001order. Oh, at 40:05. That's 406 now. Um, and then do we have any public comments for close session items? >> There are none. >> Okay. And with that, at 406, we will go to close session. convene recontinued to public session at 6:12 p.m. Uh so welcome to our regular board meeting on February 11th, 2026. Um, so first I'll I'll explain that uh members of the public who wish to remotely provide comment during the meeting, please use the raise hand feature uh during the agenda item and speakers must raise their hand during agenda item 8.1 uh the public comment portion of the meeting in order to comment on topics not included on the approved agenda. to speak about an item on the agenda in person. Please fill out a speaker card, indicate the agenda item, and
002hand the card to Laura at the dice. When the requested agenda item comes before the board, the speaker will be called forward. And then with that, we will do roll call. Trusty Nory >> here. >> Trusty Cruz is absent. Trusty Thompson >> here. Vice President Gin >> here. >> President Co >> here. A quorum is present. >> And next we have approval of the agenda. >> I move for approval of the agenda. >> Seconded. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Next we have report out on close session. Uh, so we do have one item to report out. By a vote of three board members in favor and zero against, the board of trustees approved the settlement agreement for case number 2025-206-3 and case number 2025-206-4. All right. And then next Uh we
003have special recognitions. >> Yes. So we are pleased to recognize some individuals from Sequoia High School. So at this time I would like to welcome Principal Shawn Priest to the podium to share more about these wonderful individuals. Not supposed to clap for me. Uh we have got some really great people to recognize tonight. So thank you to uh the board and Superintendent Lee in advance for giving me the opportunity. Um at Sequoia High School, uh as I believe is the case at all of our schools, we do everything we can to foster an environment where every student feels safe to take risks and push themselves outside of their comfort zones. Um but at the end of the day, uh that work is for nothing if we don't have students who are willing to step up.
004And so tonight's recognition is about some of those students at Sequoia. And I'll start with our BLE folkloric team. Um for the good of our families here, I'm going to do the introduction for this group in Spanish and English. I'll go Spanish first because I know that we have a lot of our families here. Melissa Diaz Katy Lombber Denise Chano. Creativid. Mas Grande mask grande. So Durante during the last two years um under the dedicated leadership of adviser Melissa Diaz and students Katie Lombber and Denise Chan Sequoia's Bolico club has been an environment where students thrive in their creative expression, teamwork and discipline and cultural pride. The dancers have been a source of great joy for our community performing in events throughout the year. They've also been Sequoia's fastest growing student activity. And as they
005grow in numbers and skill, they've inspired an everinccreasing percentage of their fellow students to stand proud and to dream big. So on behalf of uh the entire Sequoia community, it's my great privilege to present to the superintendent uh the um Ble Foc uh club from Sequoia High School. And I'll read off some names. Come on up. >> Yeah. So, so, so come on up. Adriana Sepa, Aaliyah Varela, Amy Tiborio, Angie Sandoval Lopez, Angie Valobos, you can come on up. Come on up. Come on up. Come on up. Come on up. Come on up. Come on up. Don't be shy. I've got more. Ashley Alvarez, Apollono, Ashley Briana Avias, Daisy Nunees, Diana Moira, Abby Perez, Jackie Thompson, Na Mora, Natalie Dominguez, Natana Castro Mendes, Sam Reyes, Stephanie Perez, Jesse Magana, Eddie Lombber, Denise Chan, Jasmine Ernnandez,
006Jackie Garcia, Nicole Anayi Mendula, Sarah Flores, Tom Aguilar Moreno, Henna Agua Moreno, and Marianel Perez. We got one more adviser, Melissa Diaz, also as well. Melissa, get on up there. Okay, in the spirit of students taking risks and inspiring their classmates. I want to talk about another student who had a recent uh spirit rally um which took place right between a uh secure campus and a student walk out. Dustin Leebus took an enormous risk when he walked out to the middle of the gym one floor and sat down at his keyboard. His 1,800 or so classmates quieted when he began to play, and the crowd recognized his confidence before they recognized the melody of the song that he was playing. But by the time we got to the chorus, his performance had brought our students
007and staff back together as a community, clapping to the beat and singing along. Dustin, in his bravery, putting himself out there in front of the school, was rewarded by his peers with love and support. He earned recognition tonight and that day by reminding Sequoia of the power we all have inside us to shine. And if you'll indulge me, I have a quick video of that performance so you can see for yourselves how cool Dustin is. You want hey? So Dustin, could you please uh come up to the the deis and be recognized for bringing us together last party. >> Way to go. Thanks everybody. All right. Well, thank you uh to all the students from Sequoia. Yes, you you are welcome to leave. You do not have to stay for the rest of the meeting.
008But congratulations everyone. And uh kudos to Dustin for his courage of playing solo. That's that's always uh very challenging and then really rallying the crowd. All right. Okay. And with that, we will move on to item 8.1, which is public comment. Um, as a reminder, the board does not act upon any matter that has not been agendaized except under limited circumstances as permitted by law. It is the policy of the board to refer matters raised in this forum to staff for investigation and/or action where appropriate. Board policy ordinarily limits the time to be devoted to any single agenda topic to 10 minutes and individual speakers are ordinarily limited to three minutes. If the board decides to expand the amount of time to be allocated to a particular agenda item because many speakers wish to address
009that item, the board may reduce the time allocated to individual speakers to two minutes or to one minute as appropriate in order to permit more speakers to comment. The board will announce the amount of time to be allocated to each speaker before public comment on each particular agenda item. Um we ask all speakers to keep within the time limits. Uh are there any public comments? >> There are um nine in person and I see one hand up online. If there are any more for item 8.1, please raise your hand now. Looks like there's one online. So 10 all together. >> 10 all together. One minute. Okay. Yeah, we could do one minute per person >> or Yeah. Start with the person online and then we'll move to the people in person. Okay. Our first speaker
010is online. Dan Maleri. >> Uh, good evening board. Kind of figured you guys would go to one minute. You don't like to hear the truth. >> I'm sorry. Mr. Mallerie, can you speak a little louder? You're coming in low. >> Okay. Can you hear me now? >> It's a little better. Yes. >> Okay. You eliminated about 14 minutes, 14 seconds. Anyway, with that being said, what you guys just did the tide is insulting, discriminatory, and I'm glad the people that have been calling me are taking action. U you, the board, have failed them. these people. You all have hurt these children and it's going to get worse for you all. All you parents and people that are doing what you're doing with the federal judge, you'll be you'll be granted that motion and then hopefully
011we can stop with Crystal Leech and this corrupt board that all should be immediately fired and getting out of there. But you're limiting people so to speak because you don't want to hear the truth. All right, our next speaker I'll be calling up um in grips of force. So, first up is Greg Schmid, then Nicole Vaughn, sorry, Camille E and Ashley Gray. I'd like to ask we have four speakers that don't need to speak. Can if we can if they want to donate their time so I can finish what I need to say. Is that be okay? >> It's all on the same topic. >> Um can they just continue kind of what you were going to say? >> All right. Good evening uh Superintendent Leech, President Coup, and members of the board. Thank you
012for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Greg Schmid. I'm a teacher at the Health Careers Academy at Sequoia High School. I'm here with my colleagues to bring your attent uh to bring here with my colleagues to bring your attention to one of our former teachers Mary Alice Davis whose husband is with us tonight came to Sequoia High School in the 201718 school year as a student teacher from Stanford and I was fortunate enough to be Mary Alice's cooperating teacher but I believe I learned more from her that year than she was able to than I was able to teach her. She quickly took to to teaching. Her love of education um and for our students was evident from the beginning. She quickly discovered uh her love for curriculum development and helped our team
013revamp our human biocurriculum. Moving beyond memorization of anatomy and physiology, Mary Alice added an element of critical thinking where students need to use uh the required knowledge to develop an understanding of what happens when the human body doesn't function correctly. This led to a deeper investigation by students. >> Mary >> also took a great interest in health and well-being of our students during CO. She sat on campus while students came to pick up packets of materials to help them with their studies. For the students who could not make it to campus, she drove to their homes and delivered these items. She also helps deliver our go bags to every junior in the HCA, making contact with those students and making them feel seen and not forgotten. These are just small examples of the impact that
014she had across our campus. It was an honor to call Mary Alice a colleague and a friend. Fortunately, after the 21-22 school year, Mary Alice didn't return to the classroom. She was battling cancer that turned her life upside down, ultimately shortening it and robbing all of us of more time with her. The loss has been profound. Her fingerprints are on so many aspects of our community. Mary Alice sparked joy and curiosity in everyone she interacted with. We are better educators and humans because of her passion, warmth, sense of humor, and joy. It's been 2.5 years since her passing, and every day we reflect on the impact that may since her passing, we have acquired a memorial tree at Sequoia High School in her honor. I'm here today to ask you to mount this memorial plaque
015on a boulder and install it next to her tree so that we can have a proper dedication. Thank you for your consideration. The motto of Sequoia High School is uni which translates to a place of friends and it's the target that we aim and that we also hit. That culture is built by the people who work at Sequoia. Mary Alice embodied that culture as a friend, a trusted colleague, a great listener, and perhaps one of the funniest people that I have ever met. There's no better way to celebrate the culture than to honor the people who have built it, as we intend to do with the plaque to celebrate and honor Mary Alice. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next our next speakers are Claire Heriter Kirby, Karen Arley, Carol Anne Coleman, Zenida Roachcha, and
016yeah, Zenida Roachcha. Uh, Mary was an incredible educator and colleague. Um, her students deeply respected her as an educator. Um she held the highest expectations of them. She saw the humanity in them. Uh it was a real joy to see someone have such commitment and satisfaction with her work. Uh Mary Alice was a very positive force for good. Thank you. Um in the short time that Mary Ellis was here, she touched the lives of so many individuals on our campus. She created a classroom that felt like a safe haven, consistently supported students who felt isolated and unseen. I recall moments when I sought her advice personally on how to approach a lesson or navigating support, supporting certain students, and she always responded with thoughtfulness, guidance, and genuine care. She extended that same compassion um to
017my own son in his physics class, helping u make the content accessible and manageable so that he could seed when he otherwise may not have passed. Mary Alice understood how deeply the pandemic impacted students ability to access learning, especially in a rigorous subject like physics. Through her standardsbased grading philosophy, she maintained high expectations. I'm honored to call her my friend. >> Thank you. >> I'm sorry, Greg. Are are we have are there two that are not here? >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Our last speaker for public comment um is Johanna Mahal. Does the time start when I start talking? Oh, there we go. It's hard for me to come after Mary Ellis because she sounds like an amazing human being. So, God bless her. Um, I'm here to tell to talk about the criminal
018activities of this board of trustees. I agree that neither um the superintendent nor any five of you should be sitting in the seats. Dr. Cruz is not here today. I will be leading a public recall of your seats. So, be prepared for that in the June 2nd election as well as mounting a candidate against you, Trusty Coup, and as well if you decide to run again, Trusty Nory, somebody that it will represent our district properly. And I do hope when we upturn this board of trustees that we will be able to take uh control again of a district that has a proper superintendent. I look forward to that. >> All right. Thank you. That concludes public comments item 8.1. >> Okay. And I appreciate all the uh the the folks from Sequoia who shared about
019Mary Alice Davis. Um, I think that that was before our well, you are probably still around, but that was before most of our time. Um, and she sounded like a an amazing teacher. So, appreciate that. All right. >> Yes, you can also Yeah, you can also leave. You don't need to stay for the entire meeting. All right. So for the next uh agenda item is number nine, board of trustees correspondence. Uh we did not receive any correspondence. And then moving on uh to item 10 is board of trustees superintendent comments and committee reports. Any updates from our trustees? >> Okay. Trusty Gin, >> I'll just share with everyone that I was able to attend um the public viewing and comment session on the Woodside new building. So, they had a presentation about the new building
020that would be built. They invited people from the comm. I think we're all invited, but I was I was able to make it and um it looks like it will be a fantastic addition to that campus. I know we're doing um strong renovations or replacements at all the campuses, but the one at Woodside was today and it it was um fairly well attended. I think maybe 20 people there. They had the architects, they had some people from the site, a number of uh stu the student newspaper was there and then some community members at the Woodside uh building presentation today. So, um, look forward to maybe attending other ones about the other sites, but it was a it was a good event. >> Thank you, Trusty again. Um, I have a quick update. I was
021able to go to the Sanonteo County School Boards Association meeting on Monday. Um, and it was the speaker was Pam Bartfield from the Sanonteo Foster City School District and she spoke about literacy. So strategies for teaching reading in middle school and high school. So a lot of times the focus is on elementary and even for their district they started with K to2. Um and now that there's actually a law in the state requiring universal screening in that age range but they started before that was a law. uh but basically they screened for uh reading difficulties and then they had reading modules specifically focused for K to2 and found that that had really amazing results. But it would fall apart in fourth and fifth grade and then it would fall apart again in middle school. And
022so what they found was that the people the students that were in K to2 were doing fine, but the students were new that that were new to the district that were coming in and there were significant numbers of them um they they hadn't had the same screening. So, um, pretty much the takeaway was to screen students, um, periodically as, as you see, um, new students coming into the district and to make sure that, uh, students are not falling through the cracks. And even at middle school or high school level, um there should be some kind of reading module adopted that's just focused on teaching students how to read because it's direct instruction that's required at that point and uh the students can learn very quickly when they're given very direct instruction. So I thought it
023was a very um relevant topic and uh they they said that it is interesting when there are feeder districts and high school districts because it requires a lot more collaboration. Yeah. All right. With that are there any uh comments from our superintendent? Okay. Uh we don't have any student trustees here today. Is that correct? >> That's correct. >> Okay. Um and then moving on uh item 12 comments from Sequoia District Teachers Association. >> Ah okay. >> Hi. >> Um I apologize for not being there in person this week. I have been participating in solidarity actions with our union siblings in San Francisco who are moving into their fourth day on the picket line. Um, this is San Francisco's first strike in 47 years. The last time San Francisco teachers and educators went on strike, I
024was 5 years old and sat out the first six weeks of first grade. Some of my earliest memories are sporting my bright yellow I walked the line in 79 t-shirt. This year, my children have been on the picket line with their high school and middle school teachers, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that their district will find. >> Can you speak a little louder? >> I'm trying. >> Okay. >> Is it our side? >> Okay. >> I my fingers crossed that their district will find a way to spend their money where they ought to on their staff and students in the classroom. The strike in San Francisco is illustrative of the predicament that California public schools find ourselves in, even those like ours that are lucky enough to be communityf funded and not rely as
025heavily on the state budget as our LCFF neighbors. 10 years ago, we worked hard to convince California voters to pass Proposition 55 to better fund schools. That legislation is set to sunset in 2030, which would be a devastating 15% cut in education funding throughout the state. SCTA members are working with other CTA members across the state on a campaign to extend this extend existing funding stream. When signature gatherers approach you in the coming months to ask if you support school funding, we hope you will sign the petition. And when we qualify for the ballot and I stand before you asking the board to approve a resolution endorsing the proposition, I hope you will stand with all California school districts and endorse it. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Salvator. Um and then is there anyone from
026ask me that is here to make a comment? Okay. Um moving on then to item 13 which is approval of the consent agenda. So board action to approve the following items is taken simultaneously with one motion which is not debatable and requires a unanimous roll call vote for passage. Uh the action indicated on each item is deemed to have been considered in full and action taken as worded therein. Only members of the board and the superintendent may move remove items from the consent agenda. Members of the public may provide comments at the start of the consent agenda item which may convince a board member or the superintendent to remove an item for further discussion. Um, are there any public comments for items on the consent agenda? There are none in person. Are there any online?
027Please raise your hand. I see one online. It's okay. Oh, is there one online or is that Miss Miss Salvator? I think. >> Oh, no. It it was me. I just I don't know your what order you were doing things in, but I had communicated with the associate superintendent of HR about an item in item 13.15 uh board uh administrative regulation 5142. >> Yes. >> 1315. Is that the one? >> 15. >> It's the 1542. Wait, >> it is >> item 15 13.15 at the very long list of board policies. The very last one, act uh administrative regulation 5142 contains language that is inconsistent with our collective bargaining agreement. So we are asking that that be removed from the approval. So yeah, this would be the time to talk about that particular um >> someone
028on the board or the superintendent chooses to pull it. >> Oh, okay. You are Oh, okay. You are pulling it. Okay. Okay. >> Great. Thank you. >> Um so yes, I'd like to pull 1315 for approval at the end. Uh after I mentioned um the amendments, we can approve the rest of consent and then we'll go to approve 1315 as amended when we get to that item. >> Okay. >> Next. >> It it's going to be right after that one. Okay. Okay. >> So, can I make a motion to approve the consent and giant agenda minus 13.15? >> Second. >> Okay. And this is a roll call vote, right? Trustee. >> Yes. Uh, Trustee Thompson, >> yes. >> Vice President Gin, >> yes. >> President Coup, >> yes. >> Motion carries 40 with one absent.
029Um, Trustee Cruz. >> Um, and then moving to item 13.15. >> Yes. So, uh, for 1315, I'd like to amend and remove, um, AR 5142. So approve with amendment of removing AR-5142. >> So moved. >> I just want to be clear that this is the one that we had the public comment on. Seconded. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Do we need to Okay. This is a roll call vote. >> Trustee Nory. >> Yes. >> Trustee Thompson. >> Yes. >> Vice President Gin. >> Yes. >> President Coup. >> Yes. >> Motion carries 4 Z with one absent. Trustee Bruce. >> Okay. And so if it's if that one is removed, is there the public comment still on 1315? >> It's on the whole thing. >> Yeah, it's all on the whole thing. Okay. >> 141. >> Okay.
030Um, so next up we have item 14.1, Tide Academy Transition Update. >> Yes. Thank you. Um, so at >> Oh yeah, public comment. Sorry. >> Okay, we have um one, two, three, four in person and three online. >> Seven minutes. >> Yeah. How about two minutes per person? >> Is it two minutes per person? >> Two minutes per person. Okay. And we're starting with Zoom or in person? >> Um, yeah, we can start with the Zoom. >> Okay. Our first speaker is Rebecca. >> Hi. Can you hear me? >> Yes, I can. >> Uh, hi. My name is Rebecca. I'm one of the parent tied parent moms. Um, last week you voted to change the lives of 200 students. Yesterday, I got an email from um, actually it's not clear I got it from. wasn't
031from the district but from a Jarth douly asking me to fill in an interd district transfer request form. I went in to fill in the form and what was not available was TIDE at Woodside. The trustees need to know exactly what that form said and I'm going to read a part of it. The board quote the board considered multiple options regarding the future of Tide Academy including alternative closure timelines and program continuation scenarios. Alternative options were not selected based on feasibility, sustainability, blah blah blah blah blah. Parents and guardians must submit an interdist transfer request without tied to Woodside being an option. This is what the board voted on. So, it is hugely concerning that the message is not aligned with the B board's vote last week. Um, I need answers to the following questions.
032Have the trustees seen this email that went out? who wrote the email, who authorized the email. H the answers to these questions, neither any sort of answer doesn't give me any confidence. If it was an error, it points to honestly I it's hard to know what it points to, but that the board is that the district is not aligned with the board. If it was deliberate, it points to the fact that the district is contravening the board's vote last week. So we need to understand is TIDE moving to Woodside? What is the deadline? Are the dual enrollment programs and their teachers moving to W Woodside? What is the roadmap? We really need clear, concise answers to this, not this constant bait and switch and these emails that suggest it's not even going to happen from
033the district. Please clarify. >> Thank you. Is Mary J. I told you last week that I don't trust the district and so far it's living up to my expectations. An email telling us we have to pick a new school says nothing about moving TID's program to Woodside is the opposite of providing care and understanding of our situation. That email says to me that the district has no intention of moving Tide to Woodside. That email assumes that everyone will click on a message that looks like spam. Unknown sender, dubious platform, no reference to SUSD in the email body. If people ignore this email, their child defaults to their home school, effectively depressing the number of students who might actually want to go to Tide at Woodside. This email assumes everyone is keeping up with every detail
034of last week's board decision. By not mentioning Tide Woodside, you are again depressing potential enrollment by not providing information. Some of us have been living and breathing your every word for the past few months, but not all families are so informed. That brings me to eighth grade families. We asked the district last week to include 9th graders at Woodside. President Coup asked the superintendent to look into the feasibility of this. And yet the email to eighth grade families didn't give them any information about this possibility, effectively killing it. So I ask you, is there truly an intention to move Tide to Woodside? We have heard no details and your actions so far demonstrate that you're going to sell us out again. >> Thank you. Our last speaker on Zoom is Olga Zoroskaya. >> Hi Olga,
035if you can unmute. >> Hi. Um hello members of the community. Um I just wanted as a mother of um Alexander who is a tight student. I just want to say that we're devastated with the way this board is handling the situation, with the way this board voted to close our school, with the way this board uh promised a cohort uh from tight to Woodside and uh did not grant us this option again depressing our kids that are uh that are already, you know, very depressed. uh with everything that's going on uh we think that uh this whole thing is done intentionally to us. Uh we think that this board understands that uh there is no way they can transform us to Woodside. They've just promised things that aren't happening again. Uh thank you so
036much for your attention. We will try to do our best to recall you and good luck uh miss school with your tomorrow's school closure. Um have a good day. Bye. >> Thank you. Our first speaker in person is Johanna Mahal. >> Well, it seems that it's pretty clear why um a recall is necessary. Um, I also am going to hear and confirm in public that 8th grade uh parents who did apply to Tide, who were excited about Tide, um, also received the same email that was just, uh, discussed without any indication. Um, only the email saying that Tide was closed and that there was no possibility for them to have to choose Tide anymore and that they had to choose another school in the Sequoia Union High School District. I think I did hear Trusty
037Coup ask Superintendent Leech last week to make sure that that was a viable option. That didn't happen. It's not really surprising to us because we know from the very beginning that Superintendent Leech had a plan to close the school. It was never really a conversation in the community. It was just smoke and mirrors until you guys could figure out how to get this through. Um, I have really nothing else to say except for just to repeat again how much I'm going to enjoy making sure that you're not in these seats come January 2nd. Thank you. Our next speaker is Joyce Sykes. Thank you. Um, thank you for your service. and for all the hard work that you're putting in to the district on all levels. Uh I'm here to give you a report u from
038the last week at Tide and I can tell you that people are not doing okay. They're not doing okay. What I'm here tonight to ask for is a communication plan with a focus on harm reduction. Period. And I really hope that we're going to hear that tonight. The psychological effects on these children are real. It's known. It's documented information. You are all educated members of this community. I implore you to get experts immediately involved from an emotional and social perspective and to get a communication plan in place. This is serious. As effort, I typed into chat GPT what a communication plan looks like with harm reduction. I did it to Gemini. They have some great ideas. Please do this work now. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Andromeda Garcelon. Good evening. Um, you've
039heard already about the email this week. Uh, I have to say speaking on behalf of our community, the confusion from parents was huge. Not only did this email go out without first any communication from the district to the Tide families that the vote happened last week and what it was about. So, if you weren't in this room, there's no communication from the district to our families what was voted on. Not even any communication. The first communication is an email that some people were finding in their inboxes and then other people are scrambling for. And I cannot tell you I don't have access to communicate with every family at Tide the way you guys do. There is no email out that told us, no parent square message, no message whatsoever, no letter that has arrived that
040tells our community what has happened and what their options might be going forward. There is an email that went out and this email as has been stated doesn't have any reference to Sequoa Union High School District in the subject line. It is from somebody from the district staff, but it doesn't it unless you already knew that you don't know that it was only sent to parent two, not parent one of every student. So, I've gotten every communication from the district for both my kids for multiple years going through the district. This email didn't come to my inbox. I'm the parent one on file for my kid. I still don't have it because it went to parent two and parent two isn't expecting those because that's never where the emails go. I don't know what happened,
041but it's really bad. This isn't the first time. The whole uh this whole time we've been having this happen where times are changed in a meeting, something goes wrong. It's hard to believe it's just an innocent mistake when it happens over and over. You need to tell us what's going on. We need Woodside to have Tide at Woodside as an >> Our last speaker is Tamar. Good evening everyone. Um, I'm not going to say such important things as were said here and uh on Zoom. Um, because there's a lot going on and this seems like a big mess and what can I add to that? I mean, they said it very clearly, but I was going through Next Door today just I guess I got some um um things popped up and I saw somebody
042mention about Palo Alto uh Union School District meeting yesterday and they mentioned I I I will read this part. They mentioned um the person mentioned with profiles in cowardice, cruelty and courage on display and for the first time in a long time I believe actual issues being debated and decisions made. That sparked my attention. It's a different district, different board, different superintendent, different parents, different struggles as you all know, different things to deal with. And I continued reading and there's a link there to uh specific points in the the YouTube in the video of the of the meeting and I want to tell you I've heard her name before Rouena Chu from from the board and maybe you guys know her from your work from just being in the field of of of this of
043public service. But it is possible for a trustee to push back against a superintendent when the superintendent is not doing what is best for the students. When the superintendent does not perform their job properly, it is possible to push back not just by votes. And it is possible to push back on the district which they refer to as admin. the district which is actually standing in the way of the board taking care of students. So you guys think about that and and I can send you the >> that concludes public comment for item 14.1. >> All right. Thank you. And with that uh I'll hand it over to Superintendent Leech. >> Thank you. So um yesterday as noted um an open enrollment email went out of went went out to parents. Um it is part
044of the standard district's process. Tide is a school of choice which means we have a process to make another school a school of choice. So we do have to follow that process. Um we are looking into I I do not know why it went to parent two. Um so we are looking into that. Um we have open enrollment is due March 9th. Um, tomorrow, um, principal Simone McKennel, Principal Karen Van Putton, uh, counselor Laura Sandor, and the head counselor from Woodside Francisco, um, will be meeting to start to develop and understand the programs and pathways that we offer at both of our schools to reach a common vocabulary around the CTE courses and dual enrollment courses. Um together they will offer a message that captures the academic programs, resources, and the vision of merging these
045two programs at Woodside High School. And that communication uh will be sent promptly after um I review. Um, we will be, as stated last week, moving the CTE courses and the dual enrollment opportunities that Tide currently offers to Woodside. Um, in addition to that, um, Principal Van Putton is planning, um, a walk on the Wildside event February 28th, um, and is also working with, uh, Principal Rick Kennel, um, on sharing information and possible visits of the Woodside leadership team, um, among other extracurricular activities and clubs to go to, uh, Tide and meet Tide students. and personally invite them over to try to increase um visibility and traction before the February 28th uh walk on the wildside event. That is my update for this board meeting since last week. >> Okay. And then any trustees >>
046any trustee comments? So for the open enrollment form, will there be any way to indicate more clearly about interest? >> I'm not sure if we can change the form, but we will send additional communication that describes the process more clearly. >> So I I'm a little bit confused about the inability to change the form. Excuse me. The the board is having a deliberation right now and public comment has ended. So, um, just tell me, I guess help us understand like why the the form can't be modified before it is sent out or any like uh context that can be sent out with the form. >> So, I can pull up the email and read to you what was um Let me see if I can find it. So, in the email body, in light of
047the recent board decision to relocate the TIE academic program to Woodside High School beginning in the 2627th school year, we are reopening and extending the open enrollment process until March 9th for current TIDE students and incoming 9th graders. ers who selected tide. Open enrollment gives your family the opportunity to explore schools and programs ac across the district and select the best fit for the 2627 school year. Details are included on the form. Current TIDE students and students who originally applied to Tide as incoming 9th graders will automatically be enrolled at the Tide at Woodside High School if Woodside High School is selected on the open enrollment form. If you prefer a different school site, you will need to indicate that selection on the form. Please submit your open enrollment form by March 9th. If no
048selection is made, students will be assigned to their home school for the 2627 school year. If you have questions or would like support completing the form, please contact your counselor or the TIDE office. Any questions? >> So, how was the email sent through a different way than we normally send emails or >> the email was not sent through parent square? Yeah, because if that was the email that was sent out, that would not be confusing. Yeah. Yeah, you can forward us the email. >> Is there a way to make it >> because what you just read is not what was said, but you are lying to them. >> Us the email you're reading about something I believe that that was the email if you're reading the email that was sent. Um per I this isn't
049so much I don't I don't want to give you like direction but perhaps this is what I'm doing is is just making sure and clarifying >> excuse me >> I'm sorry >> why I'm not giving you direction right now is that's not what this time in the meeting is for. So that's why I know that this time in the meeting is for is to ask you questions. So I'm trying to ask you a question and not go what the direction route. So I'm apologizing if I'm moving in that direction for lack of better words. Um the the clarification I guess what I'm asking is is if just to if there's other emails that have been sent out by Mr. Douly, let's just double check those and make sure that we're on the same page in
050a very difficult time. Well, as stated, I mean, I'm hearing and also receiving the emails that it is unclear and along with the meeting that I explained earlier on, we will have another communication going tomorrow talking more about the program >> and then um maybe we could resend the email too if you know because I'm sure there might be some miss maybe work we will work on clarifying communication. Yes. Okay. >> Yeah. Because the the email as you read it seems pretty clear that there is a program at Tide. Um so we just want to make sure that everything is working the way it was supposed to because it does sound like it didn't go to the the parent that it normally goes to either. And I do I don't know if our emails are
051supposed to have like the Sequoia Union High School District logo or other identifying information. Um but yeah, we want to definitely be very clear in our communications and if there was a missed communication that needs to be broadly corrected and as soon as possible. Yeah. Yeah. Any other questions? Um because I would like to Oh yeah, go ahead. >> So um someone just forwarded me the email. So I was looking at it. I I think is it missing a paragraph? Like that's what I seem like. It seems like there isn't. Maybe you read an extra paragraph because the first part of what you read is there and the last part of what you read is there. But it also seems like the email was sent via informed K through 12, not via or not maybe
052not via an email with the link attached. So, I wonder if it's might looking if one of the paragraphs disappeared in that email. >> I'll look into that >> cuz everything else you read seems to be there except that second middle paragraph. >> Sure. And then I I do have a question regarding um so you mentioned that there's discussions. Is it just with the principal of both Tide and Woodside or who's involved in the uh discussions of how the program will look like and will there be any opportunity for um the broader tide community to provide any feedback? So tomorrow's meeting is with the head counselor at Tide, the head counselor at Woodside, and then the two principles. Okay. >> Um they will also be discussing how to engage the Tide student body on that
053transition. So then the intent then is for there to be kind of a draft of what it might look like and get feedback from students or how is that? >> Well, we definitely want to communicate what the program would look like depending outside of CTE and dual enrollment. Everything else is going to depend on numbers as far as what staff follows students over to Tide. Um the numbers of students that migrate to Woodside will still be cohorted together, but the amount of staff that goes with them potentially could change depending on the number of students that decide to enroll at Woodside. >> Okay. And then will that also include discussions about transportation? Okay. That will happen after we know who is going to where where they end up after March 9th. >> Okay. >> And
054then I think was Trusty Thompson trying to ask a question or >> Oh, no. I was just >> No, I was just thank you for the inform. >> Oh, okay. I I thought there was a pause. So, I was saying thank you. >> Okay. And moving on. Okay. Yeah. So I think um since our next board meeting is probably a little ways out, right? It's in March. >> Yeah. And so you can continue to provide the board updates each week. Correct. >> If that's board direction. >> Yeah. It's it's a standing agenda, right? We've already >> No, in addition to the standing agenda because our next board meeting is >> Oh. Oh. Oh. The email board updates. >> Yeah. the weekly email updates because I would like to be kept a breast of what's happening
055because this is a very tight timeline, right? Because if the uh deadline is March 9th and we've got a week off for uh mid-winter break, you know, things are moving fast and furious. So, we would like to be kept a breast of what the the program is going to look like, right? And uh and just the progress Okay. So, are you asking us then, Amy? Because that's direction, which means we need three votes. So, you're not actually Crystal, you're asking us or like >> if we want the regular updates. Yes. >> A section board update. >> Section board update. Yeah. >> I have no objections. >> Okay. >> So, so that is then. >> Yeah. Yeah. And >> then is there a reason we have the March 9th date instead of um pushing it back
056a little bit? No, no, March 9th is the deadline for the uh enrollment form. >> So, that date um that date was chosen due to staff moving um and other hiring calendars throughout the year. As we enter into hiring season, we need to know where students uh wish to go next year. And so by the time basically that walk on the wild side takes place and then I think you said that there's some additional communications ahead of that the the draft plan will already be reviewed multiple times or like so next week is >> so there will be communication we keep referring to a plan. Mhm. >> Um and so the academic program is moving the and again that is CTE and dual enrollment. The number of students that choose to enroll in the cohorted
057program at Woodside will determine how many teachers follow those students at Woodside. Um so I just I want to make sure that we're using the same common language. >> Okay. But I I think in particular I'm wondering about the freshman cohorting because the freshman cohorting doesn't relate to the CTE and dual enrollment programs. So will that also be defined on the same timelines? So that um >> so that will be a part of the communication that the principles are working on to talk about what the freshman program would look like to the incoming nth graders who selected tide to see if they'd still like to select Woodside. Yes. Yep. Okay. And then um quickly because I did look at the email again and I do think there was something that got mistaken between the what
058your intent was and what you read like we talked about before, but um do you think that could be corrected soon if we look into it and figure out, you know, even today that it was missing a paragraph? Like do you think that could be something that could be resent relatively soon? >> Okay. Are there any additional questions? Okay. All right. Thank you, Superintendent Leech. I know there's a lot of moving parts here. Um, with our next agenda item, we have 14.2, which is the annual presentation on the Sequoia Union High School District attendance. >> Good evening, members of the board and Superintendent Leech. We're going to give you uh the annual update that happens this time of year every year on what is going on with district trends in our district. And so um
059I welcome up our director to give you an overview of that. >> Thank you, Associate Superintendent Hansen. Uh, President Coup, trustees of the board, Superintendent Leech, the pleasure of presenting our uh, annual attendance update to you all tonight. Um, as we do about this time every year, uh, we have a little overview of our presentation. We're following a very similar um presentation style that we've developed over the last few years which includes just a general overview of our attendance system as we've built out over the several years. Uh an update and some information on our bilingual community liaison as we consistently brag about their work and our other staff as well as some data and looking forward uh into 2026 uh which is this year but also and beyond. So just a little quick overview
060as we've seen this timeline um before which includes our data implications. We've had quite the roller coaster of attendance in our district as as we know we had a major speed bump in 2020 with COVID and moving online uh and then returning in a hybrid and ultimately to in person. So it's been a moving target as we analyzed our attendance data. Um we have highlighted in blue there uh from 2022 as we incorporated um attendance as an LCAP goal and so that's highlighted there as we continue to work on um attendance support through the LCAP. Our attendance team members are all listed up here. We have an excellent uh district team as well as a number of individuals joining at the school sites. Um I have a few of our community lison in the room.
061Why don't you all stand up just to acknowledge we have Herardo, Marisol, Alexis, and Pedro. And so they are joining us tonight. Thank you. Um we always like to celebrate them um as we continue to highlight their work. Uh this is the foundation for our tiered approach to attendance as we've heard multiple times in the last um you know five to seven years around our uh MTSS our multi-tered system of supports. We have our tier one which includes all of our school staff members to tier two which is more of our bilingual community liaison and our intervention teams and then tier three our mental health case worker and district staff uh in addition to site st uh site administrators. Um looking at our tier tiers of interventions slightly differently. This is a visual for our
062district's uh model SARB which our CDE California Department of Ed awarded our district in 2024. Um this is basically our flowchart that follows our path of intervention which includes our required uh truency notification letters in one two and three there. The first boxes in blue in the second column. Um just pointing out a highlight uh that our conferences with students and parents are after our second notification of truency. A lot of the work of our community liaison are put there. Uh we put a lot of eggs in those baskets at the site level. That's where a lot of the funding time and energy is spent. Um obviously at the lower tier of intervention that's by design. Then you can see our school uh student attendance review team otherwise known as Sarts which happened after letter
063three transitioning to the district uh school attendance review board and eventually to the county if necessary. This slide has been looked at before. Uh this was a duplicate of the strategic plan update from a previous board meeting um which also includes the update from the LCAP which are our metrics by goal one action 1.1 which is to reduce chronic absenteeism of our English learners and increase student engagement. So that is our goal one and our action 1.1 is specifically for attendance and we can see here um as previously reported this year we have a net change um from three years of data uh increase in chronic absenteeism of our e slightly and we'll get into a little bit more of the data as to breaking that down and and looking at at that a little
064bit more but a decrease overall with our students. Um our dropout rate um changed a little bit for the for the negative. went up by less than 1%. Um, our English learners, which actually was not included in our LCAP metric data, uh, data, but we received some feedback for that, so we included that here. Um, dropout rate actually is down over the last three years, which is great. That's a a change from all student groups. And then you can see our school attendance rates um, continue to climb over the last three years as previously reported. Um, a little slide to brag, as I keep saying, about our bilingual community le liaison. Um, they're here tonight, obviously, the ones that could make it as we like to celebrate um all of their hard work. They spend
065a lot of time looking at root cause analysis, identifying barriers, sometimes in the homes of our students and families, and so they're not always just on site. Um what we have them working towards right now, we're we're trying to transition to a change in our data monitoring system. Um we're trying to see if it's feasible to analyze our intervention um data to see pre and post effect on not just attendance but grades, behavior, all the data that we track um that our team has been looking at as far as our internal dashboard through school litics. So we're trying to incorporate in one streamlined data platform. So we're looking at um looking at that with our community leazison hopefully in in the future. Uh this is an updated slide talking about their support tools that they
066utilize. You can see some flyers, some positive notes over at MA. One of the things right in the middle hot off the presses uh is the parent square QR code that Herardo with uh over at Sequoa helped implement. um being able to text directly through Parent Square with students. It's been a useful tool to get to the point where our staff can text directly through Parent Square to our students and or their parents. And so he's developed a way to facilitate that. So shout out to him. And as always, you know, best practices shared across the team. We also have an excellent mental health case worker who is a classified manager on this team. Um she supports day in and day out with our community liaison across the school sites. You can see uh additional
067tiers of intervention there really focusing on mental health supports as well as that systemic data monitoring that I said uh that we're looking towards uh moving to a long list of challenges and barriers to attendance. Um, I want to point out probably the the difficult ones to really solve, um, being school avoidance, um, or cultural differences, and then what's not on here, I didn't choose to put it on here, but we'll talk a little bit about it when we look at the data, um, you know, political landscapes and and what's happening across the country, uh, relative to that. So, jumping into the data, I know I kind of went through that quick. There's a lot of data slides. I'll also try and be quick because we have the data, you guys have the slides, and
068I want to um be sure we can answer questions. Um just a little disclaimer, we still do use school status attend, which is formerly A2A. Um we use that because we have the historical longitudinal data going back uh seven or eight years now. And until we change into um a data tool that more matches uh or closely aligns to the CDE, you can see the differences there. Different counts of students based on enrollment, all day, partial day, etc. They're very close. Um but they will differ from the slide I just shared on LCAP, which is all certified CDE data quest data. So just a little disclaimer, the data won't match if you're looking at comparative from CDE data to the school status attend data. So everything from here on out is pulled from school status
069to 10th. Okay. So here's a quick update just the last two years. We can see um increased first and second truency notifications there in the first column year-over-year but a slight reduction in letter threes. That's an interesting aha if you ask me which you can actually see in the save rate. Um the save rate definition actually is the uh percent of students that received the letter one truency or letter one for excessive excused absences and did not get a letter two. So they consider that a save that they didn't move to the next tier of intervention. Then you can see um our excused absences went up. Uh and so you can see we're we're dealing with I think some some flu and and things like that excused absences. Also our notifications through email have increased
070over the year as well. A little more breakdown of our save rate by school site. Uh you can see as a district save rate has up um four to 5%. And then by site varying percentages. Uh attendance rate overall the last four years we have a a steady decline in the average number of absences per student and a steady increase in attendance rate until last year. So we have a little graph kind of climbing down or up positively um for those two data points. But then last year we saw a a small change uh in the reverse order. We'll look at that as to some reasons why. We have some graphs that that may explain that. Um but still overall down from uh the three years prior. Here is a chart that talks about weekly
071absence rates year-over-year. Um, I know it might be a little small on your screens, but at the beginning of the chart here in the first weeks of the school, our blue line is last school year. And we can see significantly lower than the prior year. So, started off the school year. Great. That's what we want to see. And then you can see the the line in the middle is the previous year, the gold. And then the more yellow line is the previous year. So, we really see the stepped year-over-year down until January of 2025. That's the blue spike. All the other spikes and dips match. So, that first spike is going to be right around Thanksgiving. That is our two days of the week of Thanksgiving. If we ever wanted to know what was happening
072that week, we can see it pretty consistently over three years. finals, end of semester 1, that big dip right after the Thanksgiving spike. So, the lower absence rate obviously is the better. Um, higher, more kids missing. And then, so last year we have the January 2025 major spike in absence rates. Um that coincides with, if you ask me, in my opinion, that coincides with our political landscape in the inauguration and the change of um uh administration the presidential level. As we know, we had student walkouts and protests at that time as well. And so we saw an increase in absence rates. And then if you look the rest of the year, uh the blue line actually is the top made it very difficult to recover. One more chart explaining that a little bit further. One
073more graph. Sorry. Um this is monthly. So now it instead of counting weekly, we're in a a larger um uh data grouping, but you can still see this makes it a little bit clearer. You can see that blue line starting off the year pretty well being lower than the previous years. We see that same decline at the end of the semester in December and then January and into February we see big big spike in in the blue which is last year and you can see it did not recover. Uh moving into some conferencing data as I said earlier this is where community liaison spend a lot of their time. The good news, year-over-year we have an increase in conference address rate of of over 2% um handling over 80 more conferences year-over-year. We can see
074them by school site. It's important to I always like to include um the end so to speak of how many conferences resulted uh in being held in that percent rate because obviously we have schools with a larger need to handle those conferences. So, always important to point that out. Here's our English learner attendance um conference rates. An increase in 8% year-over-year for our English learner um conferences and being addressed. So, a a good boost there. This is our goal one right out action 1.1 right out of our LCAP. So, good to see growth um continuing to address conferences. Are they effective? Here's a slide that has the six weeks pre-conference attendance as well as the six weeks um post. Now, these are total absences of the students that had a conference the six weeks prior
075and then on the right are the six weeks after. So, you can see right in the middle right where the conference happens, you would expect to see an impact of the conference the very next week. We can see it in that very first um bar that attendance gets better. So less absences, the bar is lower. Then it starts to climb back up, but we see that that bar doesn't quite make it up to um even the lowest number of absences the six weeks prior. That's impactful. So we see an improvement rate of 7.2%. Um year-over-year, I don't have it on the slide, but I did pull it up just in case, and it was about 10% improvement rate the year prior. Um even though this year we had more missed days before. So, good data.
076Uh, still continuing to improve. Uh, you can see here a little bit more by ethnicity and our ethnic groups. Um, the three that are highlighted in gray, I don't know, maybe not highlighted, but they're in gray. Um, all positive improvement rates, those are the highest volume of our conferences for Hispanic um, white students as well as our Pacific Islander students. And the good news the improvement rate is 7 11 and 17% respectively. So seeing an increase um in students in those ethnic uh ethnicity subgroups seeing an improvement in their attendance post conference. Oh, my title is a little cut off. This is total absence uh year-over-year. So we can see three years of data. Here again, we see chronic absenteeism all uh all the way to the right. When I presented last year, we had
077three steps down, which is what we want to see. We want to see chronic absenteeism going going down. And remember, chronic absenteeism, I know I'm probably going to say it a hundred times in this presentation. Uh that's students missing 10% or more uh of the school day. Any any absences, including excused. Um we can see the impact of those previous graphs the monthly and the weekly where January had a hit. We can see that in the chronic absenteeism creeping up over the last year by 7%. Uh what I will say is back in 21-22 we were at 20.5%. So we did we we are still doing well and we're still well under the the previous two years. Uh we don't know what this year is going to bring because we know what we just experienced
078as principal priest alluded to earlier with uh you know the student walkouts um and just the the unsure political climate that we're uh experiencing and our students are faced with. There is attendance by ethnicity year-over-year. We can see um our Hispanic subgroup which which uh is our largest subgroup um kind of maintaining chronic absenteeism in the red there 28% year-over-year. We can see an increase in our um black student subgroup um as well as uh overall it's rounded up but we had that small.7 difference. Here is our chronic absenteeism of our English learners. We see a real matching chronic absenteeism graph to the right. Step down, step down, and then a little bit up. So, we see the same uh graph here that we see for all students. Here is our other subgroups. So, we
079have uh a migrant subgroup increased 3% over uh previous year. Our homeless students increased 5%. This is our chronic absenteeism in red. Uh free and reduced lunch students up slightly and our English learners up slightly as we just uh looked at. So these these are much smaller numbers than our ethnicity groups but still significant subgroups especially our English learners as this is our group that we are focused on with our um community liaison through our LCAP action item. Uh I put this table in here which can be a little confusing. Um this came this was included based on I think Trustee Thompson your comment at our strategic plan update. Um wanting to look a little into our students that are that are resulted in the dropout uh rate and is there correlation to chronic absenteeism?
080That is a very difficult question to answer. I learned in looking at this da the data with um with Diana Wilmont, our director of research and evaluation, we learned that as the cohorts go year uh each grade level each year, students that leave us in 9, 10, and 11th grade, they aren't included in our chronic absenteeism rate for that senior year. only the seniors that made it those four years with us or were enrolled still that then dropped out. So, it's it'd be very difficult to actually find the answer to your question. However, we do have some data that gives us a little insight. And so, we listed three years of those seniors that did make it. We looked at one question and then the reverse of that question. So, how many of our chronically
081absent students were dropouts? That's the top part. And then how many of our dropout students were chronically absent. So the bottom row of each year, you can see high percentage of our dropout students were chronically absent. But the reverse is not true. Of our chronically absent students, the vast majority graduate, which is a real interesting data piece. Um why? I don't know. I'm sure there's a lot of reasons and I don't want to sit up here and opine on that, but I do think that it could be something um also to look a little further into, but I didn't want to forget your question. >> Yes, >> point of clarity that is these are the numbers for the seniors that were still in enrolled in our district. Is that correct? Am I understanding? >> The
082it was the chronic absenteeism. It was the seniors that had that were identified as chronically absent against the cohort dropout number which actually included more than just those seniors in that year because the dropout cohort rate includes all grade level students who were supposed to be seniors, but we couldn't capture their chronic absenteeism rate because they went missing. They either left and unenrolled and weren't picked up at another school or school district or went private but they didn't graduate and so they're included >> or out of the country. Thank you. Yeah, lots of options. So that's why it's very complicated to really once as soon as we realize that we're like uh I want to present something. So, this really is just of the seniors that we had enrolled that were chronically absent against the
083dropout rate, which included more than just those seniors. That makes sense. I know that was complicated to explain that. It was complicated in my mind, too. Okay, moving into midyear. This is a first semester glance. We have some reprieve, some good news. It's not not that what I just said was all doom and gloom because a lot of positive stuff was in there. Obviously some some things to continue focus on um focusing on but a lot of things out of our control. This is mid midyear so first semester we have three years of this data. You can see our first semester data was slightly different based on the the number of days enrolled or or days in the school year. But you can see our average number of absences per student is very similar to
084one of our other tables is down significantly over three years for the first semester. And our attendance rate is significantly up over that same time span. That's the table on the left. Table on the right again looking at chronic absenteeism which we continue to focus on. But I am going to shout out that excellent subgroup. Look at that on the left of that bar graph. That's a that's an increase in the excellent subgroup. which I believe is um 95% or higher attendance rate. So back to the chronic absenteeism side, you can see we we are 1.7% below first semester last year in our chronic absenteeism rate. That's significant. That is no small test. Shout out to our chronic to our um community lison. Again, here's another midyear um two graph comparison. We have um student
085groups on the right, uh subgroups, and then our ethnicity groups on the on the right. I think I said that backwards, but you can see our English learners real small there. All the way on the left, we have uh what is that? 4% over 4% reduction in chronic absenteeism over the first semester year-over-year. Again, community liaison, shout out. Keep working hard because we see it. However, in the same graph, we see migrant and homeless spikes which we were are not are not surprised by. It's a it's a struggle with our homeless or in transition families and I think that subgroup is on the rise. So, there's a lot of other things happening. Um, then on our ethnicity side over on the right, we can see big reduction in our Pacific Islander. uh our Hispanic also
086has a big reduction over 2% our white students and then a slight increase in the Asian subgroup. So here's a summary of all the stuff I just said. I'm not going to read it because I I think I pointed out everything. Um the last bullet there are challenges. Like I said, we've had we had a significant flu season this year. I I think everybody in here I think went out at some point. I know I hear laughing behind me because I know that's true. Um we have a we have some um politics in the country that is really impacting student attendance rates. Uh and this is at the high school level, right? This is where students really are are involved as we saw. Um, and then we have our local fears of immigration enforcement as
087well that I wanted to highlight as barriers that all of our staff are working with our students and families to try and overcome. So, how are we moving this year and beyond? I had this chart last year. This is a very scary chart on the right, the the graphic. Um, I'll explain it really quickly. that really tall graph bar that is the number of schools with chronic uh extreme chronic and high chronic absence rates. That's a lot. That's elementary four years after that little one. So it's a snapshot in 1819 and then a snapshot in 2223. >> When you say schools, are you talking about our feeder schools? >> California. >> Oh, California. >> California. Sorry, I forgot that little part. California. I have it written on the left. I just forgot to read it.
088Um, and then you can see matching year-over-year snapshots for middle middle school student uh middle schools and high schools. Middle schools and high schools very similar jumps. The elementary that's scary. The very first edge of that elementary class from 22 23 those fifth graders are coming next year as nth graders. Now, can we say how many of those schools are locally here that feed into us? No. So, we're taking like a global look. So, we have some um additional data there on the left of our um cohort average of our feeders. So, you can see of our feeders, very rough estimates because I kind of crunched those from data quest. You can see our feeders send us all students um over the years from chronic that chronic absentee percentage 26 15 and then back up
089to 17. So they're al also seeing similar data that we're seeing in their chronic absenteeism numbers high getting better getting better and then back up last year of the English learners we can see year-over-year going back to 21 20 uh 2 those are the fifth 6th 7th eighth graders 38% 26 27 and 30 so we're at the high school level we're getting those kids as ninth graders and like we trust our feeders to work with the students and try to do the same work, right? Addressing those barriers, getting over them, but the students are still coming to us at a pretty high rate. That's okay. We know what we're dealing with. We have the right staff. There's a lot of work is the point. So, this first wave of increased data is coming. Um, as
090we continue to do this work, our areas of focus are listed here. We do see a downward trend of a of absenteeism until last year. So that is a little boost. So we need to think about how we are addressing that not just this year but but beyond. Continue our proactive communication as I highlighted. That is all the work that the teams are doing at the school sites. Uh continue implementing our tiers of intervention and our action plans through our SART as well as our SAR meetings. And then also looking at like I said our data tools. We really need to start looking at the effectiveness of our interventions and that's one of the big driving forces of um looking at our platform change in addition to incorporating that work into the cost um system
091as um being implemented through our ed services department. List of resources a lot of the stuff that I talked about available here. Thank you very much. Thank you for that presentation. Um, and I wanted to open it up to the board for any questions you may have. >> Thank you. First, that was a lot of information and I appreciate you not forgetting my question even though I threw you a doozy. Um, but I appreciate looking at it and digging into that. Um, I just one question. Um, goes goes back to slide 23. Um, you said as to be expected after these these conferences and I I know how much work you all put into even scheduling the conferences, getting people to show up to the conferences. So, thank you. Um, as expected week when it
092drops, as expected, it kind of rises. And I'm just curious, um, as we think long term, sort of what what is the next step for postconference knowing that it could potentially go back up? >> Yeah, >> you don't have to have an answer. It's more of like a >> let's throw that out there. >> I mean, we do have an answer. Is it highly effective? I mean, the answer is the next truency notification, the start and the SAR. >> We can see a little bit of effective effectiveness still because we can see a decline a little in the middle and then another one. So that's either our community liaison who have um you know established routines and checking in with students on a on like a systemic basis to see how they're doing. So we'll
093see that in the in the data. But that also leads to my my data point and in looking really how are all of our interventions impacting so that we can look more granularly than this because this tells a a a decent story but we want to see how how really the interventions are effective. >> So actually this brought up a question I had. So for me it seems like there is some sort of small significant drop week one but it seems like post week one it's almost as if the conference never happened. So for me that kind of shows that at least for a small percentage of kids if whatever maybe a parent caught on and said no no no you have to go like they could come to school. So at that point I'm
094wondering you know for those kids that show up for a week and then stop showing up is there some more level of like personal accountability or accountability saying hey like we know you can do it. Why do you only do it for a week after and then stop? >> Yeah. Yeah. A lot of those I'm sure I speak for all of you. A lot of those conversations do happen. Um, but I will say each site is one staff doing this for a significant percentage. Is the staff enough? No. We we couldn't we can't even have a conference. As you can see, our conference rate is in the 50%. We we aren't even addressing every conference. It's just impossible based on the volume. And so picking and choosing the the students as we have identified through
095the LCAP action item is our English learners. I tried to get our English learner version of this and I couldn't get it in time for tonight, but that could be something we could we could dive into because hopefully we would see a better impact. Um but yeah, when you're talking, you know, 600 absences, a difference of 20 total absences for these students, that's significant. I mean because the the students we're going after are right in the middle on the cusp of chronic absenteeism for the most part. That's where the um community leaison are dialing in their work to keep the students out of the chronic absenteeism rate re-engaging because there's that the ability for them to I mean we have a significant group in the severe which is over 20%. And that's that's a tough
096group to to get back, but this is all students. >> So, I'm wondering to what extent do uh community based organizations help with attendance efforts for the districts? Are there groups that aren't paid with district funds, but are helping in some way? And like what's the magnitude of that? And then sort of a follow- on question is has it changed dramatically in the last year? >> The first part of your question, yes, there there are a few and they're kind of in pockets. Um there there are a few that support uh you know, small numbers, small groups of students um that we don't have contracts with. I know over in East Palto there's several. There's Boys and Girls Club that does a lot of that work. Um we also have partnerships with a few that
097support uh in that work as well as in um you know implementation of restorative practices. Uh we have lots of partnerships with mental health and wellness partners. All of that ties into attendance. All of it. Attendance is that kind of big bucket that everything kind of falls into. Um which makes it sometimes hard to to identify how best to improve attendance. Um, and then the second part of your question, I'm not sure what you meant by >> My understanding is a fair number of local community based organizations are having funding challenges >> and may have less availability and help. And so I'm wondering if if you've seen a difference. >> Um, as we know, I mean, we lost Star Vista in this county like overnight. That was huge. and and so yes, it's a struggle
098and I think I mean I don't want to speak for community based organizations but I know that uh you know each month that goes by there's funding questions and I just got another message today on other types of funding questions. Um and so I do think I don't think the numbers increasing. I think the the we're seeing some of those organizations struggle more and more as you just pointed out with the funding. I don't know what the solution for that is. Um, yeah, >> I'm just thinking that the political climate coupled with the funding are two possible explanations for the changes. And then >> you're spot on. another area of inquiry which is more just your thoughts than district specific but recent New York Times article about the few states that have had massive improvements
099which you may have seen or may not have seen but I was interested reading it that they have what I understand to be much stricter truency rules in terms of threatening jail time to people whose kids don't show up and I know my understanding is we take a much different approach here that there's kind of no no threat of that. And I'm wondering kind of your view on the philosophy and the effectiveness of the two different philosophies. >> Well, thankfully I've been an educator long enough to see both and um is is it effective to find parents for when their students don't go to school? For some parents, yes. For a lot of parents, no. And that's part of the problem. the no because parents engaging with their students and their students education particularly at
100the high school level I mean we get the ah I can't do anything which is very different than the elementary level um but you are correct that in in California the education code has changed in fact the truency laws continue to change which we do have by law we have to communicate in our truency notification number one very specific ED code requirements which used to say, "We'll take your license. We'll prevent you from getting it. We're coming after your mom, your dad, you know, all that stuff, which was extremely punitive." And as we know, what research shows, especially for student behavior, that doesn't work. The punitive approach um is not effective. Just like suspensions of students, um the recidivism rate is super high. And so, you know, that's what we're faced with. And and certainly
101we appreciate how in California we've gone um the pendulum has swung back to taking a more restorative approach, but boy is that difficult work. You ask any administrator, principal, community liaison to get one student back in class one time, that could be 20 hours worth of work. sometimes 10 of those hours in the home, you know, connecting the family with the food bank, getting them a a housing resource just to get that student to attend one class. And that's that one little blip on that chart. Um, and so I'm not I it's tough to answer that. I mean, my opinion, I do think it's it's a better approach this way because then you really see a lasting impact and a lasting change, but also all kids and and parents are ready for that at the
102point where we may um come across their path. You know what I'm saying? That may be when they're 25 and they get it finally. So, >> and last question. If if if there were to be more to try to get attendance to be better, what would the more be? More people? I wouldn't say automatically more people, but definitely more caring staff that we can train to get caught up to speed on on how our community liaison because we've come so far in a short amount of time between um you know reimagining home visits and and and the the approach to re-engage students with their learning has changed as well. That takes time, effort, and energy and money. So, I wouldn't say just staff. Would more staff would more staff help? >> Maybe also different staff,
103different um preparation of staff, different skill set of staff um as well. So, um but there could be other ideas uh that obviously we're already working on some of that with our data monitoring and and such. Um yeah, I appreciate that question always. >> Well, thanks. This is important. I know attendance is only if you're not in school. So, I really appreciate this report each year. Thank you. >> And then I had a couple questions as well. Um, you know, appreciate the deep dive into attendance. Um, I know on is it slide 13 or something like that where it's the attendance patterns and challenges. It's it's a whole long list. Um, but do you have a sense of which root causes are the primary ones that float to the top or are they evenly distributed
104across all of these? >> I I would say most likely the ones I pointed out the school avoidance um lot of mental health as as we know we've talked about it and I know we have a mental health and wellness presentation later um in the spring where more of that will be discussed. Um but seeing that um kind of you know just rise to the top. It's always been one of the top um um reasons for school avoidance. Um and that's why the the different tiers of intervention are super important. Not just for attendance but what our staff do when a student is not attending. They have to identify what is the issue and try and resolve the issue. Get the student connected to X Y or Z. Get the parent connected. Um and and
105a lot of those end up being students um that are just not okay. And you know, how do we support that when students aren't attending? That is tough. Um but we do have other staff, as I mentioned, our mental health case worker takes that on as well. And we connect with um through ED services with our 504 coordinator, um Miss Kerosima, she's excellent, as well as our special education staff if necessary. And so we're all working um hand inand to try and get our students back. I'd say that's probably the the highest um challenge or the highest need and identified. Um but it's also different depending on the communities. um you know right now our when when we were working through changing home visits and we were discussing what we're seeing um pre January every
106like you could just kind of sense the wave of anxiety coming as other immigration enforcement um um things were happening in the country and a lot of worry that that that may come locally and so a lot of families not wanting to answer the door with our staff. Just a lot of fear in the community. I think that's what we're seeing um over the last year if I'm not mistaken. See, lots of families leaving out of the country. >> Um and then on the data side of it, I know the absences they they group excused and excused absences, right? Um, is there a percentage that's consistent or just >> Do you mean a percentage like >> of what makes up the the chronic? >> They don't break that down. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah. Um,
107we could we could do I believe we can do an analysis on excessive excused absences because we know we saw that increase over the year. >> Okay. Um, I don't know what you might be looking for, but we could we could provide maybe something in a future board update. >> Yeah, because I'm kind of curious because then, you know, if if a student is is ill and just out for long periods of time, that's a very different thing than unexcused absences. >> Yes. Which also triggers other mechanisms of um, you know, addressing the absenteeism andor the lack of instruction. Mhm. >> There's other there's other um things in place to address that. >> Okay. And then I'm also curious um on the weekly absence rates year over year. I know there's that big spike in
108Thanksgiving. Um has there been any consideration to like make Monday and Tuesday off? because I know some school districts do that and do we have the data from those school districts like how that has impacted their attendance rates. I'm just curious. Right. >> That's negotiated the calendar. >> Oh, is it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm just curious like is that an efficacious thing to do? Oh, okay. Okay. >> There's data. >> Oh, there is data. Okay. Because I see a little spike. Is that spring break? Um that second gap, there's like a spike right before that gap >> in April. Yep. Spring. >> Okay. >> Probably pre-sp spring break. >> Yeah. Pre-sp spring break where people are like taking off a day early. Okay. >> But students really show up for finals, which is
109awesome. >> That's good. When it counts, they show up finals. Okay. I mean, we know, you know, like probably a lot of kids come to school not the not very well, but it's finals, you know, so that definitely has an increased tennis rate. >> Yeah. Yeah. And then one of my questions actually was going to be like which which interventions are the most um impactful or make the most difference, but it sounds like you need more data in order to identify that. Yeah, I I could tell you probably anecdotally are um the ones most impactful are the relationbased uh interventions where community liaison are consistently checking with students when they when they start working with the student and if the student um doesn't have regular attendance paying attention to that student so when they do
110arrive that the couple days that week that they have a check-in with them um knowing that someone at the site is going to hold them accountable and providing uh you know reflection points and goal setting. I think that is anecdotally the the best interventions that do change um the attendance rates of students among other things. Um but yeah, you're right. We we do need to look uh a little bit differently about how we are logging our interventions so that we can evaluate um the effective effectiveness of them and I could better answer your question in the future. Okay. I I think what are some examples of how you would change what you need to log? I'm just trying to figure out. >> Well, currently in school status attend, >> it's a they they advertise themselves
111as a a tenants data monitoring system, but it's it's not not really a data crunching system. It's manual entry of interventions which is very time consuming and cumbersome. They're they're a great company and they've um worked with us on a lot of custom requests and a lot of reports as you can see based on our our data in this presentation. Um but that's just attendance data >> and if we are working with um staff across departments um other colleagues and we want to see the complete picture of students we need more than just attendance data and we do have that um data platform in school litics which hosts our uh internal and external dashboard on our website which includes just all of the data that we have available on students. And so we've been working
112with them over the last several months to see how uh we can incorporate attendance data uh more usefully as well as then documenting our interventions so that when let's just say a counselor is working with a student um andor a wellness staff on their mental health that they can see the whole picture and they can see the attendance that maybe they wouldn't normally see where they could come across a community leazison point of contact and then now we have two staff members communicating on how best to serve that student and meet the need instead of doing the same work twice. >> So, it's also creating efficiency within already established systems as well. >> So, that's something that we're really working to try and uh figure that out. It's been on the list for several years
113and I think school litics is is really jumping in to help us with that. We still have to use school status attend for our automated notifications. So that's not going away, but um we do want to see a better data picture of the whole student. >> No, I appreciate that uh explanation. So okay. All right. Well, thank you for putting that together and uh good luck with uh connecting all the data together because I I used to work in that field. So, it's it's not easy, but boy, once it's done. >> Yep. >> Right. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, next up, uh >> Oh, yeah. Um Oh, okay. Yeah, I forgot to call for public comment. Looks like we don't have any public comment for 14.2. Um so on for 14.3
114review of kip espironza charter school first interim financial report for fiscal year 25 to 26. Uh do we have any public comments for this agenda item? >> I don't I don't in person. Are there any online? Please raise your hand now. There are none online. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Good evening board members. Uh good evening pres superintendent Leech. I now present the review of first interim report for the charter schools. Kip Asparanza charter school submitted a positive certified first interim report. The report complies with the fiscal requirement and multi-year projection shows that the charter school will meet its financial obligation in the current and two subsequent fiscal years. Current year enrollment reduced by 14 students compared to adopted budget. Despite targeted recruitment approach, the charter school was not able to retain all the enrolled
115students as of census day in October. This decline in enrollment was offset by reducing the spending for the charter school. This table shows revenue expenditure and projected ending fund balance compared to the adopted budget. As you can see, total revenue reduced by $155,000 and total expenditure was reduced by $162,000. KIP Asparanza continues to maintain projected ending fund balance of $1.7 million which is about which is about 23% of the projected expenditure in the current year. It maintains a reserve of 21% and 20% in the two out years. The charter school also submitted two two-year cash flow statement with an ending cash balance of 1.7 million each year >> questions. Is there any questions? >> Any questions? >> Um I I did have one question on the projected enrollment. Um, I mean, given that overall there's
116declining enrollment, um, I'm I'm curious why Kip Espironza is still projecting increasing enrollment and is that something we're going to account for like they they had less attendance than expected this year? Um, does that mean there's going to be less attendance than expected in out years? I did reach out to the charter school uh and uh they they have been saying that they are trying to do direct approach to the parents and students in their middle schools. They have two middle schools and they are continuing to target those students and parents and they are projecting that in the future year they will be able to get more students. >> I believe they've missed the projections in the past too. Yes. Yep. Okay. All righty. Thank you. I think for this one it's Yeah, it's just
117a an update, right? Yeah. Okay. And then next up is 14.4 review of Summit Prep Charter School first interim financial report for fiscal year 25 to 26. Are there any public comments? >> There are none in person. Are there any online? Please raise your hand. See none online. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Summit prep charter school presented a positively certified first interim report to the county office and to the chartering authority sequa union high school district by December 15th. The charter school is able to meet this financial obligation in the current year and two subsequent year. Summit prep enrollment decreased by 13 students at first interim compared to adopted budget. While they were able to meet their target enrollment for 9th grade student, the other grades were lower than projected at adopted budget. This table
118is again a comparative statement at first interim to adopted budget. Their revenue increased sorry their revenue decreased by $47,000 and their expenditure increased by $81,000. Their projected ending fund balance at first interim is $4.6 million. They will maintain a reserve of 68% in the current year and 66 and 62% in the two out year. Summit prep submitted 2 years cash flow statement with positive cash balance each month with an ending cash balance of 3.7 million and 3.4 million in the two years. Any questions? Okay. Yeah, I don't have any questions as well. So, appreciate your update. Um, and I think you're staying up again or no. Okay. So, now we're moving to action items. So, agenda 15.1 is approval of financial audit report for 2425. >> Yes. Thank you so much. Good evening, President Coup,
119Superintendent Leech, members of the board and community. I'm Jana Marking, assistant superintendent of administrative services. This is item 15.1, the 202425 financial audit report, presented to you tonight for approval. In addition to the approval, we're also celebrating the very hard work of our fiscal staff that led us to an excellent audit outcome. Under California Education Code 41020, every school district in the state is required to undergo an independent financial and compliance audit annually. It is my privilege to introduce Mr. Paul Fam, CPA of Siobhan Associates. Paul is a partner of the firm and has focused on governmental and nonprofit auditing since 2007. Thank you so much for joining us this evening, Mr. Fam. We appreciate your independent review and assessment of our financial statements. >> All right. Thank you for that introduction. Thank you board
120uh and superintendent Leech for inviting me out to share with you the results of the June 30th uh 2025 audit. Uh for starters, I just wanted to go over some of the uh auditing standards and the scope uh of our audit. The uh American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, they put out uh statements of auditing standards which we adhere to in our audit. And because the district is a local government, uh the government accountability office, they put out government auditing standards, which we also adhere to in our audit. And uh whenever an organization expends more than 750,000 in federal awards, you're subject to a single audit. And the district did exceed 750. and uh the uh office of budget and management, they issue what's known as a uniform guidance uh that we utilize in auditing
121the district's uh federal uh programs. And for this last fiscal year, we selected the special education program as our audit uh uh major program for audit. Um additionally, uh the education audit appeals panel, which is a part of the state controllers office, they issue a audit guide every year that we utilize in auditing uh the district's uh state programs. Uh so the uh the district overall uh has a uh reserve uh in the general fund of uh just over 10.5%. So it's still meeting the requirements there. It's got a healthy fund balance as of June 30th. I'm sure you're aware of all the financial numbers at this point going through your budget season. So I'll go right into the audit results. Uh so when it comes to the uh financial statements, uh we issued an
122unmodified opinion which is a good thing. It means that your financial statements were presented fairly in all material respects. And when it comes to internal controls over financial reporting and our compliance, our audit did not identify any deficiencies in internal controls over financial reporting that we consider to be material weaknesses and our test disclosed no instances of non-compliance or other matters that are required to be reported under government auditing standards. Um and the district complied in all material respects with the compliance requirements of state and federal programs. Uh we have uh that we uh there was no lack of a going concern, no significant uncorrected adjustments, no difficulties during our audit and no disagreements uh with management. So all in all, a great job to your team. Uh it is a lot of work. There's
123a lot of new uh state programs that are out that we had to audit and look at uh this last year. And so it was a lot of effort on in all departments, you know, from your facilities to ed services and obviously with your uh business office. So thank you to them for all that help and I'll take any questions. >> Does anyone have uh questions regarding the audit? >> Okay, >> thank you. >> Yeah, thank you. I don't have any questions either. Yeah, extremely thorough. And thank you to the also the our our financial team for working with uh the auditor. >> Thank you. >> Oh, I was just going to make a motion to approve the >> Yeah. Okay. >> Seconded. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I thank you >> trustes. And
124then uh at next step is action item 15.2 2. Approval of agreement with Spencer Associates architecture for architectural services for the Carlmont High School roofing and clear story window replacement. No. So, there's not going to be any um presentations. Oh, no. Okay. Okay. And then public comment. There >> are none in person. Are there any online? Please raise your hand. There are none online. Okay. >> Okay. I move approval of 15.2. >> Seconded. >> And then are these just uh these are not roll call, right? >> Okay. All right. All in favor? >> I >> Okay. On to 15.3. approval of agreement with Sandis civil engineer surveyors planners for topographical boundary surveying services related to the baseball field project at Woodside High School. Uh any public comments for this one? >> There are none in
125person. Are there any online? Please raise your hand. >> I see none online. >> Okay, there get a motion. >> I move approval of 15.3. >> Seconded. >> All in favor? I >> I >> uh next up is 14 15.4 approval of agreement with CAW Inc. for supplemental architectural requirements for the B-wing modernization project at Menllo Athetherton High School. Any public comments? There are none in person. Are there any online? Please raise your hand. >> There are none online. >> I move approval of 15.4. >> Seconded. All in favor? >> I >> uh next is 15.5 approval to release the draft initial study mitigated negative declaration for the Menllo Atherton High School construction projects. Any public comment? >> There are none on in person. Are there any online? Please raise your hand. >> I see
126none online. >> I move approval of 15.5. >> Seconded. All in favor? >> I >> uh 15.6 approval to file a California Environmental Quality Act notice of exemption for Woodside High School construction projects. Any public comment? >> There are none in person. Are there any online? Please raise your hand. There are none online. Okay. >> All right. Um a motion, please. >> I move approval of 15.6. Six >> seconded. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Uh, next is 15.7, approval of resolution number 011, directing preparation of the 2627 engineers report for SUSD maintenance assessment district. Uh, maintenance assessment district. Uh, any public comments? >> There are none in person. Are there any online? Please raise your hand. There are none online. >> Okay. And then this one is a roll call vote.
127Is that correct? >> I move approval of 15.7 >> and seconded. >> Okay. Yeah. Roll call. >> Trusty Nory. >> Yes. >> Trustee Thompson. >> Yes. >> Vice President again. >> Yes. >> President Coup. >> Yes. >> Motion carries 40 with one absent. Trustee Cruz. >> Okay. Uh next is 15.8. Adoption of resolution number 12, designation of district representative for state allocation board administered programs. Any public comment? >> There are none in person. Are there any online? Please raise your hand. >> There are none online. >> Okay. Is this uh because this is a resolution. Is it roll call? >> Okay. Yeah. Because it's a res 15.8 >> seconded. >> Okay. And then roll call vote. >> Trusty Nory, >> yes. >> Trusty Thompson, >> yes. >> Vice President Gin. >> President Coo, >> yes.
128>> Motion carries for zero with one absent, Trustee Cruz. >> Okay. And then the last action item is 15.9. Um, this is for consideration of selection of CSBA assembly delegates on ballot for Sonteo County sub region 5B. >> There are two people for three spots, right? >> Yeah, there's two people for three spots. So, um, my understanding is we could choose to submit a write in or we leave it empty. And if, um, that third spot is empty, then the CSBA director goes through an appointment process to fill that that empty role. >> If you want to do it, >> just I I move approval. I think we should leave it empty. >> You want to do it? I I I I second that motion. >> You know how you just made >> good. >>
129Okay. All right. All in favor? >> I >> Okay. And then now we're on to future agenda items. >> I'm sorry to I'm sorry to the chair. Just clarification. So we're we're um the candidates. We are choosing the two candidates. >> Yeah. supporting the two candidates as present. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. So, future agenda items. Anything? Okay. I didn't have anything additional to add. Um and with that, yeah, so we are actually going to recess back to close session. Uh but the open session we are closing at 8:21 or 8:20. 8:20. Looking at the wrong clock. 8:20. Um, do we have to vote on >> No. >> Okay. So, we're we're closing at 8:20 and we will resume to close session.