001Doug Paulson: Board of Education to order at 6 p.m.. Looking to see if there are any comments for closed agenda for closed session. Seeing none, we will adjourn to closed session and reconvene at 7 p.m.. Good evening everybody. We are going to reconvene this regular meeting of the Board of Education for the Escondido Union School District. At this time, I'd like to ask Mr. Huston to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Frank Huston: Please stand. Put your hand over your heart and 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. And we do have a report out of closed session. Mark Olson: Thank you.
002Closed session item report. In closed session the board took action to approve the recommendation for appointment of Jose Hernandez as Elementary school principal beginning July 1st, 2025, by a vote of 5 to 0. Congratulation, Mr. Hernandez. Two more to report out and then we'll. Oh. Doug Paulson: Mr. Hernandez right now. Jose Hernandez: Good evening president, board, Dr. Ibarre. My name is Jose Hernandez and I have been part of the EUSD family for over 21 years, and I am delighted to accept the principal position at Lincoln Elementary School. My recent AP experience has prepared me well. I have already had the privilege of meeting many of the students and staff and members of the Lincoln community. I am eager to challenge myself in this position and collaborate with teachers, parents, and site leaders. Thank you. Mark
003Olson: Congratulations. Thank you. Moving on. In closed session, the board took action to approve the recommendation for appointment of Shannon Wrzeski as Elementary school principal beginning July 1st, 2025, by a vote of 5 to 0. Congratulations, Shannon. Shannon Wrzeski: Hello. Good evening president Paulson, school board, doctor Ibarra and cabinet. My name is Shannon Wrzeski and I'm delighted to accept the principal position at Bernardo Elementary. I've been part of the EUSD family for over 28 years, and I actually was a student here and my kids went here also. So I look forward to this new challenge, and I feel my experience in EUSD has prepared me for this position. I look forward to meeting the students, staff and the Bernardo community. I'm eager to challenge myself with this position and collaborate with all the stakeholders. So
004thank you and have a good evening. Mark Olson: Thank you. Congratulations. And finally, in closed session, the board took action to approve the recommendation for appointment of Marcy Kirovski as Project Specialist III beginning July 1st, 2025. By unanimous vote of 5 to 0. Congratulations, Marcy. Marcy Kirovski: Thank you. Good evening board president Paulson, trustees, doctor Ibarra and cabinet. Thank you for this incredible honor to serve as Project Specialist III in our expanded learning program. My last 13 years in Escondido as a kindergarten teacher. Three years as site liaison. Three years as intervention teacher, as well as the experience of being a team member on our cohort one redesign has prepared me for this role. These experiences have also deepened my commitment to serving our staff and our students here in the Escondido School District. I'm
005truly grateful for this opportunity to work with Rick Oser, Jo-Ann Fox, and Cesar to expand learning opportunities and create a meaningful impact for all of our stakeholders in this district. Thank you. Doug Paulson: Thank you. We do have one more report out of closed session. The board is pleased to report that, following careful consideration, we intend to move forward with the appointment of Andy McGuire as the incoming superintendent of the Escondido Union School District. His contract will be presented for approval at our next regularly scheduled board meeting on Tuesday, June 24th. If approved, Mr. Maguire will begin a year long transition alongside Superintendent Doctor Luis Rankins-Ibarra. Formally stepping into the role on July 1st, 2026. This planned transition year provides a strategic opportunity for the district for intentional leadership development, continuity of initiatives and a
006thoughtful handoff that honors the work already underway. It also reflects the board's commitment to stability, long term planning and ensuring our students, staff and community remain supported throughout this process. Andy McGuire brings four years of dedicated service as Assistant Superintendent of Business Services. His collaborative leadership focus on student centered operations and strong relationships across departments have positioned him well to lead EUSD into the future. His integrity, fiscal responsibility and clear communication have earned widespread trust throughout our district. We are also deeply grateful to Doctor Ibarra for his 11 years of service and his willingness to guide and support this leadership transition. Over the next year, we look forward to creating opportunities for staff, families and the community to connect with Mr. McGuire as he prepares to take on this important role. Thank you. Alright, moving
007on. We are going to the approval of the agenda. Zesty Harper: I move approval. Mark Olson: Second. Doug Paulson: Discussion? All in favor? Please vote. Zesty Harper: Oh. Do I have to sing? Dr. Luis Ibarra: Approval of the agenda. I had some. I had to pull an item . Doug Paulson: All right. Standing by. Mark Olson: C ancel it. Dr. Luis Ibarra: It's my mic on? Okay, so we need. I need to pull item J2, and we'll be brought back at a at a later board meeting. Doug Paulson: All right. Pulling item J2. Continuing on with the approval of the agenda, as amended. Please vote. All in favor, please raise your hand. All right. Passes 5 to 0. Moving on to the approval of the minutes of the last meeting. Frank Huston: I motion. Joan
008Gardner: Second. Doug Paulson: Mr. Huston moves, miss Gardner. Seconds. All in favor? Please vote. Zesty Harper: I think Leila should sing our intro and outro. Doug Paulson: There we go. All right. And motion passes, 5 to 0. Thank you all very much. Thank you all so much for your attendance today. Please feel free to go home and spend the evening with your families. All right, moving on to public comments. We do have one card calling Andrea Sima. Andrea Sima: As you can see. Yes. Hat. Ready for summer. Okay. So hello, doctor Ibarra, president Paulson, cabinet, guests, and staff present and all in the virtual world. Thank you for being here. I am here tonight to preface the hypocrisy of what might present, actually did present itself tonight. We have a design team that is built
009with carefully chosen committee members of all areas of staff and interested parents in our district. It is sad to say that the design team has not been approached with even a survey of what is still needed and new ideas brought forth in over a year, and we have not had the chance to discuss or give feedback on a very prominent position that you just talked about. We should be evaluating with pre and post in our design team. We should be talking about growth. No growth. How is the learning collaborative demonstrated growth in our district? They pretty much run our design team. And you are proposing to continue to pay them almost $400,000 of taxpayers money. How are they demonstrating effectiveness and support our academic growth? That's what people want to know. Do we need to
010go back to the saying it begins with me? I know I come to work every day and I do my job. And I do see growth in our students. But it's not enough. We're not doing enough. Your union supports educating our youth. Involve us. We are begging you to allow your people who give their sweat, sometimes blood, and often tears, to move this machine in the right direction. Truly, it has to start with you. How are you involving the community? Thank you for listening. Doug Paulson: Thank you. Moving on to item E two public hearing regarding the Local Control Accountability Plan. Andrew McGuire: This would be the public hearing portion of tonight's presentation. So if anybody from the public would like to speak about the, our LCAP . Doug Paulson: And do we have any
011speakers? Seeing none. We are going to close this hearing and move on to item E three, a public hearing regarding the adopted budget and excess reserve. Are there any speakers for this hearing? Seeing none, we will close this hearing and move on to item four. The public closure of Limitless Learning Academy. And although there are no speakers on this one either, I would like to ask just to be for absolute clarity is Limitless learning Academy as it is designed, is it closing or is it simply moving to a program within a school? Andrew McGuire: It is moving to be a program within a school. In such, some of the support staff will not be a part of that, but we will have four teachers and will be accommodating the students that are currently enrolled this
012year as they matriculate through that program. Doug Paulson: So Limitless Learning Academy is continuing. And for a student going through the program, a student that's already enrolled, they will see, within their education, it's going to remain pretty much the same. The difference is we won't have a separate principal, a separate office staff, program specialist, all of those other positions, is that correct? Andrew McGuire: That's correct. Just the one caveat to that is that there is somebody, a clerical staff that works for the home school program that will be moving to a full time position in order to support some of those needs for the Limitless students. Doug Paulson: Okay. I think that's very important because that Limitless Learning Academy program has been very successful, as we've seen. And it's very important for those students and
013families. So very happy to hear that that will be continuing. If there is no other comment, we will close this public hearing. Moving on to item five, a report from CSEA, chapter 150. Noemi Navarrete: Oh thank you. Yeah. I'm just kidding. Well, good evening everyone. Well, I'm just going to read off what is here? Okay. No jokes today. I'm just going to behave. I proudly stand here as the president of CSEA. I speak not only on behalf of classified staff who dedicated their who dedicate their lives to the district, but also on behalf of the students whose futures are shaped by the decisions made in this room. Tonight, I must speak candidly about the process surrounding the hiring of our next superintendent. Let me be clear. This is a moment of incredible importance. The selection
014of a superintendent is not just an administrative task. It is a moral and strategic commitment to the value we hold as a district. Values of equity, excellence, collaboration, and student centered decision making. And yet, the process thus far has felt troubling opaque . When decisions are made behind closed doors, when voices from the classroom sites and departments are not actively invited into the conversation, the message that sent is not neutrality. It's not efficiency, it's indifference. And indifference, whether intentional or not, is a form of harm. Lack of transparency erodes trust. It silences those who know our school's best. It tells our educators that their insight is not valued, and worse, it tells our students that their life experiences. I'm sorry. I'm just very disappointed. Not because it's Andy. I'm just disappointed in the process and
015tells our students that their lives, experiences in our classrooms do not matter in shaping the future leadership of this district. We cannot afford to treat this hire as a matter of convenience or expediency. We must treat it as a matter of deep responsibility. We ask for it. What we ask for is very simple. A transparent, inclusive process, a clear and public outline of how decisions are being made and how and who is involved. A meaningful opportunities for staff, parents and students to share what kind of leader they believe this district needs. We are not asking to micromanage. We are asking to be respected partners in shaping the district of our schools, because the superintendent does not lead alone. They lead in concert with every educator, every staff member, and every student and every family. So
016let's be clear. Transparency is not a burden. It is a basic requirement of ethical leadership. It is what builds trust and ensures our district moves forward. United, not fractured. This moment is not just about hiring a superintendent. It is about choosing what kind of district we want to be. Do we want to be the district that values collaboration, voices from the ground, and shared vision? Or do we want to be adrift further from those ideals in the name of expediency? We urge you, our board to lead with integrity, openness and courage. Include us. Hear us. Work with us and together we will build a stronger, more equitable future for every student we serve. Thank you. Doug Paulson: Thank you. Moving on to the Escondido Elementary Educators Association. Brandi Krepps: Good evening president Paulson, school board
017members, Doctor Ibarra and cabinet. I want to begin this evening by thanking all the hard working, certificated staff that have proven their dedication and commitment to serving the community of Escondido and its children. I want to recognize the incredible work that is done in classrooms and support staff each day. Thank you as well to all of our classified staff members who support our school sites. As the president of the Escondido Elementary Educators Association, I am here to speak on behalf of the certificated staff of our district who reach out to me for support. I'm here to make sure that memberships' voices are shared. There are times that I am criticized for standing here and sharing the certificated staff's frustrations. I represent the members of this district, and my role is to speak for those who
018request for me to do so. I work for our certificated staff and the students of this community. Neither side wants to hear about the things we do wrong. However, as leaders in this district, we must hear the good, the bad, and the ugly. And that's what I am here to do. Our certificated staff are questioning the leadership in our district, as there have been so many rumors, not any more, floating around that they don't understand what's true and what's fiction. California Education Code 35028 states that quote A person shall be eligible to hold a position as a district superintendent unless the person is a holder of both a valid school administration certificate and a valid teacher certificate unless the person is employed as a deputy associate or assistant superintendent in a purely clerical capacity. End
019quote. I've been told that there is a waiver that permits you to appoint Mr. McGuire to this important position. However, he has no teaching experience. He's been in our district for four years and has never led a school site. He has no ties to the Escondido community. We have a shifting of principles and there is a lot of cabinet leadership changes. This is not the time to rush to this decision. The secrecy and the lack of transparency doesn't promote a climate of trust within our district. Both certificated and classified staff have asked for a search to be done, to find the best qualified person to run the district, and we want to understand why you are rushing to make this important decision. In your own board governance handbook, the mission of the district is as
020follows. The Escondido Union School District, in partnership with our children, employees, parents and community members, is committed to universal student achievement. Partnership with the community seems to have been lost here. In that same handbook you have four focus goals, one of which states positive culture and diversity. Continue to build a collaborative culture which promotes creativity, responsibility and trust among all stakeholders, where diversity and equity are valued. Trust among stakeholders has been broken when you hide your plans from the stakeholders you are sworn to represent. I don't take my responsibility as an elected leader lightly, and nor should you. And finally, from the handbook, school Board trustees are the representatives of the people elected to ensure the district schools educate the children in consideration of the interests of the local community. The role of the school
021board is to govern the school district. And your responsibility is to do the right thing for the people you represent. So please don't do what is what's easy. Do what's right. As a mentor and a support system for our site administrators, our superintendent should have the experience to guide our site admin in a direction that supports them with their leadership challenges. The person who sits in the superintendent seat should be able to understand what our site administrators need and properly onboard them when they are newly hired to their respective positions. As you are all aware, EEEA put out a survey to certificated members asking what they would like to see in our new superintendent. One of the questions regarding the experience needed to be a superintendent gave three choices, all of which could be chosen.
022Here are the results of the 456 who answered the survey. 65.1% of these answers are staff members of EUSD. 34.9% of them are both residents and staff of EUSD. 91% said that they must have ten years or more of teaching experience to be our superintendent. 74.8% said that the person must hold an administrative credential and have experience in school site leadership, as required by Ed code. 0.7%, that's less than 1%, said that no experience in education was necessary, and 61.6% of the respondents said they wanted to search to be done. A major concern that came up this year, causing mistrust, was the handling of an administrator in our district who has been verbally abusive to staff members on his site. The district leadership listened to the stories, investigated the stories, and handled this administrator by
023giving him a new position at the district office. This particular administrator was also in charge of our new principals to mentor them. EEEA has over a decade of documentation of complaints, and although there are many who support this administrator, I am here to support the many who have been demoralized by this man. Why was a new position created for him as opposed to returning him to the classroom? And I can think of several of our site administrators who would have thrived in his new position. And let me be clear, the principals in this district are amazing. We have a few that need some help. We are not calling for punishment. We're calling for transparency. We are asking that the processes that are in place for making important decisions be followed and honored. We recognize that
024you have the ultimate say in what your decision will be regarding our new superintendent. But we are asking for you to explain how you come to your decision. If we are going to be truly collaborative, then let's be collaborative. And if you have no intention of being collaborative, then just let us know. So we don't continue to have faith that we are valued. Accountability isn't just for teachers. It should begin at the top and show the community that we have integrity as a district, that we make decisions not out of loyalty to our friends, but out of dedication to our students. They deserve that. It's a moot point to do the search now, but find someone qualified to run this district. Involve parents, educators, and students in the process as you were elected to do.
025I make a solemn promise to you that if you make a decision that is not in the best interest of our community in our district, I will stand at this podium and hold each and every one of you accountable, and I will not be alone. It is now up to you to make the right decisions and stand by them. Thank you. Doug Paulson: All right. All written communications have been distributed. Moving on to item F consent items. Are there any items to be pulled for separate consideration? Joan? Miss Gardner? Dr. Luis Ibarra: I2. Joan Gardner: I2 . Doug Paulson: All right. We are going to pull item I2 . No, I don't think so. Joan Gardner: For a separate vote. Doug Paulson: I don't think it's I2. Zesty Harper: Is it J2. Doug Paulson: No.
026Joan Gardner: Yeah it is. I 2. I consent items, educational services. Doug Paulson: Awespired Education. Got it. Okay, so item I two is being pulled for separate consideration and vote. All right. Then let's vote on the remainder of the consent items. Unless there is something else. All right. Looking for a motion for the consent agenda, except item I two. With J2 is pulled. It's not on the agenda any longer. Joan Gardner: So I'll. I'll make the motion to approve the consent agenda. Minus item I two. Mark Olson: I'll second. Doug Paulson: All right. Miss Gardner moves. Mr. Olson seconds. All in favor? Please vote. Please. And motion passes, 5 to 0. All right. Moving back to item I two. Agreement with Awespired Education. Can we get some background on this, please? Dr. Luis Ibarra: Yes.
027This is this agreement is with Kimberley Israel is starting their own consulting group, and we're going to need her help to help with the continuity of the Community Schools grant. We've got a new person that we've just hired, and Doctor Philyaw directly supervised this person. So the two people most familiar with the grant and kind of where we are, we don't want to lose momentum. So this will allow us to contract and provide some additional support as needed with Kimberley. Doug Paulson: And discussion. Joan Gardner: Okay. So my position is when I read the the presentation and the and the contract that last meeting we had Kimberly Israel come before us because she was retiring, tearfully. And I had no idea that that she was forming her own contracting business. But here we are. But
028we had a year of the community schools grant. We received a report on the on the progress, and we hired someone to take Kimberly's place. But now in the in the year that passed. My position is that Kimberly Israel should have been preparing whoever was going to take her place or her or the or the entire team that she would be leaving, and she needed to leave some continuity behind. So I can't, it just galls me that we're going to pay a person who was in charge of the program and who left the program, resigned, to come back now and consult on how to run the program from the outside. So I have to choose to vote against this. Doug Paulson: And I understand that. I think my position on this one would be possibly.
029It would have been nice if that had been, if that had happened. Certainly. The person who is taking over the position wasn't with the district at the time, so couldn't have been trained over the past year. I think the bigger thing to me in this case, though, is our our primary goal here is providing excellent services to our students. So now we have a leadership. I don't want to say a leadership vacuum, but we don't have someone who can oversee this with the knowledge at the level that Kimberly Israel had. I will be supporting this not because it's ideal, but because we really owe it to our students to get them the best possible services and to continue providing the best possible program for them. Joan Gardner: I'd like to make another point which which
030occurred to me. When we first approved the community schools grant the thought was that it might lean too heavily on the social emotional side and not enough on the academic side. So we tried to make clear, in my mind, I tried to make clear that it would focus heavily on the academic as well, and that we'd have some someone lead it that way. So I thought this was an opportunity, maybe because I know Kimberly Israel basically was, is a social worker. That was. That's her. Her bent. So I thought we we would focus more heavily on the academic again. And I don't know why that can't be the case now. I mean, we do have qualified people. We have people who have been working in this program now, the community schools program throughout the district,
031at the designated schools, and to have it rolling along. I would think they don't need constant supervision. So. In any case, that's my, those are my thoughts. Doug Paulson: Thank you, Miss Harper. Frank Huston: I just, I just had I agree with Joan. Is there any concerns that this will not be, that the person that we put in charge of this will not be able to keep it flowing? If it was a brand new program, I could see the concern. But it's already at year end. Things are in place, and now we're going to pay an outside consultant to assist the new director or the new person in charge to keep it flowing. And I, I have a concern with that because if there was a concern reference this person coming in and doing the
032job, would we not then find someone that we had no concern with? Dr. Luis Ibarra: There's no concern about them able to do the job. We just need somebody to kind of orient them on what has already been established. Because the community schools progress. Every school is working on their. There are some oversight responsibilities and really the logistics is where everything is. I wouldn't be able to, the the person who best knows is Kimberly and Doctor Philyaw also was the one that was directly overseeing that program. So we just need someone to orient them and get them up to speed so that we don't lose the momentum that we have. Doug Paulson: Mr. Olson. Mark Olson: Thank you. I, too, share the concerns. I have. You know, from the looks of things that look strange.
033In reading the contract, it does. We have options. It sounds like this is a not to exceed dollar figure. And we will only be billed for the services that are rendered. So I guess the question I have is should we support this? Will the board be getting regular updates to to the questions that have been asked? If we feel that the individual who now is on site and on staff to to govern this is doing an adequate job? Dr. Luis Ibarra: Yeah. Mark Olson: Then we can sever this contract because it's no longer needed. Dr. Luis Ibarra: Absolutely. Yes. We can provide regular updates. I mean, we can get them up to speed. You know, we could even shorten the term of it. We just need to have, because there actually are two components. We've
034got the community Schools grant. But there was also the other grant. The [indistinct]. There was another grant that was helping us with the sustainability that provide the Medi-Cal reimbursable. It's another component that we're able to take advantage of some reimbursements to be able to now recoup some dollars that will provide us an adequate funding source to continue some of the mental health services in our district. So it's, there's certain, there's certain aspects of that we can get Medi-Cal to reimburse us for certain actions, such as, like our nurses, whenever they offer procedures. But we're looking that now into our social workers and counselors. And she was helping us get that set up. We got that grant for, was that that. Actually, Patrick has a little bit more background. You can talk a little bit about
035the [Chibi?]. Yep. Come to the mic. Patrick Newton: DHCS and the Medi-Cal is one of the ways in which we can recoup funds, like Doctor Ibarra said, for speech and language pathology, school psychology work, nurses, a range of programs. They've developed, kind of an offshoot of our Medi-Cal billing where a different fee schedule can be utilized in our mental health professionals working in our district can get on a different recruitment scale so that they can start building their own services and we can recruit more of those funds, hopefully, in the effort to make those mental health professionals more sustainable in the district throughout the year. We received an implementation grant from the San Diego County Office of Education. Kimberly was helping supervise the that program to ensure that we had all the infrastructure in place
036in terms of having a platform that they could build. Each provider needs an NPI number so that they can bill through Medi-Cal. And so there's some logistical components that she was supervising. And as we move forward into that, it is going to be a little bit of a shift for our mental health professionals. So the hope was that she was going to, as a part of this contract, continue on supervising that and helping motivate and facilitate our mental health providers in recouping some of the costs through the good work that they're already doing in our schools. Joan Gardner: So my question is, why didn't you just stay and finish that job when she was employed by the district? That's all. Doug Paulson: I think that would call for a bit of speculation that I don't
037think Mr. Patrick would be qualified to make. Zesty Harper: I know it was a rhetorical question. Doug Paulson: I got it. I got it. Frank Huston: And my question. They're currently doing this billing currently, correct? [Patrick Newton speaking off camera, inaudible] And they don't understand how to do that? I'm still I'm I'm I'm trying to wrap my head around what exactly the supervisory component is that we can't on ourselves figure out, the employee themselves can't figure out. Because if it's already in place and we're just trying to increase it, is my question. I mean, do you understand what my question is? I mean. Patrick Newton: Yeah . Yeah. There's a number of different kind of infrastructure programs that you have to access there, a number of meetings you have to meet with Medi-Cal as a
038means to get all of our providers moved from our LEA BOP billing system, which they're currently accessing at a lower rate into the CYBHI billing software and platform. And and although we will work with our existing paradigm companies so that they can bill that way, there's a lot of behind the scenes logistical components in which those billable hours need to be submitted to a different department. And so there's some liaison work that needs to go into that. There's also some professional development that our school social workers and counselors will need as you go through what is necessary to document for each treatment session. The, there's a certain amount of information that we need from parents through our referral for service or the referral for service form needs to be altered, and they need to collect
039certain information from families that our families have not provided yet. So there's a number of logistical details still to be worked out. Frank Huston: M y further question would be is if this consulting contract wasn't being offered to the district, would we then fall apart? Dr. Luis Ibarra: I don't. We would not fall apart. No we would. We would Frank Huston: W ould we... Dr. Luis Ibarra: We'd get him up to speed as best we could. And they would have to. But it will be a much slower process. What we didn't want to do is lose momentum in this process. So they'll have to. We'll get them up to speed as much as possible. But it won't be our sites, hit the ground running. Last year it took a while just to get it all
040set up. We wanted to keep that momentum, but. Frank Huston: Thank you. Doug Paulson: So I have a question. How complex is this grant? Both of them, both the community schools grant and the this other one. Because I know about grant reporting. I've been working for the last two weeks, about eight hours a day on a grant, and I'm too retired and am still going at it. So how complex are these? Joan Gardner: Are you getting paid to consult? Doug Paulson: No, I am not. Patrick Newton: Nor am I. [laughter] The one would say is far more complex than the other is community schools. Touches all of our all, each and every one of our the schools that are engaged in it. There's a reporting every school needs to submit reports that are pretty thorough.
041A lot of data needs to be collected. Many stakeholder meetings need to be made. They need to be held as well as the steering committee for community schools. So I would say that one is far more complex than nuanced than than certainly the Medi-Cal billing component of the separate process. Doug Paulson: But I think the answer is these are incredibly complex grants. And yes, we hit the ground running largely because we had qualified people in place to get us hitting the ground running. And. Yeah, that's fine. People led by a person who who was able to get things running. I just I have the feeling that if we want it to continue running at an exemplary clip, we make sure there's a transition. And yes, it's unfortunate that someone retired or or or resigned, whatever
042we want to call it. But those things happen. And so I, I mean, I am in favor of supporting our students by making sure this grant runs at the most efficient level possible. Other comments. I'm sorry we've gotten to you because that's my second time around. Dr. Luis Ibarra: The Community Schools grant is a $20 million grant that we get over five years. So it is substantial for our district. Zesty Harper: So I had a couple questions, and I kind of see this in two different areas. And I thank you, Joan, for bringing this up to our attention. So what was the timeline of Kimberly giving notice. We finding the replacement and the replacement started. Was there overlap to that? And how long did we have notice that she she was going to leave? Because
043I don't recall and you might not recall it. That's kind of. Dr. Luis Ibarra: ...recall. I do know that we we hired, we appointed the the new community schools coordinator at the last meeting. Zesty Harper: Right. Dr. Luis Ibarra: And I do know that I just met with her on Monday and Kimberly's last day was, I want to sat, today, Friday? So yeah. So there really is no, there wasn't an overlap. Zesty Harper: But you still had to put out a request, right, for people to apply? Dr. Luis Ibarra: And and she doesn't officially start till July 1st. So the new person. Zesty Harper: Well because I think I mean I think we should be taking example from like the maintenance department, they have put in place a lot of training programs and a lot
044of overlap for these types of situations, so we can continue the service is uninterrupted, especially on something as complex as a $20 million grant. And so that that is concerning to me of that that wasn't set up properly and I don't know if she would stay. So I'm not I'm not trying I'm not trying to give a hard time to Kimberly at all. I she did a fantastic job. She loved this grant. I know she would like to help continue it because it was so important to her. So I'm not trying to specify. I think it's a bigger issue that if we have these larger projects and we're not cross-training or setting up for continuity because people can leave at any time, they can quit any time. So that that's my one, one part of
045it. And I'm sure there is tons of documentation of what has already happened this year and what needs to continue. But on the other side, I am not comfortable at all with a former employee coming back so quickly. And consulting with us, that's kind of like, you know, you leave Congress and then you turn around and you become a lobbyist. I'm not. Again, I know Kimberly loves this project. I'm not saying it specifically about her. I'm saying in general, I'm not comfortable with someone coming back to our district and trying to get a contract or, you know, consultant or anything like that. That's just an uncomfortable for me, especially so quickly after. It's one thing if it's, you know, five years later, but so quickly after her leaving or an employee leaving, I don't want
046to be again. I'm sorry, Kimberly, I don't want to be. I'm not trying to be specific to you, but I am not comfortable with that situation at all. So I would not be voting for this. And again, we do like you said we have. We hired a very competent person who we were told has experience and we're still working. You know, they're still not done with the with the billing issue. So she's going to have to get up to speed. But that's just the situation. Again, I'm not comfortable with that. Doug Paulson: Mr. Olson. Mark Olson: I don't really have anything further. I've asked my questions. I do have concerns about the timing of this and what the appearance of this suggests. Not that the work doesn't need to be done, but from a transparency
047standpoint, I just I have some concerns that I think could have been avoided. And that's pretty much what I would say. Doug Paulson: All right. And so I would. Mr. Huston, Miss Gardner or anything else. Okay. So I would just like to also make the point that if we had asked Kimberly to stay on for another month, six weeks, we would have paid. Not as much, but something similar for a continuation of her salary. But we wouldn't have had the time period for the consulting. And with that, I'm going to call the question. I'm going to make a motion to approve the contract. And wondering if there is a second. Seeing none, the motion dies and the item fails. All right. Moving on, and I'm sorry. I'm. It's going to take me a minute to
048get. Okay. We've got our LCAP report. Item L one. Andrew McGuire: Assembling the team now. So tonight this presentation will be our LCAP, our budget. And really what this is this is the plan for our next school year. Financially, programmatically, just the concept of what our district will be for the next school year. And so to not belabor at that point, we're going to first start with going through some of the items in our actually in our LCAP. So we have Kathleen ready to go. Kathleen Sorenson: Good evening. This year will be the second year of a three year cycle for the 24 through 27 LCAP. I'm going to be sharing a summary of the actions, including included in this year's LCAP. You might notice that there are some actions in the LCAP that are
049no longer funded. I just wanted to explain that once within a three year cycle, once we add an action, we can't remove it from the document, but we can opt to not fund it. So that's why you would see those actions with with no funding, with the exception of a couple, that we just simply don't need that action anymore. Most of the actions have not changed from the 24-25 LCAP . So this evening I'm only going to focus on the actions that are new or have changed. So I'm I'm projecting all of the actions, but I'll just talk about the highlighted actions. So the first action is the framework for the future. And this action covers the contract with the Learner Centered Collaborative as well as funding as subs to release teachers for PD, and
050some extra hours for teachers to complete some online training. This year, the funding is moving to Educator Effectiveness, which is a one time state grant which we have to spend down by the end of next school year. The next thing that's changing is the home school program. And I know you're familiar with the home school program. It provides one teacher and a half time clerk to support families who wish to be the primary teacher for their their students. Next year, this will be switching to supplemental concentration funding. Then next we have Limitless Learning. And as discussed earlier Limitless will becoming will be excuse me, becoming a program. And as a program now is eligible to be funded with supplemental concentration funding, so we will be funding it with that. Then you can read all of
051the actions that aren't highlighted. And in goal two, which is build a culture centered on whole learner outcomes including engagement, social, emotional, cognitive and mental health needs of learners. This particular goal has the most actions and there are no extensive changes. So this slide just has the rest of the actions. Then finally goal three is around safety. So it's ensuring enabling conditions are in place for a shared vision enabling policies, resource allocation, trust, and safety. And the one thing that is a substantial change is enhancing noontime duty support, safety crossing guards and security camera monitoring. You might recall that last year, we asked your approval to add some items to this action in the middle of the school year. So this represents those changes. T he item in the original plan from the beginning of
052last year was just enhanced noontime safety duty support. We added the crossing guards and the security. Excuse me, I can't talk tonight. Security camera monitoring. Zesty Harper: I just wanted to say I appreciate you breaking it down. Like with the first three pages, it's very clear and concise to see the breakdown of the money instead of a big old packet. So I appreciate how it's laid out like you did. Kathleen Sorenson: I'm glad. Okay. I want to before I talk about this slide. You probably noticed that this LCAP is a little different because the reflection is quite a bit longer because we are now asked to give a little bit of data and reflection on every single action item. So you'll find that most of the action items have their own data. There are a
053couple that that shared some data, like there were several instructional based items that that shared the i-ready data or the CAASPP data. And in some of those items the data, particularly in I-ready, showed that there wasn't a lot of growth. And so in the document I wrote that we would be reviewing end of year data. I'm pleased to report that nearly all of the CAASPP data is in. I think that the last time I checked, The night before last, we were only missing 50 scores in ELA and 20 in math. So they're not. I don't anticipate that they're going to change at all. And when we look at them district wide. So as we look at this, this data just a little reflection on the past school year, which encompassed a lot of change in
054the area of instruction we had a lot of intervention and coaching positions that had been in place the prior year. They were eliminated and four through eighth grade class size reduction was eliminated. So there were quite a few new challenges for classroom teachers. So while our CAASPP stores don't represent the growth we wanted, we we are pleased that we have some district wide growth and some of our schools and grade levels have some substantial growth. So I just wanted to talk a little bit about this preliminary data. This is the the CAASPP ELA results. And it's comparing last year's results with this year's results. And in ELA you can see that the percentage of students scoring scoring at standard exceeded increased by 1.32. The percent of students scoring at met stayed about the same, with
055a slight decrease of 0.27, little over a quarter of a percent. That gave us a net gain of students scoring at met or exceeded of 1.05 improvement over the prior year. Then you also might notice that the the red area at the bottom is a little bit shorter than it was last year. The percentage of students scoring at standard not met decreased by 2.38. And it's really important to remember that our goal is always to increase the greens and the blues while we decrease the red, because we do have a large section of our student population that is in the red in both assessments. And it's definitely a priority to bring those kids out of that band. Then if you look at math, our math results were a little better than our ELA . The
056percentage of students scoring at standard exceeded increased by 1.22 over the prior year. The percentage of students scoring at met increased by 1.06, giving us a net gain of 2.28 over the prior year, and then the percentage of students scoring at not met decreased by 1.86. So we're going to continue to monitor assessment results as well as classroom observations to develop and adjust our professional development work and services. Well, the gains are small. We believe that they can be attributed to systems and very intentional systems and structures that we put in place last year, and we continually review and adjust. And Mr. Ozer is going to speak to those systems and structures. Dr. Luis Ibarra: So before we leave the data, just the board will start getting disaggregated data so we can start looking at
057it by school. And then of course we're going to replicate the data book, the comprehensive data book so that we could do a thorough presentation deep dive into our data. In in August is what we're shooting for. So we can do it much, much quicker. And it's relevant. Rick Oser: Well, thank you, Kathleen, and good evening boardd, and I'm really excited to take some time and give a bird's eye view of some of the changes and some of the intentionality behind the 25-26 plan. So this slide is titled Sharpening the Saw. Strengthening from within. It references Stephen Covey's work as a young college student coming out of the military. One of the first books I read was Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and it's a book that I constantly am referencing. And so these
058title, the next two slides are really titled Sharpening the Saw. It's very intentional. I'm thinking of ways that we collectively will strengthen and find renewal from within as an essential habit. So the other thing that you probably notice is that looking at the LCAP . There's not a whole lot of really significant changes happening across the LCAP , and that's intentional. We know that there's significant changes happening in our district. We also know that we're under very challenging financial constraints. And also, this is the second year of our LCAP. So what you will notice is that there aren't any new large initiatives. No curriculum adoptions. No huge changes. Instead that we are really being very intentional with the implementation of the the initiatives that are in in process. Also this title references that rather than
059than the intent is to lean into our greatest resource, which is our EUSD staff, and to strengthen from within. There are many variables that impact student learning. Research shows that the two greatest influencers are the teacher and the site administrator. So these slides will reference the the efforts that we're taking to really be intentional, outcome driven and focus on refinement. This slide that you have in front of you focuses on the greatest impact to student learning teachers and our instructional staff. The 24-25 PD focus was on tier two and tier three intervention. There's a reason for that. As Kathleen mentioned, we had many intervention teachers across the district who were providing that tier three intervention. Without that body of intervention teachers, a lot of that fell on classroom teachers. And so we created a structure
060of universal access time and personalized learning and really leaned into that work. And so the professional development was maximizing the those those structures, the universal access time and personalized learning. The 25-26 PD is going to pivot. We're now going to actually focus on tier one instruction. So thinking about the first teach being the best teach. So we're we're also going to maximize the potential of our teacher leaders as they provide PD throughout the year starting with our PD kickoff day. So on August 13th we're going to have an optional yet paid professional development day where our teacher leaders are going to provide the majority of that professional development. We're really excited about that because there's going to be two elements. One, our teachers will receive that professional development, best instructional practices, but also our teacher
061leaders will elevate and they'll become not only teacher leaders at their school site, but across the district. So once again strengthening from within. In addition, we will continue to focus on best practices to support our English learners. We know that our English learners require lots of additional support, lots of additional intervention. And so last year, the PD really focused on staff development and during staff meetings and really developing those or implementing those best instructional practices. Kathleen led most of the work with her team, and so that was really well received. We're going to continue that focus, and we're going to focus on beginning of the year, starting with Avid Emerge. So that will once again be an optional PD where teachers will come in, they'll receive this training. And it's Avid, Avid strategies, but also
062focused on English learners. And another evidence of that commitment to strengthening from within is continuing to strengthen, strengthen our professional learning communities. This is an area that we have really focused on over the past several years. We know that collective efficacy is the single greatest influencer of student achievement, and so PLC work is the way to achieve that. So we know that the with the cuts, we've reduced the enrichment wheel. So we will have elementary schools will have enrichment will every other week. But we'll continue to leverage that work. And in addition, we have also identified strategies so that teachers will have, elementary teachers will have additional release time, three hour blocks or half day blocks, so that they can do a deep dive into that work. So it might not be every other week,
063but it will still provide that opportunity. And then something that all of you know is near and dear to my heart is the Expanded Learning Program. Expanded Learning Program continues to be an opportunity where we can provide that additional tier two and tier three intervention. There's been a lot of work on maximizing that time. I'm giving teachers the opportunity to provide that instruction, as well as students the opportunity to receive that necessary instruction. So we're going to continue to to maximize expect expanded learning opportunities as a means to provide additional support. And then finally, in regards to supporting our teachers and instructional staff, we're going to continue to leverage the incredible achievements obtained by the Community Schools grant and really fortified the district's MTSS multi-tiered system of support. So that's something that we're going to
064continue to to lean into and support. So not just the academic face of that pyramid, but also attendance, social, emotional and behavioral. So these are some of the strategies that we're going to continue to lean into to support our teacher instructional staff. And then moving on to. Zesty Harper: Can I ask a couple questions? Sorry on that page. I don't want to mess up your roll, but so how many teachers, and it might be too early for this. How many teachers are signed up for those optional PDs already? Rick Oser: It is too early. Zesty Harper: It is too early. Rick Oser: Okay. So so something that we've been doing over the past several months was we actually identified teacher leaders in the area of different differentiation. And we brought together this dynamite team of
065experts in this area. So classroom teachers who are just highly skilled at providing differentiation. So we met with that team several times towards the middle of the year towards the end of the year. And it was really powerful, like getting these like minded teachers in the same room, sharing their strategies and enthusiasm and excitement. It was like mind blowing. It was just some incredible work that was happening. Zesty Harper: I sat in on that zoom. It was really impactful. They had a lot of great ideas that they, the other teachers, seemed to really grab a hold of. It was really excellent. Rick Oser: So what we have there. Andrew McGuire: On the on the other PD, we do know numbers for that. For the Avid one it's 80 elementary and, am I on it ?,
06680 elementary and 30 middle school teachers are doing the Avid merge training. So that one we do already have signups for. Zesty Harper: Out of. Wait. So 50, did you say 30 and ten? 80 oh 80. Sorry. Andrew McGuire: And 30. 80 elementary and 30 middle school teachers are signed up for that training. Zesty Harper: So about 10%? About 10%? Andrew McGuire: Sure. Rick Oser: And then on the August 13th PD we are actually in the process of receiving nominations for workshops. The teachers are going to lead the workshops. And then once we have that menu complete, then we will reach out to the teaching staff and invite them to sign up for the for the workshops. So they're actually going to have about probably 12 to 15 different sessions every hour that they can
067choose from. So it's really responsive to teacher needs. So thinking about if I'm a second grade teacher and I want to enhance my, my skills and providing differentiated core instruction in this area, then I'm going to go to that workshop. And then the next session I'm going to use a workshop that meets my needs. So it's all going to be teacher driven and provide lots of teacher choice. Zesty Harper: Is that ever tracked like the teachers that do participate in these PDs, if they see the growth throughout the year? Rick Oser: That's something that we haven't done before. But that is actually a really great question. And great insight is something that we could do because the goal is is to bring tier one, right? Zesty Harper: Tier one. It comes down to tier one.
068That's right. Rick Oser: Yeah. And. Zesty Harper: That's the only way we're getting out of this is tier one. Rick Oser: And exactly. And so we've really shifted the model to think about. Before the message was tier one core instruction. But we know that effective teachers differentiate in tier one. They don't wait for tier two right. They don't wait for students to struggle. Yes, some students are going to struggle. But really if if we plan intentionally and we plan with the scaffolds and the differentiation in mind and we learn from each other's best practices, then we will be more successful with tier one, there'll always be a need for tier two and tier three intervention. However, if we can plan intentionally, then we'll be able to reduce the need for it. Tier two is a
069direct response to the first stage. Zesty Harper: Right. Rick Oser: So let's not wait for students to struggle. Let's provide those resources and and supports in the in the first. In the first teach. Zesty Harper: So how is that if that's the focus, how is that being monitored through the year? Like what? What kind of because you're talking about you're focusing on supporting English learners and that type of thing. So we have the PD. But then and then you have the PLC time. How else is it being monitored and shaped throughout the year or and if I'm getting ahead of you I apologize. Rick Oser: That's actually a great leeway to the next slide. So the next slide really leans into the the work that we've been doing with the administrators. So thinking about our
070administrators and a big part of that work was was the first of all we implemented a new strategy this year or this year that's now concluding the administrative dashboard. That was something that we as a district leadership team rolled out and supported principles with. It was a great initiative and really had a huge impact on, I am on the right side. Had a really huge impact. But also, we didn't roll it out. And in July when principals returned, we actually waited and then rolled it out in August, introduced it September. And it was really like October by the time we actually got some traction with it. We know the course, we know where we need to go. And so we're going to continue to lean into that strategy. And and what it does is it
071really helps administrators create a laser like focus. This year we're going to make some changes to it. We're going to continue to be data driven. And I'm really focused on building that culture of data driving decisions. And then as I mentioned, we're going to start that work this summer, so we're not going to wait for the you know, October when the year is already underway. So that's going to be a key key piece something else that we really focused on last year was schools and teams doing a really thorough needs assessment. So looking at the data and identifying like what is the data telling us. And then engage in root cause analysis. That's something that that we Kathleen actually led a lot of this work giving teachers this opportunity or principals this opportunity to ask
072the question why? So if the data is telling us a story, ask the question why? And don't stop after the first response. Keep asking why until we get down to what is the root cause. So if you have a grade level that is accelerating in math, keep asking that question why? Why do we see this this impact with this grade level. If you ask it long enough, you'll actually get down to to the the root cause of it, which then you want to to share across the school staff and and really focus on it. Now, if you have a grade level that is struggling in the area, then you want to continue to ask that same question, why? Why are we seeing these results? And don't just stop at the first answer because it's never
073the first answer. You have to go deeper and deeper and deeper. So we're going to continue to do emphasize needs assessment and root cause analysis. And then we're going to focus on enhancing school wide systems and structures. That was the big focus this year. Universal access time. MTSS. ELOP. Leveraging these these systems . PBIS. So that was the big big focus this year with principals identifying those systems and structures. We're going to continue to do that work, but we're going to be more intentional. Now we're going to say what is the single structure or or system that you're leaning into. And then go back to that needs assessment and root cause analysis. And then identify a school wide instructional practice. And that school wide instructional practice should not be something that is in a book
074or in a plan and no one sees. Whenever any of us visit the schools, it should be transparent, not only in academic achievement, but also in student engagement and school culture and climate. So when schools have that really laser like focus and everyone knows what the mission is and the, the the purpose, then that's where you actually see those significant changes. And the key part to that is celebrate, monitor, focus, get that feedback, and then celebrate the successes. So not just focusing on, you know, we're not there yet but actually celebrating. So that's going to be part of it. And then also we're really going to continue to lean into strategic instructional leadership. As as I mentioned, the two greatest factors are our teachers and our site administrators. But our site administrators need to continue
075to be to develop their instructional leadership. So we'll continue to support principals with that through our walkthroughs, through our coaching sessions, and through really expanding the their professional learning network. So when they have the opportunity, which they've had lots of opportunities this year to collaborate and share their best practices, that's where we've seen the greatest impact. So those are the two areas just kind of like, you know, bird's eye view of the of the plan and the direction that we're going in. And I think given the circumstances, we're on the right track. Andrew McGuire: All right. Thank you, Rick and Kathleen. Thank you. All right. Now we're going to get back into the financials. So as we always do at this time as we get to the end of the school year, we're still not
076done with the fiscal year. And so what we have here for you on the left side, this is where we estimate to end the year what our actuals would be when we when we finally do close those books at the end of the day on June 30th. And that work will have closing the books will continue on and we'll present that actually to you, our unaudited actuals. It's called in September. So there's a lot of work ahead of us. But this is based on where we are, where we're at as of a little bit ago, where we estimate forward how to end. But then on the right that represents the adopted budget that tonight we're just presenting to you. Of course, that's for adoption and by vote, at the next meeting next Tuesday. So we
077can just kind of walk you through that, as you can see. Our deficit estimated here on the left is ten, and now it's about 8.6 for adopted budget. That leaves us with that ending balance of about $20 million above our minimum reserve. And you can still see some of the commitments that we had made down there. Notably, like we set aside some money for our federal budget stability, just not know, not sure what might change with that, if anything. Michelle's going to talk a little bit more about that. Later in the presentation. But that becomes what we would present to you as our adopted budget. But really, let's look at that in the three year term, because that's really how we measure our our financial stability and our planning decision making. So in previous budget
078presentations, we've shown you numbers, the red numbers on top. And so all those numbers mean the same thing. Those are numbers that you see here within the MYP. We call it the multi-year projections. Those ending fund balances are based on there being a reduction of expenses of $6 million in each of those years or an increase in revenue or a combination of the both. So as it stands now, we don't project that our revenue is going to grow more than what we show here based on the projections from the state. And in fact, and we're going to go a lot deeper in this with some analysis that Michelle will come up and show you in a minute. But these are based on the projected COLAs, the adjustment up of our revenues in each of those,
079those two extra years beyond next year. And even with that included to maintain our financial stability and keep our ending fund balance above the minimum reserve, we need to reduce our expenses by about 6 million in each of those years. Now, I'm going to talk after we do a little bit of an analysis of what got us to this point financially. But then we're going to I'm going to come back up and talk about some things that are not included in here, because we're also still waiting for the state to finish the governor to sign the budget, to fully adopt the state budget. And so I'll talk to you about that here in a minute. Is there any questions on what you see right here though? Okay. All right. Michelle, you want to come up?
080Zesty Harper: I'm going to wait for Michelle. Andrew McGuire: Okay. So you'll get an analysis here of what got us to this point. Michelle Cagle: Hey. Good evening. I really want to deep dive, dive deep into COLA. The cost of living adjustment and how it really impacts our overall budget. Not not only in this current year, but in our multi-year projections. So the first time we really saw fiscal year 25-26 was two years ago, June of 23, and that was our third year in our multi year projection. At that time the state was projecting a COLA of 3.29%. We had an ADA of 95%, and that netted us a revenue of $203 million. Fast forward to two years today, sitting here adopting our 25-26 budget, and we're facing a COLA of 2.3% and ADA of
08193, and a revenue projection of $188 million. In these two years we lost revenue potential of $15 million. It's important to note that two years ago in June, we were making decisions and throughout the year, in the last two years on where we thought we would be financially at the end of the year. The state continues to decrease the COLA. The huge impact of that was this fiscal year, when we were projecting it to be 3.94% in 23-24, and it came in at a 1.07%. That not only impacts us in the year that we get it, but it impacts us throughout the rest of the multi year projections. Now, I kind of want to go into how the revenue is impacting or how the COLA impacted us this particular year, particular year. It's important to
082note just because COLA is 2.3%, it does not mean that we get an overall increase in revenue of 2.3%. The driving factor is our enrollment and our ADA. Assuming that we did get a straight 2.3% COLA on our prior year revenue in 25-26, we would have had a revenue projection of $4.3 million. Assuming that our ADA and our enrollment stayed static from this fiscal year 24-25, we would actually have a revenue reduction of $145,000 with the COLA of 2.3%. We were losing money. Our projected revenue for this budget is $289,000. That driving force is the TK add on that we have. We're projecting more TK enrollment next year than we did this year. So that's why you're seeing the increase from had we stayed static with our enrollment. So the question goes, how do you
083lose $145,000 on a 2.3% COLA? It's how we're funded. You're either funded on your current year ADA, your prior year ADA, or the three year rolling average. That three year average came into play during Covid so that we could avoid a fiscal cliff. We did that, and now we're kind of facing the fiscal hill that this has created. If you look at where we think our actual ADA is for 25-26, it's only a difference of 171 from 24-25. We, however, we're funded on the three year average, and we're starting to lose the momentum that we had of being held harmless and while being held harmless during those Covid years. And we're actually being, we're actually having a revenue reduction of 327 ADA. That's still more ADA than what we actually have. So that's why we're
084still on the funded three year average. Really what the whole purpose of this is to drive home is how quickly things change and how the state's economy impacts our decision making and our overall budget. Andrew McGuire: I just want to repeat a point. I stood here two years ago pretty close to this day and at that point looking forward. Just looking at the numbers here. See if this is going to work tonight. And it's not. I'm going to go all the way forward. Just looking at these numbers down here where we were when I stood before you, then for the 24-25 year and what we should expect for the the next year, we see that has been reduced because of the COLAs being cut across these years that happened since two years ago. And that's
085about what, $24 million that's been reduced from our revenue from where we thought we were then and all the decisions we made then, the plans we laid out then because the state cutting the COLA, of course, also mixing a little bit of our ADA not coming into where we had projected. And enrollment continued to decline. That's $24 million that left our spending power from where I stood here two years ago and presented some of the same information and plans for what we were going to do with that. So certainly what's happening in Sacramento and the decisions are being made with school funding are coming home to hurt us here, right here in Escondido. But that being said, like I told you, when we looked at the multiyear projection, there was still some things not included
086in that because they haven't finalized the governor hasn't signed the budget. You know, the legislature has approved it, but he hasn't signed it. So we know there's some negotiations still happening. And right now we're rooting for the governor to come come out on top of those negotiations, because the TK add ons. So we've always gotten a little bit more money per TK kid than other grade levels because of the ratios they require. They need to have a 10 to 1 ratio in those TK classrooms. We do that with a teacher and a para, right. And so they gave us a little extra per TK kid more than they did other grade levels to do that. In January the governor had proposed a number to increase that item, basically doubling it. But then as we've gone
087through the January proposal now to the May revise now to the legislature approving the budget, it's it's still an increase of more $2,300 more. But it was supposed to be even more than that. But either way, that based on our current projections for enrollment, should be an additional $1.8 million. Now, that's not a static number. That's not an ongoing. It's a it's an ongoing funding it that will continue as long as they don't cut that add on. But that's always based on enrollment, right. So for our current projected enrollment for next year, that should be worth about $1.8 million addition to what I showed you on that multiyear projection. Then there was years ago coming out of Covid, they had another one of the many different Covid fundings, one time monies, the Learning Emergency Block
088grant. I think they have a actually different name for it. We were calling it and we talked about the alert plan, and that was just a stand in for all the different one time monies that we brought together to to build our EOC plan. Michelle will go into that in more detail a little bit later as well. But when they had issued that's what you're going to get in the January to May to adopting the budget. They cut it by a little bit. And so the governor had proposed in January to restore what they had cut by that little bit. And for us in January, that would have been worth 3.7 million more in one time funding. But now that the legislature has approved and voted to approve the budget, as it stands, that's been
089reduced to $2.5 million. And again, that's one time money. So governor hasn't signed it yet. Chance it still goes back up. I'll leave it a little bit. And every little bit is going to help in what we saw earlier in a multiyear projections. But at this point, based on the legislature's approved budgets, $2.5 million of one time funding restricted funds. And then there's another a new block grant that the governor proposed in January. And at the time of his proposal, that to us would have been worth about $3.8 $8 million in one time funding. Again, another restricted resource. But since that's gone through the May revise and then the legislature approving the budget, they actually reduced that for us to be about worth $1.2 million. So again, hoping the governor wins the negotiation in his
090office before he signs it, that that can come up a little bit. Because every again, every bit of that's going to going to help us and those one time moneys especially that's really what built that EUSD plan, where we used all the one time monies we had remaining when we came out of Covid to offset a lot of our expenses and build our unrestricted ending balance for us to be able to buy time for the economy to stabilize so we can continue to stay solvent and protect all of the all of our people. But there's also one more thing that's included in the new budget that we've talked about previously. And now we have a lot more details about and that's the attendance recovery program. And really, that's something that ties into some of the
091work, a lot of the work or all the work that Rick does. And so Rick's going to come up and talk about what is the attendance recovery program and what are we going to do about it. Rick Oser: So it's nice to be back up here bringing a little bit of optimism to to the current financial or fiscal situation. And so there's a lot of conversation around attendance recovery. And so my hope is to give you overview. Identify some of the criteria, some next steps and why EUSD is really prime to, to be able to take advantage of this program. So attendance recovery is intended to provide students with the opportunity to make up for lost instructional time due to absences. We know that that's a very significant even coming out of the pandemic. So
092these sessions are offered outside the regular school day. Typically we would think of like after school spring break summer program. Saturdays. Sounds a lot like ELOP, right? So so that's a great thing. And students will participate in academic support or enrichment activities while the district recovers average daily attendance funding. So ADA funding. The criteria once again aligns perfectly with our ELOP . Instruction must be provided by EUSD certificated staff. The majority of our after school classes, as well as our summer program well the majority of the summer outside of when we have vendors is provided by EUSD certificated staff. So that's great. Instruction must be standards aligned. Whenever our teachers are teaching an after school class or a summer program, it's standards aligned. We still have some clarifying questions around this. When the state says
093standards aligned. We're curious as to what are they defining? Are they defining? English language arts standards, math standards, VAPA's standards, PE standards? So we need some clarity around that. Student teacher ratio is 20 to 1 for first through eighth grade and 10 to 1 for TK and kindergarten. That's directly in alignment with with Elop. And so all of our classes meet that ratio. And then ADA is recovered in increments of one hour. So according to this this program, the attendance recovery program, four hours equals one day of recovered ADA for first through eighth grade, and three hours will equal one day for TK and kindergarten. And then this is real critical. This is going to be part of the the quiz that's at the end. So just a little hint. Maximum amount of recovered ADA
094is ten days or the number of school absences, whichever is less. So if a student misses more than ten days, then we can only recover ten of those days. So next steps. These are real, actually very minor steps for EUSD. Not so much the case for other districts, but for EUSD. These are minor steps. Kathleen and her team. Once again, we've been as well as the fiscal services team. We've been working on ensuring that we're implementing these next steps right now. We're going to utilize Powerschool because we know that right now we use Google Sheets. And we have a gazillion of them. And that would make it really difficult for the fiscal services team to track and turn all of these these enrichment opportunities, these hours that are students are participating into recovered Attendance recovery.
095That would just be a nightmare. Kathleen said it's doable, but but we think that it would be a lot easier by using Powerschool. And we're already primed to do that. We're going to start doing that with this summer with the summer program that starts on Monday. We will also look at structuring our summer and spring programs. Right now, our summer program is 3.5 hours, and so. Right. So we didn't know that it's actually in increments of an hour. So every day of summer programing, we actually lose a half hour. So we'd probably shift to four hours with our EUSD teachers and then the additional five hours with the with the, the, the partner YMCA or Boys and Girls Club. So that's a, that's a minor shift. And then what we need to do is identify
096which of our after school classes qualify for attendance recovery. And then there's going to be a whole lot of behind the scenes work. So we're actually in the process of hiring additional staff to join the ELOP team to do some of this work behind the scenes, to make sure that it's all in alignment and and that we are in high collaboration with fiscal services as well as Kathleen's team. So as I mentioned, turnkey our district is really primed to to take advantage of this program. And the reason why is we the majority of our classes are teacher led and many, many districts have taken this ELOP funding. And instead of creating the structure internally, they've actually turned it over to an outside organization to come in and provide these ELOP classes. It has to be
097EUSD. It has to be district certificated staff leading these classes. If it's someone else, if it's even if it's a teacher but not employed by the district working for an outside organization, it doesn't count. So we're primed for that. And then also as as as you know, EUSD has created a culture where our students want to participate in these expanded learning opportunities, as well as where our teachers and staff want to participate in them, too. So so we're really excited about that. So what would this actually look like? We put together a couple examples here. So summer program starts on on June 23rd. But the attendance recovery program doesn't start until the new fiscal year. So July 1st. So if we just take student A and if student A participates in the 13 days between
098July 1st and July 18th and receives credit for three hours per day, we lose that on 0.5 because we're at 3.5 hours. So it'll be reduced to three, but that over the 13 days, that would equate to 39 hours. And even if we reduced that to 36 that would actually be nine days of recovered ADA for that student. Now, the school year hasn't even started and this student has banked nine days. So as the student is absent and we lose that ADA, we, we fiscal services, would work on getting credit for those missed missed days of school. Another option is student B attends the fall expanded learning session. That's from September 15th to just before Thanksgiving. If the students participating in two hours per week, ten weeks, that's 20 hours. We have five days of
099recovered ADA. Combo. This is a trick question. So student C attends this summer academic Enrichment Program, attends the Fall Extended Learning Session as well as the Spring Expanded Learning Session. Now, this student received credit for 39 hours for a summer, 20 hours for a fall, 20 hours for a spring session. I was going to cover this and see if if anyone could get the answer correct. Obviously that's a lot of hours, but the student can only receive credit for ten days. So even though this student has accumulated lots of days, we would only receive recovered ADA for ten. So just kind of like putting it in perspective what our program is currently doing, because EUSD was really thinking forward is we had 4,237 students participate in the fall session. We had five over 5000 students
100participate in the spring session. And as of Monday, we're going to have over 1700 students participate in the in the summer session. And so just thinking about moving forward, what that would look like. So. Joan Gardner: Yeah, I have a comment. I just think, I see the logic in the in the plan. I think it's a it's a good plan if it's if it's carried out as intended. First of all, not every student who attends the summer program is going to need to make up for ten days of absences. Obviously we have we have some kids who miss a lot of school. We have a lot of kids who don't, who might have 1 or 2 absences during the whole school year. So you can't count on a huge windfall either. And that shouldn't be
101the intention, because and my point is this, and I think the point of, of the attendance recovery is academic because every time a student is absent, especially for a block of time they look, there are gaps in their education that we not might not even be aware of, but that impedes their learning process. So I think it's really important. You weren't sure, but the fact that it's certificated teachers in our district that are required to teach it, they know their students. They know the district. And I think that's that's a good plan as well. So I really I hope we take this opportunity to help kids recover the gaps, not just to see it as a money making plan, but as an opportunity to help our kids recover academically. Rick Oser: Yeah. That's that's a
102great point and a great question. The reality is that we are going to continue to do what we're doing because it's the right thing providing academic intervention after school for students, for all students, regardless if they have perfect attendance or if they've missed many days. We know that that's a need. And so we're going to continue to to do that, because that's what our students need is, is that additional academic time. Joan Gardner: And oftentimes oftentimes those gaps start early in the in the very foundation of education. And again that's that's when they start to fall behind and can't keep up and and are frustrated. So yeah I think we need to start really early making sure that our kids master the basic the basic very basic skills. Rick Oser: Yes, we agree too. And
103what we're seeing is more and more of our teachers are taking advantage of the structure that we put in place for the academic intervention time. So these are teachers. Many of them are kindergarten, early early grade teachers who are actually holding on to a small group of students after school to provide that additional, as I said before, that tier two and tier three intervention. So and that's in English language development, it's in literacy, it's in math. And so we feel really good about this because we're doing the right thing already, and now there's a possibility of actually having some financial benefits on top of doing the right thing. And so we're I think we're primed to benefit, to continue the course with our robust ELOP program, but also to recoup some of the missed ADA.
104Doug Paulson: All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Oser, we are going to take a five minute break. We're going to come back to these same questions at 8:40 p.m.. Joan Gardner: Do you think, are we waiting for someone to come back into the room? Frank Huston: Yeah, we're waiting for... Joan Gardner: In case someone at home took a break? Andrew McGuire: Is it time? Doug Paulson: I will let you know. Andrew McGuire: Okay. Joan Gardner: Get the gong ready. Doug Paulson: I just not on the record yet because it's not 8:40 yet. But I was talking with the people from the extended learning program at the county Office of Education this week, and I was hearing yet again about the Escondido ELOP program. Apparently, across the county and across the state, districts are sending
105back to the state millions, tens of millions of dollars in funding because they simply cannot spend it. Our district, on the other hand, is not just spending it, but as you are, as you are pointing out, Miss Gardner, the point to these programs is not to earn money, and it's not to spend money. It's to provide opportunities for education and enrichment that are, there not necessarily when we're talking Elop going to teach the kids to read, but they are going to give it. What we're doing is giving them motivation to read, motivation to learn, connecting what they're doing in those programs to maybe what they want to do in the future and what they're learning in the classroom. So I just once again was extremely proud of the of our district's ELOP program in addition
106to other programs, but our emphasis on academics and on providing our students excellent opportunities. And with that, it is 8:41 and we're ready to continue. Andrew McGuire: Did you have any more questions on this before I wrap up this slide? So we included in this that there is a revenue potential that the state still has not released. They've given us the rules how to get to the ADA recovery, but have not released how that funding will be given to us, how it's earned and whatnot. It's being treated differently than Saturday school, which is an existing program. So we're still waiting for that to be updated from the state so we can even address a, you know, assess what our revenue potential could be. But again, that's not the point. And this is great because we're
107already doing all of these things and building into this already with our after school enrichment summer school spring time all the time we can possibly get with these kids in enrichment. That's what's been our focus all along. Now we just happen to be able to earn some revenue by doing what we're already doing. And many of our peers are not, to your point. Joan Gardner: So the one question I would have then is, it seems strange to me that you could bank these hours in advance. Andrew McGuire: It seemed too good to be true. We had to keep making it up. Joan Gardner: You'd think it would be retroactive. Andrew McGuire: Yeah, we had to. We had to keep verifying that. But yeah, that's the way that it's written. So. Doug Paulson: And I'm sure
108you will continue to monitor that because I like Miss Gardner like yourself. When I heard banking of hours having run Saturday school programs for 25 years. I, that one is difficult for me to wrap my head around. Andrew McGuire: Absolutely. Doug Paulson: And I imagine that there could be some updated guidance from the state. Yeah, I'm sure we'll keep up on that. Andrew McGuire: And as we know more. We'll obviously we'll continue to update the community and through the board. Joan Gardner: When they realized what they've done. Andrew McGuire: All right. Did. Was there any other questions on anything we've seen so far? Want to go into now? Okay. So right now I'm bringing back up Michelle. She's going to talk about our arts music instruction materials block grant and the plan we have for
109that and how that fits into our EUSD plan. Michelle Cagle: Okay. If you recall, in fiscal year 22-23, we received over $8 million in this arts musical instructional block grant. We received that money along with the LERP money, Covid money, all of the one time monies we were receiving during this time frame. We've held on to it up until this point as part of our EUSD plan, where we're spending our most restrictive funds first, in order to be able to move our expenditures from our unrestricted funding sources into our restricted funding sources. This funding source has an expiration date of 6-26, next June. One of the reasons we kind of held on to this one as the last, is that it was the most, the most flexible in our spending. So we started using it
110this year. We transferred $184,000 from our home school program that was previously residing in our LCAP supplemental and concentration. We used it this year. Next year it's going back into LCFF. We've also moved $3.5 million of special education costs from our unrestricted to our restricted, more or less our contribution that we have to meet to be able to balance our restricted side of our special education. The original intent of that $3 million was to offset the increasing costs of special education. But with Patrick and his team, he's really been able to not have that cost, and we've been able to just move our existing costs into that. The $4.4 million. Right now, what you saw on the multiyear projections as the commitment on the restricted side, the $4 million, that's the money we set aside
111in the event that our titles and our ADA money got pulled back from the federal government. At this moment, it doesn't seem like that revenue is going to be impacted for this year. If it does, we have it to offset the salaries of the positions being paid with those funding sources. In the event that we don't need to utilize it for that, we're going to want to be able to use that for instructional materials, our operational costs, such as supplies, transportations, is really the focus of it, is taking our unrestricted expenses and moving it into our restricted column to utilize that funding source to free up our ending fund balance in our unrestricted column. The purpose of that is to alleviate the pressure that we're feeling with the $6 million cuts that we're going to
112have to make in those two out years. At the end of the day, what we're really wanting to achieve with the EUSD plan and doing this movement of funding is to protect the people in our organization. The blue circle that Andy presented a couple, I think at second interim. This plan allows us to be able to do that and use all of the funding that we have available in the best way possible. Now, Andy's going to present the best slide. Andrew McGuire: There's more. Oh the forecaster. So really quickly. We've seen this before. This is just the graphical version of our ending fund balances. We have two versions of it here. The black line of course on the bottom is that average minimum reserve requirement. And the dark blue line represents the adopted budget as
113we presented to you, which does include those reductions in expenses or an increase in revenues or a mix of those two. The other line represents if there is no new revenue and there is no reduction in those expenses, and you can see that if that's the case, that we would be below our minimum reserve in the following year. So it's vitally important that we do receive those additional funds, and that we continue to find efficiencies and ways for us to reduce our expenses and really be able to without cutting losing anything in that blue circle and that representative of the people of our district. And that's who we do all of our work here all of the services provided and everything we do for the community is through our people, our teachers, our classified staff,
114people in this room and beyond. And so it's vitally important that we continue to work hard to manage what we're doing here and build from within to continue to improve our services here. So thank you for everybody in helping us with that and being a part of this, this district and what we do. And quickly, the next steps is just the timeline of things to come. The the we'll adopt the budget that we have before you next Tuesday for a vote. To adopt the both the LCAP and the budget and that plan we just showed you to the arts music instruction materials grant plan will be up here for you next Tuesday. We will they will adopt the budget. The governor will sign it by the end of the day on June 30th, hopefully. Maybe
115sooner. They have to by Constitution and 45 day revision, because there will be some of those things that will be added to some degree, hopefully more than what we saw today that we'll come back and present to you in our August meeting about what those changes are and how that impacts what we showed you in our multi year projection and the forecaster. And then of course we're going to continue to work on closing the books as we get past June 30th to present that to you in September. How we ended the year. And then we'll finish out that year, that fiscal year that we're ending now in January, to present the audited actuals. And that being said, questions on anything that we presented tonight, any slides I want to go back to. And thank you
116all again for bearing with us. It was a whole year plan that we presented, so it took a long time. But thank you for being with us on that. Doug Paulson: All right. Questions. Zesty Harper: Thank you. Can we go back to the estimated actuals and the 2024-25 proposed budget slide? Yeah. The two. So can you help me simplify this? Because it really helps when we're out in the community talking to people to have very simplified terms of how our budget looks. And so I would like to know. So if we look at our budget, we had $294 million or 295, just about right total. And without adding anything, our expenses went up without adding extra programs or anything, just our costs of everything. Does that go? Is that saying that goes up about $5
117million to that 300 million? It's just in very, very simple terms. Does that make sense? Andrew McGuire: Well, one of the big drivers of our cost going up every year is we do have like our stepping column, like so the investment in our people across our salary schedules going up year over year. And so that will contribute to an increase in expenses every year, even if you added no new programs or anything like that. And because that said, that Blue Circle is maintaining the people we have now. So without reducing people, you're going to continue to see that continue to rise. Zesty Harper: So what does that look like if we talk about step and column, declining enrollment. Like the utility costs going up? Andrew McGuire: Yeah. That's another cost that will go up. Zesty
118Harper: So is it roughly $6 million or five? Dr. Luis Ibarra: So the whole cost is not the people cost. There's other costs included in that. Like, for instance, our insurance costs continue to go up. There was that it was an AB 218, one of the bills where some lawsuits can be filed from for many, many years ago, 40 years through 30 or 40 plus years ago. And that continues to drive up insurance costs across the entire state for all school districts are seeing that, in fact, going into next year, we've just found out a few weeks ago that our insurance costs for that excess insurance that'll cover some of those lawsuits has gone up by another $400,000 annually. So it was like 2 or 3 years, I think 2021, it was in about 300,000,
119just a little less than that. And now we're up to is it 1.2 million? We have 1.2 million. So over the course of the last few years, it's gone up by $1 million in the cost of insurance, and that's directly related to that. That law. Definitely. I understand the very compassionate to what that law is about, but that's driving up the cost for all districts in our insurance costs to cover the costs of those lawsuits. Zesty Harper: So but in in again, nice round numbers. Andrew McGuire: Michele will tell you more. Zesty Harper: Thank you Michele. Thank you for rescuing him. So I just because I like to be able to explain like this was our budget this year, every year our costs go up X amount. And so when you see the COLA of
1202 or 3%, you can't just assume that's all can be extra money because our costs already go up by a certain amount. And so I just I like to have that kind of ballpark number when I talk to people to explain it, what that number is. Michelle Cagle: Okay. So to you're asking two questions here. So I want to address the $6 million question that I think you're asking between the 294 and the 300, where that change comes from. In this particular scenario, that increase of the $6 million, is that really the change in the restricted column, because the expenses in 24-25 is 115 million, and that then goes up to 121? The reason for that is how we have to account for our restricted program, such as Elop, title one, educator effectiveness. All of
121those type of funding sources. The real driving force on this is our carryover from Elop and our carryover from title one. So you're seeing that we, Elop specifically, we weren't going to be able to fully expend that grant this year. So we've reduced the expenses for that in the restricted column in 24-25, and we transferred that expense to 25-26 because we plan on spending it next year. So that's really the driving force of that $6 million. Now, to go to the other question you asked how we build our MYP. When I'm looking at all of our salaries, on average over a three year span, our step and column is about 1.9% of our salaries. This year, it was actually 2.43%, I believe, which equates to roughly $4 million. The reason you're not really seeing that
122on reflective in the expenditures in this instance, from the unrestricted of 179 to 178, is because we implemented all of those additional reductions of I believe it was $8 million we made this year. So we've calculated all of those costs. And then we were able to reduce our expenditures. So you're not seeing on paper that real increase of step and column and our ongoing expenditures . For everything other than salaries, we use the CPI rate, which I think this time was two point something percent. And we apply that for the most part to our salaries and our services. Once we apply that, then I look to see what was potentially one time in nature, are we going to have that expense this year? Will we have it next year? We had the increase in our
123insurance. So I've added that in addition to that flat rate of the percentage of natural increase of services and supplies. Zesty Harper: So I'm sorry, what was the I got the percentage what was the dollar amount. Michelle Cagle: For the step and column? Zesty Harper: Yeah Michelle Cagle: It was 4, I want to say it was four point something. Zesty Harper: Okay. And then so what I mean again just total numbers. Like what. And again I know these are nice round numbers. But if we add all that in, like just our carrying costs from one year, just our increased cost from one year to the next, like, is that 6 million? 7 million? Like again just ballpark. Does that make. Michelle Cagle: Ballpark? It's going to be close to that $6 million. Because when I
124formulated the MYP, everything rolls as it is, that increase of the 1.89% that I do for step and column, and then the supplies and services increase. Once that's in there, then I look to see how much of the reduction do we need to be able to balance to get to where we need to be? So if you looked at the MYP, simply probably add $6 million to that overall expenditure. And that's just nature of progression. Zesty Harper: Yeah. And that's what I'm trying to get at because again, I just you know, we have these COLAs and they're low and they're but then you have that full amount and like you said, you don't get that full COLA amount. And we already start ourselves off in the hole per se by 6 million every year. So
125just more as a informational thing to understand that, okay. Joan Gardner: It's not just it and it's not just the increased costs, but it's the loss of through ADA that. Zesty Harper: Well yeah, we're declining enrollment in that. Joan Gardner: It's a, it's two prong sword or fork or whatever. Yeah. But I was looking at the multiyear projections and they actually don't anticipate. And that's what made me look at the, the anticipated revenue that that's going down as well. Zesty Harper: Right. Joan Gardner: It's not rising as quickly in the, in the projections for the multi year projections. If you if you look at those. Michelle Cagle: For the revenue? Joan Gardner: Right, for the revenue. Michelle Cagle: The bulk of our revenue is tied to LCFF. And so that $200 million. I want to
126say 188, 189 is LCFF. The only other revenue we get in unrestricted is the mandated block grant. The transportation add on which the transportation add on is about $1.6 million. I do not recall them block grant off the top of my head. I think it's less than $2 million. You'll see some local revenue in interest. I think that I mean, that's the big part. It's off the top of my head. Zesty Harper: Okay. And so then in the multi year projection. So with that 6 million is that already. And you already said it is that already included a $6 million reduction. Michelle Cagle: Yeah. So in 26-27 the 177 million at $6 million to that. And that would have been the true increase in expenditures year over year. Zesty Harper: Okay. All right. Michelle Cagle:
127Actually, a little bit more than that, because you have to also look at the contributions of special education and of our routine restricted maintenance. We have to do for routine restricted maintenance, we have to do 3% of the total expenses, expenses and transfers out. And so as we spend more money, that 3% increases. And then all of the bulk of special education resides in the restricted column, but we don't receive enough money to fund that. So we have to make the contribution from the unrestricted. Zesty Harper: And actually that brings I'm sorry, I forgot to ask that. It was in the update about the cuts to special ed. Can you go into detail about that a little bit? Michelle Cagle: Yeah. So for 24-25, we received $1 million reduction in revenue. That's based off of
128the SELPA's ADA. We're one of the biggest districts within that SELPA. So we got the biggest cut from that. So we really lost $2 million in revenue potential because we lost the revenue that we, from the state. But our expenses didn't go down. So then we had to take $1 million from our unrestricted increase, our contribution to do that, and that $2 million is playing out in the multi year projections. Zesty Harper: Okay. Okay. That was my budget questions. Doug Paulson: Okay. We have additional LCAP questions? Zesty Harper: I have LCAP questions. Doug Paulson: All right. Go ahead. Zesty Harper: Okay. So my question on the LCAP . And it's more of a global one because. So I mean, we have our goals. And maybe this is more of a question for you, but we
129have our goals. But I'm not understanding how we're going to and I understand their goals. But a lot of like the stretch growth goals, you know, we're trying to get to, you know, even 50%. And we went down last year. Yet our goal is to go up by 17% in two more years. So I'm not understanding how we approve a document that seems unrealistic with the goals. Does that make, does that make sense? Okay, so so so for example let me yeah I'll rephrase. So they have a ton of metrics. And so let me get to the right page LCAP. So for example they're talking about the right here, the distance from standard and. Oh, no. Oh, no, that's the wrong one. Sorry. I tried to highlight these. So yeah. Again. So, yeah, just the
130distance from standard. So. And a metric 1.1. So like this one all students were at, you know, below 42.5, it went to 42, which is actually an increase. But our goal in two more years is to be at a -3.5. So we only gained half a point. Yet we're expecting to jump by that much in two years. English learners. They actually lost four and a half for almost four and a half points. They went, you know they went the wrong direction. Yet we're we have a goal of 56.7 and these are just examples. So I'm just I'm not understanding how these goals come into play and how we look at the metrics compare to where the funding is going and if it's effective or not, and if that's something we should be concerned about. You
131know, when we when we're approving these LCAPs . Kathleen Sorenson: So in terms of setting the metrics, the metrics are set at the beginning of the LCAP. We're encouraged to have ambitious goals. And in terms of our our groups that perhaps need a little extra help were encouraged to set goals that will close the achievement gap. So in other words, the expectation for the the lower performing groups or the underrepresented groups would be more than the actual groups. So it's just the guidance that we're given for the LCAP that we set some ambitious goals, knowing that we may not make those goals. But in terms of whether or not we continue the actions we are required to reflect on each action and look at what type of of growth we're making. For example, we did
132look at that winter growth where there were some areas that we did not make growth, which is why we wanted to say, okay, maybe we need to look at it again in the spring, which we are. Then as as we plan, we may be making some adjustments in what we're actually doing in terms of working with the teachers and the principals. But we can't moving forward at any time. We can change the actions. Zesty Harper: Okay. Yeah. Because that's my, my, thought process on this is how do I vote and and and put support behind something that the results aren't going in the direction. I think the efforts are great and but we're still not. And again, test scores aren't everything, but we are focusing on our data. I appreciate that we did winter to
133winter. That was that was great to see. Not fall to spring, but I just I'm I'm having a hard time grappling with that of seeing the decreases, spending millions, seeing the decreases and just continuing forward. Kathleen Sorenson: And the other thing to consider is at the end of the three year plan, if we're not seeing growth, we are required to adjust the actions. Zesty Harper: Thank you. Okay. All right. Thank you. Yeah I'm trying to be concise. Doug Paulson: All right. Thank you very much. I believe that concludes our questions on the LCAP and. That's it. Okay. Yeah. Andrew McGuire: All right. Thank you. Doug Paulson: All right. Very good. Thank you very much. We are going to move on to item M1 superintendent's office. The agreement with the learner centered collaborative. Doctor Ibarra. Dr.
134Luis Ibarra: Yes. Before you is the authorization to enter an agreement with the learner centered collaborative. We have they'll be provided the the support for cohort one that are in redesign cohort two, which is now completed their planning phase and are ready to go into implementation phase. And then looking to bring on cohort three, which would be an additional 4 to 5 schools that are interested in pursuing the redesign. Doug Paulson: Okay. And may I ask how this is funded? Dr. Luis Ibarra: This this year we moved it out of the LCAP into the Teacher Effectiveness Grant, which is a one time funding source that we need to expend by the end of this year. And that is primarily designated the restrictions for that funding source is for professional development. Doug Paulson: All right. And
135can I just clarifying question, how long have we had agreements with the learner centered collaborative. Dr. Luis Ibarra: So this will be we the this is going to be the third year. Yes. Third year. First year was they facilitated the design team to, to help us draft the framework for the future. And then the second year was the implementation of getting cohort one in and providing professional development. Now, how do we actually how do we have everybody now start working towards implementing the framework for the future. And so we've got great momentum with cohort one and two. We feel that giving everyone cohort two I mean cohort one will just need that additional year of year two planning. And then we'll have them start. They're now way along in the process. And they can help
136start facilitating and helping the other groups. Doug Paulson: Okay. So the idea is that we would be sunsetting these agreements probably following next year is that is that... Dr. Luis Ibarra: We would start working towards sunsetting that if the board desires. But we really, that work with each of the schools. It's personalized work for each school because it's not a one size fits all. They're working with each school, in each school community to really make it that school's reality. It's, so it's not we're turning everyone into a Conway. We're turning everyone into a North Broadway, that it's really looking at that community personalized to what the teachers, parents and community within that group, within that community, are all looking towards. Doug Paulson: So it sounds like this is almost something that goes along the lines
137with what Miss Harper was just discussing, which is if we're not seeing positive improvement over a period of time, and I don't think anyone here is satisfied with our student achievement as it is at this moment, we need to do something to to change what we're doing, to disrupt what we're doing. And this is that is that action, right? Dr. Luis Ibarra: And I'll, I'll just mention. We also through the design team, we came up with the dashboard and which is the dashboard we're using into a lot of our metrics, but they include more than it's definitely the student achievement data. But we're also tracking a lot of the other metrics. So it's much more than the the achievement score. And we want students who are able to critically think, so how do we measure
138that. So we're we're looking at all those metrics which we'll bring to the board in a subsequent board meeting. Okay. Now here's our dashboard results. Using our five year plan. Remember there were five big moves that we wanted to do. And all of that were. We're bringing that. So we'll have a thorough report for the board. We just as we left the left right before break came up. The end of the school year, we actually had a survey. Survey. Surveyed our parents, surveyed our students about the types of activities that they were working on, kind of so that we can take a measurement of. Is this starting to take hold into our classrooms? So we've got a lot of different measurements that we're looking at. And as we bring the data, the achievement data with
139the data data book, we'll also be bringing all of the other metrics in play. Doug Paulson: Okay. So that's the evaluation of progress. That was questioned earlier. Questions and comments, Miss Gardner? Joan Gardner: Yeah, I have a comment. And and if we're funding that, we'll be funding with one time funds... Dr. Luis Ibarra: Correct. Joan Gardner: ...this coming year. And, you know, I've always said and and we've learned from school services early on don't don't establish something that you need to feed. Don't don't buy into something that you have to feed. And in other words, we shouldn't we shouldn't be using one time funding for something that's ongoing. So yes, I think we should be looking at winding down this program and. Dr. Luis Ibarra: Or creating a sustainable space, sustainability, because once you have
140more cohorts, as everyone becomes a, a, they've all gone through redesign, now it becomes a principal meeting, right? They're not they're all sharing their ideas. Joan Gardner: And principals should be leading the the cohorts. And I think that's a good idea because I'm afraid even with reducing by $6 million a year, we're still deficit spending. Yeah. And that line is still, I'm thinking years beyond that when it even even with our reductions, we're going to have to look at a lot of the extras that we do the consultancies and, and with a fine red pen go through them and, and see, I think what's really as if we were doing our household budget. Dr. Luis Ibarra: And one of the best uses of one time money is in training, like training to . Joan Gardner:
141Perpetuate. Dr. Luis Ibarra: Right. Because it's not about hiring additional staff. It's about the staff that we have making sure that they're able to sustain this and then they'll help us support one another. So. Joan Gardner: But there has to be an end to the training. Dr. Luis Ibarra: Oh, absolutely. Joan Gardner: Yeah. Doug Paulson: Miss Harper. Zesty Harper: Okay. So how so? For 358,000. How many hours do we get for that? Dr. Luis Ibarra: Oh, I. I'd have to look at that. I have, I don't have the detail in front of me. I think it's. Is it in the. Zesty Harper: That seems like more than you know. Dr. Luis Ibarra: It's over the course. Zesty Harper: a couple of full time teachers. My problem. I, I never liked them. I but I think
142the redesign needs to continue. We've started a program. We have to finish it. But again, I think we have established enough years of of the training. I think I would like to have see other options then The Learning Center Collaborative, I think we either could bring it in-house or do something temporary, but I just this is a huge amount and that's not even the full amount because what was the full amount on the LCAP ? Dr. Luis Ibarra: It was for seven. Zesty Harper: It's like almost 500,000. Andrew McGuire: Yeah, it was less than that. But that would include the Substitute costs for pulling the teachers out for the full day with spent with the LCC. Zesty Harper: Yeah, for 57. Dr. Luis Ibarra: And then we also provide them some planning time so that
143the, the principal and the and the teachers can have more work time, discussion time so they can put it all together . Zesty Harper: Because I'm not I'm not questioning the redesign process. I think that's really reinvigorating our school sites and really getting our educators and our staff excited and the students excited and really engaging them. But at the same time, I mean, this could be multiple in-house people for that same amount, even less than that. I don't even want to spend this much on it. So I would like to see other options of how we can either scale it down or how we can do something on our own with what we've already learned from them over the many, many years they've been here. Because I think we do have the capability to do
144it ourselves. Doug Paulson: And so just to clarify that amount in the LCAP , that 457,000, that is not going to the learner centered collaborative. Is that correct? Andrew McGuire: Not just the amount of the contract amount on this item is what is the contract cost for the LCC. The other amount above that, that goes up to the 400 and something amount. That's for the sub costs and the planning time. Doug Paulson: That's for the site based planning time because this does take a significant amount of time. And it's also one of those things that that just to get on to my thing is it is professional development, but it's also really having our teachers take control of their schools, which and that site based leadership at the teacher level, classified staff level. And the
145site principal level are the that is vital. That's where all positive change takes place. So but for the moment, I. I will say I am in support of continuing with the learner centered collaborative, at least for this year and next year, so that we have continuity with that program. But we should let people know that we are going to be moving to a a locally controlled change process and have them pick up on what that's going to look like. And there are a number of models of this there are organizations in California that do this exhibit very similar work. But you do it yourself. And I will say the learner centered collaborative in my observation, has a way of leading it that makes it far more meaningful, efficient and effective for the school site. So
146with that, I'd like to see if there's a motion to approve or to approve this item. Frank Huston: I'll motion. Zesty Harper: You're going to have to second. I'll vote for it. Doug Paulson: Okay. And so Mr. Huston moves Mr. Paulson seconds. Any further discussion? Because. Because I'm afraid I cut you off. Okay. Then please vote, and it's already up on your screen. Oh, I am so sorry it didn't come up on my agenda. Passes 3 yea 1 nay, one not present. Mr. Olson did have to leave. Moving on to item M2 Educational Services adoption of reading difficulty screener amplify mClass with DIBELS. Dr. Luis Ibarra: So I'd like to have Mr. Oser come to the podium again. He will take us through this with a very brief presentation on the DIBELS. Rick Oser: Keyword
147there is brief. Good evening again, president Paulson, board members, superintendent Ibarra and cabinet members. It's a privilege to be up here again to share another Ed S ervices project. This is a requirement that all school districts not only have to go through the process of reviewing, going through a pilot process and then making a committee recommendation and then eventually a board approval with implementation for next year. So I will be super brief. Just give you a quick overview of Ed. Code 53008, which is the requirement to bring in the reading difficulty risk screener. And we know that screening is a key piece to a solid instructional program. Much of what's been discussed today under this new addition will be able to support us with providing that tier two and tier three intervention. So identifying these
148students very early on. So from the 2025-26 school year onwards according to this new Ed code, schools must use a screening instrument annually to screen all students in kindergarten through second grade, unless parents opt out. In addition, schools will also screen new students within 45 days of enrollment. So once we establish our screening window, the student comes and enrolls in one of our schools. We need to screen that student before the 45 days expires. And then also real critical the screening shall not be used for any high stakes purpose or as a diagnosis of a disability. So also important to note, if a student has a disability that adversely impacts their reading performance, they have IEP goals for for reading, then that student doesn't need to be screened. And logically, that's because the student has
149already gone through the process and we've already identified that student not only is at risk, but does have reading difficulties. So that's a quick overview. I also want to share this is in direct alignment with our multi-tiered system of support. We already have a screener in in place for, for social emotional learning. Our SAEBERS (Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener). We administer that screener and we use that data to inform practices. Now we'll have the same type of screener in the area of literacy for our kindergarten first and second graders. Um the pilot process, so this has turned around really quickly. We the state actually identified the four state approved screeners that we could consider in January. So that was January of this year, with the requirement that school boards had to make an
150approval by June 30th. So immediately we actually turned around and and put together a screening committee which included 24 teachers from every single elementary school. Also included DLP teachers, special education teachers, our content area specialists, MTSS site specialists, as well as literacy intervention teachers, administrators. And we we dove into the process. Interestingly, again sometimes you wonder but California identified the four screeners. Only three of them actually met the requirement of being in reading or being in English and Spanish. And kindergarten, first, second grade. So right off the bat, the screening committee was able to take one of those measures off the off the table and focus in on the the other three. So the next step was the the committee came together and we actually had an overview of from the publishers for all three
151Amira Amplify as well as the UCSF Multitudes screener. After that process, we identified that there would be two screeners that we really wanted to consider more closely. And that was a Amira and Amplify. Teachers were trained. It was a bit of a crash course because we're on a tight timeline. So they were trained and administered both a Amira and Amplifyd to a select group of students from their class. And it was the same students, so they really weren't looking at the scores of the students. They were actually evaluating the the instrument. And so that was the big focus of, of the process. They had a rubric and they looked at it very closely to see, is this the the right one for our, our district and community? Throughout the process, they identified the pros and
152cons, and then the goal was to work towards consensus. And and this is the results from after we came together we had lots of thorough discussion. And you can see there that the majority of the, of the screening committee members were really strongly in favor of Amplify. And there were three participants an administrator and a teacher from one school and another teacher who actually wasn't able to join that final meeting. We gave her the the consent to go ahead and vote. I reached out to all three of those stakeholders. All three of those committee members discuss the the conversation that happened after the voting. All three of them were in favor of moving forward with Amplify. So we did have consensus with with the screener, which was really good to, to move forward with. Briefly
153wanted to talk about costs. There's been a lot of conversations today about our financial situation. CDE's allocation will cover the cost, which includes the, the licenses in English as well as the Spanish licenses, students whose first language is Spanish, they will and they're considered newcomers. They will actually be screened in Spanish. If they're in the DLP program, then instead of doing the English screening, they will receive the Spanish screening because their instruction is in Spanish, and that will inform their instruction, and it will also provide funding for professional development. And next steps. So this as I mentioned this, the state requirement is that governing boards do receive a presentation and and then make an action to approve the recommendation. We hope that that happens today. And then we're going to go in the the important
154work of implementation plan, because I'm actually going through the screening process, making a recommendation. That's the easy part. It's the implementation that's going to take quite a bit of time. The members of the screening committee, they've all been invited back to be part of the implementation team. And so we're we already met once and started discussing like what this would actually look like and how this would support our our goals and instructional program. So part of the implementation plan will be to focus on communication with families and staff, developing a professional development plan. Looking at our existing assessment calendar and then seeing where this screener would fit into the assessment calendar and then plan for administration. And by the way, we have a new a new acronym to add to our lexicon. RDRS kind of
155sounds like R2D2. So but another acronym that we'll add. Because reading difficulty risk screener is way too long. So that's the overview of the presentation and the committee's recommendation. And Doug Paulson: All right. Thank you very much. And we need to vote on this 1 or 2 adopt it? I got. Rick Oser: You do need to vote on it. Doug Paulson: All right. So looking for a motion to adopt. Zesty Harper: Oh, I have a quick question. Oh, go. Not about the screener. Just what happened so if they are diagnosed, then what happens? Rick Oser: That's an excellent question. And there's a slide here. I can't go back to but that's actually the important work. So when we look at our multi-tiered system of support and the different levels of intervention. So if a student
156is identified as being red flagged, then obviously we need to as teachers, we need to then strategically support that student. And then this will dovetail directly into the great work that's been happening around revamping our CSAT process and our student study teams. So this is just going to give us a red flag to identify which students need that tier two, tier three intervention. And then the important work is now we need to identify intervene. So just like with the SAEBERS and social emotional learning. So once we get that information, the red flags, then we then now we're you know call to action that we need to to intervene. So. So knowing this early on is going to be really critical. And having this screener in kindergarten, first, second grade, we know as Trustee Gardner shared
157before, it's those early grades that we really want to double down on and provide that intensive intervention. Joan Gardner: I think an important part, too, is to identify students with dyslexia, because that's a common problem that's not often addressed in the early grades and could cause problems. Rick Oser: So yeah, exactly. And this screener is it's a norm reference. And so it's really designed to, to identify those students that are at risk of dyslexia or at risk of significant reading difficulties with the intent to intervene, then as well as inform families to make sure that families are part of the, the the intervention plan. Joan Gardner: So basically it's says they passed a new law, a new state law that we have to identify students who are going to have problems. Doug Paulson: We want
158to identify them early so that they can receive additional in-class supports, so they don't eventually get to the CSAT process. Joan Gardner: But it is up to us a district to develop the plan to address these deficiencies if they exist. Doug Paulson: And I think one of the really important things will be to recognize that a lot of these difficulties can be addressed within a regular education classroom, so that they don't get to the point of needing potentially special education services, and to recognize that a lot of these interventions, most of these, the vast majority of these interventions can be done within our regular classroom at the tier one, tier two levels. Zesty Harper: If it's known. And that's where differentiation comes in as well. Doug Paulson: Absolutely. Absolutely. Zesty Harper: I'll move approval. Joan
159Gardner: Second. Doug Paulson: Miss Harper moves. Miss Gardner seconds. All in favor? Please vote. Motion passes 4 to 0 with one member not present. Moving on to item N three business services. Andrew McGuire: So we talked about earlier with our public hearing. This technically is an item for the before the board to close the school Limitless . Of course, what we've talked about is we're converting that into a program. So for the students, very much the same program. Doug Paulson: Thank you. All right. Looking for a motion? Frank Huston: Motion. Zesty Harper: I'll second. Doug Paulson: Mr. Huston moves, Miss Harper. Seconds. All in favor? Please vote. And motion passes 4 to 0 with one not present. Moving on to item N4. Business services resolution 2024-25-29 emergency waiver for the Central School main water line
160failure. Andrew McGuire: So that last week we had a water line break under a bathroom building at Central Elementary School, where we're also going to be having some summer programing. And so in order for us to complete this repair and get that back up and running in time for that program. And just for the school in general we're asking the board to declare that an emergency approving the emergency waiver, which lets us precludes us from doing the bidding requirements. Of course, we still would work to get the lowest price possible and the best work done, but this will allow us to complete that work rapidly and most of the waterlines repaired. Now we have to put back the concrete that surrounds that bathroom. Doug Paulson: Very good. Thank you. Zesty Harper: I move approval. Doug
161Paulson: Miss Harper moves. Joan Gardner: Second. Doug Paulson: Miss Gardner seconds. All in favor? Please vote. Motion passes 4 to 0 with one not present. Moving on to item M five. Resolution 24-25-30 Del Dios and Rock Springs closures. Andrew McGuire: So many months ago, we recall we had that lithium battery plant catch on fire nearby this building, which caused us because of the air pollution potential, to close for a day, the Del Dios Academy as well as Rock Springs. This resolution allows us to then file the J 13 waiver, which lets us get some relief for the ADA lost on those two days. And so we're catching up on that one. Zesty Harper: I move approval. Frank Huston: Second. Doug Paulson: Miss Harper moves. Mr. Huston seconds. All in favor? Please vote. Motion passes, 4
162to 0 with one not present. Moving on to board and staff reports, Miss Gardner. Joan Gardner: Okay, this time I'm ready. It was a busy time between our last board meeting and now. But it was. It was a lot of fun, too. I have to say, I had a tour of the Mission site. The new construction. I was so impressed. And I was also impressed with our project manager, Sterling, who is so dedicated to what he does. I was really, really thrilled to think that we have someone who cares as much as if it were his own as a project, so and it's coming along beautifully. It's just going to be really an attractive school that kids will want to be in. I hope they will appreciate it. I also attended Quantum's 10th anniversary celebration,
163which was a lot of fun. Ran into some some old some people I had known for a long time and just enjoyed the enthusiasm of the of the students and their projects there. And the time capsule got opened, which was fun too. I attended the Kathy Shirley Garden Memorial Garden dedication, which was a lovely affair with Kathy's family there, her son and grandson and sister. So, so her family was well represented. And I think it's a fitting tribute to someone who was so instrumental, so important to our district in the progress of our district in IT. I also was happy to attend the next colloquium, and I have all of these events, the the garden dedication and the and the colloquium occurred in our new location outside that so beautifully designed and done now that
164we we can get so much use out of it. Plus, I can't wait for those fruit trees to grow and start to bear and enclose us with greenery and and fresh air. So meanwhile, the garden is is thriving. I looked out at the tomato plants today. It was a delight and they're really doing well. I'm going to have to sneak out and see if there are any ripe tomatoes yet, but I know the peppers are growing and I also I'm always the NETs colloquium is so valuable because it's always so. It's so enriching to to meet these new teachers who are so enthusiastic and have such plans for their, for their classrooms. And I wasn't as every year there's always one who impresses me mightily. And and the one this year was a preschool teacher
165who was planning ahead and thinking of her students, moving on to TK and getting the curriculum for TK for math and preparing her students so that when they went into TK, They would be ready for the for the next step in math. So I just thought that was so wonderful. And it turns out that she actually got her credential and will be teaching TK. And I asked her if she knew that at the time she had planned this, and she said no. But it was it was personalized learning for her whole class. And I just thought it was a wonderful thing to do. High expectations always have good results. Zesty Harper: I think. So, also, I was pleased to attend the city council meeting where our teacher of the county teacher of the year, Karina
166Martinez was honored once again. Well deserved, and I. I talked to her afterwards, and I was reminded of what Doctor Ibarra talked about at the colloquium, that people, everyone remembers the one teacher in their life that made a difference, that encouraged them and and that they'll always they still remember their name and and how much they admired them and and the inspiration they were. And I told her she was one of those teachers, and she she truly is. So we're very, very proud of her. And what else? I also attended the Ignite awards ceremony at the end of the year. Aha, you forgot. Yes. Which I'm always so pleased to be at that because you wouldn't believe every year, even though there's always a turnover. And for the years that I've been going, there are
167different, different kids participating. But it's consistently such, such talent, such absolute talent. And that goes back to the coaching. And so especially to to all the coaches that are involved, but especially to Veronica Casanova. Special thanks for her dedication to this program and her inspiration, because it means a lot to those those kids, and some of them may eventually go on to professional be professional dancers as well, but at least it gives them exposure to another avenue. I also represented the board at the Bear Valley promotion ceremony, and and this is why I was concerned about Limitless. Joan Gardner: I'm glad that it will still exist in basically the same manner, even though the designation is different now. It's a program and not a separate school, But I attended the Limitless promotion ceremony and was
168so impressed. Along with with Mrs. Harbor was so impressed by the students who spoke. Not just one, but there were a number of them they articulated so well the, the, the benefits they had gotten from the program and that was Limitless is a true individualized education program. And some kids need that. And it's made a difference in those kids lives. So I'm glad we will continue that program as well as the home education program. That's what we try to do to personalize education for our kids as much as we can. Also I watched a video and I'm not sure how beneficial this is going to be, but, you know, I'm really concerned about our math program and about children who who are deficient in math expertise because that's a lifelong need to, to be proficient
169in math. So it was called the future of math instruction. I don't know if you all received an invitation to this, but it was put on by an organization called Cleo. It's the California Local Elected Officials that. So in any case, I took what from it, what I could. But I've always been involved in, in advocating for for better math instruction and better math literacy. And that's my report. I tried to make it as quick as possible. Doug Paulson: Thank you, Mr. Huston. Frank Huston: Okay. So I did. I was able to attend the Rincon Middle School promotion, which was outstanding. H ad to say goodbye to Mr. White, which I was kind of disappointed with. I've known Mr. White for many years. My daughter went to Rincon. I was a music booster president, and
170and it was very well put on by Mr. White. And he is always on time and on task when it comes to that. And we had a really good discussion about his future and what he's going to be doing. But it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. And he will be missed because I think he's done a fantastic job. I want to thank all the staff here also and all the schools, all the teachers for all the hard work that they have done this year. It's very much appreciated and we are very proud of what they've done and we look forward to the accomplishments in the future. Thank you. Doug Paulson: All right, Miss Harper. Zesty Harper: I think Joan and I should have carpooled more this last couple of weeks. We
171went to a lot of the same events, so I'll run through them quickly. I went to the Quantum Expo with her. The Kathy Shirley Memorial Garden was fabulous. The NETs colloquium I can't even say the word. But it actually had one of our teachers I had her last year. She was at my table for her first year, and so then she was also at my table for her second year. And she's one of our music teachers. And that was great to see her her evolution and how she's, you know grown over these last two years. And then she's finally done. That's always the best when they're done after they're two years and they can take a deep breath. And then it really is and then one of the other teachers at my table, I remember
172her when she first got hired because she was working at Starbucks, and I was I drove through and, you know, had that conversation of how's your day? And she's like, oh, this is great. It's my last day. I go, oh, what you're doing? What are you doing? She goes, I'm going to go, go to the school district. I got hired to be a teacher, an art teacher in this new program called The Wheel. I go, oh, you're going to love it. It's very exciting. Joan Gardner: Was there a line behind you? Zesty Harper: [gasp, laughter] I don't care. Joan Gardner: I mean, I can see this. Come on lady. [laughter] Zesty Harper: So. But then she went from an arts teacher, and then we moved her into [SEES?]. So it was a great, interesting year
173to see her transition and what that all entailed. But always a wonderful program put on by the NETs team [indistinct] . And energy for the teachers is really impressive. So thank them for doing such a great job. I went to the Ignite ceremony which is always fabulous. And then also the city council meeting, which, you know, if none of you know that June 4th is now officially the Mrs. Martinez Day in Escondido in her honor. And then I, I went to Mission Middle School for their dual language program Awards and recognition ceremony, which is always packed. I mean, we were I was out on the sidewalk trying to push my way in. So we need to find a bigger. I think they're going to move it outside next. Joan Gardner: Parking is hard. Zesty Harper:
174Oh the parking. Oh, you don't want to see where I parked. I did not park legally, but that's okay. But Frank wasn't there to give me a ticket, so it was okay. But yeah, that place was packed and everyone is. It's always great when they get dressed up and they're really proud of their accomplishment because that's a hard that's hard work to go through. The elementary and the middle school program. Joan Gardner: You just mentioned parking. And this is off the this is a little bit of a segue, but I was reading about the city of San Diego is ticketing cars in the corner law. Is that a state law? Zesty Harper: Yeah. Yes. It's just depending on the cities how they are enforcing it. Joan Gardner: Yeah. Well they're they were they were touting
175how much money they're making. Zesty Harper: Right. Yeah. Exactly. Joan Gardner: Plus they raised the fines from $77 to $117. Zesty Harper: I know. I also attended the DAC meeting, the last DAC meeting of the year. It was a great presentation by Kathleen. I really appreciate how she lays out the LCAP for everyone and tells them very clearly, [mic bump] sorry. And simply what what we're spending our money on and why? And then there was also multiple comments during there about the TK program and the positive feedback of there were several parents in there that were new to the district. You know, this is our first kid in TK, and they were very energized about what their schools and the programs that they're in. I also got up very early, way earlier than I normally
176do to go to the Kiwanis Club because our own principal from Oak Hill Doctor Madrigal was the speaker, and it was great. Our principals are just wonderful. So it's really great to see them out in the community. Everyone at that meeting was very impressed with the programs and what she had to say about her school and the program she's running there. So I thank her for getting up, but she probably didn't have to get up early. She's usually there early anyway, but I appreciate her effort to really reach out to the community so they are aware of the great things that we're doing, because I think that's part of our jobs. And but I think that's also all of our staff and all of our teachers should be ambassadors of our district. Because, again, the
177more people that come to the district the better programs we can create. I also went to the YMCA, where they gave away bikes to Lincoln Elementary students who had perfect attendance. So that was great. They got a helmet, they got the Escondido PD brought lights for them. And they were they got to start writing them around the gym. So I think that was a great hopefully next year. You know, they can keep... Joan Gardner: How many were there? Zesty Harper: There was 28. Yeah. 28. Not all of them were there, though, to get the bike. Doug Paulson: That is what happens at perfect attendance ceremonies every time. Zesty Harper: But. And I don't know. Speaking of bikes, I mean, we have the helmets and they have the lights. But I don't know if it would
178be something we could get donations for bike locks. So when they do take them home, I mean something of that nature to protect them. I mean, you might know. Doug Paulson: I think there's actually been a lot of discussion surrounding the bike giveaways, because there's a real question of, you know, the families aren't necessarily requesting the bikes. There's not necessarily safe places for the kids to ride. And there's a real question of, after six months, where are those bikes? And so I think that's a big question that a lot of our service organizations, you know, when they're giving away bikes to an entire grade level? You know, it's kind of a discussion in the service clubs right now of this is something we want, but the families don't necessarily have any say. And all of
179a sudden the kid shows up with a bike and there's a real question of, well, there's not necessarily a safe place to ride it. Mr. McGuire is working on a plan to get some instruction for the kids when they are given bikes and some follow up. But, yeah, I think that if we're going to. I mean, certainly we are very appreciative when community groups are giving anything to our students, but but I think we've got a real responsibility to sort of coordinate and make sure that they are being used effectively. Mr. McGuire. Andrew McGuire: On the plan? Doug Paulson: On the plan? Yeah. Andrew McGuire: So we know that when an organization working with the Rotary and some other donors provide bikes to a whole grade level at a school at one of our schools,
180fortunately, every year so far, for many years and so we want to do in conjunction with that is that there would be bike lessons, safe, safe use of the bike, how to ride the bike in some cases right then and there. So hopefully we can start growing in a population of students that are our students that actually might be riding their bikes. Zesty Harper: And maybe like events at the school with the bike or community events with the bikes. Doug Paulson: Absolutely. I think starting a bike rodeo but a, you know, a learn to ride the bike on the same day as they're being given away like they did at the YMCA, it sounds like. And and I think we've got a, a firm plan and an organization to do that. But then after that,
181having follow up biking trips around the block you know, the last one was at Farr Elementary and, you know, living across the street from Farr Elementary. The first thing you see as you leave Farr elementary is a memorial to a an absolutely wonderful young man who was killed there at the beginning of this school year. And so it's not necessarily a safe place to bike. And I think we need to make sure that as, as vehicles of any kind are leaving our campuses, that there is a plan for them to be used safely and effectively. Because if they're being given on our campus, the idea of just sending the kid home onto highway 78 on a new bike when, you know, that's that's concerning. That's concerning. So. Zesty Harper: All right. I have one last
182item. I represented the board at Quantum's promotion. Really well done. And it was really touching that they one of our students that passed away last year in an accident. Junior. He was honored at the ceremony because he would have been an eighth grader. So they had a chair reserved for him, and they made a presentation to his family. And then we had 77 seven seconds of silence because that was his jersey number. But it was you could see his impact with his fellow students because some of them even had stoles that had his name or his, his picture on them as well. So I really appreciate that they took the time to honor one of their students in a moment of joy as well. So that was my report. Doug Paulson: All right. And so
183just to finish up, I was able to go to the Quantum Expo and was very happy to hear the name again of Doctor Arthur [Nicholson?], who actually was the inspiration for that facility back when it was our separate special education school where all of the kids with moderate and severe disabilities were sent. Very. I, I remember Doctor Nicholson fondly. I remember his son who inspired the school very fondly. And his daughter was very happy to hear that he had been mentioned at that. And I was also reminded of how happy I am that our moderate and severely handicapped students are now on every school site. But Quantum Expo was outstanding. Kathy Shirley garden dedication again, outstanding. And having known Kathy Shirley since seventh grade at Grant Middle School. It's a special time. I should say
184Cathy Wallace. Del Dios promotion was was excellent. And Mission Middle school promotion. The one where I always wear my hat to to protect myself somewhat from the sun was indoors this year at the Center for the Arts. It was very nice. Very nicely done. If we were to do that again, and I know their field will be open next year, we need the big theater. We got to have the big theater because as we left, there were hundreds of people inside and hundreds of people outside waiting for the grad, for the promoters to leave. So it was it was really well done. It just wasn't space. And when people are promoting it Mission Middle school, you either need a football field or you need the big theater. And I'm not even sure that the big
185theater would have been adequate, but. But it would have been closer. And that's it. Doctor Ibarra. Dr. Luis Ibarra: No. Just wishing all our teachers and staff a very well-deserved summer. And a big thank you to our summer school teachers and staff who are preparing to begin this summer program. So I think they they're prepping this week, and next week they start. Doug Paulson: Okay. The next regularly scheduled board meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 24th, 2025 at 7 p.m. at the Escondido Union School District. Carilyn Gilbert Education Center, 2310 Grove Avenue, Escondido, California, 92029. We are adjourned.