001Unified School District regular board of education meeting at 6 o'clock. And um it is now my pleasure to invite our student representative Grady Lubes to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Um I can report that we did not have a closed session today. So there is no report. And uh moving on to agenda hearing period public communications. Uh thank you for taking the time to address the board of education during public comment time. Individuals who who have submitted a speaker card may address the board on any topic within the board's jurisdiction regardless of whether it is listed on the agenda. However, the board may only discuss
002agendaized items in the order shown in the posted agenda. Topics not on the agenda that are brought to the board's attention may be investigated by the administration and may be reported to the board either publicly or privately at a future meeting. Comments not shall not exceed three minutes per individual speaker for non-aggenda items and five minutes for agenda items. Thank you again to the members of the public for your comments tonight. We value your input. And we have one speaker card and that's from Miss Cheryl Smith. I'm not talking yet. Good evening, school board and ESUSD district team. Let's see if I can quiet this without, you know, getting it all crazy this time. On behalf of the Elsa Gundo Council PTA and the Run for Education, I want to take a moment to express
003our sincere and deepest gratitude to the incredible school board and our dedicated school district. Your unwavering support, See, I wrote it so I wouldn't do the three minutes. Your unwavering support has been instrumental in bringing the big five Elsagundo Council PTA run for education to life. Simply couldn't do it without your belief in this event and your commitment to our students and community. Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts. We are also incredibly thankful for the amazing enthusiasm enthusiasm of the support that we've received from each and every school within our district. the administrators, the teachers, the staff, the parents, and the students. Also, a huge shout out to the business community, and the city of Elsa Gundo. It's truly inspiring to see everyone come together to champion this event. Now, as
004we look forward to what promises to be a fantastic day, we want to extend an invitation to all of you. All of you. And all of you. There goes the phone. Drop the phone. Yeah. to come out this Saturday, April 26 at 8 a.m. Whether you're a seasoned runner, because you know this is an official US ATF certified 5K and 10K raceourse, a casual walker or simply someone who wants to contribute to a great cause. We would love for you to be a part of it. Please lace up your shoes and participate in the run. Feel the energy, be a part of the excitement, and help us year's event the best yet. And if running or walking isn't your jam, we are always in need of enthusiastic volunteers. Your time and energy are invaluable. Right,
005Miss Beley? Yes. And they are There are many ways you can contribute to the success of the day. Helping with registration or what, Miss Beley? Yeah. Pick a corner. We're monitoring the corners along the route. You can sign up to run. handy QR code or if you're calling in from home, hello www.es run for the number four, not fo r for education.com. The big five Elsa Gundo Council PTA run for education is more than just a race. It's a celebration of our community, our schools, and our collective spirit. With your support, either on the course or as a volunteer, we know it's going to be a truly awesome day. Thank you so much for everything and for your support. And as one last thing, I know you guys have heard about these. I have gold
006stars. Yeah, baby. Who is registered? Come on. Yeah. Look at the school board. We love it. Anybody out here in the audience? Yeah. Come on, give it up. Give it up. Thank you so much. We look forward to this Saturday being a great event. Oh, thank you. It always goes somewhere. Thank you, Cheryl. I got a purple star. All right. Special presentations. As if that wasn't a special presentation. Our student representative report from Grady Loops. Nancy. Good evening everyone. Uh it's been a packed several weeks at Elseno High and we've got a lot to celebrate. So first off, we just wrapped up our ASB elections. All the candidates did a fantastic job and the campaigns and speeches at the assembly were impressive across the board. Congratulations to our new ASB team for next year. Natalie
007Christensen as treasurer, Emma Eisenberg as secretary, Ty Cortez as vice president, and Mattie Pela as your next ASB president. Uh, I promise you ESHS will be left in good hands with that crew. A few weeks ago, we had our final spring pep rally of the year. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to the last one for sure, but the energy in the gym was awesome. The games, performances, and spring captains, of course. It was all in all a great sendoff. Also, a few weeks ago, our March Madness threeon-ree basketball tournament finished up. After a hard-fought tournament, the Lucky Leprechauns took the win until they faced off against the teachers in the bonus game, of course, where the teachers actually just could not miss. I mean, it wasn't really even close either. like they destroy them. But
008anyway, it was all in good fun and a great way to bring the students and staff together. Arts and academics have been going very strong as well. Newsies had a fantastic run. Absolutely amazing vocals, acting, dancing all around. The entire performance was phenomenal and they did like seven shows. It's unreal. Uh and our esports program made history when Shane Hopkins and Brody Thomas won the esports Battle of the South Bay tournament in Roondo Beach. Oh yeah, beating the reigning champs from Mondo in their first ever competition. Let me tell you, it was electric there. Dr. Jay can attest. Actually, the hometown fair is coming up. So, if you stop by, make sure to go check out right in front of the high school where you'll be able to find each grade running their own booths
009and tons of clubs joining in as well. Looking ahead, this Friday, we have our prom assembly where the location will be revealed and the prom court nominees will be announced. It's always a big moment on campus and prom season is officially here. So, very exciting stuff. The run for education is also coming up soon. I I'm sure it'll be mentioned throughout the meeting, but ASB will be helping out uh as crew and many of us will be running in the event as well. Also, just around the corner is Scholar Quiz, which is where teams of four will be competing during lunch every day in trivia for a $400 prize, sponsored, of course, by PTSA. This is our biggest turn of the year. I believe we have around 26 teams playing right now, which will how
010many? 32, even more. Even better, which will uh just make winning feel that much better for the Victors. Finally, spring sports are starting to wrap up with many senior nights recently to finish off the regular seasons. Definitely get ready for some CIF runs. I'll say that. Best of luck to all our teams and we'll be cheering them on to the finish line. Thank you. And that is the end of my report. Thank you, Grady. Um, we have on the agenda an update from the Elskundo Education Foundation, but I do not see Christa. If you're at home, Christa, hi. Um, but of course, we we know they're all very hard at work um getting ready for the gayla, which is coming up fast. It's uh the 9th of May. Yeah, Friday the 9th of May. And
011now um I don't see any [Music] Okay. All right. And then we'll move on to item D, communications update. Dr. J. Thank you. Thank you. All right. uh board president Glenn, members of the board, Tracy. Um tonight I'm going be talking about uh communications update. Um this is something that is shown up on our district goals, but is just a strong priority in education in general. Um you mean like how the school district communicates with its community. It really does set the tone for how we work with our community. Um so I just want to share a little bit with the board and take any feedback. Here is a brief summary. Um I would say that the the biggest change is just trying to uh live by um uh principles when it comes to communications
012which I'll get into in a second. Um and then there is just like been changes in general whether that be to programming you mean like or formatting. Uh and then finally just a sneak peek of the next steps ahead. Um but the goal is always continuous improvement. So our principles are clarity, consistency, accessibility and engagement. Um and there you see like the principle like what that means and um then an example alongside it. Uh I I in short I would say that philosophically I believe as a working parent that our families are busy. Um and so when we communicate something to them we need it to be complete yet concise. Uh formatting is very important. You mean like in our world because we do digest a lot of formatted content. So if the content is
013not formatted well, then it's hard for us to understand it. Um and then also just making sure that you mean like that we're capturing you mean like the activities that are happening during the course of our school day. Uh in order to ensure that even though if a parent isn't there or if a student isn't there, they can still feel like that they understand the experience and like and that they were there because that's the world we live in with social media. Our district website is currently undergoing an overhaul. Um, part of it is just very basic that our our our district website um uh went to a new uh a new website provider um but we kept the template from the original um uh company that we are working with and so working with
014Danny who's done a fantastic job. We have moved those templates over for the district website and then uh we are just completing a process of revising all of the various pages within the district website. Um, and the the modus operandi is less is more. Um, just to me if if it's, you know, if you're going to put something on the web page, it needs to be a living document. So that means it needs to be updated regularly. Um, and so if it's not something that we can update regularly, then the question is, does it really need to be there? Um, so uh that has been great. And then uh uh what's happening next is is we're moving on to the school websites. So, we wanted to make sure that our own district house was in
015order and now we're going to start working out during the course of the summer to make sure that our school websites are in equal order. Wait, email communication. Um, this was a big change. Thank you, Danny. Uh, that we moved to the constant contact system. We were working off an app-based system from our our website user. Uh, that system was great for our website, but it was not great for our email communication. Um constant contact uh offers certain benefits. One is first and foremost is it has the ability to archive messages. So if Mr. Gavart sends a message um this week and that that message is saved and lives in memoriam. So if he wants to send a message next week, he can just copy that message and start from that template versus having to
016reinvent the wheel. Um also uh the it creates a standardization among all of our principles in those communications. Constant contact has the ability to have standardized templates. Um so uh if you look at our templates even from school to school the format is the same. I mean like so whether you're at the elementary, the middle or the high school that email template sort of follows the same pattern. Um what's next there is uh we're looking at a text message system alongside that. But the the the the general principle here though is that we're going to use the system that works best for that mode of communication. I'm all for synergizing programs, but if you mean like the the website program is not a great email system, then we're not going to try to force using
017that email system. We're going to adopt the best system. You know, it's the simple things too. Constant contact works very well on phones. So, you mean like that format translates very well to phones. I don't know about you, but I read most of my email on my phone. Um, so that's something that is necessary. I mean, user friendly social media. Um, if anyone's been paying attention, uh, in the last year, we've had a blitz of, uh, media content. Um, and our goal, uh, for Elsa Gundo's, uh, uh, social media is that, you know, whether or not you're on the campus, you feel like that you can, you know, live and understand the experience that's happening on the campus um, from afar because recognizing our demographic is extremely busy. We have so many parents who volunteer
018on our campuses and we have so many parents who really can't. I mean like because they just can't be there during the course of the day. So we want to have it be image driven, high engagement uh and reflective of kids. So that's my biggest thing about the social media when I was talking to the Donovan group or we'll talk about in a second is students students students. You mean like with respect to all the adults more kids um because like that's the star of the show here. You mean like that's who we want to see. Uh and then so the next step which I'll talk a little bit about is um with our social media media moving towards more interactive uh content. I do have to uh uh pay homage here to uh uh
019Elsa Gundo has several teachers um and or programs that have uh uh Instagram accounts themselves that are very very interactive. Um if anyone's seen Miss Mason's uh squirrel um Patrice who just man what what does that squirrel not do? Yeah. So it's and it's great. You mean like and and to me like that's a good example though, right, of where you could really understand what's happening in Miss Mason's class. It's very engaging because that that dang squirrel. Um and you mean like you know and it's it's fun. It's you mean like it pulls people in. Okay. So the Donovan group. So our district uh for the last two years has contracted with a consultant group for communications. Um we in this year have dramatically expanded our usage of them. Same cost point. Um we're just
020uh uh making them work for it. Um so we have a a direct weekly coordination meeting between me and Liam who's our liaison. Um they've actually brought in more staff because we've been making them work hard. So there's more staff that are working with us now. Um and they um uh are constantly providing coordination through the week. So everything you see on social media that's all of our the Donovan group coordinating that. A lot of the communications that you see from us, you mean like are revised, reviewed or created by the Donovan group. Um, and they're at the disposal of not just district administration but also school site administration as well too. Uh, so some of the projects for, you know, our presentations like our PowerPoint presentations that you've seen, those are formatted by the
021Donovan Group. Um, they're also involved in the most recent project I really like is, have you guys seen this, the Elsagundo sweethearts on social media? Um, so that was a Donovan Group idea that they're putting to have that interactive content. Um, and now we're moving uh uh further and further down the road of just making sure that our branding is standardized. Um, so that's more to come on that. Um, next step. So that they're in the process of of working with us for new school year projects. So whether it be guide books um uh or presentations for next year um any sort of a lot of formatting stuff that they do. So, like we're actually starting to work on 25 26 year school uh stuff. What's next in the communication? Um there's a laundry list.
022I won't go through it all. Uh but one thing we're really excited about is we've been working on um video uh content to uh highlight programs and activities in the school district uh with our videographer. And so you're going to start seeing those released during the course of the summer and into the fall. Um, and it goes back to that we, you know, in order to help our families like who can't come into the classroom and watch uh uh watch the content um that is awesome that our teachers and our students are doing, we want to bring them there. Um, and so I think that uh Heather just recently said that when we were touring classrooms, it's so awesome, right? You get to see all the amazing things that are happening. So, what can we,
023you know, do with videography in order to bring our all the rest of our families there um that uh can't do those tours? Thank you. And I'll take any feedback or questions. Um I think that this is something that parents have been looking for without knowing like I think giving all this information of things that we're doing. So now they actually can look at the different um ways that we are communicating with them. So instead of hearing possibly a negative that there's lack of communication, there's so many ways and now it's very brought out to everybody to see that, you know, we're working on it on a daily, but there's also so many different avenues that we are trying to get to all different um parents. So I think it's good. Yeah. Continuous improvement. Yeah.
024I'll just add to it. I I appreciate that you're you're using all the channels that we well almost all the channels. We don't have Tik Tok or something going right now, but who knows if that's a thing to do next. But um but I appreciate that and and um I hope that someone also monitors some of that for comments and can lays with people to make sure that you know if they have a question that comes up that way they don't feel like they're, you know, putting it in the vacuum that sometimes is social media. So that's the only thing I'd say is if we can designate folks to keep an eye on that or, you know, somehow monitor that be great. We'll circle back with the Donman group because I there's there are some
025features that we've disabled from comment standpoint. It's an out versus in. And uh we'll circle back to that just to ensure that yeah, whatever makes sense. Again, we can't spend our day on social media and like some people in this community seem to do. So therefore, we appreciate that, you know, it's monitored as necessary. So absolutely. Thank you. Totally agree. Great. Hey, uh yeah, great job. And I think we we saw an example in recent weeks where timeliness is super important because in this day of um people monitoring social media all day long that we want to get our message out uh you know when something happens so that a firestorm doesn't break out in social media and uh I commend you for uh taking care of that. And um the other thing I would
026like to say is that uh there's a anequity that we also need to think about because not everybody um communicates or gets communication the same way. So some people it's a cell phone, some people it's um Facebook, some people it's Instagram. So we want to be sure that when we're getting a message out that we're getting it out in all channels equally. So thank you. And yes, and I think the most important part is while we do have a message to get out, it is important to look at our audience. And so the fact that we are keeping it brief, that we are formatting it in a way that it is digestible so that they can receive it and that it may be useful to them. And that to me is the most important because
027a message that isn't delivered or communicated in an effective way is a lost message and a lost opportunity. It's good feedback. Thank you, Miss Peachley. Thank you, Dr. Johnson. You're very welcome. And uh we have another special presentation on the English 10 honors course modification. Principal Gart. Thank you, Board President Glenn, Vice President Zarnicki, Clerk Weaten, and the rest of the board, and Superintendent Johnson. Thank you for having me come here. Um, it's my honor, but I would be remiss if I didn't start this, that as I go through the presentation, I get to talk about the amazing team at Elsagunda High School who did the preponderance of the actual work. It is the amazing teachers behind me that are here in the audience. And I'm going to take a second of my time and
028recognize Mr. Jean, Miss Harrington, Mr. Mhouse, Miss McNeil, Miss Richmond, Miss Stern, and Miss Zean. They are the ethnic studies committee. when you hear me reference that, they are here tonight and they are the ones that have done so much work over this past school year to get us to the point to where we are right now. Um, it is my pleasure to talk a little bit about the English 10 and English 10 honors. So, that slash just means it's both classes. um curricular modification that actually incorporates the ethnic studies elements and curricular elements that are part of California Assembly Bill 101 that way back, we say way back because it was during COVID, but way back when um Governor Nuomo signed those into law and he signed those into law with the class of
0292030 being the first class with whom these these elements must come about. And ethnic studies is a term that a lot of people try to define. So, what I want to do is clarify just a little bit of it right now um for you from a broad perspective, but really all that ethnic studies goes, if you take a look at the end of that slide with all that language on there, it's just about learning about the histories, cultures, struggles, and contributions to American society of marginalized people. It does nothing to omit any history. It does nothing to even focus solely on history. What it does do is try to just incorporate a more broad view. the curriculum guidelines that I'm going to speak about. I'm not going to read this whole slide, but there are
030a couple things on there. I do want to make sure people understand that as their students still take English 10, it is still standardsbased. It's aligned to the literacy standards because English 10 is still a literacy class. And it is something that really focuses on civic engagement and responsibility and promotes collective empowerment. And those are the things that that I think are important for all of our students regardless of if we were talking ethnic studies, English 10, or any other class. We as educators feel a real responsibility to make sure that students feel empowered to be their best selves and empowered to recognize who they are as individuals. And so this is just an extension of that. It's nothing really new. Um I pulled up just a little quote here because the California Department of
031Education gave us some model curriculum and guidelines. I think this sentence just encapsulates a lot of it because there are a lot of things that people throw out there, you know, let's face it, you hear the word ethnic or ethnic studies, but really it's just about um providing the core concepts of access, access rather, relevance and community. And I think all of those things are things that we pride ourselves on within Elsaundo as well. So some of the implementation at Elsagundo High School, it started off over a year ago when the at from a district level led by Miss Janisk as a matter of fact as well as with administration and the counseling team received AB 101 took a look at it tended some trainings on what it looked like and then at that point
032made a decision that where it would fit best would probably be within English 10 and I'll talk a little bit about that on a on a future slide is why English 10 was the course chosen to incorporate that. Um, from there we developed a teacher team and that's that amazing team you see behind us right now. And just so you know, that teacher team is comprised of teachers from both the English and social studies departments because under AB 101, it could be incorporated, ethnic studies could be incorporated into either an ethnic, I'm sorry, a social studies curriculum or an English curriculum. And so we thought we didn't want to, you know, hold anything out. So we wanted to invite teachers from both of those in to have a conversation about it. Um there was an
033ethnic studies committee and the ethnic studies committee was comprised of teachers, administrators, district representatives, board representatives, and community parent representatives as well. And then we're making presentations right now to the board. So that's the the cycle about it. Why did we choose English 10? Um if you have a student at Elsagundo High School, which hopefully everybody watching does, and I know a lot of people here in this room do right now, you'll understand how impacted the schedules are at Elsagundo. We provide, you know, one of the things I like to say all the time is we're a, you know, a right-sized school, but we're not a massive school, but yet we provide all of the academic and curricular opportunities of the larger schools to our south. And by being able to provide all those opportunities
034to those schools, sometimes we have to be very creative in what we have to offer within our program. And really, there just wasn't room within our program to create an entirely new standalone course that we could require all 1,200 plus students to take. But what all students who come to Elsagundo do take is English 10. And so because that was a provision within the assembly bill, we decided to incorporate an English 10. Not only was it the access part from there, but if you look at that last bullet, English 10 really already focused on world literature. And so in looking at what the ethnic studies curricular requirements were, it really just aligned with the fact that we're already looking at world literature. Let's take a look and see how they can align with with whatever
035we need to add to English 10 right there. Um, some of the things we did in this curricular modification is it does fulfill the grad requirement. First and foremost, we want to make sure that every student that leaves Elsa requirement fulfills every requirement the state has for them to earn that diploma. So, English 10 made sense there. It also maintains the rigor of the California Common Core standards. You know that our classes definitely prepare our students for what's coming next based upon level of rigor that they have. And so by incorporating into an existing class that had that rigor already, we ensured that it would maintain that rigor. The world literature thing I talked about already and we got to incorporate stakeholder feedback by having an an already existing course. Here's an overview I talked
036about a little bit already as far as where we went, identifying personnel on site, bringing in the development and all the stakeholders and then bring it to the board right now. But it just really we we put this chart in there because it shows everybody in the community really had a hand in this. wasn't necessarily done just by some teachers or some administrators or anything like that. Um, some of the feedback that was given, teachers in the site were able to talk about the world literature and ethnic studies course availability and access component and how that was that was valuable. Students talked about that was their preferred integration and how the student clubs and ASP gave some input into it. And then the community was able to talk about how they appreciated not adding another
037scheduling impact and other elements. And then finally, the timeline for implementation. You can see we're in 2025, but this actually started back in the summer of 2023. So it's almost two years ago now that we began thinking about it and going through this process all the way up to where we are now in spring of 2025. So with that, that is that's an overview of the modification, how we're going to meet that that requirement, and I would welcome any questions or any clarifications. I just have a question with because this is a state regulation. Do we have to send something to the state about how we are implementing this? Perfect. The the state should they choose or the county can audit our course to make sure we're meeting all the requirements, but realistically speaking, that's
038the same thing we've done. I will say this, we've updated our English 10 curriculum with the UC website because our courses are UC approved and so our courses being UC approved will have this modification as part of it. So when taking English 10, students are still eligible for the UCCcsu system. So first off, I want to say to you, thank you so much for starting with the definition. I think that's essential to provide a solid understanding. I love that you focused in on access, relevance, and community. It paints the full picture and that to me is important to share with the community because I know for some there are some fears about this course and you are effectively demystifying and releasing that burden. The next thing that I want to say is to the committee
039and absolute kudos to you. I am so excited to look at the faces in the audience and know that you are the ones who are participating and making a difference, rolling this out to our students and effectively changing their lives by opening their minds, their hearts, and broadening their awareness. Thank you. Yeah, I just want to chime in just quickly again. Yes, absolutely. Thank you for all your effort in this. I I I can't believe we're finally here. Honestly, I've been hearing about this before the 2021 date that you've had up there. There was a lot of conversation prior to that. Um and and to get to this place where we are absolutely doing what our students need to learn and bring it to them in a very thoughtful, meaningful way. I mean, thank you.
040Thank you for all this focus and work because it's been a long time coming. So, thanks. We agree in the team a lot of the conversations were around that like you know what we really want is for all our students to be able to to see themselves in the curriculum and see others in the curriculum. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. And moving on to the consent agenda. Um Do we have a motion? I move to approve consent agenda items 4A through I. Any discussion? Seeing none, Grady, your representative votes. I uh all board members in favor, please say I. I. I. Passes 5 Z. Action items. Acceptance of gifts. Board clerk Weeden. In accordance with the board of education policy number 3290, the board of education may accept gifts as long as
041there is no conflict with the education code or other public laws. The school district has received generous donations as detailed below. These donations do not conflict with any education code or public laws regarding acceptance of gifts. The Blackbod Giving Fund, $18 to ESHS. The Blackbod Giving Fund, $2,121 to Center Street School. Kroger, $13744 to ESMS. Center Street School PTA, $821 to Center Street. AFCA Educational Program, $1,000 to Center Street School, and South Bay Challenge, Inc., $5,000 districtwide. I move approval for the gifts as presented. I'll second. Any discussion? Seeing none, uh, Grady, your representative vote. I, all board members in favor, please say I. I. Passes 5-0. Thank you. U, moving on to item B. Dr. Linds. Yes. Um, we are well underway of our phase two of the district office um, improvements and as
042part of that, it's important that we do the necessary testing. This item allows for that. I recommend approval. Thank you. I move approval of action item 5B. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, Grady, your representative vote. I. All board members in favor, please say I. I. I. Passes 5-0. Thank you. And item C, Dr. Linds. We're starting one project, we're ending another. This is the final DSA fees for the Richmond Street corridor project and I do recommend approval. I'll move approval. Second. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, Grady, your representative vote. I. All board members in favor, please say I. I. I. Passes 5. And item D, Dr. Linds. I'm very excited to bring this item forward for one of some of our unsung heroes, our food service workers. Um May 2nd is school lunch hero
043day. And so we are uh pleased to bring forward a resolution acknowledging that date. I also just wanted to share that we will be doing hanging posters. All food service workers will receive pins and then each school is doing their own celebration of the workers at their site with everything from flowers to coffee to lunches and lots and lots of cards. So, I appreciate that everyone is joining in and acknowledging the hard work that our food service workers do and the joy they bring our students every day. Thank you. I recommend approval. I'll move approval. Second. I'm I'm excited. I've never seen this before and I'm like I can picture Miss Leilani with the cape. So this is awesome. Yay. Um, action items A and B appeared as information pending action in the last board
044meeting. Um, they include recommended updates to board policies and administrative regulations. Item A is our district's uniform complaint procedures. Um, and they are to bring us in compliance. um from for state and federal re uh regulations. I recommend approval. I move approval of item 6A. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, Grady, your representative vote. I. All board members in favor, please say I. I. I. Passes. And do we need to talk about B or are you already covered? And I can just mention that item B um is board policy and administrative regulation in regard to our um policy regarding sexual harassment, non-dis uh non-discrimination and employment and title 9 sexbased discrimination and again is to bring us into compliance in regard to state and federal regulations and I recommend approval for those as well. Thank you
045m I'll move approval on 6B. Second. Any discussion? Seeing none. Uh, Grady, your representative vote. I. All board members in favor, please say I. I. I. Passing 5 Z. And item C. Missfield. Um, this will be a public hearing, so someone needs to open it. We can um open the hearing for the tentative agreement for CSA. I will open the hearing at 6:38. and I'll close the hearing at 6:39. Moving on to item 6D, Miss Field. Yes. This item is to recommend approval of the tentative agreement between CSEA chapter 71 and the Elsagunda Unified School District. This tentative agreement has been ratified by CSEA membership and is effective from July um 1st, 2024 for the 2425 fiscal year. Um before I recommend approval, I want to say that we appreciate the partnership we have with
046our labor unions. I recommend approval of this item. Move approval of item 6D. I'll second. Is there any discussion or questions? Seeing none, Grady, your representative vote. I. All board members in favor, please say I. I. I. Passes 5. Uh, moving on to section [Music] 7A. Miss Janisk. Yes. Thank you. This item is for approval of the ESHS film appreciation course, a one-year elective that has been added this year through Prop 28 funds. As evidenced by newsies, we have a lot of talent and interest. This was developed based on student and teacher input and how to grow this pathway. Um, I recommend approval. I move to approve action item 7A. Second. Is there any discussion? I'm excited to see this. Yeah, I am too. Great expansion. I also think it's really important that you made
047sure to say that it was like Prop 28 money so people also know that how things are being funded so they can do research if they don't know what Prop 28 money is. But I appreciate that. Now could I ask have we identified a teacher for this program? The high school has been working on that and yes I just want to say I would totally take film appreciation. That's really cool. That's really cool. You want to stay for another year? Maybe you want to stay. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, Grady, your representative vote. I. All board members in favor, please say I. I. I. Passes 50 and action item 6B. Oh, no, sorry. 7B. Miss Janisk, thank you. And this is an additional course um for beginning drama. And this one's open to
0489th through 12th. I failed to uh mention the last one is available for 10th through 12th graders. This next course is available for 9th through 12th grade for those that are interested in beginning drama. And Proposition 28 is for the arts and we are not able to replace. We are only able to add and grow programs. Um so thank you Miss Sutherland for saying that. I recommend approval. I'll move approval. Second. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, Grady, your preferential vote. I. All board members in favor, please say I. I. Passes 50. Action item 7 C. Miss Janisk. I'm equally thrilled for this resolution um to be recognizing Earth Day from the Elsando School Board. Today is Earth Day and it is really important to recognize the efforts that are taking place within our classrooms
049and within our community and I would like to recommend it, but first I'll turn it over to Clerk. Thank you. All of our schools are actively participating in Earth Week with a variety of meaningful and engaging activities. Elsagundo High School, the climate club, is leading and organizing spirit themed days in celebration of Earth Week and supporting environmental stewardship arena. Students coordinate coordinated in a neighborhood cleanup effort. Elsagundo Middle School hosted lunchtime sorting activities to promote sustainability. Richmond Street and Center Street Schools collaborated in planning a full week of events, including daily readalouds that connected learning to actionable steps and support of the planet and Eagle's Nest. Students are participating in playground cleanups and engaging in arts and craft projects that celebrate the Earth. I do want to pass it over to Vice President Tracy Miller
050Zarnicki to read the resolution and I am passing it to her because she is our absolute champion of all things sustainability and it is only fitting to ask her to read the resolution today. I can't be more excited about this because it's been a long time to get to this moment. So I am going to read it all. I'll read it quickly um because this is a first and hopefully not the last time we do a big something for Earth Day. So whereas in 1987 the United Nations Bruntland Commission defined sustainability as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. And whereas the three pillars of sustainability social, economic and environmental must work in conjunction to provide a balanced approach. And whereas there is extensive
051consensus within the scientific community that human activities contribute to increases in greenhouse gas emissions, which in turn pose a significant threat to Earth's climate, a threat that can only be addressed through collective human action. And whereas the negative impacts of climate change, including public health and economic consequences, disproportionately affect chronically under un under underserved communities and communities of color. And whereas sustainable practices in schools, including improvements to energy efficiency, environmentally mindful purchasing, and campuswide conservation efforts, can lead to significant cost savings and long-term benefits. And whereas Earth Day, first celebrated on April 22, 1970, marks the birth of the modern environmental movement and has since inspired awareness, legislation, and global environmental progress. And whereas the Elsagando Unified School District recognizes the significant significance of Earth Day as an opportunity to promote environmental awareness and stewardship
052among students, staff, and the wider community. And whereas educators, staff, and community members throughout Elsagundo are encouraged to engage students in programs and activities that highlight the importance of environmental sustainability, climate education, and responsible citizenship. And there now therefore be it resolved that the Elsagundo Unified School District Board of Education hereby resolves April 22, 2025 as Earth Day and encourages all school, students, and community members to observe this day through meaningful environmental education celebration and action. And having read that, I move that we approve this resolution. Second. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, Grady, your preferential vote, I. All board members in favor, please say I. I. I. Passes 5. Thank you. And item 7D, Miss Jennison. Yes. This next item is for um a required report noticing that we have no filed complaints against
053us in mis assignment, teacher vacancy, facilities, or instructional materials. I recommend approval. I move to approve action item 7D. I'll second. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, Grady, your preferential vote. I. All board members in favor, please say I. I. I. Passes 5-0. Section 8A. Uh, Miss Janisk. Yes. Thank you. This is an item pending action that will come back for action at the next school board meeting. As you heard this evening, Mr. Gart Gbart and his team did an excellent job putting thought and um a lot of research into what they were going to put in place for their students. And this is a course. The only reason it's coming as an item pending action is through AB 101. That's a requirement. If anybody would like to see the course curriculum, they're welcome to
054come to the high school and ask for the course curriculum and ask any questions that may have. They will come back on May 13th. Thank you. Uh section nine,formational calendar. Anybody got anything special they'd like to point out? When is our next meeting? 13. All right. Um, section 10 board members reports, Miss Beachley. All right. Here we go. It's been almost a month since last we met for our last general board meeting um since we did not meet during spring break. So, here we go. Highlights during this time include um a wonderful career day where over a 100 community members shared their expertise with the high school students including some of our board members. A big thank you to Kuanas um who helped us in funding that amazing day. The musical this year which was
055mentioned before newsies was absolutely incredible. I enjoyed multiple casts and I actually went three times and got to see different casts doing and it was incredible to see that many different kids involved in in the in the performance. It was it was great. Uh Steam night at Richmond Street was a huge success and also included a little magic show which was great. My SoCal Rock board meeting was the same night as our special board meeting last week. So I missed my board meeting, my special board meeting. So thank you to Jason who allowed me some time to have some input into the meeting and for my team for um understanding uh the reason that I Sorry. Thank you to Frank's team. Sorry. Gee, I'm used to that at my other meeting, but thanks. Starting over.
056Thank you to Jason for allowing for input and to Frank's team for understanding my absence um as I was at SoCal Rock. While at SoCal Rock, um our meeting was mostly about celebrations. Um we're kind of winding down this semester and one of the big things is our all-star um for our rock stars um who will be receiving some scholarships and um I know of at least one Elsa Gundo recipient um which is I'm not going to ruin the day but um I'm very excited about that. Um, if the other thing we talked about was summer school a little bit. If there are any high school students needing to make up some credit, um, there are some classes that will be taught at SoCal Rock um, during the summer which have A3G accreditation. So, check
057with your counselors and see if it's something that might work for you. So, if you have an impacted schedule or you need to make up. A little SoCal Rock time might not be a bad um way to get that done. Um I went to my Center Street uh PTA meeting um and talked about all the kind of things ending this school year. Um their installation in new officers is I believe the 21st of next month. Um, and my the big news for me is I'm going to be scooping some ice cream tomorrow night 5 o'clock at Cold Stones. Um, but if you're interested in other teachers who might be scooping ice cream, you can I think check it out on the website and find out what time I think there's a two or three day
058scooping schedule and times. Um, but I will be there tomorrow at 5 with Miss Scalrino and Miss Moot. The retired three are gonna scoop ice cream. So, very exciting. The mayor's Good Friday breakfast was well attended and the high school choir was incredible and the speaker Danny Bowling uh was absolutely inspirational. Um, and like you said, he could have spoke for hours, but they wouldn't let him. Um, and finally, the AP research project presentations. I sat through three today. I have three tomorrow. I have two on Thursday. And all I can really say is like, wow. Because they were absolutely amazing and spectacular and nothing that I would have ever done as a high school senior. So, kudos to those to those students. My turn. I actually wrote like a nice little report today, too.
059Um, so I saw the Newsies, too. I only saw it one time, not three. But, um, I, um, the play was amazing. I've seen a lot of plays on Broadway and just different productions and I thought that Tiffany Mason and her crew and the cast did an amazing job. You really actually felt like you were on Broadway. That was a great night. Um, our special board meeting. Um, there was great collaboration and to have a board that can listen to each other and actually hear each other as an example of how things get done in a healthy way. I want to thank my board members for always making me sort of feel valued and heard. I think every board should work this great together. Um, another shout out to boys varsity lacrosse. I know they
060just had a senior night and after seeing those pictures brought me back to all the feelings we as parents have when it's our kids' last high school games. Parents, I understand your happiness and sadness at the same time. Um, today I got to be a panelist as well for the AP research projects and I'm going to literally mirror what you just said. Wow. Um, I'm really impressed with the students and their desire to strive for excellence. The opportunities we have for our students at Elsagundo High School is something that I would have dreamt of when I was when I went here. These kids are so smart and driven and it really is a testament to what we have at this district. And that's all I have. So, happy Earth Day. Something interesting about Earth Day
061established in 1970 is credited with launching the modern environmental movement which led to the creation of the US environmental protection agency EPA and the passage of the landmark environmental laws like the clean air act and clean water act. I am wearing green today and I do want to thank Miss Janisk who called me about today's resolution so that I had an opportunity to change into my green. But the true green person here is our very own Tracy Miller Zarnicki. Today we all celebrated and we're talking about it, but she lives it every day. And I do want to acknowledge that it has been some time since we have been here. And so I want to go back to late March. I attended the Elsagundo High School winter guard and indoor percuss percuss percussion. There you
062have it. Community night. A celebration of seniors combined with two action-packed shows. On 3:27 it was lights, camera, career and that was the ESHS college and career day and it was hosted by the Kowanas. I want to say a special thanks to all the professionals who took time away from their place of work to help support and inspire our high school students. I was inspired by a pilot who told me that he knew he wanted to be a pilot at the tender age of two. Wow. It took me back to our 2024 Halloween school board meeting when I was a flight attendant. Everything's full circle. Other board members present, President Glenn, Vice President Miller Zarnicki, and member Beechley. On 3:27, I also had the pleasure of going to open night, opening night for newsies. It's
063already been said it was a rich production. Very, very happy I had a chance to experience it. On 4:15, our very own tax day and our board workshop day covering our 2025 through 2028 district goals survey. Other board members present, President Glenn, Vice President Miller Zarnicki, and member Sutherland, and the mayor's Good Friday breakfast. I do want to take a moment to celebrate Mayor Pro Tim, Ryan Baldino for his fabulous welcome for our PTA reports. How about that pink suit though? You like that? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. The next Richmond Street PTA meeting is on May 12th at 6:30 p.m. Their upcoming event is the daughter's night out on April 26th. And for the high school PTA, their next meeting is May 7th at 6:30 p.m. and they have donut appreciation day tomorrow. I
064want to close with a nice thank you to Cheryl Smith, our Elsa Gundo PTA Council President who made it a point to get dressed up to play her music and to come tell us all about the greatness of the run for education. We celebrate you for your energy and we thank you for the shirts. That concludes my report. All right. Well, I'm glad we covered Earth Day earlier because I was going to go into a big thing about that. But I love that we have such engaged campuses this year and everybody's doing all the things they can do. Um, I'm going to add to that by saying that our uh high school interns who work with the Elsagundo Blue Butterfly Conservancy are going to participate in uh the Elsagundo the city of Elsagundo committee booth
065at the farmers market this Thursday. They're going to be out there talking about the work they're doing with the conservancy and possibly having some activities with kids. So they will join us out there from probably somewhere in the 3 to 6 PM block. Um so that'll be a great thing if anybody wants to come out to talk to them and others of us who want to talk green and inspire even just one small change. One small change is all we're asking. Everybody does one thing. It helps in a bigger way. Just it's a snowball effect. So think about that this week. Please make one green change. Um I'm going to also add to the career day awesomeness. Like I I spoke to two classes in my professional mode and they asked really engaging questions. It's
066funny. My my first uh career day appearance was long ago when I used to work for Disney and I went to a middle school and the only question I got asked there was like what kind of car do you drive? And no one asks that at our high school. I just want to say they legit ask questions about how you got to your pathway. like they they meaningfully engage with us and I I just want to give you know thanks to all of the teachers and staff that have raised them to be thoughtful again graduate profile hello thoughtful communicators all those things they are really engaged and thoughtful in in the conversation we had so thank you we had about I think 80ome people came out to speak to the students that day was amazing
067so more of that please thank you Miss C and Mr. Rapaort for putting that together um news was awesome the jazz ensemble was a new exciting thing for me to go see. Um, probably the coolest, smoothest Thursday night I've spent out in a while. So, that was that was actually really amazing to see that group come together and I know they'll invite us back because the the energy in the room was really good. So, I think uh we'll look forward to more with those folks uh in next year's version of the ensemble. Um, we had a great tour of the middle school again in the recent past. Uh, popping into classrooms quickly and efficiently, but again, like seeing the different things happening in the moment, I think really makes what we do up here more
068tangible and like, oh, we've talked about that kind of curriculum. Oh, we understand that kind of programming. But seeing it and and peering over the shoulders and asking a few questions here and there really, I think, drives it home. So, thank you for bringing us to classrooms. Thank you for teachers and students for allowing us to come into your space for the brief moments that were in there. We appreciate that. Um I want to give kudos to Principal Gard again for hosting another valuable coffee with his constituents. I don't get to go to a lot of them. So this one I went to and he handled a number of questions and subjects and spaces very eloquently and and I think that's wonderful that we have those in-person opportunities beyond the communications we do this way.
069that was very much back and forth and so the fact that all our principles do these is is wonderful. Um last night I had another LAXA meeting so LA County Trustes Association our presenters were speaking to uh workforce housing which we haven't done here but you never know if that becomes a thing that we need to do at some point. Um a lot of good work happening and popping up more and more in Los Angeles around that. Um so that was a useful meeting to be with. It was just online this time. If any of you want to come to our May convening um Monday, May 19th, I think that date is. Um we are you are all welcome to join and there will be an election of somebody you might know possibly running for
070the presidency. So, just saying if you're available, you're welcome to come to that event with me. It will be in at the Lake offices in fabulous Downey. I think it's where we we some of us have been before. Fabulous location. Um but but great company and food, so please consider that. Um I've had a a quick meet up with our representative Tedlu and Ben Allen's office in the last couple weeks just to touch base on issues and things and our reality and their reality and all this stuff. Fascinating conversations all around. Um lastly, I will say I'll see you all at the run Saturday in some way. Uh both Mike and I will be in it. He will finish much faster than I will. I guarantee this. So maybe you and Mike will be up
071there in leading the pack and I will be carrying up the rear in walk mode. So and that is okay. And we will wave to Miss Beley as we go by. So it'll be good. Thank you. Um lastly, I just wanted to I just want to have a quiet moment and we may do something else in the future, but I just want to recognize that we lost um a recent retiree recently. So, I want to take a moment to honor the memory of Dr. Ray Jen, who was here. I don't have his bio in front of me to tell you how many years he was here, but many years. Um, my now junior in college attributes his ability to write well in college to Dr. Jen. So, I will say that his his truth as
072a teacher lives in many, many, many students out there in the world now. So, I know we're grateful that he was here with us for so long. He was my neighbor even longer than I knew him as a teacher. So, um we will miss his his spirit and light in this town, but I know that his hard work will live on. So, um I'm sending out our condolences to his family and friends. And that's all for me. I want to thank my team for representing the board so well at so many events. I think it's it's uh amazing that we are so engaged not just with our schools but with our community. Um, and I'm just going to look ahead because, uh, tomorrow we have, um, an exciting event where some school board members are
073going to go check out the tower at the high school. Um, and coming up on Saturday, we have the run for education. So, Jason, I'm going to give you a 25 year start. So, um, it's on. Are Are you doing the 10K? No. What are you doing? I'm doing 10K. Oh, well, I would have done That's just me, though. You know, I would have done I would have done the 10K except um uh Well, that too, but um they they say that slow and steady wins the race. Yeah. So, you know. Well, yeah. I I'm I'm on a team, so the team only Oh, so you have other people running for you. Yeah. Well, they'll be dragging me. I'm just solo. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So, well, anyway, see you at the start line and Yeah.
074Yeah, that sounds good. And I'll be there. I'll be there waiting for you at the finish. Well, you're going to finish a lot earlier than me. Yeah, I hope so. Yeah. Yeah, because it's a 5K. It's It's half the distance. All right, it's time for the superintendence report. Uh well, on that note, in celebration of PTA, yes, please come out and support the Run for Education. It's my first. I'm excited. Um we'll see how it goes. Uh and then also looking ahead, the Ed Ed Foundation's gala is on May 9th. Um so sign up. It sounds like it's going to be a ball. Uh so looking forward to seeing you all there. second everybody on the newsies uh performance just two quick things. Um uh one is like you know when you're reading a review
075where it's like it's a triumph you like I it was actually an example of that you know I was like oh that's what that is. Um like so it really felt that way. I was like, "This is a triumph." And then uh two is like, you know, one of the young men that was starting the night, I got to talk to his mom uh and sister beforehand and and he had like a long-term health issue and uh even performing that night was like a stretch uh for his health. So, I just I just like appreciate like this is like a great example of where everyone can like find their space in our schools, right? And you mean like in this this young man, you mean like who is unreal? Um, you mean like was like
076doing something uh, you know, triumphant that night? Uh, and I just thought that was really special. I just love like the the individual stories. You mean like when you're there and experiencing the event. Uh, also attends Steam Literacy Night. And I just I just want to give it just to, you know, I love all our schools and I want to give a shout out to Richmond. Uh, you know, Steam literacy night, you mean like as a a a parent with young kids, you mean like whenever you go to event, you always sort of have that eye of it's like, oh, my kids enjoy this. And like you know it was an event where like kids are having a great time you know and there was so many different activities and then you immediately think this
077would take a lot of work. Um so I just a shout out just like you know a little extra elbow grease there. You mean like from Richmond and I I sincerely appreciate like the work that they're doing. So fantastic job. Uh Elsa Gundo Middle School open house is on Thursday. Really looking forward to that. You mean like seeing teachers teachers are juggling this week at the middle school. Um there's a lot going on. They got testing. they got open house. So, just a huge shout out to that campus. Really enjoying our time on that campus as well too. So, um just the thank you to that staff. Looking forward to the night. And then in the spirit of complimenting a colleague, uh TMZ, uh I want to say a shout out to your Alexa involvement.
078Um and just you mean like I I can really appreciate it. Like I'm I'm the Sula chair. Uh Meredith, you mean like being scrock? You know, like being doing this is a lot already. You mean like so then you when you sign on for something else and a whole other board organization that's just like that's a strong commitment and just I sincerely appreciate it and I do think that you will uh continue to elevate that organization. So thank you. That concludes my report. Uh we do not need to recess to a close session. So at this time 709 I'd like to adjourn this meeting in the memory of a beautiful man who dedicated his life and career to the education of the students of Elsagundo High School. Dr. Ra.