001Murray and their incredible robots for being our greeters tonight let's give them a [Applause] hand the uh board met in close session uh to discuss employee discipline dismissal release uh Personnel issues and possible litigation no action was taken I'd like to call the order the regular meeting for March 13th uh we'll start with the uh pledge allegiance to the flag led by our student member Brody I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all we'll have the moment of silence thank you move on to item number one adoption of the agenda any changes no changes uh item two approval minutes of the special meeting of February 13th and the special and regular meeting
002of February 20th any changes Corrections this minutes will stand move on to item three programs and presentations item one Magnet School curriculum update and Dr safco you were hiding magnet you I got that light right there so well just right there Jenny can you help us with the clicker it's not advancing slides well it might help if I turned it on here we go good evening um it's my pleasure to uh present to the board an update um on our district reorganization so a little background uh this work began in the fall of 2023 uh the district reorganization timeline was developed um based on the impending closure of James middle school so in October 23 through 24 we held a facilities and programs advisory committee uh to determine the most viable configurations for our district
003reorganization in January through April 2024 which seems like a long time ago but it was really just over our shoulder right uh the board provided Direction and this was the direction we were going to um locate all of our seventh and eighth graders at one Junior High which which has now been named China Lake Junior High um we recommended that uh and the board approved that the elementary sites were going to now uh include sixth grade in their grade span and what I'm really excited to talk to you tonight about is uh the magnet school focus at Pierce which is vapa and then stem at VG so the work that's been done up to this point especially for our magnet schools is we have convened um a good amount of different advisories um and then
004this winter and fall we began working on specific magnet schools so middle college program within High Desert um Pierce Academy of the Arts and then bewig STEM Academy so tonight's focus is again going to be on the stem program and then the vapa program so I think that uh working through various advisories has been really rewarding I think it's um really created an opportunity to bring many uh educational partners with a lot of unique perspectives and that has allowed us to um leverage our Collective expertise and also creativity which I'm excited to share tonight in our work we decided decided to build U shared knowledge and then explore and identify anything feasible for the programs that we're going to be offering in the fall and then eventually to develop recommendations for program and implementation to
005our district reorganization committee so beginning with The Vig STEM Academy we started with the definition of what stem is because we might mention stem and not really truly know what it is so of course it's science technology engineering and math and really it encompasses many processes of critical thinking analysis collaboration um and processes and Concepts really in the real world context so that our students create meaning in their learning this slide I would say really sets the foundation for our thinking around both of our magnet schools so taking from the innovate blueprint for stem in 2014 um the most effective stem education takes place in an expanded informal and K12 regular day instruction where those concepts are integrated what we take as a best practice with those three elements is we create an ecosystem as
006a best practice so this is our first draft of our literal stem ecosystem at V wig STEM Academy so let's start on the left for the regular school day our advisory recommended stem integration into the core so that's English language arts Math Science History Etc and we recommended and a district instructional materials Review Committee actually met this afternoon to recommend to the board that'll be next month the Project Lead the Way program and curriculum and we're really excited because this will allow our district to have an entirely vertical articulation from elementary all the way to high school so if I'm a little as we say um in elementary and I um get to study some medical concept or a bio um investigator that can eventually lead me into my interest at in health careers at
007burough high school so it's exciting so another part of an ecosystem is expanded learning and that's where we're getting very creative and our community has really shown up for Sierra Sands so expanded learning really takes place in uh before school programs and after school programs and through Partnerships and so we have already had um a meeting with the China Lake Museum and we're partnering with them because they have some funding for education programs we're going to be offering some coding in after school and before school some robotics we're also going to look look into stem Sports doesn't that sound exciting Mr Campbell so all kinds of expanded learning opportunities so that way we can while our students are in our programs they can stay on campus and really extend their learning into the afternoon and
008then finally informal learning opportunities and that's really um seen through our Community Partnerships where we'll have opportunities for guest speakers or uh field trips in the community so what is our plan uh for our stem school so we are using um a tool called a criteria for Quality stem or steam uh programs developed by San Diego County Office of Education and our aim for the first year is stem for all that sounds simple but it's not right so we want to offer that ecosystem to all of our students we want to create access for all and and actually that's where many schools and programs kind of exist but that is not sufficient for Sierra Sans we want to scale up so we want to move into stem focus in the second or third year and
009then finally stem Exemplar why because we're a stem community and that should be our promise to our community and future employers so we're very excited about that so what are the next steps quite literally we have our wonderful Laura Herbert our coordinator of secondary education and current principal Marina Amador future principal of STEM Academy um applying for a project lead the way Grant as I mentioned we held a district instruction materials Review Committee today to recommend the adoption of project lead the way we're going to purchase Project Lead the Way materials we're going to then establish a smaller tk8 stem integration team where they're going to work together to find the intersection points in our instructional map and curriculum again to integrate those stem Concepts we're going to continue to develop Community Partnerships our expanded
010learning programs and then we're excited about conducting stem School site visits to get inspiration and best practices and then the summer we'll be providing professional development specifically in Project Lead the Way all right let's move to pierce Academy of the Arts this is also extremely exciting because our community has been a significant supporter of the Arts so what is vapa it's everything creative so it's creating performing and responding and connecting as foundations of the program and it includes dance music theater and visual arts you're going to see a familiar theme Here a best practice in vapa is integration of the art so very similar to stem but focusing on all those elements of creativity into the curriculum and here is our vapa ecosystem so let's start on the left uh as I mentioned the best
011practice is to integrate that into the core will also have I forgot to mention this we'll have a we have hired a vapaa so that person will uh coordinate all of our integration and learning on campus um we are applying or have applied for a turnaround art Grant um is a nonprofit organization that supports arts in California and throughout the country actually and so we hope to be working with them if our Grant application gets approved to again to do that work similar to Project Lead the Way um same concept expanded learning so really working with our uh Community to provide those enrichment experiences such as dance or art or Visual Arts we all already offer music as you know and then finally informal learning with our Community Partners one of which would be burough
012high school and our other strong Community Partners there really excited about that and this may look familiar to you because in that quality uh criteria for Quality programming there's actually an art component right in Steam and so it's the same concept we're going to start with vapa for all and then move to a focus and then eventually to a vapa Exemplar so as I mentioned we're applying for the California turnaround Grant we will also establish a vapa integration team um we're going to determine possible expenditures for our vapa integration we're developing Our Community Partnerships we're working on our expanded learning programs we're going to conduct vapa School site visits and then provide professional learning this summer so that our teachers and staff are ready to go so we're just so excited I hope I've said
013that 300 times because it's true we're so excited um we want to deliver on that promise of innovation um and choice for our community and we're just um very thrilled and we feel supported by our board to go forth and just offer this truly extraordinary opportunity to our community thank you Dr Saco do we have any questions thanks again for your presentation I have just one quick question are we going to put this on our uh our website so uh the public has a chance to look at this great snapshot of of absolutely it'll be embedded in the board packet but what we can do is we can embed it on the um specific vapa site and uh VI wig STEM Academy absolutely okay great great thanks again we'll move on to item four public
014hearing uh 4.1 public hearing on resolution number 24 2425 adoption of the district school fee justifications study and resolution number 25 2425 approval to increase and adjust school facilities fees and Jennifer good evening president Scott superintendent Dr Mo members of the board colleagues and members of the community I am Jennifer Hayden assistant superintendent of business and support services and the public hearing tonight would be related to government code section 65995 and Education Code SE 17620 to establish a maximum statutory fee that may be charged against development projects within the school district and authorizes the amount to be bi any adjusted for inflation as set forth in the Statewide cost index for class B Construction as Det determined by the state allocation board Sab at its January or February meeting in even numbered years in order
015for a school district to assess an increase in level one developer fees it must prepare and adopt a facilities fee justification study commonly known as a school fee justification study the board must then conduct a properly noticed public hearing at a regularly scheduled meeting for public comment to be received in regard to the scheduled agenda items which recommend adoption of the 2024 School fee justification study and Adoption of an increase in level one developer fees to $517 per square foot for residential development and 84 cents for per square foot for all categories of commercial and Industrial Development except for property that are classified as rental self- storage properties which would increase decrease to 028 cents per square foot and hotels and motels which would be charged at 4488 cents per square foot the resolution adopting
016the 2024 School fee justification study and the resolution adopting an increase to the level one developer fees can be found under the business administration section of the current board packet there are no financial implications at this particular time but it is recommended that the board conduct a public hearing on the proposed adoption of the district school fee justification study and proposed increase and adjustment of level one developer fees as presented with we don't need a motion we can just open it right we'll just with that said we'll open it up the uh the public hearing on resolution 24 2425 having no comments we'll go ahead and close public hearing thank you Jenifer thank you we'll see you soon move on to item five reports and Communications 5.1 student members report Brody from Murray Middle School
017there have been a lot of exciting things going going on in Murray middle school and we are continuing to focus on providing the best opportunities for our students we are thrilled to announce that our robotics team has successfully qualified for the regional finals which will take place this weekend this is a huge accomplishment for our students and demonstrates their dedication and teamwork we are incredibly proud of their hard work and we look forward to seeing how they perform at the competition the basketball season is coming to a close with the final games being held this Saturday March 16th at Soso our four our seventh grade teams I don't know why I said fourth will be participating in a tournament and we are excited to see how our student athletes compete it has been a great
018season we appreciate the hard work of our players coaches and families who have supported them in preparation for high school we are setting up targeted interventions for our math students we are focusing on ensuring that all students are equipped with the foundational skills necessary for success in high school mathematics these interventions will help address any gaps in learning and provide additional support for students who need as we approach State Testing season we are actively preparing our students to ensure they are ready to perform at their best teachers have been providing targeted instruction we are working to create a supportive testing environment to help reduce anxiety and help and ensure that students can demonstrate their full potential our ASB continues to organize activities that build School culture and Foster school spirit upcoming plans include a positive
019door decking contest the last week of March and our touch a class dance that scheduled for April 11th the theme will be the last Walts in collaboration with the web group at Monroe we have begun planning activities that will bring sixth and seventh grade students from Monroe to Murray this initiative will allow students to familiarize themselves with our campus as they prepare for the transition to China Lake Junior High we are excited about this partnership and the opportunities it will provide for our students thank you for your continued support of Murray Middle School from Monroe Middle School not much time has passed since our last report but it doesn't mean the Tigers aren't doing great things the basketball season is winding down with the last few games this week all four teams worked and play
020hard this season you can see the growth they have made our ptso continues to support James Monroe we're looking forward to the special events they have planned for the spring coming up in the next few weeks we'll C celebrate our students at the end of third quarter for outstanding academics Athletics and behavior our music programs began showcasing their talent to the elementary schools and Community with the music and our schools concerts March is going to be busy with spring break ring out the month from mosqu back on the 28th mayor Endicott gave a special presentation about his life journey and engagement in local governance which some students described as the best presentation this year thank you sir for your for sharing your time and insight with us in Li of prom ASP is working on
021a field trip to help Inspire student engagement and recogniz academic achievement for those on track to graduate the women's shelter did a presentation last month for teen Dating Violence awareness month to help students better understand facets of healthy relationships and boundaries lastly we have several students excited because they are on the cus with their graduations the third quarter wraps up in just a few weeks we we will soon celebrate a variety of achievements with our Spring Fling barbecue go dragon show them how to SAR and from Burrows it's only been a short time since since the last report but Burl still has plenty to talk about this month all of our spring sports are in season baseball is having a great preseason Wen Vasquez pitched a no hitter last week against Bishop Union in 10
022victory at their home opener track opened their season with invitationals at Ontario Chino and here at home and started League competition against asparia earlier this week Boys Tennis is on a winning streak dominating their opponents on the court swim did well at its first meet Golf and softball are also doing well at the beginning of their Seasons as a final winter sports update jabin AB was voted MVP for mrl in girls basketball we have our spring rally next week themed after our favorite hashtags at the rally we'll hold a drawing for seniors who improved on cast scores last year 25 seniors who improved at least one band on last year's cast will win prizes including a yearbook tickets to prom and graduation and gift cards prom court was announced on the 5th congratulations to the
023top 11 boys and girls ASP will be holding their annual recruitment meetings on the 17th and 18th March is music and our schools month and that is clear at BHS our concert choir and Magic RS are carrying up for the opening of the spring musical Annie with performances on March 21st 22nd 27th and 28th featuring Cameo appearances from our district admin and School Board many of our instrumental students just completed their scsboa solo and Ensemble festival with 13 of our students receiv receiving the coveted Superior Command Performance rating robotics will be going to Bakersfield this Saturday to compete for the championship after some Zoom meetings with state championship judges spring break starts at the end of this month and we hope students can use the time to rest and recover for the final stretch of
024the year and we look forward to all the sports and activities in April thank you Brody as we move on to item 52 reports from members of the board please I'd like to incorporate good things I got so excited about the robotics out there that I skipped that so um if you have any uh reports please uh add that to it as well Mary no no Mr Rockell Agee before Beauty wow awful quiet in here uh couple things um the um it was awesome to hear the robotics four all four I heard today at the at the superintendent's Council that all four have um moved on to the state finals and then that if they all do well they go to worlds in Dallas Texas and so we'll see what happens but seems like every
025year we we send someone to the the world so that was awesome and uh also um enjoyed this weekend with several of us board members and and Dr Moore went to uh Riverside for the second um governance class that we took and uh had a good time and learned a lot of good things so enjoyed it thank you Mr Roo uh yeah so I I did say a few things uh a meeting or two ago kind of talking about my journey up here um but this is it this is my last board meeting you won't see me up here again so uh I just uh felt like I should say again thank you to the community for letting me do this for 18 plus years and uh I think we've done a lot of great
026things and I've worked with a lot of great people so thank you all for that and uh good luck in the future thank you Mr Rockwell I just have two words March Madness looking forward to the tournament coming up okay move on to item 5.3 superintendent report Dr Moore thank you president Scott our month six enroll is 4,854 students and last year this time was 5,47 so that's down 193 uh from this time last year and our attendance rate is 88.5 so we are actively exploring ways to increase attendance reduced chronic absenteeism which is when a student misses 10% or more of the school days and our schools and our principles are are thinking creatively and working with our parent groups and others to encourage full participation and attendance and not only every day but
027all day because that adds into that of students who leave early it actually hurts the attendance rate and it hurts their learning opportunities not being in class since the last board meeting the Ridge Crest Chamber of Commerce included Us in the annual economic Outlook conference which provided an opportunity to share an update on our district reorganization with the community and for Education Services director Lisa Decker to share the need we have in our community to support our students and families experiencing poverty I would like to thank her and Kristen Simpson our community schools coordinator for their work in partnering with the nonprofit and government agencies in our community to integrate our resources in supporting our students their families and the Greater Community so thank you Lisa and Kristen we also are watching the federal government
028changes and the US Department of Education and um watching that carefully and closely in fact this week assistant superintendent of Business Services Jennifer Hayden was in DC met personally with Congressman Fong with staffers from the Senators advocating for our schools and school financing including impact Aid and as we watch the budget and the federal budget these are things that we're watching carefully that being said we are not in crisis mode um and you'll see later more of our local situation but I would like to draw attention locally to what is not happening tonight we have not recommended any staff layoffs or reduction in force which is remarkable for districts in California and the budget situation that we're in Statewide many districts are moving to lay off permanent employees in order to balance the budget and
029that is not our case tonight due to the careful budgeting and management of resources led by our business services department and tremendous work by the team in our human resources department led by Mr Brian Al we're not recommending that any permanent staff be laid off tonight at tonight's meeting that's certificated classified or management and so I'd like to thank Mr Al and the entire leadership team for their work to ensure that our qualified staff members continue with us into next school year and so later on tonight's agenda you will see a second interim budget report um that will be presented to you showing that we have positive certification able to meet our expectations and responsibilities for this year and the next two years now we're in declining enrollment we're having attendance concerns and we are
030still deficit spending as we adjust um all of the budgets but we're able to still meet those requirements um using the reserves and being careful with all of that I would also like to highlight my good thing for tonight is that Los Flores was just today announced as a purple star school joining Richmond that started last year and so we're very excited for Los Flores to be a purple star and appreciate we have our school liaison officer from the base Jesse Vasquez here tonight she is a big part of that and advocating um and helping us connect to these resources and distinction so we're very excited good things continue to happen in our schools and we're also thankful for the six community members who have applied to be considered for appointment to the Board of
031Trustees to fill Mr Rockwell the vacancy that is created with his resignation and so we've uh run the applications um and accepted those as of last Friday uh interviews application review interviews and the possible appointment will take place at a special board meeting on Monday March 17th at 6:00 p.m. at the district office so I'm looking forward to that and next week to attending the Kern County legislative days in Sacramento as we continue to advocate for our school district it's a busy time and many exci exciting celebrations are also around the corner thank you thank you Dr Moore Mr Scott yes um so just one comment on your report um so I don't know how many parents are out listening um and frankly I it it's disappointing but probably most of the parents that need
032to hear this aren't probably listening but 88% attendance is terrible that's the lowest that I've ever seen it in over 18 years um I know covid had an impact um preco we we were routinely up in the 96 to 98% range so we've dropped a full 10% in attendance uh since then um the first thing that comes to mind is how much education is being lost by having kids not in seats in school to learn um the you know what quickly follows that is you know we get paid based on having those kids in seats and so if we don't have them in seats we get less funding there's less we can do there's less we can do to help the kids get a better education so it's a compounding effect so any of you
033that are out there that hear this that are not making sure your kids are getting to school please do something different and if you have friends who have kids who are not getting to school tell them to do something different because somebody needs to make a change to make this better you know it we can do everything at the school sites to try to make it better but if if you're not getting your kids there it doesn't really matter so please please please do something if you can thanks thank you Mr Rockwell move on to item 5.4 report to the Board of Trustees by the desert Area Teachers Association Miss po president Scott superintendent Dr Moore board members community and colleagues um okay here I am um I really like the six o'clock start but
034not during rehearsal 7 o'clock was a little better um so I don't have my phone and I'm dying um so I haven't been on it and I'm bringing that up because I felt like I just want to let you know my mind can still wander even when I don't have my phone um and I think that's good to know that I can be destructive without electronics um gives me Faith and Hope um but I felt like in the report from the different schools it sounded unless I didn't hear the very first part um like something was said about madal in Annie um there's a lot more people than just madreal in the school play so um I just want madals are delightful people they're lovely there are a whole bunch more um um and and
035as mentioned you know we have some Burrows admin we have some Schoolboard members um District people so I really highly recommend going um tickets are $15 but I can get yall some for a little more if you like um okay so uh not a heck of a lot to say the uh data site visits are going really well and I'm bringing this up to y'all again because um I think it's a really neat to know that when when we have I know we're kind of on opposite side right on the table but when we have a strong union we get a nice tension right and I really believe thoroughly believe in unions but I really think it brings out the best in both sides um and I think that's critical for us and with the
036site visits I'm able to have a lot more impromptu talks with principal so there's this real nice thing going there um te teachers know oh data is going to be on the um campus on a regular basis and there's just a I I feel a level of comfort with teachers and that just makes everybody more relaxed and so um I think it's really beneficial and I just want to um bring that up uh also I just I just have to say um that I think we want to uh be careful when we talk about um why kids are absent we sometimes don't have buses so that that is a bit of a problem um and I I would just as a teacher I want my students there I absolutely want my students there um it's
037really important we you know just had a discussion and then they miss stuff but um I just think we want to be really careful and we're saying um who might be at fault for them not being there um we're two weeks away from spring break which I think this year is six weeks um and I'm looking forward to that so I uh wish yall a good break thank you we'll move on to item 5.5 report to the Board of Trustees by the California School Employees Association Silvia excuse me hello School Board president board members superintendent Dr Moore staff and community I feel like every month I stand Here stating the same stuff over and over we have a staff shortage we continue to lose valuable employees mainly due to our pay we are far from
038being competitive with fast food which is sad not that we don't need fast food workers but we really need what we really need are hardworking dedicated employees working with our children keeping our schools maintained and feeding our children caca's negotiating team has continued to meet with the district and Contin to work towards a solution for our subpar pay scale our members continue to voice their concerns about the pay scale being overworked as we have very little to no subs and are down employees in various classifications we need to make some big changes to our pay scale we need the board to recognize the value of our classified staff one big thing that has been stated over and over in my monthly meetings is how the classified Staff feel neglected our csca members feel that when
039money is needed for this or or that we can find it but when it comes to AR raise for our classified staff who are already underpaid compared to other comparable districts we have to fight tooth and nil for something if we don't make changes to our pay scale we will continue to have a staff shortage thank you thank you move on to item 5.6 Communications from the public the board will provide time during the discussion of each agenda item for members of the public to comment at this time members of the public May address the board on an item not on the agenda comment should relate to items of public interest within the board's jurisdiction the law prohibits the board from taking action on items not on the agenda if appropriate your comments will be
040referred to staff response when addressing the board please state your name and limit your remarks to three minutes in accordance with the board bylaws the board will provide the total time for public input to 30 minutes those wishing to address the board Beyond a 30 minute time limit may do so at the end of the scheduled meeting agenda I'll open up public comment at 6:36 good evening uh my name is Michelle bro I am a parent of an eighth grader and a sophomore also a teacher but I'm here as a parent today um I want to express my frustrations with district and recent policy changes that I feel are limiting our students I encourage the district to rethink how the policies are affecting our students the first of these is regarding summer school opportunities my
041daughter was told earlier this week a few days before they needed to turn in their course selections for next year that students could no longer attend opportunities for learning to complete their PE or any other classes that they were trying to do to get ahead without unenrolling from buroughs enrolling in Ops and then re-enrolling at buroughs at which time their schedule would not be guaranteed I was told that this was due to a California code but every other year students have been allowed to do this and I'm told because it was uh in the summertime where students were not in session that ADA was not being claimed and they were able to be used that time by Ops um they're offering PE at buroughs this year but little is known about what the course or
042workload is going to be and the students were told it would be online yet still in person for assessments which does not work for everyone uh whereas Ops is very flexible in getting um summer plans done a lot of the te a lot of the 10th graders who have on their second semester of PE were on Ops for uh continuing their education uh with their summer plans already already made uh it's not fair that the counselors at burough were given this uh message to tell the students without having much more information to go on and so uh they're being um put in a pad bad situation and are going to have to work extra hard to unenroll and reenroll if that is the case with the students and I understand also that the district does
043get money for kids taking op summer classes so I'm not sure what the forcing of buroughs summer school is I just feel it's limiting the kids opportunities and uh as a teacher specifically Avid teacher I I plan to teach the or I teach the kids to plan ahead thinking of their four years and to get the most out of their education yet it becomes difficult to follow that plan once we are in the situation we are finding that it's difficult to get Soso uh courses approved as well that's the other uh issue that I'm having it seems like there's roadblocks with getting any course that a kid wants to have and um I would like to think about allowing the students to be accepted to any Soso course that would allow their credit with the
044concurrent enrollment I just don't want us to limit our students they should be free to choose the best path for them with whatever opportunities we have we have a lot of opportunities in The District in this Valley and I think they should have that choice thank you has anyone told you how awkward this setup is okay okay good just want to make sure we know hi my name hold on let me get it open my name is Alex gerer I'm the current project teacher at fer Elementary and I didn't open this before I walked up here but here we go I'd like to show my support for our classified staff as they're negotiating this year our school simply cannot function without our classified staff and we employ some really amazing human beings uh my office
045manager is the type of person who handmade quilts for both of my babies and she also makes sure Fowler runs really smoothly our attendance clerk is the type of person who was thoughtful enough to send me a sympathy card when my mother-in-law died and then when my grandma died a couple months later but she also makes sure everything with attendance and now with the contracts like she makes it run really smoothly our RSP Pera is the kind of person who will bake you a breakfast casserole to help you survive the first couple uh weeks of new having a new baby at home um and she's also the kind of person who will help deescalate students who are not even on her case load um and sit with them through their big feelings our classified staff
046deserve Fair compensation um they're really valuable human beings we simply cannot function without them and I support our classified staff in their negotiations I also would like to take a moment to give a huge shout out to our amazing Education Services team formerly known as curriculum and instruction they work incredibly hard behind the scenes to make sure our district is set up for Success whether it's creating resources or mapping out constructional plans or designing assessments that help reflect what our students will see on the Casp they are always thinking ahead and making sure that our teachers have what they need to respond to the the needs within our classrooms they um have started doing student student centered coaching um they're getting FaceTime with so many of our teachers they're getting into the classrooms they're offering
047support they're working through so much with our teachers and helping them grow in a number of ways the impact that they are making is being felt in real time ing the daily instruction of both our teachers and our students they're providing resources that the teachers can Implement right now and they're making an immediate difference within the classroom personally um I've learned so much from osas and I am incredibly grateful to have been able to learn from such a talented team osas have been fantastic mentors to me in my project in my role as the project teacher their support and guidance has made such a difference in my growth and I know that I'm not the only one that feels this way our education Services team is truly invaluable to our district and we are so
048incredibly lucky to have them thank you thank you good to see you guys again um I wanted to what's your name again my name is Charles Williams uh father of in the community but I wanted to to thank Miss Amy s for meeting with me this week uh I think it was last week actually to um discuss some of the issues that I had or and some to share some of the ideas that I had and I wanted to bring the name of a program that I couldn't remember because I had just got out of off of work when I showed up and it was uh School smarts is it school smarts yeah School smarts and um it's really a program directly for the parents it's not even anything that you you guys would set
049up is where the parents will be educated on the proper process because a lot of people not people parents in particular are going to the schools and they're talking to whoever but there's a process for them to follow and this program helps them it's really not towards you guys it's towards the people at home but I wanted to bring that to the Forefront and also since the last time I spoke to you guys about the curriculum all of those theoreticals that brought up have already been reached and I really think that we need to start implementing artificial and Technology into a workable atmosphere because most of those theoreticals and ones I couldn't get to have already been implemented even recently with robotics a Japanese robot just pulled off a I think it was a back
050flip front flip front flip yes and also with that being said the age of even chat GPT 20 12 hours after you've used it is already aged 25 years as far as it's learning so this is a tool that can not only help the kids with studying it can also empower the workforce that I just heard the teachers complaining about that they have to pick up where it creates an automated workflow it shows them where they may there may be gaps in what they're working with and how they can effectively use it and also I want the kids to have it as a tool so that they can become more efficient in the workforce thank you thank you hi there my name is Sarah Ford I am the parent of two uh sophomores at Burrows
051and I was debating whether or not I was going to get up here and say something uh but I'm going to Echo what Miss bruso said about the implementation of some new policies and uh that the that was communicated to the kids uh this week um I have two very driven children and when they went into Burrows they already knew what they wanted to do we set up their curriculum just so uh set up the summer planned out the Summers so that they could take the extra elective they were looking to be able to do um including the engineering classes planned out exactly the honors classes whether or not they were going to do AP dual enrollment through the college all of those things and this um last minute change to tell the students they
052were no longer able to have dual enrollment with the Ops really puts a wrench in things as far as the girls plans were concerned uh to be told that they have to again unenroll from Burrows to be able to enroll for their last semester of PE of all things at Ops and then reenroll the week before school starts um I have great issue with that because now it will show on their transcripts if they do that a break in enrollment um which I worry about whether or not that will affect um you know what colleges will think when they're trying to get into schools um and then they're also on the cross country team and cross country does start the first week of June so now they're going to have to delay uh participating in
053burough Sports because uh they're not going to be a burough student um because they're going to be doing their four weeks of PE um right to finish that out just because they're going to be um in op student um not to mention I worry about the accounts that will be disabled um and then what what's the level of effort that will have to be taken in order for their accounts to be reactivated or or all of those things um it's not like there's a a full staff um waiting around during the summer to take these things into account um so now everything has to be taken into consideration from for the last two years my opinion is that uh these new policies should be um implemented for the incoming freshman class and the current students
054that have already started should be grandfathered in and allow them to continue out their plans through graduation thank you thank you see another no other takers no hello my name is Katie and uh I wanted to start off by thanking uh Miss uh Michelle safco and Amy self for meeting with Charles and I uh both in person and over the phone uh I truly appreciate the hard work you are doing in our school district um and today again like Charles said we're uh more so here to speak for the parents like if they're at home like you said and they're watching hopefully that they will uh hear what we're saying um so in the past we have shared our concerns with the council but now it's uh time for the parents to step up and
055uh I think it's very clear to all of us that there's a lack of Engagement from uh parents in a lot of the schools in our district and uh this isn't a blame game I I totally understand that times are tough and that a lot of us are struggling right now to find the time to get involved um while we need our district leaders to support us they also need us to advocate for our kids recently uh we discovered a program called School smarts and it's a leadership program designed to empower families to build effective Partnerships with their schools um I'll admit I'm not very well versed with the school governance uh but this program will equip us with the knowledge we need to communicate effectively with our district leaders uh Miss safco did mention
056that she would bring it up to a meeting uh with everybody uh there so hopefully uh you will also know what this program is about and you know maybe we can share with the parents so that they can also uh look into it and see if it's something that they're interested we do need their engagement because it's a PTA thing um so they need to have ptas established in the school schools and from my understanding uh not all of the schools in our district have a PTA or a PTO so uh it will be very important for them to get educated on what a PTA is and what it what positives would be into that like uh trainings uh access to resources um and uh I hope that you know everybody understands that uh we
057all understand that not everybody can volunteer but we just need a handful of you know parents to volunteer a little bit of time to set up a PTA in the schools so that we can take advantage of that program because uh School smart seems to be like something that would really help us in the problems that we have in our district with the bullying and the educational um concerns that we have so that would be a really good thing and hopefully um the parents out there are listening and they will look into it and ask about it so thank you thank you seeing no other takers I'll go ahead and close public comment at 652 move on to uh we have no uh nothing in educational Administration or policy Review Committee move on to item
058eight personel Administration 8.1 approval of resolution number 23 24 25 non- reelection of probationary certificated employees Mr ol welcome president Scott members of the board superintendent Dr Moore community and staff California Education Code section 4492 n.2 one requires that the Board of Education shall notify a probationary employee in a position requiring certification qualifications of the decision to reelect or not reelect the employee to such a position for the succeeding school year uh there are no financial implications it's recommended uh that the Board of Trustees adopt resolution number 23 2425 to non- reelect employees as presented uh further information is in exhibit a second we have a motion in the second any questions or comments from the board staff for community and bro sens this is a Personnel item on going to be excluding you we
059have a motion in second all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed that's unanimous we have nothing in general Administration item 10 construction Administration 10.1 report to the board construction activities and issues Mr Moore t president Scott superintendent Dr Moore members of the board staff and Community good evening I'm Jeff Moore director of facilities and this is our construction update Mount Richmond this is the old Richmond site and last month I showed you a picture of we had Grinders out there uh this is nothing but a pile of rubble that is all that's left of the old campus the Naval Weapon Center asked us if we would uh rather than paying many many thousands of dollars of hauling off the debris would we grind it down and let them use it however they
060see fit so God bless them they can have it next this is a construction update so let's talk about what's happening on our new School site the classrooms are being fitted I love this see see the orange uh circles covering those uh I I want to point out our safety system uh those that were on the superintendent's Council walk earlier on the campus I pointed this out so it's redundant to a couple of you uh I love the security system we have for our fire and smoke alarm system um the way that it's being installed um we had to be very conscious of sometimes we have to retrofit classrooms with fire alarm system systems and strobe systems not only audible but V visible for people who use either uh sense more and um if a
061child can be triggered even for a recessive uh triggering mechanism inside the child uh that can come on especially if one strobe goes off and another strobe goes off and they're not synchronized and so the entire system is uh I I was talking to the technicians as they installed them earlier this week uh specifically about those features and I'm really proud that we're preemptively uh installing these to give the children the maximum um benefit without the risk and I'm really pleased that we're going that direction I put the red box here on the side we have several of those across the campus these are actually um once upon a time you see the lights on the leftand side every classroom every hallway would have to have at least uh the the safety minimum standards to
062have battery backups built into the light systems you usually would see a little red dot and the technicians would have to check them periodically a lot like we check our smoke detectors at home however this system is designed so that it is wired to specific light location every light that has the this is a battery backup and there's several across the campus so nobody's going to be checking the tiny little battery on uh 100 separate safety lights they're going to be checking these systems and being able to um effectively test them regularly um rather than individuals we're we're going next gen another thing that I shared with some of the people on the tour today um we've been listening to the feedback we've been listening to um one teacher and I were talking today about
063the fact that uh she has more dirt in the playground than grass for the kids we've been listening to this and the New Richmond is one example of we put a whole bunch of grass out there why are you putting so much grass because we've been asking for grass for the children it's better for the kids to have lawn we're trying we're we're moving forward with these suggestions that we've gotten from the community the parents and the other teachers so thank you you know how hard it can be to turn a to turn the ship around while we're doing it and so please keep giving the feedback and being patient with especially the facilities director he's trying really hard uh speaking of light I thought I'd throw that in speaking of lighting uh notice there
064aren't any temporary light poles anymore all right we've got permanent beautiful lighting out there no more temp Powers these efficient lights are positioned for the best coverage on the campus um I showed you a playground uh playgrounds being installed last month well the playgrounds are completely finished uh some of us got to go out and jump up and down on the padded um uh areas surrounding the playgrounds it it it's built to absorb The boooo Landings on our youngest but I noticed some of our staff members actually jumping on the playground equipment so I did check and I'm not allowed to install a slide at the office we'll work something else out carpeting is being going in uh board member Rockwell I gave you a piece of carpet pass it down that's okay now um
065this is for the classroom areas this is not for um the Adaptive PE area that takes a much more padding a different type of Floor Covering some of the uh let's see the cafeteria and kitchen areas are going to have a different type of flooring and so they're they're they require much more complete acclimation in some of these rooms this we're gluing down the adhesion is warrantable and it will last um however we have to when I said acclim acclimate acclimation is a simple thing when you're just trying to cool the place but we need gas for our gas heaters and um we have electricity many of you remember month after month I kept telling you our switch gear was coming well I'm here to tell you last month I told you our gas meter
066was coming our gas meter has been been delayed thankfully it's not coming from overseas and so we have started sending out signal flares as of this morning saying hey this we're crying wolf let's get this gas meter so we can acclimate our classrooms and finish the construction job uh we're working on it and um uh you say you can't fight City Hall I'm begging City Hall to to fight for us and and let's let's everybody um do what we can and uh let's get pg& to move forward with us uh previously I also showed you these awnings a great question came up um on site well are these awnings going to radiate heat toward the children no it's it's going to Shield the children actually and I'm loving the the coloring that we're doing for
067the elementary children on campus um something can remind them that that they went somewhere that felt excellent when they were in elementary school they're not going to remember how what a nice place it looked and and the care we took making sure that the concrete was this and the and the steel was that they're just going to remember a level of Excellence when they were in elementary school and perhaps that'll help them keep their bars up for what they expect out of life and themselves as well now here's another shot of the awnings just to point something out this is the front entry and as you can see the the top part of the awning that's just bare raw like the raw end of a a Timber table or something we're actually on several of
068these we're putting um something called a sopit across the front it's um uh it's a it's another level um vertical that will keep the rain from coming and pouring down on people as they because we get rain all the time here at Rich right well I I I put that in my notes to be sarcastic but then it rained today so okay here's where the flag pole is going to be going very soon Furniture actually we have a truck load of it arriving tomorrow and I'm going to place it in one of the carpeted rooms and then we're going to hold our breath for a moment while we get the rest of the place the flooring has to be in so that we can can have the furniture company assemble and install so um we'll
069be we'll be doing that as soon as the floors are ready uh Tech is going to be making connections starting next week because the uh electricity has been going through its Paces what they try to do is fail the electricity so they can find where the soft the weak spots are um and after they've finished the electricians have finished doing that in troubleshooting then our technical department with ssusd goes in and and works their magic behind the scenes so these kids again will not see it they'll just have some Excellence supporting them that's my March update thank you president Scott superintendent Moore board and public if you have any questions um any questions no questions thank you Mr Mo appreciate the pictures it's always nice to see things coming along appreciate it we will move
070on to item 11 business administration 11.1 approval of second interim report for fiscal year 2425 Jennifer evening again good evening again um it is my pleasure to introduce to you Connie Williams our Director of Finance and budget I want you to know that she has spent many many very long days and many weekends putting the second interim budget report together for present for tonight um it is a very challenging job we have a lot of moving Parts not just within our organization but from our state and from our federal government so all of that has to be factored in and um she is going to show you the fruits of her labor so I shall pass it on to Connie thank you you're welcome I don't have pretty pictures like Jeff got robotics so in
071accordance with California Education Code 42131 no later than 45 days after the close of each reporting period the school district governing board shall approve the second interum financial report and certify in writing that the school district is able to meet its Financial Obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year based on current projections for two sub subsequent fiscal years the current reporting period concluded on January 31st which means the second interim in related certification must be board approved by March 15th the following presentation will provide an overview of the second interim budget the agenda for this evening will cover the first interim budget versus the second interim budget a summary of the general fund revenue and expenses the multi-year projection certification and next steps the ask of the board is to approve the second interim
072and related certification the three available certifications are positive qualified and negative staff's recommendation is to certify as positive which means the district will be able to meet its Financial Obligations for the current and two subsequent years and on my next slide I took suggestions from our first inter room and put our words next next to our numbers the district's unrestricted general fund revenue is made up of four sources lcff Federal revenues other state revenues and other local revenues I am also showing our contributions to restricted revenues as those contributions to support restricted programs come from unrestricted dollars since first interim budget our projected overall unrestricted general fund revenues have decreased our lcff Revenue has increased due to the final count of our unduplicated pupil count which is at 59.95 per. the highest it's been in
073a long time Federal and other state revenue projections have stayed the same and contributions have increased to cover projected special education expenses as well as increased contributions to the sista Center our overall unrestricted General F expenditures have decreased $154,000 since first interim Which is less than 1% as you can see there are slight changes in most of the categories to reflect actual expenses and further review of new and post and postponed expenses the district's restricted general fund Revenue projection has increased 1.2 million since first interim this is due to the alignment of federal and state revenues to the updated award allocations are other local Revenue increased slightly due to the actual Redevelopment agency funds and increased in medat Billing contributions show the amount for the unrestricted side to cover expenses our projected overall restricted general
074fund expenditures have also increased salaries and benefits change due to the alignment of unrestricted and restricted salaries to the appropriate resources books and supplies and also services and other operating expenditures have increased to reflect actual costs Capital outlay has increased due to the purchase of a walk-in cooler for food service that was purchased through their Grant and the increase to this year Vista center for the community resource center repairs and now on to our multi-year projection we are projecting our enrollment flat but the projected Cola for each year will increase lcff revenues this growth is offset by local lower local revenues interest income projecting lower interest rates and lower fund balances expenditures in salaries and benefits are projected to increase as a result of step and column in growing health benefits this is offset by
075a decrease in service and operating expenses this is an area that the team will continue to evaluate to determine how savings can be achieved with minimal impact to student programs even with the reduction in services and other operating expenses you can see over the next three years we are projected to continue to deficit spend and our reserves will go from 11.61% to 5.09% here is our restricted general fund multi-year projection we are projecting to Hold Steady in our revenue and expenses the restricted general fund ending balance is decreasing as we expend carryover and one-time Grant funds certification of second interim as you can see the district can meet its Financial Obligations for the current fiscal year and the next two fiscal SCH years factors that may affect the current budget projections actual attendance rate versus
076projected outy your colas actual expenditures and Department sight budgets throughout the year and the governor's budget May revision the next steps we will attend the governor's budget May revision for 2526 and adjust accordingly we'll have a public hearing on lcap and budget in May of 2025 we will adopt the lcap and budget in June of 2025 and it is recommended that the SI s's Unified School District Board of Trustees approve the 2425 second interim budget report as presented with a positive certification second we have a motion in the second any questions or comments Mr ruo uh yeah just a few questions um I I just wanted to make make sure I was clear on on some of the comments about some of these uh categories you know for example when you say aligning unrestricted and
077restricted salaries to the appropriate resources so can you explain that a little more yes so we have the um prop 28 funds so for our music teachers at the beginning of the year some of those were in unrestricted so each school is allocated a certain dollar amount and so once that dollar amount is exhausted then we have to shift it to the general fund so that's what we were doing okay um and then uh yeah the notes in the brief were very helpful thank you um and then uh the other thing I saw was in our unrestricted uh side um two years out we're down to a reserve of 5% which is kind of I think that's the bottom end that we've said we will accept um but it's a pretty steady drop going from
07811.6 to five in over two years um what happens in the third year I mean I I don't know how much you thought about it but kind of scares me yes um we are always um each year it um seems like there are more and more um Awards allocations of you know awarded to the school districts of restricted funds and sometimes then we can shift those unrestricted dollars to the restricted side to help offset the unrestricted side and I think you'll see a pattern that this is often the case where you see it's harder to project two years out so we're being as conservative and careful as as possible but chances are when that year comes we're actually going to be in a good shape and it's it's always that two years out trying to
079guess guesstimate and project all of the expenses so we adjust our budgets and tighten as necessary and so that's our commitment is to continue monitoring we're not going to just spend freely we we're very thoughtful and careful to um to ensure that we're keeping an eye on the future as well as the current okay thanks and uh again just like as ke said Connie great job um I appreciate this this is probably the C cleanest that I've seen this from a understandability perspective in a long time so thank you for everything you put into it thank you and now with this SL presentation I really enjoy that to be able to follow it while you're speaking instead of just seeing it in black and white any further questions or comments from the board I appreciate
080spelling it out nice thank you we have a Motion in a second uh br will do your preferential vote I for the board all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed thank you unanimous we will move on to item 11.2 approval of resolution number 24 2425 adopting School fee justification study Jennifer move R recommended action we have a motion to hear a second second we have a motion in a second any questions or comments about the public hearing we have on the approval of the resolution of the uh school fees the board staff for Community uh Brody how about a preferential vote there I think you had a oh did you have a question or a comment okay I only had one I think uh one thing I caught um in the
081earlier description is I think you mentioned that the hotel and motel fee was going to be 488 C and I think it's 488 in case anybody's listening and picking any of those things up so um it is it's actually 48.8 cents I I fuddled that up completely so yes it's 48.8 and then the Self Storage was 2.8 cents yeah and I might have heard you wrong too so but yeah you did this his last meeting we don't care we're going to miss you Mr Rockell uh Brody back to your preferential vote I uh for the board all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed it's unanimous move on to ad sure I just want to um thank the board for approving this as you all know but just in case our community
082is interested it is very important that we increase the school fees to to the allowable rate because that then makes us eligible for additional grant funding for the federal grants that we go for it allows us to get uh facility and fiscal hardship funding and other things that it will qualify us for so that is also one of the important purposes and doing this update as we're going for an additional Grant here in the very near future this will help us be eligible for that funding so thank you board no thank you and historically I know we've had this conversation historically I know years on pass I've heard um comments and concerns about this well you guys aren't building new schools well that was true years ago right now we have so much going with
083all of our new schools that this makes absolute sense so okay moving on to 11.3 adoption of resolution number 252 2425 to increase school facilities fee Jennifer thank you on January 24th 20 24 the state allocation board acted to increase the level one statutory School fee amounts for both residential and commercial industrial construction recomended action do I have a second isn't this the second half of what we just voted on second we have a motion a second any questions or comments from board staff for Community we'll do the uh preferential vote for from Brody I thank you sir uh from the board all in favor signified by saying I I I any opposed that's unanimous unless you wanted to read the whole thing again thanks move on to 11.4 approve the Sierra sanif School District
084transportation plan for home to school transportation reimbursement Jennifer your last one for the evening I'm going to start with the ask it's recommended that the board approve the sieran Unified School District transportation plan for home to school trans Transportation reimbursement uh this plan uh came out with chapter 52 statutes um from 2022 um from assembly Bill 181 that and then it was amended that Transportation can now be funded and in order to do that we had to create a transportation plan and then we um do our calculation based on the state formula and what we find is that our plan will continue to serve our students um that are TK through six and lowincome students um our director of Transportation Erica kiry wanted to make sure you knew that it was going to become more
085efficient because we're going to be purchasing our bus planner software um that comes with a magic wand that when she tested it it cut 42 minutes off one existing route so our plan is to go forth and even improve on that and then as far as the reimbursement goes the calculation is based on 2023 24 actual Transportation expenses and the reimbursement amount for 2425 is calculated at three20 move recommended action second we have a motion in a second any questions or comments from the board Stafford Community well will we have the opportunity will this will this will that fancy software allow us to have more bus drivers so we don't have these routes that don't run um no but we are definitely working on a plan to increase the number of bus drivers we have
086to increase training and well I know somebody that's not going to be on the board anymore that could probably uh work a side job that's a big commute I'll volunteer him thank you yeah you'd have to prove me getting hired though but no that is definitely a priority for us is to make sure we're following through to get the drivers that's what we really need thank you any questions comments we'll have a preferential vote from Brody I board all in favor signify by saying I I I the opposed that's unanimous thank you CH we'll temporarily adjourn the regular meeting to conduct the in Curr schools finance and Authority board of directors meeting item number one adoption of the agenda no changes move on to item two approval of minutes of the regular meeting of February
08720th 20 20th 2025 any corrections minute stand will adjourn the in your current schools financing Authority go back to the regular meeting move on to item 13 consent calendar move 131 two4 and five I have I think I have to abstain from number three I move three well we're going to have to we're going to have to do two two individual votes if if he needs to uh so we have we have a motion for 131 2 four and five correct Brody cannot vote on five so do you want to uh change your motion to one two and four can can Brody vote on two yes you can okay then I'll amend my motion uh I will move 13 one two and four two and four we have a motion we have a second on
088motion second so we'll do the preferential vote from can I make a comment so on 13.2 um there's a very sad item on it for me it's got Mr Paul delbeck as a somebody leaving the district and um I hate the fact that you didn't wait on this one more month so I didn't have to vote and approve this because I'm not happy that I'm approving it but you know Paul's been a phenomenal selfa director for for the whole time he's been here it's been been an honor but you know he is a Dodger man it's baseball it doesn't really matter any further questions or comments U we'll do the preferential vote Ro I all in favor signify by saying I I hi any oppose that's unanimous move on to item 13.3 classified Personnel we
089have a motion to move that motion Rec second anybody second yes we have a motion in a second and Ro can vote on this one though correct yes so we have a motion and a second any questions accomplish on the board staff for Community Brody I board all in favor signify by saying I I I any oh and estain yes I abstain yes so uh three yeses one abstain and now we'll move on to item 13.5 move 13.5 second we have a motion in the second we'll uh have Brody hang tight on this one board all in favor signified by saying I I any opposed she us item 14 future agenda any future agenda items I'll make sure I do the launch since I missed the uh the good times well I think from a
090future agenda perspective I'd like to see the board meetings go an hour or two longer and we're going to call you when you go back East yes we're going to make sure you're watching so launches I can't change the direction of the wind but I can adjust my sales to always reach my destination that was by Jim Jimmy Dean jimy Jimmy Dean move on to final 16 adjournment next regular meeting of the Board of Education will be April 17th 2025 happy Friday coming on up and enjoy all the snow on the mountains yeah yeah