001call the meeting to order uh roll call Dennis Bender here Donna Davis here Maria okara here Rick Ry here Wilson so here five members have been attendance okay I would like to have the Pledge of Allegiance and the flag is here and we would all stand IED Al to the of the United States of America and to the stand indice okay we already did that okay and public comments we do not have any public comments pertaining to closed session okay um ratify time on August 6 6 2020 meeting from okay thank you uh change of August 6 2020 from 5:30 pm to 1 p.m uh I requesting a motion to ratify the time change at the August 6 2020 board meeting from 5:30 to 1 p.m. so move second okay uh all those in favor
002I I those opposed okay we need to go into Clos session to discuss the following I make a motion we go into close session I'll second it all those in favor I e that sounds pry good for August 6 calling the meeting to order plge of Allegiance do [Music] theedge yeah okay let's uh I will Le The Pledge again y pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay reports um um CCA we do not have a report from CCA thank you uh Apple Valley Teachers Association I do have a report thank you this was submitted by Miss chrisy CW good evening board members abuda wanted to thank you for working hard to
003get the contract for the 2019 20e settle we truly hated all the opposition it caused and our glad to put it behind us our executive board worked hard to get it settled explained and ratified within our membership within two weeks so that it could come before you tonight for final approval and payout in September abuda understands that it took all of us working in the summer to complete this Monumental task once again we appreciate your hard work in this and recognizing our importance as stakeholders in apple Valle Unified School District we are once again back in school but in a totally different way I want to thank the negotiation teams from both apple b Unified School District and abuda for making it possible the last minute to get everyone back at work and for the
004curriculum and it people for making it possible it takes a village and all of us at ad USD are working hard to make virtual teaching a reality we all want to get back into our classrooms as soon as it's safe for everyone to do so let's face it we miss our students and classrooms and seeing and teaching them virtually does not feed our inner teacher Soul we still have a ways to go with various IT issues apps not working Chromebooks not being enough tech for live teaching but ad USD is keeping us updated as things are being fixed and ordered we just ask that you keep checking in on all of us it is a lot on the teachers almost like starting over as a brand new teacher and having to relearn things so they
005are very overwhelmed and adding more things to them concerns me I have spoken to Miss Nelson and she seems to get this so I think we will be fine on a positive note there are some amazing things going on virtually and if you have time try and see if you can volunteer to lead a group or read a book in a virtual classroom I know I am and the teachers will appreciate all of the help they can get thank you for your time and caring about the teachers have a night thank you um is there a read up close session yes there is close session yeah in close session the Board of Trustees took action in support of the following recommendation from the superintendent conference on litigation government code section 54 954 point five d
006t Ramos versus avusd on a motion by Mr Bender seconded by Mr s the board voted unanimously to deny the claim of Tony ramas thank you in close session the Board of Trustees took action in support of the following recommendation from the superintendent B7 conference with labor negotiation negotiator on a motion by Mr so seconded by Mr Raleigh the Board of Trustees approved the following approve the pending ratification of August 13 2020 of the California School employes Association CSA chapter number 828 memorandum of understanding regarding return impacts and effects on the CSA bargaining unit with Apple Valley Unified School District effective August 13 2020 through June 30 2021 in Clos session the Board of Trustees took action in support of the following recommendation from the superintendent B6 conference with labor negotiator on a motion by
007Mr Raley seconded by miss okara the Board of Trustees approved the following approve the ratification of the Valley Unified Teachers Association avut memorandum of understanding of reopening schools during the covid-19 pandemic with Apple Valley UniFi School District effective July 30th through June TW 30th 2021 in conference session in close session the Board of Trustees took action in support of the following recommendation from the superintendent B6 conference with labor negotiator on a motion by Mr Bender seconded by Mr s the Board of Trustees approved the following approve the ratification of the Apple Valley Unified Teachers Association abut new contract agreement with Apple Valley UniFi School District effective july1 202 2019 through June 30th 2022 and that's it thank you so much and [Music] next adoption of the agenda yes adoption of the agenda uh and uh
008the board May approve the agenda as is po uh from the consent agenda for the discussion and action we need uh to adopt the agenda I'll second it okay that was U Dennis and then did you get ne yeah okay thank you and then comments you need a we have need to vote I sorry all those in favor I I all those opposed motion carries one public comment Kylie do we have any public comments we do we have a few the first public comment is from the Apple Valley Unified School District students diversify our narrative abusd team this was submitted on behalf of 173 signatures from Apple valy UniFi former students alumni current students faculty and parents dear Apple Valley Unified School board members we the students of Apple Valley Unified School District are contacting
009you today to voice our concerns regarding recent events that have highlighted the racial Injustice within our nation we understand that the school board is preoccupied with the reopening plans for this fall however we believe there is an additional matter that must be addressed we wanted to bring to your attention the lack of racial representation in our school's curriculum since racism stems from ignorance the educational system must take action to teach its students from a wider range of perspectives meaning the inclusion of more black indigenous and people of color authors into our curriculum our schools should be an inclusive environment for all students and the school board has the power and the capacity to make this a reality in order to achieve this inclusive environment we must encourage a productive Dialogue on race and identity among
010our student bodies through the diversify our narrative campaign we ask that the school board mandate that there be an inclusion of at least one book by a person of color per English literature class the full petition and demands can be found here a link was provided for that the names of the students alumni School faculty and parents and Guardians in agreement with our proposal can be found attached below I have that attachment as well we appreciate your time thank you so much for the work you have done and we look forward to further communicating and collaborating with the school board in regards to this matter sincerely the students of Apple Valle Unified School District thank you the next one is from Jonathan anger hello Appley unified school board members my name is Jonathan anger and
011I am a current student at Grant Hills High schol High School I am commenting today in support of the diversify our narrative petition which demands that at least one book in every English class be written by a person of color I stand in support of this because it is very important in the name of history and literature which are often paired together in education plans to hear the voices from all perspectives especially those who have been oppressed throughout our country's history as well as that of the world not just those in power to learn from history from one constant perspective while not accounting others based merely on the color of their skin or their culture is wrong and Clos minded including perspectives of people of different colors and different cultures are important within the education
012because it offers a wider range of ideas and allows for a better and more clear understanding of our history and our world as we live in for these reasons I urge the board to take action and support this petition by mandating these demands I app appreciate your time sincerely Jonathan anger thank you the next public comment is from Nicole VZ Hello Apple Valley Unified board members my name is Nicole vas and I am a current student at gr Hills High School I am commenting today in support of the diversifi our narrative petition which demands that at least one book in every English class be written by a person of color I stand in support of this because from my personal experience we still don't learn enough diverse lessons books and points of view in history
013in my English class this year I felt as though we did but in history we did not and I feel that this should be changed it is important to educate students on the oppression minorities have faced and still face in our country and is crucial because imple implementing these topics is a step toward anti-racism which should already be in these types of classes because it is not an opinion or political it is people's lives and if that can't be changed then we must now check our morals for these reasons I urge the board to take action and support this petition by mandating these demands I appreciate your time sincerely Nicole VZ the next public comment is by um Rachel dos hello abusd board members my name is Rachel dogs abhs alumni and valedictorian class of
0142017 currently a UCLA senior undergrad studying psychology and cognitive science I have caught wind of the student L initiative diversify our narrative these kids are requesting something very simple but meaningful that in every English class they read at least one work written by a person of color I would like to share a study I've learned in my time at UCLA and I think it was a true learn learning experience a New Jersey high school for one year detracked their English courses meaning no honors AP and normal courses all of the students were each in class together with peers from each typical track in addition they extended their curriculum to include non-classical literature namely books and texts that are written by people of color they studied these works in addition to the normal Shakespeare Dickens Etc
015they interviewed students at the beginning and at the end of the year to see how their attitudes changed with this new curriculum the students at first were weary the typical honor students were nervous about their lower intelligence classmates they had fears of violence and they were unsure if they would be academically challenged in such a space the lower track kids most of which were students of color were worried about bullying and falling behind because they had been conditioned to think they function at a lower trap none of these fears came to fruition by the end of the year the students had flourished I teared up watching these interviews in my lecture hall these 14 and 15-year-old kids had such a nuisance way of describing intelligence one boy commented commented on how before he thought being
016smart was just knowing facts but he had learned from his lower track classmates that they have intelligence too about the world about experiences he would never know because he never lived their lives the Diversified curriculum made these kids more engaged that were not before again namely students of color because for many this was the first time that they had read a book in class about someone who looked and experienced the world like them when you hold your students in high expectations and give them the tools and resources to achieve them they typically will rise to meet those expectations students do not like feeling dumb unseen unheard if all it takes to get a whole population of minority students a bit more engaged in learning a bit more excited to come to school and talk about
017a book they read in English class I can't imagine why we shouldn't or couldn't go forward with this initiative an initiative that students themselves are asking for look at the petition signatures listen to your students let them learn about some New Perspectives and ultimately just read wonderful books thank you so much for your time God bless Rachel dos well that's that's a wonderful thing thank you so much you're welcome the next comment is from Vicky Murray I would like to know how it is okay for the town of Apple Valley to have kids camp where these children can go to school there providing that the parents can pay $120 a week but not okay for a classroom the state is allowing school districts to decide and have parents sign a waiver if they are to
018go to class so the waiver takes care of the legal issues you might encounter no citizen of Apple Valley that has children going to school in a district have been asked to vote or if the schools should be open or not which frankly should be done no one has been giving the choice of online or in a classroom many states are offering both but parents have to pick Elaine and stay there for a year so just who is it that has to decide what is best for the kids in Apple Valley it's not the parents which it should be the school board is elected by the citizens to represent them concerning a system this was not done as it was not asked of the parents what they wanted to see happen so just what is
019it that is driving your decision I will be listening for an answer at the meeting the next comment is from Audrey mayoros Hello Apple Valley Unified School board members my name is Audrey mayoros and I am a current student at the Academy for Excellence I am commenting today to voice my support of diversify our narrative and their mission which is to have at least one book written by a bpoc author taught in every English class Although our mission goes far beyond that that is the current goal for now of abusd students parents and teachers have signed the petition in support of this I am in support of this because although I am white I have seen family members participate in Injustice towards vioc and it is sickening to see what's happening within our own homes
020change needs to happen it is not acceptable to teach texts that only highlight the white experience and have students on campuses saying the n word I am not a person of color so I will never know what it is like to be discriminated against due to the color my skin but I am a queer woman so I know what it feels like to be called slurs and discriminated against due to something you cannot control but I recognize that it is no way the same as being a person of color all of my friends are bipoc it is not fair that they have had to read novels about white people written by white people about the white experience their entire lives the world doesn't revolve around us and the idea that it is an example is
021white supremacy we need more books about VI P written by B bpoc about the bip experience they need to F heard representation matters our students should be able to see themselves within our books thank you Audrey mayoros the next public comment is from Celeste Batista V Apple Valley Unified School board members my name is Celeste Batista I am currently a student at GR Hills High School I am commenting today in support of the diversify our narrative petition which demands that at least one book in every English class be written by a person of color I stand in support of this because as a student of color I see the focus on white authors more and their life story that we the students are educated for on in every book we read these background stories are
022important to better understand the author's reasoning in writing their books though some of the background stories by white men in America or Europe do not set a good example for students because their life background stories contain alcoholism profiting off of a labor of people of color and weird romantic relationships with minors and yet these people achieved the American dream for their literacy work examples of these authors are Ed Edgar Alan Poe for marrying his minor cousin and Mark Twain for being crowded with little girls as he grew old and widowed this is an issue because not only is I was appalled by the author back background story but many of the students of every race in my American English class were questioning our teacher about the author's weird lifestyle and rais questions on how these
023characteristics are the fundamental base for creating an American History Literature book for these reasons I urge the board to take action and support this petition by mandating these demands I appreciate your time sincerely Celeste Batista vaka the next public comment is from Jon H to the Apple Valley Unified School District board my name is Json Kim and I am an alumni of Gren Hills High School class of 2018 I'm also a former student at the Academy of Excellence I am reaching out to share with you that I wholeheartedly and un and unfashionably support the diversify our narrative d n initiative when I began College two years ago being in a new environment with a different and similar people helped me to become more comfortable with who I am while also pushing me to think more
024deeply about who I want to become I begin a journey of learning about who I am what are the focuses that shaped my life this far who do I think I am who do I want to become one realization that catalyzed this process was a shame I felt about being Asian-American a lot of my insecurities and resentments towards my family and friends were deeply rooted in my desire to disassociate myself from what beliefs or characteristics of Asians my desire to erase a part of my identity arose and part of me because I never learned about Asian-American identity in school or saw people who looked like me on the media throughout my time in high school my English teachers assigned books written by white authors more than 95% of the time and my history teachers blurred
025histography with their own agenda rather than trying to give us an objective account of historical events without any convenient omissions and when did I see American asian-americans on the media it was stereotypical or a neutral depiction at best this is why I wholeheartedly and unbashing support the do initiative beginning with the English courses I urge you to change the curriculum to include at least one book written by a non-white author in every English course I am certain that had I read even just one book by an Asian American Author I would have growing up I would have grown up feeling more proud of my identity thank you for your time the next one is from Jan Kim dear Apple Valley Unified School District board my name is Gan kin and I am currently a senior
026at the Academy for academic excellence and a former student of grite Hills High School I wish to both voice my support for that I diversify my narrative petition and I urge you to recognize the change that is needed in our curriculum if we take a look at the books we read on our English courses we can clearly see that the majority of the books are written by white authors why is that the experiences of people of color in the United States is also the American Experience so why are we not learning from their perspectives as well our educational system has the ability to create a more inclusive environment by educating students with diverse texts and varying perspectives therefore adding more books written by people of color into our English literature curriculum is crucial so today
027I ask you the Apple Valley Unified School District board members to stand with the students of Apple Valley and commit to making our community a better place for all not just because we expect it from you but because you know it is the morally right thing to do thank you the next comment is from Maria Tuscano hello my name is Maria Tuscano and I am a parent of a high school senior at Gren Hills High School we are asking for a more inclusive English and history curriculum that would include more contemporary literature written by people of color and Indigenous authors today's political climate should make you ask yourself if you are doing enough I think it is clear that schooling has a more than significant effect on Youth and it would not only be irresponsible
028but immoral to ignore the struggle of minorities in America when you have the power to encourage educate and cultivate an accepting generation the last public comment is from Valeria toar good afternoon my name is Valeria tsano and I am a senior at Grant Hills High School it has come to my attention that almost every book I've read in school was written by an Anglo an anglosaxon person even when speaking on racial matters I believe this does not give an accurate portrayal of the struggles of minorities through history nor does it give them the credit they deserve since there is a lack of historical black literature we are asking for more contemporary works that will not only highlight authors of color but also speak to Modern Problems faced in today's society please consider being part of
029the change and educating students on racial issues thank you for thank you for your consideration Valeria chusano thank you thank you good job K yeah that's right I'd like to make a comment on that um the superintendent has a comment first pardon we have a comment I'm sorry so let's go with this a comment from our the superintendent comment com you gota hold you gota hold board okay so I just um want you as board members first of all I will ask um staff to contact the parent that um did the public comment regarding the town's access to um child care versus our ability as a district to provide inperson schooling governed by different requirements under the California Department of Education so I'll probably ask Mr schlasser from Ed services to contact the parent and
030make sure they understand what the the ramifications of us doing a face Toof face that this is an an option for us at this point um different from the town um second I I'd like to um address a couple things things that have come up in the past um I first of all want to thank um cabinet for taking on the board meeting the last time um in my absence and the board for allowing me to be with my father-in-law um as he passed um I know there was a question regarding students and needs for psych um psychologists maybe supporting them and I just wanted to um let you know that one um with all of our psychologists back we certainly will do Outreach um from all of our school sites it won't specifically be
031our psychologist it most likely will be our counselors and our administrators and teachers if we Elevate those things and there is a need to go um down the pathway of school psychologists we will certainly do that um Mr schauer's department and um Mr Wheeler's um student services department has reviewed a program um called car Solus that is um being utilized by several school districts and um during covid-19 with some of the the caraz ACT funding we are able to purchase um some licenses for that which gives us direct access to counseling and um Mental Health Services immediately for our students and this is um 24 hours a day seven days a week and um so I wanted to make sure that you knew that we will be bringing back a contract to do that and
032um we're excited to offer it and we have other school districts that are currently using it down the hill that um we're thrilled to to partner with and know that it's it's working well um the other thing is um at the previous board meeting there was a um public comment that was not read because it went to a wrong address and so we tracked it down and um had Kylie make contact with the person that had emailed it and it was from the diversify our narrative and so she worked with them to make sure they knew how to get access to the Schoolboard meeting and do the comments and I just want to point out that number one this is what we work for right student voice these are our kids whether they are in
033our system now or were in in the past um it matters and um diversify our narrative is a group it is a student Le group from Across the Nation it was generated by a um two students from Stanford and um they are well organized they have curriculum that they are developing and um ways that students can organize to um address their school boards so um I'm proud our students are involved in this I will tell you that they have um a list of authors that they propose both um uh fiction and non-fiction and Mr scher's department will go down this Pathway to support this cause as they work with the English teachers and history teachers within the district to look at um some of these texts to be integrated okay so um there is a
034process for this it goes through the adoption process and um that that works will begin based on the comments that were made um beyond that um their goal is um to have schools have capacity and obligation because they know Schools public schools they believe in them and um that they have the obligation to educate about race racism and anti-racism in America um and they feel like what they said in their message is that the current texts don't address that fully um and the goal is comprehensive anti-racism education so um I know that there had been some other comments um by Miss okara about equity and different things like that and so I think this all bridges and there is um moving on to that there is a equity studies draft that was um presented on
035July 31st it will sit in review until August 13 um that's the first time that it will be reviewed at the um there's a a group that does that at CDE and then there's a timeline for model curriculum that is um a deadline of March of 2020 for the model curriculum for the um ethnic studies program and it's very clear 2020 or 2021 I'm sorry 2021 I don't want to go back no we're moving on um this guide will help our districts and schools as they begin to develop their own ethnic studies curriculum which reflects their students demographics and and Community needs so um these all tie very naturally together and I appreciate the students that spoke on behalf of of integrating um the materials and then the last thing um until the end of
036the meeting where I'd like to talk about startup is there um Miss okara did provide me with um all of the questions that were quite lengthy um the teachers that she met with and I want to assure everybody that um most of the questions are as we come back into a face-to-face environment most of the the concerns and questions were addressed by that um we will deal with those as we move forward and have more guidance um we will engage our our teachers and um negotiate the impact of anything that we have to do moving forward that is different than distance learning right now and the other things have been addressed in our distance learning and um through our Communications with staff so I feel like we've got a good start on this it's quite
037comprehensive and we will continue to update them as we as we get more information so great thank you great great let's see are we now Mr you have a comment I'm sorry you have a comment you okay I I would like to be last today okay you are last any there we go Wilson yeah no I I heard I heard the comment input from parents and some students about uh the history about you know I I grew up again go back to 1960 60s early 60s when I have to take the citywi exam we have to take the Julia Caesar you know at that time all the textbooks were written by the BR the British and and there's really no students in my my point is that the our education department set forth a criteria
038some standards and that's why these textbooks they given to us were approved by Department of Education right so we pretty much using those textbooks for us to go separate to adopt our textbooks I I don't think it's totally appropriate it is because it may not necessarily meet the standards so just same with his history it's easier for for science teacher say yeah we're gonna adopt this physics a textbook by somebody you know this math book but but the literature again there's I'm sure certain criteria set for we got to follow those criterias that's my my comment thank you I just like to commend the staff and the teachers for all the work that you've done to get us ready here in the beginning and uh it was interesting to hear the comments from current students
039and alumni on their their views the input from the students is what it's all about sometimes we do our thing and we're really missing it that's all Rick yeah I just want thought thanks TR for bringing that up about the counseling and Psychological Services I think not enough emphasis has been put on what the school closures that the state of California is mandating on the districts that actually do to the children's psyche I think there's a lot of damage that's being done kids need interaction they need interaction with teachers they need interaction with other other kids and u i I think that as time goes on we're going to see more and more kids or children having um issues and the fact that we have the counselors and psychologists on board I think we really
040need to to use them it's really concerns me I've seen it personally in my family and other families as well on what these closures are doing so keep us posted do whatever it needs to be done resources we have right hopefully uh by the first of the year we can do back thank you it's me um well um I have to say that I'm really um impressed with um all of our staff for um for taking this journey which is a little bit um Uncharted Territory Rocky and but they're taking the journey and they are willing to step outside of what they normally do in a normal situation to assist each other so they have they're rising to the occasion of being a village um and they help each other along the way having said
041that I I do beg to disagree with my a colleague who says that the government uh determines the textbooks and we just go with that um our goal in education is to have students who are critical thinkers and so these children have critically thought about where we have been in education and they have stepped up to say this is no longer okay and I do absolutely respect that and and I wish um we didn't have to come to that but for a minority child to constantly learn about every every other person but themselves um leaves a lot for them to to take and for them to figure it out when they go to college that there was some instruction they should have received but did not receive it because we are going with what the
042government said it's no longer okay um a child needs to know their history uh they need to be uh comfortable in their history uh to be able to uh stand up and speak on their on their history um the state superintendent of Public Instruction has had I think it's four four forums where he has been advocating ethnic studies uh and he says ethnic studies ought to be taught at the high school level but there are districts that are offering them as low as in the junior high level uh I don't believe that it child should go through public education and not really know their history they need to know their history they need to be able to be immersed in their history and not um catching it uh just in passing if the these children
043are very clear about their history we will not be having this conversation in 2020 United States became an independent country in 17 1876 or 18 whatever it is um and we're talking about race history in 2020 so something is missing so we need to be able to say no we are no longer having this conversation we need to address the conversation we need to be okay with the students telling us how they feel and we should be able to say you know what I hear you and now this is what we're going to do I will propose as a board because we are the ones that will agree to what happens that we really take Serious um seriously this things that these students have sent to us our job is to educate them but not
044to educate them on falsehoods we need to educate them on what is a fact this is a fact this is the history this is the story this is what you need to know but on top of that we also need to address implicit bias we need to address how do we as individuals feel about each other and how we feel about each other determines how we teach it if I feel that somebody who is of a different ancestry is not smart enough I will present the instruction in real water down level I'm a teacher by by profession and I'm a teacher I was born a teacher I think I was definitely determined to be a teacher and to teach in the in the understanding that what I don't know I will go out and search
045it out and what I know I will tell you what I know and you're welcome to teach it to me so as a district in Apple Valley in the year 2020 we need to take the front row seat of saying we hear you and this is what we're going to do and and and I'm not going to take what the state says that we should be reading um and say that's okay it's no longer okay the world has changed we need to go with the program and change what the world is saying secondly the question came about from one of the parents that sent the thing that says we're not doing enough to include diversity we need to do better as a district we still have to do better there's always room for improvement I
046am one of those people that never give somebody an A++ because because there's always room to grow we need to do better we need to do better in terms of our hiring we need to do better in terms of the programs we set the children into we need to do better in the level of of uh uh challenge that we present to the children our job is to educate children we must do better if they're taking uh honors classes be sure that you encourage as many children of of diverse diverse nature to go end a child will rise to whatever you set them up to be we will have to do better we have to do better in terms of how we discipline our children we have to do better in terms of how we
047understand how the children operate we have to do better in terms of how we communicate with each other we as a district must do better to receive this many letters from parents and from children cannot be ignored and for all those children that wrote that those letters I am with you I want to be sure that you understand I've heard you and I'm going to s still I'll keep communicating with the superintendent because that's who we communicate with to be sure that this your statements is not just brushed aside that as something that children said that's all I have to say for now well I I heard what you said and I agree with 100% but I think it's our job before we do anything is to evaluate what we have now and if we
048see there's a big hole somewhere say English History that doesn't have any minority mention authors then maybe it's it was it's not out of negative uh it's from history that maybe authors were overlooked but then what do we do we evaluate that oh we're not getting any uh literature students coming up that are going to write the books in the future so maybe what do we have to do we have to ask ourself what do we do to make it better we can't just ring our hands and say it's not good we have to come up with solutions to change the future and that's the that's going to be the toughest job all of us have and we can't walk out of here and not remember about this question how are we going to change
049the future how are we going to close in everybody it you know it's it's lucky I you know I grew up a little white girl you didn't but my father was Greek and he changing he he told me he that I would never go to college well that caused a lifelong separation from my father because I thought maybe there was a future in this college thing nobody in my family had gone but I had a teacher that said I believed in you yeah you can do it so I'm asking us to evaluate the materials we have see if maybe we already have a lot of the things that they're up here we don't know I honestly don't know where it stands but but if it doesn't meet the needs that we need to fill we
050need to change that's it Don J me Patrick department is in charge of the the text textbooks my thinking is I'm not saying that I'm listening to the comments I mean address literature and history a bit okay on the list literature books maybe there's qualified listing of from the state department they are authors by African-American authors we certainly put forth those list of books to the teachers for them to select to give to have student read that but in terms of History it's become very comp yeah I agree the the African American contribution to American history def need to be addressed that has not been really you know even I have heard from in up in Chinese Asian-American School Board Association they oh yeah we need to teach the the history about Chinese asian-americans building
051a railroad and the gr working the mind I I didn't say anything you know it it just depend on who who's writing those those histories right and and uh maybe in the in our curriculum we can have our teachers in each in our districts at at a high school level say maybe they need to mention some of these contributions what Mr B is a AP History teacher so Mr Bender was a history teacher yeah and and was one of the best my children ever encounter my kids um but I have to say though that um the history that we present in our schools or the whatever literature we present in our schools is not just about White America it is not just about Black America there are very distinct ethnic groups that participated there is
052the Cho ameran there is the Asian American there is the um uh indigenous American there's a black American there's a white America I say put them all in we need all of these people because as we're doing our DNS nobody really knows where are where we fit in but these children need to know what their ancestors contributed or didn't contribute uh they need to give them that information so that they know what to do with it I don't want to have come to a class where you are talking about uh ethnic diversity and you're talking about just what the blacks have done that's not okay by me I want to know what did the blacks Cho um Asian-American and Mexicans um all of this ethic groups that has created this salad bowl because I have
053always maintained that America is not a Melting Pot I have S sincerely maintained we will never talk about Melting Pot because when you melt everything in the pot you lose who you are I say make it a salad bowl so that all of the ingredients just stay where they are they just stay where they are and I just want Americans when you are talking about being an American you are talking about what each individual color brought into the picture that's what I'm looking for in our history and looking for in our literature so that these children who are writing yes you these children are writing about a black contribution that's not even okay I want a contribution that talks about what the the anglos bring into this picture what did the uh blacks bring into
054this picture I want them all so that by the time they get a good understanding I when I have been a a public speaker I have talked about the salad bowl and I have just said when you bring all of it together and put Harmony into it which is the salad dressing it is very t his and I say we need to be able to bring all of this in so that a white child needs to know what a black person has been through a black person needs to understand what a white person went through coming across the ocean and those things are important in the history of of of America and what better place than it's a small District like Apple Valley to say you know what we've heard you we are going to
055begin to address this believe me we we are not La USD we are Apple Valley School District we can do better than what we're doing currently did we get everybody cover got everybody let's move on let's yeah we can spin we be here tell the cows yeah yeah yeah yeah okay see I think we've what else presentation it's the presentation oh the presentation yes okay um Mr Scher is going to pull it up sorry I one more time while you're while you're getting there um this is in reference to the question regarding um the complaint filed um it's called a uniform complaint that was filed against the superintendent um county superintendent of schools in sanino so I wanted to be able to clarify the questions that went on last board meeting that I wasn't here
056at it with through a presentation that was a Public Presentation um so first of all it is a uniform complaint it was filed at the California Department of Education against the superintendent of schools at at the County Office of Education and um further the what's considered the San Rino County Office of Ed um the complaintant is the public Advocates Inc um and the ACLU Foundation of Southern California filed on behalf of inlink congregation United for Change and congregations of organized for prophetic engagement cope so those are the the how it's how it's been filed they are the claimant um the complaint was filed against specifically sadino County Superintendent Ted alandre as sbcss and the sadino County Office of Education in the heading it also um identifies a few other um employees at the County office
057that would be responsible for approval of lcaps the allegation is that s Nino County Superintendent of Schools abdicated their oversight duties by approving district elaps and specifically there was a failure in the um to ensure the 2019 and 2020 District ELC caps complied with the the expenditure regulations and adhered to the elcap template so that's the claim along with the the fact that sanino County Office of Ed um improperly approved um fees for local education agencies so remember in a process we do stakeholder engagement we identify what the goals are we identify how the funding is going to roll then we bring this for public um hearing here at the district office then we bring it to you as a second um board meeting and you um hear it and decide whether we're going to
058move forward and sign off so once you sign off as a board it goes down to the County Office of Education if they have any concerns they have to then respond back to us and we may have to amend and bring it back to you for those those items that did not occur there was no Amendment provided by the county office and um lots of communication back and forth about issues having to do with our lcap um and clarification so um the claim there are several claims in this um um ACLU UCP filed at the CDE okay a lot of alphabets there but um several claims that are there only in one category is the dep is the district Apple Valley Unified School Districts lcap utilized as the example in only one okay there are
059several others that um names neighboring districts and some districts down the hill multiple times as examples in their elcap use um doesn't make it okay just I'm trying to explain it's an example um sbcss allowed leas to count improper Services towards their proportionality requirements the example allowed leas to spend funds for high need students on law enforcement so for us that is what the example was they utilized our lcap goal that expanded our um Police Department above our base as one example of many that utilized those funds to um spend on a police department okay and with clear direction from the county that we were had the ability to do so as above base okay because the expansion by our stakeholders was to serve students at other campuses Beyond just high school but to do
060intervention at the elementary level and get support there as well um the um the primary accountability mechanism for protecting the lcff um Equity principles they are to ensure the district's properly increase or improve services for high need students and do so with sufficient transparency um there was a press release which caused attention to our district okay this would not have in fact I sent an email to all board members on July 7th at two o'clock I looked in my it was about 2:30 in the afternoon on July 7th my first day back in the office um and it was an overview of this issue because a press release had been sent out and um Ted alejandre had contacted our office via email to let me know that they had received a UCP and the press
061release then identified which districts they were using as examples okay so the press release on June 30th as highlighted up here was released by The complaintant and it says massive neglect of black and brown students alleged in Sam Nino in precedent setting administrative complaint so that's what led to the discussion about what Apple Valley may have done inappropriately although the complaint is filed against um sanino County other allegations so ones that have nothing to do with our LC cap um is other allegations sbcss failed to ensure the 2019 um District lcap identified and Justified supplemental and concentration funded actions violated LC's transparency requirements other districts were listed as the example we were not and undetermined meaningful Community engagement and accountability was also listed um in summary in that one no no no and we're not
062named that we're the example I have to keep explaining this that we we have no complaint filed against us we have no litigation filed against Des we have nothing other than we did what we believed was appropriate under the under the law um we provided it to the um the oversight Group which is the San indino County Superintendent of Schools it was approved they have the complaint because they it is their job to be the oversight I'm not saying that what was done is right or wrong what I'm saying is is that I want to be very clear that there is no lawsuit no complaint filed against us we are an example our LC cap was utilized as was chaffy Victor Union um Hisperia and sanino City among several okay um in summary the UCP
063was filed against sbcss not abusd sbcss holds the oversight and Authority for the lcap approval after the Lea Board of Trustees approves it at the local level and ab usd's elcap is used as an example to support the claimants AC um allegations um the response will come from sbcss not Apple Valley Unified School District so um anytime an an allegation is filed um they have a 60-day timeline as a um if it were filed to on on us as a district we would have 60 days to respond appropriately with the um response san berardino county superintendent of schools is doing that because it was filed against them okay okay any questions so we don't have to respond because we they're not file they didn't file against us yeah it's clear good I think that the
064press release is what caused some of the anxiety because of the way it was released and um it drew attention differently than because people read it with a context of it's been filed against certain districts so let me ask this question then alov School District's lcap give the authority to extend your expenditure to the police um to use that information on whatever it is that they have Al that the allegation is the question that I that I have is that funding was supposed to cover ways to help the minority students right no it's I'll let Pat talk about it it's supplemental and concentration funds it's not minority students it's it's the specific categories that he can explain which okay have minority stud because when I'm reading I'm reading the actual thing that they have here
065so that's why I'm that's the allegation that this is the fund that was intended for closing the discipline gap for black students and students with disabilities so the question that I have if that is the fund to close the discipline gap between black students and minority students what role did the police play here for that closure because that's what the fund is supposed to be used for yeah I think um what you're talking about is their premise correct let me tell you the premise because we haven't seen the response portion of it I'm just looking at this and I haven't either and I I probably won't until it's public I don't believe any of us will the response will not be provided to me unless because we're not we are not the respondant okay but
066I can tell you just some some underlying principles that that generate the supplemental and concentration Grant calculation is not based on our discipline rate or number of students in those categories but rather students are socioeconomically disadvantaged our count of students who are English Learners and our foster youth that's who that's the student groups that are counted to generate what they call the supplemental and since our our concentration of that student group is higher than a certain percentage we also get concent ation Grant funds the elcap process then does um mandate that we identify our greatest areas of need and you are correct in saying that in Apple Valley what our district advisory committee and indeed our board said was an area of need once we looked at our dashboard were those items you listed correct
067so we did have a mandate to produce goals that that work toward that address those correct not every goal had to but we did have to address those items and indeed those items we did address increase counseling greater number of counselors in the each School setting um the PBIS program and other efforts to train staff to use different kinds of uh methods for classroom management for example and the list goes on right C Foster youth focused counselors those items were in our lcap focused on those goals however our lcap also includes dollars outside of the supplemental and concentration Grant dollars we have an lcap total budget greater than the supplemental and concentration Grant funds so we have items in the elcap that are outside of that specific uh area of focus that is in a
068shortest answer I can give that is part of how our lcap is is uh there are items that are focused on because we had direction from the county to include everything that was quote above base unquote and so I understand the confusion but our supplement on concentration Grant and indeed our proportionality statement that says how we are principally directing U some of our items toward those students was clear to me and and and was clear clear as proposed but I appreciate the opportunity to speak on that we we okay on I'm good [Music] we in discussion action okay discussion uh action session it is recommended that the Board of Trustees discuss and take action on the following items number one mutually agree on no more than one candidate for the 2020 California school boards Association
069delegate assembly runoff for sub region 16b yeah Donna if I can explain yeah the all in s I'm on the 16 B all the 33 districts okay the other one is is in recover in your county the there are two two members I me if I can give you a brief explanation Henry C is with the kukam district and the Barbera forest with the cityo school district the city C Maria school just is big enough they are over 230,000 students so they do not uh get elected Del to they like I got elected by auth three districts but the sanino city UniFi they appoint their members on delegate they apparent this lady wasn't appointed and she wants to be honest so she ran so my recommendation is to support Henry CS because I I look
070at the body of work that they submitted as what they've done uh this these two people two candidates what they have done uh because they submitted their resume didn't they they submitted a sheet of paper that says these are the information we read that before we walked in but I'm just saying that these the the city assem need a UniFi already got two two or three they appoint their own three their own five M so they're just just like you know back in the court yeah you understand what I'm saying there are some districts like Unified they do not get iot in they appoint I I don't know either one of these but I'll take Wilson's um well Henry used to be up here yeah he used to assistant principal assistant principal I'm gonna vote
071for Henry can we VI all this in one motion there's well separate on the discussion information on this discussion action you have to take a motion for each one of them on consent you can take no no I got I got sorry okay I make a motion that we support Henry you want say anyone have discussion for that I I'm just I'm just going to let you know that my support goes to Barbara Flores that's right because she um she has a body of work that I can see what she has done before and her participation before and um and because of it I am not I'm going to support her uh because she can she shows me what she has done it's not just I'm entitled uh I think you show me what you've
072done so this not refreshing on that b is not do a good job I know her real well too I'm just saying she should have been supported by her own board I think we should just vote got a motion a second let's vote motion I'm motion second Rick second Rick second all those in favor I all in favor of Henry well that's the first one yeah yes okay I I I although it's appr I'm opposed I'm opposed okay I didn't hear you there was one oppos oppos four1 four1 okay uh Barbara Flores I'm in favor no no you've already voted you already that's just that one okay got it now you're down to number two to number three number two recommended board meeting schedule that's good make a motion that we accept it y so
073two two things to remember on this you have added a um a second board meeting this month and and next and they both are considered special board meetings on the list of board meetings and all will remain at 1:00 like this one currently is until we go back into normal session with students right right okay okay I made a motion to do that okay all those in favor I I okay number three approve the recommendation of an administrative hearing chairperson effective immediately on the annual review AR one uh one through 2021 um unless you have changes on those you can take one um motion to cover all of them unless you want to change any of them second that all those in favor I I okay there's 28 actually one through 28 can we amend
074that um motion to approve um annual reviews one 2020 2021 through am the motion to approve okay I'll second that okay no we are and you need a vote please all those in favor I I oppos no okay here on number four approve the adopt the Declaration uh do I have a motion I move second second okay all those in favor I all those opposed you're on number five number five um G to move it's the personel action that's listed approve the certificated and classified um Personnel actions is listed a motion move forward Mo okay all those in favor I I number six okay I got a little confused right here I make a motion that we approve the requested Le as as as I I second that [Music] okay number seven no we Haven
075voted have to vot have a mo V we vote number six all those in favor I I I uh those opposed it passes number seven adopt a resolution for number 2021 d one make spending determinations with respect to monies received from the education protection account so move all those in favor I I and it was unanimous uh number eight you have a presentation from Matt a brief presentation okay regarding the approval of the aosd budget adjustments based on the state adopted budget away thank you you do have a copy of my presentation I put at your table if you could follow along on that um and I will grab the screen here hey in it work thank you uh according to Education Code 42127 uh not later than 45 days after the governor of California
076signs and enacts the state budget uh we as a district have to make publicly available those material adjustments we make to our budget based on the action at the state level the 45-day deadline to make those adjustments publicly available is August 13th hence why we're having having the conversation this evening so some comparisons uh or actually just to talk really quick uh we adopted our budget June 11th 2020 uh 18 days before the state adopted their budget so the information we had to act upon was the information that Governor Nome released in his May revision and if you recall if you can think back to May and June those months not too long ago but seems a long time ago there were significant changes between the May revision and what the state actually adopted on
077June 29th uh in terms of our revenue and also in terms of some covid-19 relief funds that are coming from the federal government flowing through the California Department of Education so just a quick summary of uh some of those adjustments if you recall in the May revision we had a statutory Cola that's our cost of living adjustment of 2.31% and Governor Nome did propose to fund that 2.31% and then cut us 10% which was a net reduction of 7.92% to our lcff funding again the 10% reduction was implemented after the cola applied so it came up to a 7.92% reduction in the enacted budget they did adopt a statutory Cola of 2.31% but they're funding us at zero in fact fact they're funding us at the same level we were funded last year for lcff
078funding so it's a hold harmless at the 1920 levels so if you I didn't put it on here but I do want to mention back in January the governor's initial proposal when the California National economy was Trucking along doing great we were expecting lcf Revenue in this year of approximately $139 million the May revision cut that to 125 but the state enacted budget brought us up to last year's levels at 135 still $4 million less than we were expecting back in January based on the governor's initial budget budget proposal but much better than May however not listed on here because it's not a budget item are the significant cash deferrals we will experience this year which will cause us to borrow cash to be able to make payroll and pay our bills as we move
079through throughout this particular fiscal year more Revenue highlights in the cares Act and the covid-19 relief funding there were some changes from the May revision to the state enacted budget and even very recent just to align and clarify the federal monies that are flowing to the state of California and then what the C State of California is providing to us from those Federal monies we have three Federal pots that the CRF and the gear which will Flow To Us under Federal resource codes um the CRF funding is Flowing to us under what's called an unearned Revenue we do not get the cash until we spend the money so we have to spend it first we file an expense report and then the feds send us the cash so that is another problem with our cash
080flow uh and also that 10.3 million there of CRF funding must be spent by December of 2020 so we have what's what's left five months so we have to spend it fairly quickly uh the Esser in the gear have different requirements and what the governor did also is we have some State covid-19 Relief Fund they're calling it general fund relief that is some additional Federal money that flowed to the St state but they are giving it to us as state funding a little more unrestricted so our net federal revenue adjustment from the May revision to the state enacted budget to our current budget is a $1.6 million adjustment up in federal revenue through all those alignments and clarifications the State Relief uh and also we restored some State categorical reductions I'm sorry the governor stored
081some State categorical reductions so we also have a state revenue adjustment about 1.1 of that is the federal money that flowed to the state but we're we're getting it as state revenue and then some of our categorical programs were restored so we do have a positive adjustment on our state revenue side of about 1.6 million on our local Revenue line in our particular in our budget we had to reduce our AB 602 special education Revenue because the Sela our local special education local plan area change their projections so we we reduced that Revenue by about $800,000 based on the Sela projections on the expense side of the budget I do want to stress that we we have been talking about some settlements with our employee groups none of those are in our budget currently because
082when this was prepared they had not been approved so they do not appear in our budget at this point as we work more towards the UN audited actuals in the first interim all those changes will be incorporated and those adjustments made on the expenditure side of our budget uh books and supplies we have a significant adjustment in our books and supply lines because in a federal unearned Revenue program when you book the revenue you have to book corresponding and balancing expenditures so that 10.3 million of coronav virus relief funding we book the entire amount of Revenue so we have to book the entire amount in expenditures and we have to expense it all by December 20th in order to get the revenue so if we don't we'll of course adjust revenue and expenditures I I
083would suggest we do our best to spend it all because we don't like to send money back to the feds we had a science techbook textbook adoption that was budgeted in last year to an expense of 1.8 million it however was not received until July so we have to book the expense in this year so you'll see in the UN audited actuals that's an expense that will fall out as we closed the books last year and an adjustment to the 4,000 expenditure line in the current budget year you'll see the net of those two is approximately uh what's that about 12.1 million and there are some other minor adjustments that we made on the 4000s books and supplies in services and other operating expenditures we did have a large cabling project in Our IT department
084that was not complete so some expenses that were originally budgeted in the previous fiscal year were will not be recognized until this year so we had an upwards adjustment in some expenditures for some IT projects those are the material adjustments both on the revenue side and the expenditure side on our a budget and of course my recommendation at this point is for the board to approve those Bud budget adjustments as identified in the presentation and then we will make those and we'll bring an updated budget to you at a future meeting September uh yeah we'll have we'll have the updated budget at the September meeting as I present un audited ual just curious that reduce lcf funding 135 million but because you have because of deferral that actually could be impact by as much what
085five 10% because you the B you can spend money on borrowing well our our uh the the borrowing costs probably will not be 5 to 10% of that entire amount because we will not have to borrow that entire amount at this point we do have a small Tran that we're anticipating reeding receiving this month about $2.5 million in cash to help with some mid mid-mon cash flow um we will anticipate borrowing much more um but not the full 135 million uh possibly 25 to 30 million in the spring to shore up our cash depending on the deferrals and the timing any other questions I I do I have well I have a few questions but the most important is I'm just wondering do you have a budget Committee in this District should we have a
086budget committee um that is comprised of of a team of people that look at the budget on a on a regular basis do we have that uh we currently do not have an active budget committee we have we supposed to have one uh we're not required by law to have a budget committee um in past we have put committees together when it's been necessary to identify reductions in the budget uh to help prioritize I I I I I think I'll propose that we have so so we don't waste our time asking this same question over and over um that if we had a budget committee and then meet before a board meeting and then we have those answers everything answered ready to go whoever the members of the uh Team should be so that they
087participate in the in the conversation to have an understanding of what the budget that will be presented to us um we we have a budget um but it's presented from one angle and if we had a budget committee and they met um right before a board meeting they will have better understanding and we won't have this information floating around it are you saying take somebody from the school board and put on the committee um I don't know how it's been run before um how it was how it was before you know so um but I I have a feeling that you had it already you had it before and how was it run before and why was it taken up would have two maybe maybe two board members and then some internal some teachers along
088maybe a teachers princip at least two board members on there yeah it's a sub committee well if it's the pleasure of the board I can research past makeup of budget committees that I could bring some ideas to Future meeting to discuss how to structure a budget committee forward thank you so much thank you that would be wonderful okay any other questions nope then I would ask for uh the board's consideration to approve the adjustments so move second all those in favor I I I I pass thank you okay do you want me to read it yes please um it is um under the consent agenda Madame President asked me to go ahead and read it it is the recommendation recommended that the Board of Trustees consider approving a number of agenda items as a consent
089list consent items are ret R routine in nature and can be enacted in one motion without further discussion this procedure conserves the meeting time for all for a full discussion of significant issues consent items to be approved in one Motion One through G did we get eyes over there okay good good any opposed no okay okay and then you are to um coms public comments any public comments were there any public comments no public comments and then superintendent comments um I just want to publicly state that I am so pleased with the group of teachers classified um administrators um all that came together to get this opening under a distance learning model I know in my own home my child thought that my high school child thought that I should stay home his first day
090of distance learning similar to delivering him to kindergarten and I told him that wasn't possible he was going to have to figure it out and text me if he needed help um but it takes a bunch of Grace I'm I'm going to tell you this group all needs grace and patience and um a teacher reminded me that we need to have faith in our system faith in in our teachers faith in our classified staff and faith in our system to deliver on the needs of the students in this community and so I'm um respectful of that and I am proud to lead this District in this um horrible time time where we would much rather have welcomed back our students yesterday morning so um in a different mode out in front of schools I know
091being online but maybe by next meeting could you give us an update on the participation percentages absolutely isues that finding I did notice in the letters that came out to the students that there's going to be follow up to the homes that aren't participating there is yes and and we actually have a student Voice who talked about our platform and sent myself he sent me an email and so um he's going to let us know how the first full week of distance learning from the high school perspective went and is pleased to do that for us so um I think we'll continue to get some of those things we will definitely have data for the next one yes absolutely Mr so I don't have any Mr Bender no Mr Ry no Maria final question could
092you find out how many of um ethnic um textbooks that are are currently in our curriculum that you're using are you asking for textbooks or supplemental materials are you talking Mater like the the reading that actual reading that you have in your English or in your history that you already have so that we can have an idea of why the students are all saying that this needs to be an inclusive environment did you get my question I think I you're looking for titles you're looking for titles and authors potentially I know that there's a book that teach students struggle with uh and I have gone to some of the schools to explain what it means when they they read Things Fall Apart because the the content is is not clear um and I personally don't
093think that should be good enough literature because it's not talking talking about um blacks in America they're talking about blacks in Nigeria uh and the names do not match what they need to um have an understanding for uh so I just want to know what literature books that you have in your in your book collection that students are supposed to know that addresses the ethnic issues uh that these families or these children brought up in their letters today thank you um it's my turn and uh I have news for y'all uh my husband retired after 52 years and wow congratulations congratulations I mean we were baby when he started working and uh he has purchased a motor home and he has in invited me to go with him on big trips in the future and
094because of that uh I will not be running for the school board next next year so it's a good story sad story but it's the story congratul congratulations Donna it's a good story congratulations to both you and Mike that's what you work for it's what you work for the lifetime of Phil for calendar purposes just just want to make sure that all of you know that we have a district advisory committee that will be on a virtual District advisory committee because that's the only way we can meet right now um on August 17th so if you um are interested we can be sure that you have the link to that you probably have much more fun M yeah thanks no it's been a wonderful um uh part of my life uh I been in education
095since I got to California I taught at Apple Jr for 30 years then I taught it it's just been one long education Road and my husband is anxious for me to go with him on this road trip so but I I love you all and uh wish you you be here a few more months don't don't but I wanted you to think about you know who you would like to yeah you may change your mind I'll talk to M congratulations yeah he loves you because I'm gonna talk to Mike I'll see you can't quit so you guys need to make a motion to adjourn we need thato I'll check it all those in favor there you goie do anything to sign