001[Music] let calling the meeting to order present Maria okara Rick Ry I'm here Gary RC here Amanda Buchanan here Dennis Bender here nobody is absent uh can I get a pledge of allegiance from Mr woodro I pledge aliance to the flag United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you K do we have any uh public comments uh none pertaining to close session okay um okay close session these are the items that we are going to discuss at the close session people personel annual review readmit case AR number 12425 conference on litigation government code section 54956.9 subsection a current litigation cases Civ ds201 11183 Civ SB 2111 303 222 221 8676 23230 4865 231 473 23 22171 2412 359
002and 2687 government code section 54 954 .5 subsection C and 54956.9 subsection D and 2 and E and 1 anticipated litigation one case 2020 20215 Public Employee discipline dismissal release reassignment transfer leave certificated title certificated and classified employees number four Public Employee appointment resignation retirement reduction title certificate ated and classified employees number four conference with labor negotiator agency negotiator Jeremiah Harrison employe organization Apple value unified Teachers Association number six conference with labor negotiator agency negotiator Christine Dupri employee organization California School Employees Association number seven conference with real property negotiator government code 5495 6.8 negotiating parties Matthew schillberg Apple Val UniFi High School number eight security matters government code section 54957 consultation with Apple Valley Unified School District Chief of Police Superintendent evaluation I need a motion to go into close session all in favor any
003opposed okay with o' e e e call in the meeting to order roll call Maria opara I'm here Rick Ry here Gary Ry here Amanda Buchanan here Dennis Bender here all are [Music] present zo we can you lead us in the Pledge of [Laughter] Allegiance I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands na indivisible liy and justice for all thank you Zoe good evening everyone and thank you for being here before we get started I'd like to say that the board appreciates and supports our educational Partners input at our meetings engagement by members of the public and Civic matters is the Cornerstone of a democracy everyone should have a chance to express their opinions within the guidelines the board has established for its meetings so that we
004are 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 time we would like to pause in a moment of silence to
005remember Apple Valley UniFi School District family me member Christina kimsey and I USD family member Loris Smith thank you board comments Mr vender [Music] [Applause] stud good congratulations congratulations congratulations Amanda buan all right so welcome back um good evening I wanted to extend a warm welcome to all our students and our parents Educators staff as we embark on another exciting school year um this year as always we are committed to providing the best possible educational experience for all of our students and I'm excited about what we're going to achieve together this year uh over the summer I had the incredible opportunity to join some of our dedicated teachers um and president oara on the footsteps to Freedom educational tour focused on studying historical empathy particularly through the lens of the Underground Railroad um and the
006experience was like it was profoundly moving um and it reminded me of the importance of teaching history in a way that Fosters understanding and compassion um and I'm eager to see how the lessons learned from this trip will be integrated into our curriculum to help students connect with history on a deeper level I also had the chance to take my own children to visit my family in Tennessee and Cincinnati this trip was just a really great experience um to connect with our own roots and reflect on the importance of family Community Values um that are the heart of our own School District so traveling with my children and sharing our family history made me think about the diverse backgrounds of all of our students and how we can continue to celebrate and support that diversity
007in our schools so as we start this New Year I am filled with optimism and excitement for what lies ahead and together we can continue to build a community that supports and uplifts every student ensuring that they have the tools that they will need to succeed whether this is your first year or your 40th in apple valy unified let's make this um this year one of growth learning and unity so thank you for being here tonight and let's work together to make this year our best yet thank you thank you Mr RC just like to welcome everyone back and commend the the students the teachers the parents the staff the support staff for a very successful uh first opening a couple of days of school as I traveled around the district yesterday on uh I
008I just saw a tremendous tremendous um teamwork tremendous anticipation excitement for the new year uh happened to to drop by Sandy and I saw a mom dropping off her kindergarten student and the student was a little bit apprehensive and a few tiar coming down but the staff there at Sania knew exactly what to do and and comforted that that that student and and pretty soon the the student was just you know all all mixed in with her friends and and didn't even know you know that that mom was gone anymore the staff was even pretty pretty supportive to help Mom mom too cuz Mom had a couple of Tears In Her Eyes so but but the the staff were right on top of it just did did a fantastic job and that's just you know
009emblematic of what was going on all throughout the district uh went to um Apple Valley high school and talking to some of the students there and uh I kind of chuckled that a couple of them were were really excited I mean pretty even even the high school students were excited to be back but it made me chuckle that a couple of them were really excited because in Mr Elmer's anatomy class Mr Elmer already had broken out some of the the sample that they were going to be dissecting later on in the year and boy those students were just just excited to to to to dig into their laboratory samples um at Mariano at Mariana Mrs lasasco was was saying that it was one of the the smoothest openings that that she had ever seen is
010out she was out there directing traffic with her team uh and as I went around the district just talking to bus drivers just talking to security Personnel everyone was just excited to be back it was funny that not only the the students but the teachers were saying it's so good to be back and have a routine again you know it's it's it's it's funny you know we take it for granted but you know as as I was a teacher for 35 years my life was was governed to the moment to the minute I knew exactly what what at what minute every single Bell was was going to ring when I could finally go to the bathroom and when I could get lunch and and you know we get used to that structure and and not
011just the teachers were were so happy to be back but the students and then the parents I saw a lot of happy Parents to to be dropping off their kids again at school um law enforcement team was out there in force I I I really enjoyed our our law enforcement Personnel giving one-on-one tutoring lessons to the to the drivers in in the finer points of speed limits and and and driving etiquette and proper places to drop off their kids so you know that thank you to Chief and Max and and everyone who's doing just just such a fantastic job so everywhere I went throughout the district there was just a lot of excitement a lot of anticipation everybody's uh excited to be back and I just know tremendous things are going to be happening this
012year our students are going to grow um our our our teachers are going to grow with all the professional development opportunities we have for them we have have so many young teachers here in this district and you know so many of us have been here for for so long but it's great to see the energy the enthusiasm the creativity that our new teachers represent so I know I know all of us up here just are just excited about the new year as are you so again I just wanted to to thank superintendent Nelson all the administrative team the teach teachers the administrators parents uh students uh there's just tremendous energy out there I know it's going to be a fantastic year so thank you for all of your hard work and preparation leading up to
013this point thank you so much uh Mr Raley well I just want to Echo what everybody else has said and Gary's enthusiasm uh you're you're right uh I did have go to the luncheon with some of the other board members with the new teachers and there's a lot of young teachers that look like they're right out of high school themselves which is which is good because uh it's an honorable profession and to see people stepping up to the plate to become teachers uh was heartwarming to see that in this in today's society so uh again I want to Echo what everyone said welcome back can't believe it's going to be 2025 school year already but uh here we are so thank you thank you so much thank you Mar thank you very much um comes
014to me uh welcome back to year 2024 2025 I can't believe that I'm saying those words um but um I can't I can't wait to see what this year holds um when the school year starts we are full fil filled with enthusiasm and excitement and the joys that we see on the faces of the families um I have to say though um this was one year that uh for some reason it it entered I entered into it into like a different human being um I have to start by thanking the school district and and my fellow board members um for sending 10 people on the footsteps to Freedom um it was a journey that I didn't know I was going to learn anything new because I thought I knew it all um but I found
015out I knew nothing um but I have to thank the district for that um for that invitation to go and and to travel through the like trusty Buchanan said to retrace the footsteps to freedom and to actually uh walk the the steps that others worked walked and I it was really a challenge for me the first the next day after we arrived we had to climb this hill and the hill was a killer my knees buckled I had people trying to lift me up so that I could finish the journey um but in all of that I I was filled with so much gratitude uh in knowing that this District invested money in somebody like me to go and feel and travel that path um I don't know what where that is going to lead
016but I know one thing I came out a changed person and um so thank you to um the school district um I also um have have to thank somebody who was exceptionally special to me that I did not know was going to be special to me but when I went on the trip I realized how special she was and that is the I think she's the dean or the assistant principal of Appo Val High School H she made me a special jacket that I I took on that trip I wanted to take that jacket because I wanted everybody to know that I was not there to represent me I was there to represent the 14 schools in the district and so she in had in the jacket she made for me she put the logo
017of all the schools on my jacket so it was a nice little reminder that I wasn't there for myself I was there for for my district so thank you to Mrs Knox um for for blessing me that way I came for the backpack giveaway and it was a true Joy uh I when I say it was a true Joy the line wrapped around this building and um and I thought I was going to be tired but just watching those parents stand in line in that heat and waiting to collect their special backpacks and supplies put in by this District I was so honored um to say I participated and and helped those parents to get their backpacks for their children and and those who couldn't get their backpacks on that day this District made made
018a point of giving them the backpack when they finally did register their children so thank you to the school district um opening day yesterday was our opening day uh it was a a sight to behold parents were waiting outside before the gates were open um I managed to make it to yakala school because that's the closest to my house I had no idea how long it was going to take I thought we were just going to say hello and welcome to our school but it was not um we didn't know where the classrooms were luckily I didn't do the classroom assignment Mr Conrad did um so I stayed away from trying to do the classrooms and um but it was it was something to behold um and to see how ready those principles were and
019how ready the teachers were and how ready the parents were they were the parents were very receptive to all of the changes coming their way um however because I did not get to see all of the schools and I felt that I had short Change Short change to schools I went home right away and went to my social media and said a prayer over all the entire schools because I did believe that even if I couldn't see them there was a higher being being that I needed to call on to look on on our district on our children on our families on our parents on our teachers on our administrators on our transportation people on our cafeteria workers and the administr district district administrators and our police to keep them safe through this school year
020so having said that I have to say I have never been more proud to serve you on this on this board than I am this at this point in time time and I hope you guys will go along with us on this ride and feel free to talk to us about anything that touches you and we'll be sure to pass it on to the superintendent thank you so much for letting me speak this long superintendent's comments well I saw Mr hul creef in the backrow shaking his head about the Steep Hill from footsteps to freedom and um you will have a presentation in a future board meeting from the team once they've gathered and had an opport to collaborate and discuss their takeaways from the entire um the different groups that went I do know
021that um Martis Kellan came by after her group went with um she started to talk and cried we just left it at that she said it was very moving so um I look forward to seeing the presentation and how they're going to implement within their classrooms um as we know school did start up yesterday it was smooth I have to say um probably one of the smoothest openings um in my 22 years um at a start of a school in the Apple Valley Unified School District and there were normal hiccups like the traffic is going to be a problem for several days as we do what um Mr Ry mentioned um we set systems in place it's retraining people and the system that has to take place and over the course of the next several
022days we're teaching them whether it's our Police Department teaching them to slow down or it's just the system you know handing them a map of where to drop off but all in all um I think next week we'll see some some alleviation of that because our elop programs will open and less kids will be being picked up at the same time at the end of the day so we know first few days they're tough um I started um we have three different flights of schools I was able to start at each of um one of the flights High Desert Premier I'm looking at Mr Smith right now um what a great opportunity to be there in the morning and greet the kids several of the student advisers are still there and um I really appreciated
023seeing them and welcoming them and then I moved on to uh Phoenix Academy and I stood out in front of the upper campus with Mr Davis and um so many the kids didn't know what their um special code number was their ID for their teacher or their first period so I finally opened my phone and got Aries up in front and I just would ask names and I had a mom that just kept bringing me kids and I'd find where they were going some kids came back two and three times so they'd have to repeat it five times to me before they could leave after the third time of looking them up but um we had a wonderful morning all ages all emotions and um it was it was welcome it was a welcome day
024um and then finally I went to Sycamore Rocks in my startup of schools and I parked in the park and walk through the the park so that I didn't have to fight the traffic and was they they had kids that were not rushing in because most of their kids had visited the day before to get to see where their classrooms were and open the door to see who their teachers were so they were calm and the parents were calm and there were far fewer teers at Sycamore than um a lot of the campuses so it was pretty cool to watch that and then I did my normal get through the rest of the district so I'm 14 School sites I joke that there's tunnels that they've provided for me and secret passages but I get
025there and um I'm either there during a passing period or in the office to greet people but um every school the only place I did not get to yesterday was the op Center and so I was there this morning um at transition from bus drivers and I think for me being able to see and participate in the morning um and throughout the day um helps and so we'll continue that through the rest of um the next two weeks of first thing in the morning out on campuses checking out and in the afternoons at at release I'd like to congratulate Cara Sanchez from Ala Valley High School um she competed in practical nursing and brought home the bronze in skills USA national and so we're really excited about that as always we're proud of all of
026the students that were um able to compete and even if they did not medal um it says a lot about our CT programs here in the high desert and specifically in Apple Valley that so many of our students are eligible to compete I also want to thank the staff who traveled to Atlanta um with them and all the extra planning it takes to get some of the items that they need for competition this isn't like pack it in a suitcase and take it so um there's a lot of who's going to drive the truck and who's going to deliver it and then who's going to fly it's a bunch so um kudos to them on Tuesday night um I maybe I said earlier it was strange that we're having a board meeting after the first
027day of school but even different because we had National Night Out which we don't pick that night it's a national night out and we participate in that in the town of Apple Valley and so we started Tuesday um early and ended at the park um for National Night Out Mariana Torres our director of equity and access um and our new um teacher on assignment if you haven't met him you will soon Nelson Lopez compos who's working on Community Schools uh Pat Matt worked alongside the amazing Family Center uh staffs and it was fun to engage in our community community and over there on the wall is um what we had kids do they had to write or tell us what they liked about school and the first little girl that walked up to me I
028said to her do you have something you like about school and she says I like to learn and I thought there you go I'm done for the evening let's just so that's what's there um Mr Conrad has a special one because a child told them that um what he liked about school was Mrs Conrad who's a kindergarten teacher and so that's pretty powerful right um but that said Dustin was there along with h Kristen and Jeremiah with an HR table so that they could highlight what positions we have in the district and convince people that they need to apply and how to apply so it's a great event if you haven't been come next year um it's it's a big deal and we love um that our community does this uh backpacks and school supplies
029as Miss okara said I got to participate for a short period of time um the best part is the little girls when you hold up or little boys but the girls had a little bit more choice this year and so you'd hold up the backpack I learned from Miss oakar when I got over there and they'd be like so you put it down you pull two more and they'd be like yep that one and I I repeat it over and over again and I would have done it 50 times if it took that long to find the right backpack for a child so um great event by our family centers and um all the people that participate tomorrow begins our weekly our weekly food pantry so if you're around the district tomorrow stay out of
030the back parking lot around noon because you won't get a park and you'll probably have a lot of traffic to deal with um in reference to um for the board I do have another comment but we can wait till the end because it's more about um work stuff for future so okay okay we'll keep it at that but thanks everybody for all the hard work I know startup is not easy but it's I think better than the end of the school year thank you so much um before I call on the um the CCA will not be here tonight and they gave us uh let us know they won't be here and before I call on the Teachers Association to uh speak thank you so much for inviting us to your luncheon I thoroughly enjoyed
031the going over and n Appo valy unified Teachers Association Ken Sabers I don't know this is competition following you all okay good evening superintendent Nelson board members cabinet and audience as I was thinking about my speech tonight and what I was going to say I remembered when Miss Sakara used to have the word for the year so when I thought about my word I thought my word could be reflection because I do do a lot of reflection our exec board reflects and so I thought that would be appropriate for this year I also tend to reflect early in the morning and I have to stop myself from calling people at 4:35 o00 to discuss my Reflections okay so it was with it is with great honor and a deep sense of responsibility that I address
032you today at the start of both the new school year and my new term as president for Auda as we embark on this journey together I am filled with anticipation for the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead I look forward to strengthening our collaboration and working together as we prepare to shape the future of our students and our schools our educators are a vital Cornerstone of this district and their dedication and commitment to our students is truly exceptional each day they bring passion creativity and persever an into their classrooms striving to inspire and nurturing the minds of our Young Learners this year more than ever our focus is on collaboration working together with the district and School administration to create and maintain safe supportive and enriching environments for all the challenge of the past year
033have underscored the importance of unity and support in addressing the issues that impact our schools our Collective goal is clear to Foster our community where every student can Thrive academically emotionally and socially achieving this goal requires open communication mutual respect and a willingness to work hand inand embracing each other's strengths and addressing the shared challenges this year as we work together to face challenges and seize the great opportunities ahead I want to empath empathize emphasize a few key areas where we can continue to make a meaningful impact first supporting Educators it is crucial that we provide our teachers with the resources professional development and support they need to excel in their roles investing in our Educators is an investment in our Student Success secondly strengthening collaboration the foundation of our success lies in our ability
034to work together by fostering open communication and mutual respect between the union the district the board the school administrators and the community we can address challenges more effectively and find solutions that benefit everyone involved next teacher and student well-being our dedication must be our dedication must include fostering a safe and supportive environment for both students and Educators every individual in our schools deserves a setting where they feel valued supported and empowered to thrive and finally equity and inclusion we must remain steadfast in our commitment to equity and inclusion across all facets of our educational system every student should have equal access to Opportunities and resources regardless of their backgrounds or circumstances I'm enthusiastic about continuing my involvement with the cohort for Community Schools as we enter our second year of planning Community Schools are essent
035are an instrum are instrumental in addressing issues of equity and inclusion and Auda strongly supports this vital initiative as we begin the new year new school year let us reaffirm our commitment to working hand inand to tackle the challenges ahead and celebrate the successes that we achiev together by supporting each other and focusing on our shared goals we can make a lasting positive impact on our schools our teachers and our students thank you for your commitment to our schools and for your ongoing support for our Educators let's make this year one of growth collaboration and achievement for all in solidarity Karen thank you so much thank you thank you Karen um I hope we can all find the word for this Academic Year uh I didn't think about it yet uh this one snuck up
036on it on me so we're going to get it by next board meeting we'll all let you know what we got thank you um closed session reports the clerk will read out any action taken in closed session thank you yes we have U one item and in Clos session the Board of Trustees took action to support of the following recommendation from the superintendent was with conference with labor negotiator on a motion by by board member oara I'm getting there and a second by board member RC the Board of Trustees approved the following to amend the previous board action to ensure that the stiens ab b c d and e excuse me for the 2023 2024 school year have been dispersed to employees at the following rates Sten a 4721 stien b 49 2 stien C
0373462 stien D 2518 and finally stien e at 1889 and that was on a motion 0 in support thank you thank you and now recognition um I I oh yeah I need to adopt the agenda adoption of the agenda the board May approve the agenda as is or ADD and or pull items from the consent agenda for discussion and or action I need a motion I'll move the item all in favor I any opposed okay recognition presentation [Music] I thank you [Music] thanks I'm gonna ask while they're coming up to um invite Rudy siguro up here and Jason Buchanan and James Hopper come stand right here like in front of the audience like right there there you go while we talk about you while I talk about you well there's only three people up here
038tonight this represents a very large group well in a single man with a little bit of help a team and a team that um turn our graduation into something pretty spectacular and so we made the decision that we we couldn't go with another year of these night after night wonderful graduations without recognizing you in front of our public and our board and thanking you for making sure that it goes like there's nothing but magic happening Rudy shows up each night to videotape has student workers helping and just he's a grite Hills High School teacher but goes for apple and high desert Premiere and just make sure that everybody is supported and that we have what we need and so I just want to say um from the bottom of my heart it doesn't go unnoticed
039I watch you run around we all do but we appreciate the fact that you archive that and it's available in streaming for families to see that aren't there in in person so that's one I'll get you your certificate in just a second R but you're pretty amazing and he was a new teacher one point and I remember going into his classroom when he was split between two campuses he was at High Desert Premier in Granite Hills High School and wow look how far you've come man pretty cool yeah and then Jason bch Canon's team um again if the um sound goes off or the mic stops or name it um it's seconds and it's fixed and none of us Panic anymore because Jason and his team are behind the scenes there used to be panic
040I will tell you that over the years and there used to be a little bit of a kill switch that we might need to do if something happened but we don't we don't have to manage that anymore because of their team and finally um James Hopper's team just shows up and the grounds are beautiful the grass isn't cut so that you know it turns brown as we don't water it for a few days while we're doing graduation the stage is set all of the things the chairs there's so much more that I probably will never be able to even list but they just do it we ask it's part of the job but it's unbelievable and so I just um thought that we probably need to do this annually and recognize the groups and we
041want it on your wall in your department so that they know or in your classroom so that they know that this happened okay so thank you so much we appreciate you [Applause] Jason's G be uncomfortable hours [Laughter] y get in there the middle get the board [Music] another two [Applause] all right uh update to Priority One local indicator by Mr scha uh by far the least cool thing to talk about after all of the wonderful things about startup but there's a wonderful tie in I think and I'll explain this is an update to the um PRI priority indicator one you saw in June that I presented to you the local indicators that are required to be presented with the elap and at that time the local assignment teacher assignment monitoring data that would be present
042to presented to any U member of the public who went to our California school dashboard page clicked on that link they would have seen this data with the number of clear credentials the variety of other kinds of credential folks out of field Etc and I um I showed you I took a clip straight out of that page from the website that was as of June 13 well sometime over summer if you notice this is for 2122 school year sometime over summer the state caught up a little bit and they they um published the 2223 data so still old but newer and they sent us a note saying you are required to present to your board this new data and so here I am doing that this is the new data um yeah so it's still
043old but it's not as old and so um similar numbers a little less out of field um clear credential numbers kind of similar the intern number is up again this is for 2223 last year's school year data we hope will be done by the time we present in June to you the local indicators and then will kind of be caught up that way and only be one year behind of of course we are completely relyant on state data for this this is not different in any other District lots of people are making the same presentation all week this week across the state so what I pulled up for you is kind of a comparison across three years now again we're waiting for the 2324 that'll be about a year out and it shows the number
044of total FTE in Apple Valley Unified School District the percentage who are completely clear credentials and I take issue with one of these columns and that's the column called ineffective it's an a ridiculous term it has no basis in reality it's a technical term from the state that really just says whether or not they are credentialed perfectly um and have a clear credential in their field um but we know that lots of our new teachers who are technically by the state deemed ineffective are nothing nothing short of wonderful and that's the tie-in isn't it to the week we just the had and the startup and and the weeks really prior and something that was mentioned by many of the board members and and by Karen and that's the importance of professional development and we just
045had a wonderful five day U professional development series for our new teachers where we got to spend a lot of time with them answer their questions give them great content and make sure that um we're working towards not only helping them clear their credentials but um making a lie out of the state in that column of ineffective and so that's really all I have thank you um adopted state budget and a USD budget adjustments Mr schulenberg thank you uh give me SEC here I try and avoid uh IT issues all right thank you um I'm here just to present a little summary of the state adopted budget pull out a few of the high points um and talk about any material adjustments that uh we had to make based on what the state adopted um
046just a little bit U and again I want to I forgot my disclaimer here you'll see this is a school Services of California slide these are slides that school Services prepares based on the July budget Workshop that uh District Representatives attended and some of our uh bargaining unit friends attended um it was virtual um so he talked a little bit about the Anderson forecast for the uh economy in California you'll see they are they do have some concerns although personal income was expected to grow a little bit um I know the stock market sell-off these last few days might have changed some of these opinions because this was published about a month ago um but um revenues at the state based on what the governor adopted Ed revenues at the state are coming in slightly
047better than what the governor um proposed or or adopted in the proposed budget uh so we'll see where that goes um just just a little slide to show what they did adopt in 2425 you'll see a pit over on the left that's personal income tax that's the largest source of Revenue to the state of California then the corporation tax and sales and use tax they are projecting slight increases um in those for the the 2425 budget year and uh we all do hope that does come true um one thing that the governor had proposed early on in the budget process you may have heard the prop 98 maneuver that he proposed U Back In 2223 um the thought was that education was over appropriated in prop 98 sets a minimum guarantee for education and over
048the many years of prop 98 the state has kind of adopted the minimum guarantee as the maximum amount of money education gets um so when they give us more whether on purpose or by mistake they consider it an over appropriation so the governor wanted to do some kind of a maneuver which took $6.2 billion do out of the prop 98 guarantee which would have had a negative effect moving forward in terms of what the minimum guarantee was in prop 98 however um U there was an agreement reached really between Governor Newsome and the California Teachers Association on the way they treated this particular money it did favor schools and it favored education in the long run so um it did provide a couple things there I'm not going to read that to you but what
049it did is it established the higher minimum guarantee moving forward but then the legislators went back and suspended prop 98 because they couldn't fund it at the minimum guarantee and what that created was something called the maintenance Factor where they they promised to pay us back over time for the money they owe us that's right Dennis I appreciate that yes but all in all it's good for us right now in education um one thing they did bring back uh you may have you may remember deferrals uh from years and years ago where the state says yeah we're supposed to pay you this much and we're going to pay you part of that but the rest of it going to come three four five six months later in terms of cash they did some fancy accounting
050things and they did a budget deferral in 2324 so last fiscal year there's a $4 billion budget deferral that has no impact on us it's a state accounting I'll call it a trick um in 2425 they do have one cash and budget deferral which will have an impact on school districts our June apportionment won't come until July so we will have to watch our cash flow toward the end of the year to make sure that we are not impacted negatively and we can make any of our July one June 30 July 1 payrolls um without that cash coming until I think July 6th or 7th so it's it's only a few days but it's a few days that can make a difference there you go it's really not impacting a whole lot of school districts
051um now it does say strong local cash balances and there are districts with strong cash balances um I would not classify our cash balance as strong but I would classify it as um not bad um at this point um a lot of districts have held on to a lot of that one-time money and money that have they have um still a couple more years to use we've made the decision to use those funds um and expend a lot of that money so we don't have as large a cash balance as some of the school districts across the state our local Reserve cap if you recall a few years ago they enacted a maximum amount of money a school district can have in their Reserve if the state prop 98 Reserve is is funded and it
052has been through 2223 in 2324 with a negotiated um with with the governor negotiating with CTA to get rid of his so-called maneuver they depleted the prop 98 Reserve in the 2324 fiscal year therefore in 2425 our upcoming year that local Reserve cap is not actionable so we are not held to that cap so little summary of the lcff funding factors I know there's a lot of numbers there but really what this illustrates is our major source of funding from the state of California how much we get per Ada you'll see the base grants there for each grade span the 1.07% cost of living adjustment uh and how that impacts the base Grant and then of course we get grade span adjustment and supplemental Grant and concentration grant funding for each one of our students
053that's just kind of a summary of our lcff we're projecting about 12,602 ADA this year um with our enrollment where it is we're hoping that holds we're hoping that goes up um and we will continue to watch that through the year and make any appropriate adjustments to our lcf Revenue as we move through the interims particularly our first interim which is our financials as of October 31st in the second interim uh just wanted to share the dartboard with you what school services and the California Department of Finance are projecting in the out Years you'll see 2425 is our budget year there with a cola of 1.07 they're currently projecting right around 3% for the next three years um we'll know more of those as we continue through this year again for 25 26 won't know
054what that statutory Cola is until we get into May and June toward the end of this year one of the things they did change is the learning recovery emergency block grant um a lot of school districts as I mentioned earlier were holding on to a lot of that onetime money this is one of those things that a lot of districts were holding on to uh so there was a lawsuit in California settled um and they it see in the lower right there the settlement calls for at least two billion to be captured through needs assessments that districts are supposed to conduct um for the expenditure of those remaining funds beginning in the 25 26 school year um we've spent all our learning recovery emergency block grant um so we will not be doing this um
055that's a good thing uh we used the money on our kids so our material adjustments none from the May Revis to the adopted budget the state did not make any major changes that affected any of the assumptions that we used in our proposed budget and again so the lcff allocation there are no material changes we'll fine- tune at first interim based on our enrollment and Ada projections moving forward and our learning recovery emergency block grant again we did expend those funds already so we don't need to make any adjustments on that side one of uh Governor New programs that he continues to fund is the expanded learning opportunities program um this just outlines some of the revised spending requirements for those funds um our first year was 2122 so any any of the original funds
056in those first couple years had to be spent by the end of June and we did accomplish that last year's money now has to be spent by next June so ongoing we have two years to spend each Year's allocation on the elop and and then you'll see in the bottom right it mentions an attendance recovery program that's something new that begins in the 25 school year um and there's a lot of detail on that yet to come the CDE is required to write a whole new set of regulations for US requiring um or in guiding us in our attendance recovery program uh this is kind of a this is a tough slide to swallow because what this is is this is the projected K12 enrollment in California moving forward you'll see there injecting some significant
057decreases which of course affects school districts Staffing attendance students everything um fortunately Apple Valley Unified has not seen a significant decline as many districts have in these last couple years but this is still something for us to watch locally and how it will affect us and the road ahead if anybody has a crystal ball be happy to uh see what it says um again with the deferrals and Maneuvers added to the budget that does cause us some little with some some curveballs earthquakes as Dennis mentioned um it's going to be uh important for the revenues that the state to keep up with what governor Newsome and the Department of Finance have used as their assumptions in the budget if those revenues fall short as they have the last couple years um then those 3% colas
058in the years um won't be there that's all I have for this evening any questions thank you thank you very much Kylie do we have any public comments uh we do we have three this evening thank you as provided on our public uh comment card speakers are requested to limit comments to a maximum of 3 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 Kevin self all right hello and good evening my name is Kevin self I'm a father of two Apple Valley Unified students one is in second grade and the other is in TK two weeks ago we were told our four-year-old would not be able to
059attend TK at sitting B with our or with her sister instead she would be in overflow at Rio Vista with more than 20 other students who were also being sent to sitting bow or from sitting B sorry at least a full class of students four-year-olds that are being displaced and those uh and those with siblings at cting Bulls were not giving any priority despite years of prior knowledge that TK enrollment would be increasing no additional classes were uh added at sitting bu uh leaving sitting B with one TK class and Rio Vista with three the problem is Real Vista starts an hour later than sitting bow I communicated with the enrollment Department that moving my daughter from her assigned School poses signif significant financial strain on our family my wife who is a nurse will
060not be able to go to work on time due to my daughter my other daughter starting at 9:00 amm I immediately tried to problem solve and was told that we were ineligible for transportation as TK students are too young and we are not able to Simply bring her to a bus stop uh closer to the school because Rio Vista is not our assigned school we are also not eligible for early morning Services that's what my wife was told by the staff at Rio Vista um we're not eligible for ear or early morning Services uh offered by the school as those should be reserved for children who are permanent and the school and she might be potentially transferring my older daughter was not able to be transferred to Rio Vista as that is not her assigned
061School sitting B is as well as uh ineligible to ride the bus because we are 0. n miles away from the radius of the school uh not the one mile it is a school's understanding that when there is an opening or in our child's case 13 openings we will be moved the enrollment Department told us that we should be thankful that she was able to attend Vista and it was the preferred school and to cross our fingers she will eventually be moved I don't expect any immediate changes or answers right away I'm just looking for some kind of help or guidance on what else we could do uh we've been making phone calls ever since we found out that she was going to Rio Vista and I know we are not the only ones dealing
062with this but we might be forced to pulling them out of the district and sending them somewhere else and that comes personal for me because I graduated from Apple my dad graduated in 78 I had some of you guys as my teachers um I graduated with some of your kids and I was really looking forward to my kids going here but it's just not doable my wife spending four to five hours and drop off and pick up but thank you thank you very much thank you Deb Rubio oh thank you than you good evening board superintendent Nelson cabinet fellow teachers classified support staff principals police and last but most of all parents and students I'm here to be authentic with full disclosure and transparency transparency representing many staff afraid to speak I'm Debbie Rubio a
063fully credential English teacher with the district going on my 11th year there's so many good things about our district and I was really sad when my colleague Chris Watkins departed giving up his leadership and professionalism to our district frustrated because of one man he called the beam counter I have one question today I just saw it up there where did the 8.2 emergency cost of living increase from the state go you see California gave every District an emergency 8.2 Cola to offset the unprecedented 20% cost of living increase that we have experienced over the past three years oh yes I've already gone to a vuda what the hell Karen did Christy steal that too I did say that the Voda president personally told me no one saw this coming so they didn't ask for the
064cola so we didn't get it I don't get it Victor got a 4% raise plus the eight which gave them 11 paid out in two lump installments last year Hisperia got a 3% negotiated raise from their Union Plus a 7% Cola for a total of a 10% Apple Valley un school have got 3% just 3% where did our Cola go but we did get a bonus there was a $100 medical deduction taking out of our payre check wait wait is minus $100 a bonus or hardship is this a joke to you in close session are you sitting around Lo laughing and joking about us that we don't notice please listen closely and make room in the cells next to Christie the law is that the state emergency Cola can only be spent on teacher salaries
065or Healthcare it's a one-time emergency designated fund on top of the regular salary negotiated increase it's not up to the union to decide or one man thank God it's just math where did the 8.2% emergency Colo please we all know the truth can be manipulated by one man or one person with words on paper or a PowerPoint can we have a professional audit our last negotiator requested one three years ago to our former Auden president Christie who's now in prison and he was shot down and resigned Chris Watkins even gave up so I came today to ask where did the cola go can it still be given out retroactively in a lumpsum or do we need to unite and fight fight fight the be encounter I don't think so but I do think we need
066an audit because I hear a lot of people asking questions and I think that they will appreciate a professional outside audit and thought thank you thank you uh Francisco Perez [Music] good evening uh Apple Valley School District board members parents teachers I I'm here as a uh father of three boys at the Apple Valley School District who you know one day will become responsible contributing men of the society I um here to talk about mainly assembly Bill ab1 1955 chapter 95 and this bill as some of you may know is is explicitly prohibiting the quote unquote forced outing among California schools and again that's you know that's in the bill um take it as you want but ultimately my opinion is that parents have the right the right to know what decisions their kids are
067making while they're at school it is unfair I think for the responsible parents to be and again I'm saying responsible you know it's quote unquote but you know for parents to be kept in the dark about life decisions that children are ultimately making while they're at school um I believe there has to be another way to help children who need the help without impacting the children who don't need the help um that's about L I have to say on that subject uh what I do have is questions for the board and I guess one of the question I'm G to start with is you know how does Apple Valley School District plan on handling these situations um second is this something this bill something that will be presented to the children at school you know
068as an option or is it being handled Case by case uh next uh will there be or is there a policy implemented already within the district uh regarding this bill and last but not least will there be instruction or material provided to Children addressing the bill you know so right like is there going to be a presentation is there going to be slideshows um I'd like to know as a parent so that's that's what all the questions I have for the uh that assembly Bill and then another kind of I'm just going to throw it in there whether it has anything to do with it or not but but um over the last three or four years we have received the option to opt in or out of counseling services in the district um written
069like a written paper this year I we we haven't receed that and I'd like to know has something changed you know is something different or yeah you know I guess we're just curious you know we used to get that we used to get that paper and right we had the we had the option to consent whether or not our children receive Counseling Services I guess right without our consent and I just didn't see that this time so and yeah you know I ask if you know if we can maybe get answers in some sort of formal writing or if any other parents requesting you know the answers to the questions that I asked maybe they can you know find a way to get those answers as well thank you that's it thank you board comments
070Mr Bender go ahead no I'm just kidding go ahead make sure we get back with this gentleman just spoke yes okay thank you and SE your last name is self no no behind you was your dad Donnie self okay and you know what this is old hat this is my 57th first week of school I already know where you're going [Music] know all right is that the 15 is that your 15 minutes is he done is he done are you done oh I'm done yeah oh okay am Amanda Buchanan I have no comment thank you Gary Ry Rick Ry um I think that um Mr self will have somebody contact you from the district I mean just just to talk we get it um the two gentlemen that spoke um somebody will hopefully get in
071touch with you and get some answers or give you some answers we may not have Solutions but we will at least speak to you uh regarding the last speaker um or the second to last speaker unfortunately we don't like we I don't approve of calling people's names at a board meeting uh you address your case but not the person so when a a teacher's name is brought up and and mentioned at this level it is absolutely unacceptable we don't function that way um you just State your case so I when I'm listening to it um christe is not here and her name shouldn't have been brought up uh Mr Watkins is not here wil or Watkins his his name he shouldn't be brought in here uh there's no Personnel in this District who is called
072a bean counter and so if you want your case to be heard I will assume that you are going to bring up the case as is and no labels so that's a little bit uncomfortable for me to sit through it and as the president of the board I need to address it thank you Mrs Nelson I will um set up times um with staff and myself to go through some of the questions that have been asked and um at least talk about kind of what what parameters we have as well okay um I did reference in my June 14th email to board the um safe and civil board Workshop would be held on September 18th from 3:30 to 6m here in this boardroom we've also been invited to a small cohort of school districts to
073attend a mini um safe and civil conference in Eugene Oregon um from January 13th through the 16th this would impact the board calendared meeting for January so I want wanted to get this to you now we don't have to decide tonight but I am going to need some directions I wanted to follow up with at least that information um we still have a little bit of time but we would like to um if there are board members that are interested in attending I do want to know that so that I can get that information to safe and civil and then we can talk about what that board meeting looks like in January if we need to move it um and then the budget committee is getting ready to um the invitations have been sent um
074Wednesday August 21st 4:30 in the conference in conference room B uh Maria you and Rick were the last Representatives back in 2021 um I think most of that was done virtually um due to covid but um we just need to know if one or two of you is interested from the board um to attend that it's not a requirement of the budget committee but we welcome it so um I think that needs to be just a discussion among yourselves as to what you'd like to do I think I'd like to go uh and I also like to make sure that the there's represent representative from the dist from the teachers and the classified and and they pick they already are that's all they pick the people that come so thank you so miss oar is
075interested I I mind doing it again either but we have a couple new board members on here that maybe they'd want to step up Amanda or Gary so what time did we have last time we had it from 3:30 right this one is is um happening at 4:30 in the afternoon okay August 21st is the is the first one I am available um how frequently do they meet if if you'd like I will provide a schedule uh of the meetings to Kylie and she can send those out to the board so you have the dates so you can look at your availability we have a I only have one soccer schedule so far absolutely I've I don't know yet it's it's going to be on a monthly basis one one a month okay so right
076now at least um we've got two that are okay and if something needs to change in the future we can do that and then um I wanted to provide maybe a solution to align our practice with board bylaw um 9250 that we discussed um at the end of last year referencing board member absences um the practice in the district has not been to um remove salary or any of the um pay but to follow the um board bylaw and to do a resolution would be appropriate so my recommendation would be that if somebody is going to be absent and we know in advance because we know those things happen a surgery is planned a family gathering is planned we can take the resolution to the actual board meeting where the person is absent and make
077the decision to move forward if it is after like somebody gets sick we will bring it to the following board meeting as a ratification if that's appropriate to the board that was my understanding when I read it when I had forwarded it was just to have the resolution acknowledging it yeah so is everybody comfortable with I mean it just makes sense if it says we should acknowledge it just so it's on the record absolutely sure okay then there's the solution I'm getting nods I appreciate it thank you um and then just so the board members know um we have a calendared August 22nd 2024 not for current board members but it's our candidate Workshop Maria was writing it down diligently but it's our candidate workshop and um we do it every time we have an
078election that involves any of the areas and trustees and so um more information will go out once the register of Voters has given us the official list of um those who are um running and then Kylie will send out invitations based on that list and it's a variety of ways some people give us addresses some just give email addresses so we'll go from there and I just wanted the board to be aware of that um because I know we have at least um one incumbent running and uh so August 22nd 2024 you may have seen an email from csba but um AXA is also pushing that we pay attention to AB um 2088 um the Senate Appropriations Committee will consider the bill on August 15th they are referring to it as a one-size fits all
079um approach to the hiring and prom promotion of classified staff without an ability to determine whether a candidate is well suited for the position regardless of our local practices it removes local control and so if you um did not see the csba email I can forward it to board members you have the ability to send a letter um asking them to not move forward with that I mean it impacts bargaining um agreements there's a lot to this and if they move in on that um and take away the local um control on that that it's just like everything else it'll continue to to um chop away at what you get to make decisions as a local board so okay that's all I have thank you very much it is recommended that the Board of Trustees
080discuss and take action on the following items adopt the Declaration of Need for fully qualified educators form to be effective from July 1st 2024 through June 30th 2025 as required by the California Commission on teacher credentialing I'll second any discussion all in favor I any opposed approv the certificated and classified Personnel actions as listed I need a motion I'll move it second any discussion all in favor I any opposed thank you approve the recommendation of the administrative hearing chairperson effective immediately on annual review AR number 20242 I need a motion second any discussion all in favor I any opposed consent agenda item it is recommended that the Board of Trustees consider approving a number of agenda items as a consent list consent items are routine in nature and can be enacted in one motion without
081further discussion this procedure conserves meeting time for a full discussion of significant issues consent items to be approved in one motion is 1 through 66 I'll move approve through6 this you pull it you like to pull I would like to pull item number uh 57 okay I'll make a motion that we approve um items 1 through 66 other than 57 all in all in favor I any oppos okay item number 57 uh was to approve the agreement of legal services with Dennis woliver and Keller uh my question is to um Matt did we use them last year and if so how much did we use them we did not use the firm last year okay actually missar I I can answer a longer um piece to this because I've asked the same question um this
082firm applied during the RFP process that we originally did when I became superintendent or as the transition lot they were part of it and we at the time we asked that we we um allow them to be part of our group that you approve as an HR past assistant superintendent I attended several of their free trainings where they'd gather assistance seps from Human Resources um um throughout state but we they were all tied because they had an um an RFP they had had met the criteria and were one of the legal firms that the district could use didn't mean that they used them just they were on the list so it was a free service um I used to attend them they were always in LA county they were excellent we contined to maintain keeping
083them in place have never used them as a legal firm to provide legal services but we we did um use their their trainings Dustin's team has not gone he doesn't believe that they will attend those they typically go to the IPC trainings with um sanino County so we don't even actually need them to be maintained on the list um but that would cause you to vote no um for tonight's piece in order to remove them either that or there would be a way to is it table it Kylie yes you could table it and we don't have to bring it back well un unfortunately when I was reading the agreement that they had it it just triggered uh that their fee was excessive it was way higher than all the other legal legal um uh
084agencies that we have contracted with and so I do not believe that we need to keep them that's my opinion so you'll need a motion I'll need a motion to take out item number 57 from this agenda item um you the motion we will need a motion um the the approval is the recommendation is to approve so you will need a motion to approve and you guys can either vote in favor to approve or to reject the um recommendation of approval which will result in the contract not being on an approved list okay what is the benefit to us leaving it on the approved list actually nothing at this point I don't think we would we're not attending trainings um the group that was the three attorneys that were doing typical HR trainings are not
085the three attorneys that are currently doing the HR trainings yeah doesn't harm us in in any way okay we I have items all the way to 56 and 58 to 66 are the items we approving tonight right you already approved this that yeah so everything yeah the 57 57 I'm going to call on a vote on 57 I need a motion to to approve approve or not approve it's a motion to approve and then everybody can vote no or yes depending on we approve no you'll need you need a second you'll need a second oh second I'll second it and then I say no and you guys Che and then we all am all in favor of saying no no no no all in all in favor all in favor no don't even say anything
086because it's all in favor nobody responds okay we're done opposed opposed you have to ask for opposed any opposed yes we're all opposed so the vote is an 05 for all opposing approved nobody else you got this you got it it's gone my backgound is special it's driving me God all right um let's move on we we don't have any do we have any item for clo another Clos session no no okay I hope not uh any future items do any members of the board have any future items to bring forward no I don't okay next board meeting will be Thursday September 5th at um 5:00 p.m. Educational Service Center conference room a I need a motion to adjourn all in favor thank [Music] you e