life has become one of our key items that we we've built into our high school and our middle school fall surveys and our school counseling. We actually know that when you have two adults in your life that believe you'll be successful. This doesn't mean academically, doesn't mean in a specific area.
143It's just like I have this general belief that you're going to make something of your life. It's very predictive of high school graduation rates and success in post-secary life and reduces mental health implications and and confidence and all the things that we want in our learner profile. Okay. So to land this plane uh this work is integrated into our multi-tered systems of support PBIS and school safety systems. Staff are trained and supported to implement consistently. We partner with law enforcement. So thankful for arrangement with Lagona Beach Police Department. Our school resource officers are very close partners especially when cases become serious or cross over into the legal realm and we continuously refine our system based on data. It is really a data-driven system outcomes and evolving legal requirements. We have a true multi-disiplinary team that
144collaborates, shares expertise and determines a direction based on the best interests of students. the school community and within parameters of the law. And then looking ahead, uh we continue to work on enhancing our systems, engage parents as partners in the prevention work through the family resource center and at school sites. Dr. Hatchel mentioned some really great work they're doing around parent toolkit. We're working on uh emotional regulation uh parent education with elementary families. Um school school power is such a great partner. They sponsored our book club in the fall. We read emotionally resilient tween and teens which was very uh insightful book about supporting youth empowerment and under conditions of social conflict. Uh we've had parent other parent workshops such as the strengthen parenting series. We're now on to our fourth of five sessions that
145we're doing with parents of fifth through 12th graders on substance abuse prevention and looking at critical trends. We explored last night we had an event where we looked at mariju marijuana THC cannabis products and we looked at vaping and and all the trends from the recently the what you saw in the health healthy kids data and how to go about having great conversations with your kids supporting them and then what to do in a crisis if you've got some issues with that. So at the core of our work is a clear system. We set high expectations. We equip students with the information and tools to make healthy choices at school. We respond immediately to school safety concerns. We escalate when necessary. We engage parents as partners in the support process to the greatest extent possible.
146And I know we're not all I mean these are again these are high tension situations. So we want to work together. We have we want to educate our kids. We believe that all kids can be successful. So um we we definitely want to continue to provide the needed supports to help improve behaviors over time. And that's it. Open it up to questions. Thank you so much, Dr. Keller. I know you and I have talked about this for a bajillion years, and I appreciate all of the um work that you and your team are doing. So, let me see. Uh let me start. Can I start with you this time, >> Dr. Kelly? >> Thank you for an excellent report. Um and thank you for reminding me. I read this someplace recently and I was uh
147thinking and thinking where did I read this? I read it in the weekly uh report that we get. Uh, and so my memory is okay. >> Yes. >> But but again, you've done a great job. Your team does a great job. I'm very happy how they interact and they wrap around their services and I think it's a privilege as far as to work with you and to see what we're doing and how we're doing suspensions and um, you know, top job. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Member Hills. Any questions? Yeah, I wanted to ask you um under uh under our uh board bylaw 9005, it says that um one of the one of the roles of the board is to uh serve as a judicial hearing and appeals body in accordance with law, board
148policies, and negotiated agreements. Um, and you know, I seem to remember when my kids were at uh Guna Beach High School, they had a student handbook that had a student bill of rights and parents bill of rights and it had a due process uh a statement about uh the right to due process. Um right now if a student is suspended or if it's a student is subject to any disciplinary action under the matrix that you have um if the is there a mechanism that implements this bylaw that that where uh the student andor the parents can go um directly to the board to get a hearing uh on it. >> Yeah, Dr. Glass will address that for you. Uh thank you Trusty Hills. The process is is outlined in statute. Um it's 49070 and it
149indicates that the record is what can be amended. So the um parents can request to have a record um amended. The record can be corrected only if it's meets criteria that are outlined in the statute. That includes if it's inaccurate, if it's misleading, if the discipline was unsubstantiated or there was an improper inference, u there was um competence issue with an outside observer or not based upon a personal observation or violates a student rights student right. So those are the reasons that a record can be uh corrected. The process is that a parent requests makes a written request to me the super as superintendent. Now sometimes that comes through the school uh sometimes it comes informally and I work with council to provide back to the parent here's the criteria that you need to appeal
150it on and give that uh give that back to me. So we support the parent through that process. The first step after receiving the written complaint and the reasons that the parent is um appealing the record is that we have a process at the school uh where there's an administrative review at the school. So the school sits down with the parents and and the student um to talk about what happened and the school has the opportunity to uh reverse the record through that conversation. Um if that does not resolve the issue, then there's a hearing that comes to me. Um and so I bring in uh the parent and the administrator who created the record. They both have an opportunity to state um their view of events and present any evidence and then I make
151a determination. If I were to be conflicted or unable to um serve as an arbiter of that decision fairly, I could create a three member member panel uh to do that. Um if the parent is not satisfied with the outcome of that, they do have the opportunity to appeal it further to the board of education and the same criteria around what are the reasons that the board would consider overturning record or amending the record or or correcting it apply. and then that would come to the board of education and you would have the opportunity um to uh change a student's record through that process. So that's what it that's what the process looks like here and the board can also create a a three member panel to do that um as well and I'll defer
152to council if there are any pro process steps that I've missed >> and I'll I'll defer to Dr. Keller, if you want to take this on, but I'll I'll I'll offer this. Um there actually as far as due process concerns a suspension. Um there actually are minimal due process requirements relative to a suspension with the most important requirement being that the school has to attempt to meet with the parents to explain and to lay out for them, you know, what's happening. there should be something in writing and then typically it's up to five days. Um but there is there's not like um in an expulsion appeal or an expulsion action that would be the buck stops with the board >> where there could be a panel that makes a recommendation that's appealable actually to the
153to in Orange County the department of education. But for suspension, it's it's it's more low level with the key emphasis being on a meeting with the meeting with the parents before it happens, unless it's a situation where either time or safety or concerns for the well-being of the student or property um interfere with the ability to have that meeting. So, it's much less than than an expulsion. >> Right. So, I'm familiar with the statute that the superintendent outlined with regard to changing the record and also with the um the statute regarding um attempting to contact the parent. Uh and um we this district had a unfortunate situation some time back where um that did not occur and it ended up in court and the district lost in trial level and then it was appealed and
154the district lost at the appellet level that the students civil rights under what is it um 48 911 or something I can't remember what the statute is. Yeah. But um it's close enough. So I guess what I was asking was in addition to those statutory processes, in addition to the due process that you would have under 48911 or it is um could the board or the district um create a kind of Sue generous u process um to take appeals um if the in other words I'm just really asking there was a time I remember when parents if they weren't happy with what was happening could come to the board and they basically have a hearing. Um, and maybe we don't want to do that, but I'm just asking, is that an option to do something
155that would be um that you would do locally >> um to try to create an enhanced due process? >> I'll I'll answer it. Um, is is it is it prohibited as a matter of law? No. I think though if you looked at surrounding districts in Orange County throughout the state, I think very few on a suspension level would have that kind of review process where the board involves itself to the same level on a 5-day suspension um as it would for an expulsion. There there is more due process. So, is it prohibited? No. uh would it be um a wise step? I'll I'll reserve that kind of counsel for the board through an opinion letter if if you're interested. >> One one last question real quick. Um under the statute um it's I guess um
156I guess it's um 35012. Um the with regard to the student representatives on the board, it creates a special process where um the school can involve the student representatives on the board in the restorative justice. Yeah. >> Um uh when there's a student that's up for expulsion. Um and they can actually have the student board members participate in the development of a disciplinary action um that might provide for alternatives alternatives forms of discipline uh as opposed to just expulsion and the students would actually contribute to that. Do we have we ever implemented that provision uh here in Lagouna Beach with the students? I don't know, maybe he won't know. >> Not for ex Well, we we have it in my tenure since 2017 for expulsion related offenses. Um, what we do have is a very
157promising pilot program that's now it's really a year old where they're using student what they call student success panels. There's been more than 30 students trained and those students are trained to um in discipline situations that that have been referred for a suspension and it could be for shoving a kid down to um stealing it. It could be for a variety of different reasons. And that panel of three individuals, there's a school counselor that sits next to them to help facilitate, but it's really a studentrun session. and this the person that is called in that they can choose either the suspension and do and serve that suspension and then that they're done. We also offer care and followup with them after that or the student success panel which would be in lie of suspension and
158they would have to execute what the students develop as restorative programming for the student. The the person that is the student that is involved with the bea the the violation they're able to tell their story. they're able to have a they're prepped ahead of time and they're able to reflect on why they did that, how would other people feel, what would they do next time, those those kind of reflection ideas as part of that conversation. Student leaves that meeting that then the student success panel develops a restorative plan that's executed within a couple of weeks and then if they successfully complete it, the suspension is not executed for that particular student. Now, all that's documented and all that's tracked for for those students. Um, we've had nine cases. out. I think as of tomorrow, there'll
159be up to nine cases for the school year. >> Unless you want me to ask more. >> No, >> let's see if some of the other questions get answered. Um, before we continue, I just want to anyone that's here to speak on this topic or the next topic, make sure you fill out a card in the back and bring those forward. And when you are speaking, thank you for doing this. Speak into the microphone so we can make sure we can all hear you. Um, member Malchesky, do you have any questions? I think most of my questions. >> Thank you, >> D. I have a couple. So, um, as far as suspension for the list, uh, you know, the serious physical injury, controlled substance, assault and battery, and so on. Um, is there are those
160automatic suspensions? that it says you may you may suspend for those. It says you may and I mean I know for instance like in Newport Mesa we >> um President Morgan and I met a young man and he and his his buddies at lunchtime all went and smoked pot in a car. Police came. It was it was lots of smoke coming out of the car. He knew if he was suspended that he would lose his scholarship and he would not be able probably lose his admission too. The school had something in plan. They had a whole program in plan for kids like that. Do we do we have something like that? I know of another student who had who brought a pocketk knife to school, not to use, but it was just in his backpack.
161you kind of forgot. I mean, do we need to all automatically >> I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I wanted to know if I could ask a followup question. I was meant to speak. >> Okay. Um, so do we, it seems like we're doing a great job having students um with our positive behavior plans and respected adults and so on, not get to that place. But when they do, it's kind of an instant and it it's do we have an instant plan in place rather than just suspending them? And also suspension is rather serious. I mean, I I promised to mention for one of the people who contacted me about this tonight that she um when she had her suspension conference and left, they said, you know, it would really wouldn't matter that much.
162Well, somebody who's suspended can't be an ASB. They can't run for an office. There are problems with scholarships. Um, schools look at that when they're putting kids together for roommates. Uh, there are admission problems. So, it seems like it there should be a way to get it off their record depending on what it is. >> Um, which question would you like answer first? >> So, first answer. Yeah. Um, so somebody is in trouble and they Okay, I know. Uh, like two boys get in a fight and they're both suspended. Could there have been an alternative? Do you have an alternative ready? >> Yeah, of course. Yeah, there could be a restorative conversation. They could have some mutual agreement. There could be a safety plan that's put in place. There could be a lot of different
163pieces that that would pre prevent that suspension from happening. depends on the severity and damage to that's happened. I mean, if you have serious bodily injury, we're talking I mean, that's a different conversation. Um, but two kids roughousing and going too far and and that's I mean, I I don't know how else to have you imagine it, but um, you know, that happens that happens all the time. So, yeah, we have we have many contacts with students. Part of that 203 that you saw up there on that graph with the student contacts, there's probably a lot of those. And so they didn't result in suspension. >> Okay. So there's we have another plan for that. >> I might add add to this um point. >> Um kids make mistakes. That's part of being a young
164person >> and you want to have opportunities in place for a student to make a different choice to learn from it. At the same time, it is important that when we have a discipline issue that there's a record and the reason for that is for safety. So if you have a student who is repeatedly escalating and we get in a school safety situation, you need to know the story. >> So I think that's an important element of this. Almost not almost every single one of these instances is an individual or individual circumstances that have to be considered. But um we should consider ways that that students can remove records or amend records for things that are um less consequential. But sometimes it's important for us to develop a record too to protect that student safety,
165make sure that they're getting the support they need. Um and um if we see patterns of escalation, I think Dr. Dr. Kelly, you also wanted to talk some about um how disciplinary records were shared or not shared when it came to something like >> so when we the only record that we share with a college is going to be letters of recommendation potentially for a student or the transcript and on the transcript there's no record of suspension or expulsion. Now in the application process there are many different I mean depends on where you're applying. They may ask about a discipline history or conduct and they're going to ask for an explanation of why you had that behavior or why you had that infraction. It's not something that we affirmatively report. Now, if you're going to
166go to like the Naval Academy or some other like military type academy and you've been I mean there's many rule out reasons why you wouldn't be wouldn't be able to be an entry- level candidate there. School discipline or chronic school discipline might be a rule out criteria for that. So, um, that's why I mean, we're not trying to exclude have students be excluded. We also want to make sure that for liability reasons, we have an accurate record of behavior in the very unlikely event that that we need to have that as part of a story about what we did at the moment, what the level or scale of that impact was on the on the student or other other people involved and what our disposition outcomes were in terms of providing support. Often these will
167lead to like counseling engagements for students that will be multiple counseling sessions to really try to work on anger management. The substance abuse piece is really important. We know that young people who are using illegal substances like THC and other others are so at risk of lifetime harm from using substances. So we automatically don't we don't suspend kids immediately on first offenses when they're caught on campus. We put them we offer them the Jade program. The high school has offered it six times this year and and five of the six kids have decided to take them up on it. If they don't want to take them up on it, they can and they have a a couple month window to fulfill the program. There's a parent education component. There's awareness legal legal information that's provided
168and ways to try to do alternatives to that behavior. So, um there is an a really strong evidence-based educational component that we think is a really good first step for first offenses and that that gets removed from a student's record. Yeah, first first offense is is a little scary to me. And I know um somebody else Oh, I didn't mean to >> on the good side. I know allies and colleges don't ask. Correct. But I know MIT does, University of Michigan. There are a lot of schools that do ask and it's up to the student to answer honestly if they have had a discipline. >> I agree with you. Yes. And that's true. And so, and I also want to kind of think about the difference in a context between somebody getting suspended in third
169grade for something, never having something that happens for a long time. Yeah, that would be awesome. >> I mean, I think we're on I mean, I don't want anybody to have their trajectory impacted by that. And also, I truly believe that people end up where they end up and and the match is what it matters. And sometimes those little turning points in life end up being totally fulfilling for a student. And so we can't predict or prevent or or safetyize every situation. And and that is feedback for the kid. That's feedback for the student. And it's our job to have them be like, "This is serious is it rises to the level the legal threshold of suspension. That's how serious it is. And we're here for you. We we want you to learn from this
170and recover and we're going to walk with you into what your what your options are after high school and they're going to be great." >> Good. The the other um comment question I have um we've gotten a number a number of parents have contacted that they're results from the healthy survey look awesome and most kids feel really safe here. We have students that don't and sometimes it is because of staff, >> okay? >> And they go to the right source to talk about it and they don't feel like they're heard or anything happens. What What can we do about that? >> Well, students safety with staff like I I I think my philosophy is do no harm. And so if somebody's harm causing that has to be directly addressed by an administrative process through human
171resources, investigated and remedied immediately. That's that's that has to be the outcome. So um we only want the best people working with our kids. the people that I see that I my colleagues I haven't directly observed or would I or sus or do I suspect in any way that anybody is other than minimally kind and maximally fantastic with cultivating really powerful relationships with the kids. It doesn't mean that there's not individuals that say things in a moment of time or do things in a moment of time that are it's inappropriate. They too need to go through a restorative process with the kid if it's lower level. If it's serious and egregious, there's other human resource remedies that need to be taken on. >> Thank you. Student board reps, do you have any questions? >> Uh,
172I don't have any questions, though. I do. I I can wait. >> We'll go to comments. Yeah, we're going to do questions and then we're going to have public comment and then we'll come back for discussion. It's not an action item. Um, and then we'll move on. >> Mesi, you said you had No. Oh, sorry. Okay. Okay, terrific. >> Okay, so I have a few um questions. Um and again um to member Malesky's point um this item and actually just something that D said um this item um was presented in October and thank you and thank you for the extensive follow-up. I do appreciate it. Um but there was a request for a deeper dive um as D mentioned because of con community concerns that were expressed following the last presentation. um that I think
173at the end of the day that some of the pro some of it was a process discussion and I think that's one of one of the reasons why I've asked uh Jonathan Pearl to be here this evening is is for the process and the legalities of some of the processes. Um if there's a sus if there's a situation where that has led to um that there's an altercation there's a situation where students end up in the principal's office there's a conversation of should they be suspended or not. who um who's reviewing all of that information that comes in prior to in implementing a suspension and at what point in that discussion is there alternatives dis offered or discussed because I know one of the things here said conference with a student so actually conference with
174a student that was another question are the parents present during that conference the initial conference with a student >> well it depends on if that's the evidence portion so factual statements so typically there's going to be written statements that are that are gathered for evidence uh for the initial piece like what happened and what where were you what happened what was the situation and then that information then that'll lead to typically interviews with the student and and oftentimes that's just direct interviews with either the person that involved witnesses involved the parent conference p and then there's consultation so then within that either that person will be consulting with the district office and talk to Dr. Cannonburgg or some other it depends on the level of severity here. So, so if it's severe and somebody's been
175hurt and there's damage done, well, you have to talk through like what what where is this going? Like what is the appropriate what have we done actually? What I mean we have to look at what other means of correction have we implemented? Has the student been given ample expectation like clear expectations around behavior? What is the history? What is the pattern of behavior here? So there's many different elements that we explore prior to making the decision rendering in that in that case. And then from there it the the parent would be involved if there parent would be involved if there's suspension or if there's no suspension. So the parent has contacted hey your child was up in the office today because they they should be contacted. Your child was up in the office today because
176they had an altercation with another student. We don't disclose the other student's name. The child will go home and be able to tell the parent what who that student is. But due to privacy laws, we don't communicate that information. >> Yeah. No, I'm not looking for any specific. >> Yeah, but but it depends on the level of severity. That's what that's where the that I mean just whenever we talk about the meeting the threshold of may suspend, we have to be looking at we have to have a very clear evidence pattern and information that supports that recommendation. >> So >> just >> go ahead >> if I could just add the the legal framework. It's 48900.5. And so for the site administrator or the site professionals that are determining whether or not to make that
177recommendation or to implement a suspension, the statute says you may suspend, but part of it is you have to consider other whether other means of correction are feasible. So it really goes to what Trustee Perry was talking about, what you're asking about, President Morgan, that that's part of the triage before you resort to suspension. Are other means of correction feasible? That's the statutory scheme. It wants to minimize the number of removals. >> That's our preferred path as well. So like we would prefer not to be we'd prefer to have something that's an evidence-based response that keeps the student in class. We value that time for them. So what if it's being challenged? What if there's So what if there's an incident where um it it's being challenged by the student, by the parents, what have
178you that that the that the information brought forward is maybe not complete or something wasn't included or there wasn't or there was factors not taken into consideration their students record if they have no other instance in instance in instances if we don't offer an alternative. So I guess there's two questions. If we don't offer an alternative, does that put the district in at risk for litigation risk because an alternative wasn't offered? And then because I think we need to make sure I I the concern is that sometimes maybe options weren't offered or the record wasn't concerned because I think same with D. I've been a lot of people have contacted me on this. So I'm just trying to u bring this forward again like I said from a process standpoint. So if a suspension is
179in bestowed on a student and information has come up, is that now in in a holding pattern, can the student stay in school until it's re-reed? Um how does that process work? If there's >> It really is goes back to uh Trusty Hill's question. Uh it's a record review. So in in a case where um a student is issued a suspension, a student would start serving the suspension. uh as part of that is as uh Mr. Pearl said the site administrator should consider other alternatives to the suspension. So if those are available and are applicable site administrator should use one of those alternatives first. >> Uh and as I mentioned earlier all of these situations are individual and so sometimes it's not appropriate for something other than a suspension. The student needs to be suspended.
180So this the site administrator can use that discipline step if there's an error along the way either with not considering the uh restorative or other steps or any of the other issues that you talked about with um the evidence wasn't complete or um well there's a whole statutory list that I read earlier. If any of those are present then you're into the records records uh amendment process that I talked about earlier in response to Trusty Hills. If a suspension is under appeal and the student is out, can they come to school or not? >> No, >> they cannot. Okay. Um, >> and I and I wouldn't call it an appeal. >> It's not a really appeal. It's a review. >> It's not an appeal of a suspension. It's more so that is in some cases
181you can use that records review to address the issues that Dr. Glass was outlining. >> Okay. Um, okay. So, one of the one of the um I'd have to go back and watch the video, but it was mentioned, I believe, in October that one of when a student is suspended or um and and then come back because if they're they come back, but they're suspended and they come back to school, one of the the possible options that they could participate in is like a is a is like a general assembly that they could attend to to work their way back into the district. Is that create is that correct that there's like an assembly on positive behavior that constitutes particular practice? Is that do we have an assembly that we do or some kind of
182a presentation that we do on a student with that? So >> if a student's been suspended are you talking about like coming back >> like a restorative process assembly? >> So when a student comes back we have a restorative process in place as part of the re-entry process. So there's more reflective conversation. So restorative practices just for a very simple definition is really like how do you repair harm? How do you go about I mean harm was caused we can all agree and one of the pieces is like recognizing and being empathetic and understanding that harm was caused in that situation. So that's develop that's really developmentally important. So like how do other people feel when I punch them in the face? So um so it's really important that they um can state what happened.
183It's really important that they know that that's not appropriate behavior in the setting and that they could cause serious harm. What are the other repercussions? We want them to understand like what those pieces are. And then what's really important in those kind of cases is just like the vigilance and monitoring afterward with all the teachers that that the student would be around off outside. You know, it depends on the setting, but a lot of that time that happens in less structured settings like on playground or recess or transitions. Um, and we want to make sure that there's counseling opportunities that are available. Sometimes that I mean people people who are uh act out externally are typically something is going on. They're having mood regulation problems. They're reactive. There could be substance abuse connections. There could
184be other things and we wouldn't if that came up in a counseling context. We're working with a student to try to support recovery options for them. It's not punitive if that comes up when a when a student is is in those settings. So we we have a full like again we very we care about the whole process. So that includes the first day of school in preschool all the way up to when they walk across the stage in high school. And we have 247 monitoring of student cases through gaggle and the we tip system where we have systems in place to be able to respond to it to with our logo police department after hours and on weekends and on holidays. Um, we also respond right away when we get tips that come in as
185quickly as possible to try to investigate. Do all these things, investigate, identify the concern. What's more tricky, of course, if we have anonymous complaints, we don't, and that's what this is what I'd encourage the board. If you have community concerns and people don't want to come forward, I would just try to have a supportive conversation that I mean, sometimes we'll just disagree and that's a problem. So and and unfortunate but but oftenimes we can still work through trying to repair our relationship. We want kids to feel confident and good in school. We want them to be know their strengths. We know we want them to be able to work towards their dreams in now and in the future. So, >> so I think to that point then and I think to the question that D
186was asking what alternatives do we offer which pri right but this idea that like one of the ideas that we had visited and this was like she said it was been a while >> you're talking about the one on campus I didn't mean to interrupt you but you describe what you're talking about >> yes but I and I think what I what it resonated to me is that it was actually a complete alternative across the board so there was no suspension ion and depending on the severity of the action depended sometimes on how long they had to participate. It was a two, you know, was a two-day, a 10day, a two week, a month. And and the whole purpose of it is that it didn't it the record is that they participated in the program,
187not that they were suspended and then participated in the program because suspension, right, has it has its limitations of what the student can participate in going forward if there's suspens suspension on their record, including scholarships and things like that. And and as we've said many times, I think um member Hill said this the first time, we don't want to be known for our worst moment. We want to be known for our best moments. Yes. And when it when the focus is constantly on somebody's best moment, we're missing the the 99% of who that person is. And if we're starting with our students, how do how wi with all of these processes? And I and I think there's a lot of really great things that we do. I love the wellness rooms. I've been a big
188supporter of all of those things. And so I I mean you know this has come forward again because we are hearing concerns from community members that maybe the process wasn't followed or um there was an attempt to correct their mis their their behavior before the suspension and the discussion came. They understood the problem and thought oh god that was a bad judgment call. So but that wasn't given credit right. So, and something like this program, like a program would allow for >> a mistake, a bad judgment call because our students all, you know, that our students don't have their frontal cortex developed until they're 25. And now they're saying because of technology and everything else, it could even be longer. And so, how are we is there more that we could do that might be
189more self-contained that brings that student into an alternative program? And is that something that we can do within the legal guidelines of suspension and everything else? It does say we have to offer alternative programs. And so I can't help but think that when we talk to our students, right, sometimes we're like we're like we're like Charlie Brown, right? The voice in the back. I think it was Charlie Brown that had that. So I'm wondering if something more of active participation is is >> so campus program. um we visited that program and so I I I recently in a in a weekly probably in probably around October of last year did a more comprehensive write up on that program. So Newport Mesa does contract with one on campus. It's run by noncredential non-certificated staff members who
190have experience in drug rehabilitation world. There's certified drug rehabilitation specialists in there. It's it's provided Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in a they built a room to be able to house this program. They have they serve students and and they have a parent component that they serve students and families uh after school hours without administrative supervision, which is uh in my personally it's extremely risky to have a contract provider on campus providing that service after hours. That's my opinion. It also costs a million dollars a year for their contract to serve all of their schools. We have our wellspaces open five days a week at the middle school and high school. They're open before school at middle at lunch and after school for students to access. We have licensed clinical social workers serving those students. Those
191people have thousands of hours of experience of pre-licens to to get their license plus their mid-year career professionals, early mid-career professionals. They have seen students in this most serious crisis situations, life-threatening suicidal ideiation and homicidal ideiation. And they also have seen students that have other substance abuse issues or comorbid issues and they navigate and case manage those cases like true professionals. Keeping the parents in the loop to the greatest extent possible, working through treatment program is connecting them with appropriate outside opportunities. And our Jade program is available for students. It is an evidence-based program. The district funds that program for students. I think that's a great service for us. great opportunity to have students to be able to have that opportunity to get an evidence-based recovery model program in an outside third party that the
192district funds and they're able to get the very similar information that they would get in this type of a program and also they would not have a suspension on their record. So I do agree with you. I don't want students to be suspended or have a suspension record unless it's warranted for them and we have a legal obligation to m be to track that information because should a student engage in a very serious behavior where there's life-threatening situations involved and we have erased a record what I wonder about the liability in that situation. >> Can't do it. >> Yeah. >> You can't erase the record. Is that what you said? >> Right. That's a >> unless unless you go through 49070 and that that could be but >> so are some of these programs though
193that are available and even within our own or or similar programming out there with certified you know if it were to be something created within with certific certified employees and things like that could that serve as an alternative to suspension completely so it's not on the record as a suspension but it's >> and really your your hands are only tied as Dr. Keller said earlier when you're dealing with an offense that falls under little C, >> right? That's where it's a firearm or it's a sexual assault or it's brandishing a knife. And there are two more that I'm not remembering right now. >> That's where the ad code says shall suspend >> and recommend for expulsion. >> That's where you don't have discretion. Other kinds of offenses, you absolutely do. Dr. Keller, could you advance
194to the the data on suspension numbers? >> Yeah. One one more the percentages. Okay. Um so again, the comparative or benchmark context is important. Um you look at where we are now as a district, we're at 1%. California actually does a good job on this. You see last year it was uh 2.9%. For all schools nationally, that number is 5%. So you're oneif of national data. >> Thank you. >> Um for high schools, if you look at L LBHS, they're currently at 2.3%. The national high school data, and this is from the Office of Civil Rights, is 7%. So you're far again far below that. They don't they don't keep middle school data. secondary or elementary, but your two elementary schools at 1%.8 the data on those nationally is is around 2%. So you're half
195of those. So I think it's important to keep bringing back the benchmark data. >> This is evidence of a system working. I mean we do suspend students, we do expel students. It happens. Uh discipline is applied. Records are created and kept. But it's the data doesn't show a system that is compulsively over suspending students. >> So to that point, I have one last question. There's more questions and then we can go forward. Um because I know there's people here that would like to comment on this. Um have we, this is a delicate question, but I'm going to ask it because it has been asked of me to ask it. Um have we changed the reporting structure or um manner of which we identify behavior in the classrooms that is reported because I have been hearing
196that there are some shifts in that and therefore it brings less reporting forward. Have we changed any of those manners of which and what we identify needs to be >> you're talking about like a teacher referral to the administrator? >> Yeah. Kind of sight level like maybe don't >> teachers not to report behavior disruptive behavior issues. >> Yeah. Have we changed what what we bring forward and what constitutes behavior discipline that a teacher should report? Has it been increased and more specific? >> Thank I didn't mean to interrupt. I apologize. Were you done? Okay. Sorry. Um, we have after COVID, we noticed a very significant increase in early childhood behavior issues. Extremely disruptive, disregulated, lots of tech time for for young preschool kids transitioning in. That has tapered off somewhat, but there's still um there's
197still a cohort of of students that really have to look to learn about school behavioral norms. Um, if there's an individual teacher that's or if there's teachers that are concerned that they have disrupted behaviors in class, we would want to work with them directly to provide support in developing their systems, their behavioral systems in class. So, um, that's not necessarily the direct work that I'm doing, but it could be somebody that I would consult with. It could be the work of my team member, Dr. Cannberg, um, or or one of the one of the uh, instructional tosses that might also be able to provide some additional support. The site administrator of course is the first line of contact. I've got I mean we're tracking we should be tracking accurate data. That is true. So um
198so um we would I would want to know if if people are feeling like that that like they're being told not to report behavior issues in class. >> Well, I can circle back on that. I think it's not a teacher, it's sites, it's parents that have kids that have said, you know, Johnny did and nothing happened or so I'm just that's why I'm asking because it it's I don't think I'm the only one that's heard >> what I would encourage you to do and I and I've I've had conversations with board members in the past. Should you become should you arrive at information that is timely and actionable for you and the person asks you not to to say who it is I just want you to know that you're holding on to information as
199a mandated reporter that when we're talking about safety or or issues around student student behavior or potentially violent or dangerous situations that happen I would encourage you to directly report that information even so you may want to frontload conversations with should I should I hear information just like we do in counseling that where your child is in danger, I'm going to have to take steps to appropriately support your child by contacting the appropriate authorities. Dr. >> We can move to public comment. >> Um, I want to be clear that in the tenure that I've had here, we've issued no directives to staff not to report discipline issues and I'm not aware of any uh anything happening in um or my predecessor's tenure either. Uh could you go back or go to a couple of slides
200that shows sort of the the number the total number of discipline issues? It's kind of this um u no not just suspensions. It's the the big chart with 200 on it and yep that one. So um again, you know, I don't want to do public math and try to add all of those up, but you got several hundred discipline instances, right, that are being logged and something happening to them. So if this was a system that was suppressing that, you wouldn't see this this occurring either. Out of all of those, so far this year, you only have 30 that are resulting in suspension. I don't um off the top of my head, I can't think that we've run an expulsion this year. So it's zero. Um so again, it's it's a system that is identifying
201disciplinary incident incidents. Alternatives to suspension are being considered and are occurring and in some cases suspensions are occurring. That's right. where that happens, there is due process. It's afforded to the family if they wish to have the record um amended. >> That's correct. >> Thank you. If there do you have are there any more questions? Because I'd like to get to public comment as well. Go ahead. >> I'd like to do public comments, too. Um, it it I know it seems like we're asking something that we've already had, but I need you to know that in the last two weeks, I've heard from four parents that specifically um were upset about a teacher and went through all the channels and and really the um discipline came back on the students. Um, so I'm concerned about
202that. >> I understand >> as well as I know we're doing a great job, but we say every student every day and we hear from the people who it isn't working for >> and we have to stand up for them, too. And I it's you are doing a fabulous job. I appreciate you saying that. I agree with that. >> We all want we all want teachers working with with kids and we want kids to be safe to the greatest extent possible. We can't in we can't ensure safety because we work in human services. Kids are bouncing playing athletic sports. They're bouncing into each other. It's all, you know, so we do the best we can with the systems that we have and we want to continue to improve. So that feedback is really important. >>
203Thank you. I think continual improvement, right? That's the theme. So thank you. Um if there's no more questions, >> yes, I'm going to go to public comments. Thank you. >> Um John Hornstein. Hi, my name is uh John Hornstein. Uh first off, I'm an ER doctor and expanding on Dr. Keller. Suspension expulsion are a big deal. I cannot count how many kids I see after something like this end up in my ER. Depressed, suicidal, or worse. That being said, I'm going to tell you a story of my son. Actually, my son and another girl, um who are like these two, varsity athletes, all AP classes, MUN. Uh, my son is the one who wore the MAGA hat to school after Charlie Kirk was shot and killed. Um, that'll make this a political thing. I am
204not a Republican. I'm not a MAGA Republican. I'm not a Democrat. Neither is my son. We're very apolitical. Upset by what he saw. I wore the hat. Uh, while at school, um, girl took his hat off, threw it in the trash. Uh, I first heard about this from Mr. Miller. Called me, told me Zach was assaulted. He told me what happened. I'm like, all right. you know, I don't know if I would call that an assault. Called my son. Um, he was laughing about it. Said he and the girl were friends and they were snapping about it and it was no big deal. I guess there was a little argument afterwards. Um, 5 days later, his birthday, he and the other girl are suspended. Um, I never met Dr. Keller. Um, I met the assistant
205I met the vice principal um who explained that someone during this argument screamed, "Get out of my country." I then explained that uh Zach's mom, my wife, uh came here as a refugee from the Soviet Union, speaking no English because she was Jewish. They speak Russian at home as does my son. Many of his grandparents don't speak English and he is a proud immigrant to this country and adamantly said the entire time. He didn't say it. Um one person thought they heard he said it, so he was suspended as was the girl. Idiotic. Whatever. I'll get to that. So moving forward, um we were explained, I'm glad your lawyer's here, that the appeal process first is the principal, then the superintendent, Dr. Glass, and then to the board. We were explained this multiple times. So
206um I had to work the next morning, but he met for the appeal. Well, I got to be quick now with uh the principal was greeted with, it will not be overturned. Uh you're wasting your time. Fast forward, I took statements from all the kids there. I had them I just told their parents to give me statements. They all wrote out. They all stated my son didn't say it. This other boy didn't say it. They told the administration that. Okay. Um I then got a video that one of the kids shot clearly showing uh one of the other kids saying it, not my son. I'm like, "You got to be kidding me. Let me go show it to the school." The parent who brought it to me told me, "I showed it to the school
207the day after your son was suspended." I said, "You got to be kidding me." Uh credit to Dr. Glass, who I want to say, Dr. Glass and Mr. Miller, all class professional. Couldn't have been better the entire time. I cannot say that about everyone else involved. Uh, we appealed to him. He overturned it. I mean, by I barely even checked my email. He'd already overturned it. I met with him afterwards. He acknowledged that they tried to make an example of my son and they basically ignored the evidence. And I'm like, you got to be kidding me. And I'm glad your lawyer's here. I said, you got to be kidding me. I said, that's not good enough. And he said they were disciplined. The administrators involved were disciplined. And I said, that's not good enough. So,
208this is what actually happens. And I'm like, and me and the other parents all were involved. This little argument all said, "What a great opportunity for restorative practices. Can we get a meeting? Can we get a Saturday detention? Can we get anything?" And it was nothing. If you see this video, it was nothing. And to be suspended for that, I I want to know where is the accountability for the administrators. That's what I would like to know. >> Yeah. Your speaker's off. Thank you. >> Erica Rule. >> Hello everyone. Uh my name is Erica Rule. Thank you for the presentation tonight. Um as a TK parent, I know I'm at the very beginning of this journey. I also know much of tonight's discussion is centered around middle school and high school students and the different
209types of suspensions that can come up as students get older. Still, I think these conversations matter to all of us because they speak on how district supports students across the board. And I appreciate the care the staff puts into balancing student support, campus safety, and a learning environment that works for everyone. These are not simple issues, and I do not see them that way. One thing I hope the district can continue to look at is how to communication happens when a student is moving between settings, especially for children who are in partner programs like the Boys and Girls Club. When a major incident happens in one setting, that information does not reach the other side in a meaningful or timely way and it can create a real gap um where students have a mischaring issues
210and we can prevent that kind of behavior. Too often that burden can fall on parents to carry that information from one sitting to another. And parents should absolutely be part of that conversation, but should not be the ones to have the entire be the entire communication system when bigger concerns arise. And so in difficult moments, families are already trying to support their child and process what's happened. It is a lot to expect to them to also be the only bridge between these systems. And so I'm not asking every issue to become a formal or punitive report. I'm asking for just better coordination when there are significant concerns so that adults responsible for supporting a child are better connected. If early intervention is truly the goal, then communication has to be part of that support system.
211And even as a parent of younger children, I see this as an issue for consistency, support, and prevention. I hope that the district continues to strengthen how staff and partner programs communicate around bigger incidents so that students do not fall through the cracks and families are not left carrying that responsibility alone. Thank you. >> Thank you, Erica. Are there any more cards? >> Is there anyone else? That's all the cards I have. >> Okay, seeing none, we can move it back to discussion. Um, does anyone have any other comments that they would like to make? Member Kelly, >> I think we have a really good system. I think it works. U, I think the numbers are low. I think, uh, I would hate to for us to divert a million dollars to use an outside
212source. The nice thing about having the resources with full-time people here is they can be used in other types of ways. So, hats off to Michael Keller and his staff. And uh I'm impressed, you know, the our statistics compared to the other districts and to the country and uh I think we're doing well. >> Thank you. Member Maleski. >> Yeah. I just have a couple quick comments. The first is that it's worth pointing out that parents um I've I've experienced this where my son comes home and tells me something terrible that happened at school and then you call the school and you want the feedback and you want the reporting and you want to know who did it and who got in trouble and teachers aren't really allowed to share that and that can be
213really frustrating for parents. So I just want to point out when parents are frustrated it's often the case that the school can't really talk about what a particular student did or whatever. So, um, that's one thing. The other thing I want to say is that, um, I think we do a great job in terms of our suspension rates, and I, for one, think that we should continue to try to keep them low, but I also want to point out that there is a a kind of bias in the discussion um, that implies that suspensions are always bad. And it is true, as Prof. President Morgan says that we don't want to be defined by our first our worst moments perhaps, but it's not always bad to be defined by them. I mean, sometime, you know,
214actions have consequences and those are really good lessons for students who are suspended when they're suspended for reasons that, you know, end up being legitimate or based on, you know, state laws or multiple offenses or whatever. Um, and again, I'm not speaking to people who dispute, but just generally speaking, and I know I review applications from students and when, you know, if you can't just assume that because a student's been suspended, they're automatically not going to get admitted somewhere because what you're looking for when you look at an application is not has a student been suspended, but how did the student grow from being suspended? And I have students who I have admitted in masters and doctoral programs who speak about what has happened to them in the past and what they learned from it
215and how they overcame it and they're they are real success stories because their actions had consequences. So, I just want to point that out. Like obviously we want low suspension rates, but I think it's also important to understand that those consequences are really good learning moments and students can do great things because of them and they learn to articulate it and they learn to present a picture of who they are that's very meaningful and and is is part of their identity formation. So, and again, I'm not trying to advocate suspensions, but it's important to keep that in mind. Logan, >> I was gonna say I think um Mr. Hills raised his hand first. >> Okay. Um, I just wanted to respond to um what one of your qu uh questions, Trusty Perry, because I thought
216that I could provide I think Ivy can as well some students perspective on um students not feeling like they're heard in disciplinary actions because I think that from what I have uh heard there tends to be very good uh sentiment from students at least this is from what I've heard word of mouth that when it comes to students having an issue with another student that as long as there's been, you know, if there was sufficient EV evidence and it's not just a he said, she she said kind of a situation, the administration does a really good job with handling it fairly and and justly where there's kind of a discrepancy in that from what I've heard with students is students oftenimes claiming that when it comes to having an issue with a teacher, they don't
217feel heard with uh with their responses that they're given from the administrations. And just on a a personal level, I had an experience last year with many other students in in one of my classes where there was a a problem with a a teacher and and students felt as though they were not experiencing a a good healthy learning environment. And there was uh evidence that the students brought forth to the administration. There were multiple the the due process that was given and there was a result that satisfied both the administration and and the students. So I I personally had very good experience with it. But I have also heard of that not being the case in the past. I I believe that a lot a a lot of the times when parents tend to get
218involved with with these relations with how students are feeling about teachers as well. They are only hearing the information about the teachers from their student who if they're having an argument with their teacher. They're probably not going to give the most, you know, by they're not going to be providing their their parents with how the pros and cons of of the teacher. they're probably only going to be saying how awful this teacher is and they can't stand their class. And a lot of times that gets parents very aroused and then they go to the administration say this parent, you know, or this teacher needs to be fired and that's also not constructive. So I think that's also something important to keep in mind as well. >> So how did you feel you were heard? What
219happened so you felt like you were heard? >> Well, a a group of students um including myself went to the administration. We met with Dr. Alman, met with Mr. Miller. had a fantastic experience with Mr. Mr. Miller and we basically just were we were asked about what had happened if why we felt the way we were feeling and we were asked to then provide evidence to show you know to back up that we're not just we don't like the teacher and the the outcome was preferred by both the the teachers and the students. So, it was uh it was it was very successful, but it was essentially just the due process of you explain why you're feeling the way you're feeling and is there any evidence to back up that there was actual wrongdoing uh
220that was happening in the learning environment >> and and there was the teacher felt good about this too. >> Uh I can't I can't speak on how the teacher in question felt, but I I can on the students. >> Okay. So, the students felt heard and the administration felt good about it. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, member Hills. >> Yeah. Um, there's kind of a lot to be said. One thing is, uh, I don't think that, uh, I don't think that I quite understood what memberes was saying. Um, I didn't hear anybody say they want to have a low suspension rank. Maybe I wasn't paying attention. Uh in fact I think your question went to the subject of um are we doing anything to keep the suspension rate reporting low? uh
221should we um should we u make sure that we have a robust system and um I um know from my own experience that um getting suspended from school can be a very good learning experience and uh and uh I'd like to say it's just in the case of my grandson but it's true of me too but um but uh the thing about is that um I think one of the concerns I have listening to some of the public comments you know we have a history here and it's not just here, it's with school districts everywhere. Um that when there, you know, we got to remember that educators are not politicians and and politicians are not educators. And um you know uh there's a history here of a situation where uh a case like a case
222of a suspension got very politicized um because of national politics and it ended up costing the school district several hundred,000 um because the school district took a very very obstinate position and uh ended up losing in the trial level and losing at the appellet level. And at one point, because the school district was not um obeying the judge's orders, um it came very close to a contempt of court situation for um school officials. So that against that history, you know, um I I think it's really important that we have vigilance about a situation where something happens, it gets reported in a community, it has a political has some political optics to it and all of a sudden you have parents that feel like it got politicized or whatever or that in in some manner it
223got off track. And um so I think that's just uh given the history of it and and um I I I think that um I'm going to give a lot of thought to the issue of um two things that have been raised here tonight. One is where does a student go if a student is uncomfortable with how they're being treated by a school official? Um whether it's a teacher or or a administrator or whatever. Um and uh um and uh two, what should we consider in terms of whether or not we should be augmenting or supplementing the due process uh due process um uh mechanisms uh so that we don't have a situation where there's retaliation or something gets politicized and there's nowhere to go and there's nowhere to seek justice. There's nothing worse than
224feeling like you've had an injustice done to you. And I'm particularly concerned about um you know the issue of where does a student go if a student has been bullied um by an adult or or or um other students um in a way that is um uh you know in a way that is very awkward to go through sort of the normal reporting process. So I think it's a good discussion. And I'm I don't have any solutions necessarily right now, but I think that nobody is suggesting that suspensions are bad. I think discipline is as important as as anything else that young people experience and they learn as much or more from discipline than they do from a lot of the more affirmative experiences. >> Um microphone. So, I would have to agree with both
225member Malchesky and um member Hills about the um the good that can come out of a situation that if it's leveraged correctly, it can be a very powerful um it can be a very powerful essay for college. It can be a very powerful essay for a lot of things. I think some of the concern is that up until that point, what is it and being excluded from things because of a suspension on the record or because of an incident, the impact that that has on a student more the impact that that has on a student leading up to the opportunity to write about it and make it turning into a positive experience. And so I think that's where it comes back to um the our process. Are we upholding the process that we're supposed to?
226Are we offering options where we're supposed to? Is there um a very clear protocol for staff to go through? I think these are some of the questions that come to my mind based on the reports that um I know I've been receiving. I know that D has said that she's receiving from parents in the community um that do have issue with how it was handled. Um they are afraid to put their name on something. they are afraid to come forward uh because they don't want their child to be retaliated against. They don't want to be retaliated against. Um it's a very big issue right now in our community that um I mean as I said, you know, some think it's a civics lesson and other thinks it's a it's a less a master class in
227cyber bullying. And so I think those elements fac need to factor into how we're handling things right now because um and this is my opinion. I'm not directing anything, but I I think that the conversation I'm hoping um the purpose of it was not only to go deeper into our practices, but also to be able to bring some of these items forward that might need to maybe look be looked into a little further that maybe they weren't handled the way they probably they would be and that we have a policy for or a process for, but maybe it didn't actually happen because it is every student every day. If that's our motto, then we need to I mean even suspension rates are good. We and this is what has led me to want to encourage
228other options because we can our students can still learn from that, right? I've said a lot that you know theater kids I think um at the end of the day actually have an advantage. I think sports and I've got athletes, I've got theater kids. I mean, so I I'm not speaking just off the cuff, but um I do think that the idea of theater and having to develop a character and having to reflect on that character and how you can inose yourself into that character is a really great practice because it it allows students to reflect on who they are and what they're putting out in the world. And again, most of it's all positive, but I think as our students are developing and growing, there's a lot that we could do that isn't maybe
229discipline focused, but it's actually discipline focused because it's imp it's putting in positive processes for them in their brain and how they want to be perceived. And any opportunity that we can do that, I I I think what you guys do is great. I think there's definitely instances out there where parents um have issues with how it was handled that they that it wasn't the process that we say that we uphold. And I think that for me is the purpose of why this is being discussed tonight is that I know we do a good job. I would love to encourage us to re-evaluate with a maybe an objective lens of where we can improve because we are talking about continual improvement all the time. We don't we do great things. I'm I I I know
230we do great things, but I know I have seen instances where a student was bullied and the student that was bullied was sent home because it was you're emotional, just go ahead and go home and the bullers went to practice. >> So, you know, something to think about and that's why this that's one of the reasons why the the item came forward for a deeper dive. So, thank you very much. Is there any further questions, comments? >> Just just make one statement just for any families out there that have have had negative interactions with their their child with with with staff. It is a function of the human resources department to handle any complaints or concerns uh related to employees. So, I highly encourage them to come forward and I highly encourage the board to
231please recommend that they come they come speak to me because that's that's that's the one for you >> the main part of my job. So, that's that's what I'm here for. >> Thank you, Mr. Colin. Thank you. Okay. Any further comment discussion? Okay, we're moving on. Thank you very much, Dr. Keller. I appreciate all your work. Okay, so we are getting into 9:15, so we're going to need to move keep moving here. Um, our next item on the agenda is um communications uh review and discussion of the LBUSD communication plan. Um, we have two parts that are coming forward and this is also I'm thanked member Malchesky earlier tonight for drawing attention to it. Uh, we had a report on the 20th of January on some communication items and we had a review of our
232communication plan. Those are some of the topics and then also what we're doing to improve going forward. So, thank you very much Dr. Glass and um Anna Karen. Good evening. Uh I want to thank you in advance for the time and attention that you'll give to this item and open up by saying that our objective tonight is to provide you an overview of our communication system. not necessarily the nuts and bolts of the outputs and inputs um but an overview of how that system works, how it's structured, um and how we support it throughout the year. From an organizational management perspective, communication and the systems that we design around it is the infrastructure that connects vision to action. It supports the translation of priorities into practice. It builds alignment across teams and it serves as
233a key mechanism to developing relationships within the community we serve. What we've worked to build over the last few years is a coherent system that reduces noise, clarifies direction, and ensures that the right information reaches the right audiences in a way that supports decision-making and engagement. We know in the data and research support that when communication is intentional and aligned, it strengthens culture, it improves implementation and it increases confidence in the work that we do. So I'll start by opening um with really what guides the work and these objectives are outlined for us administration in board policy 1100 and other additional board policies that outline um uh conditions or um or areas related to student safety, privacy, and well-being. And they help inform our communication priorities overall. Um the policy asks that we create a
234communications plan that shares the goals, programs, achievements, and needs of the schools in the district. Um so that helps guide the objectives that we um establish in order to design the communication system here in Laguna Beach Unified School District. Um among those are objectives. The primary one is supporting an understanding of district priorities across various segments of the community that we serve. Um this in turn is supported um is intended to support the strengthening of a connection to our schools and encourage meaningful engagement in our work. Um and to achieve that our approach uh really is centered around clear and consistent communication. um two-way engagement and feedback and responsiveness to the comm um much of that uh when I refer to clear and consistent communication and understanding of the district priorities um we really need
235to understand uh how those priorities are set and what guides our work. Much of those are either um through board approved uh strategic direction and goals including the LCAP goals that are statemandated for student success. Um so you're hopefully at this point familiar with those three goals. But for us in Laguna Beach Unified, those goals that are outlined in the LCAP are focused on college and career readiness, social, emotional development and self-identity, and safe, equitable, and inclusive learning environments. In addition to those goals, we also align our messaging with the strategic direction that's provided both by the board and supplemental uh initiatives that we uh as an organization create to support the um reaching of those goals. So in the last couple of years, some of those areas for us have been focused around the
236learner profile, strategics initiatives and programs such as a focus on environmental literacy um and additional board direction and guidance. Um those areas and it's not all inclusive help develop and guide the messaging that we develop which should always go back to those district goals and it helps support the alignment across our schools and departments. um when we're receiving direction from the board of education as an administration, you have an executive leadership team, you also have a district leadership team, you have school site leadership teams, and we have staff at those school sites. So, it's very important for us to be able to draw a really clear through line between the goals of the organization and uh the objectives and tools and actions that we take to meet those goals. Um that's where you really see
237the uh importance of uh engagement as it relates to awareness of what the objectives and goals of a district are. Now when we talk about um community segments within the organization and who we speak to um I want to one call specific attention to the board of education and it's highlighted u member hills about a year and a half ago I think um you made a comment related to the board of education as an audience um I want to clarify that um the board of education and the organization Laguna unified um when we're comm community communicating externally are one and the same. And in that um environment, you are not an audience. Rather, when we talk about the board of an audience, we're looking at it from the perspective of a responsibility that has been
238delegated to the administration, which is communication and our responsibility to maintain you as governing board members informed of our progress and work and actions toward those goals. So, it's not necessarily an audience that lives um related um in a silo or outside of it, but you help inform the goals and really drive the other communication to our other audiences. So, when we look at the who we need to talk to um as it relates to us uh communicating with the community that we serve, we also have um at the core of our work students and families. are our primary um those students are our primary customers to uh use that uh more uh private language speak and um in that segment we need to be mindful not only uh we're not looking at it as
239a K12 one uh big group we also have to look at the segments within those groups so we have students and families we have students and families within early learning um elementary middle high school and families that potentially um have touch points in each of those areas. Uh in Laguna Beach, we have um a little bit under 3,000 students. Whenever we run uh data to get a better awareness of our parent community, we also take a look at how many families have multiple children in our school system. And when we look at that, on average, we're looking at about 40% of our families that have multiple children. Um and we need to be mindful of that that they're moving through our educational system and that they are receiving information from various points. Uh it could
240be from the school site but also the different teachers that their students engage with. We also have staff and within that their own segments. We have classific classified and certificated staff but within those two uh large umbrella areas we also see again various segmentations within that community members and community partners. community partners are the ones uh that we work with more directly and have programs that we support in our schools or initiatives that we are working toward together and our community members um in Laguna Beach. The last time that I looked at the um data, the average age is about 62. So when we look at these community segments as a whole, what I understand is that I'm speaking across three to four generations at any given time. And I need to take into account
241not just um their age and lived experiences, also their familiarity with technology, with different communication systems, their patterns of behavior as it relates to how they engage um with the world. and uh really design systems that are accessible to those. Um so when we look at those three areas that I just reviewed, it's what I would refer to as a informal um and shortened version here for you because as I mentioned, we're looking at the data in those subsegments of audience segments um and we need to understand first that informs what we need to communicate to those different audiences. Um, and from anformational need standpoint, one of our priorities is always the learning and well-being of our students, the family experience, operations and safety, um, public information and community connection. So all of those very
242uh all of those areas create a very broad spectrum and when you take into consideration the audience and the broad spectrum within that it means that we need to design a communication framework that achieves four things. It's both proactive in sharing information, promoting positive accomplishments, sharing the successes of the school district, the goals of the school district. It also needs to be responsive as student incidents arise or as questions arise or as issues surface. We need to be able to provide clarifying information in those environments. It should also provide an opportunity for dialogue. And um in a crisis, we should be we should have a system that we can deploy uh to be able to reach our uh communities in a matter of minutes, sometimes seconds. Um, and so that really helps define the different
243types of channels that we need to have. So I look at three different areas. One that's routine andformational that really is focused on making sure that our students and families have the information that they need to actively participate in their child's education. And again within that segment, there is a variety of needs. uh everything from a child who maybe wants to participate in enrichment activities or a child who may need additional support. Um we also need to um make sure that we're making information publicly accessible on a regular basis. So when we look at our communication system as a whole, it really is intended and designed um to create a system that's proactive, responsive, and really can be um utilized in in a variety of scenarios. So you'll see that at the center um are
244always the goals for student success. Um and then surrounding that are the communications that are typically happening on a routine and regular basis. Within that we have routine updates. Those are focused on the communication um that parents and families typically most often receive from teachers and staff. Uh when we look at data related to who a parent or student engages with most frequently and is most likely to go to for additional support first. The first touch point is the teacher. Typically often times it may be the counselor. But it's really important for us to understand that the most regular interactions happen um in the classroom setting and between those um groups. We also um so through that we've standardized some communications related to weekly communications that come from our school sites. Again recognizing that our
245families are engaging with multiple sites at a time. Um there is intentionality behind the newsletters coming out every day on or every Sunday uh at an established time so that as a child progresses through their education, our parents and families are not having to relearn how to access information from the school site. They are familiar with the experience because it's been standardized across our school district. We also use regular engagement and storytelling to really uplift the experiences, the successes, the um work that we're doing and really try to create a visual for the um audiences that don't have the privilege of being inside our classroom every single day. So, we know that there's activities that the public is welcome to that all parents can attend, such as assemblies. Um, we look for areas where they
246may not have access to that insight and try to really focus our storytelling on that educational and learning experience while also supplementing that with um, successes um, and progress toward those goals. We also maintain a public information hub which is our website in essence. So in addition to regular outgoing information, we also want to make sure that we have c a centralized system for containing and hosting information and the website really serves as that for us as a central access point for district updates and resources. Um we also uh rely on media and external relations. Um we do not have editorial control over what the media publishes or how they publish. However, it is um always in our best interest to maintain positive relationships with those media partners to be responsive to any inquiries that
247they may have while also being mindful of any student privacy or uh personnel confidentiality that we need to maintain in any incident. Um and as I mentioned earlier related um to the success of an organization and alignment related to its goals. um internal alignment is is critical for any organization. Um to make sure that your staff are familiar with what the district is focused on on accomplishing and uh the progress that we're making and the work that we're doing to accomplish that. That increases staff engagement and in turn supports a more successful organization. Um w the urgent communication I want to touch on because when we talk about crisis communication again we're looking at a broad spectrum. It can be anything from a natural disaster um or an onampus safety incident that we need to
248address or an incident that has generated large media attention and has brought additional presence onto our campuses. And there's considerations and any of those scenarios that we need to um take into account um to make sure that in those moments we're prioritizing one the confidentiality of students um and two um providing access to those critical parties in the moment. So, if we're looking at an on-ampus safety incident, uh making sure that the staff on campus um have access to information and that we're simultaneously communicating as quickly as possible externally to our parents and families um becomes really important in the event of a natural disaster. Those communication systems also need to be deployed and support communication with other emergency operation centers. Um, for example, when we talk about a potential fire, we're looking not just
249at um having a liaison with an emergency operation center with the city. We may also be looking at an at making sure that we're able to communicate effectively with the county and state in order to make sure that they're informed and we're accessing our information uh our the resources that we need to address that situation. And surrounding that, and I'll go into that in a little bit, is the ongoing feedback that continuously informs um the plan throughout the year. So, when I talk about um feedback and engagement, I think it's very important to clarify what we mean um when we say two-way engagement. It doesn't mean a constant or real time dialogue or an open channel. um that approach can actually create confusion, inequity in whose voices are heard and difficulty in making informed decisions.
250Instead, we approach two-way engagement as a systematic process. That means that we intentionally create structured opportunities for input through surveys, advisory groups, public meetings, and targeted outreach at key moments. This allows us to gather input that is more representative, thoughtful, and actionable. So rather than continue this conversation though, as you've heard from several of the individuals that have presented tonight, that takes place in different forms and methods throughout our entire system. If there's onampus um incident related to student discipline, as we just heard, those conversations are happening on a more micro level. Um and if there is uh for example, parent teacher conferences, that is another form of parent engagement that is happening. Um but we uh look at two areas. One in real time engagement that helps us assess how content is performing on
251an individual basis. So we can apply these measures to any post on say social media or uh the traction that a press release receives or the views on a video. And we look at uh areas related to likes, reactions. We also look at views and impressions um and the interaction, whether or not they comment and reply. And then in areas where we're promoting a specific action, for example, participation in a survey, registration for an event, we're also measuring what that uh what that rate of transaction looks like between views um and impressions to action taken. uh that is more of a real time look that we look at a more of a real-time view that we use to measure how certain posts information are performing. We also look on a more um longitudinal but also
252monthly and annual basis at certain system indicators that help us assess uh how the system is performing and whether it is uh achieving its intended goals. So within those in a public education system there are some structured loops. Um the annual LCAP survey mandates community engagement. And I'll add that um though this presentation doesn't cover everything that the LCAP outlines related to community and parent and family engagement, it does touch on a critical area and any feedback that we hear from you tonight is incorporated into that LCAP process and helps us uh revise and make any changes for the outgoing years. Um, we also have the committees and advisory groups um that are meeting and reviewing certain areas of our organization and providing that feedback. Um, we also have school and family engagement. You heard
253from Dr. Hatchel earlier tonight about the community and family engagement h activities happening on her school campus. Um so again, these are activities that are happening um across the school district in different areas and we're measuring attendance at those events or participation in that survey. And then we're also looking at the growth of our channels. Um so I mentioned earlier that we have a few outputs, one of those being um newsletters, social media, and website traffic. So we're looking at how those are performing on an annual basis to see if we need refinements or adjustments to those systems. And then we also look at engagement trends. While we look at real-time engagement on an individual post and action, we're also looking again um at engagement trends more holistically. trying to understand when we want um
254newsletter or subscription or follower growth to grow, uh we simultaneously want those engagement trends to either maintain or increase. Um so we want increased uh subscribers, we want to maintain open rates and or increase them. Um and then we're also looking at click-through rates. So when we talk about click-through rates can be for an example an article that's posted and it's a wrap. When we provide a summary and we provide an option to read more or continue reading an article if they click through to read that we're measuring because it's an indicator for us of objective of um action taken or interest in a particular topic. So when we look at them over the long period of time, it helps us understand what topics were of interest to our community and it helps us further
255refine our information related to those areas. And that really touches on that last point there that I have related to content insights. What are over the course of say uh we typically look at fiscal years related to the school year and what are those top performing content themes. Um, we also receive regular feedback via direct message or which of our stories got picked up. We are very fortunate in Laguna Beach to have two local um, newspapers. That is not the case in most cities or school districts. So, we have very rich access to the community um, via storytelling through our local newspapers, though we also work with broadcast um, and even local radio um, at times. And we're also looking at website engagement. At the website um level, we can look at not just traffic
256on the website. We also look at how much time people are spending on uh certain pages. Um when you're looking at time that people are spending on pages, we're looking for two things. One, um the speed and agility with which they can access the information. You want to make sure that they're reaching the information that they need with as minimal time as possible. Um, but we're also looking at how quickly they left that page. We also have on our website a chatbot that um is loaded with all of the information and interacts with our website. So any website visitor could go onto that chatbot instead of searching through the website and looking for what they need, they can engage in a conversation and um that uh tool will not produce necessarily a two-way dialogue with
257you, but it will produce uh resources and links related to the information that you're asking for. So on a monthly basis, we look at that report to see what information is trending and it helps us adjust the timelines of our information dissemination. For example, uh for two years now, we've seen questions related to summer programs and enrollment begin as early as December and January. Um while some of uh at the school district in the spring we're planning for um we are planning to close out the current year and already putting into um effect the work to um start the next school year. Um, so we're not necessarily thinking about summer programs, but the data from that has told me that our families are planning for the summer six to six to eight months out. And
258we if we can get that information sooner, and we have, so we've adjusted the timelines. Same thing with enrollment. Um, we see that families start asking about new student enrollment as early as January. Um we've been working with our teams one to find a balance between um building capacity in our systems to accept enrollment earlier but also if we cannot move it earlier because of other systemic conditions then we can uh find a way to disseminate the information related to enrollment sooner and make that available on the website as early as January so that families um who are searching for that information have access to it. So when um when I when we look at um some of that annual data and this is exclusive to outcomes from the LCAP survey. Um we want to
259again not not exclusively look at satisfaction rates but a critical focus for me in starting here was looking at the participation rates in those in that survey. Um one um why would we focus on the LCAP survey? uh one it's been a big subject of discussion because we're in the middle of the process of updating it and you can see how comprehensive that tool is in identifying the different needs of our students and our families um and then simultaneously providing us feedback on how we can improve those. So a big goal not just focusing on satisfaction is first participation. Do we have the numbers that give us a strong sample size to inform whether or not this is working? Um and if not sometimes the reason that individuals will not participate in the survey are
260very among them survey fatigue but also um at times it can be a belief that their feedback or um survey results are not they can't see how those are translated into action or how those have informed change in the organization. Um, so a big focus for us in the last couple of years has been making sure that we build awareness around the this annual survey. We help explain how critical it is for us to receive that feedback um and help find all of the different avenues to promote it to make sure that we get that participation. So you can see when we look at four-year trends here the growth in participation um from staff it's about 90% participation when we look at the 2526 outcomes which is a very strong sample size and when we
261look at the parent participation growth um is hugely substantial which meant that it has um helped give us a stronger sample size of how our families are um feeling or their perspectives related to the educational services that we provide here in Laguna Beach. Um and the a key focus area um because as I mentioned in those different audience segments that we have a priority for us is always going to make uh going to be the uh students and parents. um they are the ones that most critically need to access the resources that we provide and those can be anything from academic to student support services. Um and then um a an additional focus and you can see the effects of that focus this year is that broader community again recognizing that many individuals in the
262community that we serve don't have a daily touch point to our schools. um so how can we better reach them and this year we we got a um larger sample size in that and that will help us um address or refine some of the future priorities when we look at parent satisfaction with district communication again looking at trends o over the course of four years um in 2223 we had a 67% satisfaction rate an average across all four years about 12 to 14% of neutral respondents Um the neutral group is really important for us because it identifies one a potential target for the next year in terms of um individuals who are sitting um on uh one side or the other. They don't necessarily um have strong feelings about it and so it informs for
263us a target area to focus on. Um, we also look at parent satisfaction with opportunities for families to participate in events and activities. Again, looking at 2223, we had a 59% satisfaction rate with a 13% um, neutrality. That 13, you'll see, also remains pretty steady across the board with a 14% neutrality rate this year um, and a 75% satisfaction rate um, there. And then we also ask for um questions related to satisfaction with opportunities for input. So across our parent groups, you'll see that in the last three years between the satisfied and neutral, we have an average of of about 95% um satisfaction with opportunities for input. Now when we look at specifically those uh more individual metrics that I mentioned on Instagram, we've had a 9.6%. This is um data specific to this 2526
264school year. So one still in progress and these numbers I'm anticipating will continue to grow. Um so for Instagram we've seen a nearly 10% increase in followers. Um for the community newsletter, we have about a 12% increase in subscription rate with an average monthly view on the website of about 56,000. Um this year we've issued 21 press releases to our local media partners and a measure that we look at on a daily basis is the contact on parent square. Um parent square is synchronized with our student information system on Aries. And so that system is constantly running checks to make sure that we have a point of connection with at least one um parent in the family. Again, this is critical in the event of an emergency when we would deploy those emergency communication systems.
265Parent Square, which is delivered both through email push notification on the app and through SMS text, would be our primary form of communication with both and staff. Um we also maintain a um resident outreach list. Um this is a list that can be purchased through the OC registar voters. Um, and it stipulates specific uses for this list. Um, and within that list, we have about 9,000 contacts. And these are baseline metrics for us because it's the first year that we're looking at that data. And we have about a 63% average open rate and a 2% click-through rate. So, that's going to be an area of focus and refinement for us. Um on Instagram, this is looking at a 90day snapshot of performance on our posts. So we have um over 180,000 average views and about
26662% um you'll see a breakdown here of reach between followers and non-followers. um you want to maintain a balance of who your content is reaching in that those nonfollowers can be uh turned into followers with by engaging with your content. And when we look at changes um and social media platforms in general, they go through several algorithm changes. Um Instagram for example used to present information in a chronological format. it would feed it to you. At the time it was an order in which it was posted. Um when when that algorithm functioned that way, Instagram and other social media platforms were a really critical tool for emergency communication. Now um you may go on to Instagram and be fed a post that was posted 3 days ago um not necessarily in real time. And so
267that is critical for us to be mindful of and that those platforms cease to be effective tools for crisis communication because they may not reach our audiences as soon as we need to. Um we also have um different performance metrics that we're looking at related to the community's newsletter. Currently we have an average open rate of 74 about 74% and a click-through rate of 6%. um you see and I mentioned earlier the growth in subscription when we look at this next year we want to make sure that those numbers are growing together um not you don't want subscription rates going up and engagement rates going down you want to maintain both of those um together and we look at event engagement I have a number there that captures um one I like to say that
268as much as I would like to or we would like to we cannot be everywhere um all the time, all at once. And so when you're looking at a um twoerson department with um some supplemental support for website um it really is two people. And so the number of events that are covered there are um include school and classroom activities. So they may not be happening after the day or they may not be open to the public, but also includes district events and activities that are covered. These are covered by the communications department. And so in the 2425 school year, we had 187 events that were covered. There is 180 school days. Um, just for as a point of reference. And for the 2526 school year, we're tracking 114 events right now. Um, and then
269within that event engagement, as I mentioned earlier, were attendance tracking for some of those different um events. If we hosted um say an event for um that is providing information specifically for families that are receiving special education services. Our data systems give us the numbers of those families that would be um that that information would be relevant to. So we can estimate really um engagement based on how many people would be eligible to attend and how many did attend, how many received the information, how many clicked on the information and chose not to attend. So there's different areas that we look at that um related to attendance tracking. We also have a YouTube channel. We actually have two YouTube channels that we maintain. There is one that's um dedicated to more of our long form
270storytelling. That channel is the numbers that you see up there for. It currently has 826 subscribers. Um 11,500 views in the 2526 school year and 248 videos that have been posted over the course of 10 years. Um we also maintain the um channel that hosts the board of education meetings and that one currently has 363 subscribers which has also grown in the last couple of years. Um and as I mentioned earlier related to uh different one some systematic and standardized standardized points of input. We also know that different organizational changes or priorities or changes in legislation that mandate a change in priorities um create uh a need for us to go out to the community and identify additional opportunities for input. Um, in this case for Laguna Beach in July 2025, the board appointed a
271new superintendent. And so when we're looking at new leadership, um, and the, uh, priority setting that goes with that, we know that we also need to create additional points for input. So I'll turn it over to Dr. Glass to share a little bit about his entry plan. >> Thanks, Senator Karen. uh board as you know one of the commitments that I had coming into this role was to listen before acting and to understand this district and this community before drawing conclusions and taking action and that contin that commitment continues to shape the work that we do. Uh you will recall that when I entered the district I had a structured entry process that included a 100day listening session with staff, families, students and community members. Several of you attended those. There was a start, stop,
272keep survey that generated broad input on what's working and what needs attention. There was a review of existing plans including the dis district district communication plan. There were board priorities that we discussed. There were community feedback channels. That process became summarized in the 100 day report that I issued this fall. As part of that same commitment and a board evaluation goal for me around communication, uh I engaged Grey Matters LLC and Tammy Schiff that some of you had the chance to uh talk with and meet uh an independent firm to conduct a focused review on our communication environment. And I want to be clear about what that document is and what it is not. The Gray Matters report states explicitly, and I want to quote it directly, that it is not intended to evaluate individual
273performance, assign blame or fault, nor is it intended to drive disciplinary or governance action. The report is intended to be informational and directional in nature. So, it was a tool for reflection, growth, and improvement. And that is exactly how we are using it. It identified several meaningful strengths and I'll acknowledge those just briefly. Uh in terms of strengths, it found that we had two dedicated staff members managing a comprehensive program that we identified um they I'm sorry, the report identified our adopted communications plan as a strategic framework and Anaka Karen has gone over that framework with you that is aligned with best practice in public relations theory. They noted that our effective use of uh leading school communication platforms and Anakarin's covered those with parent square and Instagram and the other channels that we used
274and they characterized our approach during the leadership transition as um uh appropriate noting that our focus on consistency, clarity, predictable communication was the right strategy for the period that we were in we were going through with the new superintendent. It also identified several areas for growth. Um, these are consistent with what we heard in the 100day entry process and in ongoing community feedback. They included things like strengthen clarity and consistency across communications. Expand two-way engagement, moving from information delivery toward genuine community dialogue, broaden our reach to community members who don't have schoolage children, and you heard some of the efforts that Anakaren's undertaken to do just that. and strengthen our internal communications so staff stay connected and we've taken actions with that with a uh an internal publication that we call Surfside to employees. Together
275the recommendations set the stage for a natural next step of this communication plan and program. The communication efforts grounded in board policy 1100. That policy clearly charges and delegates the authority to the superintendent with establishing communication between the district and the public using a variety of methods to reach all community members, providing multiple avenues for community input, and providing written communication plan with goals aligned to student learning and periodically evaluating that plan. The gray matters report and review is one important component of that periodic evaluation. The 100 day listening process is yet another part of that engagement and the actions we've implemented since January and I'll walk through the next steps uh those next steps on the following slides are how we're doing exactly what board policy 1100 requires. They began with input from board
276president Morgan in January that included specific requests about how the board communicates with the broader community. Under board bylaw 9121, the board president and the superintendent are to work quote con in conjunction on board communications. That's the framework I've operated with with both President Perry and with President Morgan. When President Morgan began her term, she shared priorities for board communication, broader distribution, press style, press release style summaries, expanded reach to civic organizations, community medi media, and a greater visibility for the actions that the board was taking. I considered those requests and created the January 20th board communication plan that's included in the board packet tonight uh that resulted in those changes. and also clarified that requests and changes when it comes to communication work come through me as the superintendent and not directly to staff.
277Specifically, the January 20 20th communication memo memo formalized five specific changes. First, it's a wrap next um communication was shifted to next day following board meetings with clearly defined parameters and established review process. This was a direct response to President Morgan's concern that board actions weren't reaching the community fast enough. Since that time, we worked to further streamline that process for its rap. Again, working in conjunction, including that con that content um included was to be what's on the agenda, what staff presented as far as information and the action that the board takes. Those changes are intended to ensure that it's a wrap is consistent. It's accur an accurate summary of the board meeting agenda items, presentation and actions. Second, it increased the visibility of board actions and studentf facing outcomes across all. The board
278has made some consequential decisions over this past year ranging from the pool impactful policy changes, student centered discussions such as the one that you just heard on restorative practices tonight. And that change is intended to keep the community aware of the actions that the board has taken. Third, the press sty press release style summaries for major board decisions distributed to media outlets, civic groups, community organizations. Um, the Laguna Beach Independent, Stew News, The Daily Pilot, other media outlets is appropriate designed to share board actions across traditional print and online media formats. Fourth, maximizing distribution across all these channels, including outreach to community organizations, continuing to identify additional partners, and that work will be guided by a strategic approach to information sharing to balance the volume of communication with established best practices. And finally, an enhanced
279social media focus on board actions that have a student um in upcoming events that are consistent with that format. The result is a stepped up effort that reflects the numbers that Anakaren walked through a couple of slides ago. It's a wrap. Subscriptions are up almost 12%. We've issued 21 press releases this year. Instagram reaches up almost 10%. Open rates on community newsletters are running above 73. Really strong uh metric. The these aren't projections or hopes. They are outcomes that this communication program is delivering. Looking ahead, the next step is a comprehensive review of the data and feedback that we've gathered gathered. That includes everything I've talked about, but also the LCAP survey results and the outreach that's happening with that um to inform the next version of this communication plan as we look toward into
280the future. That's what board policy 1100 requires. periodic evaluation and revision of the plan based on changing circumstances like a new superintendent coming in coming in ongoing community need needs and that's what we're doing. There are two specific priorities for that update and they are around strengthening two-way engagement by amplifying awareness of existing opportunities for community voice, streamlining access, uh continuing to encourage participation as we can see in the increased um engagement on the most recent LCAP surveys. Um the through line in all of this is that we we continue to receive input and data. We hear the concerns and we're acting acting on them in ways that are immediately measurable and will be measurable going forward. Again, that's exactly what board policy 1100 requires and it's exactly what we intend to do with the
281next iteration or step in this communication plan going forward. With that, I'll turn things back to Anna Karen to finish this up. And I think we may need to extend. I think we've hit 10 o'clock, so I'll pause. >> We have a motion on the floor to extend the meeting by Thank you. All in favor? >> I thank you. >> I won't take all 30 minutes. I'm just going to close with an overview of some upcoming community events that you'll also see promoted across our different channels and platforms. And um my ongoing plug to subscribe to the community newsletter. So you can either scan the QR code or visit www.lbsd.orgitarap or follow us on Instagram at Lagona BeachUSD. And with that, I'll close and open reiterate again that your feedback tonight is really important for
282us as we continue to shape the um update to the LCAP plan. And we'll give you the floor. >> Thank you. Thank you for that comprehensive report. I know um we discussed this last year. Um and I appreciate the followup on the percentages and open rates and things like that. And I also um just wanted to address because I did see comments about um and then I'll open it to questions about the board focus um and I don't think that I think that that that's a little mis understood um and I can get into that with my comments but um I appreciate the inclusion of the um gray matters report. So thank you very much and I'm going to open it up to questions if anyone has any. Member Kelly. No me. Member Hills questions.
283>> Oh, I'm going to save my for comments. >> Okay. >> Thank you, member Perry. No student board reps. No. Okay. I don't think I have questions other than Well, I do have one question. What is the timing of this new plan that you're working on that you're going to bring forward? because I know we've been talking about this for quite a while including like as far back as January or last year. So >> I'll give an initial answer and then if Dr. Glass wants to supplement it as I um this is a living plan. Um part of the reason that there is that ongoing infusion of feedback um and engagement is that there is um updates that are given to it based on the infusion of that feedback. Um for us it can be
284on an annual or monthly basis. the overall system um as it is as is as it is designed um is kind of our foundation of how we establish that and within the updates the periodic updates that the board policy mentions we look at those changes in objectives and priorities. So for example at the LCAP survey data um which will begin our review as an administration um we're not looking I'm not looking exclusively at parent satisfaction rates statew with communication though it's really important information for me to measure the efficacy of those efforts I'm also looking at the data related to awareness of certain programs activities and resources um if you participated in the survey in the last couple of years one of the critical questions was familiarity with the learner profile familiarity with our family
285resource center. Those were two new initiatives that were introduced and we um incorporated those questions to gather some baseline data related to how those efforts were successful. In the first year of implementation on the learner profile, for example, we had a 96% awareness, which is incredible in a first year of implementation for our community to be that aware of those five outcomes. Again, I go back to when the community has a shared understanding of what the goals and priorities are. It allows that all of us to work collectively toward each other. When we're looking at parent communication, for example, some of those data points related sometimes to discipline behavior that we're seeing regularly are going to inform some of the topics that we bring forward for parent and family engagement. So, we're looking across um
286while I'm looking at the data to see how well our systems are performing in order to identify priorities for future and outears, I'm also looking at all of those areas to identify, for example, this year with a sample size that's that large for our community. It's going to give us some rich data related to areas where we can focus communication for the community. Um the other thing that we're always taking into consideration is the volume of information that we output and the audience's ability to intake that. Um coming out of the um pandemic with such a heavily reli have a heavy reliance on digital communication we saw very um increased fatigue in in digital engagement. Um so in what where I would say pre2020 a common practice was to just send more or do more
287and produce more. um in an era post pandemic as communications practitioners, we've really had to evaluate how do you contend with that issue now that your audiences are um selecting all on their inbox marking unread or deleting. So that's where we look really um specifically at cadence of information and how that's landing. Um so that all helps us refine the plan every year going into the next school year. So, it's a living plan in that it's not exclusively for one school year. It has those fundamental systems in place and the priorities and objectives about what we communicate um may shift to that point. So, thank you. I have two more questions. What is the shift in plan for the upcoming construction of the pool? And is there any anything that's going to be implemented that's
288different than what we do now? because we're going to have such an increased awareness of the project, the updates, the status, safety, street closures, fire safety, um all of those things because I know like one of the things that we've said about the pools that it shouldn't be there if it's a red flag day, there should no be no construction occurring because we don't want to block the streets and block the roads. So, how are those different elements being constructed? And then my other question and my last question was when we have surveys um and I know there's different surveys for different things, but I know um there's been concern expressed that they seem biased in one direction or another and that was expressed to me. I've observed some and this is also historic through
289many years um prior to you and and currently just some of the different surveys. So who writes our surveys and then what communication elements are changing or increasing because of the pro the pool project? So I'll start with the pool project. So that one there's layers of communication to that. For example, we know that um there is individuals that are going to be directly impacted by that. And but when I mean directly, it's those that are regular users of the pool. So there is um communication that um if not if it hasn't gone out already, it is um in motion to be deployed um related to what that is going to look like in the next school year for our students and families. So that's uh working with our director of athletics to say to
290make sure that we've secured an alternate facility for practices. Um that also forces us to look at how that changes how our say staff are having now to change their workday. Um so there's communication related to that as it relates to the construction overall and the necessary notifications and messages. Um, one, we've issued earlier a press release that included a timeline of construction that's looking at June 2026. Um, there was a quote um, from you, President Morgan, I believe, that we incorporated um, where we shared um, updates to the construction timeline. Um, that is an initial communication. that communication in addition to being shared out with the media um and our parents and families um is also communicated to city parks and recreation because they're going to need that information to adjust their programs. Um
291then when we're looking at the actual construction of thing, we're working with our city partners because they're going to manage um the city closures. Um and we're um also making sure that those that information as we receive it again um there's multiple layers to this there you've followed the bid process and all of that helps shape the timeline of how these things are happening. Um, so as we are made aware of what that's going to look like and as we solidify those timelines, then we make sure that we're either posting that information on the website, but also proactively disseminating it to our partners and via like for example the community newsletter would be a great um area where we'd be sharing that information related to survey design or I'll let you jump in. I was
292just going to ask about the construction, the pool construction and the neighbors surrounding neighborhoods and things like that and how do we ensure that we're getting communications to them on things that will impact them throughout the process. Is it are we going to use NIXL through the city? Are we doing our own communications or is there a combination I understand but what's the how do we reach the community itself um that's impacted by the construction because we've got you know people that are coming from top of the world. They're going to try and go down Park Avenue. they don't have kids in the school, for example, and so how are they going to be informed of delays or construction and things like that? >> Yeah, to your point, it'll be a partnership. NIXL um is
293a service that the city uses to communicate. That service allows them to target certain neighborhoods when they're distributing that NIXL alert. Um, and so if they are supporting us with street closures or changing traffic patterns in any sort of way, then they're going to support that communication to those affected and impacted neighborhoods as well. about the plan. >> I'm sorry. What >> are we going to have comments about the plan? >> Oh, yes. Okay. Thank you. I'm I would like to encourage us to to broadcast broadly the impacts of the pool as much as possible. >> We will and we can provide a response to the question related to survey design in the board weekly. >> Okay. All right. So, we you're right, we can we cannot extend past 10:30. So, we have 10. Let's
294do 10 minutes of comments. So, be quick. We might have to bring this back or >> Yes, I know. That's the last thing we have is the consent agenda, right? >> Yeah. Public comments. >> True. Okay. Okay. Any discussion? Any um any question? We have no any more no more questions. So, public comment, please on this item, D. >> Okay. So, any further discussion? >> Comments. Yes. >> Yeah, I have a lot of comments and um I don't know, you know, here we are um running out of time. So, um I guess I would start by saying that uh you know uh the public information officer reminded me uh in her comments uh that last year she felt that um I would benefit from getting clarified uh clarification on what she means when she uses
295the word audience. Um uh and she wrote that up in the uh weekly report or something. Um and uh I don't think I was understood then and I don't think I understood now. Um I understand what audience is. I understand what general systems theory is. I understand the plan. Um but I think um I see things very differently than the superintendent and the public information officer uh in terms of how we got to where we are in communications and where we're going. Um first of all um I think we all know that um board policy 1100 creates the architecture for the overall program. Um, but I think that uh the what's wrong with this is that we got it we got about 45 minutes into it before anybody mentioned Yeah, we got we got about
29645 minutes into this before anybody mentioned uh section 9121. And I don't think anybody's mentioned section 112 yet. I don't know. Maybe they did, but I didn't hear it. Um so you know since the sort of history of this in terms of you know last year um uh explaining what we mean but when we talk about audience um you know what occurred last year was that um was that uh was that there was a statement sent to the newspapers uh on December December 16th that's read like this. A board of education can exercise its powers only when acting as a unified body requiring decisions to be made through a majority vote on items that are formally agendaized and addressed during a publicly noticed meeting in compliance with open meeting laws. Individual board members hold no
297authority to act independently outside the collective decision-making process of the board. On Monday, December 16th, the board of education in close session voted 3 to2 with members Kelly and Melchesky desending to to direct staff to prepare a contract for an agreement with Joanne Culver House to serve as interim superintendent. Well, you see right there is a good example of what's wrong because number one, the second sentence there about that the board of directed staff is not true because the board explicitly and expressly did not direct staff. And so this was information coming from the district and the the paper reported this as something that came from the district. And um so there you had the the a good example of a breakdown of communication and coordination because the um the board president acting pursuant to
298uh board bylaw 9121 had sent a very different message to the newspapers. So the ne newspapers ended up with two different messages. So then uh when I made an inquiry with the staff about that um uh about shouldn't the president be involved in communications, the answer I got back was no. The president has no role in communications. And in fact the that response said that um under 1100 uh the authority of the superintendent includes developing communication protocols and identifying authorized spokespersons to ensure consistent and unified message. But in fact what we were doing by not recognizing the authority of the board president under 9121 and the fact that the board did delegate authority. So when you talk about an individual board member cannot act, that's true. But if the board delegates to the president the
299authority to act on communications, then that's not an individual board member acting without authority. But what happened was the um uh the um uh what got communicated um uh was not consistent with the the bylaw 9121. And so I just want to read a couple of provisions. Howard, can I I'm so sorry. I'm with all respect. I need to interrupt you and I would like to ask that we have a motion to table this conversation and bring it back on April 9th because we will run out of time and we have to improve the consent calendar. May I finish please? Um we need to move the consent calendar and then we need to offer public comment. We have three cards. That's nine minutes and uh we're going to be just in that. So what I'd
300like to do is have a motion to table this item and bring it back on April 9th to finish the discussion. and it will be table. >> Thank you. All in favor of tableabling this conversation and bringing it back on April 9th for further conversation. >> I I actually feel very good about that because we've had an hour or more on this and we leave board members with four or five minutes and it's just not good management of the agenda. >> I support uh making the change so there can be adequate deliberations. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. Motion Motion approved. Okay. So, we're going to move on to the consent calendar. Item 10 A, we have um um items B through J. Are there any um board members that have any questions about
301the consent calendar? >> I just need to minutes and make a correction to it. February 12th. Now, I'm >> February 12th and February 26th. >> The the 26th You wanted to pull item C is what you want. >> Yes, pull item C. Sorry. >> For discussion or correction? >> Just a correction. It's quick. So, we can vote on the rest of them. >> Okay. Um All right. Any other items? Are there any speaker Are there any um Okay. Are there any speaker cards for this topic? Member Perry. No, no speaker cards. Okay. So, I need a motion to approve items B through J except C for the consent calendar. >> All in favor? >> Motion P. I motion passes 5-0. Um item C. Vine Bowl because I had originally wanted to abstain and I couldn't
302and then I voted no, but it has me voting yes on moving from Guyerfield to the Irvine Bowl. So that should be a 3-2 vote. >> And I did verify that with the video today, so that was my error. So I I've already made the corrections hoping they get approved tonight. >> Thank you. So we need a motion to approve item C. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I Okay, thank you. Motion passes. Uh student board member vote. Sorry. Yes. >> I >> thank you. Okay. Item 11, public comment on non-aggenda items. We have three more cards. Correct. >> Correct. >> Great. Thank you. >> We have Erica Rule and then Errolyn Burns and then the third one is John Doss. Oh, okay. There. Thank you. All right. So, I I want to start
303off in saying that there are good things happening in the school district. Um, from moving public comment to the beginning, that's been a really good change to have students and staff, especially being able to speak early and ahead of time. It signals that the board is listening. Uh, the pool moving forward uh succinctly uh through the facilities master plan is also a positive step. It addresses the real student need and it's not some reckless trade-off that sacrifices other facilities projects. Um the prep the preparation for future school bond is also the kind of planning that our students need the work of the transportation ad hoc committee. We're uh really addressing some real issues and finding some real changes especially in practical lowcost ways. I also want to acknowledge that the voting to absorb the 1.04
30404 million was good support for the teachers and that was the right decision, but it should just be recognized as such. The support should be clean. It should not leave any staff and others feeling like they now have to defend that decision just to keep misinformation from spreading. If it was truly support, it should be able to stand on its own. That is really my point tonight. If listening is going to be the standard, then it needs to mean more than just opening public comment earlier. It also has to mean listening to teachers and staff, respecting the line between governance and operations and being honest about how issues are framed in public. The board's role is governance. It sets direction, priorities, and accountability. It is not supposed to drift into operations. And that line exists
305for a reason. Once it starts to blur, even good intentions can create confusion, pressure, and distrust for the people actually doing the work. And if we are serious about district progress, then we also have to be serious about the people making it happen. Teachers and staff should be able to raise concerns without feeling like they are creating problems for themselves. And I'm not here to name any individuals, but when people closest to students don't feel comfortable speaking candidly, that's a district problem. I also want to say something about the academic scores. When people ask why others that they are not reacting to certain numbers the same way, part of the answer is that they may not be looking at the same measure. What gets presented as a simple decline is not always as clean as
306apples to apples when we do comparisons. That doesn't mean performance should be ignored. It means that data should be presented honestly, not selectively and not in whatever way is most useful for any kind of political point. Then finally, being outside of Laguna Beach city limits does not make someone irrelevant to this district. School districts boundaries are not the same as city boundaries and property taxes are distributed to school districts based on those boundaries. So yes, I have paid property taxes for years that support this district even though I live in Aliso VJO. But more importantly, no one should have to prove home ownership or a Laguna Beach zip code to have their voice taken seriously on issues affecting students and families. So there's a lot of good things happening here, but if listening is going
307to be the standard, then it has to apply all the way through to staff, to families, to public data, and to anyone with a real stake in this district. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Come on up, Ailyn. I'm going to start this, please. Hi. I'm going to try and make this as fast as I can. Get us out of here. Good evening, Superintendent Glass. My name is Erilyn Burns. I'm licensed marriage and family therapist. I am here to see all y'all and let you know that I am the CEO of Just Gather as a LMFT and LPCC former child social worker in LA County. Also, I was a seek counselor in schools. And I've recently written a book called Anxiety Annihilated. I approve all of the multi-ensory socioeotional learning curriculum. Just gather's mission
308is simple. Positive mindsets, mental wellness, and that is for youth as well as families. We use nature, the arts, gratitude, and joy. Every school is different, which means these protocols must reflect the community. At most schools, students are acting out. Fortunately, you have very low numbers. Some disrupting classes and preventing our incredible teachers to present their lesson plans. Just Gather realizes those behaviors are often linked to screen time. The use at home as well as schools. At some schools, including here, devices are given to early learners. We have evidence that this can interrupt crucial brain development stages and as well due to their small size EMF may impact their physical health. Our screen protocol recommendations results from a partnership with Klay Cranford Cyber Security COP along with guidance from Tristan Harris who created the Center
309for Human Technology and our friends at Screenagers. All recommendations are evidence-based with Belltobell school rules aligned to Los Angeles Unified. Additionally, our youth ambassador, 14-year-old Aziz Willis, has created two short films for students to help awaken purpose in them, understanding their challenges and to help them shine. He would like to join us to present these at FLO event in the fall. He will be in town midocctober. Please know we are here for you, the students as well as the staff. We see the impact on their lives. We know that our teachers at home and early learner recommendations create an effective full circle approach to the body, mind, and spirit of our children. I am sharing an overview my cards and look forward to continuing this conversation at an upcoming meeting. Thank you. And I beat
310my time. Thank you. I will not be that peppy. Sorry. Uh my name is John Dabs. Uh father of Ivy Dabs. Uh first I apologize for my attire. I literally landed LAX from a flight from New York City and uh didn't have time to put my suit back on. Um, for the past nine months, I've watched these board meetings and I've coached Ivy to stay independent, observe, form her own views, stand biased. Sometimes this has included text message during meetings. Other times, it's been text messages saying she needs to go home. It's 10 p.m. and she has homework and other and exams to study for. Everyone on you on this board has an independent vision on ways to improve Laguna Beach schools, as well as ways to preserve things that you believe are special to
311our community. I'm not here to tell you who is right or wrong. I'm here to ask if anyone's vision includes public criticism of our student volunteer board members. They're 16-year-old 16 years old not elected officials. These are kids that are here to learn and develop. If there's a problem with their work, talk to the faculty. Turn it into a teaching moment, not a public jab. I implore you as leaders, as adults, as parents, we owe our student board reps protection, not criticism. For everyone that believes in community, for our small town feel of Laguna Beach. Remember, it starts with building up each other rather than tearing them down. So, please protect our student board members, please. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, okay. Our next meeting is April 9th. It's a uh it
312is listed as a governance board meeting, but it's actually a regular business meeting. Um, and then our next meeting after that is the 16th. And then we have a governance meeting on the 23rd. I needed a motion to adjurnn. >> Second, >> Jim, I'm disappointed. I thought it would be you. All in favor? I. Thank you.