001Brandon, do you mind? We We have technical difficulties. We just need you to the front. All right, we'll go ahead and begin our meeting. I will call to order uh this meeting of the Colton Joy Unified School District Board of Education on today, August 21st of 2025. If you can believe it, we're already well into August. So, appreciate your patience. We're having we were having a little bit of technical difficulties, but we're going to go ahead and roll ahead. Um because paper still works, folks, in case you're wondering. Yes, paper still works. Preferred by some of us who still like to hold something in their hand when they read. Um we'll go ahead and open this meeting as we do every meeting with our roll call. So, I will ask Miss Medina if she'll please
002call roll for board members. >> Mrs. Flores, >> present. Mr. Fuentes, >> present. Noa >> present. >> Mr. Flores >> present. >> Mrs. Haro >> present. Mr. Abara >> present. >> Thank you for that. We will also open our meeting with the pledge of allegiance which we do every meeting. I did not have an opportunity to to catch somebody beforehand. So I'm going to call somebody cold if they would be kind enough to lead us. I'm going to actually ask a good friend of the district uh and a member of our bond oversight committee, Mr. Gary Groich, who's in the audience today. If you wouldn't mind leading us in the pledge of allegiance today, Gary, we would be honored. Thank you. >> To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
003for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you for that, Gary. And it's good to see appreciate your support for the district. We do have Spanish language translation services available for the meeting for anyone that wishes to utilize that service. I'm going to ask Miss Cynthia Bueno. She'll please come forward and share more information about our translation services. Mrs. Bueno. Thank you, Board President Flores. Good evening. Thank you, Mrs. Venom. Our first item on the agenda is the adoption of uh the agenda for this afternoon. We have a few recommended uh amendments to the agenda. Those include an amendment to item close session item 8.4, four, which is our item. There is a request to add two certificated coaches, which include a flag football coach co-ed,
004varsity basketball assistant girls. Addition of five classified coaches, head JV baseball boys, head varsity baseball boys, head wrestling co-ed, softball assistant girls, and varsity baseball assistant boys. There's also a request to add four volunteer coaches. That would include three for band co-ed and one for wrestling co-ed. At this time, uh, Dr. Mander, are there any other recommended recommended amendments to the agenda? >> That's it for tonight. >> At this time, I'll ask for a motion to amend the agenda as requested by staff. >> I'll second that. >> Have a motion by board member Haro and a second by board member Fuentes. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstensions? Hearing none. It is approved. 6 with the amendments requested. Thank you for that. Our next item on the agenda is
005our school showcase and we have some amazing student leaders with us today from Sllover Mountain High School. So, I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to them. I think Principal Fjo is here. Yes, Principal Fjo, please. Good evening, Board President Flores, board members, Superintendent Dr. Miranda, and members of the audience. In celebration of the theme with our district, Slover's theme this year is surfs up cougars. Let's catch some wins. And this evening we have with us Jake and Tmaine. Come on up, get us. [Applause] >> Hello, my name is Jake Wyn. I am a senior at Silver Mountain High School. In my earlier years of high school, I never really saw myself as a scholar or in any leadership positions. It got to the point where I fell behind in my classes and
006I was offered to go to Sllover Mountain. When I first came to Slover, everyone in myself assumed it was a bad and less than desirable school. Never have I been more wrong. Going to Sllover Mountain High School is the best academic and educational decision I will ever make in my life. Last year, the former ASB inspired me to work hard and to push my c creativity out there. I realized that being at Slover also made me meet great people, students, and staff. Very soon, I am joining the United States Air Force and I plan on completing the special operations pipeline. But before that, my plans for Slover and ASB are to have more inschool events to build relationships between students, staff, and teachers. I would also like a special shout out to these educators and
007teachers to Mr. Fatlin, Miss Garcia, Miss Chentiel, Mr. Hornbeck, Miss Grada, Miss Mullandor, and Miss Fryho. I would also like to introduce Tmaine Hudson, our ASB publicity supervisor. [Applause] Hi, my name is Termaine Hudson. I'm a senior at Slover Mountain High School. I came to Slover because I got in trouble at my home school. It worked out for me in the end because I was also behind on my credits. Before I came to Slover, I assumed that it was a bad school where all of the bad kids went. I didn't think that I would find myself here. But now that I've experienced it, I realized that I was wrong. All of my teachers here at Slover are very helpful and easy to talk to. My peers are easy to cooperate with, and most of all,
008I'm getting caught up on my credits. Being at Slover has opened my eyes that education can be fun, leadership can be learned, and I can thrive along with my peers. As a new ASB member, my hopes for this school year are to include myself in as many school activities as possible and to provide my creative ideas and artistic skills to anything I work on. Thank you for allowing us to share a little bit about our journey. [Applause] We would like to share some of our academic accomplishments since our last showcase. Our mini quarter 4 award celebrations was a packed house with families celebrating all of our accomplishments. We had 24 graduates, six students who reserved perfect attendance rewards. 30 students received student of the month from teachers and counselors. 36 students received honor roll awards.
00928 students received principal honor roll awards. For our mini quarter 5 award ceremony, it was another packed house with families before the ceremonies began. We had a parent workshop explaining what is cyber bullying. Our teachers were also a part of this ceremony. They handed out certificates to students who were chosen for student of the month. We had 17 graduates, 10 students who received perfect attendance awards, 44 students who received student of the month from teachers and counselors, 32 students received honoral awards, and 26 students received principal honoral awards. Our Sllover hosted its annual spring wellness and health fair. We had a huge turnout from the community with different support groups for for ourselves and families. Students were actively asking questions and requesting information from San Marino County Behavioral Health and CJUSD mental and behavioral health
010department. Slover also hosted our annual college and career fair. We had many opportunities to visit different colleges, armed forces, and unions. Our classrooms were also hosting different workshops such as barbering, cosmetology, and nursing programs. These are only a few to name. Sllover was invited to participate in Dr. Miranda's community cabinet highlighting performing arts. Our very own Sllover Mountain High School rock band and Kodito band performed and our ASB got to share some snow cones with everyone. Our Sllover Mountain High School rock band also performed at the senior sunset along with DJ Fryho playing all genres of music. This was at Sllover's third sunset and every year we get more participation. It was a night of fellowship, dancing, and eating. ASB and Slover staff really worked hard to make this a memorable event. Slover had many
011events. Oh, Sllover had many events as we said farewell to our seniors. Seniors got the chance to visit the middle schools and elementaryaries that they attended. They even got to speak words of gratitude and encouragement to their staff and students. Seniors also attended San Marino Valley College senior day, Universal Studios grad night, senior breakfast, graduation practice, and the graduation ceremony. Huge shout out to our class of 2025, Slover graduates. Thank you to Colton High School for hosting our graduation. Slover was also able to give out 19 scholarships, and it definitely was a night to remember for our graduates and their families. We also had one student receive a scholarship from RO Careers and Childhood and Hispanic Coalition of Small Businesses awarded seven scholarships, too. Slover continues to upgrade the curb appeal and collaborated with Empire
012Arts to complete two murals with the help of our students. We got our cougar and you can't spell Slover without love. Our wall near the garden entrance of our campus. The other mural is in our wellness center garden full of color. On our first day of school, Slover staff sprinkled us with kindness and lots of love. They gave us the blue carpet treatment as we walked into campus. Even our parents walked with us and took pictures. We also had DJ Fryo playing music and special thanks to Dr. Muni for welcoming us with some fist bumps. Please follow us on our social media pages and you can see all of the events happening at Slover. Thank you. May we answer any questions or would you like to give us any feedback? Well, first of all, we'd
013like to give you an applause. That's a great presentation. a wonderful presentation. It's an early start to the year, but you guys are off to a fast start at Sllover. Uh, I love it. I want to go ahead and turn it over to my colleagues for any questions or comments that you have for our presenters. Miss Haro, please. >> Yes. I want to thank you for um what you said about yourselves at the beginning, introducing yourselves because I think it's important for us as a board to know who's speaking and what their goals are. And I think you're doing a great job at getting reaching those goals. I also wanted to say the murals are beautiful and I loved all the different events you've had already and a lot of the different things you were
014sharing with us. We appreciate you coming and letting us know all about Slover. So, thank you >> board member Haro, board member Ibara. >> Thank you. First of all, I want to say congratulations to both of you gentlemen for a job well done. you uh had to make a very difficult decision. But when you get to the point where you end up going to Sllover, you know that you find that the decision wasn't that hard at all. It was probably like you mentioned, a very very smart decision that you made. Uh a lot of times we find in life, you know, we'll make what we can out of where we're at and both of you did that. you're excelling in what your your education and your leadership and look at you. You're up here talking
015to the board of education and you did an excellent job. You know, your your pronunciation, everything was really, really good. So, I just have to take my hats off to you for that as well. So, uh, one of the things that I just wanted to mention because I heard several of you say it. Um for me as a as a member of the board I had an opportunity over the years see uh Sllover grow and at this point in time over the last few years I don't consider Sllover a continuation school or any school like that. I I I see it as one of our high schools and it's grown to the point where we have e uh excellent educators, administrators over the years and current and it's just a great place for students to
016learn and be. So thank you for sharing all that because it makes a big big difference and I'm glad that uh a lot of the audience here and those who are listening to us online they they get opportunity to hear you and experience what you are experiencing. So thank you very much. >> Thank you board member Ibara board member Fuentes. >> Thank you board president. Just want to congratulate both of you for such an awesome job. you know, uh, Slover Mountain High, you can't spell Slover without love. And I can see that you guys get a lot of love. And just like, uh, I'm going to ditto with my colleague said, you know, it I also I'm one of the board members that considers you guys just a regular high school. And you guys are
017an award-winning high school, >> an award-winning high school for being the example to other schools. And uh each both of you guys did such a phenomenal job. Very clear in what you guys were saying, all of that stuff. I love uh what like Miss Harl said, I love what you guys said at the beginning. Shared a little bit about, hey, I didn't know how this was going to happen, but I'm here now and I'm growing from it. So very proud of both of you guys. Continue doing what you're doing and we're always here to for your help to help you guys out. Okay. Have a great one. Thanks. >> Board member Fuentes. Board member Borinoa, please. >> I want to congratulate both of you for I don't know that you look at yourself like this,
018but as a risk taker and in life, if you put yourself out there, sometimes things aren't always the way you think they're going to be and new opportunities can open up for you. just remember that down the road and it's like, "Oh, I don't know if I want to do that because you took a chance and it was successful." Sometimes they're not, but you just never know what's out there. There are opportunities, but you have to be willing to take a risk and you've already proven that and you're happy with it. And as a board member, it makes me happy because all kids don't learn the same. And it's wonderful that we have a program that meets the needs of other kids. And look at how successful you are. So, congratulations and keep working that
019hard. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member Thornona. Board member Bertha Flores. >> Okay. Yes. Um it's a it was a beautiful presentation. Uh the way you put the pictures together, it tells a story uh of your school, and I appreciate that. Um it's beautiful. Uh the way you put it together. Um and you're right about the teachers, counselors, and administrators at Slower. They are awesome. they're they surround you with love and they truly care about you. So, you're you guys are in a good place and you will succeed. So, thank you for the presentation today. >> Well, you've you've obviously uh have us excited for what's going on. I think it's um incredible. The the energy that you have at your school is incredible. I wanna I want to sh I want to again
020reiterate what you've heard from our board members about um your leadership, your presentation. It's fantastic. Uh, you know, there's no such thing as a bad kid. I truly believe that. Uh, kids may be put in bad situations, usually by the adults in their lives, but I'm here to tell you, and I I believe my colleagues agree with me, there is no such thing as a bad kid or a bad student. As board member Thorino said, students learn differently. And that's what our job is to do is to find the best environment, the best place, and the best way to help our students learn. And not every student learns the same way. In fact, there's so many different ways to help our students learn and grow. So, uh, be proud of of the success that you
021found at Slover and continue to change the perception of what it means to go to Slover Mountain High School. I want you to be at the forefront of that because you should be proud of what you've achieved and the culture that you're building there and building upon those that came before you. So, we're proud of you. You have a bright future ahead of us and please continue to share your story and your success and we look forward to seeing you back here in the not too distant future for all the fun activities that they have throughout the year. Right. Thanks so much. Yeah, >> absolutely. [Applause] Sure, please. as our young gentlemen uh take their seat. I just want to take this opportunity because I'm I'm an individual and I work for a different school
022district and I always like to make sure that staff gets their due the pat often times we don't get it. And what I'd like to do is ask the staff of Sllover Mountain administration to all stand up so we can give you a round of applause for the great job that you've been doing in helping all the students over all the years. Thank you. Thank you very much. Also, I want to take this opportunity because I think I I see a parent here. you know, uh, a lot of times the students, uh, get motivated by a lot of different people, uh, including get motivated at home in one way or the other. So, I just want to say an opportunity to say thanks to you for being here and supporting because I think it's so
023important for us as a district, as a community, as a staff to support all our students and make sure that they're successful because they're the ones that are going to probably be up here one day and and doing what we're doing and making the tough decisions. So, uh just I want to say thank you to you as well and you and your family. Wonderful. Well, thank you, board member Bar. Great way to start off the year. Great presentation. All right, this takes us to our public comment portion of today's meeting. Um, just a reminder to all public comment speakers, you do have three minutes to address the board on items that are on the agenda or items not on the agenda but within the jurisdiction of the school district. Our board uh, bylaw 9323 is
024on the board that gives you the details. I would simply remind you to please address the board with your comments. While we may not be able to respond with answers, know that we will circle back with you when appropriate and make sure that the right person connects with you. So, at this time, I will go ahead and call uh Mr. Adam Angulo. Hello. Hello. Okay. Uh thank you. Uh good evening. On June 5th, 2025, at the end of last school year, I stood here and spoke about my treatment at Zimmerman Elementary. I brought those concerns forward because I believe transparency and accountability are essential for a healthy school district. Following my public statement, the district conducted an internal investigation. Despite the detailed documentation and evidence packet I provided, the conclusion found no wrongdoing. That was
025unusual to me given the amount of evidence I submitted. Because I believe this matter deserves an impartial review, I filed with the public employment relations board for an outside investigation. Recently, I received notice that the district has hired a private law firm to represent them. So, my question tonight is why spend significant district funds on attorneys to fight this instead of addressing it directly? It makes me sad to see money taken away from students, classrooms, and opportunities, especially when I'm not even asking for money. I'm not asking for a payout. And I'm not trying to sue the district. This is not about me winning or the district losing. This is about doing what is right. I want to be clear. I'm not here to cause disruption or division. I'm here because I believe in solving
026problems, not hiding them. I believe in building stronger schools by addressing issues directly, not ignoring them. Everything I have done has been through the proper channels with respect and with the single goal of making this district better for students and staff. When workplace problems go unressed, it affects more than just the employee. It affects the environment our students learn in and the relationships our families have with their schools. We should be united in our mission to serve the children of this community, not spending public funds battling each other or covering up problems through expensive legal defenses. The children are watching how we lead. They are learning from our example. I'm not afraid to stand here and speak. I believe the community has the right to know how its money is being spent. And I believe
027our students deserve leaders who will model integrity, openness, and the courage to act in the best interest of the children. Always. Accountability will always feel like an attack when you are not ready to acknowledge how your behavior harms others. We can make this district stronger by facing challenges head on with honesty, compassion, and a shared commitment to the future of our community. We still have the chance to show our children that we can do better together because every dollar spent fighting the truth is a dollar stolen from our children's future. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Angala. We appreciate that. Uh given that obviously it is a personnel matter and subject to confidentiality, we'll have to defer to Dr. day if you will please circle back with Mr. Angalo and his um appropriate union representatives
028so that they're in the loop as well. So I appreciate you sharing that. Thank you. >> Our next public speaker is Mr. Gary Grosich. President Flores, board members, Superintendent Dr. Miranda, and members of the audience. My name is Gary Grosich. I'm a 47year resident of business and former uh Bloomington Municipal MAC member. I'd like to make a few important points regarding public comments that were made at the last schoolboard meeting regarding adding showers at the truck stop located at Cedar and Sana. As a member of the MAC, I was actively involved in this project from its inception, which was originally presented to us as a commercial shopping center with a small trucking component. Without the MAC's knowledge or input, this project morphed into a full-blown truck stop against the wishes of the community and was
029unanimously opposed by the MAC. On numerous occasions, we were told by the Shandi Group this project was not a truck stop. Mr. Shaley also publicly stated that he agreed to build a 5,000 foot freestanding restaurant on the site. Our community is still waiting for that to happen. When it became clear it was a truck stop, despite the denials, mitigation measures were discussed and conditions of approval were required and that happened through the school district and the county of San Frernardino. Community concerns were many and one of them was no sight on-site showers along with restrictions on the amount of time trucks could remain on site. Mr. Shandi agreed to these conditions, including having no showers. In doing research, I found that only 28% of truck stops in California have showers, and the vast majority of
030those that do are located right along interstates where truckers are engaged in long hauling. Since 72% of truck stops in California don't have showers, it's pretty clear that showers are not a necessity to be successful. As a very experienced and astute businessman, I'm sure Mr. Shondi knew this when he agreed not to have showers at this location. I would ask the board to continue their support of our community by not changing the agreed upon terms and also asking the Shauni group to move forward and build the freestanding res that was promised. And on another note, I I was kind of um surprised to hear the the tone of a lot of the speakers that talked about the partnership and and the Shondi Group being such a wonderful uh business in the community. And but what
031I got out of that was kind of kind of a a quid proquo approach. If you do what I want or what they want, then we're going to be your partners. And to my knowledge in Colton and uh Bloomington, which are both areas of the school district, uh I don't believe I've ever heard of any uh partnership or money uh scholarships or anything coming from that organization. And so I don't know why I would be presented that way uh when uh that's that isn't what's been happening. And we would love to have the Shauny Group become partners not only with the school district but with the community of Bloomington as well, the Bloomington Municipal Advisory Council. And there could be a lot of great things accomplished. But uh it's most important for people to live
032up to their agreements that they've already made, including the conditions of approval of the project that are quite frankly are being violated on a regular basis. So with that I thank I thank the board for your time. >> Thank you Mr. Guch. Appreciate that. I have no other public comment speaker slips. Uh Miss Media, do you have any speakers? >> All right. So we will go ahead and close public comment. And that takes us to our action session items for this evening. We have um action session items 4.1 through 4.37. We are going to pull 4.3 for separate consideration. And I would ask if there are any other items that board members wish to pull for separate consideration. All right, hearing none, we will go ahead then. I I will ask for a motion for
033approval of items 4.1 through 4.37 with the exception of item 4.3. >> So move a motion. I have a second. >> Second by board member Haro. Uh any questions, comments from board members? All right, hearing none. All those in favor say I. I >> I any opposed? Any abstensions? All right. Hearing none. They are approved. 6. And that takes us to item 4.3. And I will ask if there is a motion to approve item 4.3. Motion by board member Haro. Is there >> second? I'll second by board member Bertha Flores. Okay. Any questions or comments from board? >> If not, I'll ask for call for the vote. All those in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? Any abstensions? >> Thank you. So we it the item is approved uh with board member Thor Noa
034abstaining. All right, that takes us through the end of our action session items for today. So we are already into our administrative reports. I'll ask if there are any questions regarding our administrative reports items 5.1 through 5.3. All right, no questions for staff. We'll jump to uh 5.4. I don't believe we have a facilities update today. Is that correct? >> All right. So, this takes us to our ACE update. No update today. Okay. CSEA update. No update. Oh, boy. Mac, no update. All right. R. Yeah, we're we're cooking. RO. I believe there was an RO meeting. Am I correct? Since our last meeting. All right. I'll turn it over to our RO representatives. Yeah, it was a very short meeting. That's why we're here saying, okay, you can say it. I'll say we're passing the
035baton here. Um, no. What they what they uh shared with the board was the fact that uh they were taking a look at all the current uh um classes that they were offering particularly in at Coen Joint Unified School District and and with each one of the classes they were looking at some of the successes that we've had and how all the classes are currently within uh reach of employment for many of our students. uh they they do an excellent job as far as identifying uh career classes that are going to be around for the next 20 years. And with that, they they uh take a look at meeting with our individual uh principles at our school sites and our high schools and determine what are some of the best uh opportunities for them. uh
036as far as class offerings. So, it was it was a really nice report that they gave out and uh a very uh a lot of information which I totally uh I agree and I and I appreciate and I think we all appreciate that. It gives us an idea of what direction the uh cryrop is headed on a yearly basis. And with that we know that our students are in really really good hands and they have great opportunities and choices uh in class selection for potential careers down the road. So that's what I want to share. >> All right. Thank you for that uh board member bar and again thank you for the time uh that you invest in serving and representing us on that RO board. We we have so much that we gain from
037the RO program and I'm always amazed to see what students can achieve while still in high school. The certifications that they graduate with. Uh I recently learned about the ABCs of workforce development. A being any job, B being a better job, and C being a career. And that's what we want to shoot for is helping our students really identify a career sustainable career. And RO goes a long way in helping our students do that. >> Yeah. And one of the things that I I always like to just listen for is our articulation agreements with not only RO and what they articulate with other uh junior colleges and opportunities for our students to get additional college credit beforehand. and uh it just kind of just takes off as far as their education where they could actually
038graduate with some college credit and and an idea of what direction they'd like to go. Um you know, like you've heard me say many a time, Cryopro is probably the best in the state of California. I mean, the staff, everyone is is excellent and have been excellent for the last 27 years. I think I've been on with them over the years and uh it's just incredible what they've accomplished here with our Colon District students and and the stories numerous numerous stories and uh there's not probably a time that I don't go when I'm out that I don't get thanked by parents for a lot of the courses we offer including Cryup because it's made a big difference for their children. So, you know, I would always support it and for, you know, I hope we
039continue having this great association with them. Thank you. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> All right, that takes us to our superintendent communicate, Dr. Miranda. >> Thank you, board president. Good evening, board. Uh, good evening members of the audience and online. Uh, I I was going to say don't have an update, but I actually I do. I'll be try to be quick here. Try to get us on a roll here. Keep going the momentum here. I do want to talk about a few things here this evening. First, uh our new employee orientation and mental health in uh intern orientation. The reason I want to highlight these, this is huge. Thank you to human resources for kicking off 2526 uh by hosting this new employee orientation August 6 right here. Uh just exciting to see all the
040new employees, newest members to the district. I got an opportunity to introduce myself, talk to them a little bit. Well, maybe a lot of bit, right, Brandon? uh and just uh talk about our culture, our vision, the resources and uh just the opportunities. Also uh Dr. Ortiz, his department uh led by Antonio Castro uh awesome director uh had uh on August 11th through the 15th uh they uh hosted the behavioral mental health interns. Welcome 50 university interns for the week of extensive clinical training and orientation. I got to speak to them too here. uh and it was a pretty amazing opportunity uh to talk about uh why they're so important to the vision that we have of wellness programs uh here in our district. Uh and so uh just uh just just incredible opportunity for
041uh these interns. And so I just want to say on behalf of the board of education uh myself, executive cabinet, just a heartfelt welcome to all the employees and our mental health interns. Uh and we look forward to working with all of you. All right. All right. So, tomorrow's leader celebration. Next slide. Here we go. So, uh the kickoff begins. Uh you know, we we're three weeks in almost school. So, on September 2nd, uh we're going to kick off our tomorrow's leaders uh what I program initiative uh and at all our high schools and it's going to continue throughout the year. So this uh program uh which which is just a staple of our district which is incredible celebrates students to demonstrate commitment, excellence and perseverance throughout the year. It's uh you know high school
042students go through a lot uh so uh and so they have to persevere and their resilience at our high school is incredible. So, uh, to qualify for the tomorrow's leader celebration, uh, which is held in spring, um, in May around there, students must maintain a 97% attendance rate, uh, no more than 10 parties, no outside suspensions, and a weighted GPA of 2.8 or higher. So, students who meet this criteria enter into drawings for exciting prizes, including a grand prize every year of a brand new car. So that that's pretty exciting. Uh so uh students uh must maintain uh must remain continuously enrolled in our schools and uh and obviously meet those uh criteria. So we're just excited about continuing this uh this program, this tradition uh and it just reminds us all that uh and
043our students that you know every choice every day and every effort matters. Uh, and so, um, dedicate your time to learning, to being at school every single day, and it pays off because you're going to get rewarded. I also want to take thank TLF, Tomorrow's Leaders Foundation, for supporting a lot of the initiatives and helping out with that. So, it's a partnership with the foundation. And then last uh, but not least, uh, I got to talk about attendance. Beginning of the year, I think we're off to a pretty good start here. So uh every year student services division develops a fresh attendant slogan. Uh so the slogan for this year I believe is attend today lead tomorrow. Hash every day counts. I like that uh because it emphasizes the importance of being in school every
044single day. Uh because every absence even excuse can impact learning as you know and student success. So the tomorrow's leaders competition and the tomorrow's leaders foundation uh reinforce that consistent effort uh to improve uh one of our vision goals achievement uh and also uh just want to highlight that next month September is attendance uh the attendance competition begins right Dr. Ortiz uh at all our elementary and middle schools. So again, the uh this is a competition for for all our again, as I said, elementary, middle, uh so elementary schools, uh there's going to be class and individual competitions. So the class with the highest attendance gets to have a pizza party and a fro or and a frozen treat party. Uh and so uh we we'll have perfect attendance recognition for students, drawings districtwide. Uh,
045and each student, uh, who there'll be five students are going to win a scooter and a helmet. Uh, and so, um, I'm sure the parents are excited about that. Uh, middle schools, uh, that was actually a joke, you guys. Uh, all right. So, middle schools, uh, so the same program again, this is September. uh middle school students uh schools that have the highest attendance rates will uh receive uh a frozen treat and a goodie bag at lunch and they also individual students will be entered into a drawing uh and there'll be one per middle school student who will win a mystery prize. Uh I don't know what the mystery prize is, but it's going to be something really cool for middle school kids students. So again, thank you to student services led by Dr. expertise,
046Missy Kingston, um for organizing the competitions and promoting positive attendance across the district. Uh and um together we can uh help our students build uh that habit of responsibility or resilience and excellence uh so that we can prepare them to lead for tomorrow. So uh that is my communicate this uh evening. Uh board president, >> thank you for that Dr. Marino. We appreciate it. All right, board member comments. At this time, we are moving along, folks. So, get your comments ready. Sure, I'm ready. Okay, because there is a method to this. I want to make sure I get it right. All right, we're going to begin today with board member Ibara. >> Make it easy. No comment. >> Thanks, board member Haro. Um, board member Fuentes, >> I do have a quick comment. >> You
047know, I do. >> Uh, first of all, thank you everyone for being here this evening. just I wanted to share uh many of you know that I wear a lot of hats throughout the uh community and uh about 15 years ago I co-founded an organization uh a coalition called community coalition for change and about six years ago I also co-founded another coalition called uh coalition for tobaccof free San Bernino County and we've been working closely I've been in collaboration with uh California health collaborative and institute for public strategies and Recently, we've been working in the city of uh Grand Terrace and uh they do have a a smokefree outdoors uh type thing in the city of Grand Terrace, but some of the signage just says no smoking. So, actually yesterday I had a meeting with
048the mayor uh uh Bill Hussy and we talked about changing the signage to where it said no smoking, no vaping, no cannabis. Many of the many of the parks have this signage, but it's not clear. So, a lot of people that vape say, "Well, it just says no smoking." And you know how that works. But, uh, we had many of our leadership uh, in the community of Grand Terrace, uh, alongside uh, Miss Bertha Flores, Superintendent Dr. Miranda, Principal Charles Neighbors, and Principal Afidonis. uh they also helped us uh work on this PSA video which I forgot to give to Brandon but I'll share it with you uh at another time. But uh Senator Eloise Reyes uh heard about this and she would like to present a couple of awards to uh Miss uh Flores and
049Superintendent Dr. Miranda. I'm going to read this briefly and I'm going to apologize to Miss Flores because I grabbed my award and left hers in on my desk. So I'm going to read this real quick. It says here, "State of California Senate certification of recognition presented to Dr. Frank Miranda, Colton Joint Unified School District Superintendent in recognition of the outstanding support and active participation the hopes and action event promoting healthier communities through the investment of smoke-free outdoor policy in Grand Terrace. Your advocacy, leadership, and commitment to public health have played a vital role in creating safer, cleaner, and more inclusive outdoor spaces for all. Your efforts inspire change and bring us one step closer to a smoke-free environment for future generations. So, Dr. Miranda and Miss Flores, I'd like to present this uh on behalf
050of the state. Senator Luis Reyes, thank you very much for your support. I apologize, but I got one for you. And I know principal neighbors and uh principal offonist have received theirs also. And I just wanted to share that. And uh thank you for uh helping us making sure that our community which is our children in our school district have a safer place to go where they're smoke free so that there is no smoking and no skunks as some people say out there and you know and so I thank both of them for that and I thank each and every one of you for support. Thank you. Have a great one. Thanks for being here. >> Thank you board member Fuentes. Uh board member Bertha Flores. No comment. >> Uh, board member Thor Noa. >>
051Okay, great. And I I don't have a comment uh this evening, but I do want to take just a moment um as we get ready to wrap up our meeting uh which it's ending very I know you're all very disappointed that it went so quick. I'm not My wife's going to believe me that I actually had a meeting tonight. um want to take a moment uh to acknowledge um somebody who is very near and dear to us that we will be closing the memory uh the meeting in memory of of him and that is Mr. Bernard O'Hada, Senior, affectionately known as Bernie to many of us. Um, this gentleman was a member of our community, our school district community, uh, lived in the city of Grand Terrace, uh, and lived an incredible life of which
052we only have little bits and pieces. And over the next days and weeks and months, I'm sure we'll learn more about his life and the extraordinary things that he did. But just in the bits and pieces that we had learned, um, understanding that he was a Vietnam veteran and had served with distinction, a longtime deputy with the LA County Sheriff's Department, and he was a school resource officer, which makes perfect sense because he fell in love with a principal. And of course, uh, a devoted husband, father, and and grandfather. And for many of us uh we know him as a fixture at many of our meetings for many many years as he made sure as a proud and protective husband that his wife made it to every meeting and got home safe from every meeting.
053And though while he is not here physically he is absolutely here in spirit and he will always be with us and he will be a part of this district. I joked with board member Thorinoa that I felt like he should have gotten a stipen because he was here with with all of us at every meeting. Um, and it was that devotion early on to his his wife that just I think for many of us it was incredible to see that love and devotion to make sure that he was going to protect her. And that's truly who Bernie was. Um, he was a protector his whole life and he's still with us certainly in spirit and his his memory. And again, I appreciate the opportunity uh Joanne to celebrate his life and legacy over the next
054days, weeks, and months and and beyond. But tonight, we will be closing uh this meeting in memory of Bernie. And I will take a moment of silence to to do that. And u if anybody would like to share anything though, I would like to go ahead and open it up if you have a some comments that you'd like to share uh relation to Bernie. I know that we had a chance to meet him and we would pry out of him little details here and there, but he was a humble man, but an example of you don't have to be loud to have an impact in life, right? He let his actions speak louder than any words. And that's what I'll remember most as as a man who was incredibly stoic, uh, incredibly devoted, incredibly proud
055of his country and his service to the community. So, thank you for sharing him with us. We appreciate that. If not, we will go ahead and take just a few moments here of silence before we adjourn our meeting. Thank you. We will journ to close session. You know what? I was able to get on. They usually All right. We will go ahead and reconvene uh this meeting for Col Unified School District Board of Education. We do have a couple of items to read out this evening. So we'll start with item 9.1. In close session on a motion by board member Fuentes and seconded by board member Ibara and carried on a 6 vote, the board took action to approve a settlement agreement for case number DEU19196417 in the amount of 99,542.50. And then item 9.2
056two on a motion by board member Fuentes and seconded by board member Thorin O'Hada and carried on a 6 vote the board approved the uh personnel public employee appointments as presented in item 9.2 two.