Escondido Union School District Board of Education Meeting - December 11, 2025

001Doug Paulson: But the way the gentlemen were running, it sounds like they're going to be able to find a microphone for you. So we'll give them just a minute. And, Angelo, you're going to be speaking? All right. Okay, so at this time, we are going to open up public comments. Angelo, if you would just come right over here, you're going to speak into the microphone right there. Angelo: Hi. My name is Angelo. I wanted to, I want to read the letter of apology that I wrote for Miss Horton. Dear Miss Horton, I wanted to say I'm really sorry for posting that picture of you on Instagram. I didn't think about how it might make you feel, and I realize now that it was embarrassing and disrespectful, and I honestly regret posting it in the first

002place. I also want to apologize for calling you by your first name. I didn't mean to be disrespectful. I just wasn't thinking. You deserve better from me. And I'm sorry. Thank you for being patient with me. And I really do appreciate everything you do. And I promise I'll be more thoughtful and respectful moving forward. Sincerely, Angelo. Doug Paulson: Angelo, do you have more you'd like to tell us? Angelo: No. Doug Paulson: Okay. All right. Thank you. Angelo: Thank you for your time. Doug Paulson: Okay. All right. At this time, we are going to adjourn to closed session. We will resume at 7 p.m.. Thank you all very much. All right. Well, it is 7 p.m.. We're going to reconvene this regular meeting of the Escondido Union School District board of trustees. If I could please

003ask everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Ready? Begin. All: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Doug Paulson: All members are present. We do have a report out of closed session. Mark Olson: Thank you, Mr. President. Item B one in the matter of existing litigation, special education settlement OAH case number 2025070650. The board voted to approve the Special Education Settlement Agreement by a vote of 5 to 0. Item B-2. In the matter of conference regarding waiver approval for non certified special education placement at an out-of-state residential facility Chaddick School, the board voted to approve the placement by a vote of 5 to 0. And item B4 in closed session,

004the board considered dismissal charges against a classified probationary employee and took action to approve those charges and release employee number 673424 by a vote of 5 to 0, and in closed session, the board considered and accepted a statement of charges recommending recommending unpaid suspension of four days and attendance at an anger management, at in anger management classes for classified employee number 334567 by a vote vote of 5 to 0. And that concludes the report. Doug Paulson: Okay. We're going to move on to thank you. We're going to move on to the approval of the agenda. Does anybody have any changes or modifications? Zesty Harper: I move approval. Mark Olson: I'll second. Doug Paulson: We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please say aye. Board of Education: Aye. Doug Paulson: Opposed? Motion passes

0055 to 0. Moving on to the approval of the minutes of the last meeting. Does anybody have any changes or modifications? Joan Gardner: Move approval of the agenda. Of the minutes. Minutes. Sorry. Zesty Harper: I'll second. Doug Paulson: We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please say aye. Board of Education: Aye. Doug Paulson: I abstain. And abstain due to absence. Thank you. So motion passes 4 to 0 with one abstention. Thank you for reminding us. At this time. I would like to ask for a moment of silence for Aiden Torres de Paz, a sixth grader from Mission Middle School, tragically killed. [moment of silence] Thank you all. I would just like to say that the recent deaths of several of our students, of high school students, in the city of Escondido has

006been recognized by our district. The city of Escondido and the high school district. It is showing a, a very difficult situation with our our traffic in this city and with our our culture of traffic. Of of unsafety in, in our city. And we are dealing with death. Miss Harper. Zesty Harper: Thank you for bringing that up because we just, I'm going to touch on it later. But we just had a meeting with the city, with the high school board and us as well to really try to address that. And we're going to come up with a committee and that's going to be our focus to try to work together to not only create an information campaign and education for our students, but also on the city side, working with more enforcement and also education of

007the public. Because our children's lives are so precious and we need to make sure we can do everything possible to protect them, especially in our city, and we're going to work hard to make that happen. So thank you. And we're thinking about the families. Doug Paulson: The families of of everyone who has been affected. And if you go up by Farr Avenue by North Broadway School, you can see the memorials all over the city of Escondido. At this time, we would like to open up the organization of of the Board of Education, looking for a nomination for president of the Board of Education. Mark Olson: Mr. president, I nominate Zesty Harper as President of the board for the next year. Doug Paulson: Thank you. Joan Gardner: Second. Doug Paulson: We have a motion and a

008second for Miss Zesty Harper to follow in the rotation for president of the Board of Education. All in favor, please say aye. Board of Education: Aye. Zesty Harper: Oh, do I get to vote for myself? [laughter] Doug Paulson: Well, you can vote for yourself or you can oppose the nomination. [laughter] Mark Olson: But we have the votes. Doug Paulson: But right now it would be 4 to 1. So motion passes 5 to 0. Moving the gavel. Zesty Harper: Thank you. Thank you so much. Do I have a nomination for vice president? Frank Huston: I nominate Mark Olson for vice president, Board of Education. Zesty Harper: Thank you. Do I have a second? Doug Paulson: Second? Zesty Harper: All those in favor? Aye. Board of Education: Aye. Zesty Harper: Motion passes. Congratulations, Mark. You're no longer

009clerk. Mark Olson: Less signatures. Zesty Harper: Do I have a motion for clerk of the board? Doug Paulson: Move to appoint Frank Huston as Clerk of the board. Mark Olson: I'll second. Zesty Harper: Thank you so much. He can't get rid of it fast enough. All those in favor? Board of Education: Aye. Zesty Harper: Motion passes. Thank you Frank. And then do I have a motion for the appointment, to appoint the superintendent as secretary of the Board of Education? Joan Gardner: I'll make that motion. Zesty Harper: Thank you. Do I have a second? Doug Paulson: I'll second. Zesty Harper: All those in favor say aye. Board of Education: Aye. Zesty Harper: Motion passes. Everyone should have a copy of the 2026 school board meeting schedule. Is there any changes? I think we have it pretty

010buttoned up. Joan Gardner: Yeah. We just. We discussed it. Zesty Harper: Okay. Perfect. Joan Gardner: Changes have been made. Zesty Harper: Do I have a motion? Doug Paulson: Move approval of the board meeting for next year. Zesty Harper: Thank you. And a second. Frank Huston: I second. Zesty Harper: All those in favor say aye. Board of Education: Aye. Zesty Harper: Thank you. Motion passes. And then the 2026 board member committee assignments. So I think we've all, we filled every spot and there's a couple changes of standing spots. But a good rotation happening. And do we need to vote to approve that. Dr. Luis Ibarra: Yes. Zesty Harper: Okay. Do I have a motion? Joan Gardner: I'll make the motion. Zesty Harper: Thank you. Is there a second? Mark Olson: I'll second. Zesty Harper: All those

011in favor, please say aye. Board of Education: Aye. Zesty Harper: Motion passes. On to recognition of our past board president. I'm going to turn this over. Doug Paulson: And I do want to point out to everybody that we do have the 7:20 to 7:55 time slot for this recognition, and luckily we have ten additional minutes, so we aren't going to be rushed. Dr. Luis Ibarra: Yeah. Whoops. It was really meant to be two minutes. So. Mr. Paulson. So we know we gave you the gavel the last time you were president. And this time we selected something very special. And thank you for leading the way this last year. So. Doug Paulson: Well, thank you all. Thank you all very much. It is a compass. Zesty Harper: Oh. Doug Paulson: And I really like this. I

012will not get lost as I'm walking through the halls, I guess. Zesty Harper: Oh, thank you so much. We appreciate your leadership. It was it was a fabulous year. On to public comments. The first one, and I'm terrible with last names, so I'm just going to abbreviate the last names. Marlene A. Yeah. You want to go up to the microphone and do you need an interpreter as well? Oh, perfect. Thank you. Interpreter for parent: So my name is [indistinct] Gonzalez, and I will be translating for my aunt regarding some situations that have occurred at the YMCA with her four year old daughter, now five year old. So I'm going to be reading as if I were her. My name is Marlen Arreola. I am Geraldine Murga's mother. She is a student at the transitional kindergarten

013program at Farr Elementary school. I am writing about the situations that have occurred in the YMCA after school program. I am a single mother and I need the program. It is a necessity for my daughter. On September 26th, 2025, the program notified me that my daughter had left the school and that she was found in front of the school by the flagpole. I asked the director to show me the videos to find out how long my daughter had been in danger for, And I never received a response. On several occasions, they called me to let me know that she wasn't following the rules and that I had to pick her up. They only asked me for the signature and not the time, because otherwise they wouldn't get paid for her. The last incident November 17,

0142025, everyone was on a break to the bathroom. Gera took five minutes in the bathroom and she and another student went to the same bathroom stall where Gera was. Gera came out and she smashed the student's hand as she was trying to leave the bathroom. In my opinion, there's a if there's an adult supervising, why is there another student going to the same bathroom stall as someone else? In my opinion, that is invading my own daughter's privacy, and now she's the one being accused of assaulting another student. I want to express to the district that if they offer the program for transitional kindergarten, to be aware that these are young children 4 to 5 years old, and the expectation of compliance is very high. The behavior expectations can't be set too high for such young

015children. They can't behave like third or fourth graders. My daughter was only four years old when this happened. Gera, as a kid that has always liked to be very active. With what happened, I feel that my daughter does not have the same rights as other students simply for being different. I also want to mention that at the beginning of the school year, something similar happened with another kindergarten student and she was dropped from the program. Her mother didn't know how to advocate for her daughter and she was forgotten. It was always, it would always be the student's word against the YMCA. I want to mention that I have proof of everything mentioned in this document, and I also want to add on to her that Gera, she did start off a little rough with being

016in TK because she had been in daycare, but we have her teachers letters saying how much she has improved since, and they still suspended her from the program. And thank you. Zesty Harper: Thank you. Doctor Ibarra, Mr. Maguire will be in touch with you. Dr. Luis Ibarra: Yeah. Zesty Harper: We have your information. Wendy M. And Zoe T. Wendy Moen: Hello. Thank you for letting us speak with you tonight. My name is Wendy Moen. I'm the new principal at the Classical Academy this year. And I first of all, wanted to thank Doctor Ibarra and incoming Superintendent Maguire for visiting our campus today. We had we really enjoyed having them there and showing them around our school and in some classrooms, getting to see some amazing things happening. So thank you for that. And I want

017to thank you, board also for your support of school choice and for the Classical Academy. And with that, I want to introduce Zoe, who's one of our eighth grade students, and she wants to share a little bit with you. Zoe Chen Wafford: Good evening. My name is Zoe Chen Wafford and I'm a student at the Classical Academy. I've attended TKA for three years now and it's truly transformed my life. TKA provides me with an excellent education while giving me the opportunity to do what I enjoy most acting and modeling. Because of the Classical Academy's flexibility and support, I'm able to balance both my school's commitments and my career. TKA is home to incredible teachers and staff who truly care about their students, and I am so thankful to be a part of TKA's community. The

018Classical Academy has allowed me to grow not only academically, but personally. The teachers are always encouraging me to ask questions and be creative, and they always provide me with the resources I need to thrive. And they, which has helped me succeed both inside and outside the classroom. TKA is a school that cherishes education, builds character, and allows students to follow their own paths, whatever that may be. Whether I'm in the classroom or away from campus, I always feel supported by my teachers. I've learned how to manage my time, stay organized, and take responsibility for my own learning. TKA's environment motivates me to always give my best and to approach each challenge with determination and confidence. Thank you for continuing supporting school choice in the Escondido Union School District. I am grateful to attend a school

019like the Classical Academy that provides me with a flexible learning environment, while helping me reach my full potential. Thank you all for your time and happy holidays! Zesty Harper: Thank you. Thank you so much. Wendy Moen: Thank you very much. Zesty Harper: All right. That is our last public comment. I'm going to open up the public hearing to adopt statutory school fees and mitigation payments report. But she's but she's talking on the public hearing, right? Yeah, yeah. She said public hearing. [low level talking] Do you want to talk about, in the public? It says public hearing. [reply unheard] Oh okay. If you want to talk now you talk now. Okay. I'm pause on opening the hearing. I'm sorry it said public hearing. Noemi Navarrete: By the way, I'm here in capacity of a librarian. We're

020quiet. Little mouse. Little mouse. You know, we don't. We don't make noises. But I'm here speaking to you as a librarian and specifically the Mission librarian. I want to give a big, heartfelt thank you to the Escondido Foundation for supporting our effort to move our library into the 21st century. Because of their generosity, our Mission library is growing from a basic storage space into a bright welcoming space where students can read, create, collaborate, and let their imagination run wild. Over the past two years, I've loved watching this space evolve, and this donation helps us take another exciting step forward. It means so much to know that others believe our vision for a library that supports kids not just academically, but emotionally and socially as well. Our students are the reason this work matters. Every day

021they remind me how important libraries are for children. Places where they can feel safe, explore their interests, discover new stories, and ask questions about the world around them. Thank you to the Escondido Foundation for believing in our kids and helping us create a library that inspires curiosity and confidence in lifelong learners. And also, thank you to all of you who have encouraged and supported our libraries as we continue to support our students. They are the reason why we come to work every day. So, on behalf of the librarians, on behalf of myself as a Mission librarian and my kids, thank you so much. Okay. Zesty Harper: Thank you. I was really excited to see what you were going to say about the mitigation payments, though, so I'm kind of disappointed [laughter]. Okay. So I'm going

022to open up that public hearing again. There's no comments for it now. Anyone else? Okay, so then I'm going to go ahead and close the hearing. CSEA, did you have anything else you wanted to put on? Put on the other hat. Frank Huston: Sorry, I'm hearing two capacities. Noemi Navarrete: I, it's really hard to go after her. She is just so eloquent. I feel like she took a speech class that I forgot to take. So please, please don't mind me. I'm just also the CSEA president. So good evening, everyone. As we enter the season of giving, reflection, gratitude, we're reminded of the value that make EUSD a district rooted in compassion, community, and care for every member of our educational family. Yet during this very season, many of our classified staff who are the backbone

023of our campuses are experiencing extreme hardship. Across the district, family liaisons have received an increased number of confidential requests from classified employees seeking help accessing food and other basic needs, needs and resources. These are individuals who show up every day for our students supporting classrooms, preparing meals, keeping our campuses safe, and creating welcoming environments for families. It is heartbreaking to know that some of them are struggling to maintain a basic quality of life. The people who help nurture our children should not have to worry about whether they can feed their own families. In the spirit of the holidays and in alignment with the values EUSD stands for, we ask that you hold space for this reality. We hope you find it in your hearts collectively, to ensure that every classified staff member can experience a

024standard of living that reflects dignity, stability and value we we proudly uphold as a district. This season reminds us that giving is not only an act, it is a responsibility. And we believe that together we can make choices that honor the people who quietly work every day to make EUSD shine. Also, personally, to classified staff, as your union president and as your negotiations team, we want to acknowledge that we see you. We we continue to work hard for you. You are the reason that we, you know, stand here every day and we have these tough conversations. And I think all of you for always giving us the space to have those tough conversations and to listen and for listening to us. And so these are the words that are classified staff keep repeating again and

025again, right where it's hard to make a living. It's hard to feed their families. And so we want to make sure that we are sharing that information with you so that you are aware of how they're feeling. Because they're struggling. So thank you so much. Okay. Now I'm done. Zesty Harper: Thank you so much. Yeah, we absolutely know that we can't do it without CSEA. We just would never even have the lights on. So we appreciate them and we will hold space for them. EEEA Anyone? Anyone. Thank you. Brandi Krepps: Good evening, President Harper. Congratulations. School board members, Doctor Ibarra and cabinet. I stepped out of my president role this week and became a step-in para in an SCSB class, which was so fun. And I actually helped out in classrooms all week. So apologize

026to my members for being a horrible president. I didn't really answer a lot of emails. But I was with the kids and I have to tell you, it was by far the best week of my year. I had so much fun with our little angels. And I have to tell you, our teachers in this district are extraordinary, especially with amongst our most vulnerable students. So to see what these teachers do in day out is incredible. So props to all the teachers in the district, support staff, everybody. I mean, this district is made of incredible employees. And most importantly, I want to thank you guys for doing your vote for the approval of our contract this evening. This was a big contract. We got a lot of incredible language for our special education teachers. We have

027now six weeks of paternity leave and maternity leave, which is full parental. It's the first in the state. So I really want to give a shout out to the members of EEEA and also the bargaining team for doing what we can to support our staff and to support everyone in this district, because everyone pretty much benefits from our contracts. So that's incredible. Not only that, we fixed a lot of salary gaps that we've had over the course of our years in this district, none of which a majority of our teachers will not see yet, because most of our teachers are in the upper pay scales. And so you're going to see a lot of us dip out. Me included. So there you go. Get me out of here, guys [laughter]. But thank you so much

028for voting on this contract. And thank you for working with us on this. And I want to thank, obviously, our district bargaining team for everything they did as well. So it speaks volumes when our employees feel valued and feel treasured, and right now they're more motivated to do the best job they can because they feel valued. So thank you for that. And again, thank you to all the members out there. You guys are incredible. So thank you. Zesty Harper: Thank you so much. We are, we have no written communications. Okay. Thank you. And then so moving on to the consent agenda. Does anyone have anything, anything they would like to pull for separate consideration or have a comment on? I had one and I forgot which one it was. It was the Mission project. Oh

029let's see K6. I just had a comment on K6. Anyway, it's one of the items where we were talking about the closing out of the Mission project. And again, one of the main jobs of the board is to be good stewards of the public's money and our taxpayer money, and especially our bond money, which is so important to this district. And how we use it well. And our mission project is completing, and we had saved a great deal of money off of what we had already budgeted for, because we have diligent facility staff who work tirelessly, tirelessly to make sure that it's done right and not wasteful and that and that we are being good stewards of the taxpayers money. So I just wanted to point that out. Doug Paulson: It is K6 Zesty Harper:

030Oh, perfect. Yeah. $845,000. We, that was saved from what was budgeted and it usually goes the other way. I think in most public projects. So I just really appreciate all the work that goes into making that happen. Anything else for the consent agenda? Joan Gardner: I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Zesty Harper: Thank you. Second? Doug Paulson: I'll second. Zesty Harper: Get back in the groove a second. You know. All those in favor, please say aye. Board of Education: Aye. Zesty Harper: Motion passes. Thank you so much. Okay, moving on to the 2025 California School Dashboard results. Rick Oser: Good evening, board president Harper. Zesty Harper: Thank you. Rick Oser: And board members. Superintendent doctor Ibarra, cabinet members. We are honored to be here this evening to be able to present to

031you the 2025 California dashboard results, as well as highlight some of the schools that are demonstrating the type of actions that we're looking for across the district. So I'm here this evening with Director Sorensen, and she will help facilitate this evening's presentation. Okay. At this point, I will call up Director Sorensen to share with you the California dashboard results. Kathleen Sorensen: Good evening board president Harper. Superintendent Doctor Ibarra. Board members and cabinet. It is my honor to be here tonight to present our California school dashboard results. We're pretty excited because our our dashboard results have showed some really nice growth this year. So this is a very happy presentation. I'm delighted to be here. So just a little background. In Escondido we have varied measures that we use. So as you know, we have our

032i-ready assessment that tests students who are in kindergarten through eighth grade in reading and English language arts. And that assessment is given three times a year. It's a local assessment. But that gives us a great deal of formative information, which can be pretty detailed in terms of domain information and where students strengths and weaknesses are. And then we have our CAASPP and our LPAC assessment. And within the CAASPPP we also have the CAST, which is the California Science test. And those tests are given to. The CAASPP is given to third through eighth graders. The CAST is given to fifth and eighth graders, and the LPAC is given to kindergarten through eighth grade English learners. And those are all annual assessments which are required and given statewide. The dashboard is another measure that looks at the

033CAASPP, the and the LPAC, as well as suspension and chronic absenteeism data and looks at it from the the measure of student performance and growth or status like to call it status. So status and growth. Okay. So just a little bit of overview of the dashboard. Again the dashboard looks at academics which are English language arts, mathematics, English learner progress, chronic absenteeism and suspension rate. And then there are local indicators which we always talk about closer to the LCAP in the spring. So these are our actual results this year. We're very pleased to report that our English language arts and mathematics move from orange to yellow, and our suspension rate moved from yellow to green. So dashboard ratings and how how do we determine how a school or an LEA (Local Educational Agency) a dashboard

034rating? I talked about status and growth. So if you look at the the columns very low, low, medium, high, very high. That's the status. So if a group, school, or LEA has very low scores, and we'll talk about what the scores are in a minute, their, their performance level or status is very low. Then it looks at whether that group maintained, increased, increased significantly, or declined. And it's almost like a battleship grid in determining where the students are. So for each area, there's a cut score that shows you that the ranges of of performance level for each of the performance levels and ranges for each of the the growth levels. Okay. We're going to start with English language arts and math. And I'm just going to remind you, I know I've talked about this before,

035but I'm just going to remind you about distance from standard. So on the CAASPP results, we get information that says that gives us the percentage of students at each level. The distance from standard is a little bit different because it takes, looks at the scale score range for each individual student. Then it, and here you see an example up at the top of a scale score range. And you can see that 2432 and to 2480 is the level three or proficient range. So distance from standard takes the lowest possible scale score range in a level three, which in this case is 2432. And then they subtract the students individual scale score from that 2432. Each grade level is different, but they they do it for each grade level. So that will give a distance from

036standard that's either positive or negative. So negative means that they're lower than that 2432, positive means they're higher than the 2432. Then they average all of that. And that gives you the the distance from standard for any student group, school or district. And that works for ELA and math. Now on to our ELA (English Language Arts) results. So we're excited to report that we increased by six points. And again our status changed from orange to yellow. While we did show a great deal of growth, we're still 36 points below Standard then in the right hand corner. I gave you the California results just as a comparison. And then below you can see our student groups in California. There are 15 student groups that are measured. The long term English learners or LTEL group that you

037see in the red was added two years ago, I believe. And then the general rule is that there have to be at least 30 students in a group to get a performance color, which is why you see three, three student groups that did not get a performance color because there just weren't enough students. And not only did we grow overall, but in 2024, we had five student groups in the red and four student groups in the green. This year, we only have one student group in the red and five student groups in the green. So some of our student groups are increasing as well. The next things I'm going to go on to the five by five grid. So this is showing again the status and growth. And it's showing where all of our schools

038are in that status and growth. And again the goal is to on the columns to go up from very low to very high and then to go toward the right from declined all the way up to increased significantly. Ok then I'll move on to our mathematics dashboard results. And in mathematics we increase by 5.1 points and again moved from orange to yellow. We had we are 58.9 points below standard, and in 2024 we had four student groups in the red and two student groups in the green. And this year we're down to two student groups in the red, and we're up to four student groups in the green. And then here is the five by five chart. And you can see where all of our many of our schools are grouped together on this chart.

039And 2025 was the first year that color performance levels have been assigned for science. So this is the first year we're really reporting on science, which again, is that CAST assessment, the California Assessments or California Science test. And that is calculated by taking the the scale score range for each student and breaking it down to 100 point range and measuring the students in that 0 to 100 range. So we're at and they're called points. So we're at 47.8 points. And we maintained but within that main in maintaining we gained 1.8 points. And I don't have any comparison data for our student groups and colors because this is the first year with colors. Then this is a five by five chart. And I like this five by five chart better than the previous ones, because it

040does actually give you the cut scores for the performance levels and the growth. But here again, you can see where all of our schools scored. And just as a reminder, this test only includes fifth and eighth graders from 2025. And then we'll move on to English learner progress. And I know that you've seen this before. Um in English Learner Progress the idea is that students need to move one performance level or maintain at a four. They can also get credit for making progress if they are in level two. They move from a low level two to a high level two. And same thing with with level three. The scale scores are split evenly. So here we look, we divide the percentage of students who make progress by the total number of students who had valid

041assessments. And here you have the English Learner Progress Indicator results. And here you can see that 42.1% of our students made make progress toward English learner proficiency. The performance level of orange in 2024 was maintained, and there was actually a slight decrease in the percentage of students who made progress. And on this measure, the only student groups that are measured are English learners and our long term English learners. Then here is our 4x4 grid where you can see all the schools are. And again this also shows what the cut scores are. So that really helps to see what caused the school to to one way or another. Then we'll move on to chronic absenteeism. Chronic absenteeism is measured by looking at student attendance and dividing it by their expected days of attendance. If a student

042is absent, 10% or more of that range. So it's not necessarily a school year, it's about how many days they were enrolled. But if they're absent 10% or more, they're considered chronically absent. And here you can see that 22.3% of our students were chronically absent, which was a decline of 4%, which is great. We did remain at the same yellow performance level, but we did have a decline. And chronic absenteeism and suspension rates are the two areas that we want to decline and not increase. Okay. Then here is our five by five grid. Again. This also has the cut scores. And it shows where all of our schools are. And then we'll move on to suspension rates. The suspension rate is calculated by dividing the number of unduplicated students who were suspended at least one

043full day, divided by the total number of students in a school student group or LEA, and in 2025 EUSD. Suspension rate declined by 0.7%. And this is a very, very small percentage of our population. So it doesn't take a lot to move in this area. So just that less than a percentage point gain helped us move one level. It can also hurt us because the the other way because it is such a small group. Doug Paulson: Could I ask a question on this one? Previously foster youth have not gotten a color because there were it was not an adequate sample. But they do have a color in suspension rate. Kathleen Sorensen: Correct. I believe that we're one student over the threshold. Doug Paulson: But I guess my question is why would why would it be

044one student over for suspension rate, but not for the other? The other aspects. Kathleen Sorensen: So they're only counted. Last year, we didn't get a color at all because we didn't have the 30 students in the overall group. So that that's how many foster students we have in the district. This year we we made that that threshold of having 30 total students in the district. It has nothing to do with the number of students that were suspended. It's the total number of students that are in that student group, if that makes sense. Dr. Luis Ibarra: Suspensions would be [indistinct] Joan Gardner: Ah. Doug Paulson: Oh okay. Got it, got it. Thank you. Kathleen Sorensen: Okay. Sorry, I misunderstood your question. My apologies. Okay, then we'll move on to the five by five grid. And you

045can see where all of our schools where students placed in all of our schools. And with that, I will let Mr. Oser To take over. Rick Oser: Thank you, Director Sorensen. We always appreciate the amount of time that you put into not only collecting the data and making it into a very comprehensible package, but also being able to explain it so thoroughly. So thank you very much. So what we wanted to do was actually highlight what's happening across the district with our efforts for school improvement. And so, as you can see from Director Sorensen's presentation, there are lots of areas that were really pleased with the growth. We continue to make growth in our English Language arts dashboard, our math dashboard, suspension, as well as chronic absenteeism. We also recognize that we have a really

046a really pervasive area that we need to continue to grow in. And that's our supporting our English language learners, our English learners, as they develop language proficiency. But overall, our schools continue to improve and we continue to improve as a district. Yes, definitely. We want to see greater improvement and we want to see improvement in all the areas across all the schools. Some of our schools are improving in all of the areas, as evidenced by the the additional report that we shared with you with the schools on growth over the past several years. Whereas other schools are improving in some of the areas. We're really proud of the hard work from our administrators, our teachers, our support staff, our classified staff, our families, as well as our students, because ultimately it's our students who are

047really putting in the effort to to advance their academic as well as their scholarly behaviors. The work that's happening is very strategic and aligns to fundamental principles of school improvement. So we have our North Star. We have the board's mission. Our entire district's mission and vision is captured in a Framework for the Future with the learning model. Those four critical areas personalized, authentic, competency based and inclusive and equitable. We also have our learner profile. It's really important to have that North star. In addition, it's very important that we at the district level, as well as schools at the school leader level, have a really clear focus based on what the data is telling them. This year and last year. There has been so much effort in being very data driven. Just today there are several

048schools with the I-ready team, the professional developers from I-ready working with them, analyzing the data, identifying next steps, that's been happening across the board. We've already had 15 sessions, 15 days this year of professional development between district led as well as school led professional development. In addition, once we have that focus, it's critical that we're clear on what the outcomes are, and then that clarity will lead to the coherence. It's often coherence where we fall short. How do we get everyone, whether it's at a school site or at the district level, aligned, committed to the North Star as well as having a paradigm shift, really recognizing that maybe what we've done in the past is different than what we need to do in the future. Joan Gardner: From there, opportunities and then refinement. This is

049the process. And all of our initiatives across the district, whether it's focus on PBIS, MTSS, lots of acronyms, right. Our redesign efforts, utilizing professional learning communities. All of those efforts are committed to achieving the North Star. And that's the work that's been happening across the district. And and it's been really incredible to be part of that work. So what we wanted to do was highlight just a handful of the schools that are making remarkable growth. And what I did was I reached out to those principals and said, what is your recipe? What are you saying are the big moves at your school that's getting these results? So I'd like to take a minute just to recognize three schools. There's many other schools that we could easily recognize, but we're just going to recognize the efforts

050from Felicita, Reidy Creek and Bear Valley Middle School this evening just to capture the work that's happening. So we know Felicita, as director Sorensen shared, over the past three years, has grown 24 points towards standard and English language arts. They've moved from the orange to the yellow. And just last year they they moved nine standards or nine pointsTowards the standard. Rick Oser: In tath, the growth has been equally impressive. Actually more impressive with 37 points over the past two years and 18 points just last year. So this slide here recognizes, well, first of all, has their Felicita cheer squad that's pretty much everywhere these days. And and then also the two charts here. The first chart is their English language arts growth. And you can see where they've moved from the red to the yellow

051and then even closer to standard in 2025. And then the next chart is their math performance, where they've gone from orange to yellow to yellow. So when I talked to Principal Higginbotham about what she would identify as some of the the efforts that have created this change. First she emphasized the positive school culture. I was just there last week. On last Friday, and you could just feel it. You could see it in the students. You could see it in the staff families as they come into the office. Classified staff. Everyone. The culture has definitely shifted and it's been very intentional. She also recognized the focus on high quality instruction with regular classroom visits and feedback. And she has a goal, every week she wants to be in every single classroom, recognizing the work that the

052teachers and staff are doing and provide positive feedback. And she actually has a spreadsheet that she's keeping not for the teachers, not for the staff, but for herself, so that she knows if this is a goal, how can I continue to, to work progress towards that? And for the most part every single week, it's check marks for every single teacher, and it's not as a gotcha. It's as a I'm recognizing, I'm supporting. I'm here to work side by side with you. She also credited school wide instructional expectations with the protection of some really critical times. Designated English language development, where students are shared across grade levels so that they're receiving instruction at their level as well as a commitment to universal access time for both language arts and math. So that's taking that dedicated English

053language arts math time, increasing it by 30 minutes so that students can receive intervention or enrichment depending on their level. She as well as pretty much every principal in this district would credit their growth towards is a professional learning community. So a lot of professional development, a lot of work has happened across the district in this area recognizing those four fundamental questions. What do students need to learn and do? How will we know if they learned it and are able to do it? What assessments are we going to use? What are we going to do for students who already know it? And then what are we going to do for students who did not get it the first time? And that's where that universal access time is critical. She mentioned clear, frequent communication, building coherence

054and collective efficacy. So she's doing that through her staff meetings, the activities that they're doing, the professional development that's happening throughout this school year, as well as her weekly staff, as well as family communications through bulletins and newsletters. She referred to distributed leadership. She has for pretty much anything that's happening at the school she has a committee for and she goes from, so she has her focus, what the data is telling her, and then to the committee. And then that's where the action happens. And that's how decisions are being made. She, Felicita is very fortunate. They do have a math coach, Heather Hodgson, and she's leading some of the professional development, co-teaching and providing support inside the classroom. And Felicita is also a community schools school. And so they are strengthening their schools. MTSS. They

055have a MTSS site specialist, Sonia Schaefer, who is there helping support that work as well. So this is, these are some of the items that Felicita is crediting. Now of course, there's so many more variables, so many more things that are contributing. But some of the big things that she's saying, this is where we're seeing the results and this is where we're going to continue to lead or to lean into, to get even greater results. The next school we wanted to spotlight is Reidy Creek, and Principal Loh is now in her third year at Reidy Creek. Joan Gardner: And so when I asked her, well, first of all, her scores as you can see went from green to below, below, just slightly below standard and then went to stayed in the green but increased for

0562024 and 2025. And then in math also you recognize that they were below standard in 2023 and then increased slightly above standard and has continued to increase. So their performance has been an increase of 27 points in English language arts over the past two years and 30 points in math. So once again, you'll see some some similarities here when Principal Loh shared what she's crediting some of the growth to. So once again school wide goals. She's very clear what the school wide goals are, as well as going through that same process of focus, clarity, coherence, opportunities and and refinement. Very deep into that process. And this is actually both Principal Higginbotham and Loh, this is their third year going through this process so it's really clear. Once again, focus on at risk students being data

057driven, looking at the data and making instructional decisions on what the data is, is informing grade level teams as well as individual teachers. Recognizing, leveraging those those grouping strategies through universal access time as well as maximizing all three of the schools that we're recognizing have really robust after school programing with between 25 and 30 classes every week for students to participate in. Reidy Creek is really maximizing the opportunities for intervention to take place after school? Part of that is because we know that Reidy Creek is not receiving title one funds, so they have to find creative ways to provide that intervention in addition to universal access time during the school day. Once again, a strong commitment to consistent instructional focus with classroom visits and positive feedback to to teachers and staff, strong teacher collaboration, professional

058development. Her areas that she's focusing on and the schools focusing on this year is English language development. And her big focus area is writing. And then once again, as you see, emphasis on positive school culture, and you see that across the board. You walk around the campus and you just feel it. It's it's it's pretty much the air that everyone is breathing. The last goal that we wanted to spotlight is one of our middle schools. It's Bear Valley middle school. And as you see right from the beginning, that positive, strong relationships with students. And you can see it whether you're walking around, you're in the classrooms or you are at nutrition break during PE, before school, after school. Positive, strong relationships with students. They are also leveraging the PLC process to drive instruction. Those four

059fundamental questions what are we going to do? How are we going to do it, and how are we going to respond whether or not students reached it? And then there as, as I mentioned, data analysis and responsive actions. Rick Oser: They are getting very creative with their planning. It's a middle school, so they don't have that dedicated release time every other week like our elementary schools do because of the Wheel. So they're utilizing substitutes. Substitutes are coming in, releasing the teachers so that principal Wrzeski and his admin team can meet with grade level teams and go through those PLC questions and really put action to the data. And then once again, we see that consistent classroom visits with feedback. And then a big emphasis there is school connectedness. And you can see from Bear Valley's

060data, it's a little bit different because they actually over the past two years, they've grown 17 points in English language arts and 16 points in math. But you also see that there was a slight tick up in 2024, but then a really strong rebound. The the, the following year. Last year. So before I conclude, I just wanted to reemphasize that, that there's some commonalities that we're seeing across our district. We're seeing that emphasis on positive school culture. We're seeing it with our suspension data decreasing, our expulsion data decreasing. We see it in our California Healthy Kids survey across the district. Now, it's not it's not perfect, but it's progress. And we recognize that we're moving in that direction. And you can feel it as you walk onto the campus and you visit classrooms, you can

061just feel it. Whether it's, like I said before school, during the school day transition times or even the after school program. There's clarity around instructional focus with regular feedback, data analysis and actions that are coming from what the data is telling us, what the data is showing us. What we say over and over and over is that the data is just numbers and charts. Unless we ask the questions and we ask lots of questions and we're curious around the data, and then we put actions to it, and then we monitor those actions and refine it. Then that. And that's what we're seeing. That's what we're seeing when our principals and administrators are together, as well as when they're back at the school sites with their, with their teams. We see that coherence, coherence. We see

062that at these three schools, the principals recognized it, but we're seeing it more and more across the district, whether it's through written communications, staff meeting activities, professional development, classroom feedback, and developing that essential professional learning community. And then we also see the leveraging of human resources. That is our superpower. That is our most valuable resource. And we see it whether it's math coaches, psych specialists, classified staff, paraeducators, substitute teachers, grade level teams, classroom teachers, we're seeing that those human resources are making a difference, and we're valuing them. And and utilizing them to the best of our abilities. And we also see just expanding and making the most of that of that time of the time that we have with our students. Our school day. It's there's a start time and there's end time. We have

063to make the most of it or expand it. And we're also expanding it into the, into the late hours and giving our teachers and our students more time to make a difference. And then finally, it's all about collective efficacy. It's all about the belief that we control the conditions for student learning, and that's where the emphasis has been. We know that collective efficacy is the single greatest influencer of student achievement. John Hattie's work in Visible Learning calls it out. 1.57 effect size. But how do we get there? And so hopefully tonight, these three spotlights emphasize the efforts of how to get there. So with that said, thank you again, Director Sorensen, as well as all of the directors, coordinators and staff in the in the room and all of the hard working teachers and classified

064staff and support staff out in the and administrators out wherever they may be right now. But we know where they'll be tomorrow. In our classrooms making a difference. So with that said, thank you very much. And if there's any questions regarding the data or the work that's happening. Zesty Harper: Thank you. Doug Paulson: Well, thank you for asking for a lot of questions. And and here they come. I first of all, want to thank you for several things. First of all, discussing the importance of coherence, of everybody working together, of making sure that we have aligned curriculum during the school day, after the school day, before the school day, and that all of it is working to improve student achievement. I'd like to also thank you for not trying to explain to us how to

065how effect sizes work. Because it's a little late at night for that. Here's, here's my concern. I just want to recognize the tremendous amount of effort and coordination it takes to get positive results like this. And this is all positive. If we look at how close we are to the statewide average in just about all areas, We're very close. We're very close, and that is very good news. I'd also like to thank everybody for recognizing that although we're close, we're not there. We're not there until we're above and then significantly above the statewide averages. We don't want to rest on our laurels. We want to maintain our or not maintain, but we want to sustain this improvement cycle. And so thank you for that. One thing I, I appreciate that you brought up the subject

066of English learners. That does appear to be one of our very serious issues. And that is a critical issue. Our long term English learners, our students who possibly were born here, have been in our system since kindergarten or before who still are not proficient in the English language. That's a huge concern. We for many years, we had a complete district wide emphasis on English language learners and English language learner process progress. And when we had that district wide focus on English language learners, we were making progress. So what we know through the work of many researchers is that if you focus on something, we can make a difference. So I appreciate the, the, the commitment that I hope I hear tonight that we are going to bring our English language learners back to the forefront.

067And yes, we are working with all students, but that is one group there that at this time appears to not be progressing as quickly or to the level of our other groups. So are we hearing a commitment for that to be a focus of the upcoming years? Because during during Covid, we did lose some focus there. And I think it's time to refocus. Rick Oser: Yes, definitely. And I just want to emphasize that this commitment actually has has already been initiated. We had 83 teachers participate in the two day Avid Emerge, which is the English language English learner focus of Avid over the summer. And then on January 5th, we will have our second Empower Ed. And we have a three hour refresher course for those teachers to come in. And even though it's an

068optional day it'll be optional as well as paid to get a refresher on those strategies with the opportunity to continue to do their collaboration and implementation of those strategies. In addition on January 5th, we have our second empower ed day. And so the morning will actually focus on tier one academic English learner strategies and social and emotional and behavioral supports. So there will be teacher led sessions that are happening and that commitment around English learners. That's just the tip of the iceberg. It's going to continue to be a strong focus as, as the data tells us. And so just as in any situation, we need to look at the data, we need to ask the questions, we need to be really curious about it. And then we need to get to root cause for the

069situation. And so that's where we're at. Doug Paulson: Outstanding. And we look forward to hearing about the effect size of those activities next year. Joan Gardner: So I was just wondering when you were talking about that. Do we still we used to offer and I think part of it is when you say there's still they're born in this country, still still speaking not English at home. We used there used to be a program for the parents to learn English, and I would think that would be useful as well. Is that still in existence? Rick Oser: We do have schools that have that program, have many programs that are supporting families as well. Just I want to say last week another school visit, I was at Farr Elementary and Farr Elementary was having their culminating adult

070English learner class celebration. And it was a beautiful event where this where the the students who were the parents in this case were up there presenting a project and their students, this is during the school day, their students, their children came in as their parents were presenting. And we were able to actually visit that and see the parents who are now students demonstrating their knowledge and their learning, which has happened over the course of, of the first semester. So so we have those partnerships and we're going to continue to support those partnerships. I want to say there are at least 30 parents who are in that class and and those through Palomar College. And so just a strong partnership with them to provide those classes at the school site where the families are, they're dropping

071off their students in the morning and then also where they're the children can see their parents learning in a different room. Joan Gardner: And inspire the children to, to learn as well. And, and they could practice with one another. It could be a family project. Rick Oser: Yes. It was very inspirational to see that I was very fortunate to be there at that moment with Principal Santiago, and we were able to watch some of the celebration. Joan Gardner: And the other thing is, the languages now are not just English. I mean, we have a multitude of languages that complicate the situation as well as far as learning English. Doug Paulson: I think we have over 100 languages represented in Escondido in our schools. Rick Oser: I couldn't tell you that exactly. But that's when I

072look at Director Sorensen, because she has like a library of knowledge. Joan Gardner: And they're all counted as English language learners, which makes it right. Rick Oser: And so a student is identified as an English learner when the family comes in to register, if the on the home language survey, if the family responds to a different language, whether it's a first language, the the caregiver language or there's a couple other questions there that will identify them as an English learner. And then from that point on, then the student will actually take the LPAC as initial LPAC to, to see what their scores. If they test high enough, then they're no longer identified as an English learner. But if they score below a certain threshold, then they're identified as an English learner until they actually meet

073the qualification for a reclassification, which is based on the LPAC, as well as on several other measures. Joan Gardner: Oh, no. Well, the other thing, I just had a comment on the dashboard, which I find mind boggling as a parent thinking about parents expected to understand the process. I know sometimes when we look at report cards and we see the P, which means progressing towards that can mean anything. So it's it's kind of deceiving, right. You say oh well they're progressing towards but they could have they could be on the very lowest end. You rarely see a B, a below grade level, severely below grade level because that would be disheartening. But sometimes you need to face to face up to it and to work at it, not just from the teaching side, but from

074the learning side as well. Okay. Thank you, thank you. Frank Huston: I don't have any questions. I just wanted to thank you for the work that you guys are doing. It's obvious that we are moving in a positive direction, which is really good to see because that was one of our biggest concerns was coming out of the Covid era. You know, how far down and how we are concerned was, how are we going to get them back up and running? And it's really good that we have a really good clear path. And we appreciate the work that all the teachers, staff and everyone is doing to make that, you know, a real effort and some really good results. So I'm really looking forward for next year to see how well we progress from there. So

075thank you so much. Zesty Harper: Great examples of, you know, seeing that it can be done to encourage the other, you know, the other students and the other classes that oh yeah, look, they're making that growth. We can make that growth too. And really. Joan Gardner: Share. Zesty Harper: Share. Yeah. Did you have anything? Okay. I had just had a couple comments. I didn't have any questions because I appreciate Rick meeting with me earlier. So I didn't bore everyone in this room with my my questions. So I really appreciate the clear mission and expectations. But at the same time, the way you're interpreting those to really focus on the data but take feedback and involve everyone in it. I think a lot of times we have a top down approach and I feel we are

076really engaging the principals, we are engaging the teachers, we are engaging the support staff and their ideas and what they found has worked in their classroom. Just like you mentioned our empowered Ed. I mean that we have our own staff that is fantastic and that we're sharing out all of those great ideas. I really think that helps build capacity in our district, because we have tremendous teachers who are are doing, they're moving mountains every day. I every time I go in the classroom, I'm exhausted by the by the few minutes I stay in there. But I really appreciate that collaboration that's happening. And then actually talking about it and talking about the data. I appreciate you highlighting the these three schools because it really helps us understand well what is separating these schools apart, or

077what are they doing to really make that those growth goals and really making that jump? And I think a lot of it is the culture, like you said, of the school of them believing in their students and believing in their teachers and staff and making it happen. So I really appreciate it. I'm excited for the growth and I'm excited to when you're up here next year to see this report. So thank you so much. Rick Oser: You're welcome. Thank you. Zesty Harper: Thank you. All right, now on to the first interim report. Andrew McGuire: Mrs. Cagle, please come to the microphone. Michelle Cagle: Good evening, President Harper, board members. Tonight we get to discuss all things First Interim. Over the last few months, we've routinely updated you on the key changes to the budget. Tonight,

078we are presenting the district's financials as of October 31st, which is a culmination of all changes since the budget was adopted on June 30th. And then, as always, we've done the math for you to see the changes. Our revenue changes. There was an overall increase in the unrestricted revenue, mostly comprised of the LCFF (Local Control Funding Formula) TK (Transitional Kindergarten) add on of $1.7 million. The governor adopted. The governor's adopted budget included an increase of $2,468 per ADA (Average Daily Attendance) for TK. Although this increase in revenue is good for us, I want to point out that the increase in LCFF revenue is strictly tied to the TK add on. In fact, even though LCFF funding received a 2.3% COLA (Cost Of Living Allowance). Our base LCFF, which includes grade span, supplemental and concentration, actually

079decreased by $138,000 from our 24-25 entitlement. Zesty Harper: Can I, can I, can you repeat that again? Because I think that's a big misconception of, yeah, we got a COLA increase, but the actual amount we have in our, that we actually get paid for has decreased. Michelle Cagle: Yes. So our LCFF base includes grade span adjustment, our supplemental and concentration. That's our base. Then we have add ons. We have home to school transportation, the TK add on and targeted instructional block grant. That's in addition to our base. When you look at just the base, the LCFF funding did get a 2.3% COLA, the per student amount. However, because of declining enrollment, we actually lost $138,000 from last year? Yeah. So our revenue went down. Zesty Harper: So our revenue so to speak. Michelle Cagle: On

080our on our base, it went up because the governor passed the additional TK add on funding. Zesty Harper: And again that's specifically for TK. But our overall we have less money this year than we had last year. Michelle Cagle: Correct. Zesty Harper: Thank you. Michelle Cagle: And then spoiler alert, we'll be talking more about declining enrollment later. Our restricted revenue increased $3.9 million for the Student Support Professional Development Block grant, and then 1.1 for our learning emergency recovery. And then just the natural carryover from our titles from 24-25 that get included in our 25-26 revenue. Okay. Our expense changes, unrestricted collectively decreased in the amount of $1.3 million. The big part of this is attributed to the EUSD plan where we move our unrestricted costs into our restricted funding. We did that. We moved $4

081million of unrestricted salaries to the one time Arts and Music Instructional block grant that's set to expire at the end of this fiscal year. And then the budget also includes the partial negotiated settlements and includes everything at the time. This budget includes the 0.5 ongoing salary schedule and the 0.5 one time. We've settled with a 0.75 ongoing and 0.75 one time. That 0.25 increase will be included in second interim. And then at the time of adoption, organizationally, we examine all of our positions. Where do we think we're going to be? What are we going to need FTE wise for the upcoming year? The positions that have and then we establish the cost related to those positions, the positions that have people in it. The cost is really easy. We know that is going to be.

082The variable is our vacancies and any additions or changes to our positions. That's an estimated dollar amount. So as the school year starts and we know where everybody falls, we actually get the actual cost of the positions. And so that those changes are reflected in the budget. And then for restricted we have our EUSD plan where we increased the expenses for those salaries and then just the natural carryover of title ones. And ELOP (Extended Learning Opportunities Program). Our multi year projection. This is our roadmap to where we're going as a district and where we are. As the green box. Oh there's no green box. As the green box indicates. In the third year we're meeting our financial obligation. However, that's not the end of the story. Our goal is not to be at that $15

083million fund balance at the end of the third year. Our goal is to exceed that amount, and that really starts with the work that we do today and every day, where we're exploring and looking at different ways to increase our revenue, decrease our expenses, and look at what costs we can move from unrestricted to restricted, also known as our EUSD plan. That work allows our ending fund balance to grow. A healthy, a healthy fund balance provides us with the opportunity to continue to invest our resources and our students and our staff. So we want that number to grow every year. And then, as always, the forecaster, which visually shows where our fund balances and you can see that we're better off at first interim fund balance than we were at the time of adoption. Andrew

084McGuire: Okay. Up to this point. Michelle, thank you, has gone over our financial resources. And certainly those are important so that we can continue to invest in our students and our staff. But the next section, I think, is a call to action by all of us here in EUSD. And as mentioned, the in the conversation that we just had here, the impact of our enrollment and the declining enrollment on our resources. And so for the next few minutes, Michelle's going to dive a little deeper into enrollment decline that we've seen here in our district in the last couple of years, as it's been happening for a decade, but really specifically what's going on for the last couple of years. Michelle Cagle: Okay, as promised, conversation about enrollment. I really want to focus on the left

085graph. That's the, that's our historical enrollment in ADA. Specifically the years in the blue box. That's the last five years. And those last five years we came out of Covid. We were slowly increasing the eligibility age for TK enrollment. And so you can kind of see that our enrollment changes have fluctuated throughout the years. It's not kind of a steady, predictable trend. This year, I was thinking we would have stabilized a little bit. Since we were no longer in Covid, we kind of, everyone's gone back to normal, and this is the year where all of our TK students are eligible for funding. That, however, was not the case, and we actually declined 497 students. Financially speaking, that decline this year does not significantly impact the revenue we receive for this year. That's because we had

086TK students that did not count towards our funded ADA. So for this year, our funded ADA difference is actually 280 students, which is 80 students less than what was projected at the time of adoption. But what's really important is if this steep decline continues to happen year over year, then we will be facing a financial cliff on our funding. In the out years in 2-627 and 27-28, there's a projection of a decline, a decline of 300 students for a multitude of reasons. We don't want to see those numbers become a reality. So how do we prevent that? We really need to start solving this giant puzzle piece by piece. The enrollment puzzle. The first piece is figuring out where did 497 students go? The chart on the right depicts that, it's one piece of the

087puzzle. It's telling us what grades are leaving us and when. For instance, in 24-25, we had 1530 one fifth graders. Theoretically speaking. All those fifth graders should be this year's sixth graders. However, that's not the case. We have 1439 sixth graders. 92 of our fifth graders from last year are not with us this year as a sixth grader. And then you can see throughout where how many were leaving year over year. Okay, so here's the next piece. The numbers. Where are they going? So we have out of district and that means they're still residing in California. They are just no longer potentially in Escondido. You have Classical, Heritage, and then charters. Those are the unsponsored charters online around the city and then private, and then out of state or country and then other. Others, whether

088they chose to go to home school, they opted out, just one off type situations that did not fall into these other categories. These numbers represent the students that we lost last school year from 820 to 612. We lost 66. Of that, 24 of those are out of district. We know families can move outside of, out of Escondido, but what we don't know at this moment is how many of those families still reside in Escondido, but have chosen to send their children to other neighboring districts. That's the numbers below. I kind of looked at the most neighboring districts. For last year seven went to San Marcos, one Poway, one San Pasquale. San Pasquale is still in city of Escondido and then San Diego is five. Here's this year. Doug Paulson: Could could I ask a question,

089please? We have a large number of charter schools that are not affiliated with our district operating within Escondido. Do, are we in contact with with those schools to see how many students they're taking? Do we have any idea of that? Michelle Cagle: No. I, I do have the details of where they are, so I could pull those out specifically. The one that sticks out, I, was Atlas. I think I saw that one the most when I kind of just did a glance of it. Andrew McGuire: This is a, this is a summary of, like, all of that. We have the details of where they were. That's how we were able to build these numbers, is the details of where they have gone based on their, their unique student identification in the CALPADS (California Longitudinal Pupil

090Achievement Data System) system. Doug Paulson: Okay. Thank you. Andrew McGuire: I think just one more point of clarity. On the two charts you saw. Previously, we have presented how many students we lose going into the school year that didn't continue, they were here last year and didn't go into this year. This first chart here with the 66 is after the last time we talked about that. We probably could have shown that first chart before. These are students that left during the school year, not the one. So that's a much bigger number if you include those that were there prior to that year, which the next chart is, that number is so much bigger because that's the number of students that were with us last year and also have left up until December 4th of this

091year. Is that, clear that up? Why the numbers are so much bigger all of a sudden? We had a large number like that in the last year as well. Go ahead. Michelle Cagle: Okay. So that number also kind of goes back and ties into the 497 students that we lost. These students were enrolled with us either at the end of last year or at the beginning of this year, and have since gone elsewhere. The bulk of that 500, and I think it was like 51 students left in August, so you could tell that they were enrolled and they probably got, they either moved or got their choice of the school that they wanted to attend. Even so, once again, the biggest indicator is the out of district. We had 417 and then I broke it

092down again. San Marcos is 71, Poway's 29, San Pasqual 16, and San Diego's 40. So what's going on here? One thing or two grades that kind of stick out to me is sixth grade and eighth grade. So these students would have been eighth graders this year, and they're not. So they've gone someplace else. Another note is TK, you see 34 other for TK. And when you look at the details of that, that's really parents have decided their child wasn't ready for TK and they're going to come back for kindergarten. So that number sound, looks alarming but kind of makes sense. And then this this is really kind of just scratching the surface. It's kind of guiding us to where we want to start to look and solve the problem of where are they going and

093why are they leaving. Any questions? Andrew McGuire: On that, on those charts. Okay. So. Good. So obviously, as I spoke about before, is a bit of a call to action here as I see it. We have some significant challenges across all of public education and to keep the puzzle theme alive. Some days it feels like we're putting together a jigsaw puzzle with the picture side facing down. But every classroom that I visit, and there have been many in these last few months, every classroom, every school, library, office, everywhere I go in EUSD reveals a new puzzle piece. Turns that piece over so that we can see who we are and all these pieces coming together. I could insert Rick and Kathleen's entire presentation here now about what we're doing and how we're progressing as a

094district at this point. It's a it's the best commercial for us at this point, what we're doing. All of that makes EUSD the best choice for the children here in Escondido for every family to make. This is the best choice, and I fully believe that. And I know all of our staff does, but we need to tell our story. That picture that all of our puzzle pieces create needs to be seen. And I'm asking all of us to tell our story and help our community see what I and all of us are so proud of. To choose EUSD we have a seat for you. Thank you. Michelle Cagle: So our next steps is the governor's budget proposal is January 22nd. And then our auditors will be here on January 20th to present the audited actuals

095for 24-25. And then we have our budget workshop on February 19th. And that's when we're really going to be able to have more of the answers that are behind those previous slides as to where our students are going and have that discussion. Any questions? Zesty Harper: You have questions? Frank Huston: Were we able to determine because you're shown on the the last slide of the. Yes, that one. Like 71 students went to San Marcos, are we able to track how many come from the other districts in our district, or is there. Andrew McGuire: Yeah. No, we can we have that. We we we netted. Frank Huston: Like a net. Andrew McGuire: Yeah. We netted a smaller number that was 400 and something that a net loss. But we obviously we gained some if 738 have

096left us, we did we did pick up some students, but we have lost more than we have gained. And when you bring up San Marcos, and I'm glad that you you reminded me of that point there, they're a district like ours, they have empty classrooms, like we have empty classrooms that are used for a variety of purposes. They have space to accommodate more students. We have space to accommodate more students. Why are we losing students to another district next door just like ours? What makes them better than us? And I would say nothing. But I think the problem is, is that we're not telling people that. What we see in our schools, when we know our staff does every day in our schools, makes this the best choice in our entire area. So we need

097to go to work on making sure everybody in this city, everybody in our boundaries and beyond has an opportunity to be in our schools just as much as they could go to San Marcos or Poway. This is a better choice, and it's our job to tell that story about what we're doing in our classrooms, in our schools. Thank you. Frank Huston: So have we started some type of action plan on how to get that word out? Andrew McGuire: Absolutely. We're already working on that. And that work actually will start executing some of that plan even beginning next week, working with some of our principals and starting from there on how we can help everybody understand what's really happening in our schools and getting that word out. So yes, there will be an action plan and

098we're already starting it. Frank Huston: Thank you. Zesty Harper: Yeah, I mean, I think that's on all of us to really talk about all the programs, because I don't think people understand what's happening here. And what I mean, just even our extended learning program offerings. I mean, that you could go to sea camp, you can go to sixth grade camp, you can, you know, surf camp and all these things. There are so, and after school opportunities and, you know, enrichment and intervention. I mean, there's there's so many positive things happening in this district. I know there's a huge, you know, since there's a huge gap at middle school, I personally know that I have a sixth grader who, you know, is going into middle school and, you know, you look around and you go where

099what would be the best fit for them, especially in middle school, since it's such a it's a such an awkward time for them. But like one example I can think of is at Hidden Valley, how they do that showcase for sixth graders. They open up their doors, they have booths and tables galore to really show the kids, you know, are you interested in this? We have this program. Are you interested in this? We have this. You know, we have. They had so many offerings and snacks, which is always good. It's always good to get the kids in there. But really open it up to our community so they know about it so they could come in, you know, if you're. I was a fifth grade parent last year, you know, and you go in and

100you're like, what is my child going to experience? And you go in there and we we went in there, right? And they were warm and welcoming and really excited to have your student there. And I think that's one of the things we could do to really make an impact on this community is for them to see what's actually happening, not just the reputation or, you know, a couple things they've heard, but really go into our schools and see the good work that's happening, and we need to do a better job of showing that good work that's happening because we are providing a quality education to them, and they should be here with us. So, I mean, that's something we can control. We can't control birth rates. We can't control, you know, people moving out of

101state. But we can control how we attract people. How attractive are our programs are and what, what job we do to really educate these students to set them up for life. So I'm, I know we have great things to advertise, and I think that's, you know, definitely. How can we get the kids back? How do we get the parents back? How do we overcome some of those fears that parents might have or the misconceptions of our programs? I think that's really important. Andrew McGuire: That that's actually part of the action plan. Zesty Harper: Oh Andrew McGuire: We're meeting with our middle school principals next week. And what you've described at Hidden Valley needs to be happening at every one of our middle schools. But not only that, even at our elementary schools, people that move

102into the community or are looking for another option, we need to be there to greet them and bring them in. Zesty Harper: Yeah. Even kindergarten, you know. Andrew McGuire: That's right. Zesty Harper: We have you know, you should have open houses at kindergarten before, you know, in the summertime so they can come in. They, this is where you you'll be, this is your teacher. You know that type of thing. Andrew McGuire: There's such a misconception about what happens behind our fence line. And when you get behind that fence line, you immediately realize that what you thought we were were something way better. And we have to help people come in and see that. Doug Paulson: So one of the things I'm sorry, please, please go ahead. Mark Olson: I just just two things. One, you're

103right. I mean, the message is only as good as the delivery that we put behind it, right? It has to be a concerted effort. I appreciate that there's a plan. But it has to be like any marketing campaign, you have to know the customer that you're trying to reach, and you have to do everything you can to reach them. Obviously we have a very big client base that we're trying to attract here from. The other thing I'm just curious and I'm sure you probably have it, but the granular data of like, what schools are losing kids, like, what feeding path? Do we have that information? Because I think that that is just as important, if not more important about your targeting your target clientele that you're going after because you know not to speak in

104business terms, but in terms of if we know where the customers are leaving, we shouldn't broadcast to everyone. We should focus on where we need to increase our messaging and increase what we're trying to convey to those individuals. And if necessary, I'll be honest, correct whatever's driving them or making them choose a different path. Andrew McGuire: And that's what when she mentioned that, Mrs. Cagle, mentioned that this is scratching the surface. And this is just to start this conversation. We actually are working on putting that whole report together so that we know where to put our resources in that campaign, where and and understanding the why that you would choose someone else so that we can address that and perhaps even it's just correct the understanding of it. It may not be that we're not

105doing the thing, they just may not know that we are. And so that's, this is this is just truly scratching the surface. There is a gigantic data set that is behind these charts. We didn't want to spend four hours tonight going into that level, but we'll be providing you with a report at some point in the future with this. And it will also be a part of our February workshop. It's I'll tell you, this is the next puzzle that we need to solve in our district, not just for the financial aspects of it, but we also owe it to our community to provide them the best education. And we go back to Rick's presentation. If you rewind, you can see that is what we are working towards doing and making huge progress, huge leaps towards

106that in all of our classrooms, in our schools. And so this is just the beginning of of understanding it. But but this is our effort to understand the why, the where, the how, what can we do and then get out there and start doing some things as soon as we possibly can. That's why I said, next week we're going to be with our middle school principals. They're hearing if they're watching tonight for the first time. This is the agenda for our next meeting is when we lose a bunch of students because of, whatever the reason is, that they don't go from fifth to sixth grade to one of our middle schools. Let's start addressing that now. And I know that, like just that first day of school, the anxiety of that, maybe if there's some,

107you know, like, oh, the big middle school, let's get them in there before they start their first or their first experience at a middle school isn't on their first day of sixth grade, but is before that to alleviate some of that. And then they can see in our parents and the students can see there's so many things for them at our middle schools, let alone all of our schools. And so that's where we're starting is, is where we have the biggest losses from fifth to sixth grade. And so we're going to go after that very much first and then start drilling down on every grade level and every reason that anybody would have made the choice go somewhere else to help them to see this is the better choice. Doug Paulson: So just a quick

108point. When we talk about those middle school showcases, we need to recognize that, yes, we want to attract students, show them what is going to be offered. Students don't make the decision on what school they're attending. That decision is made by their parents, almost regardless of what the students may express to their to their parents. So we really need to focus on those parents the first day. Part of the reputation. Our parents are afraid of what happens once our kids are on campus. They're afraid of bullying. They're afraid of all of those things. We need to have a way to have the parents on campus the first days, or at least some of them, so they can see what's happening and see that all of those rumors are are generally not true. And to see

109what the actual situation is. Andrew McGuire: And I'm not going to turn Rick loose again on data right now, but we have some significant improvements in the data when it comes to things, you know, measured suspensions, expulsions, bullying incidents, students feeling more connected to their school, safer at their school. The numbers are showing that the students are telling us that, and that is what's happening in our schools. And so, yes, we need to help our community, the whole community, the neighbors. Everybody needs to understand that things are not what they think they are in our schools. And yes, the yes, the parents are part of making that decision, but also getting those students excited to go to a Hidden Valley, a Mission Middle School. They go home and talk to their parents like what I

110saw today when I visited Rincon Middle School. I want to go there. And that's a big, influential piece in that decision making at home as well. And then bring those parents in to confirm it. Let them then see it as well. Absolutely. All of those things have to happen. Doug Paulson: Another thing that we talked about I believe the date was 2016 was setting up a series of fliers or brochures or something that can go out to the local community, to the brokerage community to, you know, just advertisements for the district, you know, something shiny and glossy that could be printed in our print shop and then individual school brochures to try to sell the schools to families as they move in. You know, for a while we had a social media person who win

111one of these inquiries about, hey, what school are you going to on, went up on Escondido Friends, you know, now we see usually Zesty or or or Mr. Maguire responding to them, saying, hey, our school. And I think that needs to be systematic. And I think we could do a better job in our, our social media presentation of presenting our schools and proactively promoting them. Andrew McGuire: Well, yeah, we have 2000 employees that are experiencing wonderful, amazing stories with our students every day. We need to turn that army loose into social media. When something is said about EUSD that might be negative, we kind of wince and hope it goes away and something else comes up. No, we need to be out there telling the story of what we are and not waiting for the

112bad story to go away, but correcting it with the hundreds of other good stories that are happening out out there. And so, yes, it happens in brochures. The new homeowner comes in, the realtor hands them that it happens on social media. It happens in in the grocery store. It happens everywhere. It happens when you're talking to your neighbor. It's celebrate what we are. Celebrate everything that everybody here is working so hard to be and get out there and tell people about it because we are all proud of it. Every single employee, every leader, every body in this district, everybody that's experienced with so many parents that are proud of what they have in this district, everybody needs to be out there telling that story so that we can build something even better than we have

113so far with the resources that come with that, and just the opportunities that those students, those children will have in our schools, it just culminates and it will continue to grow and improve Escondido as a whole for generations to come. It starts right now. Doug Paulson: Got it. And my final. My final thing would be we need to make sure that we have polished emails with information so that when we get an inquiry coming into our into ISS (Integrated Student Services) or wherever it comes into, we have a welcoming message, not, okay, you're going to need to go through this process and we're not guaranteeing anything. But welcome to EUSD. We look forward to having your student. Here's what they can look forward to. You know, and then in the last paragraph there is a

114process, you know, but I think we need to get standard messaging that is welcoming and positive. And I think that's a vital piece. Andrew McGuire: Added to the action plan just now. Zesty Harper: Any other questions? No? Doug Paulson: Michelle, you're doing great there, by the way you're doing. Zesty Harper: I can't wait till February. Yeah. Michelle Cagle: Thank you. Zesty Harper: Thank you. All right. Oh, yeah. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you for reminding. Mark Olson: Motion to approve as presented. Joan Gardner: Second. Zesty Harper: All those in favor, please say aye. Board of Education: Aye. Zesty Harper: Motion passes. On to a request for proposal for the LR Green Sports Field. Exciting. Andrew McGuire: So we're asking to approve the award to Lusardi for us to do the construction services for redoing

115the backfield. So that backfield of LR Green, where we've cleaned out all the trees kind of took out all the weeds, started, started to grow back a little bit, took a little extra time to get this project situated. But our intent is to have a large grass field there, a covered hardcourt area as well. And a bathroom building so that our after school program as well as even the schools next door there could make use of that field. And then we can, you know, a much more improved version of our rugby fields. We've been building our schools when we have our district wide events, intramural sports, and whatnot, that we'll be able to have another opportunity for our students on a piece of property that we have that's kind of just sat overgrown for many

116years. Let's make some use of it as yet another one of the wonderful opportunities we have here in EUSD. Doug Paulson: Okay, so just to confirm, this is the area behind LR Green that is not currently part of the LR Green campus, but what would be considered by most people to be part of Kit Carson Park. Andrew McGuire: Right. Doug Paulson: But which actually belongs to us and is going to become. Andrew McGuire: A sports field. Doug Paulson: Beautiful. Andrew McGuire: Multi-use. Zesty Harper: Yeah. And paid with the extended learning program funds. Andrew McGuire: Right. With our with our ELOP funds, yes. Zesty Harper: We don't call it ELOP. Andrew McGuire: Our EXPLORER. Well, the state calls it ELOP. We're calling it EXPLORER. Those funds. Doug Paulson: So I will move approval. Zesty Harper: Do

117I have a second? Frank Huston: Second? Zesty Harper: All those in favor, please say aye. Board of Education: Aye. Zesty Harper: Thank you so much. Motion passes. Okay. Number three, do I have a motion for N3? Mark Olson: Regarding case action upon student expulsion, case number 2025-26-01. Recommend as presented by the Expulsion Committee. Zesty Harper: Approve recommendation. Mark Olson: Recommendation. Zesty Harper: Do I have a second? Joan Gardner: Second. Zesty Harper: Okay. And this is a roll call vote. So, Mr. Paulson? Doug Paulson: Aye. Zesty Harper: Mr. Olson. I can't think of everyone's last name. Mr. Huston? Frank Huston: Aye. Zesty Harper: Ms. Gardner. Joan Gardner: Aye. Zesty Harper: Motion passes, thank you. Oh, Mrs. Harper, I vote aye. Thank you. Appreciate that. You know, we'll get it. Oh, okay. Excellent. Now, on to our

118tentative agreement with EEEA. Audrey Frank: So I am seeking that we accept and ratify the tentative agreement with EEEA pending the AB 1200. That's it. Zesty Harper: Excellent. Is there any comments on this? I have a few, but I always have a few. No? Okay. I'm. I wanted to thank first the negotiation teams, both from EEEA and from our district. The way you were able to think outside the box and really come up with solutions for our teachers. I want to commend you for and working together and trust both sides, because that's what we're moving forward with our district. We're really looking to become a cohesive unit that can keep the focus of our students in the forefront. And if we're fighting in negotiations and we're, you know, and we're bickering, we can't get there

119and our students suffer because of it. So I really appreciate how negotiations played out, how everyone was willing to trust and work with each other and really come up with a great solution. I. Brandi said it best and covered everything. But it's, I'm really encouraged by it. And again, it just I appreciate all of our teachers and what we were able to do together. So I'm excited for it. So do I have a motion? Or any other comments? All right. Mark Olson: I'll motion to approve and move forward. Doug Paulson: Second. Zesty Harper: All those in favor, please say aye. Board of Education: Aye. Zesty Harper: Motion passes. Thank you so much. Now on to board policies. First reading. Andrew McGuire: I promise I will make this quicker than it would normally be. There's a

120lot of material in these updates. So the first one 3415 about campus security. The main changes here is that now, as well as our school safety plans, we we have to have included in that our campus security plan to address unique site specific needs, physical security, threat response as well. Drill requirements all of that. And also there's an addition that relevant to the board that another a new item for closed session can be added where we would hold conversations around law enforcement or with security personnel or law enforcement to discuss critical security threats, that that would be a new item that would be added to a closed session agenda as needed. Then we have board policy 3516 about emergencies and disaster preparedness. Or that we have a plan. What we're adding to this, what's being

121added to this really is centered around cybersecurity having been such a big thing in the world these days about that. So including that in our disaster preparedness plans, because if someone were to take over our system, certainly that would be a disaster that we haven't experienced here because we have probably one of the very best IT departments in a school district, um, to protect us from that. But that also takes everybody involved. And so this plan would include all of the different things that people have to do to ensure security of our network. And then our emergency schedules to ensure an organized response in a policy in place detailing the procedures for implementing emergency schedules, such as school closures, delayed starts or releases. We've experienced some of those things. So a policy, just, the law

122changing. Updating that. We want to include those kinds of things in our safety plans. And then we've also included the ARs (Administrative Regulations) in the board update last week that go with these board policies. So this is the first reading. Ready to. Zesty Harper: Any questions on those. I'm looking for a motion. Doug Paulson: I would like to move approval of board policy 3515. Zesty Harper: Okay. Well can we do all three? Andrew McGuire: They're all in it. That's all in one. Doug Paulson: We can do an all in one? Andrew McGuire: Yes, if you have, unless you want to pull one separate or go for a second reading of any of them, or you can vote all of them at one at this time, if you'd like. Doug Paulson: Here we go. Move for

123approval of board policy 3515, 3516 and 3516.5. Frank Huston: Second. Zesty Harper: All those in favor, please say aye. Board of Education: Aye. Zesty Harper: Motion passes. Thank you so much. Alright, on to members report. I'm going to start with Mrs. Gardner. Joan Gardner: The last time I'll have to be first. [laughter] Zesty Harper: Yeah. I was almost going to make Doug do it, but, you know. Joan Gardner: Yes, you should. Zesty Harper: I should. I was going to. Joan Gardner: Doug. You want to go first? Doug Paulson: Nope. [laughter] Joan Gardner: Soon enough. Next meeting. Right. Zesty Harper: Yeah. He needs you to remind him what he did. Joan Gardner: I had the great pleasure we were able to, it didn't conflict with our board meeting this year, to attend the foundation awards where

124they had a a tremendous amount, over $70,000 to award. And it was so fun to be there and to hear about the programs that were being given grants. And I'm looking forward to seeing some of them, especially the new 21st Century Library at Mission Middle School. Noemi, congratulations to you for your award. And I also attended with Mrs. Harper the the GATE (Gifted and Talented Education Program) Parents Collaborative. And actually, it's not just for the parents, but I wish there were more. I know we have more GATE identified kids, and I'd love to see more parents there, because one of the the issues that was brought up is that it's parents need to know that they're not alone. Sometimes they, because their child is different from from their experience with other children. They they think

125there might be something wrong and it's not true. And the same. But I also it occurred to me that the same can be said for the gifted student that they need to know that they're not alone. That's why they need to be clustered with some, some other GATE students. Because often the gifted student is not necessarily socially adept because they find it difficult to fit in with their age group, they're sometimes they're often beyond the age group that they should identify with. So I'm I'm heartened. I think we have a good program. I wish there were more frequent meetings. But I also would like to encourage any GATE parents who are invited that they come and attend. I think it's very, very important and good information. At the presentation was from one of our social

126workers, Tina Page. On motivation, which is often lacking in in a truly gifted child. So thank you for that, Mr. Oser. And I also, thank you, Mrs. Harper, for alerting me to this. I attended a portion of the math articulation professional development at Bear Valley today. And what I found interesting was when they were talking about the transition from fifth grade to middle school, the fact that oftentimes the kids don't have their multiplication tables coming in. And and that was not going to be an issue because it had, there, has to be some way to address helping them catch up on that. Multiplication needs to be mastered in the third grade. That's how it always was. And maybe we need to go back to that and make sure that that's happening. There's nothing wrong with

127memorizing a multiplication table that there are some things that just have to you just have to memorize. It's it's as simple as that. There are some things you can't figure out on your own every time, and you can't count on your fingers all of the time. And the next step in fourth grade. And I still remember my my fear that I'd never get it was learning long division. That was a that was a big step. And when I when I mastered it, I was so amazed and so pleased. And I still use long division to this day the old fashioned way, and it still stands me in good stead. Anyhow, I was encouraged. There were a lot of math teachers there. I walked, they they gathered towards the end at the at the feeder schools

128and discussed their their methodology and their thoughts on different areas of their teaching. And I think that's really important. And to share their successes and how how it comes about. It's the same thing. People need to know they're not alone in in the problems they have to solve. So thank you again for that. And it was I think it was a valuable professional development. I'd like to see more of that. Thank you. Zesty Harper: Frank. Frank Huston: I have no report. Zesty Harper: Okay. Mark Olson: Just a couple things. First, I just want to thank all of our employees. And as we head towards the holiday break, I hope everyone is able to take some time off and enjoy time with their family. But also remember that sometimes holidays are lonely for certain people. So

129I encourage all of us to keep an eye out for our colleagues and our friends and our neighbors that and our students who may have challenges at this time. I think it's important, as we're celebrating whatever we celebrate, I hope everyone is able to have a positive experience. But keep that in mind that our there are those in our community that that may be difficult for. And then I just wanted to highlight I wasn't here last meeting. I think this happened afterwards, but just in case, I was at as I normally am on any given evening at a high school sporting event. But during football season, it was great. I was at a San Pasqual, I want to say it was against Escondido, so it was a rivalry game. But the Bear Valley Band, middle

130school band, was able to participate with the high school. And it was great to see that collaboration and talking about retention of students in our community. I know it's technically a different district, but I think building those connections is really important. So I was grateful to see principal Wrzeski and the assistant principals, as well as a lot of staff members that were there to support their students in conjunction with the other high school students from our community. So it was great to see that I always love to see those collaborations that builds those connections because our students need mentors and they need people to look up to. And so it's great to see that in real time for shared positive experience. So that's the end of my report. Zesty Harper: Thank you, Mr. Paulson. Doug

131Paulson: Okay, well, I would. Like to just echo what Miss Gardner had to say about the value of memorization in general and memorization of the times tables specifically of multiplication tables which is borne out by research. Not sure of the effect size, but it's there's been a lot of research surrounding the benefits of the automaticity of recalling those math facts. It it frees up it frees up brain links to be able to do more complex thinking because you're not sitting there trying to figure out what seven times eight is or nine times 11. It's just automatic. Therefore, you can do more complex thinking. And so there's been a tremendous amount of work around that. If that is not something that we're currently doing, research would tell us that we need to be doing that. And

132I think our our teachers are probably very well versed in that. I was also able to attend the Escondido Education Foundation award ceremony tremendous amount, as we said, over $70,000 worth of classroom grants. Thank you to that group that coordinates that. Thank you to everybody that goes to their events, whether it's the Fall in Love with Escondido Schools event, the fashion show, and thank you to everybody that opens up their wallet and provides their credit card to support that event every year. We are more than happy. If you would like information on that, we would be more than happy to provide you with some free wine and beer to make opening up your wallet a little bit easier in the future. On. What day? Tuesday. I was at the San Diego Foundation. At a county

133at. It is an expanded learning roundtable where they're trying to take the entire topic of expanded learning into a more regional, into a more regional approach. And this is a group of people I'm not sure how I wound up there, but it's a group of people from all over San Diego County that are it's being run by San Diego Foundation and the county Office of Education, and they're looking at how can we take this idea of the importance of expanded learning and move it out into the entire region, make it more self-sustaining. And as always happens at these events, Escondido Union School District is held up as an example of what can happen when you have a high quality, highly regarded highly organized, highly effective, expanded oriented program. And I was the only one there,

134this time from Escondido. And they're not they're not shouting out to me. They're shouting out about this district because we've kind of got it figured out. And our program, when I was talking with people from Chula Vista, from Oceanside, they knew all about us and what we do and our team approach. I am going to ask them. I already did ask them that. You know, having a board member there is all very nice, but they need some of the real workers there, Jo-Ann, to really give the insights into about that expanded learning, because we've got things that we may benefit from, from this work, and they've got a lot that they could benefit from just knowing. And it is being run by the San Diego Foundation. And we also would like to make sure that

135a regional approach could continue money, could continue the money, because most districts I mean, ELOP funding is in danger because most districts are sending their money back because they don't spend it. They have not figured out how to use that money for their students. And I'm I think I'm proud to say we've never sent any of our money back. And when I'm talking sending money back, I'm talking many, many millions of dollars throughout our county. I think the number is something like $80 million that was returned to Sacramento. And if that continues, the funding won't continue because they'll say you don't need it. As we discussed earlier, we participated in the school city school subcommittee meeting yesterday. We were relieved. And we are keeping a close eye on the fact that our pass through money,

136through our our was approved last night at the school board meeting. They promised us during the our meeting, our subcommittee meeting that it was on the agenda and would be passed. And in my total faith in the city, I did watch it to make sure that the vote was carried out and we talked about traffic safety. And we are very serious about working on this. We do need to keep up the pressure on all of us about the topic of traffic safety, because although none of the accidents so far have involved students coming to or out of school, they all involve our students. All of them. And speaking of expanded learning, I was able to attend the first part of the esports championship yesterday afternoon at Rincon Middle School. And the competition. I got to

137tell you. Yeah, I understand there's some competition in some of those athletic events at the high school level, and there is in the esports world as well. It was great seeing all the different schools being bussed in, coming in in uniform and having run a supposed esports program at the high school level. We've got nothing, nothing that compares with what we're doing here. Thank you to Jo-Ann, to everybody involved in that event. That was dynamite. Zesty. Zesty Harper: Thank you so much. I attended, let's see. Sorry. It's been a while since we've had a meeting. I attended the PTA council meeting, which is always very well run. I was our representative at the community schools meeting. We talked about the mission statement again for for the community schools, and then also talked about how they're

138working on an asset assessment. To really understand what supports our community already provides and how to, you know, kind of collect that information all together. So we are able to support our families with anything that might come up. I also attended the GATE Collaborative with Joan and like you said, it was about motivation, which is always very interesting. I think that's why I have bad motivation, because I'm just so gifted. It comes hard. I'm just kidding. I'm joking. But I really appreciate the teachers and the principals that attend those meetings because I sat with one teacher from Oak Hill who, you know, has the gifted class in fifth grade, and they, you know, she wants to provide more for her GATE students. And it was it was great to have her there. I also attended

139the Education Foundation Awards. I also wanted to make a comment about that. The city of Escondido is having two more community meetings to talk about their CIP (Capital Improvement Program) options, and they're wanting community input, and they had about probably 12 to 15 members of their staff, of the city staff there. So they, you know, from traffic to, you know recreation to parks to economic development, they had and engineering and utilities they had everyone there. So I really encourage you, I think they're both next week, both at our, at our two school locations LR Green and Hidden Valley. So I encourage everyone to go there because you can actually talk to your council member in a less formal setting. Because, like, you know, their city council meetings are much like ours, where you get three

140minutes to speak and we're not able to respond. But I would encourage everyone to attend, and, and you can get your questions answered. And you also can make suggestions of what you would like to see. The city do with their just new pot of money. I also would, with Doug, attended the city subcommittee meeting, which I'm really excited about that we are going to put pressure on making sure we have a cohesive safety plan, not only for our students, but with the partnership with the City of Escondido to make sure enforcement is there as well. And I went to the Esports championship too. So congrats to the winners. And then this afternoon, we were able to go to the Math cross articulation meeting, which again was fifth through eighth grade. Teachers really again sharing what

141works and sharing how we can make sure our students are supported as they make the transitions onto the next grade. So that is my report. Thank you so much, Doctor Ibarra. Dr. Luis Ibarra: So. First on January 8th there's going to be a special celebration in Sacramento. So a few of us will be flying to join our California teacher of the year, Corina Martinez, from Pioneer Elementary to help celebrate her in Sacramento. So that's on January 8th. Also, we're going to need two representatives of the board to help us with paper screen. Our recommendation to the personnel commission. So if we can have two board members, kind of do, like a quick subcommittee ad hoc committee, and we can get that. Okay. Okay. Zesty Harper: I voluntold Doug. Dr. Luis Ibarra: Okay, so we got

142Doug and Zesty. Perfect. It shouldn't take much time. They just want some input there. And then finally, to all the teachers and staff and everyone, it is that holiday season. There's a lot to celebrate, a lot to be proud of. And I just want to wish everybody happy holidays. It's been a very special first six months, and I look forward to the final six months after the holidays. So hopefully everybody, no one's counting, but hopefully everybody has an opportunity to get some rest and relaxation and have some special time with their family and friends. So that that concludes my report. Andrew McGuire: Yes. Happy holidays to everybody. When you're visiting family, you're out there shopping and all that. Don't forget, tell your friends. Tell your neighbors. Choose EUSD. Rick Oser: If I could just share

143piggyback on the esports. So I want to make a big shout out to Hidden Valley. Hidden Valley actually took three of the championships. They surged this this session. So that was really impressive. And Del Dios took the the fourth one. So we'll put some videos in the board update. Mr. Trustee Paulson was sharing about the enthusiasm and excitement. And in these videos you can actually see the final championship. How impressive. It's. Zesty Harper: Controlled chaos, and they know exactly what they're doing. But you walk in there and it's it's impressive. Rick Oser: And then just. Mark Olson: Board competition is. That would be interesting. Zesty Harper: Tetris. Rick Oser: We could coordinate that. We could put it on the big screen. Mark Olson: Original Mario brothers. Zesty Harper: Yeah. That's all I can do. Rick

144Oser: And then if I could just share trustee Gardner and trustee president Harper mentioned the the math PD that happened today, and I'll put this in the board update as well. But I just want to capture like some of the professional development that happened today. So you are at the fifth through eighth grade collaboration meeting. There's also a third through fourth grade math PD. There was preschool transitional kindergarten, learning foundations PD that was happening for all of our TK teachers. Kinder through second grade was at the reading difficulty risk screener professional development. We had the social workers and counselors in PD in this room. Iready a training was happening. We had to seize redesigned meeting happening this afternoon. Our librarians were in their monthly meeting and training. We had to differentiation focus group meeting happening

145today. I know I'm missing some and I'm probably short on time. But incredible amount of professional development that just happened today. And so you caught some of it, but just really impressive to see how many teachers are so dedicated teachers and classified staff so dedicated to, to growing as professional educators. So with that said, happy holidays to everyone and thank you for all the support. Zesty Harper: Excellent. Doug Paulson: One more item. Going back to Noemi's initial comments. Just want to say we very much appreciate all of our teachers to our classified staff. We understand how difficult it is with the the current salary schedule. I think we've said this before. It, you know, our classified staff show up clearly not for not to make a great deal of money, but rather because of the

146their love for the children and their dedication to our students. You are seen, and you are so appreciated by the members of this community, by the students, and definitely by us. So please let your members know. We hear them. They are heard. They are seen. Zesty Harper: Thank you. All right. Our next regularly scheduled board meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 20th, 2026 at 7 p.m. at the Escondido Union School District. Carilyn Gilbert Education Center, 2310 Aldergrove Avenue, Escondido, California 92029. We do not need to return to closed session. We are going to adjourn this meeting. But there's more, so just hang tight. Doug Paulson: Alright everybody. It is time for the annual meeting of the Escondido Union School District School Facilities Corporation. I would like to call this meeting to order. Roll call.

147All members are present. Do we have any public comments for the school district school facilities corporation. In that case, we are going to start our election of officers. Do I have a nomination for president? Mark Olson: I nominate Zesty Harper as president. Frank Huston: I second. Doug Paulson: Alright. We have.