001e e e I am Union High School District for truste special meeting of June 11th 2024 is called to order at 5:02 p.m. the following members are present Brian O'Neal Katherine H Smith Jessica Guerrero and anarie Randall tryo do I have a motion to adopt the agenda so move second okay all in favor I all right uh so we're going to begin with the Pledge of Allegiance please stand is your right hand over your heart ready begin I pledge alce to the flag of the United States of America and to the repu for which one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all do we have anyone for public comments okay all right so seeing none um just to tell you a little bit about what's going to happen our candidate will be
002escorted in here and each one of us will ask a question and um and then as uh as we go through the order it will take about 15 minutes for each candidate and that person will be on a timer yes so up here on the TV screen we have the countdown timer that will run um to give them a good sense of how much time they have left it'll be up to them to use their their time as they see fit we did have some questions about uh whether there would be time for opening and closing and what we shared with them was that's not built into the 15 minutes but the time is your own right so if we'll start the timer once the first question has finished being asked at that point they
003may like to give some introductory remarks you know saying how grateful they are to be here or looking forward to the process whatever whatever it may be and the last question is designed in a way to be a closing statement so they can use their time at the end to close in whatever way they'd like so each candidate has been explained everything so I don't have to do that that's right that's right every candidate has received that that instruction um uh Mr matsuda Dr nen and I will actually sit down in the audience the candidate will sit here with a name placard for you um it the interviews will be recorded So the camera is set up so that it will capture everybody while the uh candidate is talking then the uh the camera will
004focus on them those will be um edited tonight we're going to put bookmarks in by name for each of the per people candidates so that the public can get to where they want to go if they want to move around within the video uh and that that will be available for them this evening okay the first candidate is Mr Blount he is scheduled for 5:15 um all candidates were asked to check in 10 minutes beforehand so as soon as he gets here we should be ready to go oh he is here okay then we will step down you know what school thank you so Carl you're not going to have have a timer to alert the last minute beforehand it's just that's it okay and we'll will it be president or will it be parliamentarian
005that calls the time um well we all be I'll certainly indicate the time hased okay I'll try to keep an eye sure welcome Mr Blount hello so as you know we're going to conduct the interview um each candidate will be asked the same questions and each one of us will ask you a question uh as soon as we ask the first question this the timer will uh start um to my left is Trusty Guerrero trusty Smith and trusty afternoon thank you all right ready when you are okay all right Mr Blau what motivated you to apply for the provisional appointment to the Board of Trustees and how does your background training and experience prepare you for this position well to add to my volumous application of why I wanted it doesn't seem to turn on
006it should be on oh okay yeah just speak um a couple things I thought you know seven pages that's enough I hope that's enough but a couple things is uh being able to uh be involved in a greater sense because as am used to doing it for 13 years and when the Cypress School District we had assigned two schools of the six when I came on board and then we rotated but we all went to all the events at all the schools whether it was a play or a carnival or whatever and then with the Community College District I spend most my time at ferton college and my time at Cypress College is usually had with u Statewide events that are hosted by Cypress College or the Cypress uh College Foundation which we meet once
007a month and gave out uh in May $500,000 in scholarships and another 100,000 in emergency aid uh and the other thing is I love to validate people's important events in their lives you know whether the parents say well you know uh Doug is having a piano recital would you like to come sure I'll be there uh Bob is in a pony uh League uh playoff game and you know I I I don't try to surprise anybody because I went to this playoff game and they rescheduled the playoff game for the next day but anyway that's how I operate I you know whether it's somebody's in a parade and you know they tell me about it I'm there and uh on and on and on so that that's part of my life because um I was
008well well behaved while I was infant that didn't cry as a elementary school age child I looked PE peel in the eyes straight in the eyes and had a firm handshake and then when my father was um meeting with academic people of the highest order or inventors or those that have money he brought me along because I didn't fidget I didn't bring my own of um amusements and I was generally interested with these important people were saying so and he was in public relations for 52 years for his nonprofit that he was a vice president so it's just kind of like I got to be with people and see their happy faces and you know encourage them by just my presence um then of course my accounting background and in my uh Consulting bankruptcy Consulting
009practice and uh controller of a very successful manufacturer and then division controller a very successful conglomerate and uh uh and then the other side is I mean this is a you know in my written part I says you know that you've got programs that Community College doesn't have and they're as good as those programs they do have or better and my MBA is in entrepreneurship with a a concentration in economics so it's like I like ideas and my couple of my references said you know that I'm an export idea generator that's because I'm involved in so much and I visit and talk to people and I go to events and I read four newspapers a day and I got a library of over 3,500 books and I've got another seven in my car that I
010just picked up last Saturday okay so that's the sum total and you know going and then also the part where for 13 years of close session I've been confronted and had to deal with every issue challenge uh legal matter imaginable so uh I think I'm well prepared and then a personal note you know I two blocks from Lexington two blocks from Oxford my wife graduated from Kennedy and my kids and my younger brother-in-law graduated from Cyprus and and and so it's like why not you know and you only meet once a month not twice a month and you have dinner uh in the middle you know where dinner's supposed to be and North Orange they have dinner after their Open Session and being diabetic I I'm not supposed to eat after 8:00 and it's bad
011health to for from lunch to 8:30 at night to to uh cat so a person in a professional way I'm I well suited for uh being part of your your board as a time we areach okay all right um can you please describe the characteristics of an outstanding Board of Trustees collectively as a whole and what you consider the primary responsibilities of an individual member well it's some people like participar governance other like shared governance uh it's being involved in everything and being high regard regarding other people highly and uh you know with North orans they talk about not getting into the weeds well we get into the weeds and I wonder if they know what they're doing doing but that's sign of you know support people uh you know and we we we differ
012quite a bit but the another rule of thumb is once you vote and you pass something you support each other and again I've got 13 years of experience of of uh of uh validating fellow board members and those that uh work with the de the details and the weeds and and you know keep things running and and en and uh enthus and and uh students number three please describe your drivers for public education what is its purpose and what should it look like well uh the holistic approach which is being embraced now is prepare him for life and and that uh when I was a student at Cypress College and all through my education I had a charm life never did anything regarding the curriculum and got P pluses because of that but I wed
013the teachers and the teachers were involved with me and the teachers should be involved with their students wherever they come from and that's another thing I like about uh the district or uh High School District you have to teach every person from age 12 to 18 it's not who you recruit who you are attractive or who wanders into your campus and and um Elementary there's great gains there but they don't really have an idea of specifically what they want to do but they just know that they're good and confident that's the key be confident and so as long as you can instill confidence in them to go far you know because I have my son and his friends they can change jobs every few months because the person looking at them sees it in their
014eyes and their countenance and when they say they can do something the person hiring believes it and that's what we need to cultivate in education wherever it is I mean yeah wherever it is and whoever it is because when I was in second grade in Arkansas they were ahead of California when I was a junior in Illinois it was a year ahead of California so uh it's everybody and coaches I had some outsanding coaches in cross country and wrestling so it's just the the whole child and the more you know about a child and more you uh child or student identifies with you the better thank you number four please describe your previous involvement uh with the Anaheim Union High School District and the number of years of such involvement well since my wife and
015her family moved into Cyprus in 1966 and graduated from Kennedy I pretty much instantly when I married her in 72 uh be was involved in the district then my kids went to uh Lexington and as I've mentioned before my son Jason took speech from Anna pery and uh so that because then she went on to be in the city council and being a person that circulates goes to everything I was always running into her so yet by her I was involed in the district too um then my kids you know and uh my brother-in-law was the first class that went completely through uh Cyprus uh high school the only one that went all I think it was three years at that time so um yeah and then I follow baseball and and Cyprus know everything
016about Cypress baseball and of course that's you know my involvement there and uh uh yeah and I just came from a a chamber of commerce uh breakfast Cypress Chamber of Commerce breakfast this morning so it's just total involvement in in everything all Civic and education business-wise you know okay thank you thank you so we're approaching our last question is there anything else you would like to share that will help us make our decision I'm glad you asked there was another thing I thought oh seven pages is too long but it's how I understand um people and where they're coming from as my father's crowning achievement was the uh director of international students at the University of Oklahoma and I shadowed him there and he had to keep the national Chinese and the native formotion apart
017it's like who knew you know but that's who they are that's where they're coming coming from and you need to support both of them and then um they had to keep the pro- shha and antisha of Persia Iran apart and he had uh with his best friend in the U Dena students office he monitored the weathermen and the students for Democratic Society which in the 60s were militant and violent they bombed or the SDS yeah and the weatherman bombed various cows and uh his first his job description was any need that a international student has you need to take care of it so his first project was find shoes for a man from India and he said oh that's simple he says but sir I have six toes in each foot oh no problem we'll
018take care of that and then he validates the Muslim uh faith in that when there's a death in the Muslim Community there's no cutting on the body there's no autopsy and within 48 hours they have to be buried in uh their Homeland and it's not like you know this is Oklahoma in the 1960s we don't do things like that and oh no he made sure that uh they were validated and then he was a consumate linguist and U anthrop cultural Anthropologist and uh with the New Mexico and um Arizona and also through uh United States and Canada and so I was exposed to those uh individuals and their religious beliefs and their traditions and their way of uh doing life you know and their reverence for dogs and horses and their Hogans face East because
019the sun comes up in the East and they have their um Holy Mountain which my father was the first and probably the only one that g was given permission to go on that uh and so you know the uh that was one thing and um my grandfather my mother's father was a rich land developer and bought her a a u mansion in the area where in the area where those that made their Fortune lived close to where they made their Fortune so we were about 300 ft or 250 ft from the rail yard and all the other Mansions along there were on a nice paved sidewalk uh street but ours uh faced a dirt road the tail end of uh Arbor Street okay so uh they discovered natural gas in uranium and and so it
020was uh Rail Yard was always full of box cars and flat cars and all that one day it cleared and and I looked at it said oh I was four years old but somehow I knew had heard the phrase from you come from the other side of the tracks or the other side of the tracks and I looked at this Shanty Town that's and it was so bad that we uh well two months later we'd adopted a child from that shanty town and uh at 6 years old she already had some form of VD and it's like you know the the tragedy of the human life that you got to be involved in you should be involved well that concludes our questions Mr blown in the interview thank you so much for coming you're wel
021it's my pleasure it thank you now I go to the other board meeting and and uh hopefully that's the last one and I attend and I'm looking forward to spending many hours this Thursday with you all righty thank you oh one other thing when I was with the Cypress School District they gave me a a rubber stamp with my signature on it and I've never used it and I never will thank you have a good rest of the evening for who's the next person up yep I Will Follow The Script this time sorry good evening Mr hosi welcome hi there hello so to my left is Trusty Guerrero hello trusty Smith trusty O'Neal hello M Randall tro so we appreciate your interest in serving On The Board of Trustees for the Anaheim Union High School
022District for trustee area 5 and we thank you for taking the time to meet with us today although your candidate statement provides an overview of your background and experience it is helpful to have this time to speak to you personally uh we have five questions and uh timer for minutes and I will begin so what motivated you to apply for the provisional appointment to the Board of Trustees and how does your background training and experience prepare you for this position well I've been dedicated to my to to education for the past 42 years of my life and uh my desire is for students to feel connected especially after the pandemic I've noticed uh a need for students to have something in their schools to feel connected to and I believe in the vision uh of
023the district and what they're doing um looking at the whole child um and uh I think it's you see that through the work that we're doing with the 5 C's the pledge aim dual enrollment uh the career preparedness systems framework um that's what makes our district a national model and I'm uh I you know I'm really proud of the work that we've been doing um as a longtime resident of Cyprus along with my work as an educator um I just really feel that kids deserve a high quality education um and I I really do feel that uh I think one of the questions that needs to be answered is is education uh working for you are you working for education I ask that question a lot uh when I visit schools and I like to
024see more of the work that we're doing and to more importantly let the students know of the opportunities that we provide for them we provide so many opportunities uh for the students even there participation in lcap and I think about half of the students in our district participated in that but just uh uh I just feel that we need more participation from our our students I think in the presentation last week they talked about Street data so I'd like to work more closely with students and parents to get um that data and to see what the real needs are thank you um the second question can you please describe the characteristics of an outstanding Board of Trustees as a collective whole and what you consider the primary responsibilities of an individual member I think um
025I think a Board of Trustees person is the public servant and we're here to serve our communities um and you know I think in in this case it's area five and I'm I'm really familiar with that that part of the district uh being a resident and a business owner in Cyprus um I do know and I've also worked uh at two schools within the district uh within that area so I'm very familiar with area 5 but my work with the other um with other schools I've been at 12 other school sites that I've worked at I think it provides me an opportunity to see the district as a whole um like not just that area but the other uh four areas included I think a um a Schoolboard member um a good Schoolboard member they
026they ensure that kids have a high quality education okay and that includes our El students and our students with disabilities and I I really am proud I I served on an lcap committee and I was able to see you know that those two student groups were really uh represented as far as the funding was concerned with elcap um I think we need to provide safe learning environments for our students I think uh that that's really important for student students not to only have uh comprehensive security measures but also um just like counseling services and promoting a culture of respect amongst the staff and the students and thirdly uh I think board members need to be phisically responsible you know we need uh they would need to be meeting with this uh superintendent and the assistant
027stoop in charge of business um to make informed decisions about budgeting spending and um saving to maintain Financial stability uh while minimizing wasteful spending okay please describe your drivers for public education what is its purpose and what should it look like my drivers for public education would be one of them is um student voice with purpose um I think students have all the answers if we really spend the time to get to know them and they they can they can help us make informed decisions I think parents too I think uh they talked about from the outc cap last week about Street data I think we need to do a little bit more of that and go into our schools uh spend time with our families um my drivers are you know um again it's
028not teaching to the test it's really educating to the whole child like I said I think the things that we are doing uh the uh career preparedness systems framework um the aim program Roop our Partnerships with those things um and student voice with purpose the ambassadors is a really good um example of that we have uh ambassadors at all of our high school school sites including CVA hope and Gilbert and um they in turn bring issues that we need to uh talk about to to the district and vice versa and we hope to expand that by uh our students working with ASB and their leadership and uh being able to articulate those needs to the district okay uh please describe your previous involvement with the Anaheim Union High School District and the number of years
029of such involvement next year we'll mark my 40th year as a uh part of the district um I re I started in 1985 and uh went to Oxford acad I started actually in 1985 as a teacher at Cyprus high school and Kennedy High School I had a split assignment and then I went over uh I stayed at Kennedy and built a choir program over there um and left in 1999 to start music and activities at Oxford Academy and then from there I became from 1999 to 2006 I was a teacher there and from 2006 to 2017 I was an administrator and from that point on 2017 to now I work as an adviser for the ambassador program okay thank you all right um this is your last question is there anything else you would like
030to share that will help us make our decision I just got done telling you about my journey as as a teacher um as an activities director as an administrator and now consultant and I think that this district has really enabled me to just to grow in each step of the way in my leadership capabilities and I really want that for anybody like if it's a parent or a teacher but I want people to know the opportunities that this district has afforded me I mean I think my story you know starting out as a teacher and now as a retiree I don't feel like it's work now uh to do what I'm doing and um I think I really helped with enabling the student voice to be Amplified uh which I'm a strong believer in and
031I really want people to see again the opportunities in this District because um we're doing such great work and I I don't know but I don't know if people I think we have to go beyond emails and um and just uh posters and things I think we need to really start connecting with our families in a meaningful way and that is just really by talking to them by being more visible um I think one thing that you guys will know about me is that I am driven by what I think is best for kids but I don't just do a job but I do it wholeheartedly and um I think that's what you'll get out me uh one other thing as a retiree I do have the time to uh to spend at schools at
032school events uh at meetings uh any kind of thing I mean that the district needs I feel I have that flexibility all right thank you very much this concludes uh the interview questions and we really appreciate you applying and taking the time here today to interview thank you have a great rest of the evening okay sure thank you thank you e e e Carl do you have another fresh Drive uh waiting sheet close by if not I just didn't think they were coming in the order that they're coming you're wonderful thank you so much sorry about that I'm um trusty Randall tro to my left is Trusty Guerrero Smith goody O'Neal hello hello so um everyone has been given the same uh questions okay all right and um we appreciate your interest in serving On
033The Board of Trustees of the Anaheim Union High School District for trustee area 5 and we thank you for taking the time to meet with us today and although your candidate statement provides an overview of your background and experience it's helpful to have this time to speak to you personally okay so there are five questions and we have a 15minute timer okay and I will begin so what motivated you to apply for the provisional appointment to the Board of Trustees and how does your background training and experience prepare you for this position um what drove me was first I got the text and then I was like hm that's interesting you know I have kids in school and that was one of in my um you know main interests because of my kids are in
034school and you know there's a lot of things going on with education today and you know was my opportunity to get you know more involved in what's going on and I you know hopefully bring in you know like a perspective like you know a parent and you know the things that we think the kids need to you know some of the inputs are make the schools better for the children you know that's really important to me okay thank you all right uh question number two can you please describe the characteristics of an outstanding Board of trusties collectively as a whole and what you consider the primary responsibilities of an individual member what do I think the prospect you know could you repeat that board member so it's kind of like two parts so if you
035can please first describe the characteristics of an outstanding Board of Trustees collectively as a whole and then what you consider the primary responsibilities of an individual member okay so yeah it's like two questions I'm throwing them all together I'm sorry um I think the um the primary part would be someone that is um good in the community that you know is um um very involved someone that cares about school and what's going on in and around the schools um things that involve children's you know like activities for the kids something positive and people that um I think a a positive role model also to you know the kids something that brings something to the table that you know that helps the children in school that's what I think you know just positive please describe your
036drivers for public education what is its purpose and what should it look like the driver the drivers for public education okay um well I I at first before getting involved with public education I had my children in private school and um so after like a few years I think it was been like 10 years or so when they were you know going into public school I was not really that involved you know in it and then I see that there is um the driver is someone that um can um really you know I say focus on you know the kindness being you know just I just think that the driveing for Education takes a lot of people working together and being involved it I think we need a lot more you know people involved in
037the driver as far as education to me it's I think you know it lacks a lot of participation from parents please describe your previous involvement in the in the Anaheim Union High School District and the number of years of such involvement in the in the Anaheim School District the the school district um my involvement is you know just you know being a parent being involved and you know I actually stay on my kids about education I push it um uh maybe push it too hard but I I definitely push the education part and just being like being involved I I you know I reach out to the community in all kind of ways you know like I love the drive from the boys and girls um when it come to um the Girl Scouts Boy
038Scouts I you know I participate when I always contribute I always donate I always buy you know and that means a lot because I remember as being a campfire girl how important that was to be in the community to stand out and sell cookies and you know all those things when it comes to the holidays and you know volunteering to um just you know in the community we would go to the calescent homes and and sing so all that is so important you know when growing up is kids and you know that just motivates me I just buy cookies even when I don't eat them give them out you know it's just you know all just all around the community is important to me Anaheim in school because kids sell uh cookies in school too
039so I have my kids say hey they're selling cookies can we buy some I'm like sure let's get some cookies you know so uh you know that kind of involvement and going to the games is important to you know participating throughout the school thank you all right we're at our last question uh is there anything else you would like to share that will help us make our decision that's a hard question but I can answer no I'm sorry no I have anything else that I can share okay we appreciate your time today and we appreciate you applying right and we wish you well and have a good evening thank you nice to meet you by okay so for the folks in the room uh we will not be discussing uh the candidates uh at this
040time we will uh make our Appo appointment at our next meeting on June 13 2024 and with that uh may I have a motion second second been seconded all in favor I all right