School Board Meeting- January 22, 2026 (Open Session)

001Thank you so much. Thank you so much for being here. This is a such an exciting night. It's one of our favorites. Um so I'm going to call this meeting reconvening, right? Recalling to order at 602. It's January 22nd and we want to thank you all for being here. It's a very exciting evening. Before we begin, I want to clarify a few expectations for board decorum so we can conduct the district's business effectively, efficiently, and respectfully. During board meetings, I ask that there's no eating in the boardroom and that the audience members and board members refrain from clapping other audible responses. Comments and reactions should be limited to designated public comment period. Each agenda item will provide an opportunity for public comment that is spec specific to that agenda item regarding public comment on non-aggenda

002items. I have heard your concerns so the board can get to their very important work that we are elected to do on behalf of our students and all that is related to their education and to address the concerns also stated that our meetings are too long that we aren't getting to student issues quick enough and that is what families are interested in. Non-aggenda items. Non-aggenda items are at the end of the meeting. Public comments on non-aggenda items will remain at the end of the meeting at this time. As Dr. Glass indicated, he's worked in many districts that uphold this policy as well and allows the board to get into the important work of agend that is agendaized at that time. In we do have new laws in California regarding public meetings and the ability to

003call in. And so as we implement those changes, we will be implementing changes across the board or across the agenda I guess. Um at that time these expectations apply to everyone and are intended to ensure an orderly meeting allowing the board to uphold their responsibilities, their elective duties and focus on students, staff and the community facing work and allow time where all viewpoints can be heard and the board can carry out its responsibilities. So thank you for listening to that and I'm excited to get on to our evening. We need the pledge of allegiance. Um, Logan, can you lead us in the pledge of allegiance, please? >> Yeah, I can't read it. Uh, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to our republic for which it stands, one nation

004under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Board President Morgan, I'm sorry. Oh, can I can I ask something? Board President Morgan's. Um, we Okay. >> Can we have order, please? Thank you. Member Perry, you have the floor. >> Board President Morgan, could we make an exception tonight since tonight is a celebration that clap? >> Yes. On during the recognition event? Absolutely. Thank you for asking. Um, okay. Okay, there is no report on closed session and we're going to move into item five, the recognition event. Uh we do we have any public comment on recognition events? Okay, we're going to move on to the first item which is staff recognitions. Um Dr. Glass or is it Mr. Conlin? You have the floor. >> Thank you, President Morgan. Um so we'll be celebrating our employees

005of the year this evening. uh beginning with our classified staff. So the CSEA employee of the year process recognizes employees in four categories. Clerical administrative services, custodial maintenance, nutrition and security services, um health and student services, and then instructional assistance. So the highest vote getter in each category is named the category winner. And then the individual who receives the most votes overall is named the classified employee of the year. So, I'd like to first begin with our custodial maintenance, nutrition, and security services category. Although the first individual was not able to be here tonight, but we'd like to recognize Salamayo, campus supervisor at LBHS for the last six years. And with that, Dr. Alman is going to share a few words. As a campus supervisor, Sal stands at the front lines of our school, welcoming

006students not just onto campus, but into a space where they are known, seen, and valued. He knows our students by name, and more importantly, he knows them as individuals. Sal has an incredible ability to connect. A simple greeting, a quick check-in, a moment of encouragement. These small interactions have a profound impact. For many students, Sal is the first adult they see each day, setting the tone for safety, respect, and belonging. He builds trust through consistency, kindness, and genuine care, creating a campus environment where students feel supported from the moment they arrive. S acts as a mentor, a role model, and a steady presence on our campus. He handles challenges with calm professionalism and approaches every interaction with patience and empathy. Salamayo exemplifies what it means to serve students with heart. We are incredibly grateful for

007his dedication, his compassion, and the positive impact he's had on our campus and our school each and every day. Thank you. >> All right, the next um person we're celebrating is Leanne Hartley. Are you here? Can you come to the podium? All right, Leanne is the CL the winner in the clerical administrative services category. Uh she's been our data support specialist with LBSD for the last seven years. Um and so Mike Morrison was unable to be here tonight, but he did share a few words. So I'm going to read those on his behalf. Um I love working with Leanne. I got a chance to work with Leanne with her in Saddleback Valley Unified for a year when I got to LBUSD. I recruited her because she is the best. When I asked our team to

008describe Leanne, they all shared that they loved working with her, too. Erin shared how she's a true team player. Mike Rush spoke about how she pushes for high quality work while keeping students and colleagues at the center. Andy described her as kind, genuine, and a joy to work with. One highlighted her positive spirit in the wellness activities that bring people together. While Ignasio simply said, "She shows up always she uh she shows up with care and a smile." Robbie reminded us that she is someone who truly cares about her work and helps everything run smoothly. Because of Leanne, our department and our district are stronger. We we really do love working with her. So, kudos to you, Le. Congrats. >> Picture Le got a good picture, too. Do it now or together. Perfect. Yeah. So,

009hang hang. >> Yep. >> Perfect. Next, if we could please have Chrissy Landraph come to the podium. So, Chrissy has been with us for 12 years and during that tenure, she served as a campus supervisor, library media assistant, and is currently the activities account specialist and and she won the for the category of health and student services. So, we're gonna have Dr. Almond come and share a few words on your behalf. Chrissy always likes being put on the spot by me. So, here we go. As our student accounts clerk, Chrissy serves as a steady and welcoming presence for our students and families alike. Whether she's helping a student navigate a question, resolve an issue, or simply offering reassurance, she does so with genuine smile and unmistakable sense of care. Her positivity sets the tone for

010her workspace and our campus and makes even the most stressful moments feel manageable. Chrissy is always ready with a helping hand. She approaches her work with patience, kindness, and an unwavering commitment to service, ensuring that our students feel supported and respected. Her attention to detail, reliability, and willingness to go above and beyond make her an invaluable member of our LBHS team. Beyond her responsibilities, Chrissy's demeanor reminds us that how we show up for students matters. Her friendliness and compassion help create an environment where students feel comfortable asking for help and confident that someone is in their corner. Chrissy Langraph exemplifies what it means to serve our school community with heart and professionalism. And we're deeply grateful for her dedication and the positive impact she's had on our campus each and every day. Thank you, Chrissy.

011Appreciate it. So now for our classified employee of the year, please join me in celebrating Faceless Suzia as their 2026 classified employee of the year. So Thesa has been she is an a special education instructional assistant been with the district for 12 years supporting our most at risk students at all four sites and is currently also the chapter president for CSEA. So with that we have Dr. Almond's going to come share a few words for you as well. He's busy tonight. >> That's right. Today, we're honored to recognize an individual whose work reflects the very best of what it means to serve students with purpose, care, and heart. As an instructional aid, Miss Z's impact is felt in countless moments that often happen quietly but never go unnoticed. She consistently places the best interest of

012students at the center of everything she does, supporting them academically while also helping them navigate the many challenges of the high school experience. Thesa's Thesa brings her full energy and dedication into her work. She meets students where they are, listens with intent, and responds with compassion and patience. Whether she's breaking down a complex concept, offering encouragement on a difficult day, or helping a student find their footing, she does so with unwavering commitment and professionalism. Equally important is the way Miss Z supports our staff. She is a trusted collaborator, always willing to step in, problem solve, and contribute positively to the learning environment. Her presence strengthens class classrooms, builds relationships, and reinforces a culture where our students feel seen, supported, and capable. Miss Z embodies what it means to serve with heart. Her dedication, empathy, and

013belief in our students make a lasting difference every single day. So, it's with deep appreciation, and pride that we recognize you as our employee of the year. Congratulations. Amen. >> All right. And last and certainly but not least is uh Randy Beckley here. >> All right. So Randy has been a French teacher at Thirstston uh Middle School for the past 19 years. I can personally attest to the passion that she brings to her instruction as it inspired my daughter to have a love for the language and culture. So we really I know she thinks of you daily. So with that, we do want Mr. Vidala has a few words as well to share. Congratulations. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Looking forward to embarrassing you tonight. Tonight, we have the privilege of recognizing an educator who embodies

014the very heart of our district, our teacher of the year, Randy Beckley. To describe Randy simply as a teacher feels inadequate. With nearly 30 years in education and two decades dedicated specifically to Thirsten, which I feel blessed for. Randy is more than a staff member. She's a weaver of our community. She connects content to curiosity. She connects staff to students. She connects our schools to the wider world. It starts, of course, in her classroom. Whether she is teaching French or supporting students in reading intervention, Randy cultivates a sense of radical belonging. She creates a culture where students aren't just expected to fit in. They are invited to be their authentic selves, struggles and all. She meets them exactly where they are academically and emotionally, ensuring they feel safe to take risks and challenged enough to

015grow. But for Randy, the classroom is just the beginning. She carries that same spirit of empathy into her leadership with our staff. As a mentor and an instructional coach, Randy embodies the values in humility and partnership. She operates as a true thought partner, creating district pathways for us to grow. On one hand, she break down the silos of our profession, creating opportunities for teachers to observe one another and borrow effective strategies from their colleagues. On the other, she challenges us to experience those strategies from the other side of the desk by inviting us as staff to navigate the school day as students and see the world that they do to feel exactly how the programs that we've decided on shift and land on them as learners. She encourages us to celebrate the benefits of our

016choices, but also gives us the courage to identify potential shortcomings and openly fix them. Her commitment extends even further, breaking down the walls between school, home, and the real world. Randy understands that to teach a child, you must support the whole family. We see this in her facilitation of the parent project where she partners with parents to navigate the complexities of raising children. We see it in her joy for culture, whether she is teaching kids the art of cooking in the Young Chef's Club or literally escorting families to France to immerse them in global citizenship. She is constantly building bridges that allow community to walk across and experience something new. And perhaps the greatest testament to her professional character is what happens when school year ends. While most of us are at home recharging, Ry's

017dedication shift gears. She is the architect and driving force behind our summer lead program. Under her leadership, what she began as a modest offering has blossomed into a thriving comprehensive academy that serves students and in our entire district. It takes a tremendous amount of vision, organizational stamina to build a program of this magnitude, but she does it year after year because she believes that opportunities for learning and connection should never take a break. Yet, for all she gives to us, we know her most cherished roles are the ones she holds outside these walls. Amidst this incredible career, she has built a beautiful life at home. As a devoted wife and a mother who has raised three boys into outstanding young men, Randy proves it is possible to pour your soul into your community while remaining

018deeply anchored to the family that supports you. From the quiet moments of mentorship to the loud joy of a summer program, Land Randy leads with humility, integrity, and an open heart. Randy, as a friend and as a colleague, you challenge us to be better educators and be better people. You remind us that this work is not just about curriculum. It is and always will be about connection. On behalf of Thirsten Middle School and our entire community, thank you for your service, your stamina, your sassiness, and your spirit. It is my absolute honor to recognize you as teacher of the year. Congratulations. What? Sure. Stephanie, do you have the board in this or not? >> Yeah, don't it doesn't matter to me. No, you guys should be in the photos. >> You guys jump in for

019the photos. You are someone who needs no actually we'll get it's like we're missing a few All right, we're now going to begin the elementary student. >> What? I know. And we're we'll start with Elmoro, Dr. Julie Hatchel. All right, for our elementary recognitions of the year, I'd like to start with the elementary school counselor of the year, Mrs. Maryanne Lawson. Come on up, Maryanne. Go stand. Everybody needs your sweet smile. There we go. Tonight, we are excited to honor Maryannne Lawson as the 2526 Elementary Counselor of the Year. This award is presented by the Orange County Department of Education to one elementary counselor who demonstrates exceptional dedication to student well-being, academic success, and social emotional development. Mrs. Lawson has been a part of our Laguna Beach family since 2016, and we've been blessed by

020her energy, expertise, care, and concern for our students, staff, and families. She's made an incredible impact on shaping a positive environment at Elmoro and we are so proud to call her one of our very own sea lions. Congratulations, Miss Lawson. >> Yeah. >> At the end now. >> Yeah. You want to go through? >> Let's do all three. And next, we are excited to honor Mrs. Kim Vogi for being named the one of the first 10 certificated IST ASCD instructional leaders in the entire world. Come on up, Kim Boie. The ISTY or ASCD is granted by the International Society for Technology and Education and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. This is given to instructional leaders who have demonstrated proficiency across the IST and ASCD instructional leadership competencies. A comprehensive framework defining knowledge, skills, and

021dispositions that are essential for leading equitable, innovative, data-informed learning environments. Miss Vogi has worked with us at Elmoro for the past three years, helping us to enshape instruction through the meaningful integration of technology. Known as a renowned keynote speaker across the world and an author specializing in edge of protocols, we are very lucky to have her as part of the Elmera team. Congratulations, Mrs. Vogi. And I will say Elmora is rocking it across the country and across the county. And our very next honore is Mrs. Cam Stevens who earned the Orange County Music and Arts TOSA award. We are thrilled to honor Cam Stevens who earned the 2026 Teacher on Special Assignment or TOSA award by the Orange County Music and Arts Administrators. This award is granted by a coalition of arts educators, administrators, and

022advocates from throughout Orange County. It has been an absolute joy to watch Camela work her magic with students at our school. Her passion for talents for the arts have greatly expanded educational opportunities, partnerships, and meaningful connections for our students and community. She has done a beautiful job integrating the arts into classroom instruction across all subjects, helping students with different learning modalities and talents shine. With her advocacy for the arts, we've seen an increasing number of our Elmoro students recognized for their talents throughout our community. Whether it's at the Sawdust Festival, Orange County Airport, South Coast Plaza, City Hall, the Coast Musical Festival, and Pageant of the Masters, you are sure to see Elmora students work displayed due to CMA's encouragement and fostering of love of the arts within our students. Congratulations, Miss Stevens. All right,

023and moving on to our student celebrations. Our first recognition tonight will be for the Boo Blast t-shirt design. Each year, the Elmoro PTA hosts an art contest to select one piece to be featured on our Boo Blast t-shirts. We always have fun displaying decades of worth decades worth of t-shirts throughout the month of October. This year, we are excited to announce Zachary Butin as the winner of the 2025 Boob Blast t-shirt contest. And Zachary's fun to sign will be showcased on our 2026 shirts. And I do not believe Zachary is here tonight. Just double checking. Want to make sure we shouted him out anyway. All right. And next, we'd like to congratulate Miss Penelopey Heron for our Coast Film and Music Festival Showcase winner. Come on up, Penny. Penny was selected to showcase her absolutely

024gorgeous piece of art at the Coast Film and Music Festival this fall. Penelope. I told Penelopey earlier that her painting of the sunset over the sea was one of the absolutely most beautiful and favorite pieces I've ever seen. Created by a student. It is proudly framed and displayed in our front office and I've told her that I will gladly give it back if she promises to give me a signed personal copy of the piece. Congratulations to Penny and do it now. Oh, just Awesome. And next we have the winners of the holiday art palette. Each year the city of Lagouna Beach hosts its holiday art palette contest where community members submit original designs to be painted on artistic pallets and displayed throughout our beautiful city. This beloved tradition is one of our one that our

025community looks forward to every year, signaling the beginning of the holiday season. This year, we are proud to recognize students from both of our schools whose art was selected to be displayed. Congrat Congratulations to the following Elmoro students whose pieces were selected in the 2025 contest. Come on up as I read your name. Kade Morizavi, Jack Nastanski, Lionus Wong, and Sienna Zamarano. And next we have our junior master gardeners. The junior master gardeners is a vibrant program at our elementary schools as well as TMS led by our dedicated garden dosent. Students participate in hands-on activities such as caring for the garden, planting seeds using moisture meters to water responsibly, identifying and removing weeds, meeting meeting the worms in our compost systems, caring for tools, exploring pests and beneficial insects, harvesting herbs and produce, and supporting

026full garden and maintenance. These activities build authentic junior master gardener skills and we are intentionally aligned with our five LBUSD learner outcomes being empowered learners, creative problem solvers, constructive collaborators, empathetic citizens, and effective communicators. Ultimately, these teach our students to be leaders and stewards of our great land. Congratulations to our 2025 junior master gardeners. Come on up. Beatric Carlton, Jade Valancha, Cecilia Okonnell, Farah Ahmad, McKenzie Marusa, Madison Warshaw, Marggo Mackey, Sylvie Walker, and Tula Berman, who I don't think is here tonight. And our next category that we'd love to be able to honor tonight are our PALS. Our PALS, actually, Miss Vogy, come on up because you lead our PALS. I want you to do this with me. Are you still here? >> All right, here we go. PALS stands for peer assistance leadership. and

027it's a phenomenal opportunity for members to serve as mentors in helping their peers or younger students with academic, social, or emotional challenges. Activities can include and the page is a little sticky. Sorry. Mentoring, tutoring, conflict resolution, or promoting positive behaviors, all aimed at building a stronger sense of community. Leadership skills and academic success are also built throughout the program. A huge thank you to Mrs. Fogi who has who has dedicated her time the last two years in raising up and training this fantastic group of students. Congratulations to our 25 26 pals. Come on up. Ben Anderson, Tula Berman, Addison Butin, Zachary Butin, Beatric Carlton, Blake Charley, Steven Chudley, Edith Chuchi, Chuchi Eu, William Kaufman, Shelby Dabs, Ka Ia Gianuckus, Jade Hill, Ella Ho, Ava Orion, Kyle Likenberg, Rose McGill, Alisandre Matani, Carly Museli, Cecilia Okonnell,

028L. Elephant, Caleb or Caleb Ora, Jack Pressie, Leila Renard, Ara Reynolds, Jack Stanbury, Alta Strathman, Olympia Walden, and Max White House. All right, art pallet winners, I made a mistake. We are failing forward. I'm demonstrating a growth mindset for you tonight. If you were an art pallet winner, come on up. We're going to redo that picture. And I'd also like to include Ivan Kudashoff who also was recognized. Come on up. Holiday Art Pallets. Let's come on up. We're going to retake that picture. Come on. Come on. Oh, heat. Oh, he's smiling. >> Okay. Okay. And our our final category for tonight is the Lagouna Beach Plain Air Recognition. Each year, the Lagouna Beach Plane Air Painters Association hosts its plain air invitational, inviting students from both of our schools to set up a canvas at

029Heisler Park to capture the beauty of Laguna Beach in an original Plain Air painting. Tonight, we will recognize students from both of our campuses who were selected to participate in this event. Congratulations to our Elmoro 2025 plane air participants. Dakota Castillo, Penelopey Heron, Ella Ho, Eva Nathansson, Lily Pratt, Damen Savadzitski, Olympia Walden, and Madison Warshaw. >> [laughter] >> I'm going to touch the last one. Okay. >> Thank you, Dr. Hatchel. Uh, I'd like to express my appreciation for Dr. Hatchel in reading all the descriptions of all of the different awards. Uh we have a lot of them uh the same and I think you all all appreciate the fact that I'm not going to repeat them. So we will start with the top of the world students who are um honores from the coast film

030music and art festival. We do have a winner as well. Barl how if you'll come on up. And we have some honorable mentions as well. Colin Clark, Raven Han, Emma Capernick, and Matas Marangoni, as well as Madison Nuttleman. So, if you are here, come on up. Come on up. Congratulations, and the top of the world junior master gardener honores Juliet Brooker come on up Milani Castello Gemma Collings Eleanor Collings Vanessa Evans Olivia Grubin, Emma Capernick, you can go right there, Mila Lewis, Marabel Magalenus, Chanel Mcchznney, and I think that's our Did I miss anybody from that group? Oh, who did I miss? And we have three holiday pallet winners as well. So, we'd like to invite Isa Mardau, Skyler Tiner, and Parker Walters to the front. We also have eight honores for the Lagona Beach

031Plane Air Invitational. So come on up when your name is called. Gwen Bry, Kira Dole, Poppy Entress, Kendall Hensley, Willa Reed, L. Smith, Devin Suttorin, and Talia Westgard. Come on up. And I have a long list I have a long list of pals honores as well for to Lily Adair. Come on up. Caroline Adamu, Charlotte Asher, Quinn Bakery again, Amelia Baker, Leila Caker, Everly Cummings, Arvin Amini, Kora Fisk, Haley Hathaway, Royce Hickman, Holland Kennedy, Ivy, Ivy Kapor, Jacob Kong, Celeste Leaf, Khloe Lou, Isolda Mullen, Ruth Reyes, Janelle Rothman, Milan Sashdev, Ellie Shadan, Ai Simuititz, Michaela Susman, Aspen Taylor, Huntley White, Morgan Wilho and Summer Wilson. Come on up. want them too on that. And in our final our final elementary category, student council members of Top of the World. These students are natural leaders elected

032by their peers and perform leadership duties that benefit the school and the community. Each student exhibits model behaviors such as kindness, problem solving, and time management kind of. They must be upstanders who are kind and self-driven as well as responsible. So when I call your name, come on up. Camila Fine, come on up. Everly Jones, Grayson Kibby, I know you're here. Avalon Lombardo, Taia McDuffy, Victoria Parlanites, Freda Romeig, Maddie Shen, Monroe Shuster, L. Smith, Frankie Tero, and Drew Tik. Come on. break. >> Thank you all so much for coming. We are going to take a 10-minute break before we start with the next session so that we have an opportunity to bring in the uh middle school and high school. Have a great evening. Drive safe. Thank you so much. Congratulations everyone. We're very, very

033proud of you. Hello. Hello. I I don't know if you can hear me. Hello. Hello. We have uh two cars in the parking lot that are blocking a bus from exiting. It's a black BMW. You got it. We're good. Both cars. Okay. Never mind. Thank you. Hello. Good evening. Thank you all for coming in. I know we've just transferred over from elementary to our secondary, middle school, and high school. So, thank you so much for being here. This is our uh this is January 22nd, 2026 recognition event. And we it's the best night of the year. We are extremely excited and very proud to present all of our students their awards. I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Vidal to begin his presentation. Thank you. >> All right. For Then Middle School, I would

034like to call up Liliana Eberg, Leila Robertson Berry, and Macy Shear. Come on up. We are thrilled to announce this year's participants for our Tech Trek, an incredible partnership between LBUSD and the American Association Women University. Tech Trek is designed for girls entering 8th grade. Is a one-week immersive camp held at the university campuses. Um, like USD, U and UCSB, students live in dorms and dive into hands-on workshops, field trips, and projects, all while being mentored by inspiring women in science and engineering. This program is made possible by the incredible team and a heartfelt thank you to Cigarette Morans, Karen Dennis, and Diane Cloak for making these opportunities a reality. Let's give a big round of applause for our team. >> Yes. Is there a sign for this? Make that announcement. Can I see it

035again? >> Um, we also randomly need a black Volkswagen that ends license plate ends in 219 to please move their vehicle. 219. Anything else? We're good. Okay. Um, at this moment, I'd like to call up Taylor Jones if she's in the house. Well, I'll read briefly a little bit about Taylor. Um, Taylor uh was at our Coast Film Festival and music festival uh student art contest where she won the incredible prize and based on Land and Sea theme. So, we incredibly proud to recognize Taylor for winning the contest and representing Then Middle School. Let's give her a big round of applause. I'd also like to call up Cali Andress, Claire Beltran, Regino, Bella, Crowe, Lucen Igman, and Lynn Walton Kazinski. The master gardeners are the backbone of the Thra Middle School garden. They meet every

036Wednesday. This team builds eight essential skills while keeping our outdoor learning spaces thriving. From compost uh composting to harvesting, these students ensure the garden is ready for Monday garden literacy lessons. We are very proud of you for your hard work and thank you for all you do for the thirst and garden. Thank you. Now I would like to call up Emil Avalon, Ethan Copernick, Esme James Newton, Axel Schroeder, and Michael Washington. Our school recently participated in Math Counts as a nationally recognized middle school mathematics program that celebrates problem solving and critical thinking. We had 85 students in grades 6 through eight who took part in the on-ampus math counts competition where they tackled challenging, engaging math problems that require creativity and perseverance. We are proud to recognize the outstanding efforts of all participating students and

037we'd especially like to celebrate those who earned the top scores in our school competition. Esme James Newton earned first place, Axel Schroeder and Michael Washington tied for second and Emil Avalon and Ethan Copernick tied for third. Their achievements reflect not only strong mathematical ability but deducation and focus. Let's give them a big round of applause. And now I'd like to call up Clark Alden for the Patriots Day Writing Contest. Each year, the Patriots Day Parade Committee invites our eighth graders to explore a history through an annual essay contest. And we are absolutely thrilled to announce that Clark Alden from Miss Silver's class won this year's contest. Clark's winning essay, 250 years of independence, inspiration, and innovation is a stirring reminder of why we celebrate this holiday. He looks past the history books to capture the

038true heart of the American experience, the gift of self-governance, and the power of people. Clark beautifully highlights the American that America is unique because anyone from anywhere can become an American and his words inspire us not only to appreciate our past but to actively cherish the individual freedoms that we hold today. Let's hear it for our winner, Clark. All right, for our student success panel leaders, I'd like to call up Aiden Dwight, Austin Angel, and Abby Olan. These students step forward to support their peers during challenging moments, choosing empathy, accountability, and community over judgment. Through thoughtful listening and honest conversations, they help classmates reflect, take responsibility, and create meaningful uh plans to repair harm and move forward. Their work reminds us that growth happens best when students feel supported, not isolated. We are incredibly proud

039of these students for the positive impact that they're making and for helping thirst remain a place where connection, responsibility, and belonging truly matter. Let's give them a big round of applause. All right. And finally, our TMS Cove crew. I'd like to call up Charlotte Cullings, Abby Kovich, Satie Ray Hall, Claire Stender, and Leighton Weiss. The Cove Crew, our Wellspace Ambassador program, is a student-ledd initiative representing the Cove, our student wellspace that plans meaningful wellness activities and strengthens the community, the student community. We would like to thank these students for stepping up, organizing our schoolwide events, and investing in promoting a positive school culture. Let's give them a big round of applause. and finally finally we'd like to recognize our Lagouna Beach plane air. I'd like to call up Nora Glass, Marissa Gomez, Holly Harris, Anwin

040Isaac Crayman, Taylor Jones, Macy Sheer, and Ava Swanson. Thirst would like to recognize another round of amazing artists, our planeire students who spent the day with professional painters at Heiser Park to create pieces depicting landscape views of a beautiful Laguna Beach. Congratulations, Wave Riders, and thank you for your efforts for creating such beautiful pieces. At this time, I'd like to have Zoe Bartles come up, please. Zoe, where is Zoe? She's here. Oh, there you go. And welcome all the high school students here tonight. Thank you for being here. You weren't ready for me, were you? All right, stand there perfectly. All right, Zoe is a powerful example of turning ideas into action. And if you haven't been by the LBHS garden, it's right front and center located on campus. We're very proud of the work

041she's done. During last year's sustained SoCal challenge, the LBHS student green team audited campus sustainability in energy, waste, water, transportation, and health, and noticed something missing, an edible garden. Zoe stepped up. She worked with the district teams to write a grant with school power support, designed an outdoor wellness space known as break and bloom and partnered with the director of OC waste and recycling and their VP of sustainability to secure donated compost. Zoe's goal is to create an inclusive space where students and teachers can extend learning beyond the classroom and reconnect with the idea that our planet nourishes far more than just our food. Empathetic, thorough, and a true go-getter, Zoe has earned Cal the California State Seal of Civic Engagement for bringing the Breakand Bloom Community Garden to to Laguna Beach High School. Thank

042you, Zoe. At this time, I'd like to have Ethan Wax, Ena Yuan, Trenton, Tran, Ellis Mink, Berlin Fox, Rosie Simpson, Grace Wagner, Stella Mimula, Bana Jeffrey, and Laura Tank of the brave soul coming. >> We're honoring these students for the FLO Coast Film and Music Festival Art Contest. This year, our district launched a new student art contest in collaboration with the Coast Film and Music Festival. Students across Lagouna Beach were invited to create artwork inspired by the theme of land and sea. As you've heard before, with entries meeting specific size criteria and guidelines juried by our own district art teachers, five winners were selected across the district. One from TO, one from Elmoro and Thirsten, and two from Lagona Beach High School. Their framed artwork was proudly displayed at the festival celebrating student creativity and

043our connection to arts in the community. Congratulations, At this time, I'd love to have Brighton Welsh, Lakeland Welsh, and Zoe Bond. We're honoring these students for chalk art at the Coast Film and Music Festival. In addition to these Laguna Beach High School students, um I'm sorry, these three Laguna Beach High School students were invited to create a chalk mural at the Coast Film and Music Festival located on the Festival of Arts grounds. Working collaboratively, the students designed and completed a largecale chalk artwork centered on sustainability, envir and environmental awareness. Their mural was created live during the festival, engaging the community and highlighting student creativity while reinforcing the importance of caring for our environment. Great job, Zo. At this time, I'd like to honor our Laguna Beach High School Plair students, Diane Yuin, Brianna Joffrey, Izzy

044Cogill, Rosie Simpson, Stella Mamula, Berlin Fox, and Grace Macau. As you heard a little bit about Pler before, students in our art 2 production participated in a planer painting experience at Heistler Park where they were where they were mentored one-on-one by professional and practicing artists. Using acrylic paint, students focused on composition and plan air techniques while working on location. This hands-on mentorship gave students a meaningful glimpse into the world of art both as not only a creative passion but also a professional pathway. Congratulations At this time, I'd like to have Juliana Politki up, Luca Lucas Ferrar, and Skyler Deaggio if they're here. Like to say something briefly about each of these students as it relates to their leadership and impact on our campus. Juliana. She spent the past two years in ASB observing, learning from,

045and taking notes of the leaders who came before her. This year, she stepped into a head position with our athletic com athletics committee and immediately brought new energy and direction to the role. Under her leadership, the committee has expanded its impact beyond student athletes to include all students who want to participate in friendly competition. Juliana has created meaningful opportunities through tutorials and lunchtime activities that allow students to step away from academic demands and engage in spirited positive competition. She's also found thoughtful ways to recognize student athletes across campus, including her game of the week snack bag, which is delivered to students on their game days. always thinking of ways to celebrate and uplift others. Juliana has done an excellent job leading her community and showcasing the efforts of our students. Congratulations. >> Lucas is a

046secondyear ASB member who has quickly distinguished himself as a leader capable of rallying his peers, generating energy, and leading with purpose. As co-head of the athletics committee, Lucas consistently brings forward new ideas aimed at reaching and celebrating a wide range of audiences across campus. He has been intentional about evaluating non-traditional sports, including esports, card gaming, and rugby, creating meaningful opportunities for students and teams that are not always represented in the spotlight. During basketball season, Lucas has also played a key role in building school spirit by helping draw larger crowds, and creating an engaging game day atmosphere through halftime performances and interactive crowd activities. Lucas excels at facilitating thoughtful discussion among his classmates, ensuring all voices are heard, and guiding the group towards shared goals. His leadership has helped create a more inclusive, energetic, and connected

047campus culture, and his impacts on athletics committee will be felt beyond this school year. Congratulations, Lucas. Skyler, you've been an awesome part of ASB since your freshman year, and each year, you continued to evaluate both the culture and productivity of the program. Last year, Skyler partnered with another student to thoughtfully reimagine the student experience for our Friday Night Lights home games. She's led the initiative by scheduling meetings and creating presentations that resulted in a relocated student section as well as the addition of music, lighting, and the smoke machine. All of which significantly increased the energy and excitement of Friday night lights. This year, Skyler serves as the head of our communications committee where her organization and leadership have transformed the committee into a finely tuned operation. She communicates clearly, consistently with her team to ensure

048that all aspects of student communication are executed with fidelity. In addition, driven by her own initiative, Skyler created a new weekly communication forum with staff to keep the staff informed about student leadership efforts and campus activities. Skyler's leadership is thoughtful, proactive, and impactful. She consistently looks for ways to improve systems, ev elevate student voice, and strengthen connection across campus, leaving a lasting and meaningful mark on the student leadership program at Lagouna Beach High School. Congratulations At this time, I'd like to welcome Dr. Selby, our athletic director at Laguna Beach High School to the podium. >> Thank you, Dr. Alman, and thank you to the board and Dr. Glass and cabinet for giving athletics an opportunity to recognize some great student athletes. For those of you that have been here, when I've recognized our athletes, you

049know, I get a little bit excited. So, I'm going to try to just tone it down a little bit. But, we have some great athletes that we're going to recognize. So, I want these students to come forward and just stand up in a nice line. You guys can do this. Follow instructions. Addison Berg, Wyatt Bogden, Otis Bolting House, Gavin Good, Jack Hurst, Max Jackal, Mimi Spangler, Brady Stringham, Branson Wade, Jacob Wicker, and Isabella Zamuski. So when when I try to make decisions about who we're going to recognize, I kind of have to draw the line somewhere. And the first thing I thought about was, oh, if you made all league, like that's a big deal. But we would have so many athletes up here, we couldn't do that. So we had to really raise the

050bar. And so the recognition level kind of starts at all CIF, which is a really big deal to be named allciff or if you were MVP of a sport for our entire league or if you earned a scholarship to play your sport in college. Kind of a big deal. So all of these students are being recognized for one of those things. So I'm going to just go ahead and start. So I want Addie Berg set step forward. Addie. Addie plays lacrosse for us. And um Addie is an incredible athlete. Um, Coach RP likes to say that she brings more than stats. That her fundamentals are elite. This is this is coach RP's words. Solid left and right, explosive speed, and a jump shot that's both powerful and pinpoint accurate. That describes Addie. It is amazing.

051She has never scored scored less than three goals in a game. That's incredible. In a single game, she's never scored less than three. Um, she is committed to her future. She trains so much outside of our of our own program with private trainers, strength coaches, speed training. She does it all. And she has been rewarded by earning a scholarship to play lacrosse at High Point University, a division one school in North Carolina. So, congratulations, Addie. I forgot to mention that last year because she's a spring sport athlete. We don't do this after this spring, but she was first team all CIF as a junior last year and we expect that she'll probably earn that award this year as well. So, congratulations. Um, Jacob, Jacob Wicker, step forward, Jac Jacob. So, Jacob is um a baseball

052player for our program. Interestingly, this this is Jacob's first year at Laguna Beach High School. He got smart and returned to us from Santa Margarita. Sorry, Santa Margarita, but I'm just going to say that um our coach Balanto knew he was going to be a great athlete and a great baseball player, but from the first day of summer practice, he was so impressed at how well he fit into the culture of our baseball program right away. And we know that he's going to do a great job this season. And um he has earned an athletic scholarship to play baseball at Lyola Marry Mount University next year, another division school. Congrat Odie. Od step forward. Otis Bolting House. Um Otis is a two sport athlete. He plays football and baseball. And he he is a very

053quiet, humble young man, at least around me. I'm not sure if he's like that around his his teammates and his friends, but he's just got this humility about him and this respectfulness that's just quiet and and I love it. I I think you know that I feel that way about you. Um but Otis is a great football player, but baseball is his love. Um and he is our starting center fielder and leadoff hitter and he's definitely a leader on the team and um coach Bolanto says that he leads by example every single day. Very proud of what he puts out on the field. Otis is in his second year at Laguna Beach because he got smart and returned to us from J Sah saying that to J Ser. I'm going to throw that out there

054at all of them and he will be playing baseball next year at Pomona Pitzer College. So congratulations as and baseball. The unique thing that I always observed is when he does something really well on the field, his teammates get so excited for him. So, I think he's really a beloved teammate with the with the kids around him. So, that's that's something else I noticed about Yod. So, congratulations, Branson. Branson Wade. Branson is quite honestly a dominant pitcher. He was up here already um being acknowledged at our one of our board meetings. He's a three-year varsity starter. Um, he's won back-to-back pitcher of the year from his sophomore year in the Sunset Conference and last year in the Pacific Coast Conference and now he's in his senior year. No pressure, but hopefully you can do that

055again. Um, uh, Coach Blanto expects him to have a great season and by the end of it, this is again, I'm putting a lot of pressure on you, but he coach says that we expect him to be the all-time leader in strikeouts, erra, and he has a shot at being the all-time leader in wins at Lagouna Beach High School, which is incredible because we have we've had great baseball players here at the school. Um, so Banto says those are great accomplishments, but what he loves most about coaching um, Branson is just the conversations they have about life. Uh Branson has earned a scholarship to play uh baseball at Loyola Marry Mount University next year. So congratulations Branson. We we have two other athletes that have earned scholarships that could not be here tonight. Um one

056is Isabella Zamuski who will be playing water polo at Virginia Military Institute. She's a great student. She's been on the superintendent four-year honor role in a USA water polo academic all-American. And so I wanted to mention Isa and then also Mimi Spangler, a volleyball player. She will be playing volleyball at Oberlin College um next year and another just incredible kid and an incredible leader. So we're super excited for those for those student athletes as well. So let's hear it for our scholarship winners. Okay, we're now going to go to a couple of pretty darn good water polo players. So Gavin, step forward. Gavin's been up here before, too. Gavin's a senior. He was named to first team AllCIF this year and this was in the open division. And I say that because being in the

057open division, you guys have heard me say this many times. We're we we have 800 students at Laguna Beach High School. And there are other small schools out there, but you may not know that at Laguna Beach, we we don't have transfers. You got to live in Laguna Beach to to be able to play here. And at other schools, the CIF will allow a freshman to go anywhere he wants. If the school takes them, they can go anywhere they want. They're eligible to play. So, we're doing all these things with our neighborhood athletes and probably because I'm 61 years old. I think that's really cool. You know, it's just sort of old school. We're doing it with our neighborhood kids. So, Gavin was first team all CIF in the open division. That is up there

058with the big boys. And we are big boys, too, right? But it's up there with the big boys. He's a four-year varsity water polo player. He was a captain this year, and he is a huge reason we've been so competitive in boys water polo for the past four years. Gavin, thank you for everything. You good? >> Good. >> Yeah. He had a little fight with a razor today, but you look you look handsome. You look handsome, Gavin. All right, Max. I You're going to get You're going to get me later. Max Jackal. Max is also a senior in our water polo program. And uh Max was named the MP goalie of the Pacific Coast Conference this season. So that's the best goalie in the league. That's pretty incredible. I will tell you, he is a

059fiery competitor. Um he gets so excited when he makes a block and then I I'm over there just going, "Yeah, like I get so excited for him because he gets pretty pumped up and I know that he that infectious energy is definitely propels his team." I know that um Coach Cam says Max is one of the most competitive athletes he's coached here at Laguna Beach High School. He has options to play in college. He's not made decisions yet, but we know that you're going to do great things after you leave Laguna Beach. Thank you for for everything, Max. Thank you. And now we we move on to a trio of juniors from our football program. First we have Wyatt Bogden. Wyatt and step forward. You can clap for Wyatt. Our football team won the water

060polo won the league championship this year. I forgot to mention that. Football also won the league championship in the Foxtrot League. And why it was a big reason that that that happened for us. He was named for the Foxtrot League the defensive MVP. Um, and he he was the leader of our record-breaking defense. He shined in all three phases of the game, offense, defense, and special teams. Um, but the main thing that was on on display every Friday night was just his grittiness and his toughness. Um, Wyatt shines on the field on in the classroom, and we know that he's going to have some opportunities to play in college. So, next year's going to be a big year for Wyatt. We're excited to see what you do. Congratulations, Wyatt. Brady, sorry Brady, I didn't see

061you over there on the end. How could I miss you? Brady, step up. Brady Stringham, another junior football player. Brady was named the offensive MVP for the Foxtrot League. Um, he also excelled in all three phases of the game. He's our record-breaking kicker um on special teams and he's a shut down corner on defense, but he shines on offense. There's no doubt he kind of likes it there. He scor had 17 um receiving touchdowns this year. He had some catches where we just went, "Holy moly, did he just catch that ball?" So, he he's quite a a dynamic player. He was also named second team all county. Um, big deal. All county players are picked from all the schools, Modern Day, Orange Lutheran, Mission Viejo, Losal, and Laguna Beach. So, we're proud of you, Brady,

062with the way you're representing our program and our community. He's another young man that will play in college, and he's gonna have a big senior year. Congratulations, Brady. Jack step forward. So Jack is our quarterback of our team. He's also a junior. Jack was named first team all CIF in division three. And I know I've beaten a dead horse, but divi open division for Lagouna Beach and Waterpole is unreal. Division three in football for Laguna Beach is just incredible. Um so he was named first team allciff. He was the MVP of the Fox Trot League. Um and he was named third team all county. Uh he is a natural leader. He's got he's just cool as a cucumber. I've walked by him on the sidelines as he's warming up as we're getting ready to go

063on offense and he will literally just say, "Dr. Subby, did you see the sunset tonight?" I'm like, "Yeah, Jack. Yeah, I did, but just concentrate on what you're about to do." So, he's a very chill guy. He threw for 45 touchdowns this year and led Orange County in touchdowns and broke the Laguna Beach High School record. Um, Jack's future is bright just like these other young men that I have mentioned and we know that he will be playing football after his senior year somewhere and we can't wait to watch and see what you do next year, Jack. Congratulations. So, that is it. Give it up for these athletes. You could tell that I'm proud of them and our community should be very, very proud of how they're representing all of us. Thank you. You might

064care. Okay, good evening everyone. Uh we are going to move on with our agenda. We are on item 7A, approval of resolution 2601, International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Dr. Glass, thank you for bringing this forward for approval. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed annually on January 27th, designated by the United Nations in 2005 to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and prevent future genocides, marking the liberation of Awitz Burkanau by the Red Army in 1945. It honors the six million Jews and million millions of other victims of Nazi persecution, encouraging education, remembrance, confronting anti-semitism, hatred, and intolerance. The resolution before you acknowledges that and formally uh has the board uh recognize January 27th as Holocaust Remembrance Day. >> Thank you so much for bringing this important item forward. Are there any

065board member questions? Okay, seeing none, Clerk Perry, are there any uh speaker cards on this item? Okay, thank you. May I have a motion to approve resolution 26-01, International Holocaust Remembrance Day? All in favor? I. Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you, Dr. Glass. Okay. Item eight, information item from instructional services. Uh this is the intentional use of technology. It's an update for the board. Uh Dr. Mayberry and uh Mr. Morrison is not here. You have the floor. >> Thank you. Yeah, Mr. Morrison was able to make it tonight. So, I'll be sharing the update with you. Um so, good evening. Uh this is a midyear update uh from the beginning of the year board report on intentional use of technology uh back in August. Uh it will focus on the work LBSC staff is doing

066uh in balancing digital tools with strong instructional practices and human connection. Uh at LBSD, our human- centered approach ensures learning begins with human inquiry and ends with human reflection, connections, and empowerment. This requires educators to intentionally invest time in knowing their learners, building strong classroom communities and designing learning experiences for collaboration and relevant problem solving. Uh this means technology in whatever form it is five years ago, currently 5 years from now is leveraged as a tool in service of deeper learning and to create more space for meaningful human interaction. technology uh as you can see here is used across classrooms for clear and intentional instructional purposes including media creation, collaboration, assessment, personalized learning. Uh these tools are intentionally embedded within the instruction to enhance engagement, feedback and access. So we use in techn we strive

067to use technology when it adds instructional value. So it's really an intentional choice that teachers are making in between when we talk about that human inquiry and that human reflection and empowerment. You can see here on this slide um during the first semester um LBSC staff were provided training in a variety of ways uh including monthly staff meetings at each school um was delivered and supported by instructional services and the tech team. Uh we also did some lunch and learns professional development as well as our unit design professional development in the summer and fall and we have a a spring one coming up very soon. This framework was utilized as part of that process to help educators evaluate whether technology use is passive or active, low tech or high-tech. Really a reflective tool uh how

068they use it, maybe which ways they could adjust it or not adjust it and leverage it um when needed or when it fits. So the goal is not more technology but more meaningful learning experiences. The staff also initiated an audit of screen time uh beyond just the professional development and training. So as part of that we wanted to start first with collecting estimated screen time use in the fall from each teacher. Um an important part of the data collection is first to define what screen screen time is and is not so that we can have the most accurate data as possible. And that's really important setting those definitions up front. Um because we talk about screen time, it often gets blended into other things like social media or cell phones or different things outside the

069school day before school day. So we really tried to define it so that we could get the most accurate data as possible uh during this data collection. Um for example, in this purpose in this visual here, uh we did not define screen time as when a daily agenda is posted on a TV, right? So, we've been posting teachers have been posting agendas on the chalkboard, on the whiteboard, on a projector. Now, it's often on a TV. Um, there's not really a lot of any engagement to it. Um, but that is there. So, we tried to clarify some of those unique things like is that screen time? Is that not screen time? So, this is one example that we helped define what it was um or was not. We also wanted to dig into the types

070of screen time. That was a big discussion when we met with with teachers, right? There are different ways that it's used. So when we collected data, we broke it down and and had teachers reflect within these three uh sets, these three kind of sets of ways to think about. One is sustained, right? So this activity is centered around the technology itself, right? And there's a high level focus from the student like they're individually engaged. There's clearly a a strong a very um straightforward use of screen time. The another one listed there is intermittent. So uh the device is a wider part of an activity. So student may be using it for a little bit, step away, use it again. Right? So there's times like for example, if you've sat in a meeting with somebody and

071you have your laptop, you might be conversing back and forth for 10 minutes, the laptop's open and periodically you jump in there, you type notes for two minutes, and you come back and you're having that conversation. That would be one example of intent. Uh and the last one's shared. And so you'll find this uh in a variety of classrooms where one device is shared between a group of students in a mostly in in-person activity, right? Like I see this often in science labs, right? One student has a laptop out, they're entering data, but there's an experiment going on. They all have different roles. So these are all defined as screen time, but there are different types of them, right? There's different ways that we wanted to think about them. And teachers were asking these types

072of questions like the different types that they use. So this is what we landed on. Um so the next couple slides will kind of share the data collection um from this fall um from teachers. We surveyed all again we collect this from all teachers. Uh we kind of define some of these upfront definitions up front with them so we could collect the most accurate. Um so um over the way we did this this data collection over two weeks teachers analyzed their screen time. uh they calculated the estimated percentage of class time then divided that number by the number of class periods over two weeks if you're talking about the middle of high school. Uh for example in the high school math classes on average across all classes and teachers utilized teach the devices were utilized

073during 32% of class time. Of course uh again this means on average so every student has a different experience and is unique. Um this is uh survey survey data collected from teachers uh but it's all but it's all of our teachers and so we're looking at this across classes. Every teacher is a little bit different, right? And so this was one way we were able to look at each of those subject areas uh in this case. Um another way that we looked at it was by day, right? So how what does that mean by day? So after you collect that data, how do you average that out in a typical class of like three days or if you have if it's a Friday at the high school it's six six I'm sorry three periods or

074at the Friday high school it's six periods. So on average what does that look like? So uh so screen time at the high school is on average 20% of 29% of class time. So, one note that's not on there, um, we're not, uh, we didn't collect data this time. Uh, we will later around things like homework or tutorial time. Uh, because this can be a messy definition. And again, there's not a lot of information out there that like a standard definition across schools and institutions. Uh, we wanted to get really clear on the what we're defining it and stay focused. Uh, we have more data collections planned uh, for later this year, but this would be the high schools. Um again here's thirst's uh pretty similar uh as you can see here uh as to

075the high school by subject area how many what percentage by by minutes um as reported by the teachers uh and then you have um the per day by thirsten you can see on this slide a 31% of class time um and And looking at the looking at the elementarymentaries, uh we did it by grade level. Um you can see here it's a little bit different. Um varies starting very very obviously very minimal. Um but at the kindergarten level 40 12% of time we're 36 minutes per day. Uh little steady increase up through fifth grade and 19% on average. And then looking at it across K2 and 35 group span spans like again a K2 screen time uh just 12% of the of on average per class and in grades three through five 21% class. So

076uh we shared earlier the survey that we had done uh back at the end of last year and so um as teachers are reporting this data in the middle of the fall last year it's less right. So, um, one of the things that we were reflecting on, right, when you look at this, this is less than what we did our initial survey and certainly plenty of students that we do talk to, uh, we're in the middle of doing some student focus groups right now, is my day is much more than that, right? And so, this is a important piece that we don't have answers to or total clarity on right now. Um, but we're thinking, we're starting to look a little deeper through focus groups and additional surveys. What does this look like? And so

077some things that ideas that we're just we're discussing now and and talking about uh with as as uh school leaders and district leaders and teachers, right? So some reasons because it's clearly a perception that students are fatigued, right? If you're reporting those high levels um of of use, they're clearly fatigued. So some things that were that maybe is could be homework isn't they're thinking of homework as part of their their class time, right? Um there's u survey was conducted in late May which is was when we did it. Um in hindsight maybe not the best timing right it was the middle of state testing where they're on the screens for quite a bit as well. Uh they're prep potentially prepping for AP tests. Um but we know they're feeling fatigue and that's a very real

078thing that we need to continue to uh reveal. Right. So uh sometimes there's a blend of feeling across the whole day. uh which is why this is really a partnership approach that we have to do not just with staff and students but also with parents and families right uh the fatigue is is very much very much a real thing. So some next steps um that we have coming up the second half of the year uh we're going to survey teachers and students around homework screen time uh get more data around the tutorial period. Uh we have an annual survey going out to students uh and parents in late March with these some of these questions as well. We have like I said we have some student focus groups going on right now. Uh we continue

079to have more professional development on human center design. Um and I think just as you can imagine you know having discussions around this through training professional development um as with anything when you have a set of of teachers and staff that are very much conscientious about caring for students and their well-being and as along with continuous improvement when you have those discussions you sometimes think a little bit more intentionally about it right and so maybe this is the right place and I think we've all had that in education um over the last 10 years there's been a swing of technology use as we talked back in August this, right? Like we were full-blown into it during the pandemic, right? And now we're slowly saying this this is too much. We need to pull back. And

080so that has probably continued a little bit this year as well. Um so we want to continue to review that um student staff and parent data. Um the board resolution, just wanted to point that out. Um the board resolution there has been really helpful in guiding this work. Um there's a lot some action steps that are going on as you can see under each of those five. And so we appreciate uh the board providing that guidance and support. So as we continue this work, u we don't think this is this was never intended to be something that we uh work on this fall and we're good. This is going to be something we're working on for a while, right? Uh technology is changing. Um it's evolving. It's in the kids hands whe when they're outside

081the class, inside the class sometimes. So we want to prepare them for the tools and the jobs of the future. But we also, as we said earlier, we we know the value of human connection and human inquiry and that's at the center of what we do. So, we're always reflecting and intentionally moving these these types of this work forward. Um the guidelines that we created as well, those have been uh helpful um to to really help reflect around designing that balanced learning, that well-being in classrooms uh across grade levels. Uh looking just going back to what we initially put in there. Again, not a lot of uh information out there. There's not a lot of people putting recommended times out there. We the this the only ones we had some information on was 5 years

082old in that K2 uh 35 level. Um so this is an important it's important piece right now. The current data we collected is underneath these ones. Um but we know we still have more data to collect to triangulate that. This is one set of data we've looked at. Uh we want to get more information from students, more information from parents. Uh we expect this data to change and evolve every time we collect it. Um we know this is an important topic and a meaningful thing for our students, staff and parents and we're well u very much a priority that we're are continuing to explore. Um so uh with that concluding that part of the update um appreciate the time to share the update and uh we want to know know that we're staff is committed

083to continuous improvement and building those engaging learning environments for our students. uh and that includes refining the instructional technology approach uh so that it allows the maximum way the maximum way that students can learn a very human- centered approach. So thank you. >> Great. Thank you so much Dr. Mayberry for the presentation and for filling in for Mr. Morrison. Uh are there uh let's move to board questions on this item. Uh any questions? >> Yeah. Uh, >> Mrs. >> Oh, thanks. You didn't acknowledge me before I started talking. Um, so thank you, uh, Dr. Mayberry. Um, I beat a dead horse a little bit when I'm up here, so I apologize, but I I would love to hear a little bit more by um about how you get to human- centered design and intentional tech

084use, because one of the things that I keep sort of feeling in all of our conversation, whether it's AI or screen time, is that we tend to get in this situation where we just talk about too much technology, what too much AI rather than grounding it in these concerns about learning objectives and how best to achieve them. Logan brought up this great um comment at the last one about whether it's worth memorizing dates if you can just look online. But with that and the reason that I go to learning objectives is that one of the things about memorizing dates is that you get a sense of a timeline and it gives you a sense of like what came and then what happened next and cause and effect. So the question is how are we thinking

085about intentional and human- centered and how do we connect these um initiatives on both AI and and um over overuse of tech to actual learning objectives. >> Yeah, I think that's one of the most important questions that we have to we should be asking ourselves and should continue to ask ourselves uh on a regular basis every year. Um one of the ways that we do that uh is through a unit design or lesson design training. Um, as a teacher, a lot of what we get from students is based off of what we ask them, right? So, if we ask them for to memorize equations or facts, we're going to get very basic responses back, right? And some students will take that as, I can just look that up. Why why would I want to study

086and learn it? Right? So we have prioritized with our learner profile, the competencies that are in there, the learning experiences, our training with the unit design that we want students to be thinking bigger than that. We want to have more authentic learning experiences. We want kids to be doing things that are very relevant because when you do those those are typically not we're not asking them questions or they're not asking questions that are easy to answer, right? So when you start with a big question or often in educational terms is it a central question or driving question um there is no one answer right so it immediately elicits the critical thinking and the research um which may involve the research may obviously may involve some technology but um but the critical thinking in setting it

087up and what I've seen this fall is what happens between that big question and then the assessment at the end right again if we ask we can ask a really big question around like what is the impact impact of geography on human migration and over the last 2,000 years, right? Like there's a lot of impact of technology that was impacted or ge geography that impacted the technology and where it was developed and why it was developed, right? So, but if you don't have a good assessment, which also is how we check for student learning, if it's just factual, that will impact the learning experience as well. So in between a really good question by students or teachers that they're working towards and a very competency based assessment that has students have multiple ways to show

088what they know. In between there's the art and science of teaching, right? And then there's this intentionality to lesson design and unit design um that I might go in a classroom and I might see a teacher say, "We're going to put our put your lab close your screens down. Go to high school classroom. put your screens down and right now we're going to turn and read this article that's often printed or maybe it's up on the screen and they're gonna find two key talking points and have a debate or discussion with their neighbor or a small group, right? It might mean kids in a math class are getting up in random groups and going up and working on a problem on the wall on a whiteboard, right? So, they can't grab a device, but they're

089forced to talk because they're in a group of three. you know, you lose voices when you go to groups of four, but when you're in groups of three, you got have really good conversations. It's pretty hard to be anonymous in a group of three. Um, so there's some very intentional strategies that teachers use to have it be a non- tech time where teach they're doing the critical thinking. They're sharing ideas. There's not necessarily one right answer. Um, that does live and that's part of it. There's a balanced approach, right? There is we do want kids to know important dates. Kids do have to know some um proficiency and procedural fluency in math, right? There are things that are really important that kids need to do. Um, but if that was all we were doing, it

090would lend itself to technology whether we intentionally did it or not. So, we are intentionally trying to set up experiences and lesson design that has these we're solving bigger problems and ideally it's authentic problems in our community, right? Right. And that's why key themes around, you know, environmental education or uh or the local arts community or the the interdisiplinary project the high school does with flow like those elicit that like you if you're working around the impact of the ocean or fire [clears throat] safety like you you're not going to there's not like a multiple choice test to answer what that looks like. You're going to have to like do some research and present and think through things. And that gets kids away from us relying on technology because you can't come up with a

091good answer just by using technology. >> Perry, thank you. Thank you very much. We were really interested in this. Um, couple things. I I you know, I'm looking at these average minutes per day and I look at the high school is 68 minutes per day, which, you know, seems less than I would have expected. And then I look at third grade, 86 minutes a day. So, you know, I'm just curious why um eight-year-olds would be on the computer more than 17 year olds perhaps. And I know a lot of it has to do with what the actual lesson is, but this is kind of an average, right? >> Yeah, this is an average. Uh there's nuances to the data, right? Like we like we saw the third grade was a little bit larger than the

092others, right? So as whether it's this or whether it's the state testing, it's a great opportunity for us to ask more questions. U so in this case, we were asking like what's why is this larger in third grade? One of the thing um this this actually you see this in middle school math as well. math math is a little bit higher some of the other grades. Interestingly, those are both two grades that have high use of using the personalized learning parts of I already um which is very personalized to the students and they built it into their day quite a bit and it's very connected to each student. Interesting. They had the highest they also had some of the highest growth on the state test. Um so like any technology um it's how you use

093a tool and when you use the tool and so you know that may not be the case next year. They may maybe we decide teachers decide like this worked really well and I want to we need to grow this in fourth grade. Um but those are the kind of questions we ask like there is is a little bit more in third grade and a little more middle school math but they actually have good results on their test scores and so we can't we don't know if there's a true you know correlation or not. Uh but but there definitely was a relationship with their test scores. I think that's interesting. Let's see let's continue to look in that work. >> If I might respond as well. Um, excellent question, um, Clerk Perry. Um, when we first

094did the analysis around the data that we had before, that was alarming, um, around the levels of screen time that our kids were using. Um, one of the next questions we had was we need to validate the data. Um, and so we the answer to that was go out and collect more information. And what we got back complicates the picture, right? Like most of the time when you get more information it does. Um what we found was that teachers were reporting lower tech use than the students were reporting and we got some nuance around how the students were using it. It's not just all students sitting in front of screen. Um uh Dr. Mayberry talked about the different ways that students are using technology that we're all using it differently right now. uh that's happening

095in classrooms too. So it be it became more nuanced and more complicated. I think that's that's one um one response to your your question. Another that and I don't know the impact of this and it would be impossible to quantify. Another factor may be that there was an intervening event and that was the board took up this issue and talked about it and the community reported on it and I talked about it with the staff and said we got to get our arms around this and we need to try and make an effort to have the education be human- centered. Now I don't know if that changed instructional practices or not but it was something that this community went through from the time the first data set was collected to the second. I would not

096um predict that it would drop it to the levels that you've seen. Um I think that has to do with who you're asking the question of, but it still is a factor. There was an interven intervening event. So I think uh in in some we have different numbers. Uh the data that's been collected makes it more complicated than less. Um it's nuanced in how students are using it. And um there's a a really healthy conversation going on instructionally in our schools around what is appropriate uh screen time use and how can we use it as a as something that catalyzes learning rather than turning learning over to the device. >> Yeah, I I love the way that you kind of categorize the different kinds of screen time. I think that's really helpful and I think

097that's true that when you ask students, you know, I hear that there's a lot more screen time than maybe there there really is. Uh I also had a question about your um when you talked about the a let me see where it is. Um the when you were when you were factoring in that um like like say for six through eight that their screen time proposed would be less than 3 hours which would be less than 50% of instructional time. Are you counting all instructional time like you said like PE, music, science? Um uh h how do you come up with three five less than two hours? Is that which classes is it all classes that you're looking at? >> Yeah, we did we looked at all classes. So it is the goal was to

098and again I can't tell you like I wish there were more places that were looking at this to refer to like hey this these five schools are thinking of it this way and these two are thinking of it this way and and there's just not much out there um at this level of of detail, right? And so there's a lot of concern around it and there's different research and reports around social media and we do need less screen time but not around like how much time. Um so when we made those estimates of like less than an hour, less than two hours, less than three hours, right? On the guideline side, we were making our best judgment at that time as educators and the research we had. Uh when we're collecting the information, we are

099collecting all classes, right? So that includes PE, which is 0%. Right? But you know, on a on an average day, like they're going to have that's one of their classes, right? This is guaranteed according to this data collection to have zero screen time, which is what we would expect, right? So like at the middle school level, you potentially have five out of your six classes where you could have some screen time. PE is not going to be one of them. Um so that is counted on your average day. Um and we do and we just you know again the guidelines themselves are 50% of the day when we collected the data. We only collected classes. So we didn't look at uh intervent the the um tutorial time. Um so that would raise these up a

100little bit for sure. Uh, I'm sure there's some screen use and tutorial time depending on what it is or what it isn't. >> And I look forward to um what's coming in in March and going forward as you keep looking into this. Thank you. >> Thank you, Member Perry, for the questions. Uh, Dr. um, Kelly, do you have any questions? >> Birth. Um, it's exploratory. I'd be will be interested. Victoria is very fast. Again, I was uh basically saying that it's a nice beginning and it's very interesting. Uh I'm glad that you're going to continue with looking at the homework survey, the annual parent and student survey, the student focus groups, the professional development, etc. I think that we just need more. And I'm a big believer that teachers know what they're doing in the

101classroom and I don't want to be uh someone who uh is controlling them. Uh I think it's nice that we bring this up as a topic and that we're interested in it, but I have lots of faith in the teachers in this district. >> Thank you. If you could turn your microphone off. Um member Hills. Yeah, I really liked um I liked Joan's question. I'm not sure I um paid enough attention to the answer. Um and uh I'm don't want to re ask the question she asked, but I think it's a really important one. And the way the way I would kind of think about this is that um you know the question is not just here in this school district, but nation statewide, nationwide, worldwide. Um the I I guess the question is are

102they're going to are we going to be developing the diagnostic tools and testing tools and and you know double blind to find out it's one thing to say you know we don't want the kids to be dependent on something so they don't develop critical thinking and that kind of stuff but what can we do to actually find out if they're having critical thinking deficiencies because of reliance ones I design testing that says makes them demonstrate that they're not um having critical thinking deficits. And um you know, I' I've had a lot of parents calling me, people I don't know, and saying they're really concerned about this. And some people have taken their kids out of the schools because they think there's too much uh reliance on this. I'll just anecdotally say that I'm asking him

103I'm asking him if if if you know about the like when they said AI trust you um was a program that was developed here um I said I I I I um I trust the students it's AI that that I don't trust but I'm using it now a lot as for a lawyer it's just like paradise you know particularly if you already know your your your subject. But so my question is um do you see that either this school district or other school districts or in the industry uh are we developing the ability to test whether or not AI is having bad effects versus having good effects? Um there are a handful of pieces of research I've seen out there related to AI, not necessarily related to in education like K12 education. Um what they

104do cater to and I think we may have mentioned one of these in August was if you develop the critical thinking skills up front, right, which I talked about like having a big question that you're not looking up, you're discussing, you're maybe researching, you're you're talking about it, you're asking more questions, right, up front, doing some of the critical thinking. Then maybe you it's it is important depending on the topic that you're engaging in some technology or AI or whatever it is and other activities and then you go back to non AI non- tech around an assessment that has there's been some there's been some research to show like that is a good use of it and it helps elevate the learning if it's all technology and all AI um but what what I've been

105hearing the handful that are out there is that no you're not getting you're losing the critical thinking skills now in regards to something like AI, right? Like there's there's still a lot we don't know, right? It's evolving so fast. Um that's why we take a very precautionary approach around making sure we are we're very intentional when we do use it. Um or or technology that in that matter. Um and we want to make sure we have student safety. Um, but ultimately what comes back to is having these learning experiences where students are feeling like it's authentic and relevant and there's not one so there's not one simple solution to it, right? That elicits itself to I think you're trying to to speak to the critical thinking piece or the analysis um so that uh when

106you have when you assess that um you can see that they actually learned something. They're writing they're having to do a report. They're having to speak to it. Maybe it's a debate. um maybe it they're actually having to analyze some data and and come to some conclusions out without technology right so there are some ways to do that I will say unfortunately in this in in the education industry the tests that the state puts out or the federal government or even worldwide they are all very low-level questions that a federal technology you take them on a device right they're not measuring they're not measuring whether somebody is a a good collaborator They're not measuring whether somebody has good inquiry skill skills or critical thinking. You don't we will not that's nearly impossible to get a

107really authentic result on our state tests, right? But it's the industry we're in at this point. Um but I will say that's an important thing that we can think about locally while we do continue to have have to take these state tests, right? We want to work towards assessments locally at a minimum that do measure these really important competencies um and show that we value these um that our students are do feel empowered and do feel like they can be critical thinkers and collaborators because those are the skills that they will need the rest of their life. >> And one last question, you know, the the point being that um one wonders whether or not you can there's a product line that can be purchased or one that can be developed here locally or more

108importantly uh in a larger context where you screen and filter out what AI can do for you so that for example one of my big concerns is could you develop a program where you could screen out where AI is giving you opinions or giving you conclusions and and and have a situation where you can get that access to I had to write an editorial the other day and a man just saved me an hour just in a stroke of a couple of keys. But what you want to avoid is a situation where students are being given opinions uh by the by AI or being given conclusions and particularly opinions. I've seen a lot of stuff on AI where they give you opinions and it's really scary to me. >> Yeah. I think that's going to

109be something that's a critical skill that we have to continue to work on with our kids of like what's >> Can you filter that out? Can you screen that out? >> Uh not at this point. I mean, it's very difficult to do. Um you know, again, the technology is always evolving and I'm definitely not an expert on all things AI, but uh it's really difficult to do at this point. >> Thank you. Thank you, Member Hills, for your questions. Um, any questions from the student board members? >> We have none. We have none. [clears throat] >> I just have a couple quick ones. Um, I in I think someone I think I don't know if which one of you said that there's um a difference between the data that the teachers are reporting and the

110data the students might be reporting. And so I'm just curious as to how we're gathering the data. Are we um is it just reported time based on their their personal experience or is it collected based on a start and a stop clock or or extracted from their I know you can um there's a screen time use on a lot of iPhones that show how you've used your phone and how long you've used it. Is that data capturable without violating privacy or students, you know, anything else? Is it possible to extract that for a more accurate um data collection option? >> U in regards to collecting it off of the devices that we have, we wouldn't be able to collect each individual's students screen time. Um to know that this student's on for this many hours

111or this many minutes. Um but I but I will say like right the way we are collecting this now just to clarify that piece the initial one with teachers right um was them taking the time giving defining things reflecting on their practices over two weeks uh in some cases some departments requested to look at it over a month because they had different activities that happened over a typical a month which is a typical unit length and then averaging [clears throat] that out. Now again when you do averages that means that there's differences in there one teacher might be different one class might be different. So the goal of doing that kind of of data collection um and research is that if you get enough people to respond, the averages can give you some type of

112a little bit more conclusive um reporting based off of what teachers So my assumption is like we'll go ask students, you know, something similar in a similar way um through a survey. Uh it's probably going to come out a little bit higher based off of what they said, right? And so again, that's higher than what teachers are reporting. And that's that's again what depending on that gap, if it's small, it means our act our data okay our data is looking pretty like we're having similar experiences. If there's a bigger gap that lets us ask more questions okay why is this experience feels so differently from what teachers are reporting versus what students are reporting. So um we're not drawing any major conclusions from this but it's a really it it is a nice way to

113collect data from teachers because it's 150 of them right and so there is some some level of conclusions we can draw when you hit that many people to make an average um u and hopefully we'll get something similar that we can look at a little closer with students later the spring. >> Thank you. I have one more question I actually want to ask the students. Um, have you since because I know this was a big topic in the fall as we as we stated at the beginning and I know there was a lot of concern on whether or not we could actually achieve some of these lower usage goals and I'm curious if you've seen changes in your classrooms and what those look like to address screen time use. I think the the biggest change

114that I've noticed just as a student is um especially and especially I've noticed this in um Mr. Shen's classes actually. I know he's been a front runner in this is that I know it's been conveyed to a lot of the teachers to not have us use screens at the very beginning of the class that the beginning of the class is supposed to be direct instruction and we're talking with the teacher and or or it's a lecture or something. It's not um us doing work on on screens. I I definitely think the amount of screen time has been diminished. I just think to to be honest in in general, I think the whole problem comes from um students becoming reliant on AI and reliant on their screens at home at the in school. Obviously, it's much

115more preventable because you can give assignments that are discussion based or oral based. For example, you know, if you're taking a language based class where you you have to talk to the teacher in in the language and that's how you're you're graded, there's no way you can use AI. You I mean, you just have to do it. But then when you get home, if you have to say record yourself speaking, you can just ask AI, hey, can you type me in this, you know, language this in English? and just have a translation that is 10 times better than the translations of you know like just online you know English Google translate or you know something similar. So the the the problem that I've seen and and the problem that I've spoken to other students about

116isn't necessarily even that we're using too many screens in the classroom. It's that the work that's given outside of the classroom is much too reliant on it's the the term has been coined chat gbtable. You know this work is chadbtable. So I think preventing that is you know a much a much I don't want to say better goal but a goal that uh would I think benefit a lot of students more than just purely cutting down on screen time because as uh you said not all screen time is equal. It's not like you know being on a screen equals bad. There's been a lot of stigma around that I think and I think that that's a negative way to look at it because screens are a huge part of our lives or a huge part

117of the students lives and the teachers lives and students having literacy with screens is incredibly important. Uh like what you were saying Mr. Hills about how students uh need need to be able to filter out with their own AI usage whether it's in school or out of school opinions or you know thing things that are not fact. It's the same thing with using Google. Students should have that skill and it's a skill that AI is requiring students to have moving in the future. So, I think the best we can hope for is giving students that support in in the classroom and then when they go outside of the classroom, not giving them work that you can just plug into AI. >> Ivy, do you have anything to add to that? Um, my answer to my

118question >> because we're still on questions. Yeah, of course. So, I haven't seen much of a decrease within screen time. Um, that being said, the classes that I'm utilizing screen time in are classes where it's like necessary. Um, such as Mr. Witop's class where we all we're doing is on screens. We're photoshopping and we're making really cool stuff. um or you know my science class, I have to use my phone sometimes to take pictures of my lab experiments and our documents are all online for efficiency and making it easy to turn in. Um and that also helps a lot because it means that our assignments can't get lost. Um, and then lastly, I've just started using it in my English class because people kept losing um a specific document that we would have to keep

119working on. So, I think I'm seeing it being used when necessary and it's not, you know, overly used in my experience, but I think that it can definitely um be lowered down still. Thank you. >> Thank you for that. Um and then I have uh well actually that spawns one more question. So I know previously like graphic design work and Photoshop and things like that would not have been considered screen time because it's it's it is the class. So is that differentiated in in studies at this point or is it still lumped in together because it really is kind of its own entity as far as screen. It's not. And and are we defining screen screen time um as researchbased, project based, or are we also because we're obviously not counting screen time like at

120lunch or on breaks or things like that and the different if the kids do have a phone. I don't think we have phones at the elementary school. Correct. So we're not we can't obviously measure and capture screen time in tutorials and things like that. Or are we including those minutes as well? So for this for this study, we did not go into tutorial. Uh we want we want to get more information on that going forward though. We just felt like this initial round. We wanted to keep it very simple, clearly defined screen time, what it was, the three different types that we kind of landed on. Um and then you had a second question in there regarding oh the graphic design classes, right? And so um those are included in there. So like we surveyed

121a teacher, you know, you might have a teacher that has two periods of graphic design and one period of photography and two periods of uh financial literacy or something, right? So we asked the teacher to look at all their courses and do an average. Um so when you look at the averages that were reported, they include every type of class that the teachers taught or teach. Yeah. And you can't but we do count but you can't get around it. It is part of count it as screen time because I mean that is part of the the course, right? And and Mr. Woodcock knows like it's you can't really use this class without it. >> Okay. Uh are there any more questions? >> I have a >> No. >> Yeah, >> you have a question. Okay.

122Um member Hills was first, I think. So, go ahead if a question. >> Yeah. Uh this may have already been asked and answered but um just to ask it in my own way. Um how do you define screen time? The the way we way we defined it um go back up to the slide. [clears throat] >> Oh, there it is. what is screen time? Um we cl first first of all we clarified what was not and then um and then we said what is we put it into three different types >> right so obviously >> I'm sorry okay I get it yeah I get it >> because it's hard like I'm looking at a screen like is this screen time like I glanced down at it a couple you know while we're talking but I

123haven't really done anything so it is that's why it's a complicated >> topic to address >> right but we're we're conversing but I am looking down here at times like would I would that count as screen time like that's how it's hard the data is hard to collect and and there's going to be variances. >> I saw that but he he was talking I kind of for reformulated in my head as to whether there might be some other definition of it but it is really a situation where um my computer's on you know you know all day and um I I sometimes forget how much time I'm actually using it. So anyway that's >> Thank you member Hills. Um, uh, Click Perry. >> Yeah. Um, I just wanted to ask our students if if this

124all seems reasonable to you, do you think that you really are on using screen time, 68 minutes a day, looking at your whole schedule, and if you think 3 hours is about the right amount of time that you can be on the computer, should be on on the screen in school per day. I would say me personally I definitely use more than um the time. Was it 68 minutes? >> 68 minutes I think. somewhere around there, I would say, given that like I have three classes and a day and then all three of those classes at least half the time is screen time and then given tutorial and um you know doing work in lunch or doing work at break. So I would say around there or maybe more. >> Okay, thank you. So, do

125you think it should be up to three hours? Do you think that's reasonable? What do you think? Okay. Look, >> I I think um three hours you I mean, you just have to think in in exactly like we've most students have three main class periods a day plus an extra 35minut tutorial. So, that would mean that twothirds of their class in an hour 35minut class are um you know, if it's three hours a day roughly, it's you know, an hour per class. So twothirds of their classes would be entirely on a screen which I I think is way too much personally. I I actually Yeah. Yeah. I think um I don't think that's a lot of students experiences. It's certainly not my experience. I think I'm definitely in between the the 68 minutes to three

126hour range, but definitely [laughter] probably farther on the six uh farther towards the uh 68 minutes portion. But no, I I certainly think 3 hours is too much. I just I don't think that's any students experiences certainly that I've heard. >> Okay. But that's what we're looking looking at. That's what we're looking at though. >> Yeah. I think going uh going back to the um types of screen time, if if the um screen time were 3 hours of sustained interaction with a device, that would be too much. That would be too much for anybody um to sit in front of a device for three hours. But what we've identified is that there are these other ways that it is being used that um aren't that sustained screen time. like uh Chad was saying, looking down

127at his screen and interacting, like that's an inter that's an intermittent use. Or if a students are working on a project together and they're collaborating um and using a tool like Google Docs to to write and think together, that's shared. And so those those ti types of interactions are very different than a sustained uh screen time. Um, when I was the state education chief in Iowa, this was 2011, I visited at what was then called an innovative credit recovery program at an Iowa school, and they had students that were behind come in and sit in front of a screen for five straight hours. And the machine fed them questions and prompts and videos on the things that they were behind on all day. And they brought me in to see this and toured me around.

128And the school person, the adults were really excited about it. Of course, they thought this was terrific. Look, we can just sit this kid in front of this device and they're going to get caught up. And there was I I will never forget there was a a high school student and everybody kind of cleared off and I was standing behind her watching her work and I leaned in and said, uh, I was wearing a suit and looked official. I loo le leaned in and asked, "Do you like this kind of learning?" She looked around to make sure nobody else was in earshot and she said, "No. Can you get me out of here?" So, I think that's a good example of what we don't want. Right? We don't want that. But what we heard in

129Dr. Mayberry's presentation and and kudos to Mike Morrison for doing the work on this too, is it's just a lot more complicated. And our students are telling us that, too. It's just a lot more complicated. screen time than the three hours. I mean, it sounds really reasonable. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. I just want to do one more pass on questions and then we can go into discussion after comments. Yeah. Okay. >> Um I think I want to specify as well. That's it's so I'm so happy you brought that up. the most the majority of the screen time in as was shown in the data and and this is my experience as well and most other students experiences who I'm who I've spoken to is sustained screen time is very very rare for longer

130than I would say 10 15 minutes maximum in a class period. A lot of it is shared like as Ivy had mentioned uh in science classes where we have at least in the classroom that I I'm in we have small TVs all around the desks where there's you know the teacher will be giving a presentation and then the the kids will be talking about it and you're still looking at a screen but it's like would it be different if it was a poster board? Not really. It's it's just it's just information being presented. And that it kind of goes back to what I was talking about earlier where the the concern I have with schoolwork being given to students that's that's very easily AIable or it's it's very easily completed by AI. That's where you

131get long periods of sustained screen time. Because if you have an assignment that would take you say an hour normally, even if it AI cuts half of that uh time off, you still have 30 minutes where you're looking at a screen and interacting with with a chatbot. You're not having any kind of human interaction, which is way more negative than 10 minutes of a teacher saying, "All right, guys, do your work at the, you know, the last 10 minutes of class." So I think that is a much uh bigger danger to to students being on their screens all the time is is work being given that's just easily AIable uh than sustained screen time in classrooms. >> Mrs. Morgan, isn't this just in information item? >> It is. >> So there's not going to be

132disc we are doing we're doing discussion and question at the same time. >> Yes, there there might be. Yes. Yes. But there might be more discussion because we can do that after questions, but I think you're right. Um, okay. If there are no further questions, um, Clerk Perry, are there any, um, public comment cards on this item? Okay. Is there any further discussion that anyone would like to engage in on? >> Sure. >> Um, I really love that we're doing all of this. So, thank you. I think it's helpful. I mean, we're doing this in a board meeting, but even building into back to school night, there are parents with really deep concerns about the amount of technology in the classroom. And I think it's important when we talk about the curriculum to um convey

133that all the state tests are online. For example, I read online. I also know that state standards include tech proficiency which requires us to do some work online but also you know uh being clear about what those demands are but also being clear about the ways that we're doing intentional learning and human interaction. Um and I think there's a lot of um ways that we can continue to do that even around writing and reading and whatever. and we don't need to belabor it here, but I I I think helping parents understand because there's so much concern, but it's complicated. So, yeah, thank you. >> That's a good point. Um, I had just one observation from the conversation, which was the students comments about homework and and the amount of technology that's involved in that is

134just something to pay attention to in the conversation as you all go forward. So, thank you. That was great. Thank you so much. make one just one um last brief comment on this uh question and that is um it's appreciation to the teachers and staff and principles who worked on this as I mentioned before we started talking about it um August I think and there were um there was media attention on it locally and regionally that was picked up after that discussion I uh gave a talk to all of the teachers at the beginning of the year and and flagged it as something this this something we need to think about. We need to be thoughtful about how much we're doing this and that concern that during COVID we had to rely on it and

135did we go too far. Uh we've we followed up with our principles um and had a really good conversation around how much we're using this and and our reliance on it and and what kinds of activities or what kinds of tasks could we give students that would be more human and they responded really positively to that. Um, again, I don't know that that is was the effect uh that caused the different data that you have, but you've heard from our students, uh, something feels a little different. I remember when I first talked about this with Ivy and I said we're going to get under three hours a day, she gasped like that's impossible. Uh, you can't do that. Um, and now it feels like maybe we're getting closer um to it. So I I just

136want to give a credit to um the incredible teachers and staff and principles that you have here and leadership who have worked on this issue, took it really seriously and are thinking about the experiences that your kids are having in schools and and um trying to be thoughtful and do this the right way. >> No, I appreciate that. I mean like technology is it's always evolving so we have to continue to shift too in how we do things and I think um member Malesky has such a great perspective on it. So I appreciate that. Okay. Uh we do not have a motion on this because it's an information item. So we're going to move on to item nine. Uh action item governance first reading of board bylaw 9322. Agenda meeting and uh agenda and meeting

137materials. Dr. Glass. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. This item is a first reading of the proposed revisions to board bylaw 9322, which governs agenda development and meeting materials. At the board's direction and in keeping with board law 9310, I prepared draft language addressing two areas. Agenda development authority in the event of a disagreement between the superintendent and the board president and whether contracts above above a fixed dollar amount $50,000 should be restricted from appearing on the consent agenda. The materials included in the board agenda include um were a redline draft of the bylaw reflecting advice from legal counsel, a superintendent memo outlining the governance and operational considerations and recommendations. and this presentation summarizing those issues. No action is requested this evening and I'll talk more about that at the end. As noted in the memo,

138legal council reviewed an earlier draft of the propo proposed revisions and provided guidance regarding legal permissibility and drafting considerations. That guidance informed the current redline analysis before you tonight. Council's role is to advise on legal permissibility. My role is to assess governance, operational, and institutional impact. Board bylaw 9310 is the controlling process for policy and bylaw development in this district. You will see here that we are at step four in that process. the first reading. If the board takes no action tonight, board bylaw 9322 with the revisions that you have will be brought b back before the board for a second reading in accordance with board bylaw 9310. Under the current bylaw, agenda development is a collaborative process between the board president and the superintendent. Any board member may request that items be placed on

139or removed from the agenda and the board retains the authority to amend the agenda by action. This this structure, the current structure emphasizes facilitation, shared responsibility, and flexibility all while preserving the board's collective authority. The proposed change retains the collective agenda development and emphasizes a good faith effort to resolve disagreements. It also provides that if a agreement cannot be reached between the superintendent and the board president, then the board president is authorized to resolve the disagreement. While the language emphasizes collaboration, the practical effect is that the final resolution authority rests with a single officer. When disagreement persists, agenda development is procedural, but it carries practical and symbolic significance. Governance governance structures matter most when they're under stress, during disagreement, during time pressure, during periods of transition. The risks that I will describe to you tonight

140are structural. They don't depend on someone's intent. They don't depend on the frequency of use. and they don't depend on who's in our roles. The second proposed change would prohibit contracts exceeding a fixed dollar amount from being placed on the consent agenda. Legal review has advised against the adoption of a fixed dollar thresh threshold. While increased vis visibility may appear to enhance transparency, the approach introduces several governance and operational concerns and I'll touch on those briefly later in the presentation, but they are not recommended by council. The rationale stated by the board during our information gathering session in step two of board bylaw 9310's process reflected a preference for elected elected leadership namely the president to determine the final agenda content. Board members also expressed an interest in creating increased visibility and discussion around higher

141dollar contracts and reducing the perception of routine approval of m material expenditures. So the board stated rationale is there on the screen for you to see as a comparative context in both these items. Publicly available governance policies from state school boards, associations, and high-erforming California districts were reviewed. As you can see, that review did not identify any publicly accessible examples of presidential agenda resolution authority or fixed dollar prohibitions on the consent agenda. in the five states that were shown here including California. Uh the other states that were chosen using a most similar systems rationale identifying states that were large in population. They were diverse. They included both large urban, suburban, and rural areas. So that's the rationale behind why those states were selected. Of note, I had to rely on what was publicly accessible. Um,

142most state school board associations have a payw wall behind their policies, so you can't see them all. So, I had sometimes rely on guidance documents or um, uh, publicly available versions of these policies. Similarly, board bylaw 9322 was reviewed in select other California unified school districts. Now, these policies, I could find every single one of them and look at them. their their version of 9322. The districts selected here are not random. They are the top five top highest performing unified school districts in the state of California as measured on the outcomes in the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress. Along with Laguna Beach, all districts reviewed were using a CSBA model aligned u version of bylaw 9322. This context and the national comparison is offered simply for perspective. It's not intended as determinative. That

143means that because another state does it the way we do it or other districts do it the way that we currently do it, that doesn't mean that you have to. Some takeaways from that comparative analysis are that collaborative or superintendentled agenda development is the norm. No bylaws reviewed identified final presidential authority on agenda items and the consent agenda agendas do not include dollar caps. The reviews of bylaws specifically from California indicated a close alignment with the CSBA model bylaw. That's the norm and in high-erforming unified districts and that the current LBUSD bylaw is aligned with best practice. The proposed changes would place LBUSD outside of prevailing practice observed in the reviewed states and districts. Excuse [clears throat] me. Presented here is the full attorney reviewed text of the prop proposed change to agenda authority. And

144so you'll see here this is language that came from council in the event of disagreement between the board president and superintendent about a particular agenda preparation issue including but not limited to inclusion exclusion sequencing inclusion of a particular item. The board president and the superintendent shall first attempt in good faith to resolve the disagreement. If such efforts are not successful, then the board president shall have final authority to resolve the disagreement unless the board lawfully directs otherwise. As I mentioned previously, it's my responsibility to advise the board on potential governance and operational implications to bylaw and policy changes. So that is what I will do next. This change creates several structural risks. The first of those is what I have described as a gatekeeping risk. The proposed revision materially concentrates agenda resolution authority with a

145single officer, the board president, when disagreement exists. While the language does emphasize good faith collaboration, the practical effect is that one trustee is authorized to determine whether and when an item advances when consensus cannot be reached. That shift alters the balance of shared governance that currently exists in our other policies and in this one. During periods of board division, it can change the agenda from a facilitative planning tool into a gatekeeping mechanism, even if exercised infrequently and with good intent. For example, a trustee may believe an issue warrants timely discussion such as a community concern, a policy question, an operational matter. But if disagreement exists, the ability to surface that issue may det depend on the single determination of one person rather than the collective board process. Similarly, during periods of board division, procedural authority

146over agenda placement may become entangled with political dynamics, increasing the risk that agenda divisions are perceived as strategic rather than facilitative. A second risk is escalation ambiguity. And what I mean by that is the revised language does encourage good faith collaboration, but it doesn't establish a defined mechanism for elevating unresolved disagreements to the full board. In practice, this can create uncertainty about whether and when the board collectively weighs in or how the board would be made aware that a disagreement exists, particularly if such disagreement arises close to the agenda posting deadline. A third risk is operational and compliance risk. Agenda agenda disputes that persist late in the process can affect statutory posting timelines, staff preparation, and the completeness of background materials. Items added or altered close to agenda posting deadlines may come forward with compressed

147internal review, incomplete fiscal or legal analysis, or limited opportunity for coordination across departments. This can constrain the board's ability to engage in informed deliberation and place additional strain on staff responsible for compliance and meeting logistics. Additionally, and this may be the most important part of this risk, administrative items that are delayed, deferred, or excluded from the agenda may carry risk that involve statutory deadlines, budget actions, regulatory approvals, or other time-sensitive obligations. In such cases cases, delays or omission omissions may have downstream compliance, fiscal or operational consequences. And finally, the fourth risk is institutional stability and precedent. Changes to development agenda development authority establishes a new governance norm that will extend beyond the current leadership and the current board composition. While future boards can amend bylaws, these structures tend to shape expectations and practice over time,

148and they are difficult to unwind once established, even when leadership changes. This slide summarizes the superintendent and council's recommendation on the agenda authority item. I do not recommend this moving this item forward as drafted and if the board proceeds, it should consider several mitigation measures and I will walk you through those. Council's recommendation was that this was legally permissible and it was reasonable. So, if the board elects to proceed despite the risks that I've identified, the memo that you have outlines several mitigation options, these mitigation options don't eliminate the underlying risk and authority. They're offered to reduce ambiguity and the risk. The first of those is clarity around escalation to the full board. The board could clarify how unresolved agenda disagreements may be elevated to the full board for consideration through a defined process that

149provides notice allows the board to resolve the matter if it chooses. That wouldn't remove presidential authority, but it would introduce that reinforce that unresolved procedural disputes remain ultimately in the purview of the collective board, not one board member. Second, we could establish shared expectations regarding what constitutes a what constitutes a good faith effort such as timelines, information sharing, documentation that may reduce recurring disputes, though it doesn't change the underlying authority structure. A third mitigation is the board could formally align expectations for when items must be scheduled for board consideration in relation to statutory posting deadlines which would reduce compliance risk and lastm minutee board changes. The board could also identify categories of time-sensitive regulatory budgetary matters that could be scheduled in advance to ensure timely consideration. So effectively the board would make a list of

150things that must go on the agenda and schedule when those should go on and uh and uh they would they would appear. A fourth mitigation step would be when agenda disputes occur requiring limited documentation of the issue and its resolution may reduce misinterpretation, support institutional memory and promote shared understanding among trustees and staff. So this goes back to the the escalation path is not clear. If we document when there is a disagreement and there is an institutional memory of that that helps um us um mitigate that risk. And then finally another mitigation step you could take is a periodic review. The board could commit to a periodic review of how revised authority functions in practice to assess whether the change is meeting the intended purpose or if it's creating unintended consequences. I'll quickly touch on

151the consent agenda item as well. But um just before I leave um agenda authority um I want to note that even with the mitigation options that you see here, the proposed change represents a structural trade-off and for all the reasons that I've described, I don't recommend adoption of the agenda development authority change as drafted. While as council noted is legally permissible, in my professional judgment, the governance and operational tradeoffs outweigh the benefits under the current conditions. And then again, moving forward showed here is the red line draft adding a $50,000 threshold for the placement of contracts on the consent agenda. Following the legal review, council advised against the adoption of a fixed dollar contract and consistent with that guidance, I've stricken it here. on this issue, neither council nor the superintendent recommend adoption of the

152dollar limit on agenda items. So, just quickly to cover why a fixed threshold would lengthen your meetings substantially. They would slow procurement for time-sensitive services and misalign oversight by using a dollar value as a proxy for risk. And what I mean by that is just because something is over $50,000 doesn't mean that it's a high-risisk contract. Just because something is under $50,000 doesn't mean that it's a low-risk contract. It also may create incentivized contract structures. Um so by if you put a rule like this in place um a rational organizational response will be to start splitting contracts to keep them under the dollar amount. That increases audit and compliance exposure. Finally, you have existing safeguards around transparency that include providing a detailed consent agenda disclosure and the and the ability for trustee to pull item

153off an item off for separate discretion um excuse me discussion. So board this is a first reading for discussion only. I'm happy to answer questions or clarify any part of the analysis in the memo that I provided you. Unless the board provides a different direction for tonight, I would return with a second reading incorporating any feedback that you provide, madam chair. That concludes my presentation. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. I have one question before we ask questions. If you said it it says it's an action item at the beginning, and I know I've asked this before, but I want clarity on it. It says it's an action item in the beginning so that if we need to make any amendments or changes to what's been presented or considerations, that's the action that it

154would go according to our process. It would go back for to be rewritten again and then come forward for second reading. If we don't do anything, it still comes back for second reading. So either way it comes back for second reading either with a motion to make amendments to it or to come back basically a clean copy for approval. Correct. >> Um yes. Your process under that's outlined in the um normal policy adoption process outlined here in 9310 would be if the board does nothing, board bylaw 9310 directs that it come back for a second reading. So if you take no action tonight, it comes back just like it is for a second reading. Your other option is to take some action tonight, which is why we have an this is an action item. You

155can take action tonight. Um and you that might be to stop the process. It might be to direct additional um revisions or changes and bring those back. So board, you have options, but doing nothing is an option that would result in it coming back for a second reading. >> Great. Thank you for the clarification. Okay, hang on. Uh so I appreciate that. We are going to move on to board member questions. Um and I'm going to start on the my right with uh Dr. Kelly. >> This revision came from the committee that's working on governance. >> Uh no it did not. The committee that's working on governance is this would not be within its scope. Um it it is um it's the charge given to the governance committee is not to work on individual policies.

156Uh it's at a governance level from these changes. >> This revision came from you had the information gathering session. Um so if you look refer to the screen we had a conversation as a board around what changes you would like to see in the policies. um this policy um these two revisions around agenda authority and the consent item were the were the areas that the board raised and I've touched on the rationale that was provided during that meeting. So then I moved forward to step three. I did the first draft. I sent that draft to legal review. Um the attorney provided me revisions to that. I've incorporated those revisions. That's the version that you have tonight. Thank you. Dean, do you have any questions, ClickB? Sure. >> Um, so this is for you, Dr. Glass.

157I I understand that a dollar amount doesn't mean that an item is necessarily high or low risk, but I think part of this came about because some of the items on our consent calendar um were high dollar. uh and specifically I know contracts like the transportation contract was renewed without really looking at and how how do we prevent something like that from happening? >> There are a couple of safeguards in place. Um so for example um the policy itself says that items that appear on the consent agenda should only be things that are non-controversial and routine. Um, so if you have a contract that isn't non-controversial or routine, it should it does not belong on the consent agenda. That would be the first step. >> But these were routine. >> They were. And if a

158if a uh still even if a contract is put on that is non-controversial and routine, if there's some concern that a board member has that um the board president and the superintendent were not aware of when we placed the item on the consent agenda, any board member could still ask for that item to be removed and considered individually. And I would also say that there's transparency on the consent agenda as well. every item on the consent agenda. It lists the full contract, the action being taken, the dollar amount, all of that is publicly available. And so that there is there is no um uh obstucation of what action is being taken or considered because something is on the consent agenda. So in the case of transportation, um we approved some contracts kind of trusting staff

159that they had really looked at them and then it turned out that some things hadn't been looked at. And so that's on that's on us that we >> I mean >> it's >> we want to trust staff, but um should so should we be looking through the contract much more carefully so that doesn't happen? >> I'm not familiar with the specific issue that you're describing. So I don't I won't be able to speak to that. But you should have confidence that the contracts that we bring you have been vetted and analyzed and are ready for board approval. That said, we're human beings and errors occur and when they occur, we should disclose that to you and then takes take the steps necessary to remedy that. So I won't be able to speak to the specific

160issue that you're talking about, but the board should have confidence that the items that we bring you are ready for approval. And with if they are not um then we will it's also our responsibility to alert you to that and then takes the step the steps necessary to remedy it. >> Member Malesky, any questions? Questions? But I'm not >> Some of them might be rhetorical. So maybe I should direct them to you, President uh Morgan, and and just because these are questions I have about what would what would happen if we um made such changes uh given that board boards change over time. So we're not writing this policy for ourselves. We're writing it for um the longer term. So, for example, what if we ended up with a board majority at some point that

161was more focused on consolidating power than educational outcomes or lost the confidence of educators or came into conflict with the superintendent who is charged with running the district? What check would exist if that same majority also controlled the agenda? Because I like to think about checks and balances. I think a lot about you know like political theory constit the constitution. So where are the checks and balances like what do you see given that you're the president and you want to secure the district for future boards? >> Well I think that's a good question. I think uh at the end of the day the way I am trying to interpret this and understand this is that we have a lot of checks and balances in place already. For example, we have a 202526 board governance planning

162calendar. On that calendar, it has a dated a schedule of items under HR, business services, instructional services, board governance, technology, superintendent evaluation, all that are outlined in calendar form of when they are due and when we need to address them and when the board needs to when they need to be agendaized for the board to look at. So, that would be one way to address some of the concerns with um that that Dr. last mentioned with um timelines aligned to posting requirements with um regulations that we have to of items that we have to approve. I think um at the end of the day the perspective that I bring to it is that this is an elected board um and the members of the board are here to represent the community and support student the

163students and ensure that they get the best education that we can provide. that would be something elected by the community that they would like to see. So I think at the end of the day and then with the board the board rotates who is on who sits at the president's seat who sits at the clerk's seat. So I think through those processes there is checks and balances allowed to um keep things in check for this particular item if there were which I think that the root of the issue is is whe if there's a disagreement that what happens I think that whether the president directs it to the to the agenda or the or the superintendent and the president if there's a disagreement it goes to the to the board either way the body of

164the board still will have ultimate decision on whether they want to hear it, pull it or address it. And I think that is something um that I think the the um idea of working together on it to send it to the board is addressed in the fact that the it goes to the board for decision. If they can't agree, it goes to the board for decision. But then is it a special meeting that we have to call? We know that special meetings have been very challenging in the last year to approve and that's out of respect for your work schedule. um we don't want to have special meetings. So I think having excuse me ask a question. >> Can I have point of order? >> Thank you. So that's so to me I think that

165we are planning for the long haul, not the short haul. This is not about this board. This is about the the way we go forward. So >> yeah, that didn't really get to my >> point of order, please, chair. Um I'm just a little bit unclear. First of all, I think that was a good answer. Um, but I'm a little bit unclear about where we are in this process. The superintendent made a presentation. >> Yes, we're having questions. >> So, but are the these is this time to question other board members or are we questioning the superintendent? >> This to the superintendent. Is that what you prefer? >> Okay. >> Just so that we proceed in a it's called it's called um proceeding in good order, right? And so the point is um I when

166the questions were called I thought the questions were called in response to the superintendent's presentation. So if if if that's not the case and instead the this is a question period for board members to question other board members. Um I mean I don't know exactly how we're proceeding. >> Typic from what I understand procedurally the questions should be directed to the presentation and then there is going to be discussion after um public comment um if we have a motion. So, I think that you still have the floor. If you'd like to ask questions of the presentation, that would be terrific. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, so, uh, let me add on to that because that didn't quite get to my concern, and I'll direct this at you, uh, Dr. Glass. So the real question is

167if the purpose of the bylaw change is to allow the board majority majority, not necessarily this one, but any board majority to agendaize its own priorities that are also above and beyond the schedule of what has to happen at what meeting rather than to rely on your the superintendent's agenda. What safeguards would prevent power from being used to sideline operational needs or suppress your oversp oversight especially during times of conflict? >> Uh thank you for the question. Um to be clear the proposed changes vests the final agenda authority with the board president not a board majority. Um and the the challenge with the way this revision is currently constructed is that it is not clear how if such a disagreement occurred how would the rest of the board find out about that or no that

168is that's that's one of the mitigation steps that I've suggested if you proceed forward with this we need to solve that problem the rest of the board needs to be made um aware >> but uh >> oh I'm sorry >> yeah um the policy as currently written does state that we are to proceed in good faith collaboration. And so a superintendent um I think that would mean that you would come to the table with prepared administrative recommendations for the agenda. you try to work with the board president to make sure that the work of the um district continues to move forward um and that there's minimal disruption and adequate preparation so the board can make good decisions um in its deliberation. Um the risk as you pointed out is in times of stress in times

169when time is constrained in times of uh division or politics it this creates a gatekeeping role um where that um that single trustee can determine what goes on the agenda or what stays off the agenda. >> Right? So so on that I mean even when you talk about mitigation measures we have >> questions But I I'm asking a question. So, we were talk you were talking about mitigation me measures, but how would you even from a staff perspective set up a me mitigation measure on Monday at noon when the superintendent and the president are fighting about a board agenda and the board uh president would like to put something on the agenda and you need to know in order to meet the Brown Act meeting notice. How would the board even have any say? >>

170That's not clear. Um and and that's why there are several mitigation steps um that are suggested. >> And then how would we let the public know? I mean, right now the public feels secure that there's um shared governance and collaborative decisionmaking. But how would we convey to parents that student needs rather than power or items outside the purview of the board's stated roles or individual agenda items were driving what the board does? How would it it strikes me that it could you know how would it impact public trust in what the board does? >> I think that a rational we we don't have a lot of as I pointed out I couldn't find examples of this. Um, so I there's there isn't like a professional journal or case study on how you handle this. So,

171>> um, as I've reflected on this, the work on the administrative side would shift to clear documentation. So I will I or any superintendent I think in in this role would shift to making sure that we have clearly documented what our recommendations were when a disagreement took place, what the outcome was so that if something were to go wrong, it's clear who made the decision. >> Thank you. I'll I'll hold the rest of mine for comments. Sure. >> Okay. Um, please ask questions. Member Hills, you have questions? >> Yeah, I've got a few. Um, Mr. Superintendent, right now, what is the source of your authority with respect to preparation and action on the agenda? >> My authority comes from it being delegated by the board. >> Excuse me. Um, my authority comes from it being

172delegated by the board. >> I'm sorry. I can't hear you. >> I think you did, sir. >> What's that? >> I think you heard me. >> No, I honestly did not hear you. >> My authority comes from it being delegated by the board. I don't know if it's the acoustics in the room. Your authority comes from what? What's that? >> I have I have to have an apartment. He he said his authority has been delegated to him by the board. >> Okay. >> Did you hear that? >> Thank you. >> Yeah, I did hear that. >> Yeah. >> So, um >> got a little bit of trouble. >> So, if we look at if we look at um 93 um all your authority comes from the board. Uh so that is an answer that is

173uh you know universal. have taken for granted that all authority comes from the board. Uh um and so you have powers that are delegated to you by the board. That's correct. >> But with respect to >> your uh yes uh I would say um u with a couple of exceptions. There are some statutory roles where I have authority. There are some contract roles where the board through the contract that you've entered into with me. You're talking about your employment contract, >> employment contract or statutory authority, uh, responsibilities and authority that I have to execute certain functions. >> Understood. But with respect to 9322, um, when you look at your role as it's defined in there where it says the board president shall work with the superintendent in his capacity as secretary to develop an agenda.

174Um, that's a very specific delegation to you. Um your general delegation comes from uh 35161 which vests in which the legislature vests all authority in the legislature in in the board and then the board delegates to you. Board retains legal responsibility for how delegated powers are carried out. But then 9322 is more specific and it says again I'll repeat it the superintendent I mean the president shall work with the superintendent in his capacity as board secretary to develop the agenda. Um so would you agree that that's sort of the specific statement of the source of your authority to act on the agenda? Uh I there's um no argument I provide no uh argument and concede that uh my authority when it comes to the development of the agenda is granted uh to me through board

175policy. That is correct. >> So and that in this case that's 9322. >> My uh analysis to you um isn't predicated on that point. It's as you stated it's clear. Um, my analysis to you is that this action introduces risks that the board should consider as it makes this change. >> Right. No, I understand. I understand. I'm just trying to, um, lay a little foundation here. Um so uh when we talk about risks, political risks and whatnot, um so the uh the the the situation is that the right now you would agree that the president has responsibility to approve the agenda that's going to go to the for and what we're talking about is we know the president has that responsibility. So what we're talking about is how does the superintendent um participate in that

176process with the with the uh president and um I just um I'm one >> yeah I'm just wondering um do you see your role in the approval of an agenda? There's several items in um where the board the board the board president and the superintendent act on requests to put things on the agenda and they act on requests by members to put things on the agenda. They ask they act on requests by members of the public to put things on the agenda and um and and so the board the president and the superintendent are acting together as you said collaboratively on those various tasks that are here. Um but that's all in the context of do you let me put it this way. Do you see that role that's defined there for you to be

177as in your capacity as CEO to the board under 35035 or do you see it as um that you're acting as board secretary which is what the bylaw says? Uh do you see any difference between those two? >> Uh Trusty Hills, I think I'd have to think about that. Um, primarily how I approach the current 9322 policy is it envisions a collaborative process between the board president and the superintendent and creating the agenda and that's how I approach the work. >> Yeah. Okay. Well, um but one of the things that um that you have said um frequently is that um you're concerned about political risk. You're concerned about a situation where the president um might not be available to act. The president might not want to act. There could be disagreement. Um uh and uh

178so you're one of the concerns you have if I understand it is a situation where the president would either not be available to act uh or would not want to act. That's one of the political risk scenarios that you have. Is that correct? >> Um I haven't contemplated that the president isn't available. Um, but I think that the president not wanting to act in one of the reasons that either keeping something off of the agenda or putting something on the agenda might be uh have um a political reasons behind it is is a risk that uh vesting um board agenda approval authority with a single officer creates. >> Yeah. Uh last question. uh having a hard time ask answering asking questions because I want to get beyond the questions into the substance but I just

179wanted to lay some foundation. Um so one of the things that it says in here is if the board president and superintendent deny a request from a board member um to place an item on the agenda, the board member may request the board to take action to determine whether the item shall be placed on the agenda. that provision, wouldn't you say that um in terms of uh the proposal that the council made um that provision that's already in there? In other words, we're not reinventing the wheel here because that provision in there about what happens when >> clarification which council I'm sorry, >> excuse me, >> you you said a something a council made. Which council do you mean? >> Yeah, the the prop the red line version that's done by board counsel. >> Okay.

180which describes a scenario where there's a disagreement and then um somebody goes to the board or it's subject to the board's action after good faith and whatnot. Um but if you strip that down to bare bones, it's really um we're not reinventing the wheel here because we've already got a provision in here that says if a board member requests an item on the agenda and the sui and the president and superintendent say no, then the board member may request the board to take action to determine whether or not the item shall be placed on the agenda. In other words, we already have in our bylaw a provision that is very similar to what we're talking about. Uh, and I just wanted to ask you if you'd looked at that. >> I I have looked at

181that. Um, that provision um protects uh board members in the event that they have an agenda item that they wish to have on the agenda. There is a protected route whereby they can have that considered. that does not protect uh or u account for if the superintendent and administration have items that they wish on the agenda. There's no clear mechanism on how that is resolved other than the board president has makes the decision. >> So setting aside the issues of motivations and possible outcomes and political risks, >> the mechanics of that provision, the mechanism is very very close if not uh virtually the same as the mechanism that's being proposed by council. In other words, we've already got a provision just like that in there. So that >> that is that is unchanged. Actually, that

182is it is exactly the same. That that part of 9322 was not amended or changed. >> No, I know I know it's not, but I'm saying that if we were to do what the council had proposed, it would be a very similar mechanism to what's in here. >> Council what you what I saw on the uh let me show it to you. Oops. That is ex that is all that council proposed. That is the entirety of what council >> proposed. I understand that it's basically saying if there's a disagreement then uh after they've tried to show good faith then they can take it to the board. >> However, the that gets to the escalation risk that I discussed earlier. It's not clear when there is a disagreement how and if that would be escalated to

183the >> I I agree but I just wanted to establish it. Okay. No more questions. So >> I mean you have questions. >> I do have a question just one. >> Um I happen to recall a sentiment of shared power being echoed throughout these meetings. And my question is if this um bylaw would support or refute that and what would change exactly? >> The current policy is a shared power model. It's a collaborative model and it's in alignment with um California School Boards Association model policy as are the other policies that I reviewed from the highest performing districts in the state. they're all aligned to that and they envision that shared and collaborative approach. Um the proposal is different. It's a different approach or theory of governance um that is consequential in my professional judgment.

184And so that's why I've outlined the risk that that creates and that we're going into an unknown a less known um place in terms of agenda development. Uh as I also pointed out looking at um examples from other states and in my own experience working in other states uh this is not a configuration that I am familiar with or have seen. So it would it would be very different. Our policy would be anomalous to what you typically see. >> Um Dr. Glass, I know I know it's you know something that you said you haven't seen before. Could you maybe just outline for for me how you think potentially say there was a disagreement between the president and um yourself or any superintendents who would follow you. Could you could you walk how with this new

185model how that would ch how you know a disagreement would play out? >> I'll walk through quickly how it currently would play out and then we'll contrast it. So um currently if there's a disagreement well first it it uh there is an effort to bring together an agenda where uh the president and the superintendent both are concur and move forward in terms of what's on it and the timing and where it's placed on the agenda. Um in the event there's a disagreement that is then brought to the full board to resolve. So the full board gets to hear what the disagreement was and then gets to weigh in. does something appear on the agenda or not? That could either happen at a special meeting that's called if it's something urgent or it could just appear

186at the next board meeting. Um, you could you could put it on and have the board resolve that question at that point. How this would shift is that again there would be a good faith effort at collaboration. We would work together, think about the sequencing, but there may be some issue where the superintendent wants something on or off or the board president wants something on or off. In that situation, the board president's authority um decides um in that configuration and with the risks that I pointed out, it's not clear how the rest of the board finds out that that occurs. That's why I've suggested some documentation, notice, some steps to to lessen the the negative im impact of that shift. >> So, could you say that it's kind of putting all the power into one

187person's hands? It does um vest agenda, not all power. It vests very specific power uh agenda setting authority in a sole trustees um determination. >> Yeah, I meant I meant all power in that specific context. Thank you for clarifying that. >> Uh member Mountes, you had a question. D has a question. Howard has a question. Would you like to go? Yeah, Howard, go ahead. Your please keep it to questions. Um, so I've got a lot to say about this when we get uh to the comments, but I just want to clarify a couple things before we get too far down this road. First of all, when you talk about political risk and you talk about um uh you know, the other districts and the fact that other districts don't have uh don't have a situation

188where the president um makes the final call. Let's talk about actual real world political risk not theoretical political risk. What do you see um uh as the difference in terms of political risk if let's say the president is not available uh to make a decision that has to be made. Say there's you were describing exencies under which there would be something that by law would have to be put on the agenda or dealt with by the board in a time frame that would make it timely to put it on the agenda. So let's say for example the president is not available. Um so you couldn't have collaboration because um the president's not available. Um at that point you would have the clerk acting as president. Um, and if the clerk were not available, you'd have

189the if if the board will have elected a president prom, then the president prom could call a meeting to order and and presumably act on behalf of the president in this kind of a situation. Um, but um that's in the meeting that that's true. But in terms of preparation of the agenda, um uh the uh if there were a situation where something had to be put on the agenda and the president um uh was not available or there was no president available, would the superintendent then make that decision by himself? >> I would not presume that I had that authority. Um that would be my approach. I can't tell you how another superintendent might approach it, but I'll tell you how I would approach it. Um, it's it's an would be an unusual circumstance, >>

190right? >> This policy doesn't contemplate it. I don't think we have a policy that does contemplate it. So, what I would do, and again, another superintendent may approach this differently. Um, what I would do is call counsel, get legal advice. um it likely would involve um convening a quorum of the board to help make the decision and set the agenda. Again, the final decision around the board's agenda rests with the board, the whole body. Um and so it we're sort of exploring a hypothetical. Um and but I think my approach would be not to presume that I that because the board president is not available that because of that I have I now have unilateral authority. This policy does as it currently is written doesn't say that. I would get legal advice and likely would

191be working to convene a um a quorum of the board to help set the agenda. >> Okay. Well, when we when you get a little bit further down in this discussion, we're going to be talking about what California School Board Association says about this. But let me ask you this. Instead of theoretical theoretical scenarios that you've described, are you aware of the fact that last year in December we had a situation where there was no president, there was no clerk, there was no president prom and um the the legal council at that time took the position that the district had been legally legally incapacitated. That was the official legal advice from the council. I'm asking um the uh superintendent, are you aware of the fact that that occurred? >> I'm aware of some of the

192circumstances related to it. Um I'm >> Okay. Well, we'll talk about it later because in other words, >> I wouldn't want I don't wish to I don't have all the information on it. I wasn't here. I haven't investigated it. So I I don't know that I'm um going to be able to comment on that situation and how it relates to this policy. >> That's what my question that's that's what my question sought to ascertain that you either knew about it or or you didn't know about it. >> Move the agenda. >> I I am >> we're not moving the agenda. We're asking questions. >> I have to move on to someone else asking questions. I haven't asked any questions yet either. So >> I I am aware of the situation. Uh, I have not studied

193it and I'm not aware of any analysis of it. >> Thank you, Howard. I'm going to move on for other questions. Um, member Malesky, you had a question. >> No, go ahead. I can wait. >> So, another hypothetical, Dr. glass. I mean, my conception of a superintendent is that you're here to run the day-to-day operations and I trust you to um help to establish an agenda that moves the needs of the district forward. I also understand that the superintendent, you but also generally um is the only person in the district that the board has the authority to hire or fire. So, if you have a dispute, not you personally, but if a superintendent has a dispute with the board president and the board president wants something on the agenda and the superintendent thinks that it's

194just a bad idea or in the very unlikely scenario I pointed out, he the he or she sees it as um you know, an effort to uh to uh get to board priorities that are not student priorities or community priorities or um might just be bad for the district. So would you agree that a policy like this would put the superintendent in a really bad position because of the you know the the you're reporting to the board but then you're required not you but any superintendent would be required to report out a conflict and it it it seems like a very complicated thing for the one person that the board hires or fires a a complicated position to be put in because you would have to complain to the board or take it to the

195board or whatever. I don't know if you have thoughts about that. >> Thank you. Um the current model is collaborative and shared in nature and it and it contains because of the provision that member Hills read earlier contain contains a provision where if there's a disagreement that's brought to the board with the shift that's on the screen here that relationship fundamentally and structurally changes. It is a consequential and meaningful shift. I've thought about how we would interact with it. Again, there's not any guidance on exactly how to do this because it's it's an unusual I haven't found any examples of it around. I have been thinking that if if that ends up being the policy that the board enacts, our work on the administration side shifts to documentation. um we have to clearly document what

196the recommendations were and why we made them and the timelines associated with that so that if something goes wrong the accountability for the decision lands on the appropriate person in this configuration I am no longer um I no longer have authority to put things on or take them off the agenda. The board president does. And so I need to document what decisions the board president makes and make sure that if accountability needs to be held that if it falls on the appropriate person, >> right? But but I mean like in a mitigation measure. So there's a disagreement and the board agenda has to go out. You're put in this position of having to get to all the other board members to talk about this disagreement. And also, if you didn't agree that it should be

197on the agenda, you are then in the position of having to make your case to all the other board members, which strikes me as a really difficult position to put the superintendent in. >> That touches on the the escal escalation risk issue. Um, and what I mean by that is when the disagreement occurs, the current this current version doesn't clearly say what happens then, right? That's that's a problem that I I think is real. Um council hasn't flagged it, but I think it's a real problem. Like what happens at that point? Uh so there are ways to mitigate that. They don't, I think, overcome the challenges, the structural challenges this creates, but it does help mitigate the problem. >> Thank you, Dr. Glass. Um do you suggest another question? >> Yes. Um, I I I

198don't see this situation coming up much. Have in all your experience, I'm not just talking about here. I know it hasn't, but um, in your other experience, do have you had a lot of these situations where you and the board president are arguing about what's on the agenda and what's not? >> I am compelled to respond truthfully. I in in my previous superintendent or state chief roles, I have I have never had a disagreement about a board agenda item. Um in in those experiences, I have had a disagreement with President Morgan about an agenda item. And um I'll leave it at that. >> Thank you. I have um a couple of questions. Um, so I think member Perry clarified that we have not had that occurrence here. Is that correct? >> Here or or somewhere?

199I thought you said >> I have I have not in my >> did say that >> I have not in my u prior roles encountered this situation. Uh always using the board president superintendent collaborative model. Um I have always my experience has been uh that this issue of disagreement has never come up but it has come up in this district. >> It has come up in this district. >> Yes. >> Okay. Regarding the c the um graduation that's the I think that's the the topic. >> Okay. And I think we worked we discussed it. I received a sevenpoint plan of why it wasn't a good idea to put it on this agenda and it's not on this agenda. Correct. >> It is not. Okay. So, we worked through that. Thank you. >> We followed the

200We followed the current policy. We did. We uh I will say that um President Morgan, you and I worked through the current policy in 9322 and we executed it faithfully >> and I yielded basically to your advice. So, I do appreciate that. Um, I'm curious if there has from the board's perspective if there have been instances where you have asked to have something on the board agenda and it has not occurred. Has that occurred for um a board member >> where I where where I have had items that I wanted to bring forward for the board agenda and they have not gone on. I I have never had that situation occur. >> Okay. Yeah. Um, member Kelly, have you had have you proposed any item for the agenda that has not appeared on the agenda?

201>> No. >> Okay. Um, member Hills, have you ever asked for something to be on the agenda that has not appeared on the agenda? >> Yes. >> Okay. Member um, Malchesky, have you ever asked for things to be on the agenda that have not been on the agenda? >> Um, no. But it's kind of irrelevant because this is for what if it happens, >> right? Well, I think it's all hypothetical in some ways. I think that's the whole that's I think for me that's the the the the interesting part is that it it is a hypothetical situation if it were to occur and so far it's we've had instances where it hasn't occurred there's been process and discussion >> right policy >> I'm asking a question member uh Perry have you ever had items that

202you'd like on the agenda that have not gone on the agenda >> um never with Dr. glass but I have previously. Yes. >> So is it is the the understanding of the policy as I as I see it is that it is not um it has not been challenged under the current situation but it's possible that other that board members that have been here have had situations where they've requested things and because and it was denied. So, and it did not go to the board for review. Correct. It was just denied. >> I know you haven't had that experience, but I'm >> I can't speak to how things happened in the past. What I can tell you in working with both you as president and with um former President Perry, we had requests from community

203members, we had requests from board members for items to appear on the agenda. And um with the only with the sole exception being the item that we just uh raised um we collaboratively decided which items were appearing on the agenda and in which order >> and I do appreciate the collaboration and um that would be a discussion so I won't say that. Um so is the so I'm I think I misunderstood the purpose of these of this request and changes because for me I am looking at it from the idea that um it's does it go to the board for consideration or not? If there's if if ultimately so in the current configuration if there's a disagreement it goes to the board. If we were to put this in place, then it's the I'm seeing

204it as the president then sends it to the board as for the board to decide. Is that correct? Or is it is the concern that there's no mechanism for the superintendent to put something to the board if the president says no? Is that is that the concern? that is a risk that and the mitigation would be to add into this policy some kind of notice or mechanism to escalate the the dispute. >> So that is the risk because right the way it's the way it's structured right now is uh there's a disagreement and the board president um uh finalizes the determination. It's not clear how or if that decision is shared with the rest of the board or the public. That's unknown. >> Okay. So, I think my understanding was it is that if there's

205a disagreement between the the two, it goes to the board currently. And I think I'm reading this that if there's a disagreement and president has final authority, it they're sending it to the board for review. So, for me, that's what I'm interpreting it. So, if that's not um and if there needs to be something in for the superintendent to have that same thing, what would the mitigation item be that you would recommend? >> That's right. Um so, I think you're seeing it right. Um and um what I've advised is if you choose to proceed, um then you should add something to clarify that very situation. Do you have a suggestion of what that would be or would you send that would you work with legal on that to >> the way the way that that

206would happen is if the board wanted a mechanism like that you wish to proceed first of all I do not recommend that you proceed with this policy but if you do adding a provision like that helps mitigate the risk. Um, how I would do that is take your feedback. I would draft the first version of that. I would send it to council for revision and then it would come back to you with c after council's revision. >> You meaning the board. Yes. You meaning you meaning the board. The full board. That's right. >> Right. So, so even if we put a So, if we put that mitigation measure in there, then either the current way the agenda is written or a propo or the proposed change that council wrote, >> it still goes to the

207board. If we put a mitigation measure in there that gives the superintendent the ability to do the same, which is to put it to the to the board. Either way, I think my understanding was the it all goes back to the board for either on the agenda to be pulled. So if if if the superintendent wants to put something on the agenda that the president that or and it doesn't happen, there's a mitigation measure that you're proposing. If the president puts something on the board on the agenda that the superintendent did not support, the board still has the option to pull the item, to not pass the item. correct? >> Have a presentation or discussion. So that process would not change. Is that right? >> I think so. I'm um I'm running out of steam

208here. So um uh and I I have no business ever appearing before Congress because I feel like it's going to be like this. Um uh I I I really um I don't want to answer because um not because I don't want to be forthright. Um um I think we're into a layers of hypothetical and so I I really need if if there's some change that you want executed um I think the board should say that I will draft it. We'll get legal review. That's that's a much better process than me sort of trying to feel my way through whatifs at this point. >> President President Morgan, can we move to discussion? >> Can we move to discussion since it seems as what's going on? Is your question very quick? Because I'd like to I'd like

209to open public comment and then discussion. >> Yeah, we do have 20 minutes. >> That's the actually the nature of my question is that >> we are in the this whole thing has been in the hypothetical. We're trying to in questions address hypotheticals and um I I want to hear from the public and I want to hear comments from the members before we actually try to get specific. So, Mr. Superintendent, what I wanted to ask you is this, given the questions that have been asked and the answers that have been given. Um, I think that it's good that the council has said this is legal and that it's reasonable, but I actually don't like there's certain aspects of what the council's proposed that I would not tend to agree with or I wouldn't have proposed

210myself. So my question to you is this. if this were amended so that it doesn't um postulate that there's a disagreement. Um and uh I mean I I never thought of this or intended of this as being a situation where there's a disagreement. So if this were more a matter of you don't get into subjective issues, if this were revised so that it didn't get into the subjective issue of good faith because that's an entirely subjective thing and if it didn't wasn't based on a disagreement. In other words, we're not that far apart in terms of what we have now. And what if this were simplified so it wasn't presented and phrased as there's a disagreement but rather just that that somebody has to have final approval and if the if somebody's going to give

211final approval to the to what's going to be given to the board. The board is the one that really decides what's on the agenda. But if if if it were simplified so that it just said that the president will have final approval or will take final action to give to the board the pro the agenda which then it can either adopt or not adopt. Um uh would that make it um would that do you think that would reduce the optics or the realities of political risk? And I asked the question in light of the fact that that's what we've already got in here with respect to members who request um items that don't get on the agenda. It says that the member can go to the board and ask them to reconsider it. And I

212think what what the Sher was asking was if this said that it could be taken to the board, then it could be taken to the board in the end. She said the board would that make this less of a political risk situation for you? I think I follow what you're asking. What's that? >> I think I follow what you're asking. Um, and I'll just restate that what you have is a typical shared power arrangement. What you've what I think you've proposed still vests the final authority with the board president. That is a consequential shift and a different governance approach and theory for this policy and several other policies that we have. Council also has indicated if you make this shift, it does connect to some other policies that we're going to need to look at

213as well. Yes, >> that that that shift um puts us into a a world where we're doing a lot of hypothetical how will this work? Um I don't know the answers to all those things which is which is why I'm flagging it as a governance risk for you trying to promote some mitigation steps but overall I I don't think this is wise. Do do you think that do you think that right now it's clear how this gets done? >> I have clarity as to how the current policy works and that >> I mean objectively >> I I have >> that's subjective. You you believe that as a matter of personalities you can work it out but objectively >> I'm only able to answer from my personal experience um and and professional background. Um I understand

214how the current policy is constructed and works. Um more importantly I understand that if there was some novel situation all I have not found another California district who has a different policy substantively different than ours. So, you're in if there's a if there's some novel situation and your policy is like the other thousand Cal California um policies, it's much easier to get legal advice that is sound and grounded. When we do something that's anomalous, it creates risk and and um member Hills, I have not um my my position has been that this creates foreseeable structural risk. There are some ways to mitigate that, but overall I don't recommend it. >> Thank you. I'm going to ask one last question, then I'd like to open it to public comment. When the agenda is drafted in an

215agenda meeting and different things are presented, different things are discussed. Prior to publishing, who looks at it and says, "Yes, publish it." Um currently um the process is that we have an agenda planning meeting. Um we um have a running list of topics um that have been brought from the public or from board members that we keep on a spreadsheet. >> Um that is a source of agenda items. um your very capable uh executive assistant here also has a running list of necessary actions and steps that she keeps on a schedule that we bring forward. Um and then there are new issues or things that the board is interested in or the board president is interested in. So all of those items um are sort of in um the ingredient list of what could make

216a uh board meeting. And so we work together to decide what's the right order of sequencing those. Um do we have enough information? Do we have time to construct the agenda? Do we have time to build the background? Is there research that needs to be done? Is there legal advice that needs to be uh taken? It's a it is a thoughtful and collaborative process and it has been everywhere and it has been here as well. Um it is a thoughtful and collaborative process that arrives at what is um on on the board agenda. Um when we get to the point that we have a sort of finalized um agenda, uh I look at it and um and say this looks good to me. We check with the board president. The board president says it looks

217good to me and then we authorize Victoria to post it. So that's the process that we've been using. >> I guess the point being ultimately the last person to see it before it publishes is the board president. Correct. >> Um yes. Well, I guess the last person would be Victoria, but yeah. Okay. Yeah, it does go. So, we do all the work. Like, we're your we're your uh staff. >> Yeah, we do we we're the staff. So, we do all of the work to prepare it and then send it to the board president for final sign off. This looks good to me. And then, uh once I get that u uh acknowledgement from the board president, I tell Victoria it's good to post. >> Thank you. Uh, Clerk Perry, I know we have comments, uh,

218public comments on this. Can you um, please proceed? Thank you. >> Yes. In Yes. In fact, we have 11. Um, and I know we have to get special permission to go later, but I'll mix them up and let's start. Yeah, we have 11. And then we've got other ones, too. Yeah. >> Have a motion to move it to two minutes. Then it's 22 minutes. Okay. I'm asking a question >> to let people speak. It's a very important issue. >> I hear you what you're saying. So, do we have So, we will need to then amend the end time of 10 o'clock. >> We'll have to amend the end time. I agree. I think we should let people >> Okay. Terrific. Thank you. >> I make a mo make a motion to extend our ending time.

219>> Second. >> Yeah. All in favor? Extend past 10. I so moved. >> Okay. Um Okay. Uh the first one that came up was Scott Wickcob. >> Good evening. Um a couple things I just want to say is when we have these questions, I think we should have honest questions. Our c the questions that you guys are giving Dr. class are just trying to move your agenda of what you want done. They're not honest questions about what what is changing. They are just trying to prove a point that you want to change it. So, I think we need to look at that. Second of all, I think the board needs to look and and know what you don't know. There's a reason you hired Dr. Glass because you thought he'd be competent at his job.

220He'd be good at his job. And I feel like you don't respect his opinion. He has given [clears throat] us a great outline here. five districts, six districts, top districts all do it with joint collaboration because it works. It's best practice. He then went on to and found out states are all doing it the same way. Why do we think why does the board think that they know so much more than the way it's being done? I'm sorry. I It's not, you know, I trust Dr. glass with his education, his experience. I'm going to be honest, I don't trust you guys with this. Not even a little bit. You're not the smartest man in the room, and I think we need to defer to the people that actually are in education and know it. >>

221Thank you, me. Uh, >> thank you. >> Um, Meredith McMahon. >> Hi. Um, I'm here to strongly oppose the revision to board policy 9322. I also generally am trying to understand why we are even here discussing this tonight. This change is not about students, classrooms, or educational outcomes. It's about power. Granting the board president final authority over the agenda whenever there is a disagreement with the superintendent undermines the superintendent's role as a district's chief educational leader and concentrates authority on a single board officer. This is a small school district. Treating it like a regime that requires centralized authority is both unnecessary and concerning. The superintendent is hired to lead the district. Weakening that role shifts governance away from professional expertise and towards political control. This is not good governance and is not in the best

222interests of students. The language may claim to promote collaboration, but when one person has final authority, disagreement isn't resolved. It's silenced. Taken in context, this proposal appears to be part of a broader effort by the board majority to consolidate power and marginalize the superintendent. that cons should should concern everyone in this community. I urge the board to reject this change and refocus on issues that actually serve students. Thank you. >> Thank you, Meredith. >> Thank you, Erin Berman. >> I can just cosign on what Scott and Meredith said. You 50 hired Dr. Glass for his experience and his expertise. He and legal have done the research. It is glaringly clear what should be done, which is nothing to leave the policies as they are. We do not need to mess around with the threshold for

223the consent agenda or changing n any part of 9322. What it will do, it will uh further erode the community's trust in you, the current board majority. Um it will it it completely undermines transparency and good board governance. Um, just because something is legally permissible doesn't mean it's a good idea for students, staff, and the long-term health of the school district. I again, like Meridan said, I don't even understand why we're here. We'll be moving past 10:00 on this. This is not a good idea. Please listen to the people that you have hired and rely on their expertise, their experience and education, and the research that they have done. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, Ka Brown, >> Dr. Glass, I'd like to apologize for Howard on his behalf for his incredibly rude

224treatment of you just now. Um, this is just stupid. It's a waste of staff time. It's a blatant attempt by the board majority to arrandise themselves. Thank you. Um, Jeff Brown. >> Well, Mr. Brown is coming up. Um, Clerk Perry, do you want to call the next person, too, so we can um so they can know that they're coming next and be ready? >> Sure. Um, Kit Verdugo and then Emily Ralphing. >> I want to begin by calling out Mr. Hill's behavior. What the your line of questioning with Dr. Glass was inexcusable and inappropriate. There is no reason for that in this forum. I hope that never happens again. As to the agenda item, we all know that that the people that control an agenda largely direct an entity. And we know based on Dr.

225Glass's uh presentation that four other large states in the country have a policy similar to what we have today. We know that the highest performing school districts in the state of California have procedures similar to what we have today. To consolidate power in one person's hand is is is potentially dangerous. In what due respect, Miss Morgan, based on your published biography, you don't have any other previous significant leadership experience and you have no formal training in education. I strongly urge the board to reject this policy change. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Hello, my name is Kit Berdugo. I'm a parent of a second grader at Top of the World. Um, I'm sorry. I'm having a really hard time because of what I just witnessed up here. Um, and what you made all of

226us sit through. This is not something that should be even considered or talked about in this kind. you guys need to be educated on what a board does and how to implement the rules that are already in place. So now I'm going to get back to what I wanted to say. Um, which is that I posted this online, but I wanted to ensure that it was heard on record as I've heard that online comments are being discounted as not as weighty as those given in public. So I'm here to ensure that my voice is heard and that this is on record. There are 16 pages of public comments online today for this meeting. So I really hope that what I've heard isn't true and that you are considering all of the voices that want to

227be heard and should be heard and that you should be representing while you sit on the dis. So it is very clear from the attorney and superintendent report that is available with this meeting agenda that this is not recommended. It is not in line with how best-in-class school districts operate and the current board, sorry, how they operate. And it is an obvious power play by the current board majority to force their own personal agendas on the district. The bylaws are well written and clear. They don't need to be amended. You need to implement them. You need to oversee the superintendent and do what you claim the prior board didn't do. You don't need to change these rules. You need to educate yourselves on how to do this properly. [sighs and gasps] So just because it's

228legally permissible does not make it the right thing to do or something that you should do. I'd also like to add that if you treat people as allies instead of enemies, you will be far more successful as a board. It feels that you are treating Dr. Glass as an enemy. You hired him because of his expertise and the whole community was so happy because he is like proven he is great at this job. Neither nobody currently sitting up there has proven that they can do what he has he does. Please work with Dr. Glass and hold him accountable to that role. do not abdicate the authority to someone who is completely unqualified to fill that role. Which yeah, I'm I'm going to stop there before I say anything else, but please do not pass this

229bylaw. It is completely unnecessary. It does not do anything to support the students or the community. It only gives you power that you do not deserve. >> Thank you. Thanks, speaker. Emily Ralphing is next. >> Hi there. Good evening, Emily Ralphing. Um, I reiterate what has been shared already and as Dr. Glass said, this process can be better and I ask that you start there. Um, I'm just I'm not seeing it. Um, what is the problem? What are we solving? And Howard, it really feels like a you problem um that you are leveraging against our district and our students. As an engaged community member and parent, I don't understand why you're doing this. Please listen and rebuild trust with your superintendent. Um, I don't know why, Howard and Sherry, you seem to think that you

230know more than CSBA or top performing districts in our area or your superintendent. I don't see it. Um, I reiterate my concern and lack of faith in that I shared in my public comment today with our board president to be objective and serve in this role. We have not seen any of that displayed well tonight. You're constantly clippingly stopping Dr. Malchesky while trying to pet Howard's hand. I don't understand it. It's completely obvious and I don't see this being a healthy board dynamic. Um, if you can please listen to Glass's guidance and restore the the trust and faith we need in this moment, um, I'd appreciate it. Thanks. >> Thank you. Next three. Um, Erica Hinn and Rule, Lesie Elliot, and Kimberly Smith. Good evening, everyone. Um, I was actually watching this meeting online and

231rushed over here because I did not feel comfortable staying silent about this. I'm speaking for myself tonight, but I also know I represent many parents and community members who are paying close attention and are genuinely concerned about this proposed change. This is being framed as a small or procedural update, but it's not. It's going to set a dangerous precedent. When policy gives one board officer final authority over the agenda in cases of disagreement, it changes how governance works over time. The agenda isn't just paperwork. It determines what issues are surfaced publicly, how they are framed, and when the community gets the opportunity to engage. That makes this a transparency issue, which is something that President Morgan and Trusty Hill were elected to create with the board. Joint collaboration between the board and the superintendent exists

232for a reason and it works. It's the best practice. No single role has all the expertise. The superintendent is hired for professional, educational, and operational leadership. The board is elected to provide oversight, policy direction, and community values. Those roles are meant to work together, especially when there's a disagreement. So, as I keep asking myself, what problem are we actually trying to solve here that justifies changing a structure that works across the state of California? Why would we move away from collaboration toward giving one person final say? Our school district is a top performing school district. That didn't happen by accident. It happened because we've had stable leadership, professional respect, and clear roles. Changes like this introduce political risk and uncertainty. and those risks don't disappear when a board membership changes. We also need to be

233honest about the message this sends. We want to retain strong leaders like Dr. Glass. Policies that weaken the superintendent's role or make the position more political, make this district less attractive to talented educators and administrators. So, I'll ask the board directly, is this worth it? Is it really worth division? We're seeing the erosion of trust and a long-term risk to the district's stability and reputation. Many in this community don't believe it is. So, I urge you to vote no and preserve transparent collaborative governance. Thank you. >> Thank you, Lesie. And then Kimberly, >> thank you. Leslie Elliott, this isn't governance. This is a power grab. You ran You guys ran on transparency, yet you now operate like secret squirrel conspirators. D, you told the union and community members that you'd run as president and form

234a unity ticket with Joan. Then he reversed course, installed Sherry as president, and took the clerk's sleep Kirk's clerk's seat. I rewatched that moment on the video a dozen times. It wasn't spontaneous. It was scripted, hidden, and it reeks of Brown Act violations. And Sherry, that open mic slip was just confirmation. Let's be honest, everybody knew why public comments were pushed to midnight. Now the secret squirrels want sole control of the agenda. Meaning you alone decide what the public hears and which trustees get to speak. Not a single top performing district in California concentrates power like that. Not one. Because every serious governance body understands how destructive and anti-democratic that is. Dr. Glass said it clearly in his memo. Giving the board president unilateral authority over the agenda risks turning it into a gatekeeping tool.

235Silencing trustees and undermining transparency. It risks posting delays, logical chaos, logistical chaos, and poor deliberation. You all hired Dr. Glass to lead this district, a credentialed professional with deep expertise. Yet you now aim to sideline him beneath a small click with a big grudge with little background in education. How unprofessional and how freaking insulting. There's no legitimate rationale for this. Only a desire to suppress dissent, to bury inconvenient issues, and to muzzle minority voices. This isn't order. It's censorship dressed up as procedure. The community sees it. I ask you to withdraw this proposal or at least be honest about it. Say it plainly. You're choosing power over transparency, control over collaboration, and once again betraying the public trust. >> Kimberly Smith. Kimberly asked me to read for her. I was going to say that power

236is temporary but precedence is permanent. I want to go back to good governance practices. How will they feel when their power is gone? Is the right is this the right decision for the district they serve? Especially when someone who holds the power they disagree with. Also, Clerk Perry, please remove me from the list of public comment speakers because as I'm not a student or a teacher, I'm not afforded the opportunity to speak early, although I am a mother and I had to go home and put my babies to bed and then Warren Rutley. Just for the record, Howard, I am speaking as president tonight, and this is an absolute Groundhog's Day to January 23rd. Your behavior tonight is abhorrent and so incredibly disrespectful. That right there is why member Morgan heard yesterday, staff does not

237trust you. You are an embarrassment to them. You are an embarrassment to our other districts. This is so disgusting. We hired Dr. Glass. You hired Dr. glass and you can sit there with your little smirk. You don't know governance. You think you do, you don't. We don't need to be an anomaly. We are one of the top performing districts and there's a reason. And you're doing nothing but destroying that. You're destroying the culture. You're destroying the faith in our staff. You are hurting us, not helping us. And to have a sitting board member vilifying this district over and over and tearing it down is disgusting and you should be ashamed of yourself. Dr. Glass gave very good reasons why this shouldn't happen. This is supposed to be collaborative. He knows what he's doing. We trust

238him, not you. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is not the way to operate and this isn't the way this district has worked and your grudges have got to stop and you've got to start moving forward. And I'm going to disagree with Lesie. You're trying to stifle the majority voices, not the minority voices. We do not agree with this. We want it to stay a collaborative effort. It's a board of five, not a board of one. Thank you, Tyler. >> Dez, I just got a notification the public broadcast has stopped. Can you check on that, please? The notification came from Diligent. Okay, you can come on up. I think it's fixed. >> Um, hi. Uh, my name is Warren Rutle and I'm a sophomore at the high school. Um, so I wasn't planning on coming up

239to talk tonight, but we were sitting back there and we're studying right now. Our unit in English is centered around around the story Animal Farm which is an allegory to the Russian Revolution by George Orwell. And I was sitting back there and we're taking notes and studying. And I was noticing these parallels that I figured shouldn't really be happening in today's society, but it was actually what we were discussing in class. And we today we were talking about if these themes that were presented in the book Animal Farm are still relevant in governments today and the themes of power seizing and taking away their taking away the voice of others and going away from everyone else like how you were all talking about going away from what every other district seems to be doing. Um

240so this seemingly answered the question for me. Yes, all these lessons are still relevant in today's society. And I assume you all know the history, but the Russian Revolution and the animal farm completely failed and turned into a complete system of chaos that didn't work or support anyone on the farm. And as I'm noticing these parallels, I thought this quote that we talked about in class today um was very relevant. And so I'm just going to read it. It says that those in power begin with promises of equality but slowly twist rules and language to benefit themselves. And so I find it really um disheartening that these parallels are coming up on our school board because it just shouldn't ever happen and we should have learned from the past and all of these mistakes. And

241basically because of all of that, I urge you to vote no on this new bylaw and continue to work collaboratively together to make agendas that are the best for all the students and staff um so that you can um do your jobs properly. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> It looks like we are doing a good job with developing critical thinking in our students. >> That was excellent. Um, I think that's it for public comment. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, so we're going to move to discussion. Uh, this ought to be fun. >> Okay. Just a second. I'd like to start with, um, Clerk Perry, if you have any, uh, discussion items. >> Sure. Um, I'd like to, you know, I'd like to say that we, this does have to do with

242students and things that are important to students. We got um a number of people talking to us, a number of emails, and a number of people texting me um about an issue coming up with the venue for the high school graduation. And that was looked at as a sightbased decision that the high school should be able to just make that decision. But there are many people in the community that have really feel strongly about this. And so this is an issue that we wanted to bring to the board because we wanted everyone to be able to talk about it. That's an example of one of the issues that there's conflict about and um so I think it's really important that we be able to bring things forward and that it isn't just a um I

243I've come across this before where it isn't necessarily a superintendent decision but they say it's a sitebased decision and the public can't be involved the community can't be involved but There are decisions like that that I think they should be. So, >> thank you, member Perry. Um, I'm going to come to you. I'm going to come across the board across the table this time. Uh, member Malchesky. >> Do you have to turn? Yeah. Um, I just need to respond to that because it's kind of exactly what I'm talking about. We're supposed to stay in our lane. There are day-to-day operations that we do not have say over. We can bring our concerns to the superintendent and the superintendent can make decisions taking community input on what is decided at the site. And as I understand

244it in this case, the students voted on that. This is not the time to have a discussion about that. But the point is is this is exactly the problem that you take things that are not board topics and board decisions and you use this power to just start questioning what's going on that teachers are doing in their classrooms. I mean, what if you decided you didn't like what someone taught in a class and decided to agendaize it at the board level? We spell out differences. We spell out what our lanes are in the bylaws. And Dr. Glass has the authority to work with the site district site uh each of the sites around the day-to-day operations of the school. And this policy does exactly the opposite by saying Dr. Glass has authority, but if there's

245ever anything we like that Dr. glass doesn't do, we're just going to agendaize it. If something happens in a classroom, we're just going to agendaize it. That is not the role of the board. It is, in my view, a fundamental misunderstanding of what the board is supposed to do. So, I have deep concerns about that. You know, agenda control is also a fiduciary safeguard. And when you use it to obstruct operations, silence oversight or use your own sort of petty interests, then you know the board fails its duty of care. So it is deeply problematic. Um I'll stop there for now. I'll I'll likely have more to say. >> Member Hills, do you have any comment? Yeah. Um, I'd like to clear some stuff up. Um, and uh, I think that if we have a

246chance to get into the truth and to the reality of this issue, maybe people will understand why we asked the questions we asked. It's a difficult question question period because um, uh, it's a complicated topic to try to reduce to questions. So, let's just reduce it to comments. First of all, there's nothing collaborative about an arrangement where there's ambiguity about who has authority. And um I have to say that I was very disappointed with this. >> She's deciding if we needed a motion before we had discussion. What's that? We'll address that. But um I I want to say uh Mr. Superintendent, I was really disappointed with your report and your analysis. Um, and I strongly disagree with the [clears throat] facts and the information that you marshaled there. Uh, and I'll tell you why. It

247comes as no surprise to me that other school districts are in a situation where they have not addressed this. And um uh also the misinformation that a pe a lot of people have that somehow this is not consistent with the California School Board Association's approach to this issue. I think what we have to do is we have to actually look at the language of the bylaw. The bylaw does not say that the superintendent and the president um um determine what's on the agenda. The bylaw says that the president works with the superintendent in his capacity as the secretary of the board. It's not addressed to the capacity as a CEO under 35035. And if you look at what the duties of the secretary are under the uh bylaw 9122 which is sets out the duties

248of the secretary. It's ministerial and it has to do with preparation of documents attestation to acts of the board and it's very administrative and I'm not saying that it constricts your authority but it focuses your authority for purposes of working with the president on in essence supporting the president by in your capacity as secretary preparing the agenda and preparing the documentation keeping the documentation that's necessary to document board actions. But more more importantly, let's look at what the California School Board actually says about this issue because a lot of school boards have adopted California um schoolboard association modeled bylaw 9322, including this one and probably all of the districts that you surveyed um when you took your survey. And what this is what the California School Board Association says about this subject. Who makes decisions

249about the agenda? This question is really about authority. Who really decides by nature of their roles? Both the board president and the superintendent have important duties in developing the board agenda. Board should discuss the role of the board president and superintendent and this is the important part and determine which process makes the most sense to meet local needs. Since it is the board's agenda, the board should play significant role in the agenda's development. Options for involvement of other board members and officials are discussed below. Then it says the board president and the superintendent. It it quotes the model um bylaw which we've adopted says the board president and the superintendent as secretary to the board shall work together to develop agenda for each regular meeting [snorts] and special meeting. Um for school districts, this role

250of the secretary to the board is described in CSBA sample um 9122 and that says um that the governing the governing board shall appoint the superintendent as secretary. The secretary of the board shall be responsible for maintaining an accurate and complete record of all board proceedings, prepare, distribute and maintain the board agenda. In other words, if you actually if instead of all the information that we've been misinformation we've been getting tonight about how this isn't transparency and this is and this isn't democratic. What if you actually read what the California School Board Association says two things one is it's not really clear who does this but what is clear is that the superintendent's role is in his capacity as secretary and that involves essentially documenting the agenda so that it can go into that in

251terms of actually who does the agenda it's very clear the um the bo the all the president does is give the agenda to the board and then the board decides what it's going to do with the agenda and it can it can accept the agenda or it cannot accept the agenda. And if there's a situation where the board president and or the superintendent want the board to uh address the issue of what should be on the agenda, they're free to do that. And the best evidence of the fact that they're free to do it is the fact that the same bylaw says that if a board member proposes a amendment and there's and and um the super president and superintendent don't agree with a member, the member can go to the board. Well, by the

252same token, if the president uh has final approval, somebody's got to have final approval on what's going to go to the board. So the question is um uh why not um have it be the president? Now why why would you say that? Well, it goes back to the point where it says where the California [snorts] School Board Association says determine which process makes the most sense to meet local needs. Okay, what are local needs? Well, in response to some of the comments that were said, I ran for school board and my campaign for school board was based on the fact that over the last 20 years, there's been an abdication of the board's authority and there's been overdelegation to the superintendent. And guess what? I got elected. That's all I ever said in my campaign

253was that there's we got to reverse some of the overdelegation from the board to the superintendent. And so what am I talking about? Well, on this specific subject that we're talking about here, one of the local conditions that exists is that in 2019, the president of the board announced publicly that she was abandoning her responsibility to approve the agenda. She said that she's going to turn over her role in the agenda approval to the superintendent and she did. And so when you talk about like power grab or whatever you're talking about, what's happening here is that there was an overdelegation um to the um superintendent by the board uh over a period of years. And so we're really trying to get it back to the cal. What's anomalous is a situation where um the the

254board president states publicly on the record in a meeting that she's no longer going to be involved in deciding what's on the agenda, that she's turning that over to the superintendent. And that occurred. And for a lot of people, a lot of us who were parents who were participating in the deliberative process with the board just as you all are tonight, um it was very clear to us that the board was not the board president was not approving the agenda. The superintendent was. And so the um the what I think um the problem here is that the amendment that's proposed by the council says that yes, having the board president have final approval of what goes to the board um is uh is reasonable and it's lawful. And then the question is why wouldn't we

255do exactly what we already do in our bylaws which says that if there's a if there's a problem or a question that the board a board member can go to the board and say this my request that this be on the agenda has been uh denied and I want the board to make a decision of this. I think Sherry, although we haven't discussed it, I kind of like your idea of um uh having a situation where when there's a problem, well, it it doesn't even have to be said. It's already true. The board can do the same thing it does in the case of a member's request, the board can take up the issue and decide the issue if it if it chooses to do so. And so I'm going to I'm going to propose

256instead of doing what the what the council the way he wrote it, I think I'm in agreement with him on the law and I'm in agreement with him on that it's reasonable. Um um I'm going to suggest that we simply say the board president shall final approval of the agenda to be posted and proposed for adoption to the board subject to authority of the board to direct placement of additional items on the agenda. And I think that creates a uh a system where the superintendent and the and the um the board president and the superintendent can confer and the normal routine is already that the president turns it over to um the board after the superintendent's acted. If the board if the uh agenda that the president submits to the um uh board is one

257that the superintendent or any other member thinks uh should have something they can take it up with the board just as they do with respect to a member request. >> Um yes you can respond but I think I'm sorry what >> I would like >> Okay. Um I'm going to yield to Yeah. Um uh member Kelly >> move that we wave the first reading and we vote immediately on this proposal. >> The we wave the first reading. The the superintendent can explain this to you and that we vote immediately. >> Question. >> This is not an action item to approve tonight. It needs to go to second reading regarding >> under Robert's rules of orders. You may wave the first reading. That is what I'm doing now. And I if it's seconded then we can

258discuss and I'll tell you why I'm suggesting this. >> I'll second it for purpose of discussion. >> Good. Good. I I think we've heard enough tonight regarding this bylaw and we have the majority and we shouldn't have to suffer through this again if they haven't heard the issues and haven't understood how this will erode the power and authority of the superintendent. And as I've said before, if I was a superintendent, I'd be looking for a job right now as far as being treated this way by by the majority. And so I think we should dispense with ongoing discussions and vote and then you get your way if this is what you want because we don't have to suffer through this again for the second reading. >> I want to ask the superintendent question about that.

259>> I'm gonna yield to member Malachesky first. >> I actually was responding to Howard's earlier comments, so I'll just wait because it's discussion. I don't need to do that. >> I think Logan had something. >> I can also just wait till discussion. >> I think we're in discussion. >> Oh, are we in discussion now? >> Well, he was moving [clears throat] to stop discussion. >> He was moving to stop discussion >> so that we didn't have to suffer through this. Yeah, >> I have a question about the motion. But if we have two mo if we have a motion on the floor and it's been seconded but the motion is to move >> to wave the first reading. So we need to vote on waving the first reading. >> Correct. >> Well, that's the motion,

260>> right? The motion is to wave the first reading. So we need to vote on waving the first reading. >> I actually question I I I wonder about amending it for the sole purpose of I I think we should just vote. This is painful and ridiculous and we already know what should be done here. So I would like to just go to a vote. The re the reason I think it should go for a second reading and not necessarily with discussion is I think the community should see what's been voted on and and by waving that the community doesn't get to see what the board majority has done. But I'm done with this. It is ridiculous that that this was even agendaized. >> Thank you. Um >> question. >> We we're done with questions. It's

261it's uh we need to vote on So did you second the the waving of the first >> I want I wanted to amend it that we move to an immediate vote and then bring it back with the with whatever we vote on. We can make the changes and bring it back for a reading. And I won't discuss it there either. But but at least if if the public wants to comment, they have an opportunity. >> I think we need clarification. >> I have a question for the superintendent. >> Dr. Glass, do you have a preference around bringing it back a second time? >> We we have a motion that we need to address. >> It's the board's decision if you move it forward or not. Um I've um provided my perspective on it in the

262memo that you have. Okay. >> I'm happy to answer questions around process if that will help the board. >> Yeah. >> What is the question? >> The motion to wave first reading was seconded by Howard. Joan would like to amend the motion to move it to second reading without discussion >> tonight. >> Okay. And so do we need to >> so you have you have a >> but the her motion was not >> have a motion >> that has been seconded seconded um almost immediately there was a sub motion that as I understand it that does not yet have a second so that is the next step >> I don't >> okay so we have a motion to to wave the first reading and go and um immediately >> vote immediately and that was seconded

263by you for discussion. >> So now we can have discussion >> have a discussion about I have a question for the superintendent about it. >> Can you phrase it in the form of a discussion item? >> Yeah. Well, the I guess the the the issue is this. Um, if you're, let's say, we're just operating under 9310. Um, and your paragraph 5, uh, paragraph 7, step five. Um, Mr. Superintendent, I'm a little bit confused about because we revised that um you remember we revised that bylaw and uh you had rewritten it and um the way it historically had always been was that there would be a first reading and then there would be a second reading unless the board waved the second reading. That's the way it was. So, I guess I read it today a

264couple times and um uh it's a little bit complicated now as it's been revised. Uh but essentially my question would be this. Whether we're doing a first reading or a second reading, there would have to be an act of the board um in order to say that the first reading was being done. In other words, if the bylaw says there shall be a first reading, you can't just say let's read it and that was a first reading and do nothing in order for a in order to satisfy the mandate of having a first reading. There would have to be an act of the board. The board would have to say somebody would have to make a motion. I I move that we um pass this on first reading and then you go back and do

265whatever you're going to do and put it on the agenda for second reading and in second reading um somebody would have to make a motion to pass it on second reading in order for there to be an act of the board. You can't just say, "Oh, we had a first reading and second reading, but we didn't do anything about it." I'm just asking you, do you do do you agree with that or am I misunderstanding? >> Um I I I don't know if you're misunderstanding. I I don't agree with the statement and um and I'm not an attorney so I'll tell you the basis of my disagreement. Um the the question actually came up today um earlier on and um council advised that bylaw 9310 is sufficient in itself to move move the policy forward

266for a second reading because it contemplates a two- reading process. So, if the board takes no action, per council's advice, if the board takes no action tonight, it moves forward to the second reading in accordance with polic or with bylaw 9310. >> Boy, that's very interesting. I've never So, >> if if the board takes no action tonight, and again, I'm I'm not an attorney. I'm relying on council. Council has advised us that board bylaw 9310 lays out the process by which you change policies that contemplates a two-reading process and it it the board uh by even if the board takes no action the the bylaw says it moved forward to the second reading. His um advice was that is sufficient in itself to move it forward. >> I'm not I'm not making that claim. I'm

267simply relaying what council told us. >> So that >> So then we need to vote on whether on the fir on the first motion of waving this first reading and sending it for second reading. So you want to you want no action which would automatically take it to the second reading or you're saying >> wave the first reading and approve it tonight >> on the agenda the way it is >> in this item. >> Go ahead. >> Vote on the proposed change and be done with this. >> Yeah. >> Based on now getting that clarification, I can tell you that I would vote against this motion. >> Okay. So you So the motion on the floor is to approve the item the way it's proposed. >> No, vote on whether or not we want to

268make this edit. >> I'm going to vote no on your proposed change. Okay. So Jim is saying, let's have that vote. Quit subjecting other board members in the community to the pain of this and then just be done with it. >> Thank you. So, we need to vote on that motion. >> Well, my understanding >> you asked for you you seconded it. So, there was discussion. We've discussed it. So, if so, now we need to vote on it. >> But I I don't think clarity about what it is. >> If it passes, then we're done. If it doesn't pass, then we need a different motion. Right. >> Right. Okay. So all those in favor to wave the first reading and approve the bylaw the way it was written. >> No vote on the bylaw the

269>> vote on the bylaw the way it's >> first >> to vote on >> or not proposed without the >> you have proposed changes. >> We don't need to discuss it. We need to vote on it and be done. >> Well done. clarify if we're including the change or not. >> No, you're voting on proposed change. >> We're going to vote on the proposed change. >> Voting whether we're going to wave first reading, >> right? Thank you. See, there's a disagreement here and I'm getting confused in the middle of you all because nobody's saying the same thing. >> We still have to move to a vote then. >> Yes. Okay. All right. >> So, I think we should vote on this motion. I call a motion. >> Okay. superintendent. >> Yes. I would love somebody

270to rephrase so it's clear because clear >> I think I think for clarity for the board you should have Victoria read the motion back to you so you all understand what's that >> Victoria is going to read the motion. >> Okay. >> As it was >> the way Dr. Kelly stated it was move to wave the first reading and vote immediately. We're going to wave. >> That is vague. And >> it is vague. I don't know what the question. Move the motion. Move the question. >> Vote on the pie change. >> No, that's not what it is. That's not what the motion was. >> That's not what he's saying. >> I might Yeah. I um >> So you're insisting what you're saying is understood and they're saying no. So >> what you're saying? No. I'm

271saying to wait the first reading and vote immediately on bylaws 9322 that's been presented to us. >> Yes. So, um just again from a procedural standpoint, corre correct me if I'm wrong about this. Um Trusty Kelly, um what you're simply asking is to suspend the process in 9310 and um skip the second reading and vote on the bylaw as presented immediately. >> That's right. But that was not the motion he stated and that I seconded. >> Okay. Well, um, Victoria, could you read it again what he exactly what he said? >> Member Kelly moved to wave the first reading and vote immediately. >> That's I I believe the effect of that would be to skip the process in um 9310 and go >> just we just skip the first reading. Um, >> it means we'd

272have to come back and do a first reading at another time. >> Well, that then if that's not what you meant, you should procedure. That's >> She just read back what you said. I vote I seconded. >> Yeah, you part of a procedure. All I'm saying is we're voting I I'm asking to vote immediately and go to to suspend the second reading. >> That's not what you said. And as the person who seconded it, uh I I I'm also able to characterize what was intended. And um it's clear to me that what he said was that we're going to wave first reading, which would mean that we would have to come back and do first reading at another time. >> That's not what Robert Rules means by that. >> Well, what what as a Madam

273Chair, by the way, um >> well, let me let me then let me say this. If what he's saying is he wants to move uh uh he wants to wave first reading pursuant to Robert's rules of order >> and approve it as presented is what he said. >> Well, but the thing about it is Robert's rules of order doesn't contemplate the the fact that we have a bylaw that says there's got to be a second reading. >> well, no, we got a motion. We got to vote on the motion. >> Okay. The motion is to wave the first reading and approve the bylaw the way it's presented >> and we'll vote immediately on the >> That's not what the motion was. >> I move the question on the motion. Let's vote on it. >> Well,

274you can't if you don't agree with the motion and you think you seconded something. >> No, I've seconded what was stated. >> Okay. You can't make a motion and get it seconded and then change the motion. >> Mr. Superintendent, would you agree with that? >> Let go of the microphone. >> I think for clarity, it might be good to just withdraw it and restate the motion and let's start again. That that would be my suggestion at this point. Just start again. So I think you need to withdraw so we can have a real so we can move >> when a motion is made and seconded that you vote on the motion and then if somebody wants to make another motion they can. Yeah. So, we're voting on the motion that says wave the first reading

275and approve. >> That wasn't a motion. And both >> Say the motion again, please. Victoria, if you wouldn't mind, could you please >> wave immediately? >> I would infer that means to wave the first reading and then vote on approving the bylaw as presented. That is my that would be my inference as to what that means. Okay, I think we should do a roll call vote because the motion on the floor is as presented and vote immediately. What are we voting on? >> I gave you my inference on what I think that means, but uh that apparent I guess that's open to interpretation. I believe >> I don't think we should do that. I think that's a dangerous thing if we open it up to interpretation that we're all voting >> bas based on what

276I think clerk Kelly I'm sorry trustee Kelly has described is that he wishes to um skip the first reading and move immediately to voting up or down vote on this policy as presented. That's my inference as to what the said. >> Okay. >> And I seconded it for discussion purposes and based on the discussion I'm going to vote against it. >> Let's call for the vote. >> Okay. Call for the vote. >> Member Kelly. >> No. >> Yes. >> No. >> Bills. No. >> No. >> Wesky. >> Yes. >> Perry. >> No. >> President Morgan. >> No. >> Okay. So, we need a new motion on the floor. >> I have a motion. >> Okay. I move that the um that the uh that the proposal be amended to read as follows. The board president

277shall have final approval of the agenda. Uh the board president will have final approval of the agenda. Excuse me. The board president shall have final approval of the agenda to be posted and proposed for adoption by a board subject to the authority of the board to direct placement of additional items on the agenda. >> So with that, okay, so we need So that's your motion. We need a second. Are we reading the motion again to make sure we understand? Okay. Okay. Member Hills moved the board president shall have final approval of the agenda to be posted and proposed by adoption by the board subject to the authority of the board to direct placement of additional items on the agenda. one correction to be posted and proposed for adoption by the board subject to the authority

278of board to direct placement of additional items on the agenda. >> So we have a motion on the floor. We need a second. >> No, I'll second that because I'd like to open for discussion. Is this So I'd like to start the discussion actually. Um Dr. Glass when we started this conversation the com one of the questions that I asked you is that after we do agenda development and staff has gathered all of the information we've put the agenda together we finalized it. The board president authorizes it to be posted. Correct. it. I would characterize it as the board president and the superintendent have concurred on the final agenda, >> right? But ultimately the it is sent to the president for final approval and it's any president. This is not a about this board. This

279is a general situation. >> That's not that that's not how I would characterize the the interaction. Um there is a logical sequence to it like it's step by step but the steps are not that it goes to the board president and then the board president currently that the board president does the final authorization. It is that we have worked collaboratively to construct the agenda. I've signaled my um uh concurrence with that agenda by sending a final version to you. you signal back to me your concurrence by saying it's ready to go and then we move forward. So I would I would not characterize our current con configuration as the board president currently has final approval. It's a it's a mutual it's a collaborative concurrence process. >> Point of information >> is is this is is

280this amendment >> to the policy or is this the way I understood it was if if we want something changed we send it back to the superintendent uh to do it and then bring it back to us in the ne as a second reading. So, I'm just confused as far as >> this is a first reading, >> but but where are you where are you adding this to the document? Is that >> where does that So, where is that going? >> To approve this, it would constitute a first reading. >> Okay. So, the prop the motion that you made, Howard, to add for what you added, is that in place of the red line from the attorney? >> Yes. And does that meet does that have the same concerns from for mitigation? So >> because

281there is no item about dis about disagreement or anything. It's just part of the procedure. >> This is a different construction. What what would happen now is if you pass this, I take that revision. I go back and um execute it. I send it to the attorney for review and then it comes back for a second reading. >> Okay. Yeah, that's >> but they address the problem that you >> um I would need to look at it but just hearing it it's still vesting the final agenda authority with the president >> but it's but it gives but it as the board authorizes so it still has so is there something that we could put in there that that um >> again as I said what I understood it to be was that it goes to

282the board whether it's an agreement or a disagreement, the board, it goes to the board and the board can decide. If they don't want to hear it, they either strike it, remove it from the agenda or they can um discuss it and approve it with a change. I mean, there's a lot of different things that the board can do once an item goes to the board. So, at the end of the day, excuse me, at the end of the day, if there's a dis if there's basically a disagreement, it still goes to the board for the board to have a say in whether they want to hear it or not. Is that correct? Am I understanding this correctly? >> I you have a um this is this is why 9310 is a process. Um because

283you have um we've now got a change. the change need to be needs to be vetted and considered and have a public discussion around it. >> But I'm talking about >> 9310 is the process >> building the the process controlling it is in 9310. >> So that's that's why that exists is that this conversation should happen publicly and deliberatively. We now have a change change to what um was initially brought forward. It needs to now go through this next step. and at the um I will um implement the change. Um Trusty Hills has been clear in the change that he wants to have. So I'll send that to the attorney and ask for advice. The attorney will then send that back to me. I bring that to the board and then I advise you on

284um governance uh risks. Uh and you may you may at that point at that point you'll be at second reading. >> So at that point you can either adopt it that night, you can not adopt it that night. Um, you can amend it again. You have all of those options before you. >> Okay. You have one minute to make a comment, each of you. And then I'd like to move this forward um, one way or another. But I do realize one thing we never discussed was the second half of this item, which is the consent calendar. We discussed it, but that's not part of this motion. >> That's not part of this motion. >> Okay. One minute. >> Okay. >> Uh, Mr. superintendent. First of all, um [clears throat] we are now doing 9310 and

285it's that's good. The second thing I want to say is that your comment that the problem that you have with this is that there's no collaboration. Uh there's no concurrence as you think you have it now. I would argue number one right now there's no requirement for your concurrence. Um there is uh a practice of collaboration and I think that practice of collaboration can can continue under this provision and in fact what could happen you never have to have a disagreement. It could be that the president says this is the this is the um agenda I want to submit to the board and uh you collaboratively with the president could uh inform the board that there were additional issues that they might want to consider adding to the agenda. In other words, you could continue

286to work. This isn't a disagreement scenario. This can still be a collaborative scenario. So I think you know but you gota it is not the case that right now there has to be concurrence. Okay. >> Member uh Malchesky. >> Yeah. Very quickly I'd like to remind you that we don't have to change this bylaw bylaw at all. So going through successive iterations of trying to edit it makes zero sense to me because I think that edit just leaves us with the same problems we started with. So I don't get it. I look forward to >> I would also like to point out that shared governance and shared authority is a central part of education and I know Mr. Hills it makes you really uncomfortable. You're also driven by things that happened years and years ago

287but this doesn't work or make sense in the context of how education works and it reflects a lack of understanding about education more generally and the structure of schooling. So I urge you to get rid of the chaos. Quit trying to blow up something that works just fine and just leave it because you are again with that change motion just trying to give the board power and turn the agenda setting process into weeks long problems. >> Thank you. Okay. Um, we have a motion on the floor with a um ch with a new language to the policy. It's been seconded. We've discussed. I have one more. Um um I think at the end of the day um we have a motion on the floor. I have one last comment and that is that as an

288elected board, we are here to represent the community as a and as a basic aid district, we are funded by the community. I don't think that in in my view, this is not trying to be the educator. This is not trying to determine that the board knows better than not. This is to uphold the electoral process of elected officials on the board. We are elected to represent the community. The community has put us in place. The community that voted us in wants transparency. They want a much more um they want a larger voice in the process. And I think the reason that this has come about is that there has been historically whether people want to know historically or not there is historically been a process where what the community has asked for has not

289been upheld. What the comm what some of the board members have asked for has not been allowed. And so what this pol what I believe the understanding >> we vote immediately. I understood it to be that um this just allows it to get back to the board so the board as a whole can review it and discuss it and vote on it. Not a power grab by one person and not yielding all the authority to the superintendent either. Yes, you are hired. We there is a lot of trust. There is a lot of respect but a un a board that is a diverse representation of the community is a strong board. And for that reason, I would like to move this to vote with the motion that's been presented and ask that it goes to

290legal to ensure that we have safeguards in there that makes the superintendent comfortable, but I would like to move this for a vote. No. Yes. >> Uh, I shouldn't have reacted. Your process is right. I'm sorry. >> Thank you. Um, so I'd like to move to a vote. Roll call vote, please. Member Kelly. >> Well, can we just read what Steven said? >> Member Hills moved that the board president shall have final approval of the agenda to be posted and proposed for adoption by the board subject to the authority of the board to direct placement of additional items on the agenda. >> No, it makes it gives the president a duty to act. It doesn't take away from the super. >> We're moving to vote. There's no more discussion. There's no The discussion has been

291closed. We are moving to >> No. >> Okay. I'm gonna I'm gonna cast my vote because I look forward to telling the community what we did and why we did it. Uh and therefore, I'm going to vote yes. >> Member Maltesky. >> No. >> Member P or clerk Perry? >> Yes. >> President Morgan, >> yes. We made an announcement at the beginning that that's not acceptable. Thank you. >> We adjourned. >> That's that's a good example for the kids. >> Yeah. Okay. Order, please. Order, please. There is no outburst. You can take it outside. Thank you. >> Trying to get to that. No, no, we have no meeting comment. >> I didn't adjourn the meeting. >> No, I I made a motion. It hasn't been seconded. >> Second. >> Okay, we need to have public

292comment on non-aggenda items. Are there any speaker cards? >> Uh, yes, there are. >> Great. >> Um, Ka I'd just like to say that I think the uh social media post that was yesterday or the day before is utterly pathetic. No one likes you. No one trusts you. No one really wants to work with you. Um no amount of social media presence is going to paper over your egregiously bad behavior. Social media should focus on students, staff, and school communities. And I'd like to also put on the record, Sherry and Howard, you may have been elected, but in actuality, Sensible Lagona bought your seats, and there's a lot of buyer's remorse. Um, Jeff My comments pertain to leadership. Miss Morgan, I would encourage you to take to try and uh educate yourself on leadership in

293in two issues. Number one, uh it deals with respect. Respect, I would maintain, cannot be purchased. Asking a staff member to write the little bio that's on Instagram and on the schoolboard uh website does not achieve respect. Leaders obtain earn respect. The second thing I was going to do is strong leaders uh don't thwart comments from different viewpoints as putting the comments at the end of the night at 11:00. Strong leaders solicit input from a variety of sources and then you can make the best decision possible. It would be wonderful to make those changes back. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um Dr. Glass, can you please um inform the community of the idea of the article where that came from and its purpose, please? That's not 100% true. We can make a comment and

294address a statement. >> It's in the Brown Act. take a class >> if if um I I I can respond to board members questions. Um >> thank you for clarifying >> the [sighs] the process of or the practice of prof creating profiles of board members is not something that's new. A lot of districts do it. We have not. Um we are um attempting to create a um profile on all of our board members, release them one at a time, and then add them to our website. That's the that's the whole story. >> Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. >> Meredith. I'm speaking tonight expressed to express concern about how public comment has been handled at recent board meetings. Public comment has repeatedly been placed at the very end of the agenda, often not taking

295place till I had written down 10, but it's 11:02. This timing effectively prevents many community members, parents, educators, and working families from participating and is discourages meaningful engagement. At the last meeting, Sherry asked the board clerk whether there were any public comments and was told there were none. Sherry responded, "Oh, it worked." And then giggled. That remark gave the impression that limiting public participation was a desired outcome. The Brown Act is grounded in the principle that public participation must be meaningful and genuinely accessible, not merely procedural. While I understand that the board has discretion over agenda structure, practices that consistently push public comment to very late hours, discourage participation, and run counter to the spirit of open meeting laws. These laws exist to promote transparency, trust, and community involvement. Shar, I'm going to speak to

296you directly for a moment. I've known you a long time and you know very well that if you were standing where I am tonight on the other side of the dis and were told that you had to wait until the bitter end of the night to speak, you would have felt silenced. You would have been frustrated. You have been outraged. So I ask you to reflect on why this feels acceptable now that you're seated in a position of power. Public comment is not an inconvenience. It is a protected and essential part of democratic governance. I respectfully ask that public comment be placed earlier in the agenda and treated with the serious and respect iter deserves. Our community wants to engage constructively and be heard. Please help ensure that participation is truly accessible and welcomed. Thank

297you. >> Thank you, Erin. >> Guess we better take a survey of all the school districts that do it at the end. I get it. I'll just whatever. You can cut me off. You can cut me off. Um, it it actually didn't work, Sherry, because despite the fact that there just a few of us here, there are swads of people watching at home and watching the recording the next day. The entire community is aware that putting public comments at the end is um lacks transparency. And so all of the whatever okay the um it the hypocrisy of the current board majority is beyond the pale. It was just said by Meredith, but letters to the editor would have been sent. You all been standing here at at the podium um railing against all just a

298fraction of the things that you've proposed since you have had the majority. Um it hasn't worked. I'm asking you to be better and be better. Okay, you don't have to scoff at me, Howard. I'm asking you to be better role models for students. >> Can't respond to public commenters. Howard, >> um I'm asking just a couple things. D um could you just be careful when you make a blanket statement like staff made an error? Are we supposed to trust staff? in regards to the threshold for consent agenda items. You can go back and watch it, but if you're going to make a comment like that, please make sure that you have evidence and you're being very specific about staff making a mistake. Okay. Um Sherry, on three different occasions at different meetings, you have admonished

299students um for whispering in the back. Warren Rutley apologized to you, which he did not have to do. That just shows that the students have more maturity than the current board majority members. Some of the times at these meetings they were whispering. I have watched the sensible lagoon of people make hand gestures in the back. They have scoffed at people when they disagree with the viewpoints at the podium. If you're going to admonish students for whispering and threaten to throw them out of the meeting, then please be please yell at the rest of us here. Yell at the at the adults. Don't just admonish students. We want to hear them. Please don't don't threaten and admonish students for whispering in the back when the behavior of the adults has been much worse. Thank you. >>

300Is that the end of comments? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um if I may, I do want to thank uh Warren, I believe, for that same evening. You did apologize for disrupting the meeting and I am grateful for that because it I do agree. I think it shows a lot of maturity to be asked to be quieter, not leave but quieter and then apologize. So, thank you very much. It does show that you're very uh mature and very respectful of the process and I appreciate that. I need a motion to adjurnn, please. I'll >> move second. >> All in favor? >> Thank you.