001me now [Music] are they ready to begin the meeting thank you call the meeting to order roll call oh i'm here rick raleigh here maria akwara here wilson so here dennis bender here thank you i'm sorry can we lead the place can we do the pledge of allegiance uh mr bender can you lead us in the pledge of allegiance ready thank you so much kylie do we have any cards for public comments we do not thank you we have no cards for public comments you need to go into closed session to discuss the following okay let's see where are we conference litigation government code section 549 6.9 current litigation seven cases one eight one three nine five two one nine zero seven one seven two two zero one one one eight three two zero two
002two nine five six two zero two three three six six two one zero three three nine six two one one one three o three sections five four nine five four anticipated litigation three cases 2018 1907 2020 2105 2020 2107. i need a motion to go into closed session all in favor thank you you call the meeting to order the clerk will read any action taken in closed session there was no accident there was no action taken the board may approve the agenda as is or add and or pull items from the consent item for discussion and or action we need to adopt the agenda as is so move a second third all in favor any discussions thank you kylie do we have any public comments okay for this portion of the board uh candidate interviews
003uh trine nelson is to serve as the facilitator thank you madam president we welcome today applicants for the provisional appointment to serve trustee area one as well as other members of the public during this agenda item the board respectfully requests that the applicants do not participate in or listen to this portion of the meeting where other applicants are being interviewed as this could cause an unfair advantage for those coming later in the interview sequence who would have the benefit of hearing board questions and more time than their colleague to reflect on an answer the district has timely posted the fact of the vacancy and the notice of its intent to the provisional appointment we are pleased to interview eight applicants today for the possible appointment all have indicated in their applications that they are over
004the age of 18 are registered voters and reside within the trustee area one of the apple valley unified school district their applications are included in the public agenda packet these have been provided in advance to the four board members of the governing board as well to review and prepare for today's interview each applicant will be allotted up to 30 minutes to respond to questions from board members following the conclusion of the interviews the board will remain in open session and a member may make a motion to nominate an applicant members of the public are reminded that the making or seconding of a such motion does not necessarily imply that the applicant's name is the recommendation rather motions are for the purpose of enabling a discussion between board members as to the applicant's suitability to serve
005as a provisional appointee once a motion is made and seconded and discussion is concluded the board will vote on the motion if a majority of the board that is three members votes to approve a provisional appointee that individual will be will be sworn in following the vote with the oath of office provided by the california government code and california constitution the board will then post and publish the notice of the newly appointed provisional board member's name and notify the county superintendent of the selection unless there is a petition that sufficient signatures challenging the appointment filed with the county superintendent within 30 days the appointee will serve until the next regular board election at which time the appointee may run for the same office do the members of the board have any questions before we begin
006this process mr raleigh do you have a question no mr bender no mr so no i have no question i will now invite applicant one to meet the governing board and i ask the other applicants to excuse themselves to the waiting room kylie will actually um get you to the waiting room and then we'll work through moving people back and forth so crystal connors is first and chris i'm going to have you come up to the podium there is a seat there and you may bring whatever you'd like with you okay watch the there you go there's a big step there if any of the board members are startling with an echo um you are welcome to come sit here we are still streaming um but wherever you can hear what the responses are as
007long as you are still within um view i mean we can we can work through that and we can we can adjust the sound if necessary to make sure that they can be heard so let's do it [Music] okay well they're gonna they're gonna do a test for you just so that they can adjust the sound quality mr conrad if they the microphone there if they can get it really close and pointed toward them that will make the sound much better okay is that right but she is not showing she is not showing on this can you guys hear me miss connors can you just say good morning good morning a little closer um we cannot she needs to move her screen so we can see here just right up in there good morning that's
008better thank you all right board of trustees this is crystal connors she is our 8 30 interview she we did a process by which there was a lottery um during our workshop what do you have for us to write the notes if you go behind the um the tab that says interview questions yes so that comes in front since she has a portion in the front if the board of trustees would introduce themselves and then we'll start with the first question i'm maria akwara nice to see you nice to meet you mr ollie introduce yourself please introduce yourself oh i'm sorry it's it's hard to hear um good morning good morning welcome my name is rick raleigh and uh we appreciate you coming nice to meet you my name is dennis bender happy you're here
009thank you yeah my name is wilson so i'm one of the longest-serving board members hi okay crystal here we go you have the questions in front of you to refer to um if you need to okay describe your commitment to the success of the mission and values identified on our logo and they are sitting there for you to see um the mission states apple valley unified school district serves our community with dignity by meeting the unique academic behavioral and social emotional needs of all students so that they may thrive in an ever-changing world um so in regard to the mission you know i think that 2020 definitely put an ever-changing world into perspective for all of us um currently in my in my career i'm a leader in um surgical services executive leader and my
010priority in that is uh patient safety so i think you know in the same respect uh my priority would be to make sure that we're implementing student safety i have two children in apple valley unified school district so you know i want to make sure that my children are protected but also that all the children that we have within the district have the same safety and then i did not read our values which had to do with dignity community authenticity and service and they're around the outside of our logo um i think i have really strong ethical and moral beliefs uh working in healthcare has given me a lot of experience with diversity and and we you know always strive for keeping patients dignity and being respectful of people and i think that that just
011carries on over into any any career or any governing board or committee that you're on thank you how does the board's world differ from that of the superintendent and staff of the apple valley unified school district um i don't have a lot of experience with you know school districts or schools a lot of my experiences in hospitals and health care but i do think that there is a team role a role a supportive role um i think that we would work together uh in the best interest of the children and the community um and i think you know i have a lot of experience with policy and procedure not only implementing but developing it i've worked as an incident commander for healthcare organizations in regard to covid and disaster preparedness so i think that those
012can also roll over the experience that i have to work together with a superintendent to provide the best possible environment for our children thank you if you are selected as the area one provisional appointee what will your priorities for the apple valley unified school district um my priorities i think i would focus on safety i would want to make sure that we are working with whatever the ever-changing state of california rules are in relation to the pandemic um and and we want to provide the best environment possible for our kids i know my kids struggled with the independent learning that they had to go through this last year so as a parent that works full-time and with a spouse that works full-time i do understand deeply the challenges with that um and i think that
013i could offer a different perspective you know it's it's not a perspective from experience as a teacher but i think i do have a valuable experience in health care that could roll over into this world the school board is a governance team why have you decided to apply for this provisional appointment in area one um i would like to be as involved as possible with my children's education um and i think that serving in this role could help me to you know not only possibly make their learning environment even more exceptional um but you know i can do that for the other kids as well you know i think i think i i have a shared interest what any parent would have as far as being invested in my child's education and then question number
014five anything else you need us to know about you as an applicant um being in healthcare i do have a lot of experience working with unions directly um i think that could roll over and be a valuable asset and i guess that's it thank you crystal no problem so crystal had asked and since we have a few minutes i want to make sure everybody knows crystal is welcome to go in the waiting room or crystal is welcome to go back and do whatever she needs to do our last scheduled interview is at 12 10 and that would mean 30 minutes so about 12 40 we would um be um completing the interview process and then we would um come back to have the agenda items so just if you need to to come and go
015please know that um i would return and at least be in the the waiting area somewhere after 12 10. okay okay thank you thank you thank you very much thank you we do have a few minutes even though we're streaming if we need to um do a restroom break and then we can check to see if the next candidate is here and is willing to go before the nine o'clock start time we can continue to do that um but we don't want to get too far ahead so that we have a long a long break so if you'd like to take a break right now um our next one is in 15. just taking a quick break one is in 15 minutes okay should we pause the stream [Applause] so during um the recess we
016were on break because the um each applicant has been given 30 minutes if we finish early we will continue to take a break in between and that will keep us on um okay okay schedule uh yes perfect thank you okay so mr rc we are streaming and before um we started i read all of the provisions for the um applicants and so now we're going to have the board introduce themselves and um board this is mr arcy our next candidate good morning good morning mr arts my name is maria oppara nice to meet you nice to meet you good morning good thanks for uh putting an interest in my name's rick raleigh thank you it's pleasure to be here we thought together bender yes we have i'm willing good morning mr cell and mr rc
017as uncomfortable as it may be make sure you're very close to the mic or speak very loudly because the room is so large and there is not many people in here so question number one describe your commitment to the success of the mission and values identified on our logo you have the questions sitting there and the mission states apple valley unified school district serves our community with dignity by meeting the unique academic behavioral and social emotional needs of all students so that they may thrive in an ever-changing world and then our logo has the augmented values around it dignity community authenticity and service i believe that uh regarding dignity uh every student in our district is deserving of being treated with dignity as a valued member of their school site as well as the the
018community and so i am absolutely committed to treating every student in a way which reinforces their dignity their sense of dignity their sense of self-worth uh allowing them to to feel a valuable member of the classroom of the school site and of the apple valley community and and that word community it's really a pleasure to see it there because i i very much feel that apple valley schools are a community when i first came here back in in 1990 one of the the things that i most appreciated and took notice to was the fact that there was a very low turnover rate of teachers in the apple valley school district and that to me spoke volumes of what a what a sense of community the teachers felt and uh the sense of community that they
019then translated onto their students and so i feel that that we do in fact coming from apple valley high school i am so proud of the the community the family that we have there uh there is is something unique in in that school and really in in this district that um communicates this this sense of community this sense of family and it is as i talk with colleagues elsewhere the sense of community that we have here is is very rare as i'm sure you all realize and it's it's something that that's very very valuable and something that i'm very proud of and i have been the the grateful recipient of it as well with 31 years of experience here in the district so we we very much have a sense of community and i think
020the teachers the administrators the staff the support personnel in the past have done an excellent job of communicating that sense of community to the students as well for example you'll have to excuse my my uh always talking about the high school apple valley high school but that's where i've spent so much of my career but there's an expression that we have on campus there is that uh sun devil for life you know that you're a member of the community for life it doesn't matter if you you if you you know leave the community and maybe move away we have this this saying you're a sun devil for life you're part of the community you're part of the family for life and that that's very very special and that's something that i've always appreciated and that's
021something that i've tried to communicate to my students and i know other teachers throughout the district are doing the same thing we have a fantastic sense of community here on the various school sites as well as in the in the district as a whole in terms of authenticity to me authenticity means something that is genuine that is authentic that is real and in terms of the the board itself and the governess of the board authenticity to me speaks of honesty openness transparency that we are authentic with the students that we are authentic with the community that we are transparent in all that we do that we are open for scrutiny open for observation uh authenticity i think just permeates the entire culture of of the district and in terms of service services is really a
022key word for for this entire endeavor that we're involved in as as teachers teachers are there to serve we're there for our students uh the administration the support staff uh i i have been overwhelmed and so grateful for the the dedication of the especially the support staff the behind the scenes people that that so often go unnoticed they are so much the unsung heroes of our of our school sites and of our district and so on so in terms of service i have seen that personified every single day in my career here at napa valley high school the the secretaries the the custodial staff the uh uh you know besides the teachers and so on the administrators the board i've i've seen everyone everyone is here because we all care about kids and we're here
023to serve kids and i know for me it has been one of the most enriching things that that that that i have felt in my career is when students come back years down the line and they say uh hey uh thank you mr rc you know it was it was it was such a blast to be in your class it was so enjoyable it was you know students will come to me and say hey i majored in geology in college because of your geology class i majored in chemistry because of your chemistry class and and it's it's as as you as members of the community witness yourselves it is so enjoyable to to be out in the community and whether you're at the grocery store the movie theater target costco my my dental hygienist everywhere
024i go i run into former students and they're always impacted by the way that we serve them and so service absolutely underlies everything that we do so i am so encouraged and so excited about the logo because i think that's that's what all members of the apple valley school district have been been doing uh ev every single year since i've been here i've noticed that and it's been something that i've been privileged to be a part of how does the board's world differ from that of the superintendent and staff of the apple valley unified school district the board sets the structure sets the vision sets the policies for the district the superintendent is hired evaluated by the board and the superintendent uh puts into practice manages the the day-to-day operations of the school district uh
025the board is responsible to govern the district to to again set the policy set the vision set the direction uh without micromanaging allowing the the superintendent and her staff to put to into implementation and support the decisions the vision that the the board has directed but it is very much a collaboration it's a teamwork it's it's it's not a dictatorial type of thing there is collaboration going on all the time for for the purpose of maximizing student achievement and student growth so it's it's very much a collaborative teamwork type of effort both working together we're all here every single one of us because we care about kids and we want them to achieve not only academic success but emotional success and whether it be in college or career but to be success in society make
026a positive impact for society and so both the board and the superintendent are working uh collaboratively toward those goals thank you if you are selected as the area one provisional appointee what will your priorities be for the apple valley unified school district what i've seen in in over my career but especially over the past year and a half since this pandemic has been upon us one thing that that i felt very strongly that needs to be a priority is to rebuild student success rebuild student academic success there has been even though i know teachers have been working in a just amazingly dedicated way i i have seen teachers around me my wife is is a teacher as well so i can talk about my own home as well but i have seen even experienced teachers
027with with 20 30 years of experience working harder this past year because of the challenges that we all faced in terms of this pandemic i have seen them them working harder than ever before so so the the staff i've been so so impressed by the staff on our campus and throughout the district they are absolutely working the hardest that they can to help students be a success to maximize student learning having said that though i think it's uh it's not a stretch to say that that students have been shortchanged in their their normal uh academic setting they have not had that access to teachers with them you know during their regular time they have they haven't had access to that structure and so academic opportunities have been lost as hard as as teachers have been
028working as hard as parents have been working uh students i believe have still suffered throughout throughout the the circumstances that we've been faced with and so i think there have been academic losses and so i think one of the priorities that needs to be there is that we we need to work for work forward and build toward rebuilding those of those academic losses because there have been academic losses for our students second of all i think it's extremely important to be to be providing a social and emotional support for our students again it's no surprise to any of us here that our students have higher levels of stress higher levels of anxiety that they are dealing with issues of isolation and so on so i think it's extremely important that as we look to rebuilding
029academic success we also look to providing social and emotional support for our students because they they are dealing with issues now that really they've never had to deal with they they have our students have never had to deal with with circumstances and throughout their entire uh academic education whether they're a junior or a senior now they've never had to deal with circumstances like like we've had in these past 18 months and so there are stresses there are pressures on our students that i think we're still learning about that are still coming to the surface so i think that's a huge point of focus that needs to be addressed is addressing those social and emotional needs that so many of our students have and thirdly i think an area of priority will be rebuilding the sense
030of family again going back to my experience on the campus of apple valley high school that campus had an amazing sense of family of community and because we have all been isolated and all we see is a little postage stamp of ourselves on a zoom screen and during our staff meetings and so on we have not had the sense of community and family that we have had in past years and the same goes you know not just among staff members but also among students and staff it has always been heartwarming for me when students will come into my room at lunch and say hey mr rc we just came in to talk to you for a little while and and you know we we just visit you know and and we just just uh just
031have a kind of community time kind of family time there and and we have lost that between the students and the staff they can't just come in before school or after school and talk about their volleyball games or how they're doing on the tennis team or what they're doing in academic uh classes we've lost that sense of family that that that community that we used to have among staff members among students and staff and so on so i think one of the priorities also needs to be rebuilding the sense of family among students themselves because they're not interacting in the way they used to interact uh there needs to be uh activities on on every campus where students can interact with each other again and regain that sense of pride they had in their campus
032whether it be sandia or vanguard or desert knolls or granite hills or apple valley rebuilding the sense of pride among the students on that campus but also regaining the sense of family among staff members so those i i see looking at the environment around us those i see are three very important priorities that need to be addressed the school board is a governance team why have you decided to apply for this provisional appointment in area one i've been privileged to be a part of the apple valley district for 31 years and i feel that the apple valley district has given me a tremendous blessing and a tremendous opportunity and not just for myself and my wife who was a teacher also for over 30 years before her retirement but also for our two to uh
033children came came through this school system and they they had just a fantastic experience on all the campuses they were able to be a part of they they formed um really important uh foundational aspects of their positive aspects of their possib of their personality and their direction and their focus because the interaction they had with other students as well as the interaction they had with the teachers the teachers just had a huge impact on on both my son and my daughter coming through this district and so i feel that i've been given a tremendous privilege from what the apple valley district has given to me and so i i would just just simply since i am retired now uh just simply to give give a little bit back to the community and give a little
034bit back to this district in terms of participating on the school board thank you and the last question anything else you need us to know about you as an applicant uh just just again i'm i'm very excited about the direction that the schools are going i i feel as as a teacher and i think so many of you would share that every the the beginning of every single school year is is a is a time of anticipation of kind of uh excitation that that you know we've we've had a little bit of a break we've had some time off uh ev everyone's kind of got their batteries recharged but the beginning of every school year is always kind of an exciting year and an anticipatory time we're looking forward to it the students are excited
035about coming back the teachers are excited about coming back it seems like a lot of the administrators almost seem like they didn't leave that that they're always there but even the administrators i think they're excited about coming back there's this sense of excitement about coming back and i think that this coming school year is really special really unique i think this coming uh opening of school is really a opportunity because again as i said our students have faced challenges in these past months that they've never faced before especially our older students who have never known anything like this throughout their entire lives and so i feel that this year is really a year of opportunity where there is a tremendous opportunity to to look at the past look at the circumstances that we've been through
036and then learn from those build from those if we if we've made mistakes in the past to learn from those mistakes and and just just use these challenges these difficulties of these past months of these pandemic pandemic as an opportunity to to grow and be even more effective in college career or in society as a whole and then again i i look forward if if selected it would be a privilege to be on the board i do want to make the the board aware of something though uh because this uh vacancy in area one occurred so suddenly so unexpectedly again the the seat was not expected to be open for election until 2024 because it occurred so unexpectedly i i have made a couple of commitments that i need the board to be aware of
037because those commitments would necessitate an absence from board meetings for example the board meeting in october 7th i will be leading a group of 28 students and parents and adults on a trip to the east coast on a history trip to the east coast of washington d.c and boston new york and philadelphia so i will be absent for that for that board meeting because of this previous commitment that i made uh also uh in april uh i will be uh if if selected uh i would be absent from from the uh april 14th board meeting uh because uh there there's a trip that i've already paid for that that's non-refundable that i've already um paid the funds for uh that'll be a trip to the himalayas i will be going to the himalayas and um
038attempting to climb the first peak north of mount everest there in tibet so just wanted to make the board aware that because this occurred so suddenly i did have those previous commitments but again in a spirit of openness and transparency just just wanted to make the board aware of that thank you mr rc thank you thank you very much mr rc i have explained to others you are welcome to stay in the waiting room if you'd like or you may just plan to come back um by the last um interview time which would be 12 10 to wait until we come back into openstack very good so that's your decision okay very good okay thank you very much thank you thank you and as a reminder to the board and to anybody else in the
039room um when we pause the streaming now that you've had two candidates we can't have any discussion regarding any of the candidates until we get to the agenda item thank you we are streaming everyone wants it is that a phone good morning good morning maureen good morning um this is applicant maureen mills and maureen before we started all of the interviews we did um talk about the process and so we're going to ask that you speak very closely to the mic there's a chair there you can move it up if you would prefer standing um thank you and if you're not going to be close to it talk loudly okay okay um the board will introduce themselves and then i'll facilitate the questions okay and you have 30 minutes all right thank you good morning
040i'm maria alpara nice to meet you hi thanks for replying my name is rick rowley good morning rick good morning dennis bender good morning dennis good morning wilson okay question number one describe your commitment to the success of the mission and values identified on our logo the mission is at your podium it says apple valley unified school district serves our community with dignity by meeting the unique academic behavioral and social emotional needs of all students so that they may thrive in an ever-changing world and our logo has our values which are dignity community authenticity and service all right thank you first of all just thank you for the opportunity i appreciate the opportunity to serve i have worked in public education for about 29 years i'm committed to public education i've served on a cabinet
041level position for 13 years in another district i've experienced the apple valley mission first hand i have two children who went through apple valley unified school district and were very successful and one moved on to college and one is now expecting his first grandchild so i know firsthand the commitment of the educators i love the community focus i believe that it is a partnership that we have to rely on our stakeholders so i'm very committed to the mission and vision of apple valley unified school district how does the board's role differ from the superintendent and staff of the apple valley unified school district well i think the board's role number one we have a moral imperative to ensure that all of the students succeed at a high rate we also want to make sure that
042we have a fiduciary responsibility to the community in the running of the school district i will serve my community area one to the best of my ability i entrust that our superintendent runs the day-to-day operations of the school district and i'm here to support the work and the goals if you are selected as the area one provisional appointee what will your priorities for the apple valley unit be for the apple valley unified school district once again i'm going to restate the priority is to help ensure that all students in the apple valley unified school district achieve at a very high rate and that would be the number one goal we're all here for the students the board is a governance team why have you decided to apply for this a provisional appointment in area one
043well once again i have thought over the years my dedication to public education the 29 years i've experienced this is one more way for me to serve my community um and promote the strength of our public education system and then finally anything else you need us to know about you as an applicant well once again i've lived in area one for 29 years i'm married with two sons i believe that public education is a wonderful wonderful thing i've seen it be successful for many many students in my role in the victor elementary school district um i do believe that i um at the i'm a worthy candidate i feel like my experience would really contribute to this particular district and i appreciate the consideration thank you that concludes our interview and i've explained that although
044we have several candidates still to go you are not required to stay here but we do recommend that you come back at the time of the last interview process to wait in the waiting room because then we will go into public session as soon as that one concludes and allow for the agenda item to be discussed once again thank you so much for this opportunity i appreciate it thank you very much our next interview is at 10 5 minutes after 10 so you have quite a bit of time to have a break you jason's going to be in the live stream again hey rick is it getting warm in here i know i know i thought it was a little cool okay it's nice outside it's only in the 80s out there huh is gonna
045slide he's making sure the seat is appropriate okay i think i can make that work good morning does that work for you i think sure it can be higher or lower your decision i think we're good okay i think you're good thank you make sure you come from board this is the next candidate it's regina weatherspoon bell and i'd like each of you to introduce yourselves yeah i'm maria para pleased to see you dennis bender glad you're here thank you you know me wilson yes well good morning to you all mrs weatherspoon bell i am going to be the facilitator asking questions you have 30 minutes to respond to five questions and um we're going to begin okay okay describe your commitment to the success of the mission and values identified in our logo the
046mission is at the podium apple valley unified school district serves our community with dignity by meeting the unique academic behavioral and social emotional needs of all students so that they may thrive in an ever-changing world and our values are located around the edge of our logo that are dignity community authenticity and service and as you speak make sure you are very close to the mic or very loud okay all right and um superintendent nelson will you repeat the question again please sure describe your commitment to the success of the mission and values identified on our logo okay that's not a hard one for me um and first of all i want to thank you for the opportunity to participate as a candidate [Music] they want to hear it okay how is that that's better much
047better okay all right um but in response to that question i think um the tenets of dignity community authenticity and service right those are values that i practice not only in my professional life but very much in my personal life so i am deeply aligned with those core values that are in the mission statement and i am very much aligned with and supportive of the mission statement because it is absolutely as an educational institution what we should be doing to make sure that our students are well prepared to go into that big world thank you question number two how does the board's role differ from that of the superintendent and the staff of the apple valley unified school district so the board's world differs in the sense that my belief in is that the superintendent
048is basically the general manager um for the district and the role of the board basically is to one um be an advocate for the district and then to support the superintendent in achieving those goals and the plans that have been set forth to provide fiscal oversight to help in the development and implementation of policy so those roles are very very different and i think i understand the distinction between the two question number three if you are selected as the area one provisional appointee what will your priorities be for the apple valley unified school district uh i think the um priority for me will be to join the board and be a team player in supporting the superintendent and what has already been said this is you i would be coming in to fulfill an existing
049term um and so things have already been put into motion and so to support that um not only with as an individual but collectively as a board member thank you question number four the school board is a governance team why have you decided to apply for this provisional appointment in area one i have been in this community for almost 30 years and for over 20 of those years i have been involved with the apple valley unified school district i started out as a mother in the classroom just volunteering with my kindergarten and i'm proud to say my son is 27 years old he has gone through apple valley unified school district graduated gone on to college and graduated from there but my work didn't stop there and i have been very committed to not only
050the education of my own child but the education of children in our community i've been very involved in our community and i believe that education is a high priority it is also an equalizer for these children that come from very diverse backgrounds and challenges especially in today's time and then the final question anything else you need us to know about you as an applicant you know i i will just say this um as i mentioned and as indicated on my application i have been very involved in my community i have also been very involved and committed to apple valley unified school district and i come to the table with what i believe are a number of skills that are of value and would be of benefit to the current board and those skills have to
051do with my experience in governance and also in government right um also the work that i have done uh in apple valley unified school district i mean i've been an advocate that brought a gift of over a hundred thousand dollars to the school district at one time i have served on school site committee i have been a part of the student attendance review board been a part of the youth accountability board just about anytime i have been called on from the school district through a number of superintendents um as most recently superintendent nelson earlier this year asked if i would come and bring a group of professionals to help address a community issue and i was able to do that and i am very committed to not only my community at large from a regional
052perspective but also from a very local perspective and that's what i bring with me i have leadership skills understanding and with governance you know i sit on a couple of boards myself most recently i have been elected to the providence healthcare system southern california regional board i serve as the vice chair for that board i'm part of the saint mary's community ministry board so in terms of understanding governance and the work that and responsibilities that the board has very into that and knowledgeable in that i served for eight years which ended in december of last year i served as deputy director for our first district supervisor robert lovinggood and that provided a wealth of information relationships connections that make me a very strong advocate to sit at a table and particularly to sit at this
053this table so i am just hopeful and looking forward to the opportunity to serve not only the students of this district but also the families of this district and work along with the fine individuals who have been elected to serve on this board thank you so our last interview time is at 12 10. you are not required to stay while in the room while we interview the rest but we would ask that you are back here um in the in the waiting room by 12 10 for that last interview so that when we bring everybody back in for the agenda item you would be available if appointed because we have to do the oath of office at the end great all right well thank you and thank you for your time and your consideration thank
054you thank you [Music] i just found out that you wrote their names on the bottom and i've been writing the name up here it won't hurt anything i just finally looked down i said oh that just keeps track yeah and do we submit this back in you have to all of the documents all of our notes board our next candidate is christopher nunes and um i'm going to have the board introduce themselves hi i'm maria o'kara nice to meet you good morning welcome thank you for applying rick raleigh thank you welcome chris good to see you good morning hi it's wolfgang's so good to see you good morning chris it's going to be uncomfortable you're going to have to have that mic really close or you have to speak loudly which i know you have
055the ability to do okay describe your commitment to the success of the mission and values identified on our logo the mission is sitting there as is the logo apple valley unified school district serves our community with dignity by meeting the unique academic behavioral and social emotional needs of all students so that they may thrive in an ever-changing world and the values are around the logo that say dignity community authenticity and service thank you again good morning to everyone here and thank you so much for the opportunity uh to begin with let me go ahead and answer the question describing my commitment first off my commitment as a parent and as a community member here in apple valley i have a son who is now going into the fourth grade and uh to say that we're
056committed to his success and the success of his school is a gigantic understatement um the truth is is that this district has provided a great launch point for so many students over you know the last several decades and that kind of culture and that kind of of support should only continue and that's my commitment to this mission is to continue the support of providing students who each one of them has that unique individual background and abilities that they need supported whether they have an iep or whether they're following the standardized process for any of our students in the k-12 system the fact that we're not only going to approach their success um with their academics but also from their behavior standpoint because we're creating citizens that are going to of course navigate the very things
057that we're doing here today they're the ones who are going to drive the success of our community they're the ones who are going to bring a strong economy and good jobs and they're the ones who are going to make sure that the children that follow them are going to continue and secure that success for all of us the social emotional needs is of course something that has come to light a bit more over the last decade or so and continues to grow in a lot of strength and a lot of integration into the way the teachers are teaching these days and the support and resources that come along to those students i think that that is something that is rising to the top and it really goes into serving the the key points that you
058focus on on the logo very well i have a lot of dignity and dignity and pride come together i feel like the pride that a student has and gains by going through a system that recognizes them supports them and empowers them and gives them the resources to succeed succeed not only academically but as a person and as an individual again i can't stress how strongly i am committed to making sure that the next generation of students is going to become great citizens for our community these are the kids who are going to come back and hopefully one day where i'm sitting where you are there at this podium and they're ready to serve as well to continue to grow the culture and enhance the things that make our community what it is authenticity is a
059is a very interesting word because i think most of us when we see it we probably think okay well a student should be authentic a teacher or instructor or bus driver or crossing guard or lunch lady should be authentic and show who they are to students to show that of course our administration and our faculty and staff are three-dimensional people we're human beings they all have feelings they all have interactions they all have things that drive them that might be different from those there it also goes on to show that to be authentic means to represent yourself and be exactly who you are i'm i'm happy and sad to say that i have somebody who a few years ago came out to me as as a lesbian and it made me sad that that they
060went through their entire time here as a student not feeling as though that they could be their own authentic selves and i think the fact that now we are focusing more on the social and emotional needs of our students i think the fact that our students are able to live a more authentic life and over time don't have to drop bombs or come out you know they're able to be their authentic selves their entire career here at abusd and then finally of service i was very very grateful to participate in a lot of extracurricular activities given the opportunity time and time again to to volunteer and to serve my students being a leader to serve as a captain on on soccer teams to serve as the lead in plays or or the head section in
061a choir and then to go on and be encouraged to do that kind of service and volunteerism in the community through our kiwanis and key clubs these are the kinds of things that we want to continue to perpetuate continue to encourage and that is exactly what the mission and our logo is is signifying to our our students to our parents to our community and to those around us and this is a fantastic logo and mission i know you all worked on this over the pandemic and congratulations on coming up with something that not just those who are in official capacity are serving but something that all of us as this community can actually drive to commit and support thank you okay how does the board's role differ from that of the superintendent and the staff
062of the apple valley unified school district gosh well they are quite different although they all work in a leadership capacity to support and encourage and and demonstrate the great things that are having happening here at avusd they serve for two very different purposes the board of course is to provide oversight set direction make plans and set protocols that will guide the way that our students are taught the way that our students are disciplined the way that our parents and community stakeholders are able to interact with the district itself the board is meant to be the sounding board if you will to receive that information from the community here at board meetings out in the public representing the district and then of course the superintendent is empowered and uh of course hired by the board to
063set forth and enact those those visions and those policies and those procedures they have complete executive power and of course all of the district employees report under them and that's a very important chain of command something that was that stood out very much to me is that the board is in is responsible for the what right what are the issues that are facing what are the gaps that need to be covered in our district what are those areas of opportunities for us to prepare our students for the next level and then of course our superintendent along with the rest of the staff is to figure out the how how are we going to do that how are we going to implement these tools what are the metrics that we need to meet and how are
064we going to best demonstrate this to again the board our students and our community stakeholders so again the what and the how if you are selected as the area one provisional appointee what will your priorities be for the apple valley unified school district so if appointed first and foremost i think all of us are very driven to getting our students here back to school back on campus in in a appropriate safe and again interactive environment because that is a big thing that we've been missing we have lots of students of course who have not received some of the extra resources and attention that they might have been missing during the pandemic at distance learning so that's going to be a big priority and the other thing is is we don't have to be stuck in
065old ways the pandemic has opened us up to new opportunities for learning new modalities of learning and interacting with one another and it's going to be a big priority of mine to integrate those into the things that we've been doing i just read that uh that south africa is issuing the first patent for something created by artificial intelligence our students have been in the midst of living at home during a global pandemic and learning about new vaccines that are being made with new science our students have been watching how billionaires across our country have been racing to space these are the environments these are the situations these are scenarios that we are preparing them for so i think my biggest priority is going to be make sure making sure that we get students back integrated
066interactive and back turned on to learning as quickly as possible the school board is a governance team why have you decided to apply for this provisional appointment in area one i'm glad i have the opportunity to actually answer this we have a very strong board and we have a very strong culture in this in apple valley unified school district it's something that has grown over the years that has created much more success and that has really really developed our town we have a small town and very very and pretty much everyone is touched by this district so the fact that we've been that you that we have been able to lead in that aspect has been outstanding and now more than ever i think that that's very important we have great tenure on the board
067with a mix of of newer board representatives and that creates an excellent opportunity to to collaborate to expand to drive all of our missions forward and the reason that i chose right now is the most opportune time is because well we can focus on the business rather than focusing on an election at this point we can focus on what the actual needs are and focus on the what so that we can let our superintendent and staff get to the how there's been very few issues in watching the board meetings and i think that this is an opportunity for someone who possibly represents a different portion of our constituency to become a part of the team i'm very proud to be a parent of a student here at applevale unified school district i am a spouse
068of an employee of apple value unified school district i'm the product of apple valley unified school district i graduated in 2005. go cougars so to have that aspect and portion be a part of the team i think would be a great advantage the other thing is as a parent i have contact with lots of other parents so hearing some of the strifes and difficulties that they're coming through i think that that could be another unique thing that i could bring to the board in addition to the fact i you know some folks are always looking for someone who appears like them or maybe resonates with them in a certain way so i know that i could have another connection with potentially a a younger group of our constituency that maybe hasn't been involved before as
069well as communication with our hispanic community um as the district as the director of uh of scholarships and fun coordination with the victor valley college foundation it's my job to be out there and realize some of the difficulties and strives that our later high school students are dealing with before they make it over to either vvc or off to college or joining the workforce and these are some experiences and some insights that i could bring to this board um speaking of other insights and why right now is because of my community involvement actually perhaps i'll wait and let you do the next question anything else you need us to know about you as an applicant thank you so as an applicant it has been my really my mission my drive to be an active member
070of this community um i have served in a lot of different roles on the educational side it's been my great pleasure you know to assist with my son's school at sycamore rocks elementary helping with schools plays and and field days and 5ks and arts fair it's also been my pleasure as a community person to come in both acting in an official and and volunteer capacity i formerly was the field representative for our 33rd state assembly district with mr j obernal team in that capacity i was able to attend and participate in many sandaps meetings that's san bernardino advocates for better schools getting to learn what the real measures were that our districts are going through to combat in the state and have advocation for those important things um i uh i've also learned that sometimes
071advocating for those things that are important to you know those here in our district means having the difference of opinions and i love that the uh that the board rules that you've adopted and following csba has to do with having unity on the board and proper discussion and the agreement to disagree and those are things that that i've learned and had to advocate for actually coming out of those sand apps meetings one particular example being a school start time bill that recently passed her state legislature that should be going to effect here soon you know i listened and heard the majority of our district wasn't i wasn't up for it and didn't find it incredibly feasible however the representative that i represented he did believe it and wanted to vote in it vote for it
072so that required conversation and understanding to see you know why there's such a discrepancy between what he's voting on versus what our constituency is telling us and those are the kinds of things that i've learned and have that understanding on how to utilize that going forward i take great pride in my community involvement i've had the great pleasure to serve a lot of local non-profits including having served on a governing board myself as the president of the high desert phoenix foundation it was my great pleasure to help grow the fiscal capacity of the foundation over my two years as the as the president and then later on carry on the uh the work myself as the executive director going from preparing the what of the plan to the how of the plan so i definitely
073have a good understanding of of what those two kinds of abilities need and how they need to work together in order to meet that goal lastly i'll just say this i moved here 25 years ago and i started the fourth grade same grade my son's going into now i had never participated in an extracurricular activity i had never been to a friend's house and it never been important to me to see folks who looked like me here i am 25 years later excited for my son to be entering the same fourth grade at the same school that i went to today i'm standing here in front of you confident capable and able to fill this position because of the education and the opportunities that launched me from avosd and i love this community and i
074love these kids so i appreciate your time i don't envy you you have a very difficult decision ahead of you but uh for what it's worth for my two cents i take a lot of solace in knowing that the candidates that you've reviewed today we're gonna have a great individual sitting in that seat and our students are gonna have excellent stewardship so thank you all so much i very much appreciate your time thank you thank you thank you very much with all of the candidates we have explained that you are not required to stay here in the waiting room um through all of their interviews but we do ask that you return to the waiting room about 12 10 which is our last interview because as soon as that complete concludes we will come back
075into um everybody will be able to participate and listen while they do um the agenda item all right see you soon thank you good we have a few minutes before the next candidate about um 1105. we're going to start streaming what do we test to make sure okay good okay welcome the next candidate is nikki follis and i'm going to ask that the board introduce themselves and then we'll get going on the questions great thank you good morning i'm maria ocpara nice to see you nice to see you rick rowley good morning frank dennis glad to have you here dennis bender good morning good to see you good morning wilson it's awesome so we have questions for you this morning and i know they've said it but just either speak very loudly or close to
076the mic it's uncomfortable but we're in a big room so okay okay the first question you have all of the questions on the podium as well describe your commitment to the success of the mission and values identified on our logo the mission states apple valley unified school district serves our community with dignity by meeting the unique academic behavioral and social emotional needs of all students so that they may thrive in an ever-changing world and then our values are around the edge of the logo that our dignity community authenticity and service thank you very much my commitment to the values that appa valley unified has is looking at the needs of the whole student and looking at students as individuals and taking education is not a one-size-fits-all approach to meeting the needs of our students today
077people come from different socioeconomic backgrounds ethnic backgrounds we have children facing mental and emotional needs that aren't being served so i see as the school district and as a member of the board it would be my responsibility to look at the whole student their unique needs as it relates to the mission and vision and make sure we have programs and services and supporting the superintendent and her staff to have everything that they need to meet the needs of the unique students that are within our district how does the board's role differ from that of the superintendent and the staff of the apple valley unified school district so as a member of government staff for many years i'm very well versed in the fact that the board provides direction and guidance to the superintendent and the
078superintendent and her staff take out handle the day-to-day responsibilities of the district we would be there to provide guidance to answer questions to help possibly lobby sacramento and help get initiatives that the district superintendent and their staff want to see change in sacramento we can take those fights forward but we provide direction and guidance to the superintendent and let her and her fabulous staff do the day-to-day work and meet the goals of the district if you are selected as the area one provisional appointee what will your priorities be for the apple valley unified school district so my first priority would be to get to know the other trustees the superintendent and her cabinet to really dig into the initiatives that the board has already approved and that you're currently working on so i could make
079myself a meaningful partner straight off the bat i want to know where i can fit in where my role would be how i can assist and how i can start providing added value to the board and provided support to the superintendent and her staff i would listen to the needs of the constituents and even just for applying for this position i've been talking to neighbors i've been talking to people that would be in my district finding out what do you like about the board what do you like about the district what do you know what are you hearing what are you not hearing and what do you need from our schools specifically speaking with the parents the business owners people that have a direct impact on the district that i would be serving so i
080would jump right in talk to everyone learn everything a lot of listening so i could hear the message that's being conveyed by the people in my district listening to the other board members so i could understand what the work that you've already been doing how i can aid in that work how i can add value and and follow come in and follow along with what you're doing and make suggestions as appropriate the school board is a governance team why have you decided to apply for this provisional appointment in area one thank you that's a great question i recently received my doctorate in education in 2018 with the idea that when i retire from my day job my government administration job i would move into the area of education i'm also an adjunct professor at brandman
081university part of the chapman system so i'm well versed in the understanding the needs of different types of students in the educational setting so i received a call from one of my neighbors amanda hernandez she sits on the fireboard and said i think this would be a great opportunity for you um i think you could represent your our district and those um in our district very well i'm also a parent in the district i have a 28 year old stepson that came through here i have a 25 year old stepson that came through here and i have children currently in the district going to school so i've seen it on the side of a parent i've seen it on the side of not having kids in the district i moved here specifically for the purpose
082of having education having my kids educated in apple valley unified i used to live in a different high desert city and when my kids were ready to go to school i moved to apple valley to have my children specifically in this district due to the offerings and the unique educational opportunities so when i heard the position was open i started reaching out sending text messages talking to neighbors my neighbor scott runs a pest control hey tell me about applejack valley unified what do you know about them where do you see needs you came through the school years ago my my neighbor amanda called me and said you know you really need to do this i started talking to my next-door neighbor whose brother teaches at sitting bull and they all gave me a perspective and
083said you know we've known you for a lot of years and we think you'd be a really good representative of us you listen first you speak second and you really i really like to marinate and take things to heart i 100 understand the relationship between a board and those that do the job because i've been on the other side for 25 years as an assistant city manager and a city manager working with city councils so i definitely see the parallel relationship between a school board so i really feel like i bring a different perspective not coming from a full educational background that i can bring forward to the board not only as a parent but as someone who works in higher education right now but also someone who's worked in government for a lot of
084years understanding the complexities of things like the brown act and the government code and the education code and how you may have the best intention to do something but your hands are tied with the laws and regulations that may not allow you to do that and how to have that conversation in this case it would be with parents or constituents that may call because i've done that on the other side for 25 years talking to residents whether it be in cities or counties about what we can and can't do based on the rules and regulations that that cities are bound with so that really drove me forward as i'm ending my government career in a few years i'm really ramping up my community service and this is a good way to come and serve the
085community that i've loved since 2003. anything else that you need us to know about you as an applicant um i'm a super excited gung-ho parent i have the utmost respect for our administrators at our school sites i've always done my best to when i speak to them speak to them in a respectful and professional manner understanding that they're there to represent our kids and i would bring that same professionalism to the board not overstepping my authority or interceding in day-to-day affairs even though i do have a child in the district which was something that caused me pause for concern in applying for this position i wouldn't want to make any kind of awkward situation but i do think i can um bring added value in perspective um i was really excited when i saw the
086seat came open and you know disappointed with the person i voted for didn't make it through the full term but i would really love the opportunity to serve to sit alongside you and to bring forward the initiatives that you guys have brought to apple valley school district i know um i have a high schooler sitting in the car right now cheering me on watching excited you know just just the programs you've offered at some of the schools she chose to go to granite hills high school because of the great academy and that's something that wasn't offered when my 25 year old was at apple valley high school and so there's such unique things available right now and i think just another voice an energetic parent voice maybe someone with a different perspective can bring extra
087i don't know a little extra shine a little extra something to the board and you have a bunch of great candidates so anyone you pick julie is going to be great but i just feel like i can bring some enthusiasm and i do have that that background in education even though it hasn't been my career it was something that i felt would really help me as i move into what i'm calling the second phase of my life in a few years and making education that focus for for the second part of my career so i just thank you for your time today and your consideration i do apologize my cover letter for some reason was missed on the application so i did leave that here so you can see that i think i had the
088wonderful paper ran out in the printer issue when i submitted my application that day but i appreciate your time and your attention and letting me speak to you today and i look forward to hearing your decision thank you i've been telling the candidates that we would ask that you return at least to the waiting room you don't have to wait through all the other interviews but at least return to the waiting room for when the last appointment time is which is 12 10 for our interview so that when we complete that the board will then start addressing the agenda item that has to do with the appointment okay thank you guys very much for your time i appreciate nice meeting you that i don't know thank you so much thank you our next candidate is
089at 11 40 a.m so we'll take a break i love that i love it make sure he's comfortable good uh early afternoon hi how are you how are you um board this is jose arredondo he is our candidate at 11 40 and i'm going to ask that the board introduced themselves and i know dustin said it we all have to shake hands or just no no no we we just want to stay all right we'll just do one of these right there all the way down the line yeah okay thank you all right good morning good morning my name is maria ocara welcome to the interview rick rowling how's it going good to meet you thanks for applying wilson so so we have five questions for you and um we have continued to say really
090close really loud that way everybody in the room hears and we're streaming um five questions they're at the podium for you and i'll facilitate by reading them okay describe your commitment to the success of the mission and values identified on our logo and the mission states apple valley unified school district serves our community with dignity by meeting the unique academic behavioral and social emotional needs of all students so that they may thrive in an ever-changing world and then our four values are around the logo that say dignity community authenticity and service great all right well um obviously i think the logo kind of brings it all in for us for me uh service uh even though it's at the end uh it's it's number one as far as uh i'm concerned because that's what i
091was raised in that's what i've always uh i've always done from the time i was a little kid i started as an explorer with the apple valley fire protection district uh and then moving on to uh being a firefighter which is um which is a service industry right it's a public service which is what uh you all are doing here um and i think that's uh that's paramount to the to the goal of achieving all the rest of the uh the rest of the goals here which is the dignity community authenticity the only way that we can that we can achieve that is by truly having that belief in our kids that we can that we can actually affect change for them and we can make it we can make it make them i'll help
092them grow in whatever whatever way that we can um the ever-changing world i mean i think uh i think we can all kind of look at that for a second especially in the uh recent past how much it's actually changed the only thing i can say about that is we're picking up grounders you know people are coming at us quick with a bunch of different a bunch of different ideas a bunch of different situations and all we can do as a group is kind of field those grounders and make them work best we can for our kids with what we have how does the board's world differ from that of the superintendent and the staff of the apple valley unified school district uh well as we had as we discussed in our orientation meeting there
093as far as the board goes we're just looking at all the the information that's given to us and put together the best idea that we can and provide it to the superintendent for implementation um [Music] when when it comes down to to the decision making there's only so much that we can do as a collective group there's a there's a reason that there's there's five people so that we don't get we don't get kind of hung up but at the end of the day all we can do is take the information that's provided to us uh keeping obviously the children as paramount the kids paramount and taking the resources that we have available to us to make as impactful of a change or implementation as we can and present to the superintendent so that that
094change can be affected if you are selected as the area one provisional appointee what will your priorities for the apple valley unified school district be uh well i mean i think the uh the logo says it all but uh the main priority as i said before is the kids is the the children getting their uh getting their their student their learning goals that's number one and then uh down the line is obviously using the using our resources that are made available to us to be able to implement those goals we want to be fiscally responsible obviously in order to attain those goals but at the end of the day the uh kids are number one so as long as we're doing everything that we can as a board as a superintendent as uh people as
095long as we're doing everything that we can to support that mission and to get uh these kids to a place where they can succeed in life that's number one number four the board is a governance team thank you miss okara sorry i lost my place the board is a governance team why have you decided to apply for this provisional appointment in area one well uh i truly believe that uh either you affect change or you're affected by it and if you have if you're not willing to kind of put your money where your mouth is and put the time in to [Music] to put the time into a position like this where you're uh we're given of yourself to affect change then i don't think that you should be out really preaching it you know
096unless you're unless you're actually willing to put in the put in the time so for me uh even though you know we all have busy schedules i have uh two kids that i'm about to move out to college and one kid that's still in uh still in high school that's a uh going to be a junior this year uh obviously we're all busy i get that but uh with that the reason i chose to do this is because if i can affect a little bit of change uh in in any way positive of course with the kids in mind that is that's that's key to me and then the final question anything else you need us to know about you as an applicant uh well i mean i've been a long-term resident of apple valley
097i've moved here when i was 10 years old started in i've been a member of the or been in the av usd my entire my entire life pretty much started as a in junior high actually in this in this very building here and i went all the way uh through high school uh in the av usd even graduated from victor valley college so i've always been a local i've invested in the community uh love this community and want to do everything that that i can for this community whether it's the school board the the town anything that that that i can possibly do to better our community is my goal uh and obviously that starts with the kids you know we uh we raise our own kids in the best way that we can with
098uh with what we've with the tools that that we've been given and the tools that we make uh but when it comes down to it uh if we don't try and affect change somewhere else if we don't try and and better uh our community then i think we're sorely lacking in what it is that uh that we need to do as as people that have the ability to to do that so that would be my reason for uh coming out for the board um i definitely appreciate the the time that you guys have put into uh allowing us to to speak here in a in open in an open forum i guess yeah we're because we're live streaming here and uh and i hope that no matter who gets picked for the board position i
099appreciate the fact that i was able to to meet everybody uh come out and and actually uh see everybody and uh hopefully whether i get chosen for the position or not that uh that that open line of communication will remain there that's uh that's actually been been started uh hopefully hopefully today so uh so again if um no matter who makes who gets chosen for the position uh i hope that they can affect a positive change and uh and if you need anything from me even if i don't end up making the position uh i hope that i would be able to reach out to you as well as uh to me for any needs that you you guys might have thank you we have asked that each candidate you don't have to wait in
100the waiting room while the last interview takes place but certainly you've got a little bit of time not tons because you're closer to the end here our last interview starts at 12 10 and as soon as that concludes um the board will then address the board item having to do with the appointment so we'd want to make sure that each candidate knows that because after they've addressed the board item there would be a swearing-in perfect okay all right so we'll just meet back in the board room there yeah okay thank you all right thank you thank you thank you thank you [Music] so our final interview is at 12 10 and then you'll do your finding your applicant for 12 10 today and um mr extrane they're going to introduce themselves very well good morning
101mr extra and this is maria ocara nice to see you good to see you rick rowley thanks for applying you're welcome bender good to see you good to see you wilson so good to see you likewise mr extrand um we have five questions for you there at the podium as well um i will read them as the facilitator and just remember that the mic um for streaming purposes and for hearing in the room either very close or speak loudly stage voice okay question number one describe your commitment to the success of the mission and values identified on our logo the mission states apple valley unified school district serves our community with dignity by meeting the unique academic behavioral and social emotional needs of all students so that they may thrive in an ever-changing world and
102then our values are found on the logo around the edge that say dignity community authenticity and service okay so um i don't know where the camera is should i look at the camera you can look it up hi everybody i'll look at you guys you look better than a camera so i worked for 19 years as a school psychologist for apple valley unified school district and as such i had the opportunity to address many of the issues that are discussed there the dignity of all students different learning abilities different ways of learning and finding ways to help students be successful in their trying to achieve their academic program and i also for 30 years have been a resident of apple valley and have children all five of my wives and my children attended apple valley
103schools and graduated from apple from high schools in apple valley so i have a lot of experience with the educational process from an insider and from a parent point of view and i think it's important that the board address the issues of equity and fairness of dignity and that they address this the social and emotional as well as the behavioral concerns that students have and the academic concerns so that students can be prepared um and and have strategies that will help them be successful in this world we're seeing some wild changes in the world today and um it takes a lot of fortitude to sort through them it takes a good educational background and it takes emotional stability to handle them in an appropriate manner and i think if the school district fulfills its mission
104our students will be well prepared to deal with the things that they confront in their adult lives how does the board's world differ from that of the superintendent and the staff of the apple valley unified school district so the school board has the responsibility to to give direction to the district they they possess the vision for the district i'd like to see it as the school board is a monitoring and and intervening at the macro level it's the big picture we you know we want this is our vision for this for the district these are the the goals that we think are important to us as a board and then we hand that off to the superintendent who the school board hired and we say figure out how to do this and so we're not
105very hands-on in terms of the day-to-day how do you do this that's trine nelson's job and she does that through the staff that she hires to support the learning of the and safety of the students in our district so um those are the main differences we're more of a macro once it gets into your hands it's more of a micro and when you pass it on to your assistant superintendents it's even more micro and when it gets to the principles it's very focused at a specific school site and so the superintendent is doing the hands-on work and the board is giving direction in terms of vision for the district if you are selected as the area one provisional appointee what will your priorities be for the apple valley unified school district my priority will be
106to see that we serve the community with dignity by seeing that all students have their academic needs their behavior needs their social emotional needs met through the programs and services of the apple valley unified school district i will support the vision and mission of the board of the apple valley school district that's my goal i feel that i'll be able to give input from my own personal perspective but i understand fully that every decision made by the board is a board decision and not tim extran's decision the school board is a governance team why have you decided to apply for this provisional appointment in area one well i heard my echo um i actually didn't even know that a board member had resigned until i got a phone call from somebody who said i had
107never thought about being on a school board before and they said hey there's an opening and you live in that district and we want you or i want you to consider applying for um to be appointed as a board member and um so at first i said well all right i'll think about it and so i got on the school's website got on the section that talks about the board and started reading about it and i said you know the district has given my family an awful lot they gave me 19 years of experience working with them they gave my wife 20 years of experience working as a teacher my kids went through the district my two of my children are teachers in the district right now maybe i should think about giving back i'm
108retired i have some time maybe i should give back and that's what really that's what really it came down to it was that and then it became a matter of prayer and i thought you know i feel like this is something i should at least throw my hat in the ring the board will make their decision and i want to be considered i want to be able to give back for all of the wonderful things this district has done for myself and my family and then the final question anything else you need us to know about you as an applicant [Music] i don't know i you might find out some things you don't like i don't know i mean but uh but i don't think so i think you know i i know several people
109that are in this room right now they know me um and so i don't think so those of you who know me well can give whatever feedback you want about tim extra and if you think i'm a jerk tell them if you think i'm okay tell them that too but uh no i think i think you know what what what you need to know about me thank you mr x strand you're welcome thank you so much we are going into um the agenda item that will um deal with the appointment and so um you are welcome to have a seat we are gonna have the others that are here join us as well very well thank you you want me to go get them we'll let kylie do that you've done enough thank you so
110we are going to continue to stream while we have the others join and then the board can move back to the agenda and as soon as everybody is back into the room you can go to agenda to the agenda item okay you know like there's a strategy oh we're saying on the street we remain on stream um all discussion and um motion all is part of um public session so you do all of this in a public session while streaming yeah no this it's open open but also just a quick reminder that if you do make a motion or a second just to make sure to move your microphone back up because the so the stream can catch that yeah i would um actually recommend that all microphones are moved forward for the discussion yeah
111you can just leave it up you can leave it up it's right and point it right at you so or else the stream won't pick it up you speak to it yeah there you go mr raleigh your mic probably needs to be moved forward for the any of you you probably need to move it this direction just because we're streaming now that everybody is back in the room this concludes the interviews at this time i will turn the process over to the board president mrs oppara to lead the discussion and possible action okay we are ready to make provisional appointments to the appleville unified school district board of trustees um does a member wish to make a motion sure i'll make the first motion i want to make a comment first it's um can you
112spell okay actually okay just make the motion first there'll be an opportunity for for i wanted to thank everybody okay okay okay sorry yeah i just wanted to to uh thank everyone for for applying that was it and then i'll make a motion that we uh nominate christopher nunes uh to uh fill the i have a second vacancy first of all i want to thank you for the abundance of quality people that applied but i also support chris nunes okay um so now that you have a motion for a um a motion and a second um now is the opportunity to discuss okay it's a discussion action item right um i i know that there's a motion on the table and we have not seconded it yet that we have not voted on it right
113you have not voted so the process right um i actually i do move that we um um maria can't hear you we don't have a motion yet right we don't have a you have a motion and mr bender seconded the motion so what you have now is opportunity to discuss the candidate that he has that mr raleigh made a motion to appoint and mr bender seconded you don't vote yet you have a discussion okay um i don't have a vote a vote yet so i am actually asking um to select another candidate for you have to pause there you that's not part of the pro i this is for everybody that's watching and in the audience um each time we the board would make a um motion we discuss and you have to discuss and
114then you either um you take a vote and you either move forward with that vote or they can make a motion either the vote fails and they make a motion to talk about another candidate and then if emotion passes then it the process is complete there is no more discussion so with emotion on the table in a second if there's no discussion we just vote that's correct but i would recommend a discussion just so that um that's why it's a discussion action item yes yeah so there's still time for no discussion it's not just automatic okay does anyone have a discussion to make on the motion on the table do you have anything to say before we go i think that chris's presentation and his background is is excellent i think he'd make a great
115uh addition to this uh to this board so that's why i made the motion to appoint so that's my comments i agree with your assessment please be close to the microphone mister i agree with that assessment you know the quality response yeah and uh i know a lot of your candidates in person and uh same with chris but i don't think we could ask for anything more i do believe that we have other candidates that we need to consider so i am hoping that i need to take a vote though yes well i have a comment oh okay i do believe we have other candidates to discuss so as we take a vote we need to keep in mind that there are other candidates who were equally um qualified that we need to also vote
116on if that if this vote doesn't go through i heard earlier that maria you said you have a alternate candidate correct that's why i heard yes but mr rowdy has a motion on the floor right so okay so if we don't have any more comments we need to vote on mr what uh on mr nunez um all in favor think if uh it probably better if um kylie did a roll call though yes we would do um we'll call kylie will you do a roll cover on mr nunez starting from the back end kylie doesn't have a microphone so i'll do the roll call if that was okay sorry mr bender vote for mr nunes okay yeah we can't hear anything no mr raleigh hi mr so i'm going to vote no for time being
117okay because if there's a concern from the president of the board i want to hear her concern okay so the vote currently is a um 2-2 which means we open the floor again for a um motion and if it is seconded then we take a vote and and just for clarification um when we take a vote not me but when they take a vote if it doesn't carry it doesn't mean that it is over it means that this process did not complete and they may go through every single candidate and do that same process until they have a candidate appointed so i just want to be clear that they could bring back mr nunez's name at a later time and they would take a vote again okay it's a strange process i just want to
118make sure i'm clear all right does a member wish to make a motion um for another candidate i do make a motion for another candidate and that candidate is miss regina weatherstone with a spoon bell is there a second did the people back there hear it was there a second to that okay no second so when there is no second the motion doesn't carry and you can ask for another motion okay i make a motion we nominate christopher nunes we'll come back there any discussion i saved it yes any discussion any discussion is what i asked well i think that like a lot of candidates here he speaks for himself came here he speaks the language also hispanic he went to uh grand hills high school graduated in 2005 what else you need i i
119need mr conrad to remind us as the hr director of um certain comments sorry yes just a quick reminder uh as we consider candidates for the position obviously diversity equity inclusion is uh paramount in our district as demonstrated by the variety of people we have here in front of us um so the recruitment effort was was well received amongst the community and representative step forward however decisions based on one's either participation in or lack of participation in any protected class needs to be ceased from consideration we have to measure the candidates on their their abilities and successfully merit quality like a lot of them well no no i i i think dennis the the the person's ability to speak other language is not critical industry you know we are in america we all speak english
120that's important and so i don't think that should be should be brought up but i think we need to look at the candidates background okay and her his or her involvement with education and that's why i want to come i was having this discussion you know yeah and and we have a candidate that has a ph that edd and she's very involved with education how come she's not being considered mr so there the discussion right now is about the motion on the floor which is um a first and a second on mr nunez so keep the discussion if if we can to the person that we're allowed to discuss for the action good just go get straight up sorry do you want to roll call again yes okay the royal call vote mr bender can
121you clarify the role vote is to for mr moon right the roll call vote is for the motion for mr nunez okay so mr bender i vote for mr nunes miss o'kara i don't know if we're done with our votes so i'm gonna still say now until we get to the end mr raleigh aye and mr cell ibo eye for mr dinners so what you have is a three one in favor of mr nina's which means that is the next person congratulations close to the mic mrs ampara sorry congratulations mr nunez as the president of the board it is important that i stay neutral as much as possible until the final vote comes in so you move on to number to e uh we're now going to do a board on oath of office mr
122nunez will you meet me at the podium and you can see this partner here um thank you thank you members of the board congratulations to mr nunes please get ready to raise your hand so that i can administer the vote of office go there chris yes [Music] and repeat after me i i your last your first and last name christopher nunes do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies foreign and domestic foreign and domestic that i will bear the faith true faith and allegiance to the constitution of the united states that
123i will bear the true faith and allegiance to the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california and in the constitution of the state of california that i take this obligation freely without any mental reservations or purpose of invasion that i take this obligation freely and without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i'm about to enter and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i am about to enter congratulations [Applause] mr nunez do you want to say something you are i i feel like you've stood there but before the other candidates leave please first thank you all so much to the board i appreciate the vote of confidence immensely and i'm incredibly excited
124to begin working with you and learning from you all it's great to be a student in avusd even on the board we're always learning very much looking forward to working with administration thank you so much for the connections and friendships that we have and i look forward to to growing those and and serving our students well thank you to all of the candidates who came out this was an incredible pool i had a lot of solace in my heart knowing that somebody would fill that seat and and truly be an excellent steward for our district so thank you all don't go anywhere we need you all and to all of our constituents and students i'm incredibly excited and and here to listen and ready to work so thank you mr nunes on behalf of apple
125valley unified school district you may now join the board and participate in this meeting as a board member madam president i just also want to thank all the candidates we have wonderful candidates and thank you all for participating thank you very much yes superintendent's comments i just want to tell you how overwhelmed when i um saw the list of names that were applicants in this community that were stepping up to apply um for a provisional seat that has been vacated i feel extremely blessed that this community came out in this way to support the students of apple valley unified school district and so thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time out of your very busy schedules because i know they are to be here and to contribute and as mr
126nunes just said we certainly will be reaching out as each of you said you are i'm committed to the students of this community and um we need you and we need you part of the um process as we move forward with several plans so um i'm sure mr schlosser has made notes about el cap and the people that we want in the room so that's how we recruit around here thank you so much and congratulations mr nunes uh mr nunez you'll be the next comment on our agenda well probably for one of the first times other than what i've already said i i'm speechless so thank you so much and um ready to get to work let's move on thank you mr cell no i as i said i already thanked the candidates and and
127there's and you're all qualified and it's unfortunate we only got one opening and uh but we we're all going to continue to work together for right now you're all set doing what's best for our students you know we still applaud challenge okay and then by all means you all should continue to be involved with us thank you mr bender i want to say i appreciate the wealth of candidates yeah it shows what a great community we have and thank you mr raleigh yeah i agree with uh echo what ternae said you know we had eight candidates that all applied out of a small section of the community it was one district and uh it just tells you how important school boards are and how much people want to get involved with the schools and we
128had great candidates could have just drawn straws basically everybody was really qualified so i appreciate it thank you um i can start by saying that we we are truly honored to have such great candidates apply for this position you are all winners in my eyes you have uh stepped up and you have shown that the the apo valley school district is worthy of your service we are hoping that you continue to serve we're hoping that we'll find you in the community to be part of our school district family unfortunately we i wish we had more seats so that we will feel more seeds but we have only five spots i hope you never give up on wanting to serve in whatever type of capacity that is out there we'll reach back in to all of
129you at some point to ask for your support but don't give up on trying to uh be part of our system and to give us direction you are now the elder statesman of women of this community we are looking to you to help us so we can make a better district for our children thank you very much for your time um for the closing items we don't have any future items does anybody have future items i would like to make sure we address next time no all right i'm going to move that we are joined during this meeting um do we have any motion to adjourn so move uh who's secondly thank you all in favor aye aye meeting agent you