001e e e stop Wednesday last Wednesday you thank you so um our first order of business thank you Sophia we're glad you're here from Freedom Middle School and we um usually start the meeting off with the Pledge of Allegiance and we see if you would like to lead us in Allegiance got it I Al to flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands Nation for all okay thank you very much Sophia and I'm going to go ahead and see if we have a motion to adopt the agenda second I'll second all right all those in favor I okay with no names or exstension that motion carries one second here okay so it looks like um we're going to go ahead and move on to 2.0 um at this meeting uh
002we generally um hold elections for the president of the board and all of that other good stuff so I the administer Oh I thought it was for the new officers coming in yeah okay well yes we do want to do that okay so that'll be my good and Gary okay and you'll do that fantastic there we go I state your name I Michel SP do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support and defend I will support and defend con uned States Constitution the United States and the constitution of the State of California state California against all enemies against all enemies foreign and domestic foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution aliance to the Constitution of the United States of the United
003States and the constitution of the State of California and the constitution of the State of California that I take this obligation freely I take this obligation without any mental reservation without any mental reservations of evasion or purpose of evasion and that I will well Faithfully I will well and Faithfully discharge the duties upon discharge the duties upon which I am to enter I am about to enter thank you all righty okay now that you're official now we'll move on to the eltion of the president of the board and um since I've been here we have a kind of a little procedure an informal procedure I think we generally just kind of rotate U but I believe Michael is going to make that motion I'll make a motion that we elect Gary Moore as the president
004of the board all right um we have a motion do I have a second okay all those in favor I I and with no names or exstension that motion carries all right I'm G let you take over Gary okay so then we need to do the we need to do 2.2.2 election of the vice president do I have a nomination I'd like to make a nomination for 23 and okay we can take those all as one and who would you nominate for each nominate myself from the vice president okay nominate Patricia young as the CL of the board and Van cook as the trust representative have a second all in favor so stand now two or 3.0 public comments Shar we have any no comments toight okay well we get the good stuff now Sophia
005we get it's called 4.1 so that's your number for today and it is your presentation of Freedom Middle School as the president of the school you have a microphone and there's a little button below it that should turn green when you push it some people watch online so we certainly want them to hear good afternoon and I am the student council president at Freedom Middle School I'd like to share a bit about my role in student council and some of the memorable experiences I've had at fre being part of student council has given me leadership experience and allowed me to make a POS on our school I'm excited to continue to serve our freedom thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak our mission is for students staff and parents/guardians to work together as
006a collaborative team to ensure success for all students today and in the future so is our schoolwide incentive here at FMS I planned student rallies I organized and coordinated rallies to be school spirit and celebrate achievements I organized School Jess of days I plan theme Jess of days to encourage student participation and both exite excitement during Spirit weeks I shared concerns from students I activiz the voice of the student body by gathering and presenting concerns or suggestions to the student council and schools in schools that I organized School filter I worked with the stud Council and administration to plan engaging in education I met with school and administration I collaborated with school leaders to discuss and improve School culture ensuring a positive and inclus what I enjoy about eth I enjoy being a student at
007FMS for many reasons such as having supportive teachers and staff being on the cheer team having fun rallies and field trips being able to hang out with my friends getting to participate in spirit week and being able to school games and events I have learned so much from all these experiences during time afternoon each moment has taught me something valuable and I'm grateful for the journey so far I'm excited to see what the half of year holds some my festic SES such as the powder pup rally one of our school dress at days pajama day um performing at the G as a cheerleader one of our school water and going to college VES thank you any questions yes I have a couple of questions so first of all I want to know who is in
008this audience to support you today family or school really and you can have them stand up you can have them do whatever you want um my mom and Dad are here okay and anybody from school here there we are that's what I was after you got to give them a pat on the back or they find ways to get even so okay uh couple questions are um how many students are on your team of the student leadership at the school student council um there's um a lot of people on our student council right like what are a few of the jobs that they have there's only like four people actually um one's Treasurer vice president secretary and that's okay and do you have to be a eighth grader to be that or can anybody be
009elected it's in sth um seventh graders only can be vice president and okay great and what are a couple of the dress up food days that you guys have um this we them like subam for Christmas and then we usually always doaj day and sometimes we get other ones like twin day or like crazy hair and do you have a favor um probably pajama day okay any other questions I have a question so you mentioned that you can take concerns or suggestions to that are from the students to either counsel or sta School staff is there something that stands out in your mind that came in question or concern that really sticks out to you and how was it resolved um cess participate certain so we just talk about them and then decide got a
010question my daughter was a cheerleader at freedom and I want you to tell me how many different competitions did you go to this year um showcase and the games have you gone out of town competitions you have not okay thank you did you have did you have fun being a Tor yeah great okay absent any other questions your report is complet thank you for you can sit there and wait for a little while and hear your principal info and let us know he all legit Mr Sanchez please okay you think well I don't think it'll pick up for people watching there we go so um first and foremost just talk about Sophia I think she's down paying herself she's an outstanding representative of our school she does so much more than what we just shared
011about um she's very kind she's very thoughtful she's always smiling he always had that little smile I think she a little nervous serous um but in the meantime she she means so much to our what our what we're trying to do at our school culture her her sister two years ago was a class president too so it runs in the family a little bit um but are you sister that so I really enjoyed having conversations with her um when we do collaborate when you talk about some of the concerns she comes in she sits in my office and she's sometimes she's looking around looking for the mins or the candies you know but but she does want to have a conversation so her feedback is valuable for us because she's very connected to the kids
012on campus and I think she was under selling herself she's going to be uh one of these good leaders our captains and that picture at the end we we're sitting on my desk she other name I always share this with her one day someone's going to call her box because that's what type of D and I want to actually get a picture with you and our superintendent um I know you have things to do afterwards but I wonder if we can do a really quick one too because she's an outstanding kid I'm looking forward to seeing what she does not just the remainder of this year but also nice okay um what I want to share about is this year at Freedom we actually had elected we went from a block scheduling to periods so
013it was a little crazy this year trying to make some adjustments as far as making sure we had the right supports in place first and foremost and actually have a schedu in in so a lot of times working with District officials we were trying to figure out stuff literally a couple of days prior based off our enrollment based off needs we had new teachers that came in um and really uh uh playing with the schedule and we're actually still making some adjustments so at Freedom we actually added seven new electives in the 2024 school year um offering students a wider range of choices to explore their interests these classes are designed to enhance learning and provide additional support for students who may need it by expanding our elective options we aim to foster a student
014engagement and personal growth this this reflects our communities meeting the diverse needs of our school Community our school's changed so much this is that work there we go talk a lot closer our school has changed so much over the last four or five years at demra just alone have changed um and so we're trying to adjust to our student needs and students were at and adding these new eles actually adds more interest with our students and more career paths the cool thing about it two is we're aligning with C ey a little bit so some of these Pathways the CTE pathways are also things that going into the C ey so it's getting interest for our students actually want to continue further um take these Els in high school yours it's all right um one
015of our Lees which the cool thing we had was our guitar class and we I got a couple of videos of some of our students um doing a guitar class it's been very great um our Mrs Castro um our music teacher has actually added a couple of things she has music appreciates guitar and choir so she has diversity throughout her day but this guitar class has shown students um the gain interest a lot of our students are be Begin guitar students um this new elective the teacher students uh students basics of Spanish language oh sorry the wrong one it flipped on and I didn't BR my glasses um our guitar class we have three periods of it um it's about 27 to 28 it's pretty tightened there we actually made some adjustments I added some
016furniture to meet the needs of the students um and what they do is they actually work in small groups and there's sometimes where the teacher actually there's a little a little room off to the side with some of our Advanced Power Players actually go there in practice so some of these kids are doing some some top self top things because they actually look the guitar um so it's been a great great uh addition to our campus another one Spanish class this is great um and the cool thing about it is we have a lot of students that are you know only speak English that have really taken an interest in Spanish and they trying really hard the beginning of the year when I walked to classes um they were a little nervous you know speaking
017it you know because they don't have a proper dialect or they sound a little funny but Mrs Boozer has really really had kids feel really really comfortable so not only they they're speaking Spanish and learning things they're actually seeing some some Christmas carols in Spanish this week so so she send out a little email invite and teachers are requesting so starting on Wednesday they'll be going around Caroline um and Spanish which is going to be something different and cool um so our students are really they really like it I I also believe that they really are starting to gain some interest uh I caught a a student speaking to one of our are trying to speak to one of our our perubian students that don't own English we have a high we have a big
018class of students that come on Peru and um it was and I was walking from her far I didn't want to interrupt it I wish I had my phone on me that time I didn't um but this student when she was trying her best to talk to his other student in his native language and and and he was trying to figure out they didn't know they didn't know nothing we talking about but her trying I really to P her side afterwards and really thank her and she said she started learning some Spanish words and the language and she actually wants to apply it too so it's it's a really cool class yeah so this is actually I believe this will be some some videos for some of our students one of the students you're going
019to see up here uh has been a student was in my office quite quite a bit beginning of the year and he's really did a uh you know 180 he's really turned it around and he's a he's a really awesome kid so I actually had a little bit of test the other ones that be playing some music so on it good job so the kid and the and the drums is soup he started learning the drums he plays a guitar too and he's actually one of the advanced guitar players he's really good so he picked up the drums and he saw the drums that that are teacher brought in and he just started teaching himself youtubing videos and doing cool stuff but he does play guitar he's actually a pretty good guitarist Ry what do
020what do you enjoy about this guitar class you know guitar always help me relax um I always had a guitar that I used to play in when I was little and I just like started playing guitar and I was really good at it and help me relax when I was like anxious list to music a lot I listen to bands like Gana uh Green Day Fighters and I just slowly over time learned like I'll play I'll like start learning a song I'll search it up online I'll learn it in a day if it's like if I I find it really easily to plays I'll learn it really quickly good good so that young man was always in my office at the beginning of school year and I haven't seen him probably since about October and
021that's a huge win and we made the adjustment we actually put him in that class um and from that that was the dangling C we had so I think he was very mindful of and he appreciates it and he's doing so much better so I want to celebrate him a little bit what do what do you so this is some some testimonies of some of our students who can read that Gary you can read that right there uh testimonies oh no Gary in Spanish on the very talk oh testimonial hey Gary we we Gary I appreciate that go and click on so so not only s start S Spring we have for our our you know English teachers we have some for our Spanish teachers our Spanish students that are learning the language and it's
022been very very effective you go into Mrs Bo's classroom there's a lot of um sustainable print or you can call them like paper charts with Spanish phrases on there so some the kids will go out there they make fun of each other and they using it but the the emphasis on that just been speaking it more and more you know picking up the content and learning some of the the grammar behind Spanish is a little easier but actually applying it so Mrs Boer really emphasized she's talking Spanish all the time in the classroom and some of the kids are saying what you I and she repeats it again so she's really emphasizing them utilizing their language the best they can next please you does any of you guys recognize that student I know you know
023I'm asking I'm asking well that's what blind yes she actually a couple weeks ago walked down to r with um one of our support staff that we have from the county and she walked and let her so he's teaching her how to walk the streets I was scared at first I like this a safe dude I don't get in trouble and he's with her um but she's our blind student um she started with us last year you know the back story she lost her sight recently like in sixth grade so she's dealing with this and she's had an unbelievable um positive attitude with this and apping herself so surgery while she losing her sight she's very very very very positive and she wants to get involved in everything she's very engaging so um Sarah is
024a remarkable student too um so and she wanted to pick up her Spanish she she has a Spanish speaking mom but she don't speaking up because her mom knows a little bit of English so she said she wanted a little better with more the content and and understand how to write so another elective we had was Art elective and drama and these were some of the classes that we put in with our new teachers that came in so based off the scheduling and how it impacted our our students we went from block to um to periods we actually had add an elective with one of our two of our teachers so this is one of the Math teachers English teacher so they both teach one class of either um our math teacher teaches drama and
025then our I'm sorry teaches our elective and then our ELA teachers teaches drama so one period so these are the things they're making up on their own they we uh get some materials or some things we can to support them a lot of stuff they're doing on their own so the teachers are working a little extra for this and we really do appreciate it so with the art electri class um the goal is each day to allow students to express their creativity uh we explore this through various activities using a variety of art media the students are given the opportunity to explore their creativity by uh starting with their direct instruction and expanding on including their own ideas um and this this is our math teacher this uh Thompson and um she's amazing she's an
026amazing amazing she actually came from patri taught 17 years as as a second grade teacher and made a huge jump to seventh grade math she's always been very good at math um so she actually when we ask we need some elected she volunteer I'll come home she's her first year at at um freedom but she's doing a great job with it our Drama teacher is actually our Ela teacher U Miss rry and she's new to the district this is her first year but she's always had an interest in drama so drama class has been such a rewarding experience for both her and her students um they focus on basic theater skills like uh projection expression and Stage presence will also emphasizing teamwork and creativity students practice performance scripts writing team building memor memorizing poems memorizing
027poems which also help build confidence uh activities like uh improv script reading and short performances so some of the things are doing the drama class um one day I walked into the drama class and I actually seen a couple students laying down like this is that M Class what's going on here got a little nervous but they were reenacting some some scenes um so um they're laying down and they're reacting they're kind of telling me what's going on what's happening and it's it's new so the students actually enjoy the drama class too um but like I said these both these teachers actually are learning on the Fly based off what we needed for our campus so they're supporting the students needs because we need need additional electives on our P so I'm very appreciative for
028both these teachers actually volunteer to support our campus this is the big one CTE course this is what we we have over here some of the classes we have over here at um RMS we have at Freedom too um so once again this is all the different Pathways that we have U students Hands-On collaborative experience and career exploration through this program students develop skills and practice tasks and various Fields they understand the demands of different careers it also allows them to reflect on the interest and plan for their future Pathways um there's different um they don't call them domains they call them ther Pathways but modules modules with the modules they're done in like about a four to six week cycle so it gives the students opportunity to try different modules as they're going along
029um this classroom too is tight and our teachers have made adjustments and she's made adjustments and they're receptive of what we have we can't change the layout our SCH we got to do what's best what we have in place and she's really really a fighter you want to show a quick little video oh yeah so with these different paway I think that what what stuck out with these is empowering our shoit and we talk about that a lot so you know there's there's different different things from um they have from nail salons they have working on these these motors right here we have some wrap ups kind of athletic things and also like kind of the the ba I don't know all the titles but the most important thing with these students when you go
030in there um there's actually a lot reading that that goes along with us so when students have this idea to come in and sit down and apply the C on these different um Pathways they're working on they didn't recognize that so much reading that goes along with so it actually makes them think a little bit more as as they're applying themselves when they're going it's not just going there and and working on these different um these different groups of things that we're working as far as CTA courses but also applying with a lot of reading a lot of assessing so the teacher has made a lot of adjustments she's um really worked hard as far as making sure that when the kids are going around it's it's it's a free flowing class so as all
031these different modules are going on the teachers constantly move around so she's a huge facilitator so there a little bit of front loading the students but a lot of it where the teachers constantly flowing around the classroom and supporting students as needed um so a lot of these students have to be very you know self-starters so um when these kids are placed in there that's the first thing we talk about and discuss is that you guys to stay motivated stay to make sure you know you're completing all these modules this is important this is our Ela math enrichment this is our our intervention classes we have with our students this is new to our our campus too is new to our teachers and we're making adjustments speak right now so we identify students on our
032campus that need this additional support whether they're couple of grade levels or whether they based off their esack scores or any assessments or cfas we use to assess our students and then what we do is this class with a very small 15 kids so we have our Ela and math teacher and work with these students inside the classrooms and they're working on a lot of foundational skills but trying to coordinate to some of the great level stuff they're working in the classrooms a lot of this it's filling the gaps the learning loss that we have with these students it's a free flowing class so these students want to be an elected class and they tell me that all the time I want to do this I want to this and we share with this at
033this point this is what you need to support you in either Ela or map um so the incentive from that to get out of the class is to make some improvements and gain some of the that they're lacking so um what we do is we use assessments whether it's a star assessment spack assessment um I prefer CFA so conent more additional assessments the teachers work at and then we make these adjustments we're actually right now myself and the counselor with along with the teachers the teachers have valuable input they share back to the counselor hey these are the things that we want these students to go into the classroom and the teachers that are running these courses right now they say that these are the students we want to keep for next semester so this
034year we're doing it we we thought about doing it quarterly making after 9 weeks true intervention they rotating students in and out but we decided because it was new to our campus not only to us but also to our teachers we're going to do semester so we are making some adjustments and we're removing some students but the teachers in these classes have also shared with us I got to keep these three or four students and it's a small number um so we reach out to the parents we share with the parents the the students in here to provide District support and all the parents are very respect reach out to their parents hey your son a l struggling Ela or math this is a class we have place we want to provide the support it's
035going to take them out of art choir whatever it is all the parents they don't AR yes I can you please face my my student the the funny thing is when we reach out to the parents and celebrate hey your son of daughter has left the class they want to back in the class no no what are you doing what are you doing what are you doing but that's part of the growth process you know they made enough growth um they've earned um but we also other things we have in place like we have some after school intervention on there our science teacher runs we have some lunchtime intervention that we can Prov some more um know safe place where students can kind of work on their their um their work needed so Freedom Middle
036score classes are an essential tool to pose learning gaps and meet students at their current academic levels we track student growth by reviewing data and making necessary adjustments to instruction at the end of the semester students uh needing additional support may enjoy enrichment classes while those who Excel meet a benchmarks can transition to an elect this approach insures every student has the opportunity to grow and drive academically I think the big is meting our kids where we're at with our teachers and I think that's that's s important what we're doing with our teachers and our teachers do a really good job of understanding that we have a different Dynamic with students and different demographic with students we servicing so they are making these adjustments uh creating the right School of culture I'm a big proponent
037of that I think um having students and teaching staff and support staff everyone come to your school that want to be there be a part of the bigger you know big process of making sure that we're doing the right things for our kids I know that's our model I think we really have a strong connection with our students um I think we're learning as we're going along with the different diverse needs that we have support our students but creating a school culture for me is huge um it's always been something that's been really dear to me because I want my staff as well as my students you know that come to school that want to come to school and want to work and want to apply them themselves teaching and education is a tough job
038it's very challenging um and so our teachers we want to make sure that we're engaging we want to have fun just as much of our students U you know having fun with them so there's some rallies and some things we have in place we put out there um at Freedom we have a great group of kids they give you challenges but we have some awesome kids and and I love freedom because of that so I really appreciate our staff when we they jump in and they get these activities with their students it makes the students feel well right culture for our students step will always be a part of from yet Freedom Middle School it's important that everyone feels our school is special because they contributions when students and Staff feel value and they Thrive
039and build stronger Community our students deserve nothing less and I'm committed to making that happen so that's where I stand at as far as our our elective teachers our teachers doing some things we have some teachers that actually stepped up and said some things like hey I'll Teach an ELC class that it helps I'll combine some of my math classes and and kind of pop in and provide that support so I think everyone's on board with making our elect even little bit better next year and making sure that we're also reaching all the students with our inov class questions yes I you um first as a comment when I wrote down it sounds like you are setting students up for me and I love hearing the things they you're talking about that are doing that
040I think back to when I was a seventh grader I had Mrs Parham up in in Sacramento as a Spanish teacher and I did terrible because it was just sit down and say a few words in in Spanish and I should have been in the other class that you referring to and uh I was not set up for victim part that's my own problem but and the another thing is uh I I have a in our youth group at my church I work with Junior High and there's a little girl named Addison fi who's one of your students and andison actually has been in here before and on last Wednesday I we I do a thing called phona fam where I have a student come up ask them three questions and I phone their family
041or apparent in her case and asked the same question I asked Addison her favorite subject and it was it's not home that's what we called it but it's and that was her and her dad knew that and so Victory on a couple of accounts she likes school and her dad actually knows what's going on and what she really likes the only thing I wish is you could get them to play little Neil Diamond in that I'm talking safety officer I gotta mention Mr Mr Kenny he's a am man um we got to play Streets of Bakersfield on Friday so I got to S whether it's in the morning or lunchtime or something like that and it's on it's actually on our FMS playlist and the students are oh that's is K song they know what
042song they're looking for the playlist the on they play and they okay anybody else well I'll I want to say something about the Spanish classes also because it was a lot different a long time ago and as Gary said it was more just sitting down in the book but one of the teachers that I had and I don't know if it was in high school or college said if you really want to get a good picture of the Spanish language you need to watch the Spanish soap op that's that is and because you're so dramaic and it's true because you could almost figure out you're hearing the words but just bed acting you know exactly what's going on so I know they're not as um tame Nows as they used to be but I wouldn't
043recommend it but that was a good definitely a good way to learn the other thing I want to comment on the young man who spent a lot of time in your office that one of the things I think is always so important especially with the enrichment programs the um your domains that you have now for lot of kids don't know what their passion is and so they may act out in different ways and I think Fine Arts creative arts music drama all these things are so important because then they finally figure out oh my gosh it is so calming I love that he said that I'm so much more calm now and so I agree with Gary you definitely are doing such a great job of setting your kids up to find your passion which
044success so good for you I think that exposure is a big piece when they told us in the last when told me um going back to freedom and things going on we talk about going the periods we to the CTE course that's coming around that exposure hug huge couple of Summers I work with Janet and we actually did CTE I think it was called C right and it was with the high school district it's huge huge in high school so that's the first thing I thought and we're working out you know we don't have all the resour spacing on that um but the teachers are actually starting to make some adjustments as they're going along to make sure that opportunities provided for these kids is something that's a positive and there's sometimes that like I
045don't really care for it but they're going through it and they're realizing I thought I wanted this I don't want this and that's another good thing so now you're get that exposure like you know I really want to go this way but now I really don't I maybe I try something else so I think that exposure huge well I think for a lot of them they don't realize that later in life some of like some of the classes babysitting uh the different things it will come back to them and will go oh my gosh I think I might know how to do that and so that is really awesome too congratulations anybody else okay well thank you thank you so much you're welcome and Sophia this is the time that you are allowed to leave
046if you want to stay you can control your parents and make them stay you like to have them take you somewhere toat on the way is yeah real quick I know this is out the ordinary I'm sorry but tell one day someone call this lady boss two and over perfect perfect perfect perect two and one more two okay so now we MO 4.3 staff reports and we will turn this over to Super we got a coule sta reports upates refresh what sorry think sorry about that so just a refresher what differentiated assistance is before we get into the dashboard presentation um so we we are eligible for differentiated assistance although for a different reason this time um it is based on the California dashboard the focuses on student groups there are several different student groups
047by ethnicity by conditions that students are living in um so for this go round we are eligible for differentiated assistance for our longterm English Learners and because I thought you might want to know what does that mean a long-term English learner is a student who has not attained English language proficiency within seven years of their initial classification so these are students that are grade six or above so for our district it's grade six seven or or eight these are students that have been enrolled in school in the United States for six or more years um and they have remained at the same English learner proficiency level for two or more consecutive years or they've regressed so they declined in their progress um so and as I stated earlier grades six through nine although we don't
048have ninth graders um they may have scored standard not met on the previous tasp test for English language arts so what this the implication for our district and I'll explain a little bit more but we've talked about it in the past for differentiated assistance um we'll be engaging in this process with kcsos as we have previously um we'll go through A needs assessment Based on data so we'll be looking at data of our long-term English Learners um and we will work on a plan for continuous Improvement and support now the good news is that the work that we've already been engaged in for differentiated assistance for our students with disabilities for the past couple of years um is going to benefit our long-term English Learners so we talked last year about the Universal Design for
049Learning we talked about differentiation and removing barriers to access for students this is also going to be beneficial to our students that are long-term English Learners any questions about that before I move on how many total students are we talking about that met this criteria that is a great question Laural and in a couple of slides I have that it's actually right on our dashboard so I'm going to give you that exact number in just a moment um and because Francis is not able to join us this evening I'm going to share her slides um which is our academic um and other performance indicators on our dashboard so this is our District overview in English language art mathematics and our English learner progress you see we're back to the dashboard that speedometer with the colors
050um just as a reminder for you um the there in that lower right hand quadrant it's just a reminder of how we land on what color so it's based off status and change so how we did for the most recent performance year and how we change from the prior year so for English language arts and math we are in that main t range um that means like plus or minus three points basically in both of those categories for our all students student group and then for our English learner progress obviously this is only our English learning students um we actually saw a decline there so the great news this evening is um we are out of differentiated assistance for our students with disabilities um so yeah we should we should celebrate that so differentiated assistance
051is based off of student group but it's two or more priority areas so our students with disabilities we were in for academics and chronic absenteeism remember we had a lot of red for chronic absenteeism the last couple of years um we are out of that as a district our chronic absenteeism rate has significantly decreased um thank you to all the hard work of the school the teachers the school office the principes um Christa's team because they've really been working on that engagement making sure that we're able to get kids to school because they can't learn if they're not at school um and then for our students with disabilities their math scores um they actually sign increase in their overall performance for our students with disabilities though they're still below um where we would like them
052to be they're still below standard but they're moving the needle in the right direction and then for our chronic absenteeism for our students with disabilities they saw a decline in the percentage of students that were chronically absent that's you know students that missed 10% or more of the school year so that's 18 days or more um to be considered chronically absent um we're seeing an improvement in that as well so our engagement and conditions indicators um so as as I mentioned earlier our chronically absent percentage declined pretty significantly we declined by almost 5% which is the right direction for chronic absenteeism um so we've moved into the yellow from red that's a great gain for us um that number of students is listed there at 6,416 students um and then Francis does have a reminder
053where we were in the red um we had saw some significant Improvement there and then for our um other indicator for conditions of learning the um suspension rate we are in the green which is where we would want to be right our our goal is always green because that means that we are improving outcomes for kids um blue is if there's a significant Improvement or significant reduction in the number of suspensions um we had less than 1% of our students that were suspended at least one day and the good that we're out of differentiated assistance for yes and as I mentioned earlier um we are qualified though for um differentiated assistance for our long-term English Learners so um the student group the number of students for our um Ela cast scores are located on the
054left side so that was 24 students Laurel to answer your question from earlier um yeah no I yes I just wanted to point it out because it's a lot of information on there um so we are our long-term English Learners are performing below standard um and that's a total of 24 students there was actually a decline of less than 1% but still a move in the wrong direction for where we would like to see our kids uh growing and then for the suspension rate for our students that are considered long-term English Learners we saw an increase of 6.5% um so out of 31 students that are considered in that long-term English learner category um it translated into one student so when we have very small membership in a group it doesn't take much to negatively
055impact us so as you can see we're working with relatively small groups um and there's a big impact so any questions on that I have one I like on the number 24 how many of those about how many of those 24 have been ours that whole time or do some of them come in and that's what draws it down is because they were really far below you know what Gary I don't know how many of them have been in our district the whole time we could look into that and give you information next time is it does that affect it though have maybe they came from a different District um it it could IE because such a small number any for sure it it could definitely be one of the factors I just don't know
056off the top of my head how many of them have been hearing Road steale for a long time anecdotally most of our English Learners that come in are not longm unil say that these are stud but been in the United States yes we have seen great reclassification rates with students that begin their educational journey in rosale um typically before the time they reach Junior High most all of them have been reclassified is what we have seen historically um but you know we have seen lots of families moving in so just a statement um I know you guys work really hard on these and could one student make a mistake student makes mistake an entire year we got a big red thing with the arrow point the wrong way and makes us you know people look
057at that and think we're doing something wrong one student made one mistake and we get a red I I don't understand how we could be orange or yellow or green we're either going to be red or blue this this type of stuff really bothers me that the state takes the time and energy and money to do this and we have one student make one mistake and and we're in the red so I I want to understand this and I want to figure out what we could do so we can have great numbers and be the Fantastic District that we are and the state throws this in our face it's very frustrating um it it bugs me that one student makes one mistake you got a red red mark on her and I think we really
058need to more on the academic part because only intiated assistance you have two right so we really need to focus on that you know it's um it gives us information so yes I have a followup question so I'm trying to figure out how many total longterm English Learners and that one says 24 and that says 31 yes um that's a great question also so um 24 students are the number of students that were that took the English language arts um that cast assessment for the English piece um and are included in that but then for a variety of reasons I I don't have that report I don't know if kids were you know possibly didn't take the test for a variety of reasons sometimes that does happen it's just the number of students that actually
059took the English language s assessment that are included in that long-term English learner group that can be different than the total number of students for suspensions um Can in you know all of the students and because they're not parents are not able to like opou or maybe they they were absent or a variety of reasons why kids missed the test so there's 31 total students um so this was longm this this was for last year yes for last year's data we had 31 looks like it looks like it looks like about seven of them did not um were not included in that English portion of the [Music] cast I just have one comment also and I know that this isn't probably included but it's so much easier for students to um speak especially Spanish in
060California anywhere they go you can always opt out of speaking English and so that makes a huge difference as well because they may not speak English at home at all we're out shopping a lot of times the announcements are in Spanish as well as in English and um so it makes it makes us look bad in reality this is just our world now unfortunately and it will be interesting to see as time goes on whether or not these numbers without the same or not get just depending on I guess the area that you live in and but I would be interested to know in communities School Community a much higher number I'm just going to that this is easier higher numbers uh Spanish population how that translates for them on those campuses it's just it's
061aoral question doesn't matter that I was curious sure when when I worked in deleno a long time ago at the beginning of my career um we had a lot of long-term English readings I taught a grade ELA um and I had an entire class period full of long-term English Learners so um you know the implication that we've got kids that are limited in their English proficiency but have been schooled in the United States or in you know in in our County for six or seven or eight or nine years at that point in time it was it was a big number for sure and looking up and down the state you know two years ago a lot of school districts were in differentiated assistance because of chronic absenteeism we're seeing okay so then we also
062wanted to provide thank you Francis some comparative data because we always like to know how rosale has performed um comparing to both current County and the state um so you can see for English language arts um we are outperforming both the the county percentages and the state percentages and Michael you had asked last month State scor than you and our comparison for mathematics um rosale is there on the the left side we had 42 just more than 42% of our students that met or exceeded um in the county it was 23.37% that met or exceeded um and the state was at 35.4% so again outperforming in both um Ela and math compared to the countywide and Statewide scor and then the comparison for science um we are holding uh at outperforming the the rate of
063met or exceeded for current County and the state 35.6% of our students met or exceeded the standards for science that past test is what you'll hear us refer to that as 21.8 7% in K County and 30.7% of the state any questions about those it's a question but I I think I hear um on the news that California is one of the highest spending um States on education is that accurate to I don't think so improved but over the years it's improved I think States never mind sorry I picked I picked too far so that is the end of mine and francis's presentation for this evening just has a little update and then I'll get into my report so I just wanted to update you on the Pres State parent University I opened my mail
064today and got a new list of parents that have completed um classes and we are up like we've almost tripled our participation this month so um there are some parents that I recognize our names from last month but a lot of new parents and it's kind of all over the place with what classes they're taking um we have doing Spanish conversation some El conversation financial literacy small business digital literacy parenting and social emotional learning so very excited to see that today that'll start again in January um I mean I think we have one going on right now um this was the completion from um the one that was completed like October and part of November so there's one happening now and keep going every month go just a little update um enrollment so 6,234 TK
065through 8th grade students and 65 preschoolers at 6,299 students up from our November report um but we're still a little bit less than what we had this time last year so we typically will see a bump up when we come back from we are maintaining with our um enrollment um the election results have been certified and measure M got the exact number of yes votes that it did I have been told that they've never seen that was exactly so I wanted to come in and say hey we got the majority vote even though we needed 55 was like totally even so you know that it's good information um our election or Bond Council will be diving into the results and so coming in January or February we can take a at whether most of the
066people in the mow um that voted no um just to give us some you know idea information for you know future information um and then also probably February um we need to start talking about um Patriots enrollment um got some ideas we're going to do some enrollment analysis and bring some things back to you to necessarily for the 25 26 school year but probably after that forward getting Community I think we can do some things to make some tough decisions but some upcoming dates uh end of the second quarter the end of this week we also have minimum vacation break is the 23rd January 3 with school resuming on January 6 which happens to be my husband's 60th birthday and um we are gonna try our parent engagement meeting again we're g to um advertise
067a little bit more and do another morning maybe donuts and and coffee to get some parents engaged that'll be on the 10th and then our next FL meeting be oneide think you all have a little Christmas ornament there that you can look at but um on behalf of you and District leadership we will be sending out a little Christmas ornament to all employees and inside there little in there just want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and happy holidays and we got some great news about what we're doing is working um and also you know great news is that we have job security because we still have you know more work soow and growth growth and engagement and that is the focus on all of our schools we've got some great things going on um
068merry CHR you Merry Christmas can you go back one slide I just want to say uh upcoming dates Christmas break it is Christmas break and I thank you for putting Christmas break historically this has been Christmas break so Absolut thank you and thank all your schools for doing that as well okay uh 4.5 resignations and retirements thank you to all those people and 5.0 or into 5.1 is the consent agenda and we need a motion on the consent agenda second favor passes General business 5.2.1 presentation and approval of the first interm budget report everybody loves that now it's nor okay so um this year quicker speaking to the mic okay so here is our interim one presentation so one of the things that I want to make sure um that to go over there we
069go um this this year we've done a pretty good job of of every month kind of coming back to you with different um updates on what's happening in the legislature what you know in legislation that could impact their schools and so there's a couple of things that I wanted to make sure that I highlighted um as um um things that that impact our budget over the course of the next handful of years so um the um the state currently has um identified some solutions for those deficit years in 25 26 and then the 26 27 year um those included that prop 98 maneuver that we talked about um and and kind of um not recognizing um that were were um sent out to school districts um also we've discussed um rain day reserves withdrawals and
070utilizing that to backfill the budget um at a state level also um you know not that we talked at Great length about um a portion that deferrals but it's always kind of there as an option when the state gets into a bad place financially they will adjust and go okay we're just not sending you money this month or three months from now we're going to hold off and send it to a month later just so they can kind of hold on to that money for a little longer to to you know work you know in in effect help their cash flow issues um and so those are always kind of on the docket we've also talked about changes to um attendance recovery and um those having an impact on what we can do with our
071our budget here locally um being able to utilize some after school time to meet um attendance you know or to regain some attendance um and then also we've talked about that Independence program and some of the changes to that to allow us to do more short-term um short-term independent study um that allows us to then gain a back um and instead of having kids gone for three days and those are all lost then we get to be able to um do that in a slightly shorter time so we can G that time back um aing was as long as we're providing the instruction that goes along with it and making sure that students are getting what they need first then we can you know actually have a positive impact on the budget and put those
072things into play um so um the legislative angelist office has their 20 uh 2526 budget um discussions and have been um sending out you know pamphlets and things like that um California's November 2024 fiscal Outlook um report estimates a roughly balanced budget for this year where they where they're having some problems is in the oute um about a 20 billion doll deficit in the 2526 and about another 30 on top of that in 26 27 um and so that's kind of where the leg islative analyst office works right now um you'll notice that there's kind of two different departments that give very similar information but one is run underneath the governor um that's the Department of Finance um and they answer to him and then you have legislative analyst office which is separate from them
073they can give their own opinion without having to keep their boss happy and so you kind of look at those two and play them against each other to see where we're really going to land um and that's kind of what's going on so right now the B is um the state is kind of um the Lao is talking about a cola in the next year at a 2.46 department of finan is projecting it to be a little bit higher than that at a 2.93 um so those are relatively close to each other we'll just have to see what that looks like um as always the governor's proposed budget will be released in in January and we'll have more information about what the 25 26 years look like um but at this time you know our
074our interm is an opportunity for us to really jump into the budget and look at what from where we adopted our budget and what our plan was in July with no students showing up and just kind of our best guess at what the year would look like this is our first opportunity to adjust um based on what's actually starting to happen using that first three to four months of of actuals to determine and predict what the next the next you know nine months of the school year will look like um and so some assumptions that we made as we went into this um Ada is based on St 6,277 students which was where we were when I when I I pulled these numbers with a a 95% Ada um that gives us a 92 or
075sorry 5,932 funded Ada um so so that's what we're working off of there um taking our lcap action steps and allocating those and making sure that we fully funded all of those um certificated step and column increas is at 1.5 roughly um classified step and Colum increases at 2% roughly there again um sturs is actually projected to stay consistent again which is that's two years in a row that they've projected it to stay at 19.1 um and it actually that's coming true which is which is nice they're also projecting that to stay consistent in the next two years out um where we've seen a little bit of fluctuation is in pers um it is still over 27% at 27.0 five um but if you remember from last year inter term they were actually projecting those
076to be up upward around 28 a little over 28% at one point especially in the Years out um and so those adjustments are coming down just a sidge um so you're looking at 2705 for this year and then next year 27.4 and the year after that 27.5 and so um that's just kind of where their guess is right now at the end of those years out um Health and Welfare remains consistent since budget adoption we haven't done anything to the to change those um and then obviously our our required 3% routine we making sure we have the funds we need to to to Prov so overall lcff Revenue um we are at 69,99 640 um with a federal revenue of 2,880 336 um our other state revenue 6,127 1873 with a local revenue of about
077the same 6,17 9,55 for a total revenue for the entire year everything works out the way that it's supposed to at $85,900 four in total revenue moving on to our planned expenditures for the year right now certificated salaries are sitting at 35 U 35.4 million our classified salaries at 13.2 um employee benefits at 22.2 million um estimated books and supp um 6.4 million other services and operating costs um those continue to climb year after year um so we're actually budgeting right now at 6.7 million almost 6.8 um in those ongoing operating costs um and then other outgo of three just over three those are kind of the catch categories for total expenditures of um 87 mil2 5,751 which that pushes us into our next slide which are our components of ending fund balance this is
078checking to see where we started the year where we plan to end the year um and so as you can see we our deficit spending by about $2 million so that's the difference between the 85 million and the 87 million of planned expenditures um so what that with that that um slightly overspending we're spending down onetime monies so it's it's I kind feel like I say this every year as we sit down and we say hey I know that it looks like we're spending more than we have coming in but when you when you bank money in one year and you have to spend it out in a year out or two years out you don't Bank it as Revenue again you're spending off the onetime money and so that allows us to like so
079on paper when you look at it you're like wow you're spending $2 million more than you should um if this was your bank account at home you wouldn't do it this way um but it's it's Revenue that came in a different year so we're spending down those grants and things of that nature and so that's what that is is leveling out some of those old old Sesser monies and title um sorry and then making sure that we're spending down our title title funds from the from the federal government um so um if everything goes planned to budget um which what is the the saying is that we're um approximately right and um and you know mostly wrong so so with our budgets we're always pretty close but we're never going to be exact and so
080um you know interum after interim that's why we do the work that we're doing is to check and make sure we're we're progressing through um spending the money we need to on the students we have today um so ending fund balance at the end of this year um 6 million one sorry 19,99 um and this includes our revolving cash of 2,500 um you'll notice our Reserve I I kind of held on to a little bit more in our reserves because um 3% makes me very very uh very nervous um and 3% is what is um mandated by Statute we always leave it at 3% um but if if we are in in a situation where we get a deferral or of an abortion that um I want to be able to have enough to make
081sure everybody gets paid that monthy um and so if you see that that um reserve for economic uncertainty at 5.2 million um that will cover one month of of payroll if we're deferred and so it's important to me to make sure that we can do that and then have the funds to be able to then when that shows up be able to make those those payments nobody would um we would have some very upset um people if ever that that payroll was wasn't able to be made and so we're going to make sure we have enough there for that um so other legal restricted we have 3.7 million and then other assignments um that's just just a SM over seven million which brings us to that again that ending balance of 16, 19936 any questions
082for me so the first slide it looked like I saw the um Governor proposal to increase is that 2.6% 2.4 the the cola 2 2.46 is what lao's talking about right now and Department of Finance which answers to the governor and and later I saw some numbers it looks like we're going to have to spend about 3% more with raises and Stephen colums and this and that so we're not going to have enough money to uh they're not giving us quite enough money in their increase to match our increase um yeah so so cost of living is across the board the only way to do that is get rid of teachers um or cut back on buses or cut back on maintenance or cut back on whatever but 8 85% of our budget or something
083is is salaries um in the past there's been conversations with the state about adjusting the huge disparity between and I'm just picking Bakersville City because they get a lot more money than we do there have been talk talk about trying to fix that they it's not fair that they make us run a tight ship and they be into there and absolutely they need more money money Greenfield needs more money Lakeside needs more money absolutely they've got issues that take extra money but the disparity is just massive and is there any other has there been any talk about fixing that Gap where rosale and brot Bale and Norris just never get enough money to survive um I think one of the one of the conversations that's been happening a lot right now is actually they've been
084talking a lot about switching from an adaa funding model to a enrollment style model um I think to be honest with you that's going to benefit the districts who that have um lower attendance rates more than it's going to benefit us um we we push hard at our attendance and we make sure that kids are at school and getting what they need um and so um there's some talks about that which would fundamentally change how we fund schools um it would have a big impact I don't think it's something that's if it's just something that they're talking about on the horizon which should um kind of it would it would change how we were were funded um but I I think it's always part of the conversation um about kind of what our plan is
085and how do we maximize the amount of um you know like you know maximize what we can do with the dollars that we have and so while it's a problem it's something that we're we're pretty accustomed to in rosale is kind of making up the difference and it's unfortunate but it's it's cool well that last presentation shows what a great job you guys do because we we do great things with the little bit of money we get but um it would sure be nice just to give you a little bit more absolutely you know there is some talk about you know what this new funding model is the you know lcff that we have um and that came with you know a new governorship we're going to probably have a new governor here you know
086in a couple of years but they're they are analyzing did it impact student achievement when we move to this local control funding formula and they're finding that you know we're not sure we're getting the biggest bang for our buck so I if I was a betting gal I think there are going to be some changes down the road will that benefit Rosell that I don't know um one of the thoughts is to go back to categor we didn't qualify for a lot of categorical so I would hate to see it go that way but you know we get the supplemental fund we don't get the concentration fund I think maybe we could do something differently in our state with that concentration money so thank you thank you for what you do um you guys handle
087it very well thank you Norm you you mentioned the 3% and what what do we call oh the reserves for economic uncertainty and in all my years that has been talked about a lot and I'm feeling like this is the first time I've heard somebody say 3% is not enough and I we've always said that but it's not enough but you're dealing with that right and it's it's it's how you put it in the budget to make sure that you know that you can like I could put it and present a 3% exactly and then that money in in a different place but rather than do that I want it to be ear marked for what its purpose is in my mind which is to make sure that if we had a payment um we
088can we can weather that storm um so I I I felt confident that that I would be able to put that there and be able to to do what need to be done with that and I really appreciate your foresight to do that however we're the board and we should be directing that I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong you're doing it right but I feel like what you're telling us is team this is not enough and we need to make it more than 3% and it's always been hard because there's really not more than 3% to pick from but if we could at least be saying we really want to work towards what you're actually doing right there and so I appreciate you doing that help us to get to the point over this
089next couple years that it is 3 point whatever four point so exactly yeah and I I think as as we go through we try to adjust and and and maximize the cushion that we have to be able to make sure that those things don't have that negative impact on our employees the people that we are interested right I can't imagine what it would be like if we did have to pay all these weight and we didn't have enough how are we taking care of these people that spend their Liv for our kids well and I'd like to say that um it's been almost a year now that you've been in your position and it's been so good to see you grow in confidence the way you present foresight for keeping us above water and I
090know it was probably a big week for you but you've done just an incredible job so thank you very much I really appreciate that thank you just start prining some more I wish that was it was that easy right do that on my way out okay thank you for that and we need a motion in a second and all in favor passes um 5.2.2 approval of construction management to Columbo construction every five year selection process so I a motion second favor I approval of architectural management to or Melby for 2024 through 2029 a fiveyear selection process motion fav pass 52.4 approval of resol resolution 24251 authorizing the superintendent to determine the amount request release of impounded monies in settlement of pending litigation second um all in favor I 5.2.5 approval of the early notification incent
091for retirement resignation the $2,500 incentive for those people I guess disclos right so it's an early January helped us I'll make motion favor 5.2.6 second read and approval of the following board policy revision it was BP 3555 the nutrition program compliance motion I just have a quick question so this is a responsibility and a second second all in favor second reading approval of the following board policy BP 51 44.1 are suspension and expulsion due process motion 5.2.8 second reading approval of following board policy 6158 independent study we have a motion a motion and a second favor I 5.2.9 approval of the successor tentative agreement with csca chapter 508 for 2024 to 2027 a motion questions on that second second all in favor pass 5.2.1 approval of the increased minimum wage to the salary schedule January
092it goes up onlys one cell on what is a second and now we go to board number items I'll start um some of us went down to Anaheim to the uh California School Board Association conference and driving home I realized that the number one word a year ago Equity was almost removed from how many times did we hear it just a few and that was a I'm wondering if they listened to us they send out questionnaires and last year I said it seems like all that matters is equity every single session we went to mention equity and I I just thought it was a huge over way too much concentration on Equity so that playes me the uh it's wonderful to get together with so many likeminded people that want to be involved with our
093school systems and know that our school system in the state of California is in pretty good shape when you talk to these board members there's a lot of really I intelligent people and hardworking and um and we got to do some bonding with the team thank you Su that was uh absolutely um the best bonding time I've ever had with with the team so really appreciate that thank you yes and I two went to the conference and um I guess it's more just observations but kind of along the lines of Michael I wanted to tell everybody what I saw a lot were seminars on AI mental health idle n one that's been getting been getting discussed as student board members student voters Finance budgeting attendance involving parenting parents and community and that's what I saw
094a lot of as well in the in the different seminars um I try to go to ones that that I either want or need more factual information on or I believe my my constituents might have an interest in or that I have an interest in and one that I was interested in is the Title Nine stuff that's going on with the transgender View and um it's my understanding that um what essentially is happening is the students right to Medical privacy this kind of trumping parental rights and this has been getting discussed for a while and what I was wondering is how is a staff member going to know which pronoun the child is supposed to be using for example if you have to call home the parents or something and I'm kind of wondering how
095staff or or teachers or whatnot going to keep track of all this and well I I found out at this conference and it was a conference a presentation by an attorney and what he in the seminar was that schools now have to keep two educational records and what he said is because you can't change their legal name so there's going to be a record I guess with their legal name and then second record with you know their the name they want to be going by um so I'll be asking questions moving forward if this is indeed the case if this is exact exactly what's happening and um whether or not there's anything we can do um I'm a big customer service person listening to people listening to our customers which I I think in in
096our case is is mostly the parents of the students and just because of virtue what I do um um I keep medical records and for me it would be unethical to keep two records um the only reason I can think of that i' be keeping two records is I'm trying to help my client do something um dishonest or I'm trying to keep something from them and so I look at this like you know providing customer service to the parents and to me that feels like we're keeping something from them so I would want to ask about that um I understand that these are laws that are coming down um but I'm wondering if there's anything that the parents can do for example can they request a copy these records so these situations may come up
097for me but unless they've changed something which which they might have I I will admit the parents ultimately own the child's medical records they they have the privilege there so you know I say or do whatever but the parents ultimately could get a hold of those records if they wanted to so that kind of helps me when I'm working with parents and children but can the parents request a copy of both of these records is it available through freed records act whatever so that's that's something I may be asking about moving forward and the other thing that's that I've been hearing a lot about is they're starting to want to get students on the school boards and and um so I attended some seminars on that and the one I attended it was kind of
098talking about what is the rationale behind letting students Vote or minors vote excuse me somewhere they did get this pass that 16 and 17 year olds can vote and um so they had some of these students miners up there talking about this and one of the things that one of the youth said is one of the rational excuse me this was on a slide that was that they were talking about they said it's because the youth the minors 16 and 17 year olds know the issues better I hope you're laughing because that sounds a little so um um bothers me a little bit my opinion is that until somebody's totally financially independent of their parents and the government um they're not going to fully know the issues better so and it bothered me to that
099an adult would allow a child to put this on a slide written and and think that so um you can tell where I'm going with this I'm I'm not going to be in favor of this that that children would be on the school board miners um so that's that's just one thing and I I do try to give out the information that I think people might be interested in knowing um so those those are the things that I kind of pulled from it other than the general things I discussed about the typical topics and and you are correct the the equity was more or less gone and despite all this also um I'd like to see our legislators focusing on we just saw slides that said between 30 and 40 70% Statewide are meeting the
100standards that's where I'd like to see our legislators focusing on so I'll be asking some questions in the future about this dual record thing and that's my comments on the conference well I'm glad Michael you mentioned this was better I know last year you were kind of frustrated with some so you think this was much much better this year the sessions I went to were fantastic very well presented I think we do a pretty good job of listening to what kids have to say y that's an example having them ask us have spill words as other which we did get a better grade this year than we've ever had in the past well and they have the opportunity to stay at the me if they choose we do a lot of student surveys just one
101of our changes direction of Mor elective and diversifi electives came from students and K High has a student that sits with them but I don't believe they're voting join in the discussions and I think right share information but they do not vote more appropriate for okay all right so so uh with that we're going to go on to close session I do want to say Merry Christmas and thank you for being here thank you all for being here Merry Christmas some people dressed festive for