001calling the meet to order roll call Maria oara pres Rick Ry here Gary Ary here Amanda buan here Dennis Bender here nobody's absent Mrs Nelson will you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance absolutely you right hand over your heart ready to begin I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice thank you so much Kylie do we have any public comments pertaining to the closed session we do not thank you in close session we are going to be discussing superintendent evaluation conference on litigation government code section 54956.9 subsection a current litigation cases cvds 201111 183 cvsb 211 1303 222 0303 22186 676 2227 023 23048 65 231 4073 23 22 17124 1 1 2
002359 2 41 2687 23 21161 2 44404 and CI VVS 24 4289 government code section 54 5 549 54.5 subsection C and 54956.9 subsection D subsection D and subsection e and subsection E I anticipated litigation one case 2020 20215 Public Employee discipline dismissal release reassignment transfer leave titled certificated and classified employees number four Public Employee appointment resignation retirement reduction title certificated and classified employees conference with labor negotiator agency negotiator Jeremiah Harrison employee nego organization Appo valy unified Teachers Association conference with labor negotiator agency negotiator Christine Dupri employee organization California employee employees Association conference will real property negotiator government code 5495 6.8 negotiating parties Matthew schulenberg on behalf of Apple Valley Unified School District security matters government code section 54957 consultation with Apple Valley UniFi School District chief of police and I ask a motion to
003go into close session so moved I'll second all in favor I any opposed we'll see 7 o'clock for e e e call Maria okara are you here I'm here Rick Ry I'm here Gary Ry here Amanda Buchanan here Dennis Bender here thank you uh Shannon spiny will you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance i al to the flag of the United States of Amica and the it stands na indivisible andice for all thank you Shannon good evening everyone and thank you for being here before we get started I would like to say that the board appreciates and supports our educational Partners input at our meetings engagement by members of the public and Civic ma in Civic matters is the Cornerstone of our democracy everyone should have a chance to express the opinions within the
004guidelines the board has established for its meeting so that we are able to conduct the meeting effectively and efficiently during the meeting there will be time for the public to comment on matter not on the agenda in addition members of the public May comment on specific agenda items after I as your board president ask for public comment on an item until it is your turn to speak or if you are here just to observe the meeting please refrain from any behavior that prevents others from participating in the meeting or that disrupts the board's ability to conduct the business of the board once again thank you very much for taking your time to join us this evening and to be a participant in this duty of serving our students and our educational community at this moment
005we are going to have a moment of silence for a retired a ausd family member Mr Reed stward thank you very much student report High Desert premier Academy Marissa [Applause] DTE okay good evening president OFA esteemed board members superintendent Nelson executive cabinet and Apple Valley Unified staff students families and the community members we at had a Premiere has started our 2425 school year off well we have two new staff members Miss post which is our Middle School teacher and Miss huckley which is our academic counselor September is aware is awareness month for many things including Suicide Prevention it's it's dedic ated to raising awareness about suicide in order to shift public per public perception and spread hope and share information to people that are affected by Suicide here at hdba Miss neilo and Mr gon
006went around and gave presentations to students while also giving students resources while giving students resources students can also dial 988 or use the anonymous owl tip line that's provided on our newsletter I will also be going around handing out Suicide Prevention bracelets and ribbons to staffs and students September is also attendance awareness month at hdba this consist consists of educating all members of our school and Community about chronic absentismo misses 10% of school for any reason did you know that the data early grade chonic absentismo indicator for a student graduating on time that's why attendance is so so important Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from September 15th to October 15th to October 15th Hispanic Heritage Month also honors the in contributes to the Hispanics that have made it to the United States spirit week is
007through spirit week is the 23rd through the 27th of this month it's our first spirit week of the year and our leadership leadership class is excited to give us a fun week this month at hdba middle school and Apple Valley Virtual Academy are are coming together to go to Long Beach Aquarium and and to learn about the deep sea Predators hdba seniors will also have the opportunity to visit vbc and saning college and see what sparks their interest thank you for listening and I will talk about our school owls next time thank [Applause] you thank you so much I know it's your first time but you did great at Granite Hills High School Hannah [Applause] for thank you always the height difference between us good evening executive cabinet board members and attendees my name is
008Hannah for and I am the ASB governing council president at gr Hills High School I hope you all had an incredible summer and a great beginning to the 20 4 25 school year I'm very excited to be this year's representative for granite and I look forward to speaking with all of you each month to begin we just got our pollus for ASB the color signifies our silver year which is granite Hill's 25th anniversary of being open Granite Hills High School opened its doors in 1999 in the 1999 to 2000 school year over the last 25 years Granite has undergone many changes from adding high quality CTE programs robust cancelling and mental health programs from decorative Lawns to draw tolerant Landscapes and even a slight change in our school motto but the constant Focus has been
009on creating a positive learning environment for all students we look forward to celebrating our history and planning our future to continue our Rich tradition of preparing student leaders as for ASB we've had an incredible start last month we had senior Sunrise which was so much fun and it had a really big turnout it was very Bittersweet for myself as well as all the other seniors I think but it was fun yesterday was Club Rush during both lunches students got a walk around meet club members learn about clubs on campus and also purchase things from those booths we had clubs like ASB mock drama saw Christian Club Key Club interact 524 Avid water polo French Club women empowerment club and a lot more we have Homecoming coming up on September 14th our theme this year is
010Once Upon A Homecoming and we have an amazing DJ and taco truck lined up ASB has been doing an amazing job hyping up football we named our student section this year the cougar cage and it was a big hit for our first game we also have a home game tonight in the student section themes USA I'll be heading over there after the meeting and I'm pretty confident in saying we have a win coming but I don't know hopefully uh ASP has been fundraising like crazy for both prom and gr night we're also selling Senior Crew necks and t-shirts which have been a huge success on campus link crew started the year off strong with link leader training days over summer our link leaders gathered here at Granite for two days to learn how to connect
011with the class of 28 and run orientation activities freshman orientation was a huge success two weeks ago we held our freshman tailgate before our very first varsity football game we had food as well as face paint for our Freshman Class academic follow-ups also took place and they also went very good for mental health awareness this week we are highlighting Suicide Prevention awareness month we're doing a Spirit Week student Raffles and a lot of giveaways on Saturday our Key Club and band are going to be participating in the annual happy TRS parade our theater department is hosting a car wash on September 21st at the Grand coffee shop here in Apple Valley in hopes of raising money for a New York trip Athletics have had a great start to the year volleyball is having a very
012good season it's a very young team but they are extremely experienced and we are 3 to zero in League cross country just started but are doing great we had our trying yesterday and our cross country team is getting ready for our cross country challenge with 10 schools to be in attendance this year the team has over 40 students and we couldn't be happier football is going strong with a two to zero and a big match tonight versus asparia the match will be a good test to see how the season will continue to play out for us girls tennis has league play in two weeks and they are a very strong team and had a really good preseason this year we have over 35 student athletes on the team and it's incredible we're looking forward to
013seeing how all of our Sports continue to grow we thank you for your continued support of Granite Hills and I look forward to sharing more with you next month as always marun and gray lead the [Applause] way thank you Hannah abov High School Eden [Applause] Piola thank you good morning or good evening sorry good evening members of the board and attendees my name is en poo and I am representing the Apple Valley high school and I'm the line president tonight I'll be sharing with you what our students and staff have been doing in the last month and also our goals for September uh this August our students have been getting involved with clubs and extracurricular activities the sun stations had their first recital for back to school on August 16th and it was so lovely
014to hear such talented voices and and last Wednesday we had our back to school night where students can see and join clubs that interest them some new clubs are starting this year include letters of love where students can write and create cards to Children's Hospitals uh we have lift that represents love Inspire feeli together this club serves to LIF up our community and help others with their mental health model un that um where students can learn and discuss international relations and C current current political world issues we also have abhs Community ad Kangas which students can learn more about Hispanic culture French club that teaches French language and their culture and lastly badman Club where students can play badman there was also a lot of sports like wrestling track and field basketball and swimming that
015we're looking for new athletes and speaking of athletes our athletes have been doing such a great job so far the girls volleyball team has been very successful in their preseason they currently have n wins and the girls tennis have won their past two matches and cross country had two meets so far and our football game has played two games and we have a home game tomorrow which is also our homecoming game against Corona Del Soul and we hope to win we are so thankful for our ASB students who have been working so hard decorating the student section as well as pep rallies and the students have been making posters balloons that decorate our football stadium our Pep Squad and band have been practicing so hard performing so well at our events and we are so
016thrilled to see them bring the school spirit to our campus our camp film crew has been doing an amazing job at capturing photo and video content of content of our sports events and so much thanks to our sports medicine program for keeping our students um athletes safe and healthy we are very excited for this month there are so many exciting events we are looking forward to tomorrow we have our homecoming football game where we'll be announcing the the homecoming court and we can't wait to see who the homecoming king and queen plus our princes and princesses are and on Saturday we are having our homecoming dance which is themed casino night and next week our school is preparing for our 5th fth annual Bell game next week that week we will be celebrating with a
017bunny scavenger hunt no bunnies t-shirts and decorating the school with so much sundevil spirit that Thursday we'll be celebrate with our annual bonfire that will always get us fired up for the big game and the next day we'll be taking the win again this year they will Mark another maybe hopefully 13 consecutive years of Victory against Victorville I cannot wait to see how how Rowdy the student section and Community will be at the game and then our junior senior girls are getting ready for the Powderpuff game on September 25th ASB will start to prepare and organize for our annual colorant on September 28th by gathering food track sponsors for from our desert community to help fundraise for our campus organizations since it is September this month we are celebrating Hispanic culture throughout the month ASV
018students will be organizing pep rallies lunch activities and food trucks with like tacos and a fesus that and much more to share Hispanic culture to our school community and there's so many exciting things happening in Apple Valley high school and I want to thank you all for your continued support and we couldn't give our students any of these incredible opportunities without you so thank you for your [Applause] time thank you very much board comments Mr Bender attended the football game on Friday it was a good game uh anytime you get close to the ocean the teams are tougher chapparel was loaded congratulations to Granite 25 years you been open I was a charter teacher there in 99 makes me feel old and then I realized I'm old because I was also a charter teacher at
019Apple in 1967 that's it thank you Mr Bender amand you Canon Mr Bender I had to laugh because when she said it opened in 99 uh 2000 I was thinking oh I feel old cuz I was a senior then I'm sorry okay I'm G to pull mine up I like to write them out so I don't forget anything because I go home so many times and I regret things that I meant to say so okay um I did want to say good evening and just thank you guys um I know last month I think a bunch of us thought we were gonna have students here and then we were kind of bummed because we didn't have students here but it is so nice to have students back in the audience so we're so excited to
020see students again um but having you guys here your participation is invaluable and it just provides a fresh perspective um to the decisions and everything our discussions here uh at our board meetings um I did have the pleasure of attending back to school nights at um High Desert Premiere Academy and also Granite um and I want to thank everyone involved for the hard work in making those um events of success I did have every intention of making it to Apple um and there is a reason uh so I would like to extend a special thanks to is principal Smith here is girl in here it's his fault um he was so welcoming and showing me around his campus and um I spent way too much time there so I apologize I had every intention of
021making it but um it was just such a ful experience talking to parents and families and staff there and I spent too much time and I looked at my watch and I went oh no it's way too late I have to go to Granite so I went straight um so I apologize I will get there next year I will start with you guys next year um so but while I was at Granite um I was particularly impressed I um went to a different Wing than I went to last year and I got to go into graphic arts this time and I was just so impressed um with everything that was going on in there and the creativity the dedication um the shirts that they are are creating and things um her senior stuff that was
022all done there the link crew that she talked about and it was just so neat to see this program supporting the other programs um in house on campus and that was it was exciting um for the board I did have the opportunity to attend a region 16 csba delegate meeting this month um and we did just share each of our district successful startups I bragged about Apple Valley um and although Riverside County will not be spearheading the the fall joint meeting that they usually do um region 16 is working hard to ensure that that maybe we can still pull it off so as of right now it's still hopefully going to happen um but they're gonna try to keep it on the calendar because region 16 really felt like it was vital for collaboration and
023best practices for all the the districts school boards to get together um but finally I wanted to end by encouraging all the students to embrace the opportunities that this year offers whether you're senior or um even in kindergarten um but whether academics or the Arts um Athletics or any of your passions um I know I see Aquatics and drama and music back there so um just know that we are here to support you and celebrate your achievements so together let's make this school year time of growth community and Excellence so thank you and I look forward to seeing all the incredible things that our students and our staff are going to put together this year so thank you thank you Mr RC again uh like has been mentioned I also want to commend all the
024students and teachers and administrators for just very um successful startup activities for the new year as was mentioned of the back to school nights were were were hugely successful and very well attended every back to school night I went to the parking lots were overflowing there's cars lined up uh going down the the various roads at at at the various School sites uh the principls the teachers were well prepared and eager to share with parents about what's going on at their school so those thank you for everyone involved in the back back to school nights uh very well attended and very successful again as was mentioned as as Marissa and Eden and um uh Hannah mentioned Al also wanted to commend all the the student athletes and the coaches and all their their hard work
025for the the Athletics that are starting I was able to ven visit some volleyball matches and football matches and and again our our students our athletes are working hard you can tell that they've been well prepared by their coaches and so on thank you for the parents too we can't forget the parents who who uh all summer long had been bringing their kids to school activities and so on so they're they're starting out very very well and I know they're going to be very very successful this year one thing I wanted to mention too is that one of the back to school nights I talked to a third grade mom and Not only was she so thankful for how how well her her child was doing in third grade how excited her child was but
026she was also she was new to our district she was uh so excited about the the the quality of the bus service so she wanted to tip her hat to the to the transportation department and the Fantastic thing that our bus drivers do every single day because you know they're they're getting up uh in a lot of cases way before we're getting up and then they're all checking out their buses and they're on the road before we are so just thank you for the transportation department uh is very very much appreciated and uh as as our students were mentioning and all the Fantastic activities going on this month also want to thank all the teachers who are preparing for a Constitution Day later on this month because back in 2004 US Congress passed a law
027that said on September 17 every September 17th uh all public schools should have a special day of instruction regarding our US Constitution that's kind of interesting because when historians and sociologists have studied National constitutions around the world they have found that the average length of a constitution of a national Constitution is 17 years now our constitution has same Constitution has been in effect for going close to 240 years which uh really testifies as to the uniqueness and and and the wisdom and the success of our constitution so I just want to commend all of our teachers who are preparing for that Constitution Day later on this month on September uh September 17 so I just like I say thank you for all the the teachers all the administrators students you guys are doing a great
028work keep keep up the the great job and we look forward to seeing you next month as you report that the Fantastic things are going to happen this month so thank you thank you um Mr Raley thank you well it's good to see the speakers again Marissa Hannah and Eden um with Hannah we we've seen you last year so you're an old Pro but for the other two you by the end of this when comes May with graduation time you guys are going to be so confident getting up at the podium and speaking in front of of this crowd that uh and and as a board member we always remember all of the speakers every year and I you know even the superintendent will bring up well you remember three years ago so and so
029and what she's doing today we all kind of follow what goes on with uh the speakers because we get to know you guys so well so congratulations and uh May will be here before you know it but um we look forward every month to uh hearing from you you guys did really good so and then um one more thing Dennis had brought up that he you know taught all those years but what I don't think people realize is Dennis remembers all of the students even even from the 70s we'll be talking he goes oh yeah I don't so and so you know graduated 1974 and he's doing this today and this and that and so Dennis really made a lot of this is you know we' still got a few more months but the dentist's
030last time as a board remember he is going to retire out um but he made such an impact on this district and all these kids that went to school here and so um I'll talk about Dennis later towards but he brought it up so I wanted that's all I have thank you thank you and now is is me um I'm Maria okara I I didn't know my name when I called it out uh but now I think I do um I want to I want to take the time to thank all of you for coming out this evening um to uh listen to us do the business of the students um and I need to thank the parents uh who are raising all this amazing uh students and sending them away um thank you so
031much um this last month or this month we are in I have managed to visit um appoval High School which is my school usually it's my first stop my kids went there so I usually I wander in and then I think oh they're going to kick me out um but I I went to APO Val High School to watch the volleyball game um and I was worse than the kids um because I I was screaming so loud I thought I was going to lose my voice then I went to Granny Hills High School to watch Vol volleyball too and um and also did exactly what I did at gr at APPA Val high school and then I had the the honor of traveling with the superintendent to visit classrooms um this last um week and
032it was such a a pleasure to see learning going on in the classrooms and to see student engagement and to watch the Super superintendent actually take notes and do observation and give feedback to the staff um that's what I call handson you know she was really handson and the the principals F felt safe enough uh to have the superintendent go into their classrooms um because they believe they have done the best they could and it's now up to superintendent to do a an evaluation of what was going on um I am excited about what's coming down in September the the Hispanic uh culture coming up in September um I'm going to be looking for somebody to Lear me a Hispanic address um because I like to show up and show out thank you I'm ready
033um my daughter went through model un un and it was probably one of the best experiences she she had and after um serving um as a delegate from apov Val High School and she was representing the country of Turkey uh I felt like I that I knew so much about this country that I didn't think I would know enough about but because she practiced and practiced and practiced uh at the time that she went she had the opportunity to meet Kofi Anan who was the Secretary of the UN um and actually put him on the phone to talk to me she was Fearless um so I am I'm really looking forward to um what the school year holds um I'm excited um I show up at events I had an event of the deack meeting
034with parents I showed up because it was food that's all I can say and uh and I kept getting up to help myself to food and as soon as my stomach had had enough I left but I just want to say thank you thank you for what you guys do we I am truly humbled to be of service to the children of APO valy thank you again um the superintendent's comment Mrs Nelson um I want to comment also on Marissa and Hannah and Eden and just um welcome back Hannah welcome to the two that are starting um amazing we missed you last month but we knew it was the second day of school and it wasn't probably likely that we would get you here with a lot of information um it's going to be an
035amazing here and I'm so um sad already that Mr righ was pointing out that I know what happens to all of our um speakers because you are part of our family and when you leave us at the end of the year there's a little bit of a loss for us and a little bit of our heart goes away so I don't even want to talk about the end of the year we're going to watch what happens over the course of the next few few months um I did hear a lot about tacos though from some of your presentations and um tacos are my love language um we'll just leave it at that um I also want to comment on um Miss Buchanan's statement about um the silver anniversary and where she was when Granite Hills
036opened I um was a school principal at the time so I had a long career already in education um I was not a high school senior I'll point out I also um would like to comment about um Mr bender and um the last few board meetings that we have with him and the fact that um he's an icon Con in this community um he's educated more students probably in the Apple Valley um Community than anybody else and then to serve on the board for as long as he has is just a testament to the commitment and the um the passion he has about education and I'm not sure that we'll be able to really honor him appropriately at a single board meeting I feel like we're going to honor him each board meeting between now
037and that time and there's probably going to have to be some special roast that happens not on a school property because there's some stories folks and I don't think we can do them in a board meeting room so I'll just leave it at that um uh I also was with Miss Oar when we visited Wendy Temple's um classroom at Granite Hills High School and I'm gonna tell you um the work that those kids are doing in such a short period of time is something else um I don't know that Miss okara asked for permission but she took a few things and she left I noticed Wendy didn't say anything and I'm thrilled with her because I know that she's ready to get those kids engaged with all the other schools and supporting in making and
038creating things for um student swag so I'm just teasing I know you guys had had a conversation on my suitcase I love those things I like them and I attach it to my suitcase what it was really cute um and and I would like to clarify that I'm not out evaluating teachers I only get to evaluate principles in this district and assistant superintendant and Kylie um but when I'm out in classrooms I am providing feedback back to teachers about things that I see and it's not evaluative it's just feedback what what what was going on when I was there and I like to recognize some really positive things that are happening um Miss beanies I would have sent her feedback that I'm so excited that her children are going to prom this year because that
039was a big topic of one of her students it was darling so um so on to some really exciting news Victor Valley College had a record number of high school students um be awarded college credit this past year for earning an A or a B in um one of our articulated courses 4,366 students is a record for the program Apple Valley Unified had 1,096 students receive college credit that's something to [Applause] celebrate great last week our ethnic studies um work came back to the table with teachers in the room looking at curriculum we have a series of dates planned with our facility Lauren wild from um sanino County Superintendent of Schools um they will continue the work that they started and they'll be developing our courses that meet the ethnic studies graduation requirement and our
040board took action in support of a community recommendation to work on multiple Pathways for our students to achieve that requirement um I happened to stop by it was phenomenal work that they were doing and lots of voice and um articulation happening and I look forward to seeing how it all comes together um and then for just because I have to um I'm a parent and I do like to still embarrass my child who won't know this happen unless somebody tells him um for those of you who were here in 2004 um at this very time 20 years ago I was at St Mary's hospital because I was giving birth to my youngest son he's in college I don't get to see him this year but he's with his grandmother tonight having dinner and I just
041would like to say that I think I prefer being at a board meeting than giving birth so good thank you I'm done thank you Maria was there that's why she wasn't at St Mary's but she was in the office next to me at the time yeah thank you so much and happy birthday to Kyle um Appo valy unified Teachers Association um AA Karen sabers [Applause] good evening I wasn't ready I was thinking everybody would be dismissed and then I would go so all right good evening superintendent Nelson board members cabinet and audience we have officially made it through the first month of school yay last week I had the pleasure of doing first classroom walk throughs with Mr Conrad and I thoroughly enjoyed that experience it was exciting to see the students actively engaged and
042enjoying their learning I look forward to doing this on a monthly basis and seeing all the great things happening in the classrooms we had our first Community Schools cohort meeting last week where we worked towards finalizing the needs assessment it was very productive and we were able to meet our new our newest members yesterday I was able to join Nelson Lopez our ne new TOA for Community Schools at Rancho verie to speak with the teachers about their school working towards becoming a community school what a community school is and how they can become involved it was a very positive experience tomorrow is our first negotiating meeting I'm looking forward to the new process though where Auda CSA and management come together before um going off into our separate groups and having discussion there we are
043also looking forward to the new two administrators that are joining our team and Jeremiah being one of the leads remember with IBB we are all one team with two leads one on the 16th the entire EXA board and our two new administrators will be able to participate in a one-day IBB training so that they can understand the new negotiating process so we're excited about that tomorrow we will have our first of three Insurance meetings with potential trust as you probably heard we were not able to obtain a quote from siba again this year although that is very heartening news we have three other prospects to meet with we will be meeting with Cal Pur tomorrow Viva and reap soon to come we must walk away with one of these meetings with affordable insurance that meets
044the needs of everyone otherwise well we can't think of the otherwise we have to keep putting out positive vibes at the end of this month Auda will be sending 15 teachers to the sped conference in Orange County I will be attending and learning alongside them so that I can better support them with their needs Auda is excited to be able to be sending that many Tim hog grief and I will be running or are running for CTA State Council positions there are four positions available between our district Victor High Victor Elementary in atlanto possibly hisp I'm not sure about that one but we hope to gain two of those positions so that Auda has two votes at the state level and more voice we will also be placed on committees where we will be able
045to have a voice in that decision making as well to all the teachers here and that are listening please place your votes um and then I want to I I don't know if I'm understanding or misunderstanding but I do want to address um agenda item 27 which is approving scripts to be used for high school performing art shows so bear with me if I'm misunderstanding this um this agenda item but I just want to my job as president is to be here for the teachers advocate and allow their voice to be heard as well and if we are voting you know I noticed that graned Hills is on there for their two play Upcoming plays and I just want to encourage if this if I'm understanding it correctly and the board is voting to approve
046these um performances then I just want to encourage you to please make the approval that's why I said on my might be misunderstanding I'm not sure um but there's a lot that goes into the process starts back in March where they pick the performances and then um have to order everything um they've already cast the members and are practicing at this point and um as I met with the drama teacher um she informed me that there are only certain things that can be removed from these performances and that um she does remove what she can and other things they don't pay attention to or put a lot of emphasis on but she does make lists and sends them out to the teachers and puts on there what she has removed and what she cannot remove
047so that there are no surprises when the performances um happen they also do some intimacy coaching which if they have to hug or kiss they want to make sure that all students are comfortable with that and so they do the intimacy coaching to make sure that they are feel safe and okay with that um but if I'm understanding it correctly I just encourage you to please vote for to approve these performances because they do put a lot of work into them and she even has a senior that waited to graduate so they could be in this next performance um thank you for your time and have a wonderful rest of your evening and solidarity Karen thank you so much Karen I I'm not going to release the students because I really want you to listen
048to the uh presentation from the footsteps to Freedom before I let you guys go I want you guys to know what your teachers did this summer uh so bear with us as we do go through the process um will the clerk please read out any action taken in Clos session sure thank you so in Clos session um the board um approved the following items um approved the proposal settlement agreement regarding case number Civ SB 22272 three and it was on a motion by oara second by RC vote was unanimous the second item we approved was um appoint Joseph kohy as dean of students Phoenix Academy rign 7 column one on the certificated management salary schedule 19 195 base Duty days effective September 23rd 2024 and that was a motion by RC a second by bender
049and was unanimous votes so those two items and ep's and the audience will you please stand so we'll know who you [Applause] thank you he went from uh if I remember the story he went from a high school dropout to a PhD so you were well well rounded thank you and you are a graduate of alpha Valley well no you didn't graduate from alpha Valley but you did attend for a while for a while yeah now you're back well welcome we we're glad to see you thank thank you real Visa graduate yeah there you go okay the congratulations doctor the board May approve the agenda as is or ADD and or pull items from the consent agenda for discussion and our action um I need a motion I I'll move the item all in favor
050I now we go to recognition um we need to recognize somebody and the board will need to come out to the front the board can either come forward or they can stand there and he can come along and and shake your hands if that's easier is um whatever you prefer okay we got it we got you Mr Bender looks like others are coming out officer Gotti can you come and join me at the podium this is something new for us and for those of you who um have watched us with our Police Department many of you don't know the process by which we hire a police officer it takes a little bit almost a year to complete all the background checks and all of the things that are required even if they're in another department
051we still have to do all of those things to get somebody into our department and so when we finally get the approval that they've met all the conditions we do a swearing in well those swearing ins don't necessarily match our board agenda dates and so instead of holding somebody off and not bringing them on it's important for us to get them sworn in and um the board asks that if that as we do this in the future that we bring them to a board meeting and actually introduce them and I think it's a wonderful idea we have not sworn in an officer in quite some time except for a reserve last year that had been with us for some time people recognized her but we are thrilled to start this process with officer goddi and
052he will be joining us with a long tenure of um police work so we're excited welcome [Applause] wel my [Music] board will I get connected if I could ask uh theeta Smith to join me just briefly thank you um if you'll just wait a moment we'll bring you forward I just wanted to give you a little background and then we'll bring you forward to for this recognition and the next one and so I give you just a moment to sit back down um I'm gonna actually just briefly um ask uh folks in the audience to stand so that you know who we're talking about we'll ask them to sit and then we'll get you together and we'll give them our certificate in just a moment but if we could ask Kylie codell Anna hosy Jessica
053David and Justin barkle to stand for just a moment I just give them a round of applause and if if they'll sit down I'll tell you why you're clapping well many of you any of you who know them already know why they're unbelievable but um TR and cabinet and I we come up with crazy ideas for summer and then Theta and the rest of our team we fill a board with well first of all illegible writing about all the things we think staff need before they start school and as you heard earlier the startup was great it felt good this year we felt prepared and ready and we're feeling that as we walk classrooms well none of that happens without careful considerations of what new teachers need about how our family reunion is going to
054be organized and we can dream all the dreams but unless we have these folks to make it happen it just doesn't doesn't work so a little bit of back ground we have kind of two strands going during that really intense two weeks and almost a a half of time starting July 22nd and I know you were there on some of those days to come and welcome new teachers and visit we have we start off with something we call unsung heroes the clerical teams we bring in our managers for this family reunion and then all the while there's a staff strand happening at the same time new teachers and counselors welcome to the system returning teachers coming for training on a wide variety of topics classified support staff coming for opening meetings with the csas and
055others um all of those aligned to the priority metrics everyone carefully vetted um so Thea helped gather some of the numbers over 1,400 participants more than the number of Staff because some people attended a couple of things but some of the trainings were a week long right sometimes they were there and that's just counted them once over 80 sessions seven different locations all around the district there's three 300 miles driven by these folks as they delivered things handouts coffee snacks so that every time someone showed up whether it was the town of Apple Valley or another school side or here that they had what they needed to make sure that was a good learning experience um which required over 100 gallons of coffee hundreds of trays of snacks with an impressive number of granola bars
056thousands of books and handouts and the books are in boxes and they're in our curriculum Center and they're Thea and her team are Trucking them and every time I showed up somewhere to help they'd laugh and say where were you 15 minutes ago when I was unloading the boxes they did it with a smile everything was on time and it was just incredible and that last item is so critical detailed signin sheets so that everyone who came and for if it wasn't a workday that they were paid for that time and so special attention was given uh meals were provided for family reunion it was important to us to make sure the people were comfortable there the new teacher meetings as you saw just were filled with joy and uh a really strong welcome and
057I'll just let you take a look at some of the comments we surveyed the new teachers a couple of weeks after and this was just a snapshot of some of the things they said about that five-day startup it was just a strong way to really welcome them to Apple Valley and get a sense of who we are and none of that happens with without the curriculum instruction dep department and these four individuals and so while you're looking at those if you would make your way to the front front here we'd like to honor the four people who made this happen and we'll call them up one at a time and let you shake their hands come on up Mr Bender you can stay if you want we yep so I just want to point out
058that I have a set of certificates and Pat has a set of certificates because guess what when Kylie sees something on the board agenda she makes the certificates so she came to me this afternoon and she said TR I didn't know somebody else was making the certificates but I made some so I brought them just so you could see that there this is how she operates she doesn't even get asked she just takes care of business which is why I stand and show up at board meetings because she tells me to and the two people I would have asked I'm honoring so I couldn't ask Anna or Jessica or Kylie but I found a person so they get two let me get mine in order that's right oh my I sure do receiving two certificates
059tonight please a round of applause for Kylie codell um my absolute right hand who makes all this happen and always thinks of the things I should think of before I forget them Anna hosy [Applause] um even when her truck wouldn't start she showed up with the items Jessica [Applause] David and always quick with a better way to do something in a system to build Justin barkle are [Applause] all right I am going to go out of order for a minute um there will be a presentation on footsteps to Freedom I'm only here to introduce the presentation we had the great pleasure of sending a team to this um wonderful event and so Marana Torres is goingon to come up and kind of give some background introduce the team who's been um preparing to share with
060you their experience so if Mariana would join me here she's going to kind of guide us through this and um from what I've heard you're going to need to keep t uh tissue handy this is quite a moving experience that these folks have good evening everyone uh you guys are in for a treat today um I have had the honor and and um pleasure of making sure that um everybody got to where they needed to go that's really actually hostess with the most is is is all I got on this one um the board last year gave us a a homework assignment to to send some teachers 10 teachers is what we started with and this was a voluntary immersive uh learning experience for eight days they actually followed the footsteps of the Underground Railroad
061all the way from Kentucky to U actually Ontario Canada and and even New York this expanded across 3,000 miles and for eight days they they walk those steps they they learn those lessons and I I actually just had the privilege of listening to them prepare this presentation and I needed tissue so I I can only imagine um actually being there person I see in the audience we actually have Hardy Brown I saw him somewhere Hardy Brown the second thank you for being with us he's actually the person who puts steps to uh to to Freedom together and I want to invite up Meritus Killian Tim halt grit Nani Buchanan Ellen Burke Jennifer Love lady Charlie cassada Jeff Rell Louis could not uh Harington could not be with us tonight because she was ill but she
062actually put this presentation together as well so you'll hear her words as well and then we also had the privilege of having Miss Maria opara our board president there and and I have to say I was also uh surprised to to to see Amanda in some of the pictures I was like Amanda was there too and then I I heard you talk about it last month so I just want to recognize what an amazing um opportunity This was um they have everything to tell you and some amazing pictures to share so I'm going to turn it over to them good evening everyone my name is Marius Killian also known as Louise Harrington uh so what you see in front of you um I'd like to direct your attention to the young boy there's a young
063boy in that picture to the left and in front of you we're going to start the bidding a little higher with him do you know why because that was his mama we just sold in the previous bid and you saw how strong she was good bone structure so you know that this boy is going to grow up and be strong one day he is an investment never mind those tears though they'll dry up once he's away from his mama and working on your farm now let's begin the bidding after many disclaimers of you will not do this in your classrooms by the footstep conductors we were LED through a mock slave auction with it being one of our first activities we were Jarred into realizing this trip was not a mere vacation for me Louise
064the situation was surreal some of those being auctioned off during the simulation could not make eye contact with me I didn't know whether to speak up or to stay silent no option seemed right the lawn where the auctions actually took place had a courthouse on one side a church on the other and The prominent houses all around it was loud and public we referred to the church as the church with no stairs as you can see to the right the church with no stairs because it had two doors one on top of the other the upper one required a ladder to enter slave owners would secure a ladder March their enslaved up to the second level then remove the ladder so they could worship without wondering if someone would Escape it was in this square
065that Harriet beo horrified by what she saw during these auctions was inspired to write Uncle Tom's Cabin as an English teacher stories are powerful to enrich students lives one particular story resonated with me and this is me speaking it was about runaway slave Eliza Harris Harry be Stow found Eliza's story so compelling she fictionalized it in Uncle Tom's Cabin she uses Eliza's story to highlight the devastating impact slavery had on families you'll see that um the picture on the bottom left Eliza Harris a mother desperate to keep her child from being sold into slavery runs away in the debt of winter clutching her baby she escapes the slave state of Kentucky crosses the treacherous Ohio River on fragile ice patches every step fraught with Terror knowing she could easily fall into the icy River awaiting
066her on the banks of Ohio was slave catcher chansy Shaw not known at all for being sympathetic but upon capture he released her and he said any woman who crossed that River carrying her baby was has won her Freedom we had the opportunity to retrace her steps we began at the banks of the Ohio river and climbed the Steep slippery path through the thick foliage as you can see in the four middle pictures we were caught in a sudden downpour making our journey somewhat treacherous forcing some to crawl uphill on hands and knees as we climbed the stone steps and wooden stairs to Aid us the weight of History was extremely heavy knowing that Eliza and other countless runaway slaves had none of these Comforts so what you see in those four pictures they weren't
067there some of us some of us not me reenacted the climb Barefoot honoring the unimaginable hardship reaching the ranking house and touching its door was deeply symbolic and profoundly emotional for many of us it gave new meaning to the phrase standing on the shoulders of our ancestors excuse me sorry our freedom was earned by the immense amount of Blood Sweat tears and lives sacrificed as a teacher these stories of sacrifice resilience must be told to enrich students learning in a deeper and meaningful way as they help us to understand each other in the world we share thank you [Applause] at the John Ranken house uh we learned a little more about his life and how he risked his safety and the Safety and Security of his family to save over 2,000 enslaved people through the
068Underground Railroad um he would he would light a candle in his window letting them know that when it was safe to come and as part of that Town's history many houses have candles in the window sills in remembrance of this and it was astonishing to see elsewhere in the town of Ripley we visited the house of the former slave uh John P Parker which was his dream home that he built himself it is now a museum and like many others he was also sold and separated from his family at age eight to a mobile Mobile Alabama family where like Frederick Douglas's story John Parker was illegally taught how to read and write and what struck me most about his story was not only his dedication to education and to earn his own freedom but how
069he continued to risk his life to save others at at first John Parker was very hesitant to risk his hard-earned freedom for the service of others as a family man he risked his life by making several trips across the Ohio River to help others escape from Escape to Freedom uh knowing if caught he'd once again find himself s enslaved uh this also put his family members at risk at the John Parker House we also learned the story of uh Colonel Charles young since education was the key to saving Parker's life he made sure to pass this forward to the younger generation he learned that he we all learned that he would have seven local children tutored in his home after school uh one of these kids was Charles young who would grow up to be
070the third African-American to graduate from West Point and the highest ranking African-American in the US military upon his death in 1922 my lesson from this trip was that history isn't inevitable maybe sometimes we read history and fall into this trap of complacency and Nativity like naively believing that historical forces are predetermined somehow that we forget how powerful the agent for change can be in a simple individual with the courage to speak up the belief that things of politics are out of our control is not only historically inaccurate it could be anti-democratic and dangerous position to take for our future Generations what if everyone thought that way any one of the individuals I mentioned could have just accepted their lot in life that you know their enslavement was inevitable and that is just the way things
071are since this trip I am more civically engaged in my community I am more motivated than ever to empower the voices of my students and as a lifelong learner I value the courage and promise education has in improving the wrongs we see in society and it is a deep and spiritual lesson that cannot be read about but only experienced [Applause] I'm a former racist drug addict and convicted felon do I have your attention now those are the words that George said told to the assembled Educators when we visited Wilber Force University he told us a story about basically growing up racist and then being addicted to opioids and finding himself in prison while he was in prison he actually met friends of other nationalities and races and he started to kind of get the first
072inklings of what he was taught as a child wasn't necessarily the way that the world is uh during his time he found out he was a really good Storyteller and a lot of friends he made weren't really good at reading and writing so what he ended up doing was reading stories about black history and telling those stories to his cellmates during that time he was inspired when he got out to take a walk across America to visit HBCU and share and educate people about black history so we met him uh randomly I don't think any other tour did and it was really inspiring to see how he's changed his life and how the how learning about black history empowered him to learn how to be a better person so we want to make sure that
073we also share these stories with our students because it's really important that we understand that black history is US History all right we also got a chance to to visit the uh Ford Museum in Detroit one of the things I liked about is the idea that there's so much American history there and again that black history is a part of it we saw Rosa Park's bus we saw the the the car that JFK was shot in we saw the share that Lincoln got shot in a lot of people that died ended up getting their uh possessions in this place but one of the things I really took away from this is if other educators are allowed to go on this trip as we were it's a really powerful transformative experience that I really hope that
074they can experience and take with them because man I don't think any of us are the same after being on this trip [Applause] so okay uh this was our visit to the Charles Wright Museum um our visit to this Museum of African-American history was one of the most emotional experiences for myself and many of us on this tour uh this is a place deeply rooted in the truths of our past the museum is not merely a collection of artifacts but a solemn Testament to the struggles and triumphs that Define our history walking through its exhibits we were confronted with the harsh realities of slavery segregation and systemic Injustice the Museum's displays do not shy away from the pain and the hardship experienced by those enslaved prior to this experience I had heard about the horrific
075and unimaginable stories but on this day the reality came alive through Vivid images in the haunt ing sounds of voices crying out for help from a top and below the ship deck as we descended below deck bodies lay closely packed in a dark damp space devoid of comfort or consultation it was a stark reminder of the absence of humanity when we reached the final body we were instructed to touch the person's head this was the acknowledgement of not only a real soul but a connection to another human being this broke me and transformed my experience as a human in acknowledging both the suffering and achievements documented here we are called to carry forward the lessons of the path with past with sincerity let us engage with this experience mindful of the real and sometimes painful
076history it reflects and commit to honoring that Legacy through our actions and our lives [Applause] um what you're seeing here is the Middle Passage and as we previously spoke about um these are the bodies that were um nestled together the ones that were kidnapped from the um Banks of Africa the middle passage was brutal it was a part of the Triangular Trade system and it transported Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas and West Indies the number of kidnapped Africans that depart Ed ranging about 10 to 15 million it's a very vague number um of that amount um between the 1500s and the 19th um Century of that amount um only about an estimated two million make it to the shores of North America to the colonies and then later to the what was
077what is the United States the ones that make it to the United States um try as desperate as possible to maintain their own um African Heritage what traditions they know or remember and then their Heritage um and their culture gets blended into the United States into Plantation life and what becomes their new culture um there are record stories oral traditions of groups that have come um within those two million uh specifically the igu people that have a deep ancestral belief of um kin folk and family a reverence to their ancestors and are often um talked about and stories that are told about them um walking into the water because according to their oral tradition by the water Spirits we came and by the water Spirits we will be taken home I was oops excuse me
078um I was specifically captivated by the fact that throughout these um brutal tradition or brutal um parts of their kidnapping that they still try to maintain their culture that throughout everything that they're going through and all of their um desperation they're trying to maintain their culture um in this new place so what you see here is just a schematic picture and then this will bring you to Detroit Michigan um the man that you see standing in the red shirt is the official historian of Detroit um and he was the one taking us around and guiding us through um a few specific neighborhoods so right now I'd like for you to close your eyes and picture life after World War II you've served in World War II honorably and by the grace of God you've made
079it home this is well after the 14th Amendment and you've decided to migrate your family North to Detroit to start a family you've saved and you want to buy a house in this era of post-war prosperous America you want to take part in this new economy and the American dream now it's finally time to sign your mortgage papers and you can open your eyes what you're being told is that you don't have the qualifications for this loan package and that your loan is risky and you'll be given a 10% loan you'll be able to buy your house but at a 10% loan while your white neighbors are going to be you um given a 2% FHA loan and even VA options this particular neighborhood is known as 8 Mile and maybe you may have heard
080of it um because it is part of a very popular rap song That Eminem wrote about this neighborhood in the early 40s and 50s this particular neighborhood had um two separate communities one on one side of the wall the white community and the other on the other side is the um community in Brierwood this area was specifically known for um systematic racism known as redlining so what you we saw here with this wall is that um the wall was placed I had to write this down because I knew I wasn't going to be able to see it um the wall was placed to make sure that there were not inharmonious racial groups um living together um and they're worried about that up until about 1950 it's at that point um that this wall is starting
081to separate not only communities but Society in not only um a a way that's emotional but physical um for me this wall kind of bothered me it got me really upset um and walls are made to either keep people out or keep people in um either way these groups were not allowed to experienced the American dream at the high interest rates nor were they able to move by second and third homes or create any kind of generational wealth so for me this particular um wall is where we all kind of gathered in this park to to look at these two neighborhoods and to be able to see that two miles up the street um there was a completely different type of community that had been built um and that these individuals that were living um
082just three miles away uh were not really given the opportunity to make their Community flourish and for for me that just reaffirmed my desire to make my community flourish so thank you for the opportunity to let us go so I just want to warn you I'm actually the crier of the group so I'm going to try and hold it together we'll see I don't know what Mar tried so probably I'm not going to be able to do it okay all right so I also I'm going to add on to what she just said and tell you that as I was standing in that neighborhood in Detroit and it was literally we walked through the neighborhood that had originally been the black side of that which is now by the way a huge Community mural but
083the wall is still there and it it wasn't even a mile or two down the road it was literally on the other side of the wall the difference between the two neighborhoods just rocked me I I was furious and I know we've talked about it all of us we just furious standing there because we had been through so many historical sites at that point and so many things and this was very different this was very Urban it was very current it was literally still standing there not as something that was preserved but something that is literally still there and it was just impossible to not have a really visceral reaction to standing at that wall um so I'm going to talk now now I'm going to make myself cry okay by the time we left
084Detroit and headed into Canada my heart and my mind were incredibly heavy with so many stories to the point where I didn't think that I could hold much of anything more um as we approach the walls Family Farm which you guys are seeing in these pictures which is just on the other side of Canada but it's kind of off the beaten path and hidden away a little bit you could easily it's a really small unassuming spot that you could easily Miss if you weren't paying attention if you weren't looking for it um and we saw a simple wooden sign that declared where the Underground Railroad had its end so um this Farm is owned and and maintained by Dr Brian wals who's the great great grandson of John Freeman walls an enslaved person who made
085it all the way to Canada like created a homestead and created a safe place for people to go if they made it across right he and his wife Anna greeted us they told us some of the history of this hidden Sanctuary um they pointed out this large cart that you can see in that picture and then they explained that it has a shallow FAL bottom because it was designed to smuggle a family of four into their area and they actually they have you know they have it preserved there for you to see right and it's parked in front of this old barn and as we walk into this Barn we approached a doorway and there was another sign over that doorway which read Doorway to freedom and for me walking through that doorway you can
086see it it's the bottom right hand picture was one of the most transformative experiences I think I've ever had it was a literal threshold into something different into this small clearing that was on the other side of that doorway and I felt for the first time since we sat on this journey at 3:00 a.m. 7 days earlier I finally felt hope and there was this calm that overcame us we had a few minutes to sit and think and reflect and believe me the journey to this place was nonstop and I have Achilles tentis in both of my feet to to attest to it I'm not kidding right it was we were going 14 hours a day 16 hours a day and even when we had the chance to sleep our minds were so heavy and
087our hearts were so heavy and we had so many things that were going on so that was hope but Canada was not done with us yet because from there we went a short distance to a settlement called buckton which is was built by and for escaped African-American Freedom Seekers who had made it to Canada and in Buxton we had to digest we had time to digest reflect absorb in addition we were also given the opportunity to handle and experience different artifacts from this entire Enterprise and one of them was a large iron collar that was commonly placed around the necks of enslaved people as a form of security as the large Bells at the top of those iron prongs would make a long loud jangle if you even moved let alone tried to run right
088and I have to say I'm going to leave this because I'm going to cry if I don't but seeing that collar okay the weight of that collar both literally and figuratively is something that I will never ever forget in my life it was so heavy you couldn't let go of it because it hurt so bad it was resting on your collar bones and it was very heavy but for me seeing that collar placed on the next of my colleagues was even more difficult to see their faces to see that experience for them it was hard for me it was impossible to watch somebody else go through it so that that moment transformed me forever um and then I want to say that I think that is one of the moments of many but one of
089the main moments that bonded us and now we are closer we have an understanding and a feeling of family with each other that I don't know I don't know if I could have with people who weren't through this experience because that's how profound it was and we know now that we have each other we experience it together and we understand and that's something really really precious and it's part of our community as a learning community part of our family as a learning community i'mna stop on [Applause] uh this is where we stopped at um senica Falls um in New York um this was the Women's Suffrage part of the tour um specifically I wanted to focus on the story of um anarie Douglas and Rosetta Douglas um prior to this you know you hear about
090Frederick Douglas and the amazing person that he was but you don't often hear about the women um in these stories so today we honor anarie Douglas and our daughter Rosetta Douglas two extraordinary women whose lives were intertwined with a struggle for freedom and Equity anarie Douglas born in 1813 played a pivotal role in her husband Frederick Douglas's Escape From Slavery using her savings to support his journey to Freedom despite facing immense challenges Anna supported Frederick's abolitionist work while managing their household and raising their children their daughter Rosetta grew up immersed in the Abolitionist Movement and went on to become a passionate advocate for women's suffrage she worked alongside prominent suffragist and ensured that the voices of African-American women were heard in the fight for voting rights the stories of Anna and Rosetta Douglas exemplify the
091interconnected struggles for racial and gender equality they remind us that the fight for freedom and suffrage is ongoing and that their legacies Inspire us to continue striving for equality for [Applause] all Harriet Tubman popularized as a movie many of you have seen it she's more than that and I that's what I learned about Harry tman she what a woman I tell you she's a woman um footsteps to freedoms experience revealed more than her just being a conductor on the Underground railroad she embodied resilience of the human spirit and despite having absolutely nothing she made something of her life no formal education uh she could not read nor write uh she lived most of her life with seizures due to a traumatic head injury uh caused by her owner um she was considered the Moses of
092the Underground Railroad at age 27 she escaped um to Freedom uh but she risked her own life on 13 or more occasions and brought back um and helped uh runaway slaves escape to Freedom Beyond these contributions did you know she has an extensive very extensive resume um she was a military leader during the Civil War for the union she held different capacities as a nurse a spy a scout she led over she LED armed raids because she knew the territory um and to weaken the Confederacy she was a suffragist she worked alongside um most famous suffragette Susan banthony um in order to support Abol avolution of slavery and also women's voting rights she was a homeowner in a time when black women didn't own anything um and she purchased her home from Secretary of State
093William Seward in 1859 and she was a business owner she opened up Harriet Tubman's home for the agid and that is where she passed away at age 91 har tman believed in the power of every individual to shape history her story is vital to students uh as it shows the power of determination uh and the impact one person can have no matter their Beginnings born as an uneducated slave she became a beacon of Justice equality and freedom her life inspires students uh to persevere and stand up for these Timeless values and this needs to continue um she is like I said what a woman very inspiring thank you [Applause] okay sneak that's why I didn't know all right um so each evening uh when we were back on the buses the footsteps organizers who were
094amazing by the way but they would ask us to reflect on the approximately like 190 to 200 things we'd done that day and we'd seen and we'd learned and but on this day they had asked us to think about and write about our reason our reason so one of our many stops was at this Cemetery which I believe was in meville Kentucky is that right okay Mayville Kentucky where our entire group spread out and we created this giant ring of Educators right hundred teachers out there holding hands and we read at the Monument of a man who dedicated his life to this kind of education and who we did not get the opportunity to meet because he passed away recently and uh but we were there to honor what he started and what he did
095his name was Jerry Gore and in doing this as we're holding hands each of us shared the name of someone that we had lost and just the sheer number of parents and grandparents and children and siblings the name I said was my sisters and cousins and friends that we mourned was really overwhelming and for me I want to say the reason that I went reason the reason I went on this trip was to remind me that every single one of my students and my co-workers and my community everybody has a story and everybody has struggles and everybody has conflicts and everybody has pain and that's something that I will remind myself of every day when I'm in my classroom and when maybe I'm frustrated with kids not wantan you to focus and pay attention to
096what I'm doing or when they're not succeeding at the way that I want them to like to to know that they have stories to take that into account and to honor their stories as [Applause] well it is me again all right I'm not walking away this is the last one though for me all right so I have to say that perhaps the greatest surprise which by the way I don't think he said this almost none of us knew anything about this trip before we got there we showed up at 3 o' in the morning to get on a plane and to go with these people that we did not know and do stuff that we had no idea what we're going to be doing we had a general idea but that was it and one
097of the absolute the things I will never forget amazing surprises that one of these amazing inspirational Educators Kenneth Morris is actually the great great great grandson of Frederick Douglas and the great great grandson of Booker T Washington W and he was with us on the entire trip and I have to tell you there's nothing like the the and Hardy Brown as well like we had the best dosant we had historians we had real life people guiding us on this whole trip and my I have Goosebumps right now even thinking about the electricity of that we went and saw the Frederick Douglas Memorial with his great great great grandson that's all I have to say about that but actually that's not all I have to say about that one more thing here so this trip was
098obviously a very profound experience for me I realize most of what I'm telling you is my own experience and I apologize for that but um it was so filled with people and stories that seem way too often to get buried or even just forgotten they just we don't know them and I will tell you that um as a person who was born in California only lived here for eight days but moved to Arizona not that far away raised in Arizona educated in Nevada Arizona and California I have to say that most of the stories most of the places we went most of the things that I saw I did not know I was not taught and possibly that's because my teachers themselves didn't know these stories but I do want to say I think um
099we don't live a few blocks away from this stuff our kids don't see all of these places these monuments they don't see all of these things around them every day that is not their life here but I feel like they're not walking in history every day this was a walk-in history every place we went but I will say it is a history that I should know and it's also history that they should know and if I as an educator with 25 years of experience did not know these things and we the frequent topic of conversation for us was that none of us knew them none of us really knew so much of this so that's a really important thing to think about I would say right if what we're here for is for our kids
100and for our community I think that's a really important thing for us to to talk about and and for us as a group to recognize as we were going through this experience okay I'm done now um and then real quickly uh we were talking before that um they used his hand for the Statue so that's that's kind of cool um so first I want to um talk a little bit about the people in the picture this is the team of footsteps to Freedom um great team and the two people in the middle are uh Dr pette Brown and Mr hardy Brown and they are the ones that spearhead this very informative trip um and you know of course and and there was a lot of thought and effort that they put into it and um
101you know they couldn't make it a life-threatening you know trip right um but they did uh let us live in being uncomfortable and and live in vulnerability um to deepen our understanding of you know all the other things that happened um during this time and so for example even in the itinerary um you know having you know like they were saying we had very long days we would wake up really early and go to sleep really late and we were always on the go there was a new hotel every day we were living out of our suitcase and you know it was too kind of um again you know very small uh small sense of what they might have gone through you know of course you know we had a bed we had food we
102had shoes but but to to see see like how how on the move you were how constant it was and and it was it was difficult um even being in the in the bus for hours and and having your body hurt and and and just imagine like wow like I'm struggling can you imagine how it was for them like it was you you had a better understanding of it um so it became a lot more real um to to feel that um and then we also had the gift exchange which was kind of like the culminating part of the whole trip and uh you were given a name um and you know like the Underground Railroad it was a network right and so you didn't know who your person was right it was it was
103about a hundred of us so you didn't know everyone right away right and we're all from different districts um but it was really cool because you know as we talked about you you get to really um know each other and and and almost become a family in a sense um that the people that sat with me in the bus um they were kind of uh helping me find my person and they're like oh we know who it is um so it was it was cool to um have those interactions and and that kind of like chain of information um and then again you know out of your comfort zone get getting to uh know this person you know that you you don't know and and and put yourself out there right um so uh very
104cool um experience to end end that way um and then the other thing I wanted to mention was um when we when I first went on this trip you know we were going to end in Canada well New York but go up to Canada and you know I had heard of The Fugitive a uh fugitive act Fugitive Slave Act before I I remember hearing about it but I didn't really I hadn't really clicked it didn't click in my mind until this trip um because I I you know I was thinking I was like why are we going all the way to Canada and and to know you know we know the free states and we know the slave states but you know it wasn't until the Fugitive Slave Act that it didn't matter if you
105were in a free state they would still come get you and you would still go back to the slave state and so that's why Canada became the true north and so that was kind of like you know an aha moment for me and you know I usually teach summer school um in the summer and as you know we have juneenth off um and so I I make it a point to um you know do a little quick lesson with my kids about why we have the day off and you know after the trip I'm realizing that I'm like barely covering the surface like I feel like I'm doing um an injustice so this trip definitely makes me feel that I I I need to be better [Applause] all right let's give them another round of
106applause because this was a voluntary trip that they took to walk those steps and and I have to tell you I I had goosebumps as I'm listening to all of your stories and and the things that you lived through yes Miss opara because I'm the last you're the last one you get to do that part yes I I just wanted to say thank you so we're going to let you so I'm going to have my comment I'm not sure if I can quite handle it I'll give it a try so participating on this trip is one I will not forget in the short time I have on this Earth it will not be possible if the district did not take the chance to send these teachers to work in the footsteps of these enslaved people
107but I want to take the time to thank thank Mr hardy Brown his sister Dr pette Brown our tour guys Dr Walker Dr Morris uh Ken Morris and the other tour guides when I planned for this trip I had no idea what to expect or what emotions I had suppressed because as you see I'm from Africa so I don't have that experience a group took different routes but visited same sites it was when we returned that I found out that we didn't start in the same spot we heard and felt the cries of these humans that are my that are ancestors of our black students of our africanamerican students no ethnic group has gone through so many name changes as the African-Americans and yet history continues to relegate their District their history history and their
108story to sanitize information how many of us will celebrate a when we see a Lost Child on the road and point them away from their home how many African-Americans Cent tray their birth dates and anniversaries of their ancestors I can because I didn't have that history how many African-Americans know their ancestors down to the 10th Generation I can but this was robbed of them what is the fear in giving them factual information about their history and the journey their ancestors took in Chains these Educators who took this trip while giving up portions of their summer to learn firsthand and to share the impact they share a DNA with me and I don't say it carelessly you all share DNA with me let me tell you the impact it had on me and perhaps you will
109have an understanding I was really quiet through the whole trip because I wanted to get a better understanding of this journey I didn't want want to go but amandam Buchanan selected me and so by selecting me I had no choice but to go and find out for myself because I knew the history what I thought the history was which is very far from the truth I took the trip up ranking Hill and mind you I already heard about ranking Hill from the trainings that we had so I took a real comfortable pair of sneakers so that I can at least manage climbing the hill I thought it was a little Hill I thought it was like climbing yakala road but it was not it was a hill with steps that are not even some steps
110were made out of rocks that could slide some steps were made out of wood some steps were out of out of the way some of the members of the group were way younger than me I think I was the oldest in the group so I kept saying I'm going to go through this hill because I want to experience it I got to a point on the hill my knees buckled but they did not carry me because they wanted me to go through it I don't remember who the gentlemen were but they literally picked me up and stood me on my feet and I continued to climb that Hill I struggled to go up that hill and by the time I got up to the top of the hill I sent a text to the superintendent
111that this is the first time I have spel felt what cotton mouth is about because my M my I could not my saliva was non-existent imagine an enslaved person trying to escape to Freedom with people pursuing him or her or their children and they're falling off those Hill and can't make it imagine what would have happened if they were recaptured my Breaking Point happened when we got to um um the right Museum I had locked everything in and did not want to experience it I wanted to just keep going but the leaders of the group decided that I should go in the front so I walked in front and had no idea what to expect and then it came to where I had to touch the heads of the enslaved people in that dungeon and
112the cries and during that period I sitting in front of you here heard them cry in my language my language and I could not go beyond that I they literally had me sitting down because I'm Eble like it was described we would rather die in an ocean than to be captured so these people were in that place where they are stuck I heard the cries I heard the battery when they were discussing how to sell this and how not to sell this all in my language so my journey to that trip made me realize the importance of humanity looking out for each other because in that whole journey we are talking about what happened to the African-Americans let us not forget there were Caucasian men and women who were also trying to help them out
113so it wasn't just a black issue there were white people who were trying to save people from being enslaved who endangered their own children and their own wives and their own homes to make this a possibility so as I I sit here and I look in this audience and I think all of you hear me every time on this board meeting and I make sure that you realize that when I see you I do not see anything but somebody that shares my DNA I don't see it and I'm hoping that when we are out of this kind of a journey that we will begin to see people as people and not the enemy because that was great Injustice by Humanity towards another and that is the most painful part of it uh so I am
114hoping that this District having taken this step and having given us the opportunity to share out our experience that we will never forget and we will continue to send people so that they can continue to come back and see our students in a totally different set of eyes that's all I have to say for now you're all welcome to find any one of those fine teachers and ask them for their experience and you wouldn't miss it thank you so [Applause] much at this time I'm going to release the students so you can go to your homework thank you so much for staying yeah okay thank you thank you uh Educators for allowing me to speak and and that was powerful when I was moving um I just drove up the hill my name is Hardy
115brown one of the organizers my mom started footsteps of Freedom 30 years ago and we've taken over 5,000 Educators from all over Sano Riverside County that have experienced something just like that um but now we've added Northern California and one of the things we always talk about is historical empathy learning to walk in each other's shoes and what you just saw is exactly what we want to bring bring not just back into the schools but back into our everyday life to find out that there's always been good people who chose been right side of history and so I I wanted to bring something that I personally picked up when we were on the tour this year when they talked about going to Franken Hill that's the story from Uncle Tom's Cabin and there's over 2,000
116people that made it there in that town of Brown County Ohio and in Ripley Ohio um that particular area that road is just it's it's powerful and so every time I go I pick up a stone from the Underground Railroad and I wanted to present this to you all to be able to have here for Apple Valley for a keep sake just to remember that it's always been good people who chose be on the right side of history that look just like all of us so I present thank you so [Applause] much than thank you very much thank you okay we're going to go on with the presentation of the superintendent evaluation process in alignment with the board goals designed by the San berardino County Superintendent of Schools district governance Support Services team [Music] thank
117you I would have leaned over this is a hard um presentation to do after fitsteps for freedom but I do think it's important um one to um just appreciate what everybody went through and um what they bring back to our district and to our community in understanding um the superintendent evaluation process this is my sixth year as superintendent and I've never gotten to do an an presentation about my evaluation and yet this past year we worked on um changing the evaluation for this coming year to align our system and so we felt that it was important to be transparent about the process knowing that um this is while the evalu part is not public the content of it you're going to see some alignment that you're that um matches some of our goals within the
118district so this has been front and center since I became superintendent um first year we worked on values dignity Community authenticity and service and then of course the um mission that is everywhere all over the district about what we do for students and their unique needs in Behavior academic and social emotional um so that they're ready to support in an everchanging World from the system alignment that occurred the board has always had four goals safe and nurturing learning environment academic achievement which we added um with our adoption of the Cradle to Career roadmap for San Bernardino County um we added a a comment about that the local control accountability plan last year was in revision for a new um a new uh timeline three-year template and so we pulled back and said is there a
119way to take the five board goal the five goals that were part of the lcap and put them under the three board goals that align with student achievement safe and nurturing learning environment and community and parent involvement and Pat's team took that on and and they rewrote the local control accountability plan to align our leadership evaluations now align with the same four goals three goals that are focused other than the fourth goal which is financial um fiscal responsibility um but you'll see that there is some alignment there now and then board agenda item did it skip to here are the board goals safe and nurturing learning environment student achievement aligned to the Cradle to Career road map family and Community engagement and fiscal responsibility our local control accountability plan has five goals but the first
120three aligned directly to the board goals safe and nurturing learning environment student achievement aligned to the um Cradle and career roadmap family and Community engagement goal four and goal five had to be written because three of our school sites um qualified for Equity multiplier funds and So within our lcap we have to identify how those funds are utilized um in go four at TI desert Premier and Apple Valley Virtual Academy because those are um opportunity Schools parent choice schools and then the equity multiplier funded School Phoenix Academy is sits in its own goal for the evaluation alignment we started with mine um there's a facilitator from the San Marino County Superintendent of Schools that comes in and supports the facilitation of it we identified what the um areas the of focus would be what the
121um measurable objectives would be what the action steps I would take as the superintendent the assistant superintendent evaluations are aligned as well same format and the principal line um evaluations match um the co-administrators as well because those are all feeding um School sites specifically and how we support So under measurable objectives for safe and nurturing learning environment we determined that every classroom would have a documented classroom management plan it was a commitment that we made we want our students to know what teachers expect and what the outcome if they don't match those expectations and from a process of systems alignment we always want kids to know what is the expectation have I taught it do they understand it and is it something that I can attain and in 99% of the cases it is there
122and we see evidence of students understanding but our Target is 100% of our teachers have a classroom management plan that's the expectation and I'm proud to say that our principles um worked diligently to collect those because as students get sent to the office with an issue that is not resolved in the classroom the administration will be pulling out those classroom management plans and reviewing them with students to make sure that they understand how to be successful in the classroom as well evidence of the management implementation plan within the classroom setting means walking through and our expected Target for this year is 80% it's hard for me as a superintendent to say 80% but I also know that we're in a world where we have new people to our system we have people that changes hard
123and we want to see that at least 80% of our classrooms are meeting that Target of EV evidence that the implementation is happening what their expectations are students know and the classrooms are running smoothly in the other 20% Which is typically a lot of our our newer teachers to the system because they need time to um learn either it's our champ system or a classroom management system they're com comfortable with um we want to give them support to um meet that Target so more on that but by the end of the year our expected expectation is 80% and then student achievement aligned to the Cradle career road map while there everything that we do matters we had to pick a few grade levels that we were focused on and so for our Elementary grades um
124according to the cradle and career road map third grade reading by third grade is a target that we want to achieve for all students our current readings scores under an I ready diagnostic was 47% of our students were at grade level at the end of last year we have um placed a 5% Target on that for um an increase to 52% as a superintendent I'm hopeful that I'll see higher um uh scores than that but 5% seemed reasonable and appropriate and that it's a Target that we can um achieve and then likewise increase the math at grade level by the end of sixth grade using the IR ready Diagnostic and math is a much lower rate for us at sixth grade um 23% at the end of last year our goal is to get it
125to 30% by the end of this year for our sixth graders um these are predictors of how successful our students will be in the future and then student achievement aligned to the Cradle career road map in the um process that we were looking at for graduation it's an increase of our graduation rate from 89.4% to 92% by the end of the 2425 school year there's a lot of things that go behind that um but in the process it's looking at our students at the end of the first quarter to see what what are what are they not on track to meet and how we're going to um create plans to support them family and Community engagement we're going to we've already had meetings two different meetings with our administrative teams working to identify what our
126Baseline is for the expectation around community and parent involvement our schools do a lot of work within the community with their at each individual school but we made the decision that we were going to have some baseline expectations about how many parent nights were going to be held um what types of meetings um principles would hold with families Beyond just the basics and we hit a Baseline and we said imagine you're a new principal in the district and you're told this is the minimum expectation for parent and um Community involvement and we want you to design your um times with your school to meet that expectation um support family and Community engagement through ongoing efforts we have What's called the District advisory committee we meet in the multi-purpose room here on this property there are
127times where there are a lot of people there and there are other times that we don't have that many people there and so what I um sat with principles and others and had a discussion about is we want as many voices in the room as possible and we know that we're competing against parents that have Athletics for their children are taking them places all the things that happen in the evening but we want the commitment that we're going to have a minimum of three parents from each School site every time and principal said to me that means I'm G to invite six TR I said I it doesn't matter what you what you need to do to do that I want to have parents there and while we love our parents that are also employed
128in this district and Educators and serving multiple roles within that room I want parents that are not employees of this District also at the table and so I have said that that is an expectation on top of you can fill your table and you can have all the people that are parents and teachers or parents and Par Educators but you're going to have a minimum of three of others and if we don't hit that Target then we're going to figure out what else to do because we want them in the room the voice matters and then you'll notice on the board agenda or maybe not um there is a new addition to our board agenda items every board agenda item has at least one of our district goals this one happened to be one of
129the board agenda items from tonight um and it's meets goal two from um the board goals of student achievement aligned to the cradle and career road map sometimes you'll see multiples um and in cases like it's a board policy or a board bylaw it will typically say being fiscally responsible because if we don't do those things we open ourselves up to liabilities and so we agreed that that was an appropriate goal for those so back to the systems alignment um I am more energized as a superintendent than any year I have begun um even my first year while I was we were on this pathway covid took us out in March and um to feel that it's your six and this is finally happening I am absolutely energized and um I have shared with the
130board I've been in 100 in 65 classrooms um I have been on campuses every morning that I am not down the hill at a meeting um as his cabinet we are um all being out on campuses because that's what matters um we are here to support but we also want to make sure that as we're um having these expectations we're also walking the walk and talking the talk so um that's it any questions no question thank you I'm just glad that my PowerPoint came CU it's been a long time since I've stood on this side presentation of un audited uh actuals financial report for 2023 24 he thank you yeah I'll get to give me a moment while I I connect here okay there we go um as uh Miss okara said this is a
131presentation of last year's un audited actuals so just for the context we are looking back at our budget that closed in June of this year um a little bit about that if you recall if you can remember back to January 23 we get the initial proposal the May Revis come came out in May of 23 and of course the legislature does pass ontime budgets because that depends um that their paycheck depends on that so they're very good at passing the state budget on time uh as we go through our budget year just a quick reminder we have our fiscal year reporting first interim and second interim our estimated actuals back in may now those estimated actuals in May of this year that sets the projected ending fund balance for last year which sets the projected
132beginning fund balance for this year now that we have our unaudited actuals one thing we do is we'll go back and we'll update the beginning fund balance for our current year both unrestricted and restricted now that we have those numbers it's no longer a projection but keep in mind these are unaudited and when the Auditors come we occasionally do have audit adjustments which affect our fund balance uh that's a quick look at last year's Revenue uh you'll see the line share of our Revenue again is the local control funding formula within that 72% that is base grant that is transitional kindergarten add-on that is 9th through 12th grade CTE add-on that is supplemental Grant funds concentration Grant funds and transfer ation add-on all lumped into the local control funding formula that's a quick snapshot of
133our expenses last year you'll see our expenses did outpace our revenues um that was on purpose as we were spending down our Esser funding that we had received in previous years on some capital projects that's why our services and our Capital outlay are a little larger than typical um we completed our HVAC project at many of our sites replacing many of our air conditioning units that was one of the largest capital projects that we were be able to undertake with the Esser funds there's a quick uh breakdown of the numbers you'll see on the unrestricted side uh about 195 million in Revenue 160 million 156 million in expenditure so we had an excess there until we make the contribution to the restricted side of the budget you look down there you see the line that
134says contribution we took a little over 40 million from the unrestricted side of our budget and we contribute to the restricted side The Lion Share of that is to support our students in our special education programs student services our routine restricted maintenance program is also a big part of that uh transfer over to the restricted side of our budget but you'll see we uh ended we're we are un audited ending fund balance about 25.5 million on the unrestricted side a little under 18 million on the restricted side and you can see the combined numbers there in the right hand column A components on our unrestricted side we do have to put a component in there to uh for our revolving cash as we hold revolving cash we have cash Accounts at local banks that we
135use as clearing accounts so we just have to hold um that amount to cover that cash as it transfers it's kind of like money Lottery ing but it's legal we get money we put it in our bank we write a check to the county they put it in our fund but we have to have that revolving cash set aside stores is what we hold in inventory in our warehouse so we have to have a a component of our ending fund balance to match that um assigned and committed funds we have some prepaid expenditures are the reu is the reserve for economic uncertainties so any funds on our unrestricted side that are not assigned or committed or prepaid or stores are revolving cash we Place those in as our reserve for economic uncertainties you'll see we
136more than meet the 3% required at the end of the budget year and that's just kind of a a placeholder because they really don't look at that at the end of the budget year they look at that at your budget adoption first interim and second interum on the restricted side that 17.9 million in ending fund balance it's got a lot of different pieces now these are all restricted pieces that come with strings you'll see the first one there is elop that's our expanded learning opportunity program that funds our after school program for our TK through sixth graders um and also our summer school program for our TK through sixth graders educator Effectiveness funds are for professional deel development for our Educators we have Lottery which is instructional and just to remind uh the board we
137have two types of Lottery Revenue we have Lottery Revenue which comes to us unrestricted that is not reflected here that would be on the unrestricted side of fund1 this is a it's a specific restricted resource for instructional material purchases only mainly that particular resource is used for the purchase of textbooks Community Schools planning Grant you you heard somebody mention the Community Schools Grant earlier tonight that's that's the remainder of the planning Grant that's going toward that that group putting together a plan for to to best serve the students in the community in Apple Valley art music instructional materials block grant that's the remaining of a large block grant that Governor Nome passed out to all the school districts in the state of California um that revenue is always that revenue is booked so you may
138see deficit spending on the restricted side of the budget as we continue to spend down that particular block grant you'll see prop 28 that's the Arts money that we got on that uh proposition that was passed gosh it's probably been good two two years um uh we have some kitchen infrastructure funding again category IAL um you heard Miss Nelson mentioned the lcff equity multiplier and our schools that qualify for that that's a restricted resource uh we have some other funds and then of course our routine restricted our routine major maintenance fund um he did operate well within budget and has about 1.8 million um in reserve that was all fund 01 our general fund uh our fund that runs the majority of the oper operations of Apple Valley Unified School District well we have some
139other funds uh fund 11 runs our adult ed program you'll see she did run a deficit uh we did make a contribution uh our fund 12 Child Development ran within budget uh expenses were lower than revenues and she does have an ending fund balance of a little under 1.4 million uh same with Food Services you'll see we booked $1 million in Revenue about $9 million in expenses she does have quite an in fund balance that is very restricted money in our food services program it really can only go to that program to serve the kids meals and just to remind the board we we are still participating in the federal Community eligibility provision at all of our schools so all of our students um regardless of income status you've heard free and reduced lunch over
140the over the decades a USDA program regardless of status all of our students at all of our schools can get two me a day for free breakfast and lunch at all of our schools fund 14 is a deferred maintenance program uh that currently is showing an ending fund balance of 2.1 million remember this is last year as we closed the books you may recall the board took a resolution in the spring to uncommit the fund 14 deferred maintenance funds and we transferred two million of those dollars back over to our unrestricted side of the budget in this budget year so when we close the books this year that account will be mostly depleted our fund 25 Capital facilities developer funds we have a SE 7.4 million ending fund balance much of that will go to
141support our transitional kindergarten project which is currently out to bid to install uh classrooms at Desert nlls yakala and Sandia fund 40 Special Reserve for Capital outlay about 6.7 million there um that supports our cop Debt Service um and certain um other facilities projects which that will also support our transitional kindergarten project uh fund 51 bond interest and Redemption I know I get up here every year and say we have absolutely no control over fund 51 that is a result of the measure s facilities bond that Apple Valley the citizens of Apple Valley passed back in 2004 uh the County Treasurer um um assesses that property tax the incremental property tax on all the property owners within Apple value unified collects those funds deposits them in fund 51 and makes The Debt Service payment on
142those bonds uh next up of course we do have some adjustments uh you'll see the adjustments to our budget at the first interim we'll update the beginning fund balance we'll update any revenue and expenditures and we'll update the assumptions as we go through you can see it just that's a partial list of the um assumptions that we'll take a look at as we get working on this year moving towards first inter room again and just to remind the board first interim is our financials as of October 31st the Auditors will be in District in October to take a look at our books last year um and they'll produce a report that I most likely will share with you either in January or February um and any questions I do yes would it be possible to
143get like a copy of the UN audited actuals uh you will see the UN audited actuals the actual sax forms is an attachment in the uh board docs if you could like a hard copy I certainly no no I just didn't see it in the yes it should be attached it's on the consent agenda item I forget what number it is but you'll see as we go through the consent list you'll see um the recommended action to approve that particular report and that report will be attached there as a PDF item 29 according to Kylie thank you Kylie yeah this I don't attach it up here because that actually has to be approved by the board any other questions thank you thank you thank you so much uh Kylie do we have any um public
144comments we do we have five okay as provided on our public comments card speakers are requested to limit comments on a maximum of three minutes if more than one person wishes to speak on the same topic subsequent speakers should limit their remarks to new information only public comments shall be limited to a maximum of 20 minutes per item Mr Koffman hi I'm James caufman I used to work for the district years ago um I think it's a couple years ago uh but anyways uh I'm retired and I had some questions but after watching this particular presentation this day I'm going to request that uh I hold my comments but uh I am requesting that maybe the assistant superintendent uh uh Dustin Conrad and Matthew schulenberg um have a uh meeting with me or something I'll
145email them to try to set up a time but I would like to make a comment and excuse me for not saying hello to everybody it's been a while since I've been up here um I want to echo on Kylie's achievement during the covid I was the um president of the csda union and I'm not a very good writer but when I would send my emails in to be brought to this board she eloquently and articulately spoke in a way that I would have wanted it to be spoke and I want to thank her for that publicly because she is an asset to this District um another thing that I want I'm not putting any I I know that all the board members work very hard but Mrs opara is the only board member in
146my recollection that's ever asked to meet with the CA meeting and I want to thank her for that I didn't have an opportunity because of covid to ever get her the chance to be part of our board but it is important for a union to have uh recognition from this board and all the board members have always been gracious but she's the only one that I've ever known to ask and when she says she's in one want everybody to be included and she believes in in the uh uh equity and and things like that I truly believe it so and she she lives in walks to walk and lastly uh I don't know when I'll be back again I would like to thank Mr Bender for all his years of service uh we haven't always
147seen eye to eye but he's always been a very gracious man and he always says what he has to say I've been here quite a few years and I enjoyed it every moment of him even though I was sometime was the brunt of the action but I mean I have no problem he's a he's a wonderful man I know he's a good person and U thank you for all your years of service and I hope some someday I'll meet you out in the streets and we'll be kicking around or something thank you everybody thank you so much um Mrs Nelson if you can send somebody to speak with him later get that hand thank you uh Eric Schmidt good evening good night I'm not sure what I should say at this point uh hello my
148name is Eric Schmidt I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latterday saints and uh some of you may know me as the former mayor of the city of asaria but I am now the government relations specialist for the Apple Valley stake uh here in this region and I'm I'll be attending board meetings and providing updates on church activities throughout the year uh and uh I am your contact if you have any questions or need to communicate with the church in that regard so I thought I would take an opportunity today to talk about what the school beginning um last month I thought I would take the opportunity to highlight a youth program within the Church of Jesus Christ latterday saints that is coincident with the start of the school year so every
149school day morning at 5:40 a.m. yes 5:40 a.m. students of our faith from all the major high schools and even those who are on self-study homeschooling or other uh or other such schedules uh Converge on our chapels at Mojave Road uh or tesca road to attend a scripture study program called Seminary the Seminary program of our church is a four-year religious education program for youth globally hundreds of thousands of students and their teachers meet to study the scriptures in Apple Valley around 60 students participate in this faith-based educational program led by eight Seminary teachers who volunteered their time to lead these young minds to give you a sense of scale there are currently over 400,000 Seminary students and over 170 countries and Seminary classes begin each new uh year uh almost every month of the
150year in countries all over the world um all youth um are ages uh 14- 18 and whether the members of the ldf Faith or not are invited to participate in this wonderful program the program is entirely voluntarily voluntary which means that these students get up extra early every day of their own valtion to learn about the scriptures our Lord Our Savior Jesus Christ the Holy Ghost and how they recognize the promptings or guidance of the Holy Ghost in each of their lives so if you're out and about that early on a school day and you happen to pass by one of our chapels please know of the good work being done to spread the good news to our youth as always I am your humble servant and uh if there's any questions uh that you
151have um I'm available so thank you thank you so much thank you so [Applause] much hilly Woody [Music] it's kind of high I'm sorry thank you okay thank you good evening my name is Haley Woody I'm a student athlete at Granite Hills High School I'm speaking on behalf of athletes involved in the aquatics program I'm here to address the problems and concerns that we as athletes are currently facing with our school and our Sport AS at the end of the 2023 to 2024 season our coach was let go and the athletics department promised us a coach with his 2024 to 2025 school year as summer ended it came to our attention that our athletic director had never started to look for a coach or put in the effort to fulfill the promise early in the
152school year we had a meeting to determine how many people were interested in boys water polo 10 boys including the returners were signed up to join a week or two later our athletic director told us us he did not believe that the kids who had signed up for what boys Polo season were actually interested to join he removed them from the list and said we did not have enough players to form a team when we did although we do believe that the lack of interest in Aquatics as a whole is directly linked to the fact that the aquatics program does not receive the same equal publicity as other sports provided at Granite we feel that the athletic director shows a lack of interest in our sport as a result of this the boys 2020 for
153water polo season was unfortunately cancelled we as a group feel this to be unfair to the students and freshmen that were seriously interested in joining boys water polo along with this year's seniors that are now unable to have their last year of Polo us athletes involved in the aquatics program hold great concern that the girls 2024 water polo season and our co-ed 2025 swim season will be canceled due to the same reasons we've been doing all we can to promote our sport by attending school events and handing out flyers and posting on social media to find people actually interested in Aquatics from these events we have successfully gained a list of about 48 students that have an interest in either doing swim or water polo but we cannot have a proper season without a coach
154that our school's athletic department has currently failed to provide us we are asking for further assistance in finding a coach because we believe deeply in the value of our Aquatics program and the joy growth and team build building it brings to its athletes it would be heartbreaking to see it end especially when the program provides such a valuable skill set in and outside of school we hope that you will take into consideration our please for help in replacing our Aquatics coach thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak today on behalf of Gran Hills High School Aquatics thank you thank you that is really impressive for you to advocate for yourself um Robert Orosco Robert Orosco hello my name is Robert Rosco and I'm also here for the Granite Hills Aquatics program because of
155ring con's uh negligence and lack of effort and support this year I have no sport to participate in and me and multiple other students will no longer be able to participate in all four years of water polo ring con even though he has not stated it directly clearly has something against the aquatics team he gives a very little funding and even less attention and somehow even less effort into doing things for us our coach was fired at the end of last year and he almost has put no almost no effort to find an a replacement and it's obvious now that he has a chance he just wants to get rid of us and take us off his plate and to be done with us once and for all he has made two posts on Instagram
156and nothing more he is clearly putting in the minimum effort for us because we are not as popular as other sports overall the athletic director needs to be replaced for his lack of effort and for letting his emotions take control of him this man ringcon is a fool and I'm done with wasting my time on a fool so I'm asking you to handle this man for me a man that lets his emotions get the better of him is nothing but a child I know children at school and on this team who are more capable than rencon at performing the role of athletic director me and ringcon are truly equals and this means that ringcon is nothing but a child despite his age same as me excuse me for losing my temper right there um what
157I'm saying is that in three years ringcon has only posted two times about the aquatics team compared to the countless posts about other sports teams it's obvious that he discriminates against us because we are not popular and do not make a lot of money for him but we aren't popular and don't make money because he doesn't promote us like other sports it's a paradox IID like to thank you for your time and I wish you a good day Mr Javier uh good evening cabinet and steam cabinet and board I want to just Begin by saying that I wish to have uh such an illustrious career as uh um Mr Bender I've only have 10 years this is my 10th year at Granite and I just come today to share with you some exciting things that
158are happening here in the great Academy um first off I'd like to inform you that we were just awarded $40,000 $220,000 for our Tech theater and $20,000 for our recording program as a model technical demonstration site for the CDE um we've also been asked by Patricia kouy the County Arts education coordinator has selected the great Academy to be featured in the October um issue of our countywide Arts newsletter so we'll be hearing more about what's going on in the great Academy through the county in addition something I'm very excited about is the US Department of Education is in a student Performing Arts initiative and they're looking for talented performers to perform Across the Nation uh to Showcase their skills at Department hosted events for the 2024 uh 25 school year and as you guys know
159um thank you so much for sharing the video of our amazing all girl rock band we have an incredible stable of talent that we're going to be submitting to this um uh on a practical note um I always am available as I've uh come and spoken before you a well as in regards to arts and uh Arts and Music in schools I stand ready to serve in any way that I can in that capacity and then lastly um I'm thrilled to announce that for the third year in a row I will be serving our County the san berardino county music educators Association as the high desert uh honor band uh organizing chair it'll be the third year that I've done it and I'm very excited to see what amazing performances our kids from the county
160are going to be able to do thank you very much I appreciate your time thank thank [Applause] you board comments Mr Bender Mrs buan Mr Ry is Ry oh nothing thank you and for me um I have to say thank you so much uh for taking the time to um listen to our presentation um I know it was long but it was I I think it is time for us to begin to showcase the things our teachers are doing uh and sir I used to live in Utah so I know about the early morning you know prayer hour I I I tried my best not to you know be counted as one because I don't like waking up early you know so um and Mr Robert arasco um I heard what you had to say
161but I do have a word of advice um I do know you are passionate about um the polo um the sports uh but when we come to address the board uh it is very important not to address the person by name the the the administrator has a a title so I will prefer that his title be used when you are addressing him and and I beg to differ he is not a child so he does follow instructions that is given to him from somebody who is his he has somebody who is his boss I am glad that you brought it forward to us and you shared it with us and you leave it to us to handle it but name calling will not stand a chance not in this on this board I'm going to
162tell you I don't I'm not going to discuss it with you any further so I'm done thank you superintendent's comment okay public hearing we conduct a public hearing to determine that each pupil in each School in the Apple Valley UniFi school district has or will have prior to the end of the 8th week of school sufficient textbook and our instructional material for the 2024 2025 school year Mr Scher I'll reserve my comments for the time between the hearing I'll get you to that point okay Alo do I leave the rest since he's reserving it or just keep going okay um Education Code 60119 and um CCR Title 5 Section 9531 require the governing board of any local agency receiving instructional material funds from any state source to hold a public hearing on the sufficiency of
163textbook for instructional material by the end of the 8th week of school are there any questions or comments from members of the board regarding the pupil textbook and instructional material compliance K12 2024 2025 school year board questions I think we all have books right no question now I now open the public hearing regarding the pupil textbook and instructional material compliance K12 2024 for 2025 school year for public comment the time is 9:29 that might be the latest we've ever opened this particular September hearing I'll just say briefly that we at this moment have already um had our visits from the County of San Bernardino for the four sites that were selected as um sites that qualified for what's called A Williams visit to um walk classrooms that are representative of the grade levels at that
164school inspector facilities uh Insurance instruction materials and so on so those visits were um excellent there were no findings uh the team uh at each School site did a wonderful job of preparing every classroom the uh curriculum instruction team did a wonderful job of doing previsit so that's all been handled and so U we're very thankful to say that those are successfully complete thank you any other question okay this 9:30 the um hearing no further public comment I now close the public hearing for people textbook and instructional material compliance K12 2024 2025 school year and the time is 9:30 now I pass this on and so I need a motion to adjourn to a public meeting of the Apple Valley Unified um School District public facility operation for and new business as deemed necessary I'll
165move the item second all in favor I I now and I'll pass it on to the president um Mr RC to conduct this meeting taking roll call and ask him for this meeting of the public facilities Corporation roll call Gary Ry here Rick Raley present Maria opara here Amanda banan here action items for this public facilities Corporation number one authorize the filing of the annual registration renewal fee report rrf-1 and the annual Treasures report ct- tr-1 forms with the attorney general's registry of terriable trusts for fiscal year 2023 24 move second can he do that he's no I will need somebody that's considered an appointed officer one of these one of these four officers I'll move it okay so Mr Ry yeah and I'll second it try all all in favor I I adjournment it
166is recommended that the board of directors adjourn the meeting of this public facilities Corporation and reconvene the regular meeting of the Apple Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees what time time is 9:34 this meeting is adjourned okay we hereby conven sorry did we get a motion for that it was motion to go back I'll move it that we adjourn okay second I'll second all in favor I I I we hereby convene the regular meeting at 9:32 okay it is recommended that the Board of Trustees discuss and take action on the following items approve the agreement for consultant Services between leadership Associates and Apple Valley Unified School district for the 2024 2025 school year I need a motion move it second any discussion all in favor I any opposed conduct the first reading of the
167following updated board policies board policy 04110 0410 non-discrimination in District programs and activities board policy 13123 uniform complaint procedures board policy 4030 nondiscrimination in employment board policy lactation accommodation board policy 411 [Music] 9.11 421 9.11 431 19.11 sex discrimination and sex based harassment board policy 514 5.3 non-discrimination harassment board policy 51477 sex discrimination and sex-based harassment board policy 5146 married pregnant and parenting students I need a motion I'm move it second any any discussion all in favor I I any opposed approve the certificated and classified personnel actions as listed second any discussion all in favor I I approve the recommendation for requested leaves as noted I'll move it all second any discussion all in favor I I approve the clear subscription proposal I need a motion so moved I'll second any discussion I'll just interject
168quickly that there's a at your table and a little bit of information about what clear does and it's essentially it really is about helping us with our residency verification process we want to be very cautious about making sure that uh we're following um only publicly available uh sort of protocols for finding out um where people are living but we just want to make sure that when we have uh seats in our schools we're serving the students who live in that school neighborhood and so we spend a lot of time and energy tracking down residency concerns and this will help us quite a bit and streamlining that process so that we can um really serve the residents of Apple Valley and uh reduce overflow so is this going to reduce uh the home visits then yes
169it will certainly Target them to the those places where we have um a publicly available database that says there's mismatch between the address that's given to us and the address where it turns out they may actually live we will still visit all right did we get a motion we already we already did that was the discussion okay so now I need a vote all in favor I I any opposed consent agenda it is recommended that the Board of Trustees consider approving a number of of agenda items as a consent list consent items are routine in nature and can be enacted in one motion without further discussion this procedure conserves meeting time for a full discussion of significant issues consent items to be approved in one motion are one through 40 I move that we approve
170one through 40 I'll second I'd like to pull item number 22 for discussion item number 22 okay I'll I'll um change the motion to approve items uh 1 through 40 of minus 22 so I need a motion I just did give a second okay I'll second that all in all in favor I I okay item number 22 item number 22 is a um um mou for UniCare mobile services and um this is a very positive item providing medical services for our students especially number of our students that are underrepresented um I do have a couple of things I was wondering about though on page one of this mou it says that um this this um service is available for referral to a medical home or other services and I was that just seems rather ambiguous
171uh I was just wondered what that means on page two item number one says there up other students can be referred to other opportunities for delivery of Health Care Services again that seems quite open-ended um on page two it does say that that they are to obtain um appropriate parent medical consent and my understanding of these Services is that they Encompass mainly preventative Family Care with the the parents present but I was wondering if it would be appropriate uh to reassure parents that all of this has being done with their with their full knowledge and consent I was wondering if some further Clarity was necessary if that Clarity needs to come in the form of a adjusted uhou where we maybe suggest some language and or um maybe offer a an amendment or a couple
172of different sentences in those sections we'd be happy to to take that back to UniCare and if uh assuming they AG ree bring that slightly changed mou back to you if we' want to do that if we want to either table this for now or I just offer that as a possibility and then I would ask what kind of clarification we would send out to families are you asking us to um do a parent notification across the district so that I understand what kind of um notification for I was just wondering what would be appropriate to reassure parents that they are aware of of the services being that their student is engaged in sure I'm sure between our nurses and our family centers which are usually the ones that are organizing the events to host
173these that we could do it on the flyer to indicate that these are um parent um approved events for students to participate in with the parent involved so if that would work much like we do for the dental exams we currently do with big smiles this is very similar um it's offered it's only if parents allow it and it's for those who qualify by by virtue of their either Financial circumstances or Insurance status why don't we table it until we get the answers that truste is I agree with that fine fine we'll bring it back in October we yeah okay I need need a motion to table it right yes make the motion I'm going to make a motion that we table item number 22 until we get further information okay I I'll second that
174in favor okay so we removed item reports we're not going back to close session future items do any members of the board have any future items okay the next board meeting will be wait can I ask a question it's fast do we have an upcoming date for the budget committee meeting that got rescheduled or canceled that's it that's all I want to know I think there was an email there would have been an email with all the dates so we can get that to you I think Matt has it pulled up next Wednesday the 11th thank you 4:30 all right we got that um next board meeting is Thursday October 3rd at 5:00 p.m. right here in this room there being no further business to come before the Board of Trustees it is recommended that
175the meeting be adjourned I need a [Laughter] motion I'll second that all in favor I stick around and sign some people