001I'm going to call this meeting to order at 12:30 p.m. Roll call. Amanda Buchanan, I'm here. Maria Akpara. >> I'm here. Anita Tucker is absent. Rick Rawley. Here. Renee Longshore. Here. All right. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. All right. You may place your hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Kylie, do we have any closed session public comments? We do not. All right. We need to go to a closed session to discuss the following: Superintendent's evaluation. Can I get a motion to go into close? >> So moved. All right. >> We'll be taking a vote via roll call. Mrs. Longshore. Aye. Mr.
002Rawley. Aye. Ms. Akpara. Aye. And Ms. Buchanan, aye. We will adjourn at 12:31 right now. We're closed. >> Mhm. >> All right, I'm going to call this meeting back to order at 12:56 >> [clears throat] >> p.m. All right, roll call. Amanda Buchanan, I'm here. Maria Akpara. I'm here. Anita Tucker is absent. Rick Raleigh. Here. And Renee Longshore. Here. Um Maria, will you lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. All right, the clerk will read out any action taken during closed session. In closed session, the Board of Trustees took action in support of the following: B1, Superintendent's evaluation. On a
003motion by Raleigh, seconded by Akpara, the Board and the Superintendent agreed to extend the timeline for her evaluation to June 11, 2026. On a vote of um Amanda Buchanan is a yes, and Maria Akpara is a yes, Anita Tucker is absent, Rick Raleigh is a yes, Renee Longshore is a yes. Thank you. Kylie, do we have any public comments regarding a specific item on April 28th, 2026 special meeting agenda? We do not. All right, adoption of the agenda. The Board may approve the agenda as is or add and or pull items for discussion and or action. Can I get a motion to adopt the agenda? So moved. I'll second that. All right. We'll be taking a vote via roll call. Mrs. Longshore. Aye. Mr. Raleigh. Aye. Ms. Akpara. Aye. Ms. Buchanan, aye. All right, item
004number one under discussion action is to adopt resolution 2526-20, consideration and possible action concerning April 2nd, 2026 demand to cure or correct board action on April 2nd, 2026 agenda item I2, resolution number 2526-09. Um I'll go ahead and make the motion. I'll second that. Okay, any discussion? I do have some discussion. Um I would just like to say in light of our uh repeated cure and corrects that we've been receiving as a district, I believe it's essential that we formally acknowledge and adopt some rules of order. I ask this board to consider Robert's Rules of Order or Rosenberg's Rules of Order. And if this board feels like there should be any additional consideration, I think we should bring that forward and look at a way to effectively conduct the business of this district. Uh and
005I believe we can do that within structure, uh a way of moving through a meeting, and by all of us understanding what that should look like. It also protects the district any against any potential liability um future current cracks. Were there any other comments? All right, I'm going to call for the vote. Mrs. Longshore. No. Mr. Ollie. I. Ms. Alpara. I. And Ms. Buchanan. I. Motion passes. All right. Board comments. Renee. I have none at this time. Rick. >> No. Maria. None. And I have none. Superintendent comments. None. All right, future items. Do any members of the board have any future items? Yes, I do. Okay. I would like to have some information on the last um um the some feedback from the company that um did the um um the evaluation of of the
006district culture, the district uh that came and spoke to us and I know that the board four board members met with them. Members of the union did meet and some staff in the district also met with them. Just I don't know what they're called. Um just to get some feedback on that um Okay, so we can take a consensus on this, but I do believe um it had already actually been requested. Is that true? We were going to try and get the information on I can't remember his name, Rick. Um Yeah, it's on the tip of my tongue. >> three letters. >> Dr. They did they did reach out to me a couple of times, but I told them that I was no longer the president and that they wanted to follow up with us
007uh to go over the results >> Yeah, but it was just I think it was just kind of the timeline on it with with Amanda coming up with a time to get [clears throat] it done. So, I think we got a pretty full plate in the next couple of months, but I agree that I think it would be good to hear from them one more time. The Organizational Network is the Is that correct, Kylie? The Organizational Network is the the company. Um Niles Clavin. Right. And I will likely bring to the second board meeting in May the contract with California School Boards Association to do governance training for next year so that we start the year off working through that and I think it would be powerful for them to have um whoever California School
008Boards Association recommends, I believe it'll be Jeff Person Crane is the consultant that they have recommended from CSBA actually hear that feedback so that they have some input as to what has already occurred. So, when we schedule, I think it would be best to have him available as well even if he has to just be on the phone to hear it. Okay. Maybe we we have to reach out to them and give them a heads up that we still want to So, what we want to do is just bring that to them. Okay. I haven't heard from him for a while. He did reach out a couple of Okay. It would be good for us to get to know what their findings are. It's been a while since we did that. The interviews. We just
009want to know what did they find and what what did they suggest that we we do cuz just talking to people and not hearing what um you know, how they were able to pull the pieces together and put it and give us some input is is really difficult thing cuz we sit everybody's sitting in their little silo. Nobody knows exactly what what they were able to gather. Board gave me direction last board meeting to that I could bring a ratification for California School Boards Association and my recommendation because California School Boards Association recommended School Services of California to do the budget discussion with the board. We have spoken with California School Boards um both California School Boards Association and um School Services of California um what worked through some concept of what the training could
010look like as far as a starting place um and I'm just waiting for consulting agreements. I don't think I'll have them for this board meeting that's coming up, but you had already agreed I can sign, so um obviously no work commences until they're ratified, but um that would get us to at least June and be able to do some scheduling and Thank you. Um so, I do >> [clears throat and cough] >> So sorry. I'm just making sure I have consensus to move forward to do that. Yeah. I think it's important we discuss something real quick. Um so, School Services of California I know was mentioned in conjunction with our um agreement with our certificated staff being able to piggyback on their desire to understand the budget. I believe in light of information we've been
011given that as a board we should look to amend any direction that we've given the superintendent to sign to work with School Services of California until further discussion can be had. So, I'm going to make a motion to um table that action that we gave as a board until we can uh hear back from our certificated staff as far as um what the the company they would choose to move forward with the budget. I'm trying to understand um the budget that we are trying to adopt is not a certificated budget. It is a district's budget. So, if we as the board the board that is making a decision about what we do as a district, we are the fiduciary agent of the district. And and so, we are not just servicing the certificated, we're servicing
012the classified and we're servicing the management. So, to have one one body, one of three of the bodies making the decision, is that the the best way to go or is the best way to go um to look at what the board wants to do and not what the certificated or classified or management wants. Because we are supposed to manage the funds of this district, not the funds of one bargaining unit. So, I'm a little bit confused that School Services is used by every school district that I'm aware of um to be able to look at their budget very clearly. And why is that suddenly a problem? I'm just curious. Yes, thank you for asking for clarification on that. So, last time we met as a board and we gave direction and recommendations, Superintendent Nelson's
013recommendation of utilizing School Services of California, it was with the understanding that we would be using them as a service as part of the agreement with our certificated staff that we came to this year and it it was clarified for us that maybe there was more information to be had um and that as part of their agreement that they should have some say in the School Services being that chosen entity to be able to speak on our budget and provide clarity for the board, provide clarity for our certificated staff if it was part of their agreement that we came to this year. So, I just think it's important because we have the agreement with our certificated staff specifically that we go forward with our part of our agreement which was allowing them to have say
014into who is coming in and discussing budget and bringing clarity to AVUSD. First, you asked for a motion and then you wanted to table, but this is not an agendaized item, so I don't know why we're having a discussion on And there was no second. Well, I said and there was no second, so you're right. There should not be discussion. Well, we're having discussion because it said that we gave direction. Um I believe we reached consensus to move forward with the understanding that our certificated staff had agreed that this would be the entity we would use to bring clarity in light of our budget. And so, I believe given the information that we've received as a board so far, we should go ahead and pause any direction we gave to move forward with School Services
015of California until this additional information that has been brought to the light of this board is addressed. What information has been brought to the light of the board cuz I'm not aware of any concern that there is an issue. Um there was an email that was sent to all of us. From Sabers? Mhm. The board received an email from um Avutha? Indicating what? Are you guys not recalling the email? Well, we have to try and figure out your concern with it. >> Yeah, I Um there I I wish she was here so she could speak to it, but she expressed very clear and delineated concern over the assumption that School Services of California was the entity that our certificated staff had agreed with using because she clarified that school services of California was not what
016they agreed to use and as part of their bargaining agreement it was that they were going to have say in what entity comes in and speaks to our budget. >> So no problem there because my recommendation would be that the board operate separately from Avuta. Um, you are a governance team um tasked with the district. So in recommendation from the California School Boards Association, they were the first reach out regarding the budget as I explained during the last board meeting and they indicated that they would be happy to sit side by side but they would only request that California um the School Services of California be the ones doing the budget. That's who they rely on. They are the um premier group in the state and they recommended them for the board training. So if
017if ABUTA and um the IBB process um bargaining team from the district agree that they want to utilize somebody else, we're more than happy to bring that forward for the board for approval at a later date. Um, we can separate out contracts with uh School Services of California to only support the board at this point and let the um bargaining unit come together um and work with the negotiating team because it's more than just while it's in ABUTA's um agreement that we would research that and support it, there is no direction as to which agency is utilized. Um, the fact finder the media the um the the what's the term I'm looking for Dustin? Um, the mediator um indicated School Services was um who they believed should be there but that was in the room
018with us and so I don't know what was stated otherwise um but to delay the board's work would be inappropriate. I believe you should move forward to get um what I indicated as a healthy understanding and make us a more functional governance team. So Absolutely and I just want to point out that this decision that was proposed and then uh con you know affirmed by the board was made in conjunction with um our agreement um with Avuta and so that's the only reason they're connected to this is because the initial idea came from hey we're having them come anyways for this, we can have them do this. And in light of our money in our district right now, I think that's something to consider because that influenced my vote in the consensus uh that we
019were already having someone come in so we'll just have them do this too. I thought oh that's good, you know, we can accomplish two things under the same dollar. Um, but now it seems like we're going to be doing double dollars. So that does concern me especially in light of our uh recent rifts, uh our budgetary concerns um and I thought it was important to bring that forward. >> [clears throat] >> So there being no further business to come before the Board of Trustees, it is recommended that the meeting be adjourned. >> Wait, future agenda items. Did we get to those because I know we addressed that what is there other things that So I have some future agenda items I'd like added um if I may. I would like to add a discussion action
020item regarding rules of order uh be added to the April 28th. Um >> That would be today. >> Oh, that's that's right. So now we're looking at the May 7th. Uh the May meetings are both packed with all of our recognition for our students for throughout the year as well as our retirees and honoring those as well. May I suggest that um since you're going to be working with California School Boards Association that you bring that as one of the first topics for them and work through that for governance training. >> That makes more sense. So that you start the year with um this as part of the discussion. If that would um please the board, I can make sure that that's something for them to be um mindful of right off the bat. I
021I I'm actually quite concerned that we have no um established rules of order. I know we've been receiving direction and we've been having structure but without a clearly understood and accepted rules of order for this board, we cannot conduct the business of this district. That concerns me especially in light of all the cure and corrects we are receiving. I think it's essential we jump on this and establish our um adopted rules of order. None of the cures and corrects have actually been a cure and correct. We have not violated any of the Brown Act. Um in order to be an effective governing body, I believe it's essential we have rules of order so we can all understand how this is supposed to be proceeding. Yeah, so I would say in my opinion let's go ahead
022and get that to CSBA since they're going to be doing governance training that we can start with her concern. I agree. Rick agrees. Maria, how do you feel? I just don't want us to take too much time to go over this over and over this. I think uh we need to stay with the um calendar that we already have in place and if anything else comes up, we should uh give it to CSBA and they will guide us since we they are the ones that uh actually give us um directions on on how to be board members or how to do our work. So yes. So are we not adding that as a discussion action item? Correct. Okay, I'd like to propose we add a discussion action item for the frequency of board meetings um
023to the May 7th agenda. I know it's been brought up on repeated concern our late nights for our board meetings. Um I think it would be essential possibly to add a second board meeting to each month um in order not to go into the late night and be able to conduct business in an effective way. Uh so I request a discussion action item to discuss and consider taking action on increasing increasing the frequency of our board meetings. Rick, do you want to have a discussion item to add? >> No, I don't. I believe that uh one board meeting a month is fine even if we go late. Um it's just going to add the the district couldn't get anything done putting together two agendas per month and minutes and all the other stuff that goes
024along with it so I think what we have is fine. We do have certain times of the year where we do have two board meetings like May and and June and we do call special meetings regularly so I think we're we're adequate. Maria? I'm good. I I brought this up when I first started as a board member and I realized very quickly um that the um the district could not do their work um and you know, they convinced me then so I don't think they they've been able to convince me the other way since then. So I have I I've come to realization that the amount of work that is required to through put together a board agenda uh will take them off from doing the work that they are actually supposed to be doing
025um on a daily basis. So I'm really not in not that interested in a two uh two meeting um uh schedule um at this point. Um Can I just sir for all of you, you most likely with this California School Boards governance um proposal will have a workshop each month in addition to the board meeting. So once we have that information from them, um we would not be doing agenda items but it would be training to build the governance team um and deal with the issues that um we continue to deal with. And when I first came on as president, I know someone had requested that and I did inquire um with our superintendent about if that's feasible and um and then with speaking with other staff members, uh I came to the same realization
026that Trustee Akpara just communicated um well and even Rick that it would just be the the constant prep mode um and maybe we would I would imagine we would need more staff if we're going to try to do that. So that the business of the district is still getting done. Um so I am fine with the one business meeting and then if we can um get the governance and the budget training as a workshop um as a second meeting but with no extra um agenda items. And if we can all just make sure like we just focus on kids and we focus on the business that needs to be done. Um I think we can get back to a place like a year and a half two years ago when we could get through the
027board meetings in reasonable time. So I think it's important just to note that I believe we're all here for the kids. That's why we show up. There's no other reason to do this job. And the business of the board is essential and doing it at a reasonable hour is important. Um any discouragement to have discussion or to have input or even to have items added to the agenda should not be discouraged. It should be encouraged. Um and in light of we are here for the kids and all of our work is in light of that and in hope that we can bring the best educational setting for our kids to learn in. Um my last and my last request with the first two being denied is for a discussion information item continuing our understanding and
028uh striving for equity in our two high schools looking at intra and interdistrict transfers. Just curious about the numbers. If it's not going to be added as an agenda item, I would like permission from the board to get this information uh provided to us so that it can inform our decisions in light of our children. And that is something that when you emailed me the first time about this um that I followed up and I obviously couldn't talk to anybody else because I had your email. Um but it seemed by what you wrote that you just wanted that information and um I think given that the main meetings are both going to be um heavy with items that my personal opinion providing that information to the board is fine with me. Um No, how do
029we >> get this information before the cuz you you agendaized this a couple of times but Yeah, so this is a continuing discussion. Thank you for bringing that up, Mr. Rowley. Um so every year this uh our district um accepts applications for and and then uh responds back to any inter- and intra-district transfers. So this would be an updated information uh applications I believe were submitted in January. I'm not sure have uh the people who submitted applications heard back as far as if they were granted inter- and intra-district transfers. Is that information available? Some have received because they were able to pull the principals together and do the meeting that is required in order to identify how many spaces they have for each grade level. Um and so I'm more than happy to have Mr.
030Schlosser's office put together a memo that we can send out to the board so you have that data. There are still families that will not hear until after we um get through the summer. And that's the traditional trend of this. So yes, the window has closed and yes, some families have been notified based on um the order which they came and the space and following policy. And when will the rest of our families be notified? It depends on um enrollment. So some of them don't hear until after the school year starts. They are told that they have to begin at their other school and if there becomes space, they let them know. But if families don't drop and remain on our enrollment, we have to allow them um so many days before we drop them
031from the system. Okay, great. Well, I appreciate that data and if you could divide it by uh school sites and divide it by intra- and inter-district transfers, I would appreciate it. Anybody else have any other items? All right, there being no further business to come before the Board of Trustees, I move that this meeting be adjourned. I get a second? I'll second that. All right, roll call vote, Mrs. Longshore. I. Mr. Rowley. I. Ms. Akpan. I. And Ms. Buchanan, I I adjourn this meeting at 1:23.