Special Board Meeting

001foreign Hey listen if this meeting started here so I am calling to order the special board meeting of the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District Board of Trustees for uh Monday February 27 2023 so uh first I will uh okay now that it's called order Maribel would you please uh hold a roll today's a special board meeting of February 27 2023 at 6 30 PM member of the board of the board in attendance president manfam present vice president Kirk Andres Quintero president member Linda Chavez president members Administration superintendent Dr Bauer presence okay so with that I will move on to the land acknowledgment uh the Board of Trustees of the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District is hereby acknowledge district schools and Facilities uh sit on the traditional lands at the Milwaukee people and the

002Board of Trustees further acknowledges with respect in reference to Milwaukee people private the San Francisco Bay area for their stewardship of these lands uh uh let's see here so with that uh uh I will ask uh my colleagues to join me in the Pledge of Allegiance please stand up for which it stands one night nation under God indivisible okay thank you so much so with that move to uh section two superintendent board Business board discussion interaction item 2.01 discussion action interview of candidates for provisional appointment and selection of provisional appointment to the Board of Trustees where to see previously held by Ernesto vicaranam I will open this item to public comment at this time so who is our so uh do I have any speaker cards no speaker cards okay this is a very Democratic

003people just okay yes foreign Ty here welcome welcome um thank you um get any members of the board my name is Lisa Gonzalez I am a parent of um uh one of the citizens school district and it's an honor to be back in this space after three years um I'm also here as a community member and as we are talking about um bringing in a new board member I would like to just remind anybody that it's it's gonna be is trying to um take that seat that is parent engagement is important the listening to community and students is a must that having the um the right ideas and excellent governance and Community experience is also something that lifts us to work here you're going to be serving a community where English Learners low income and

004Foster youth is a reality every day you want to be making decisions on behalf of the students I know it's going to be hard a hard way but I hope that you cover this with Excellence with transparency and accountability within our communities um I want to make sure that you can also know that to count on parents to count on us to be the boys and to bring us the expertise but also to rely on the teachers and the staff here we're here on the same and on behalf of our students and um thank you for for applying I also want to say thank you to our vice president coronera for inviting our community last Thursday to attend this meeting because of the importance it is to be present to be part of the democratic

005process like Dr power said and to Bringing um boys to that Community thank you have a really good evening you next person good afternoon Board of trustee my name is Claudia cuello I'm a part of and I'm a parent of the Alum Rock School District as well I am here today to speak not only for myself but for those who um are not allowed to through Zoom um I know we're giving enough notification time to attend in person we asked that as the selection for a new board member begins that you all highly prioritize they have the respect and engagement of parents students community and Alum Rock Unified School District staff by having experience with effective Community engagement practices that include input decision making and a deeper understanding of the historical racist educational barrier barriers

006that have silenced communities of color Community also requests not to be taken their Liberty of expression to public comment through Zoom as it continues to be a form of communication for the Alum Rock School District thank you thank you all right so good afternoon Board of Trustees my name is community organizer of Samos Mayfair I'm excited to learn who the normal board member is going to be after this meeting we're looking forward to that as well as we're well examining who the deal candidate as they will be or some of those made for families too as the two priorities the following values as trace for the number to you know display one being meaningful partner meaningful parent Youth and Family engagement Readiness to contribute to the district's rise towards equity and understand the importance of

007mental health and social emotional learning in addition I'm here to communicate in here uh from someone's May first base voicing the voicing the concerns regarding the disability to the public comment multiple of our members share their interests in contributing to the selection process by joining remotely to vocalize what Trace would be most desirable and favorable from to these candidates it's understandable if this uh if this process required a quick turnaround however the community involvement continue used to be a practice or members would like to see strengthen especially during the transition within the board May the new addition to the board is to be a support of the strengthening of community involvement and I wish the candidates the best of luck and thank you for your time foreign trustees and superintendent Dr Bauer my name is

008camellianis fontani and I'm a parent of a fifth grader at Adelante dual immersion Academy as well as a community member here in East San Jose and a member of the facilities committee for the Alum Rock School District from my long-standing engagement with this District I think some of the critical attributes that I would seek in a board trustee as you select make that selection this evening would be a deep understanding of the context of the needs of our students and families as you all know we have immense needs in this region with increasing cost of living and the whole child needing to be centered and someone who understands how public and private Partnerships work how to bring resources to the school district and how to serve the families in the way that they need to

009be served as critical a person who has a proven track record a parent and Community engagement and who knows how to bring a social Equity lens to the work that they do and an understanding of the immense opportunities that we have here in Alum Rock right now in the facilities committee I've heard an incredible vision of what's possible here in this district and there's a lot of program Endeavors that we're taking on to better serve our students and our community including some of the workforce housing that you've passed or we've passed as a taxpayers but alongside that Vision as you know and it's in every kind of school report right now we know that there's immense challenges that we're facing right now and is parent know that firsthand um so we need a steady hand

010who can join you all to make some really clear decisions moving forward and for that reason I support a longtime colleague and friend Andrea Shelton for the seat thank you right so any further comments from the public trustees and Dr Bauer thank you for having us this evening um I want to reiterate a lot of the similar concerns that a lot of the community members here share we just want to ensure that there's full transparency on the board and that the uh new potential board member aligns with the values of the district and along with the values of the community we really want to ensure that the potential board member will um really have an impact in uh weighing in on you know Community issues as well as a lot of what is you know

011happening around uh our city so I just want to reiterate a lot of the concerns of the community members and I wish the best of luck to the board member thank you maybe uh being no further comments from the public yeah okay foreign leader we're here to highlight some of the concerns many community members feel tonight while we feel that the current process is not sufficient time to find a replacement we are here as a community member to ensure this process is as transparent as possible with the section of a new board member those are challenging times that this trick is going through and we want to emphasize that whoever assumes the position of board member has the knowledge and share values as many of the ellenbrock families has the respect and engagement of the

012parent student community and the the arusd staff by having experience with effective Community engagement practices that include input decision making and a deeper understanding of the historical racist educational barriers that have silent communities of colors thank you for your time we want to ensure that all students and family at Allen Block School District are heard through the short process and that the new board member has an understanding of some of the community's sure values I do want to point out that this was really hard having not been able to do this over soon giving comment had to leave my 10 month old well almost a year old actually it's going to be a year old but I had to leave him home with my other son had to run with my daughter here who has

013not finished her homework and who we could have been doing this at home she could have heard the board meeting as she's doing her homework I could have been breastfeeding my one-year-old and giving my other son some attention that whatever he was needing instead I had to pull some some people my community to you know watch them so I can come here and really be supportive of this so I really emphasize how important it is that we have this comments over soon and that they don't get silence by other people thank you all right Cerna to kindly present the process to the public um good evening board member uh Min members of the board superintendent Bauer members of the executive staff my name is Jeff Cerna and I've been asked to assist with the facilitation

014of this evening selection process for your new board member um actually this is the third time I've been engaged in this activity so I kind of kind of feel like I'm Vanna White that um in the game show um so let me go through the process for you and then um we'll begin the the process itself as you may or may not know uh there are currently four applicants who have completed the process for the uh for tonight's uh selection process the order of those interviews will be done in random by random draw all four names will be placed on the novel Oak and the names will be drawn and that will determine the order of the interview uh the first person who's going to be interviewed will sit at this this table here and

015the other between applicants will be uh taken by staff to an outside conference room until that first interview is complete the scoring system will be a one through five scoring system one being the lowest score if I being the highest score there are a total of eight questions that have been developed by the business um each board member will ask the question and those questions will be rotated after each question is asked um the candidate will have two minutes per question at a time as you know is at the front of the boardroom those candidates should be cognizant of the time when they're asking or answering the question each board member will score each candidate's response at the end of each question [Music] the I.T staff that are situated here in the room and in

016the outside conference room will be catalying the scores as they are recorded in the case of a tie should there be a time between a couple of those candidates uh there will be a tie breaking question that that has been designed by the board and that those candidates that that are tied will be asked that tie breaking question and again scored based on their one through five scoring system that is the process for this evening um I'll ask the board if there's our Dr Bowers there's any questions correct that's correct correct that's correct yeah any other questions any comments okay um I believe Dr Barry you have the names on the novelope the reverse these are the numbers whoever they need to find so the four candidates will come to the front of the dice

017here and select a number and I'll take that number once you have it so Ms Nguyen will be number one uh Ricardo will be number two yes will be number one do they do that I I guess they have the number go ahead okay for someone else so Ricardo Garcia will be number two Victoria but tomorrow will be number three and Neva Flores will be uh Shelton will be number four so um come to the front of the table here and have a seat Mr President and the other three will be taken to an outside concert before we get started I wanted to um and see if the embroidery will indulge me and allow me to update one of my questions and answer me previously um I see no more than that uh just let

018us let the board know want me to go ahead and simply just read it out when the time comes or do you want me to write it out and give it out to our board member in advance um allowed to write it out and pass that copies to US during the same thing all right all right you know what I will email we all have our computer too okay thank you what would you like the board to ask the questions okay so uh uh so each each board member will ask one question going round robin style so that way you know it's uh nice and random so uh they uh so basically I will ask trustee Chavez to ask the first question on the list as soon as we are as soon as I have

019a uh the copy uh see that we received the updated questions uh can I see a list of the questions in case I miss here foreign [Music] thank you [Music] edit the question oh what number of what is the the question number you're altering um five five so Luis they're answering question number five because they need to edit on the computer um do you want me to send it to Luis yeah you send it to me I'll send it to them okay [Music] foreign rental [Music] and or rental uh that's a modification of the questions no it's an addition it's uh it's something that I I um I included yeah um [Music] there you go yes I sent it on so you should all have a pain oh crusty Chavez would you email that question

020too we got it we got it all right yes this question because I think you're going to ask number five did you send it yeah okay what you're gonna have it why don't you start that way so that way we could do this file it never was that way because there's only four of you no one two three four five okay so it would do one round robin display and one round rubbing that way oh yeah sorry I think we've got this all right thank you go ahead and read it uh read the first one uh the same as Dr Bauer lets me know we're ready so this is question five oh we got it okay and if we modified questions okay and I think uh one last note I think was it each board

021member does have the uh may ask one supplemental question as well um we don't have it in the computer oh that's the problem that's what you're gonna public oh following different processes so it is adding just so that everybody knows it is adding uh drastic interest question and because the so that you guys can see the scores it's being tabulated electronically and so we're just waiting a little bit until it's refreshed so they they can start the interview can I say something yeah yes yes yes and thank you for your patience the last time we did this in person was for mine in February 2018 so um yeah it's just the last time we did it uh five years ago five years ago in person and then we did did it virtually for when we

022brought on by uh president um yeah so thank you all for your patience thank you men for your patience with us and it gives you an ability to see the Dynamics right as we work through it all yeah thankful president thank you hopefully it's ready now I just want to make sure that all board members are on your scoring pages in the computer so I just want to make sure that you um I understand okay to score God okay all right okay uh I guess we are set to begin so uh with that that trusty Chavez he uh please answer the first I mean please you know you may ask the first question what experience do you have with our Alum Rock Union School District Community with staff parents board elected officials they are USB

023meetings attended in the in the last 18 months what will you do to improve the relationship with the various members of the Alum Rock Union School District Community to ensure Equitable input in decision making can you give me an example am I gonna get a two minute timer or okay cool do I just start talking yes okay cool so uh my name is min Nguyen I'm a math teacher at Independence High School um my experience with the Alum Rock Union School District is uh for those who don't know uh kids from Alum Rock go directly to Independence or James lick so I get a ton of students from the Alum Rock School District every year year in and year out ah with staff since last year uh when I campaigned for this position uh and

024was formally endorsed by the Alum Rock Educators Association and that time I've gotten to know some teachers um and uh continuing to discuss with them the issues that face teachers on a daily basis um so I've gotten to know just in the past what six months even less some teachers that work here and some of the things that are important to them with parents uh fortunately uh and I actually really enjoyed hearing this from all the public comments that you know it's really important to get parental involvement and I was actually asked at a staff meeting at an all staff meeting at Independence um a couple weeks ago to present to the whole staff over 100 teachers on parent communication because every year I try and make it a point to actually call parents uh

025call home for students to talk to parents in the first grading period in the first six weeks so I'm not sure if you guys know that's a pretty uncommon thing and something that I am actually really proud of because when I call home whether it's for a student that is not doing well uh or a student that is doing well parents are always extremely happy to hear a teacher call home and say oh wow like I can't remember the last time you know somebody called home from school this is great hearing from you um sorry staff parents boards elected officials so I've only uh tuned into a handful of lmark Union board meetings just to get a better sense of uh you know the importance of some of the issues here as a oh Totally

026Miss missed that okay I guess I'll stop so I'll ask the second question uh how have you supported or contributed to restorative justice racial equity and ethnic studies to increase the support for the children in our district before and during you know uh during this pandemic thing that I heard several public commenters bring up is uh you know the issue of social emotional mental health for students in the community whether that's the Alum Rock Union School District Community or For Me Eastside Union High School District because I teach here I basically do them as one in the same right the only difference is uh when they're in Alum Rock they're K-8 and when they get to high school they're nine through 12. they're the same students so a big thing for me um to recognize

027the responsibilities that students have at home or other barriers that may prevent them from succeeding is that I've implemented a no homework policy and that's been the case for maybe the last two or three years and that's just so that students know and I'm very explicit with them uh you know if you come to school and you do the work and you participate in the activities that I ask you to participate in you know faithfully and diligently then you have done the work right it seems like patently unfair in my opinion to ask students to attend school for uh six seven hours a day and then go home and essentially work overtime right that's that that would be the the adult version of what we ask students to do when we ask them to do

028homework and so to address you know mental health uh and also as as several people have discussed you know the needs of the community uh you know and I know that some students literally have to to work you know after school um that's one of my Flagship things students don't do homework because as long as they show up they should be able to pay attention for an hour and really take advantage of the education that Independence has to offer them which is really quality as a someone who benefited from Eastside Union's educational myself I really just want to do my best to pass that forward to every student that walks through the doors of my classroom and the doors at uh Independence High School thank you considering what the next five to ten years may

029have in store for alum rocking Elementary School District why is it important to have experience in policy development sorry um as a teacher who plans on teaching for the next 25 years or so I've been I've been in the classroom for the last eight years I've been teaching at Independence for the last six um I think us teachers tend to have a very long-term view of things you know we're building a community and we understand that that doesn't take just one or two or even five years but instead it takes 10 20 and 30 years so I think uh it's important to to have policy development because these things are are such long time frames um with that being said though I will say that one issue that folks may have is certainly not uh

030Reinventing the wheel in the sense that uh we need to make new policy as opposed to looking around seeing what has worked whether it's in this District other districts um you know there are a ton of neighboring districts uh whether at the high school level or the you know K3 level where we can see what works and we can just copy that right uh and even though uh of course not all communities are the same it's also not fair to say that everyone has to have uh you know a different way of doing things or a special way of doing things but instead just looking at what brings various communities success and looking at those things and saying hey you know does that work for you guys can that work here and if it does

031why don't we just you know copy and do that right um yeah so uh teachers long-term thinking definitely uh just a part of where I'm at and knowing that I'm going to be here for a while and even though knowing that's what's driving me to even apply for this vacancy right why am I applying for the vacancy I'm thinking about my job and my work five ten years from now I can make it easier if I can come down and make sure that students have the abilities and knowledge to succeed once they reach high school thank you yep describe any experience you have that in the implement sorry about that describe any experience you have in the development and implementation of large-scale wide-reaching projects or initiatives that impact large communities at scale particularly from a

032financial perspective as a member of the school site Council which meets oh gosh I should know how often we meet I know we meet monthly I think it's like the first Tuesday of every month or something like that but I've been on School site Council for a couple years um and I think similar to the board we get to discuss you know some of the projects that teachers bring forth or students bring forth I think parents are eligible to bring forth as well but uh we just typically don't get that um and so with that uh you know in the council we get to approve uh or disapprove usually it's approved because there's so few um like suggestions for projects and things like that um things at the school level so this is not necessarily

033you know uh in Alum Rock the greater Alum Rock Community uh but Independence has a a student body of like 25 over the past few years 20 any anywhere between 2500 and 3 000 students so in my opinion uh that's a that's a pretty wide-reaching uh project um so yeah just for me it's being on the school side Council and going over the projects that that students teachers and parents may bring forth um with the council all right um so question number five is is there an acceptable amount of lead in the blood yes or no and here's the second component to it do you support sorry about that yeah uh give me a quick second I want to make sure I ask it same way of everyone and my writing I can't even understand

034it myself so hold on oh Andres it's under the scoring page so you can read it all I'm having trouble getting Wi-Fi so I'm scoring on paper but I will deal with that in between is there an acceptable level of lead in the blood yes or no do you support Alum Rock School District's support for the repurposing of Reed Hillview Airport sorry um is this the the switch of the question five that you were discussing yeah okay um sorry I was tracking way differently can you ask that one more time yeah don't worry is there an acceptable level of lead in the blood yes or no do you support Alum Rock School District's support for the repurposing of Reed Hillview Airport okay um okay so this is coming from uh a math teacher's background okay

035so this is not I'm not a chemist so when you ask uh is there an acceptable level of lead uh I would say I don't know how to answer that because you could tell me you might ask me is there an acceptable level of magnesium in my blood I would say I have no idea so with that being said to my knowledge I don't think there's supposed to be any lead uh in our blood um you know I would consult with a medical expert to uh I would defer to a medical expert to a doctor to tell me oh yeah is there supposed to be any light in my blood um you know I think lead paint has been outlawed for that reason I think because we're not supposed to have lead in our blood

036and sorry could you ask the second part again uh do you support Alum Rock School District's support for the repurposing of read Hillview artwork uh okay so I think this is tied to the lead um sorry like the presence of lead as a as a cause of the or from the uh airport um and if those two things are tied together then I would say I do um support the repurposing of land at Reed Hillview Airport especially as it pertains to being a source of lead in the blood for uh not just students but literally everybody who lives uh you know around the airport which is just down a Capitol Expressway right yeah thank you my turn uh the district did not do hold on no I'm on number six sorry about that the change

037of questions kind of threw me off okay number six what is your position on the cell or rental of District land uh I think it's important to uh I would say Never Say Never um I think as a math teacher I I try and look at every problem and approach it with a level of pragmatism so I would say you know if we look at the sale or rental of District land it's just a matter of pros and cons in my opinion um you know we always have to look at things through what will serve students best right like that's the first that's the first second and third thing that we have to think about uh as members of the board and so you know along that line of thinking I would say there's not

038much I would rule out um you know as it serves to if it serves to benefit these students and their performance and their ability to um you know take full advantage of the educational system here at Alum Rock and Eastside Union High School District um then we should consider it whatever that may be thank you uh let's see so so this quick uh hypothetical here so the district did not do the naval Visions in the state which is the pig map that fiscal management assistance team on the fhra report indicated that the district is at the high risk of insolvency and there has been a pattern of deficit spending how would you solve this problem again from a math teacher's perspective there's two ways in my opinion to solve this problem uh one is to

039cut spending and the other is to bring more money in um I know that I'm not saying this is a personal strength of mine but I know that one solution is is to get more money right and that's just through um private partnership and again just referring back to my last uh my last answer anything that serves to benefit the education of students to maximize their education um it just needs to be done right and so one you know we look at the spending we look at areas we can cut back in and I'm not even going to name any particular departments it's just something that you have to look at as a problem you look at everything every every single dollar that's being spent and you consider it very carefully and you weigh okay

040is this are these are these needs are these ones right um so the one way is to reduce the spending um and then the other way is hey let's reduce spending um and why don't we try bringing in more money right and that becomes a matter of okay well uh let's look at what we have around here all right whether that's businesses in the sense of uh you know Silicon Valley corporations or businesses in the sense of Alan Rock has a lot of you know mom and pop businesses right are we going to go uh are we going to approach those businesses and say Hey you know can you support the community how can you support the local school district uh and we go around and we try and drum up support from local establishments

041um then then we get it from there so carefully examine where we're spending money see if there's any ways we can reduce uh differentiate between wants and needs and then appeal to the Greater Community whether that's bigger corporations in Silicon Valley or mom and pop businesses and see how we can jump up support from them okay thank you yep our students teachers and families need support and Mental Health Resources now more than ever before what actions and approach to the community would you take as a member of the Board of Trustees to make sure that all of them receive the support that they need at uh Independence we actually have a mental health and wellness center and of course money is always always a Hot Topic right we can can never have enough of it

042right at us at a school um but you know I think I'm really proud of that Center even though I'm not like the guy who has founded it or anything but I know a lot of students get a lot of benefit from it every single day um and I would honestly as I mentioned before just seek to to see how we could copy that right if something's working and something's good how can we duplicate it um as far as uh like I mentioned before as a you know as a classroom teacher who runs my own classroom uh my thing is all right well students don't have homework right that's something I can do and make it fair and uh you know ease the burden of you know mental stress on students right um I would

043explore that you know talking to the Alum Rock Educators Association seeing you know is that something that's feasible is that something that any teachers would consider right um so from an Institutional level uh seeing what we can do to implement a mental health and wellness center right of course that involves uh finding counselors finding uh social workers uh finding other you know other folks involved in that whether that's interns uh whether that's members of community-based organizations um and others whatever the case may be finding pulling all those people together and creating something like that at Allen rocking Union School District um and then at a at a school level exploring with uh staff members like oh what can we do in classrooms to reduce uh you know the mental stress on our students and then

044you know them bringing that home and extending that stress throughout the family uh life I guess I think that concludes the eight questions thank you for taking the time we would suggest that you wait in the outside conference room until the next candidate okay thank you so much uh who was number the person this second first person can you tell Patricia who she needs to call she needs to call somebody the next person who is that do you okay yeah Department our next candidate is Ricardo Garcia thank you hey a new support member Department was having trouble with the internet okay you want to get started so he needs I'm sorry yes we can wait and it's not up um [Music] okay we just wanted to remind the candidate that you have eight questions just

045as uh also a reminder that the questions are there in front of you however question number five has been amended so I've been changed so you'll you'll see a shift in that question again there'll be a couple of eight questions you'll have two minutes there's a timing in front of you and the question will be rotated and board members are scoring your responses after each response thank you no I think you're gonna have to bring me a Chromebook [Music] great thanks so just let us know okay very much so thank you so much Ricardo uh so uh with that we will get started so trustee Chavez once again please go ahead and start the start off with the first question what experience do you have with the Ellen Rock Union School District Community with staff

046parents boards elected officials arusd meetings attended in the last 18 months what will you do to improve the relationship with various members of the Allen Rock Union School District Community to ensure Equitable input in decision making can you give us an example good evening thank you very much for this opportunity my name is Ricardo Garcia I'm a lifelong resident of this community and I am actually a product of McCollum and Shepherd schools and the reason I'm here is because of the wonderful teachers I had the the strong academic programs that I benefited from and the strong athletic teams that I was a member of over the last couple years I've been a frequent member of board meetings I've participated at numerous times mostly listening I'm a major stakeholder in this community I have two children

047two fourth graders in schools here in Alum Rock so I see firsthand um the the challenges that's why I'm here I think uh Staffing is one of the major challenges facing the district not only teachers but as this board vacancy shows uh leadership uh educational leadership I'm a teacher of 25 years mostly in high school the last four of them as summer school principal so I see firsthand that the need for for leadership and that's the the the major reason I'm here what would I do to improve relationships I think um you know I've been in this community for 50 years and my grant I wasn't born here but um this is where I I'm from I'm bilingual I'm a Spanish teacher and I want to give everybody a chance at the American dream that

048I've received okay thank you so moving on first so I'll ask this question uh how have you supported or contributed to restorative justice racial equity and ethnic studies to increase the support for the children in our district before and during this pandemic I've participated in a number of ways uh as as a parent I've contributed financially I've communicated the needs of fundraising of our of our local school to the various family members and community members and any chance I have I I talk to friends and family to to keep their kids in public education because this is this is really the tire meets the road I'm a big supporter of the after school sports programs at our homeschool Adelante I know that the coach is very uh on a first name basis and I see

049the important role that that Athletics for example it's you know one of the the program programmings is is very important especially after school you know during the the highest crime rate hours of the day that's when juvenile hall is is the most populated so the importance of of after school programming is is is crucial so um with I've participated in various fundraising campaigns as many initiatives as as we can readathons right and and I try to do the best I can to send my kids um so they're they're respectful they're contributing positive contribute members of of the school community and those are things that I've done to to uh provide an equity lens to to my community thank you considering what the next five to ten years may have in store for Ellen rocking Elementary

050School District why is it important to have experience in policy development we're we're facing for the first time in the last 30 years a native birth negative First rates in the whole state and then you know in the Bay Area and and Alum Rock we're losing a tremendous amount of students so you know our our number one resource is students um so we we really need to plan ahead we need to have that as a factor in in everyday decision making at this time uh decisions need to be uh made now that'll that'll uh affect the next five to ten years that'll retain teachers attract teachers that'll Bridge the the learning loss that has occurred over distance learning uh the last three years and that'll allow uh parents to send their kids to school knowing

051that hey there's there's somebody in charge this is the plan and I know that when I send my kid they're going to be safe so those are those are uh uh things that I think need to be considered when making policy for for the next several years thank you all right uh describe any any experience you have in the development and implementation of large-scale wide-reaching projects or initiatives that impact large communities at scale particularly from a financial perspective you know I I I've been Summer School principal the last uh several years and I'm in charge of uh everything from bus routes to feeding several 100 Kids uh twice a day and and hiring all the staff that that comes along with that um it's a tremendous budget uh and it takes uh several months just

052for for a two-month program it takes several months and and planning um so those are that's that's a major program I've I've taken on the last four years and this is this this is year five but everything from Staffing transportation uh the classes that are going to be taught the rollout of schedules um actually enrolling students because you don't have a you know full counseling staff at your disposal sometimes and and uh safe campus safety so that that's that's a large major program that I've over uh seen the last four years yes all right is there is there an acceptable level of lead in the blood yes or no do you support Alum Rock School District support for the repurposing uh Reed Hillview Airport I think this is a very important question there's a there's

053a lot of mixed uh messages uh coming out and I don't know at this time I really don't know um I think that uh student safety is number one I I do I have spoken to to several members on this this board and they were very passionate and then when they described what you know an airplane feels like coming down on a home I mean that it it was impactful I I knew that that I need to have an open mind to be honest with you um and and consider all options I am a team player um student students and teachers and Community is is my number one so I think that's that's what I would do I would I would listen to all the information and I I would not uh take make a

054decision [Music] by myself that's for sure what is your position on the cell or rental of District gland you know that's one of the things that we're not making any uh we're not making any more land you know and and it's really crucial that we that we plan five to ten years or even longer because we can potentially see an increase in in enrollment and we're not going to be able to to to purchase that land because we're not a basic Aid District the finances are going to be too expensive at that time and I think you need to look at uh put that at the very least possible option if if you can and and look at other alternatives to and because there's no other place otherwise you're going to be blessing students Great

055Lengths and they're not going to be part of the community so I I would I understand the the need for for a quick Financial turnout but I think that it would be one of the last possible Alternatives that should be used to generate income this is a hypothetical question uh the district did not do the May revisions and the state which is uh think math fiscal management assistant team on the fhra or fiscal health risk analysis report indicated that the district is at high risk of insolvency and there has been a pattern of deficit spending how would you solve this problem I think we need to get all the experts in one room and look at the numbers and and look at the non-negotiables you know uh academics after school sports programs programming after school

056and somehow we we need to to make it uh fiscally uh responsible so we could keep uh operating uh it's it's this is not a basic Aid District so so money is tight I I I know that but we need to uh I think uh look at other Alternatives we have we have a lot of of strong parents that that work in uh in the community that could come in and and provide support look at Grants look at uh one-time funds from the state um and and see where we could do better but it's it's not and it's that I think is tied with uh with teacher Staffing and retention on attraction so that that's that's one of your I think toughest challenges and as a board member I think thank you our students teachers

057and families need support on Mental Health Services now more than ever before what actions and approach to the community would you take as a member of the Board of Trustees to make sure that all of them receive the support they need one of the things I mentioned at the beginning was the importance of making sure that you know besides uh providing a sound education for for children we need to make sure that we can send our children to school that there's somebody in charge and that they're safe that that also involves you know providing uh sound wraparound Services mental social emotional support services that that can provide students all the necessary support that they need so they can succeed they can get an education and and have a fair chance so I think partnering with

058all your mental health agencies to to make sure that students uh have uh you know that they're 504 plans are being met they're special ed guidelines are being respected and followed and working with with uh with the educational leaders on at science and at the district double to making sure that that those things are taking place because we want to make sure that these marginalized communities are are being supported that concludes all the questions from the board we want to thank you for participating Mr Garcia and we ask you to wait in the outside conference our next candidate is Victoria oh hang on think we take a 10 minute the facility so since we're at the halfway point at this time uh I'd like to read yes the you know take a 10 minute reset

059you know uh to use the facilities and so forth like that so we'll uh we'll see we'll the board will reconvene here at 7 45 thank you oh yeah the board will be taking a 10 minute recess [Music] it was a new guest logger that really kind of formed me and I wasn't able to figure out I like that [Music] um okay [Music] and I remember yeah he's nice RV yeah three times um the Disney Stores I agree thank you okay because I remember when I was little and my parents would hear of actors or whoever founded in their website oh man and now it's just like oh my God confidence what do you mean you're not coming home you've been together for four years and there's only three together so it's like uh thank

060you I have two sons and I have a granddaughter Sandra let's just hope we're gonna go back to the 3M you guys are also going to have a lot of explainers okay but there was one night when I was dating somebody else he was actually a police officer her friends no and he was like where you at and I was like I'm at a board meeting and then you attacked me like an hour and a half later the board meeting and so like I said it's free you know it was during the Patty water era yeah yeah I was the guest I would be here in by whatever I found the same thing Fresno here I picked up my phone I deleted it information I learned you don't think anymore um my sisters living in

061Hawaii oh it's now 7 45 a year returning to a zooming Open session at this time uh so with that Mr Cerna we've concluded interviewing Mr Garcia so we will be interviewing the third candidate at this time correct our next applicant is Victoria partida foreign welcome um as we indicated earlier uh the board will be asking you a total of eight questions those questions are right in front of you there with the exception of one and we've made some shifting on one of those questions um each question you'll have two minutes to respond the clock is right in front of you there will help you measure your timing on these questions okay all right let's begin okay so with that uh thank you so much and we will start the interview so press the uh

062if you could again start with the first question what experience do you have with the Allen mark Union School District Community with staff parents award elected officials arusd meetings and in the last 18 months what will you do to improve the relationship with various members of the alarmont Community School District Community to ensure Equitable input in decision making can you give me an example yes so thank you for the question good evening um so I am currently a volunteer with the Tropicana Lanai neighborhood association where we work uh closely with the Hubbard Elementary School uh a resource center where we have our monthly meetings um so there we try to engage the community members um so that they participate actively and civically in a neighborhood beautification and you know the surrounding area of the school

063um I did work uh very closely with uh council member Mayas parsa where I had the opportunity to work with um truste Quintero in establishing our first Park in the neighborhood so it would be our Mariposa Park in the corner of Havana in Midfield um and I have had the chance to talk to uh as the Corina in occasions through my work functions and um and for the ones that I have not had the opportunity to meet I'm always very open to any kind of input and making sure that we're able to collaborate um and whatever is needed to better the uh the you know the life for the for the children and the families and the um the uh the teachers and I uh make sure that we have input from the community by

064constantly communicating with the residents um and the parents of those that come to our meetings thank you so I will ask the next question uh how have you supported or contributed to restorative justice racial equity and ethnic studies to increase the support for the children in our district before and during this pandemic so again my involvement in my community I have been working with the residents of the community to ensure that they received Services due to the covert pandemic so that they can um have a better well-being one example that I can think about is making sure that they had access to vaccination sites so working with the various Community Based organizations so that they could get vaccinated um foreign specific I was able to work with again Hubbard Elementary to have a drive-by helmet

065a helmet giveaway for the students during the pandemic this year we had a bike event where we were able to buy a raffle off a couple of bikes for the students to promote physical activity thank you considering what the next five to ten years may have in store for arusd why is it important to have experience in policy development I feel that a lot of the um decisions are made through a policy lens um and just knowing how to better how policy functions and the way that benefits our students is important um and because those policies won't we won't be able to see their the information until a couple of years I think it's important that we understand how policy affects um not only students but also the community surrounding it describe any experience you

066have in the development and implementation of large-scale wide-reaching projects or initiatives that have that impact large communities at scale particularly from a financial perspective um so my again my my involvement with the Tropicana Lanai neighborhood association we worked I worked very closely with various City departments at the city of San Jose which included the council member Parks and Recreation the art Department to establish a mural the park itself will be just a little bit over a million dollars 1.5 million um and my role was to collaborate uh with all these various stakeholders and make sure that we engage the community in the way that it was uh representative so we were involved in having Community engagements to make sure that the mural that was painted on the wall uh reflected what the community wanted when

067we came to the naming of the park we went above and beyond I think um in addition to what the Parks and Recreation did wanted to do which was they want to do a survey online and we know that in our community there's a digital divide and many of the parents and students don't have access to anyone else so we organized the neighbors to uh go door knocking and actually get input at the at the houses of names of the that could be potentially for the park and that Park won't be named Mariposa Park all right um question number five is there an acceptable level of lead in the blood yes or no do you support Alum Rock School District's support for the repurposing of retailer there isn't a safe level of lead in the

068blood yeah sorry um do you support Alum Rock School District's support for the repurposing of Reed Hillview Airport I do support as long as we have Community input I think engagement of the community to me is very important I think um we have to continue to include the community and any major decisions um so as long as we are able to have that input from the community I am and support thank you what is your position on the sell or rental of District land thank you I think we're now land is very important I think um before we choose to uh before we choose to sell anything I think that we need to work with our current partners and seeing better ways to repurpose um the land that is not being utilized or underutilized um

069so I I don't I wouldn't support the selling of land okay this is a hypothetical question uh the district did not do the main revisions in the state which is the fiscal the management assistance team on the fhra or fiscal health risk analysis report indicated that the district is at high risk of insolvency and there has been a pattern of deficit spending how would you solve this problem I would start by looking at what we have spent and look to see if there has been any patterns um and starting to see if we can mitigate some of those patterns and um address some of those deficits um yeah I think I mean I think that's how I would start I don't know if it I would hope that it would start the process of solving

070um the situation but definitely just really looking at where we're at and where we have been in the past is something that I I would want to understand more about our students Institute now more than ever before what actions and approach to the community would you take as a member of the Board of Trustees to make sure that all of them receive the support they need um I think looking at currently what is being provided to our students is important I think working with our local cbos currently is something that I would definitely be in support of um I think looking within the community what we already have is also something that is very important and I think a lot of the times it gets undermined um so definitely highlighting you know cbos that are

071already there and then a lot of the times we would we need to go to the community because people know what they need best so definitely um working more uh within the community thank you miss partue that concludes the questions and if you'll wait outside in the conference room and we'll be back with you in a little bit thank you at last applicant with Andrea Flores foreign thank you for joining us again this evening as we indicated earlier the board will be asking a series of questions a total of eight they'll be rotated amongst the board members those questions are in front of you with the exception of the fifth question there's a slight modification or addition to that question so um you'll see that so with that um you'll have two minutes to respond

072to each question there's a Time clock right in front of you and begin thank you Miss Laura Shelton uh so with that we'll you know trusty Shades and he would start the questioning with number one what experience do you have with the Alum Rock Union School District Community with staff parents board boards elected officials arusd meetings attended in the last 18 months what will you do to improve the relationship with the various members of the Alan walk Union School District Community to ensure Equitable input and decision making can you give me an example thank you trustee Chavez and thank you members of the Board of Trustees of Alum Rock Union it's a privilege to be in front of you this evening um my experience with the arusd community in the last 18 months has been

073I've been involved in the facilities committee where we've been looking at the community school model really interested in seeing how the Community Schools um can really be a launching point for the next almost 50 years of um of really what a new sort of pedagogy could be for this District looking at the environment and the spaces that are children and families would call their neighborhood school um it's it's just been an enlightening process to be a part of where the state is going the funds that the state is putting towards these in all of our public institutions um Statewide but really what the vision that has been I'm guessing has been really called out by your board and your superintendent and your Administration to really put Alum Rock at the Forefront of what that vision

074would be for Community Schools I know neighborhood schools are the Hub of the east side and how we can modernize them make them more relevant for the social emotional needs of our children in this post-pandemic pandemic era I think is going to be very critical so um being a part of the community school development model as well as more recently with the workforce housing um lmrock Union is an anchor institution and being able to invest those dollars back into our community I think is going to be a real game changer um for East San Jose I've been involved that way for the last 18 months ultimate time okay thank you uh so I'll ask the next question uh how have you supported or contributed to or restorative justice uh racial equity and ethnic studies to

075increase the support for the children in our district before and during this pandemic thank you for the question trustee mint um in fam um so so um two ways I want to answer that is um during the pandemic I served as the the city of San Jose's Emergency Operations Center food distribution operations lead I was we supported the whole County um but we prioritized food security for our most vulnerable communities um Alum Rock being one of them and we were deep in partnership with Alum Rock um with that and I think that was bringing a racial Equity lens um to the work and the money that we were drawing down from the federal government um I lead with a racial Equity lens with most of the work that I do um you know as a

076I will say as a privileged white Latina um I want to acknowledge um you know the white privilege that I have but I also believe that I know where I come from um I have uh Chicano father um an irish-american mother um we are diverse and that is part of the um the values that I have for this community I know we uphold diversity but we also have to acknowledge that there is systemic racism that unfortunately persists today and so I would bring that racial Equity lens to all of the decisions that I make with you all and ensure that we understand who's benefiting and who's harming from from the decisions we make um quickly uh also from a restorative justice practice um I'm very familiar with restorative justice practice for our young people I

077was very much a part of trying to roll back suspensions and expulsions and giving alternatives to young people so that they can successfully um attain their education and not just be moved around and pushed around but be successful um both academically and um socially thank you considering what the next five to ten years may have in store for arusd why is it important to have experience in policy development thank you trustee um so there are roles and responsibilities in any school district the superintendent has her role with the administration teachers um thankfully are in charge of our our kids in the classroom and then the board really is looking at things from a system and policy perspective um I I believe that again the the bond monies that are coming into this community really really

078need to be looked up from do we have all the policies in place do we have all the right practices in place whether it's procurement or contracts um kind of the unsexy stuff of being um you know on a school district given my experience over 2012 2013 and 2014 when I sat on this board um if better policies and practices had been in place I think we could have prevented some of the um unfortunate outcomes and so it is imperative that for the next five years we ensure that the policies and systems are in place so that we have transparency we have accountability and that we know that the funds that our taxpayers are investing in this community go to the right place for the right reasons and that we can hold ourselves accountable to

079that thank you describe any experience you have in the development and implementation of large-scale wide-reaching projects or initiatives that impact large communities at scale particularly from a financial perspective thank you um two that'll hit on um so in my um professional I'm career right now I do have um oversight of what was once called the mayor's gain prevention task force it's now called the San Jose Youth Empowerment Alliance and it is a large-scale collective impact model where we're working with Partners um not just on the law enforcement in but at the health sector the educational sector um and the employment sector and you know we serve over 5 000 young people a year directly but indirectly we are trying to impact the city of San Jose's children which is roughly about two hundred thousand young

080people um so again using public dollars I take that very seriously and ensure that it's based on best practices authentic Community engagement um really listening and understanding the needs of our young people this is a youth violence prevention initiative that has success fully gone on for over 30 years we used to have a um a gang problem in this city we still have families that are struggling with the Gang Lifestyle but we have now moved into understanding that we don't want to label our young people we want to ensure that they are um healthy on the inside and out and so I have been very involved in sort of moving that model and making sure that we're impacting um young people and families and meeting them um where they're at just really quickly the second

081thing I wanted to mention was when I was on the school board here um the local control funding formula was just rolling out from the state and I wanted to make sure that um we I heard from the community and I worked with different partners in Mayfair and other places and that's when we started having more parent engagement in the schools and we put the money right back into the community based on what we heard from the community question five is there an acceptable level of lead in the blood yes or no there's a second component to the question do you support Alum Rock School District support for the repurposing of retail Europe okay that's not on this paper you threw me off there sorry can you restate that one more time is there an

082acceptable level of lead in the blood that's the first part yes or no no [Laughter] [Music] for the repurposing of retail view airport 100 yes um I think uh actually my office on Mondays is at Hank Lopez Community Center and whether it's you know the plane that crashed nearby a couple weeks ago um I am deeply concerned about today and tomorrow um but I remember being a little girl in the plane flying into ferals at Eastridge I mean it just um there are so many needs so many opportunities um for that land that I think can be a win-win for um the variety of communities and stakeholders that feel that um that airport was there first or you know all the different viewpoints on that um but I think again neighborhoods should come first um

083and with Meyer being right there um I think it is detrimental to those children and families um to have um Aviation uh frankly LED or or not um in a com in a in a community such as ours that so um crowded and impacted and um we could use it for so many so many different alternatives what is your position on the cell or rental of District land well we know that land is um King right in in Santa Clara Valley in this in San Jose um I think we need to be very cautious and understanding how that land value can be used for the betterment of our schools long term um so I don't have a position uh at this point on lease or cell or but I think it needs to be understood

084as to why like why why would be why would we be making a move one way or the other um and how does any of the revenue that um would be incurred from that decision how does it um how does it again either support the bottom line or how does it get invested back into our classroom salaries and into this ability stability and solvency of this District thank you okay this is a hypothetical question so these aren't on here anymore no no no okay it's still on okay only only the fifth question was okay yeah so uh so the the hypothetical in question seven is uh the district did not do that may revisions and the state which is Big Mac fiscal management assistance team on the uh fhra fiscal health risk analysis report indicated

085that the district is at high risk of insolvency and there has been a pattern of deficit spending how would you solve this problem this sounds familiar [Laughter] um it's hypothetical because it doesn't sound recently like you know you're not you're not in this state right now but it does sound a little familiar um so how would um we work to solve this problem um there's several several steps um one of them would be understanding um sort of again sort of where the pattern of deficit spending had been and why um also understanding um sort of you know what are the profit and loss statements I mean we're we're dealing with um year over year enrollment decline right so having to understand where that's happening and why um but also wanting to make sure that we

086have to have three years of um stable budgets right to get out of this sort of If This Were to you know repeat that disaster so you have to make short-term hard decisions as well as plan for the future um so a lot of times you know the easy decisions well they may have short-term benefits they don't solve long-term problems so this was this would really be about a lot of communication and Community engagement to to help educate the community on why the insolvency look at problem solving together um and just do a lot of Education internally and externally on how to how to reduce the deficit spending and look at long-term sustainability it's a really it's a tough one but it wouldn't really take all the stakeholders at the table to work on a

087plan and um that I think could get the buy-in as well as get us out of insolvency thank you our students teachers and families need support and Mental Health Resources now more than ever before what actions and approach to the community would you take as a member of the Board of Trustees to make sure that all of them receive the support they need thank you I know um this Administration and this board has been really committed to the well-being of all the children of Alum Rock and has been really creative in trying to bring back counselors but really there is um that's not you know the district's expert expertise that expertise really relies along with the county um with the um also the fqhcs right the the all of the partners that really bring this

088sort of expertise to bear um but what we do have is the ability to sort of whether it's leveraging state funds bringing that down um and making sure that our schools have the space to provide those if we can leverage and bring those services in how can we make it a seamless opportunity for our young people instead of saying okay go down you know downtown and go to this appointment we need to make this um um again seamless as well as to reduce the stigma you know kind of Bring It On Campus make sure that it's a whole family opportunity um but we also know there is a there isn't a pipeline for clinicians and we need to figure out how to partner with the folks that we rely on to bring Mental Health Resources

089how do we um we think about Workforce Development we need to start working with whether it's community colleges and this is just system-wide how do we promote um uh Mental Health employment right because the need is great and we don't have um folks really able to take the jobs even if they were there so it's again it's short-term long-term I think it's both an environmental issue or Workforce issue and really being open to making sure that we're prioritizing our reset resources to make that a priority for our families thank you again for participating this evening the board will now go through the process of making sure their scores have been submitted and they'll be calculated and they'll be presented in a short period of time so if you'd like to wait out with the other

090candidates uh we'll call you all back in a few minutes foreign as I indicated to the candidates if um hoping that the board members have submitted your scores IP right now will be in the process of calculating those forward and maybe submitting the um results in just a few minutes thank you thank you I just submitted in the bottom hit submit on YouTube thank you everybody no I'm not ready I think that's the Travis is still working normally what happens the nerve resting curves foreign everyone 's name thank you in here then it's gonna take a little bit to could you just submit it right it's gonna take a little bit one or two minutes would you be able to let us know I thought you were on them on PBS tomorrow right there are

091comments and comments from members of the board that would like to be made Church yeah you can call the candidate you can call the candidates yes this one production foreign comments from members of the board so like like this are there any comments from members of the board uh I want to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to apply to go through this process I myself went through it and so I know that it can be someone um you know taxing you know puts you out there um and uh yeah thank you we had a strong pool and so very appreciative regardless of whether I um may agree or disagree with your personal beliefs or positions on issues I I think each and every one of you for for taking

092the time to participate in the process and uh and be willing to surf on Alum Rock Serve the People of homework yes thank you president fam congratulations teaching every one of you for being courageous enough to put in the application and come today um I also was there five years ago as I mentioned earlier uh not an easy space to be at um so I appreciate each and every one of you and also I've seen some of your names on the previous ballots so um I haven't been able to meet all of you I know I've met a couple of you and I look forward to if I haven't yet uh working with you in the near future we know today is not the last day you know um or opportunity to sit on our

093board so um you know I know we only have one seat open and you know but many in the future so I look forward to working with all of you in the near future thank you who came to support them um and whoever gets it good luck and also welcome that's it thank you so what then I'll just wrap up uh just to thank all the candidates who came out tonight that put their names in consideration uh what is it this is sort of like local democracy and it's uh finest in many ways uh you know uh it takes courage to kind of get out of one's comfort zone and uh you know put yourselves in public scrutiny and so uh trust me I I know how it feels too so uh I appreciate you

094know all your efforts in in uh making the commitment to be here tonight so with that Mr Cerna uh do we have the results okay and I think Daniel was just waiting for my high sign to go ahead and display the the results of your scores so thank you at least do you mind reading because some of us including myself um okay yes I can see uh flandria Flora Shelton uh 150 points 67 points Ricardo Garcia 73 points and Victoria partida 103 points so so is there a motion for members of the board the motion to appoint Andrea Flores Shelton as our next Board of trustee for the Allen rocking Elementary School District I think that's the vice president foreign so uh uh all those in favor uh say uh I I okay so uh

095all those opposed okay uh seeing that the voters uh four to zero the board of points uh and Maria or shelves into the vacancy congratulations to the Florida shelter okay oh hang on just does someone sworn in first or how does this work can we swear you can we can do it tonight do you want to do it during the meeting in next week oh no and let's get to it we have meetings to schedule yeah okay see no further yeah because next week uh the meeting at 8 32 pm thank you very much