AUSD Board Meeting 4/21/2026 - Open Session Board Meeting

001We're going to reconvene to open session. >> If we could have Gabby lead us in the pledge of allegiance, we would appreciate it. Thank you. You may be seated. >> Can I get an uh a motion to adopt adopt our agenda, please? >> I move to adopt the agenda. Do I have a second? I'll >> second. We'll call that. Mr. Arnold, >> yes. >> Mrs. Taylor, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pierce, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ellis White, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kosnik, >> yes. >> Mrs. Conley, >> yes. >> Mrs. President Mcgru Kane, >> I. >> Thank you. Do we have any order of business to attend to? No. Okay, great. Uh, report of action taken in close session. The board took no action in close session. We have some school related reports. Do we have

002um a representative from our CSEA who would like to speak? No. Okay. Uh, what about a representative from ADTA? Nope. All right. Moving right along. Oral communication from public. >> Yes. Um, I'd like to remind our audience that comments must be limited to three minutes in length. The limit for any one topic is 20 minutes. You may speak on any item at this time or you may hold your comments on an agenda item until the board president asks for public comment. Our first speaker speakers are Alyssa Wement and Lucas Drexler. if you'll um push the button to turn on the microphone and then introduce yourself before you. Thank you. >> Hello, my name is Alyssa Wement and I'm a sophomore at a Tascadero High School and a member of the marching band as well as

003str orchestra. When I joined band my freshman year, for the first time, I felt a sense of community with my peers. Marching in parades, playing in the stands at football games, and participating in festivals with other bands enables us to show our Greyhound pride. All of this takes funding, and to our program, fundraising is crucial. We are here tonight to invite all of you to join us on Friday, May 1st at our spring concert and silent auction fundraiser. We would love to all see you there. Thank you for your time. Hi, my name is Lucas Drexler and I am a senior at AHS and I have been a member of the band for four years. During my four years, I have been a drum major, a member of the band council, and participated in all

004the fun events such as football games, parades, kpali band day, and most recently the Disney recording workshop. We returned from our Disney workshop on Sunday where we had a great time. The workshop took us to a sound stage located backstage in the park where a clinician taught us how to how music uh can tell a story in film. We watched a clip uh from Disney movies with sound or without sound, learn the score and then they recorded us and played our music with the clip. Together we learned and recorded four pieces of music. It is an awesome experience and it really helps the musicianship of our group. Students, Mr. Conrad and the Bamb Boosters work very hard to fund raise so that we can continue to participate in events as well as fix instruments, maintain

005and buy uniforms, and even purchase music and so much more. Our next fundraising event is May 1st. It is a fun night of music, dinner, wine, and a great silent auction. The event will be held at the Elks Lodge in Atascadero. We would like to invite the trustees, superintendent, and their families to join us. There's a flyer at the door, and tickets are available to purchase via the QR code. Please let us know if you have any questions. We hope to see you there. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh >> the next speaker is Debbie Twizzleman. >> Yeah. Hello. Can you hear me on this? You need me to push it? >> I usually don't. Welcome everybody. I love this. It's awesome. All our family went through FFA too. Congratulations you guys. You're gonna hear

006about that later. I'm so excited. Um hello. I'm here with Chris Plain School. Um I've been part of the AOSD team for over 30 years. Just myself. Um and my family's been through even before I was at you guys know me. Um I work at Kissa Plane School. Th Thank thank you for allowing us to speak to you guys today. We're here to acknowledge that there are challenging times with finances. We know that we have programs that we're talking about cutting and I know this is really hard um and for staffing. We have to realize our job is to educate the students and not about and not our and it's our boots on the ground of our teachers. Um I'm support staff but our teachers are our first number one. So, excuse me, my voice

007is wavering. Um we need to keep the teachers. What we'd like to do is keep two staff. It's not about who's in the position. We'd like to keep two teachers at the district at at Creek Plain School because as we know with six grades, it's hard for one teacher to teach that. We're back at that again. If you have one teacher teaching sixth grades, that's if we remember, it's 10 minutes per subject per grade. If you can learn in 10 minutes, you don't need a teacher. Okay? So, we'd like to keep two teachers and help that out. Um, all of our students statewide have been affected by the pandemic and we're still coming back from that. That affect all of us. Even our enrollment, our enrollment is coming back up again. Kesa, we have five

008kindergarters coming in next year. We only have four graduating out. We have three already talking about the next year for TK that we know of. Okay. Um, so our numbers aren't dropping. They're coming up. I wish they'd come faster. We're working on it. I can't help that. I got grandkids in there. I can't push that any more than that. Okay. You CP is a unique necessary small rural school that has traditionally been a proving ground for teachers. We've had a lot of first year teachers go in there and come out and go in the district. A lot of them are sitting in here today. Some have even retired now. Some of them are principles. They started in Kesa. I think we're a good proving ground, but I like to keep them for a while. And

009I like it when we got two. It gives us some continuity for the kids and it gives them a time to learn. I think you need the two. They need that time because otherwise a te a single teacher doesn't have enough hours in a day to teach all the curriculums at all the grade levels like we need. That's what we'd like to to push. Um we don't need a revolving door. If you get a good teacher, let's keep them for a while. If they're willing to stay, let's keep them for a while. It's hard to find somebody who wants to go that far out. We know that. Um so if you can find one, let's try to keep them. Um staffing our schools, you know, is always a challenge because it's out there. They'll come

010out and they'll look, I don't know, it's way out here. We love it. It grows on you. Um, we like the evidence-based practices that show that good teachers aren't and not just programs are our number one tool for teaching our students and the support staff is there to do just that, support them and help them with that. We've come with ideas and some solutions to help us keep the two teachers financially. I'd like you to listen to some of those solutions. I know that's my three minutes. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, next speaker is Mrs. Fegley. >> Hi, I'm Lisa Fegley. I'm the grade three through five teacher at Crystal Plains. Crystal Plains opened its doors in 1954. Over the past 15 years, five separate teachers have been hired to teach the entire core

011curriculum for all grades kindergarten through 5th. All five of those individuals are still employed by a Tuscadera Unified. After one year of being the sole teacher on campus, all five of those educators reported to the district that being the sole educator for all six grades is too demanding of a job for one person. And all five teachers ceased being the sole educator after only one year of service at Karesa Plains. A Tesuscader Unified has attempted running Karissa Plains with just a single educator. And five times the feedback from those educators has consistently been, "It's an impossible feat for one person to cover more than 10,000 standards for all six grades." The issue is not the number of students in the classroom. The issue is the number of standards that one teacher must cover for each

012grade level. Expecting one teacher to teach six grades means each grade only receives one sixth of the teacher's attendance each day. This expectation does not align with our mission, vision, or core values, which states, "We are dedicated and committed to excellence, and we aim to produce the top students of the nation who are college, career, and citizenship ready." Would it be acceptable if a firefighter only responded to one out of every six fires or accidents? Would a rancher be okay with tending to only one sixth of his stock, or a farmer to only one sixth of his crops? We face these additional challenges at Kesa Plains. Karissa Plains is a title one school. 60% of our population are minorities. 33% of our population have IEPs. Reducing the school to one credential teacher is not supporting

013our students to be middle school ready, high school ready, college ready, or eventually career ready. We appreciate the budget cuts are necessary and Karesa Plains does not dispute that. We have presented five alternative plans. We can cut the budget and maintain two credential teachers. We urge that you please consider these options because reducing crease of planes to one teacher simply does not meet the needs of our learners and ultimately does society a disservice. Five teachers that have attempted to teach kindergarten through fifth grade simultaneously reported back to Atuscader Unified that these are impossible working conditions. We all agree that our students are our future. Please continue to invest in the two needed teachers instead of crippling our students future. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Adrien Twizzleman. Good evening. My name is

014Adrien Twistleman and I'm here tonight to advocate for keeping our second teacher at Karissa Plains Elementary. I understand our school doesn't have the same enrollment numbers as those in town, but our rural students should not receive less because of where they live. You found a teacher who is exactly what our school needs. She has shown incredible dedication, driving nearly 100 miles a day when provided housing was not yet livable. still showing up for our kids every day. That commitment matters and it's making a difference. Our K through2 students, including my own daughter, needed structure and real instruction and now they finally have it. At the same time, our three through five teacher is also excelling. Both classrooms are working. If we lose this second teacher, you're asking one person to teach sixth grade levels. That's

015not sustainable and it doesn't serve our students. Not to mention, it burns a teacher out working 12 to 16 hours daily teaching and preparing curriculum for the following day. We also have a minimum of five incoming kindergarteners. Our school is growing, not shrinking. And looking ahead, my hope for a pilot program to bring back grades 6 through 8th is still very much alive. That program would increase enrollment and strengthen our school, but only if we maintain a strong foundation. Now, cutting a teacher sends the opposite message. Our students deserve equal access to equality education regardless of geography. We're not asking for more. We're asking for what's fair. Please support our teachers, our students, and the future of Gresa Plains. Thank you. >> Thank you. And our last speaker is Pedro Rios. >> Good evening, members

016of the board and and staff members. Thank you for taking the time to listen to us. And as always, good evening to our neighbor, Mrs. Counley. It's always nice to see you. And uh I quite frankly, I don't have anything uh written. I don't have any any any notes, just thoughts in my mind, but I have so many things. And one of the things that uh I specifically would have like to address the elected uh board members because ultimately uh the power to decide is in your vote and you were elected uh for the people and by the people. you were elected to uh make difficult decisions and you know I I don't know how many of you have seen uh one of the great movies that was made uh regarding heroes of the Holocaust

017uh Schindler's List and in that movie obviously the businessman Oscar Schindler he uh uh takes great steps to save u lives Jewish lives and towards the end of the movie there's a scene where he breaks breaks down and he's about the war is about to end and he's getting ready to leave and he begins to cry and he looks at his his his u u ring and he looks at other valuable items and he starts he breaks down he says I could have sold this ring and saved 10 more individuals and then they gave him a a remembrance and they said and it was written he who saves one life saves the entire world and board members don't underestimate yourself great men and great women throughout history have made difficult decisions. And those decisions have

018caused great and wonderful things. And those decisions were not made when the storm was calm. Those decisions were made when difficulty was there. And certainly uh we know that the numbers is a challenge. We know that maybe uh the numbers are not in our fa our favor. But listen to this. If you save one student out of those planes, you could possibly be saving the entire world. Out of those planes, we could have our next president. Out of those planes, we could have the scientists that could make a breakthrough in and in and in and cancer, whatever it may be. Have the courage to vote to keep those two teachers there. It's needed. And and you know there is a beautiful article uh in Kell Matters that states that uh rural small schools are the

019beating heart of some California rural communities. And here in San Lisa Bispo County, the Karisa Plains Elementary School is a prime example that it is the heart of those planes. It is the beating of that community. And if you keep uh uh pouring resources, it's going to have its its dividends. it's going to pay off. So, take great courage. Certainly, if you dig a little bit and you direct the superintendent, he will find those funds to keep that one teacher there. Thank you and God bless. >> Thank you. Right. Next, we have our superintendent report. >> Thank you very much. Um, I I first of all want to be able to say thank you to all of our crease of Plains families for coming out. Lisa, it's great to see you today. I'm I'm appreciative

020of you in particular being here. Um, I want to just reassure you, we hear you. We understand um received some of the information that you've provided and so more conversations will be happening around those. All right. So, just for that, the other piece that I want to be able to talk about is to our marching band students. I am so thankful that you came out today and took the podium and I want to be able to make sure, you know, that we can promote this. It's in our Friday packets, by the way, and I hope people will show up. Um, I I plan to be there and I'm going to take all of the fundraising things, so I'm going to win. Um, tonight really what I want to be able to focus on are some

021of the great things that are happening within our district. We have some incredible people, um, incredible students and incredible events that really deserve recognition. And so, um, the the time that I want to be able to spend here is in recognition of some of the great things that are happening this year within our district. And it's the people who are a part of our district that's making it happen. And to help me to be able to do that, I first want to talk about our special education impact award. Trisha Lemino, who's from our slow uh county SULPA program, um I know is here to be able to help uh recognize one of our individuals. And so if I can just invite Trisha up to the podium and to help us. >> Thank you so much

022for having me. Yes, I am Trisha Lamino. I'm from the St. Louis Bispo County SULPA office. Um, and in partnership with our slow sulpa community advisory committee, recently we conducted a countywide nomination process for the 2026 special education impact awards. These awards are designed to honor individuals who demonstrate exceptional dedication, innovative teaching, and a deep commitment to the success of students in special education. Nominations were sought for representatives serving serving slow county public schools across several distinct categories and over 170 people were received. 170 nominations. So that's amazing. Um so we are proud to announce that the following AUSD employees were among those nominated countywide for their outstanding contributions to our educational community. So, in the category of classified classroombased, we had Megan Callaway and Tucker Hayes. For our classified non-classroombased, we had James Duran,

023assistant director of support services, transportation, and we had Salvador Moreno from custodial. We had our parent Lindseay Olivivera. We had our general education teachers, Carly On Ornellis, a fifth grade teacher, and we had um Abigail Iikenburgger from a fourth grade teacher. Our district specialed administrators who were nominated was Leandre Santoani, program director, Nate Ballinger, program coordinator, and Gabby Ramirez, a program specialist. Um for our school site administrator, we had Jennifer Isbel, who was a principal. For our related service providers, we had Courtney Castle, who's a speech and language pathologist, Haley Hernandez, who's a school psychologist, and Kelly Utterbeck Edback, sorry. Um, who is an educational behavioral specialist for our special education early learning teacher, Fonda Bonham, for special education elementary teachers, Amy Layman and Katrina Rabusen. and for special education secondary teacher uh Vinnie Vargas

024from the adult transition program and Jessica Stokes. So each nominee received an electronic certificate that summarized the recognition captured within the nomination form and also their direct supervisor and the superintendent were provided that as well. So along with the 19 nominees, Atascadero had one special education impact category award recipient for this year. So it's truly an honor to recognize Melissa Smith, assistant principal at a Tascadero Middle School. So Melissa, you want to come up? I'm gonna let you hold this. Thank you. >> So we're super honored to be here to to um present this to you tonight. Melissa is an administrator who defines the gold standard through her unique blend of professional integrity and a deeply caring heart. Melissa's superpower is her unwavering advocacy for all learners, drawing from her own experience as a parent

025of a child with a disability to build authentic trust with families and empower her staff with student centered solutions. Whether she is providing individualized coaching to case managers, stepping into classrooms to support pair professionals or championing creative inclusive practice practices. Her leadership ensures that every student at a Tascadero Middle School receives the highquality education they deserve. Her ability to balance complex compliance demands with genuine empathy makes her a true gem. fostering a culture where both educators and students are inspired to reach their full potential. So, please join me in recognizing Melissa for her tireless dedication, her solution focused mindset, and the profound impact she makes daily within our special education community. Congratulations. Give you this certificate. And we're going to come up and take a picture, too. They're going to get Are we good? >>

026Families, if you want to come take pictures, come take pictures. Okay, how about that laundry list of people, right? I mean, fantastic. So, thank you. The next element is uh from Atascadero High School, our future farmers of America. I know I saw Kyle Dadson in the back. And so Kyle, if you can come up. Principal Baka, I think you're also a part of this. And so if you'll come up and announce a little bit or have a part of the conversation if you're going to participate. Yes. No. Nope. Kyle, you're up then, buddy. Thank you. Well, first and foremost, uh thank you guys for giving us the opportunity to share uh a few of our amazing students at Tasker FFA. But, uh what I'm going to speak upon is the accomplishments of one individual that

027received about a month ago, I guess, at this point in time. Uh Miss JC Sales is a senior at Itasera High School. uh she is currently uh installed as the 2026 California state FFA president. Uh and to give you a little uh a snapshot of what that means, uh JC amongst with five other individuals from across the state of California will have the opportunity to lead nearly 200,000 California FFA members uh throughout the state. whether it's uh going to leadership conferences or uh going to uh chapter visits. She essentially is the face of California FFA. Uh I know three of our young ladies have a presentation put for us so I'll share some of my time with them and keep it short and sweet. But what JC accomplished as a teacher uh was absolutely mind-boggling

028to watch. The interview process uh went through nine very very uh intrinsic interview rounds and it was culminated by her responding to two questions on stage in front of 8,000 FFA students. Uh in the inception of Atascadero FFA since the 1960s we've had one other student uh that was the mid90s as a state officer. JC Salis is the only Atasaskar member that is representing California as a state president. If you guys could give JC Salis one big round of applause. >> We thank you guys. We want to be able to get a picture but after you guys are all done. Okay, great. Just make my point clear. >> Okay. Well, hello everybody. Thank you so much for having us tonight. On behalf of the entire Atascadero FFA chapter, we are extremely excited to inform you

029on all of the amazing successes we've had since our last visit. I'll start off by introducing myself. My name is Gabby Farriier. I'm a senior this year at ATAC High School and I'm also FFA's chapter president. So, we obviously have some very important things to get to, but there is some smaller things that also mean a lot to students as well that have gone on within our chapter. So we'll just jump right into something that our chapter is especially proud of which is our success at the sectional level competition for Creed speaking best informed green tand and water issues. For the creed public speaking competition we had three individuals go above and beyond. Freshman Garrett Aelton placed second McKenna Dphanus placed fifth and Camila Wellington placed seventh Creed speaker. In addition to that, eight members

030moved on to the regional level for Creed speaking. In the Spanish Creed competition, Daniellea Burrow placed third for high Creed speaker. For best informed Greenhand, Atascador FFA held the position of fifth high team. And in the division of water issues, Atascador FFA had fourth high team. Hello everyone. My name is Caris Stadson. I'm a sophomore to Tascadero High School and I'll be speaking about the sectional speaking competition. On February 11th, the sectional speaking competition was held at Templeton High School. Our chapter had eight individuals move on to the regional level of their individual speaking competition. In job interview, Gabby Frier placed first, Allison Pulse placed second, Jesse Smith placed f third, and Caleb Terrell placed fifth high individual. In prepared speaking, JC Salis placed first high individual, and Bin Bin Baron placed fourth. In impromptu,

031Caris Dadson placed first high and Kylin Wright placed third high individual. And finally, in the extemporaneous speaking competition, Michaela Spiller placed second high individual. We are extremely proud of these individuals who moved on to compete at the regional competition in King City. Hi, my name is Bin Baron and I will be talking about regional events. Regional elections and regional speaking competitions were held on March 5th at King City High School. Our chapter had 17 members travel to compete in various speaking competitions and officer elections. Congratulations to Caris Dadson for placing first in impromptu speaking and JC Salis for placing fourth in prepared public speaking. Both of these individuals moved on to the state level. And another congratulations to Caris Dadson for being elected as regional reporter and Michaela Spiller for being elected as the regional

032vice president representing the slow section. Our chapter is extremely proud of every member who competed at the regional level. Now I will be talking about our state speaking finalists. We had two extraordinary girls go to the California FFA state speaking contest. Like previously stated, they had to get the top four in the section to move on to the regional level and then again top four at regions to move on to state. They both did extremely well in their respective competitions with Caris Dadson receiving third in the state for impromptu and JC Salis receiving fourth in prepared public speaking. Congratulations. A Tascadero FFA's livestock evaluation team consisting of Michaela Spiller, Caris Dadson, Crew Dadson, and Kylin Wright have been traveling all over the state of California competing in livestock judging competitions and have shown great success

033in a multitude of competitions. Each individual on this team works exceptionally hard and deserves the recent successes that have come their way. This team will compete at the state level on May 2nd. Great job to Michaela, Caris, Crew, Kylin, and Mr. Dodson. And now coming up are sectional and chapter elections. Important events revolving around officer elections have begun on both the chapter and sectional level. Our chapter is extremely excited to welcome the new officer teams and can't wait to see their leadership qualities they portray for the better of our chapter in section. Best of luck to those individuals who have applied and you can check our Instagram for the new slate. You could say we've had a lot of success at competitions recently, but something that we really wanted to hit on was state conference.

034From March 21st to March 25th, we had over 20 students from Atascadero FFA travel over 250 miles to Ontario, California for the 98th annual California FFA State Leadership Conference. Not only did 20 individuals have the opportunity to enjoy days filled with fun sessions, meeting new people, and leadership opportunities, but many members had a chance to shine. Here's a few of our highlights. We had two voting delegates, Jesse Smith and Mattie McKe, who worked hard in multiple meetings throughout the conference to vote for as voting delegates. Gabby Fier and Lacy Conland both qualified for state scholarships. Lacy received the Zenith in insurance scholarship. Caris Statson served as an awards subcommittee chair and helped interview potential award recipients. Brenn Baron competed for the second year in a row in the California State FFA talent and performed on

035the big stage. McKillis Spiller and Caris Statson were officially installed to serve as the South Coast regional offers officers for the 2026 to 2027 school year. Gabby Farier worked extremely hard on the nominating committee to help determine the state officer slate. And last, but certainly not least, our very own JC Salis was elected to serve as the 2026 to 2027 California FFA State President. Now, as a member of the 2026 California State Nominating Committee, I would like to explain and emphasize the grueling process that JC went through to obtain the position that she did. To start, what the nominating committee is is a group compiled of 13 FFA members, ch two chosen to represent each region of California. Their job is to pick through all of the state officer applicants through various different ways and

036ultimately find the best individuals for the job and make the best slate possible to the voting delegates. This year, we had over 78 applicants for state office. Therefore, for each individual candidate, we had to grade one two-minute video response to a question and one one-page essay to a response. After reviewing all 78, we decided to advance only 58 individuals to in-person interviews that'd be taking place at state conference in Ontario. After various different rounds of pushing these candidates to their limits, there ended up being over four advancements until we got to the final 12 candidates, also known as the slate. We announced the slate on stage and both candidates who were against each other both got asked two questions on the stage like Mr. Datson stated in front of 8,000 people for the delegates to

037vote who they wanted to serve on the 2026 to 2027 state officer team. And lucky for us, they all saw in JC what we do. Proud is an understatement for how honored we are to have a state officer, let alone state president from Atascadero, California. So let's give her a huge ROUND OF APPLAUSE. HI EVERYONE, my name is Jaci Salis and I'm a senior at Tacero High School. This year, I don't exactly know what my future holds, but I'll be moving to G, California in the early June, basically right after I graduate high school with my five other teammates there. will be able to collaborate with each other to really dictate how we're going to be able to serve the members for the entire year for the 2026 2020 2027 school year. We'll be doing

038chapter visits and we'll also be doing a couple of different conferences and traveling to the national convention in October which we're very excited about. But I am incredibly honored to be able to serve as a state officer but also to be from the FFA chapter because this doesn't just happen in a year. I've had four years of incredible mentorship from my adviserss and friendship from all of the chapter members that have been involved in a task FFA. So, I'm incredibly excited for my year of service. But we want to thank you so much for having us and hearing all about what we have been up to. Our presentation tonight was just a little piece of all of the moving pieces of Atascadero FFA. And if you want to stay updated, you can follow our Instagram,

039Atascadero FFA, to get all of our updates of all the incredible things that we're doing. But thank you so much for having us. >> WONDERFUL. I BEFORE WE HAVE YOU COME UP HERE TO to get a picture, can I just say how incredibly proud we are of each one of you and our program. So, thank you for coming here. We're going to be talking about a profile of a graduate tonight. I I think that's gonna be >> picture them and frame them. >> Yeah. So, let let's start with a picture. So, if we can have you come up. Kyle, if you'll also come up. Nikki, if you'll also come up. Okay, thank you very much. Um, and and we're not done. We have one more recognition and I want to be able to bring up

040uh Principal Baka to be able to help us to walk through um our our next big event. >> Good evening everyone. I am excited to be here tonight to recognize Emma for her hard work, dedication, and commitment to her sport of wrestling. Along with the support of her coaches, both coach Joe and Coach Becca as principal and on behalf of Atascadero High School, I want to share how proud we are of Emma. It's been great to see her compete at such a high level and represent our school so well. At this time, I'd like to invite Joe up to the podium to introduce Emma and share a few words about her and all of her accomplishments. Thanks for having me back, guys. Um, so good evening members of the board. My name is Joe Bonti

041and I've had the privilege of serving as head coach for the last few years at Atascera High School. Tonight, I want to take a few minutes to talk about someone very special. Not just an athlete, but a representation of what our program can produce at its very best. That person, oh, she's right here. Emma Garrett. Come up here a little bit. Give her a hand. Um, I first met Nama when she was a freshman and it didn't take long to real for me to realize that she was different. Not just because of her talent, but because of her mindset. She showed up every single day ready to work, ready to learn, ready to push herself beyond what most people are willing to do. Over the course of four years, I watched Emma grow into one

042of the most accomplished athletes our school has ever seen. She became a Tascad Earl's first ever female CIF championship champion in wrestling. That's a milestone not just for her, but for our entire program and community. Following that, she went up and placed fourth at the central section. Um, excuse me, third. Is it third? >> Third. I apologize on my speech. I wrote uh the wrong number. Third in central section Masters and earned the opportunity to compete at the California State Championship. Widely regarded as one of the toughest um high school wrestling tournaments in the entire country. Um and that's super big. She's done all this with toughness, discipline, and humility. Her success also backed by consistency and dominance. Emma's Emma finished her career with an incredible record of 129 wins and only 46 losses and

043an and and an astonishing 101 of those wins coming by pin, ranking her third all time in career wins just behind her coach. But but what makes Emma truly special goes far beyond wins and losses. Emma has maintained a 3.7 weighted GPA all while competing in one of the toughest sports there is. She held down a part-time job, given back to younger athletes in our program, and consistently represented our school with class and integrity. And I'm proud to say that her hard work has opened the next chapter of her life. Emma has committed to attend Shriner University in Texas where she will pursue a degree in nursing while continuing her wrestling career at the college uh college collegiate level in D3. That speaks volumes about who she is, not just as an athlete, but as

044a person. She's choosing a path of service, discipline, and continued growth. Emma led by example. She doesn't cut corners. She doesn't make excuses. She shows up. She does the work. And she bring uh she brings others with her. And I want to emphas emphasize this. Emma's success didn't happen by accident. It came from a program with that supported her. Coaches who invested in her and a school environment that gave her the opportunity to thrive. She is living proof of how important it is to continue investing in our athletes programs, especially in growing sports like girls wrestling. Because of athletes like Emma, doors are opening. Younger girls in our community now see what's possible. They see a path. They see someone that looks like them doing something extraordinary and that matters. As a coach, I can

045tell you this. Athletes like Emma don't come around often, but when they do, they leave a a legacy and an impact for generations. Emma Garrett has raised the standard for what it means to be an Atascadero student athlete. She has made our school proud, our community proud, and she has um absolutely earned every bit of recognition that come that's coming her way and that is coming her way. I'm I'm incredibly proud of her, not just as a coach, but as someone who has got to sit front row seat in her journey. And if you ever want to understand the true value of investing in your students, your programs, and your people, you don't have to look further than this young lady right here, Emma Garrett. So, thank you for your time. Give Emma a large

046round of applause. So, picture time. All right. Cool. Are we good? >> There we go. Yeah, that's the most fun I've had in a board meeting in a long time. So, that was really fun and I'm so proud of you girls. Uh, boys, we're gonna have to show up. So, all right. And with that, that's the end of my report. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Oh, let's see. Board members report. Let's start here and work our way around. >> All right. Well, um thank you very much for um attending. We had quite a bit of a full house and all these recognitions. Um we are very busy out there, especially at the end of the school year. And I look forward to um open house um or open houses to see what's going

047on at the schools. So that's one of my um just going in through the classrooms. And then also Kowanas is doing breakfast. So looking forward to that. Everybody's a different day uh at the different elementarymentaries. The first one's up is um Santa Margarita on on Monday. >> So yeah. So, we'll be cooking. >> Um, yeah. Wow, that that was fun. Good job setting all that up. Um, very impressive. Uh, I'll start with saying thank you to everybody from Crea Plains who made the trip in here to uh, you know, support what they have going on out there. Um, move straight into congratulations to Melissa Smith. Um, Emma, she's still here. She left. What an accomplishment. I I wish her all the luck at the next level. I'm sure she's going to do great. Representative Tascadero,

048terrific. Um, and then JC Sales. Wow, what an accomplishment. Um, and not only JC, just everybody, the whole the whole FFA program is tremendous. Um, I saw Kyle left. I was going to give him a shout out. I mean, he's doing a wonderful job obviously and, uh, they're having a lot of success. So, good job to those guys. >> Well, I'm going to start with Emma and go backwards because that's how I wrote it. Um, Emma, >> she left. She >> Gosh, she can do it. >> She was great. She's great. She's worked hard and um you can obviously hear the pride with her coach. he's worked with her and watched her throughout her career and um congratulations to her winning the first CIF women's championship. That was wonderful. Uh next um to our FFA

049group. Uh you know you when you are watching students grow and thrive and present themselves in such a professional way as our FFA students. It's it's they're such good leaders in our district and I appreciate them coming in. And my gosh, this uh JC Solace, what an accomplishment. She's going to influence 200,000 students in the state of California. What a great positive person that she is. And congratulations to her. And to Kyle Dadson. Kyle, we are so fortunate fortunate to have such a wonderful man who breathes FFA. He's very passionate about that and he works well with his students and I congratulate him in his leadership skills. Uh Melissa Smith with a Sulpa uh with Sela recognizing her. Did she leave too? >> Well, congratulations and what a feat you have accomplished. So, thank you

050to our Greyhound Marching Band and your fundraiser. I wish you uh the best on that. And nothing nothing gets you going when you're at those games and you hear that marching band or when you hear them going down through the Colony Day parade, you just you just automatically are just enthralled with them. And so, congratulations to them and to the crease of Plains community that came in and spoke tonight on behalf of uh maintaining two teachers. I appreciate the fact that they are realizing what the state deficit is going to be challenging with, but I also appreciate that they are offering different solutions. They're not just um saying no. They're looking at every avenue in order to educate our students, give them the strong foundation that they're going to need to move on when they

051come to the middle school and to the high school. So, I thank you very much on that. And I'm going to end with saying because we're all at large going to be looking at this for the next two or three years, guys. And um I was fortunate enough to go to a conference down in Orange County at the Crystal Cathedral and Robert Schuler, he looked at everyone who was going through tough times and he said, "Tough times never last, but tough people do." And that's what we're going to do in this district. We're going to work together because we're a team for our students. Thank you. >> That's a tough one to follow. Thanks. Um, so I'm going to I'm going to ditto some of the same things, but I do want to make sure

052that I address uh Karesa Plains and the parents that came in. I'm sure they're they're probably listening even though they're on their way home. um we appreciate their voices and also appreciate the fact that they did put a lot of effort out into the email that they sent us um regarding solutions, which I know that we've worked hard on that too to find solutions to our budget deficits. So, I appreciated that. Um and I I really want to acknowledge that. Um I got a little nervous to do my board report after those FFA girls. Wow. I was an FFA girl and I was like, "Wow, they were incredible." Um Kyle is doing an excellent job and they their accomplishments are amazing. Um so congratulations to them. Um also Selpa to to is Melissa gone also?

053Smith. Okay. Well um that's a big honor too that that that um to award that to her and Emma Garrett of course with girls wrestling. >> Um that's incredible. That's that's a new thing and our school seems to be doing really well at it. I know we had had some success in the past and her coach. Wow. Um was amazing complimenting her. So um I hope I didn't forget anything. It seemed like we've been gone a long time. So um I I I don't remember if I did my LCAP steering for we have a meeting since then that that EJ put on um that we are meeting our benchmarks for our four goals. Um and it's been a while since spring break. We've been off. So I look forward to these what was going on

054over spring break. It's probably going to be short. Okay. >> Two pages, not 10. >> Um, I feel very much the same as everybody else. The stuff that our students accomplish, and it's just we're a small but mighty district, I think, and I really enjoy the FFA reports every year. Um, and it's fun to actually meet the athletes. um the FFA, going back to FFA, I saw um JC's announcement or the announcement on like the FFA national Facebook page or something like that and I was like, wait a minute. So, I was pretty proud of that. Um and then all the names that I recognized that were acknowledged u by Selpa in our district was I mean we're come across a lot of those people in the years that I've been in the district and

055it's nice that they get acknowledged and recognized. Um and I think that's about that's about it without repeating everything that you guys said. >> All right. I um agree with everything my my colleagues have said so far and excuse me for a long report but um I want to highlight some of the things I've been able to witness. I want to say bravo to our Tesus High School drama students for an outstanding production of the Spongebob musical. All or nearly all of their so all of their shows shows sold out. I attended the matinea um show featuring understudies which I couldn't even tell that they were not the principal actors. They were so good. The choreography, singing and acting acting were amazing and the characters, their voices, they were exactly like the show. So, it

056was um yeah, it was astounding. Um Fine Arts Academy had a born to perform dance show at the Templeton Pack on March 25th. It featured ballet and contemporary dances, and I was impressed to learn that all the routines were studio student choreographed. Um and it was a spectacular show. Uh a a great venue. Um AMS and FF FAA students attended the robotics competition at Old Mission Prep on Saturday, March 28th. This is before spring break. Um the students spent the entire morning competing and did really well in their matches with their robots. It was very exciting and fun to watch. I really enjoyed watching the kids have fun and cheering each other on. Uh thank you to Mrs. Porterfield at Tascado Middle School and Miss Regali at the fine arts for their um their leadership

057um and running those those clubs for our kids. Um I want to congratulate JC Sales um on her um election and um to uh California FFA state officer uh president um team and uh I think that holding a statewide position is a big task and responsibility and I want to thank her for stepping up to serve. Uh I also want to acknowledge uh Mr. Dadson and Mrs. Sudbur's contributions to um our FFA program. Uh incredible students as we saw today. I attended open house at Santa Rosa uh recently. I enjoyed visiting the classrooms and seeing all the student work and the learning that's been happening. Uh Santa Rosa is holding a flash-fund run on April 24th. Um and a lot of our elementary schools are have recently completed or are completing their fundraisers. Um, I

058want to congratulate San Gabriel Elementary Gators for raising over $35,000 in their jogathon recently. Uh, and I look forward to attending more open houses in the weeks ahead. Uh, on April 1st, Ates Daryl Middle School held a health fair during the lunch hour for their the students. So many community partners um brought interactive activities and engaging booths for the kids to um to view and uh and see. A majority of the students at both lunches participated which was wonderful. Um thank you to Mrs. Davis uh for and her committee for putting on such a wonderful inaugural event. Uh on April 2nd we were invited to fine arts to uh judge their door decorating contest. Um the theme was famous women uh in honor of women's history month and I participated with Mrs. Darnell, Mrs. Argane,

059Mrs. Luna and some of our uh human resources staff. It was a very difficult j uh task to judge the doors because they were all outstanding. And then on that same evening, San Bonito uh hosted their art showcase at the Atasco high middle school gym. It was a packed house. Doc um Dr. Bennett was there as well. Uh it was completely studentrun. It featured dance, drumming, and theater performances from our kinder through fifth grade students. And I have to say the Alice in Wonderland skit was wonderful from the costumeuming to the music and the choreography. And then lastly, um, our junior CEO business day, uh, hosted by the Atascadero Chamber of Commerce, uh, occurred on Sunday, April 12th at the Sunken Gardens. It featured over, uh, 80 75, it featured 80 student entrepreneurs um, uh,

060which was the conclusion of their six-week business education course. Um, this junior CEO program is the national model, but I think the Tascad Chamber may be the only one that's offering it in our county because there are many students from other school district and homeschool programs participating. And um I need to budget when I go to this event next year because I found so many wonderful products. There are a lot of 3D printed um items, food, drinks, bookmarks, art, woodwork, and uh clothing and accessories. Um I shared with this evening with our trustees and cabinet um these pit cells that Lucy uh a St. Gabriel student um that was her business. uh pels are Italian waffle cookies and Lucy used a family recipe to make these um delicious um cookies with her grandma. Uh she

061also Lucy's also spoke at the Chamber of Commerce uh gala and donated a dozen of those pizzals for their dessert auction and they fetched over $1,000 I think. Um, and then I also wanted to share that there was another um, business called Orion's Pipe Chains and this is a 3D printed necklace. Yes. Um, when I saw Lori Kappell from our city of Atascadero um, walking around with this and her swagger, I just had to find out where had to track it down. But Orion, and someone's going to get this. Um, but Orion saw this design somewhere. Oh, I should hold it upside down. Uh, right side up. Uh, Orion saw this design somewhere, but it decided to improve it by making it a fidget spinner so that you could spin it as you're wearing it.

062>> Yeah. >> So, that's just some of the wonderful things that I've been able to witness. Thank you. >> That's awesome. >> She's got props. That's really cool. >> Props to you. >> Are we gonna auction that off? >> Yeah. >> Oh, thank you everybody for your reports and um I they already all said it all, but um so incredibly proud of our students and all of our staff members and people who support them to help them get where they are. Nobody gets there alone and I'm just so grateful for everyone's dedication. Um whether it be the students to achieving their dreams or it's our staff members and our support who are helping to push them along. So, thank you guys all. Okay, moving along to our minutes. Um may I have a motion to

063approve both the regular board meeting for March 17th and the special board meeting minutes of April 1st, 2026. Uh, so moved. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. >> Mrs. Taylor, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pierce, >> yes. >> Mrs. President, Mcgru Kane, >> hi. >> Mrs. Counley, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cosnik, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ellis White, >> yes. >> Mr. Arnold, >> yes. >> Thank you. Next is our consent agenda. Does anyone have any items that they would like to pull? >> Um, I would like to acknowledge the donation um item G to San Gabriel Elementary School from the >> Adventure Love. >> Yeah, the Adventure Love of $300. >> Thank you very much, Adventure Love. We appreciate your donation and your support. With that, do I have a motion for approval of consent agenda

06411 A through 11G? >> So move. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Roll call vote. >> Mrs. Ellis White. >> Yes. >> Mr. Arnold. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Counley. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Pierce. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Taylor. >> Yes. >> Mrs. President McGru Kane. >> I Mrs. Kosnik. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is item 13A, public disclosure of collective bargaining agreement between the Atascadero Unified School District and the Atascadero District Teachers Association. The board will open a public hearing and take public input regarding the collective bargaining agreement between Atascadero Unified School District and Atascadero District Teachers Association. As board president, I hereby open the public hearing. We will now hear from the public. Um, after we have heard from the public, the hearing will be closed.

065Does anybody have anything that they would like to say? Uh, has the board received any requests for comments during the public hearing? No. Okay. Uh, if no, then we were we will go ahead and close the hearing. And do we have any discussion that we would like to take on this item before we motion for approval? Any discussion? No. Okay, great. Do I have a motion for approval? I move to approve. Do I have a second? >> Roll call vote. >> Second was >> Excuse me. Mrs. Taylor, >> yes. >> Mrs. Counley, >> yes. >> Mrs. President, Mcgru Kane, I. >> Mrs. Pierce, >> yes. >> Mrs. Kene, >> yes. Mr. Arnold. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Ellis White. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Our next item on the agenda is our confidential employees salary schedule,

066special services salary schedule. Thank you, trustees. We're bringing forward this evening um commensurate salary increases for our confidential employees and our special services employees um as has been past practice of the district to extend negotiated salary increases to our unrepresented groups. This particular group rep represent is represented by our um confidential staff which is our coordinators um and our special services staff is inclusive of um speech and language pathologists and other professionals um that are unrepresented. Um the recommendation is that the trustees approves the recommended salary increase for both groups. Does anybody have any questions? Seeing none. Do I have a motion for approval? >> So moved. >> Have a second. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. >> Mrs. Taylor. >> Yes. >> Mrs. President Mcruine. >> I >> Mrs. Kosnik. >> Yes. >> Mrs.

067Ellis White. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mr. Arnold, >> yes. >> Mrs. Pierce, >> yes. Mrs. Counley, >> yes. >> Thank you. Our next item is our budget advisory task force debrief. Mrs. Darnell, >> um, thank you, trustees. Um, the, uh, we're bringing this item forward this evening to review the work, um, that was accomplished with the budget advisory task force. Um if uh the board and the public will recall in January I brought forward a proposal to um develop a budget advisory task force as an expansion of the existing budget advisory committee um with the express purpose of within 90 days to have a condensed meeting schedule that would aim to find efficiencies in AUSD's operating budget um to maximize our available resources. Um the slide in front of you is an excerpt from the

068original proposal. I won't I won't bemoone or go through all of that. I just want to emphasize that the p of the purpose of this committee was that it was not a decision-making body. Our primary goal was to be transparent about our position and collaborate with a variety of our educational partners on potential solutions to correct our deficits. Essentially, we wanted to ensure that we weren't making any decisions that would affect our students in isolation. um this kind of work can be very challenging. So talking about um schools and programs and staffing is highly sensitive work. So with that in mind, we developed our norms of collaboration. So those were the 10 norms that were developed for the committee that the committee agreed to. Essentially, we wanted to ensure that everyone showed up with a

069district-wide lens. this was going to um these kinds of cuts affect all students and affect all programs. Um and we really wanted to be honest about that. We wanted to have data grounded conversations to look at systems not people. Um again acknowledge the impact is going to be felt across the district. We wanted to engage with respect and curiosity. The seek first to understand rule. Uh we wanted to be as transparent as possible. um and stay focused on moving forward. So, uh we needed to find solutions that would take us to the next chapter for a task. Um to be able to do that, we wanted to ensure that we captured a variety of voices and a range of perspectives. So, everyone within the Atascadero community comes with unique experiences that contribute to the conversation.

070Um, with that in mind, we had an 18 member task force that was inclusive of representatives from CSEA, which is our classified bargaining group, ADTA, which is our certificated bargaining group, included elementary and secondary administrators, members of the cabinet. We also invited um from the county off office office of education Erid Aspen who is the assistant superintendent of business services and the oversight agency for my department um from the county office and we included three board members. We've tried to um garner more parent participation. We finally had one elementary parent who joined us at one meeting. at that particular meeting chose not to participate but um since then has agreed to be a part of the committee moving forward. Um so we're excited about that and we invite uh more families to join that committee.

071Um we met a total of four times within that 90 days. We spent our time reviewing historical and current district financial data with a 10-year perspective. So to the best extent possible, I provided um 10 years of information examining key areas like revenues, expenditures, our staffing, our enrollment and um attendance which creates that ADA metric um our facilities and um kind of other other uh impacts to our budget. Now in conjunction with this work happening we needed to ensure that we were including our district leadership team. So the district leadership team is made up of our principles, assistant principles and classified management. So those would be our um like a director of a director of fiscal for example. Um, we wanted to ensure that they had an opportunity to review the same data and provide

072specific uh feedback on potential impacts to different sites, programs or departments. Um, so they met concurrently and had an opportunity to review the same information. They also had an opportunity to provide additional suggestions to be examined by the budget advisory committee. Um and then like I said they provided feedback on potential impact of proposed reductions. Um so within all that work the team really did work to develop robust ideas to rightsize our budget to our actual needs. So we've spent some time in past meetings talking about um the needs of the district have changed. So for example, within the last 10 years, we've um lost approximately 400 students um enrolled. So for context, our biggest elementary is at about 393 students. So we've lost more students than is uh encompassed in one of our elementary

073schools. Um so in looking at all of that information, ideas were generated. Some were ready for implementation in the next fiscal year. So there was immediate actions the district could take while others would need further review and potential board approval. Um finally it was really important for the team to ensure that all of the proposed ideas were above and beyond what was included in our current budget assumptions. So every reporting period when I bring forward a budget um there's assumptions included in that information. The deficit persisted even with those assumptions. So that's kind of why that agreement was made was we need to do more than what we've already been able to accomplish. So how do we develop those budget assumptions this year? Um we wanted to be very strategic in how this work was

074done and ensure that we had backup to support the decisions that were being made. Um, with this in mind, we developed staffto student ratios to develop stronger position control within the district. These were built on mathematical formulas based on our contractual language of student contact, um, our enrollment, educational code, CDE recommendations, state averages, and in some cases accepted best practice. Uh we began reviewing this information with principles and our district leadership team in November so that we could adequately prepare them for staffing decisions that would affect the next year. We continued and we continue to meet regularly with our leadership to align our staffing to our projected enrollment. U this was a a wonderful opportunity for us to ensure that we uh were staffing appropriately and doing our best to preserve programs. So through the

075creation of strong staffto student ratios um the district is able to realize about 1.09 million in savings. I don't know why that slide's in Oh, I'm sorry. I do know why that's in there twice. Um so we took our opportunities for immediate implementation um and we separated them from potentially long-term actions. Uh the reason that we did this is because those long-term actions require board action. So we can't make those decisions without a more inclusive conversation with this group. We took um immediate efficiencies. We compiled a list. We shared it with both the 18 member budget advisory task force and with our district leadership team um via a Google survey and asked every participant to rank um kind of their tolerance level for each proposed reduction. Um the survey was provided to 48 individuals, 25

076individuals engaged in the survey. Um so that the the team is aware um and the public is aware uh cabinet and the county did not did not participate in that survey. Um as our our roles uh we did not want to skew that information. So the survey results what what was brought forward. So these 10 areas were identified as our areas to examine. Um and uh I'm going to go through them in kind of detail a little bit more about what that looks like in and district actions. Um so our first area to examine was administration specifically how we can share administration administration to support our smaller schools and potentially reduce FTE attached to administration. Um so the district has worked hard to identify opportunities um to leverage some of our highquality leaders to support

077those smaller sites um next year so that they will continue to have strong administrators um through these actions. The district can potential is slated to potentially save approximately 71,000. The leader in me um was a proposed area to examine. Um this came with some challenges. So, our elementary sites have invested a lot of time and energy into implementation of leader and me. Um, and they feel like they're experiencing a high level of success. We want to acknowledge their investment in this program and we also feel like it's doing really well with our students. Our secondary level um has not had the same level of investment. So with this in mind, we felt like the best action was to rather than pull it out completely, review the contract, identify um how we can potentially reduce materials,

078so a heavier reliance on our online materials um and less of an investment in our print materials so that we can maintain our programs where they're experiencing success. Um assistant coach stipens was brought forward as an area to examine. Um, and if you'll permit me, I'm going to talk about them in conjunction with our freshman athletics, which was also brought forward as an area to examine. Um, so one of the challenges with this is that we know that students who are student athletes are more engaged in school. We've seen some of our um our kids, not just tonight, but you know, over the course of this year, we've had the opportunity to recognize some amazing student athletes. Um, in addition, the research demonstrate that students who are engaged in athletic programs also demonstrate higher rates

079of attendance. So, we wanted to make sure that we were careful about how we examined this area. With this in mind, the district has a desire to preserve as many program opportunities for our students as possible. Um, in looking at assistant coaches, we recognize that not every sport can really be um treated equally when looking at reductions. So, for example, our high contact sports require a higher level of supervision u potentially than our low contact sports. Um, freshman athletics, we want to ensure that those kiddos have an opportunity after they've been playing sports in 8th grade to continue exploring their passions in high school. The challenge with freshman athletics um was actually tied to transportation. So, we were seeing some of our um neighbors may not be participating as much in freshman athletics. So our

080freshmen have been forced to travel a little bit further. Um so that was a different kind of challenge to overcome than just a straight reduction, right? Um so the commitment has been to work closely with the high school um and their newly appointed athletic director. Um we will eval for both assistant coach decisions and freshman athletic decisions. We will evaluate the interest of students, the safety and our ability to transport students to um participate in these things. before any decisions are made to cut a program, if that makes sense. Um, instructional stipens. So, in this category, we're specifically looking at our ILT or our instructional leadership team and our department head stipens. So, we are not looking at program specific stipens. Um, for example, drama or dual enrollment. Um, so we're looking at those two

081very specific categories. The proposal was made to reduce them by about 50% at the secondary level. The reason we looked specifically at the secondary level is because um at the close of the 232 24 school year uh we are we made the reduction at the elementary level. Um so moving forward with this reduction will save the district approximately $31,000. Support staff is inclusive of all staff that provides um support to our schools that may not be seen. So it's kind of the behindthe-scenes support. Um so we'd be talking about um our accounting teams, custodial teams, grounds and etc. Um and then our clerical is just that. So those are our amazing um secretarian clerks that we have across our district. Um for both of those categories um we're working to take advantage of natural attrition.

082Um and then again relying on our staffto student ratios to make sure that all sites and programs are staffed appropriately. Um, again, it has been an ongoing commitment of the district um to try not to gut programs. So, we're trying to take advantage of this as as naturally as possible. Um, there are reductions in both of those areas that are have been included in the second interim budget report. Um, our intervention teachers, this is one of two categories of TOSAs that are currently supporting our elementary schools and Atascadero Middle School. Um so the other is our intervention coordinators in working with our principles. Our intervention coordinators were identified as a please don't touch this item. Um and so we want to preserve as much as we can. We're doing great things for our kids. Um

083so we took a look at our intervention teachers. The reason we looked at this category is because we happened to have a little bit more natural attrition happening with these um these folks. So in January we had one retirement that was replaced with a temporary contract and then we had two other intervention teachers who were on temporary contracts. Um taking advantage of not renewing those temporary contracts, we can continue to provide services in an itinerant model. So um intervention teachers who are supporting two sites instead of just one. Um, taking advantage of this model will help the district realize a savings of approximately 279,000. And finally, we have our counselors. We did take advantage of some natural attrition in this category. Um, we had a retirement at Monterey Road. We pulled a counselor from one

084of our secondary sites to go down and support that. Um, so again, just trying to soften the blow as much as possible. With regards to all other specific positions or classifications, again, we're taking advantage of attrition and temporary contracts ending. This will allow us to step down our services naturally and maintain our programs longer, although this will change what those services will look like. Um so the things that we kind of discussed here and the actions that the district um has taken will realize on top of our second interimm budget assumptions an additional 381,000 um when coupled with our budget assumptions we um are projected to realize a savings of approximately 1.47 million going into the next fiscal year. So, a lot of work was done um looking at data to come up with these

085recommendations and um we also learned that the district has done a really great job with position control. We're not grossly overstaffed. Um in all, AUSD is not overstaffed by any large number. what we're really experiencing is an infrastructure strain. Um so the loss of approximately 400 students in 10 years has um strained our ability to support. Um so my recommendation is that the board uh consider a comprehensive review of facility use and capacity. Um and if it is the will of the board, I can bring forward additional information on what this process would look like at our next meeting. Yes, >> I would like you to do that. >> Okay. >> Um that would be insightful to find out um what we have >> and help us um with our planning. Okay, I will do

086that. Thank you. I will work with um our legal counsel so I can bring forward a review of what our next steps will be as a district. >> Can you repeat that? you wanted to look at what >> a comprehensive review of our facility use and capacity. Um, so looking not only at our existing facilities that are housing students, but the district has facilities that are no longer housing students or programs. So a a review of all of potentially excess property, our programs and our sites to identify, you know, where can we infrastructurally realize potential savings? You know, in when we had our recession, we were also looking at um our appliances and and our electric bills and >> whatnot. And I can remember we had to shut the lights off. We had to take

087coffee makers out of classrooms and >> and refrigerators. >> That might be a call. >> Yes. And um we should not have coffee makers and refrigerators in classrooms. Um, and it is uh it is uh it is always best practice to turn off our lights. Um, but to your point, Trusty Quinley, um, utility rates as we're all feeling as citizens, um, and for the district to continue to rise, utility rates, fuel rates, you know, the things that are putting cost pressures on us at home are putting cost pressures on us as a district. Um, but at scale. >> I was hoping our solar was helping us a little more with those utility rates. >> Yeah, >> me too. >> But anyway, that was I just remember that was such a big deal. >> Yeah, thank

088you. >> I have a question. So, what does this U comprehensive review of facility use? What does it entail? Like who's involved in it? Is it like a 7-Eleven committee or is it that is that too early to >> So it's it's it's early to determine that. So what I think would be the best guidance would be to allow me to work with our legal council and then bring I'll bring forward anformational item for the board. Um that'll look at all of the available options of that work, who would be involved, meetings that would be involved, and what potentially would be looked at. So then you guys can make a more informed decision. Is there a cost associated with that >> with a with a committee? Um >> so it's just it's just a committee.

089You're not you're not planning on bringing a some sort of outside um source to >> to help you guys go other than lawyers. >> Yeah. Uh legal counsel. Um at at this time, no. There are opportunities um when this work is done for districts to engage in different kinds of studies. um those would be discussed with the board prior to implementation but what I'm proposing is does not have a cost associated >> and I just want to acknowledge you I know that you personally have put in a ton of work in this so uh I appreciate that thank you >> yes >> thank you and uh re I appreciate that but I would like to acknowledge the business services team the the ladies in that office are are truly astounding and and do much more

090than their calling. So, they they really are great. But thank you. >> Oh, and and our newly appointed Daniel. >> I also want to thank you. I know that this is probably very difficult to have to identify and of course everybody has little feelings like I saw a couple things and I'm like, don't do that. You know, and I'm sure everybody has those feelings. So it's great that everybody's kind of collaboratively coming together and trying to work as a team um to you know in essence we have to the the district has to stay viable you know >> and so thank you for your work. Does anyone else have any questions or comments? I just want to um we met the other day and uh V and I did um and I asked V I

091was like is this one of those committees that actually accomplishes anything or are they just kind of a you know information type thing and she said that you guys are actually um taking everybody's uh advice and and working collaboratively. So I that that makes me feel even I mean >> better about a cruddy situation. >> Yeah. better about a cruddy situation. Yes. >> Good. And that's a wonderful plug. If any of our parents would like to join our budget advisory committee, we traditionally have two parent seats. We just recently filled one. Um if you're interested, please connect with me. >> And I will say being on the budget advisory task force meeting, I appreciate the information that was shared and I've gained a better understanding of the our district and how we got to this

092position. And you know, I was when we heard that, you know, we were targeting a $2 million deficit and then we're already operating so lean. Um, it was, yeah, my heart kind of stopped for a moment. Um, but I appreciate everyone's willingness to have a conversation and openly and honestly and really consider the district as a whole. Um, and I appreciate Erin Aspen's participation as well. I think he has a wealth of information. um not just with his time at the county but um formerly at the Templeton Unified School District. Uh and they had gone through similar um circumstances uh in a couple a couple years ago and have been have are now much stronger for it for taking those measures. So thank you. >> Thank you. Our next item is our quarter item 15A

093our quarterly report on Williams uniform complaints and Mrs. Argene you are up. Thank you trustees. Uh quarterly uniform complaint report as you can see attached in your board backup. I just wanted you to take a look at that and ensure that the two complaints that you see have been resolved thoroughly. We have any questions? We need a motion for approval for this. >> Is there any action? No. >> No. It says approve on it. >> No, right here. Approve. Oh, >> I have a motion for approval. >> I approve. >> I'll second. >> Roll call vote. >> Mr. Arnold. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Ellis White. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cosnik. Yes, >> Mrs. Counley. >> Yes, >> Mrs. President McGru Kane. >> I >> Mrs. Pierce. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Taylor. >> Yes. >> Thank

094you. Our next item is our college and career counselor job description. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh before you is a job description for a college and career counselor to support middle college and early college grant that will be supporting uh the job description that you see attached. This will primarily focus on our secondary schools. >> Does anybody have any questions, comments, concerns? No. Great. Do I have a motion? >> Motion. I'll second. I'll call vote. >> Mrs. Counley. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kosenig. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Ellis White. Yes, >> Mrs. President Mcgru Kane. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Taylor. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Pierce. >> Yes, >> Mr. Arnold. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay, our next item is our board policies, our first reading. This is for information only. Does

095anybody have any questions or comments, concerns about any of these board policies that we are reviewing? four. >> Okay, we will move those forward to a second reading at next meeting. Uh we are going to move on to our study session topics. We will be moving down to the floor. So give us just a few minutes and we will resume. Jody's never gonna stop. >> Okay, we are going to start our study session topics. Our first topic is uh measure B24 and I am going to guess that is >> you is me. Yes. Hi Brandt Lloyd, director of support services. Uh tonight uh I'm joined by my colleague Alice Columbbo who's the facilities coordinator and our colleagues at Kitchell who are supporting us with the program implementation plan and program management. Uh Randy Romaner is

096here, Annie Rendler is here, Alli Horton and Wendy McIntyre. And so, um, thank you. Welcome to our second study session regarding the MeasureB bond project prioritization effort. Uh, tonight we dawn our steward hats in our roles of um planning and building and maintaining and modernizing safe, functional learning environments that meet state standards and support our educational program. Uh, our focus is on keeping our campuses operational and compliant while also identifying long-term facility needs across the district. At the time measure B was developed and presented to the community, a range of facility needs were identified and communicated to the public as part of the outreach process. These included a variety of improvement and expan and and expansion projects reflecting the conditions and priorities that were understood at that time. The slide that is up now was

097drawn directly from those original materials and is being shared to provide context on the types of projects that were presented to voters. As the board considers next steps, this serves as a reference point for how facility needs were previously framed, recognizing that priorities uh continue to evolve. So building on that context, we also want to revisit how staff previously approached prioritization following the publication of the facilities conditions assessment. In our November study session, we presented a prioritization list that was heavily grounded in the assessment findings. At that time, it was appropriate to frame the work as a comprehensive to-do list reflecting the full scope and identifi that were identified um the facility needs. And we did that by describing scope in systemsbased categories that were equitable across all campuses. Uh that approach was intended to

098pro provide transparency and clearly communicate the overall condition of our sites. However, as we've continued to work more closely with the data, we believe it's important to provide additional context and apply professional judgment to those findings. The FCA relies on standard S asset life cycle benchmarks which are valuable for long-term planning but don't always align perfectly with how our facilities perform in real world conditions. So many systems with proper maintenance and targeted repairs continue to operate effectively beyond those projected timelines. With that in mind, staff has significantly refined and recategorized the list. Rather than treating all identified items as immediate needs, we are focusing on those that require action based on current condition, safety considerations, and impact on students and staff. Other items may be deferred or monitored where systems remain functionable and reliable. Um,

099it's important to note that these items are not considered as no longer relevant. Um, rather, they've just been sidelined to free up dollars for additional projects. Um there is an element of risk against future budgets or the integrity of our facilities by not getting in front of these. Now with that in mind um oh actually we're just moving on to the next slide here. So the next slide reflects that early earlier prioritization project. Actually I skipped ahead one. uh we are sharing it to serve as a reminder of where we left off in November and to provide a point of comparison as we move forward to a more balanced and strategic approach addressing the district's facility needs. Uh we'll revisit this tool in in a few moments and I'll remind you of its functionality, but

100here I just wanted to use it as a pivot point. Many of the items that we're that we discuss momentarily will appear as they are here. But in some instances, significant changes will be demonstrated through our approach of categorizing projects by schools rather than systems. For instance, rather than saying our school need our schools need 11 million of HVAC upgrades across all of our campuses, we look at them um and identify only the HVAC improvements that we believe are most critical at this time as specific projects at specific campuses. So we built projects at select sites based on a line by line sifting of the elements that were in the FCA. across all the systems, roofing, pavement, that sort of thing. So to demonstrate this, uh we selected Atascadero Middle School as an example given

101this campus impacts a large percentage of the AUSD student population as the cohorts progress through our schools. Using the refinement process, we ident identified AMS's gym, MPR, stage, and locker room complex as a critical project and further define the scope of the AMS CTE facilities as a separate project. The refinement process eliminated 16% of the HVAC scope. It uh and 20% of the roofing costs. It also allowed us to trim the interior, exterior, and site mods by 85%. So the takeaway is that we are willing to live with the aesthetics and the functionality of the physical spaces as they appear, but we're focused on keeping our interiors cool or warm and dry. So this slide is just one of the slides that we're going to quickly bounce through um of all the campuses that that

102we sifted through. I I I have them there in your packet. um I want you to be able to look at them, but I really want to get focused on kind of the tail end of our our meeting here. And so I'm just going to bounce through these. They just basically highlight some of the critical components of projects that we identified at these particular schools. Okay. So this is the next to last slide. So if you want to jump forward. So the projects that are included in this table, the upper table have have been have have already gone through this refinement process. Um the aggregate cost of these projects is roughly $60 million. Um, you might recall that Randy discussed at the last meeting that the effects of time and ex escalation uh require us

103to target an amount of 93 million today for planning purposes. Despite the fact that we have 110 million to spend over the bond life of time of the bond, it's 93 million that we're focusing on here today. Um, when we're looking at our projects, um, so this effectively leaves us a remaining balance of $33 million. Um, if you consider all of these projects as priorities, um, the table below includes other projects for consideration, multiple options for the NPR kitchen at at AHS, CTE projects at the middle and high schools, um, considerations for improving the fine arts academy, etc. So, this concludes like the presentation component of this meeting. Uh um what I'd like to do now is just transition to the dialogue and um I want uh Randy to be able to jump into this

104live tool that we've used um to be able to actually talk about how we want to prioritize these um the essentially we want to be able to move things that are on the left over into the box on the right. um not in a ranked order of how we want to accomplish those. We really just want to see what now what the what the board feels are priorities and then allow staff to take that and then apply um the the things that we need to apply the the cash flow types of things, the sequencing relative to interim housing, um the other types of things like how long is it going to take for us to get through DSA. We know that we have $40 million to spend now and we want to get going on

105that work. And so, um, the tool that Ry's going to be able to pull up here shortly is going to allow us to toggle between and just start that dialogue. >> Okay, great. Yeah. >> Can I ask a question real quick? Maybe we're going to get this might be skipping ahead. >> Absolutely. >> Um, this is a lot to wrap your head around when there's just kind of like headers. Do you guys have any kind of documentation as far as like what kind of scope is involved in each of those headers? Just >> It's a great question. Thank you. It it's an arduous and and kind of a timeconsuming task and um it's probably reserved for maybe if we want as a board to go through that. Maybe the small sessions that we did that

106we do sometimes would be great to be able to actually dive into that scope. the the scope is the broader topics were parts of those slides that I included. >> Right. Yeah. Um yeah, I can't read some of these. Sorry. Um >> do you want to look at one specifically? >> No, I just think when we're talking about prioritizing and making it sounds like we're going to be potentially making decisions tonight, it's a little bit hard for me to put a priority when I don't understand the scope of what each of those are. Um, so that's what I was asking and I understand this is very broad. Um, and I I just personally would like to feel more prepared. Um, I mean I guess these have some of the scope on them. Um, so I

107don't know. >> Yes, we could walk through that if you'd like and just do a a summary of of uh the the scope. Uh this is a very similar um spreadsheet that we showed in November uh with the u the changes that were made to the approach uh being more of a school-based uh scope for the priority needs. And those that's the the top set of uh projects here and uh those uh correlate to the slides that are in the deck. Uh so the scope that of each of these uh school sites correlates to to the yeah the bullet lists for that given school. the um the scope of the other needs. We we could uh walk through those if you'd like and just uh give you a little bit more um understanding of of

108what that scope represents if you'd like. Um and so the uh just to give I guess a little more information um these are what what uh the district feels are the um the the priority school sites. There are other you know school sites that that are listed here as well that you know certainly uh we'd want to uh consider. um you know those particular uh projects. Um but in terms of of just making best use of the funds u that that was the focus was to uh bring you know those priority needs to the really the essentials for the bond and those are are listed in the the various slides. >> So the middle school one um you have it at the top as number two and then also as number one on the other

109projects. So is that >> there wasn't necessarily it wasn't necessarily a a ranking that that we're proposing here. We just simply included all the ones that we've >> we've defined on the top list. One one is the AMS gym NPR complex. Okay. That's a separate project from the CTE spaces. >> Got it. But all of those are listed here. >> Yes. When we went through that process, we basically looked at one campus and after we narrowed that down, we realized we're going to have to this will have to be two separate projects that go to DSA and be and be designed as two separate projects. Yes. >> And the high school one, is that one already being done? >> The high school project that's number one on the list is the one that's currently being

110built as we as as we said. Yes. Yes. So, it by default takes the number one position. Yes. I was just curious of the CTE not being up here with the middle school as number two as because I was just ranking it to you >> at the target area. >> Yeah. Yeah. And that's to provide I think a little more flexibility in u maybe you know the priority really the essentials are in the uh gym complex scope. >> Okay. CTE certainly worth uh consideration but we just wanted to show those separately in the event that the prioritization may be different for both of those >> and it's pretty expensive when it's combined as far >> as to your question before president um Gain I think um we had an opportunity to walk some of the

111campuses the trustees and the administration team and we were looking at the specific things that we were talking about in the facilities condition assessment and we looked at them like uh we put a a stoplight like a a green and a red and a yellow, right? And we said when we looked at this originally, they were all greens. Everything needed to get done, right? But I wanted to show examples of what was important from a district, not only from what was highlighted in the facilities condition assessment, but also what was highlighted in work orders and the things that we see are constant headaches for those school sites. And we identified those as red items and those are the ones that are most critical to us. And so there is a bit of subjectivity to that.

112Um and but recognizing that it that it may cost, you know, $6 million and we need to trim and give opportunities, we just narrowed that list down to three million. I hope we hit all the right things. I don't know if we did. And when we actually design these projects with architects, some things will be identified, but from a budgetary process, we need to just put numbers to these now, right? >> Hitting the things that we feel are the most critical. And I really do appreciate that because I know when I first looked at the list and it's like, well, you're looking at HVAC unit lifespan's 25 years. Oh, it's 24 and a half. That means it's a green. You got to do this. And I'm like, h I know the lifespan on my uh

113FAU at my house and it's 25 years and that thing's going pretty good at 35 years, you know, and so, you know, I don't want to waste money unnecessarily. So, I appreciate that you knowing that these things are a concern, but that we have other needs at this time that we might need to address. So, I really do appreciate you narrowing down the list. Um, this is my first time seeing this actual scope, so I was just feeling a little bit overwhelmed of trying to um digest it very quickly. >> Um, and so keep keep going. >> And and and the and Annie, who is our spreadsheet guru, is um if you saw that, you you you know, your mind would flip because there's we you know, we got item after item, hundreds and hundreds

114of items. And so she's got a very detailed list that we went through line by line by line which we're willing to do and and want to provide that opportunity. This is probably the wrong forum for us. >> Yeah. >> So >> Oh, sorry. Go ahead. >> Um on on the target list, you have number 10 campus safeties safety system upgrades for for who? >> Yeah, that would involve uh security cameras. That would involve our PA systems which are notoriously failing across all of our campuses. These are the things. So this is system. So getting back to kind of our systemwide categorization, the facilities condition assessment didn't identify those types of things. But we know IT department, you know, we know that we've got issues with these. And so we've looked at that. We believe

115that number is what we've said it is, but it will be parcled out amongst projects when we actually build and design at specific schools. But we didn't integrate them into the each schools right now. >> Okay. Yeah. Yeah. When it >> But we know they need to be done and so it's part of the priority list as we see uh the top half. >> So Okay. So what do you want us to So what do you want us to do? Um what do you want us to do? >> Yeah. Thank you. We want to go to design as soon as possible with multiple projects. I I believe that the the AMS gem complex is the first project that should go. Not only because we have $40 million that we're basically, you know, we need to

116spend in the next two years or show some evidence of moving towards spending. >> Um, and that's an $8.5 million project. So, it's a nice chunk and it serves a lot of our student population. And so I think that that would be the wise one to go with in in connection with our $2 million project that's already going at the school. We need to we need to narrow in what we're going to do in the next two years. So how are we going to spend our 40 million? But tonight I would like to walk away from this with with with the board having some sort of a consensus and moving items that are on the table to the left into the table on the right. And Randy has the ability to show this in live

117time. When you move a project from the right or from the left to the right, you'll see how much money we have remaining. So at the time, if you believe that that we've appropriately um given you uh you know prioritization scope for modernizations and you want to move forward with those types of projects, then we're 60 million. We need to spend 33 more million today. >> Yeah. So, we need to move those projects from the bottom table on the left to the table on the right. And then ultimately, you're going to have an above and a below water line. And we're going to have to determine what projects are above the water line as they sit right now. And if we've got ever other opportunities to supplement these pro, you know, the the overall funds

118with funds from other sources, then we can. So we just need projects to consider to rank on the box. >> Okay. So why do you have Crestston Cresten up there um on that side? >> So the first 10 are the priority needs that um that are in the the slides the slide deck uh primarily the modernization projects and the uh safety system upgrades uh campuswide. That's that's the firsthand they've um >> what does that entail the modernization of the >> but specific site? >> Yeah. Well, I think you've got all the elementary schools listed. So, what >> Right. It would it would involve all of the projects that we feel are the critical red light projects that need to get done. So if there were if they identified 40 HVAC units in the facilities condition

119assessment that needed to get replaced, we went and looked at all of those and really looked at the lifespan and maybe we've got six that we're going to identify now and 34 are going to be on a deferred list >> of those those sorts of things. We've looked at all of the systems and basically skinned down the scope. >> Okay. But >> but but but you don't have to choose those as prioritizations. I'm merely showing them as the first 10 because it's the effort that we put into it just from a facilities commission assessment. Just assuming that that's what we want to do is modernize our schools. >> Okay. Because we just asked we just asked Kendall to do a facility um and use. So in order to do I mean if we have her

120do that then we may be knocking some of those projects right I mean um out of that list. um some of the sites. >> So I mean so >> so we could rank some of those we could rank some of those lower. I mean ultimately we need to spin the for Tracy the 40 million now. So we want we just want we want the top half of the project. >> Well to me I would go down I mean because I I don't know facilities and I need to I would like to have Kendall's report. I would go down to the the other projects to consider and I would be looking at my play structure, my shade structure and new classroom. >> Sure. >> Furniture. Because the all that furniture I know we piggyback but we

121haven't we bought stuff but yet we still have many schools that still have furniture that's over 30 years. >> Yeah. And I'm just going to jump in for a moment. um we have kind of two different level of work that also needs to happen as we're moving through this. So, we're going to do um kind of a a comprehensive evaluation of our facilities, you know, at the direction of you guys this evening. Um and then we're also going to be going through the strategic planning process. So, through strategic planning, we also identify programmatic elements that may have facilities implications. Um, so while I agree that these modernization items need to occur, uh, we also need to, you know, look at them in conjunction with those other two elements, there are some things on here that,

122you know, need to happen. So the the Ataser Middle School gym project, um, we those are we, you know, we walked those facilities together. Those are things that need to walk forward. Um, so I'd invite you if you're willing to in instead of considering, you know, this whole 93 million to begin looking at it in in chunks. So we have this 40 million we need to spend down. We know as a district that there are certain elements that we're going to address um from a facilities lens and a modernization lens that likely isn't going to be impacted by strategic planning. However, once the list is created, we're not married to it. We can always revisit these items. So, my recommendation for you all would be to um kind identify the items that you have a

123tolerance for. If um you have a tolerance for the project that um Mr. Lloyd is suggesting, then give us an opportunity to be green lit with that project um and walk that forward. and then understand as we go through strategic planning and the facilities conditions assess I'm sorry and the facilities review that we can change these things like we have the opportunity to revisit this conversation as often as possible. Um so I just wanted to kind of inject that in there. >> Can you can you run both middle school projects at at the same time? >> It would be challenging. >> So that's something you would prefer to wait on if you did want Obviously this one needs to go. I mean move forward. I would definitely I would definitely recommend moving forward with the

124the the middle school. >> The CTE modernization project though would be a tough task. >> I you just have to worry about how you shift students around, right? And so if you're impacting one one side of the campus, it's hard to then do the other side. >> It would be one then the other. Yes, likely. Right. >> Okay. So, so you could >> Is that something you would need to hold back though? I guess if you approve that on this 40 million. >> Yeah, it you know we're talking about the first 40 million and the the the rule there's an IRS rule that kind of guides how those how bond funds are spent. >> Um it's it's 85% after three years, which is about two years from now. >> Well, a little bit more than

125two years from now. Um and uh and so we that effectively we'd have two summers and then some to uh to do the bulk of the work. Um so likely one project u you know some with modernizations >> that would come in the next chunk. There's a lot of Yeah, a lot happens during the summer. >> You know, throughout the year there there may be, you know, uh work scope that you can accomplish during the school year, but it's it's somewhat limited. And so it becomes a a gear up for the summer and really hit it hard and then do it again the next summer. >> I think that one's important, >> but there's one caveat to that to this. If you felt that the CTE was at the middle school was important and it

126moved up high on the list, I we could absolutely get it in design, which is like really half of the battle. So I believe it is right. So I'm just saying that just I'm just in in general the more projects that we can go get in design with DSA now the better because we don't we can wait to build them when it's convenient for us to build them. Right. >> On the go. >> Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I would so I would move I agree with Joey move that move that up. >> I I think they high school. >> I would do one and two and 10 on the target list. Keep those and hold off on our three n target until we have more. >> Sorry. No, I'm sitting next to sorry and then look

127at the other other projects down below when you talk about uh you know uh the modernization the CTE for the middle school the play structure the shade new classroom >> CT >> and then the high school CTE. How much is that all? I mean >> we can we can put them over onto the right with in no particular order. We can move them to the right and just see where we are in >> Okay. I I just made a suggestion. Um, and you can all just decide, no, Tracy, that's not what we want. >> I I'm fine to continue this conversation, but I'm feeling really overwhelmed, like I haven't had enough time to digest. Like, I'm looking at some of these projects and I'm like, I have no idea what the scope is because it's

128not something that we've talked about. Um, and I know that there are many, many priorities and needs and this is really important. and I know we can shift them around, but I also know once something goes on the priority list, sometimes it just stays there. And what I don't want to happen is four years down the road we go, "Oh, we didn't do anything we thought we were going to do." Um, and so I, this is just me, I would like more information, at least a generality of these scopes so that way I know what is what are the options here. Um, I'm quite feeling overwhelmed. Um, and um, and then like have questions like Preston Elementary School pull refurbishment allowance like do we I don't even know anything about >> are there some we

129don't have questions about we're looking to move project forward get the elementary school >> I mean we're confident >> but like have we t I was just asking Rebecca I'm like was I absent for this meeting like the Monterey Road repurposed a new library then like I don't remember talking about that. >> So all of those were at our previous board study session. We we went through that presentation and we we mentioned um all of those types of projects in in at that time. Granted, it was in November. So um >> yeah, >> if I'm I I was always under the impression that one board study session would probably not get us where we wanted to be. So, I'm happy to walk through all of these. Again, I don't have the presentation unless you have

130it saved on your computer from before, Randy, but um but I can just kind of give my best to kind of knock through. Do you mind if I if I steal your thing here or share with you? >> I have a question, too. Um I know like the play structures and the shade structures. >> Um we talked about that before the bond was was passed, correct? >> Yes. So what were we and we were moving forward with that and you did your assessment on which ones needed to be replaced. Santa Margarita has the beautiful new kindergarten structure. Um so where are we like are we not moving are we holding off on the with the funds that we were going to replace them with and then using them with this fun with the bond funds

131now. So, we have two shells, two buckets of money, if you will. And at that point in time, what you're referring to is a um a list that the board approved in October of 2023. And we talked about um the AHS site safety, security, and front injury improvement project, which is the one that's happening at the high school now. Um the multi-purpose room at the high school, playground replacement, districtwide shade structures, the and work at the fine arts academy. So those things were being discussed in the context of the state matching funds that we had and that was prior to the bond being passed and so we do have money set aside but those things were being discussed in terms of the same conversation we're having now which is what do we do and what

132order we do do we do them in because we don't have enough money and if you remember at that point in time we talked about commissioning the uh the design for the AHS NPR to say how are we going to look at this look at this at three different projects and that gave us a costs that ranged, you know, from replacing just the kitchen to replacing multiple buildings at the high school. That's all part of that study. That bucket still exists and we have the ability to shift that money around. But ultimately, because we have bond money to spend, we want to be able to spend the bond money first and then let Mrs. Darnell do what she needs to do with budget lines and budget transfers later on. >> Yes. Yes. We're pushing it

133forward here because we don't want to run two buckets at simultaneously. We want to take care of the bond first. >> The state can you use the bond and the state matching funds together. >> Yes, >> you can. >> So, you're getting a little more bang for your buck, right? >> Okay. >> I I have a question. >> Sure. Um, do we still have or how much do we have left of our $5 million that we set aside out of that state funding uh, state matching fund money for facilities to, you know, we have a >> we've run down I I don't have the budget line on that. We've done some pavement projects and we've done some things from that. It's we haven't spent a million of it yet, but we've we've been utilizing that.

134>> Good job. >> Thank you. Good job. Yes. Well, ultimately what we hope to do is come out of this project having our schools dialed in and then have a plan in place where we don't get to the spot where we have to replace everything, right? We want to be able to tick over and do the actual benchmarking type stuff and actually replace things when they're supposed to be replaced. >> But okay, >> and that's what the $5 million does, but we still haven't caught up yet. So, um, as far as San Gabriel moder modernization, does that include preparing that kitchen so we can use it when we are doing our our new >> Thank you for remembering that. So, yeah, I remember so on our on our site visit, we talked about the fact

135that whatever we decide to do at the high school, we're probably going to replace the kitchen. And when we replace the kitchen, we need an interim housing for our kitchen. and we've staff has determined that the appropriate spot for that is San Gabriel. However, the San Gabriel kitchen right now is probably the worst kitchen in the district. So, we really need to modernize that space prior to any work that we do high school, right? And so, so if if if I had my brothers in this conversation, I would see number one, two, and three here. And then everything else I'm open to, you know, discussion on, right? number three. You want to do number three to get us ready to when we go down to look picking >> um six, seven or eight option. Um

136>> we already have San Gabriel Kitchen done and this might be this might be round two of the $4 million um da da da da da. >> Yes, >> because right now you're just doing right now you're just doing round one, >> right? >> Okay. >> Right. All right. So, I'll start that. So, you need to put three over there now. Okay. So, sorry. You need to put three over there. So, that makes us understand one, two, three. >> St. Gabriel Foundation. Yes. >> And I think you still need to do the 10 with the schoolwide uh um the schoolwide safety system. >> Can you do that one without the modernization done? Can you do the safety system upgrades? Safety system upgrades must be part of this whole discussion because they're going to get integrated

137in pieces at each of the site when we do modernization scopes. >> So you stand >> four four has to be a priority as well if you value the security systems and the >> So then we should then we should pull that because we're not going to do modernization yet of any of the school schools. >> Well, you only did it for San Gabriel. Well, we'll definitely capture it in San Gabriel. So, a piece of that $7 million would get integrated into that, right? And that number could shrink down if we didn't do all the modernizations at all the sites, right? But we still need to earmark that money and it's probably best if we just earmark the full amount. >> Yeah. >> Okay. How how you want to >> I have a question about

138>> if we're upgrading the St. Gabriel kitchen in um for you know for use during the renovation of the high school kitchen after the high school kitchens finished then what does what happens to the facility at St. Gabriel, what use does it get? >> Oh, so our our kitchens, >> we have three primary kitchens. We use one at the the high school to prepare food for high school students, the middle school for middle school and fine arts, and then we use sambonitos to to as a packout kitchen. And so we move all of the the the um the food to those kitchens. We still use the kitchen's tools and implements to to serve the populations at those schools. So, we still need the kitchen. Um, there's infrastructure problems at San Gabriel that we need to

139repair, big ones. So, um, we're not talking about giving top-of-the-line Viking equipment in there. We're simply saying we want we want sinks to drain and we want cooling and we want some things that are imperative just to have a normal kitchen structure. >> Okay. My Yeah. My concern was investing in a lot of kitchen appliances and then it not being used because things are going to move back to, you know, central kitchen, >> right? It would be on par with the rest of our elementary school kitchens, but functional. >> Yes, >> we do. Um, also, Felicia Ulary has been working very hard on developing more scratch cooking at our elementary sites. So, we also want to make sure that our elementary kitchens are equipped to be able to take that on. The kitchen projects are

140also unique because we have an opportunity to use um sometimes food services funds to support those projects as well. So it's another opportunity to couple funding sources. >> So what do you I don't >> So we're at 24 million if you if you put that campus safety in there. So, we have the top, we have the four, we have the this >> Gabriel >> San Gabriel modernization, and then if we moved up the campus safety systems into the number four spot, >> I'm just going to I'm going to um delete these just out of out of the right so far. >> Put the middle school CTE up too oride. >> Yes, I agree with you. >> Okay. So, this uh the campuswide safety would be four. >> Four. Okay. And again, not a ranking priority,

141just just placeholders. So we have values. Yes. >> And then move the move the middle school CT. That would be number five. And then >> can you can you use if your if your project is say the multi-purpose room at the high school, right? We decide we want to do option two, but we don't have quite enough money in the first section of the bond. Can that be carried over to the the second session of the bond? >> Yes. Okay. >> Just wanted to make sure there wasn't some funky IRS thing. >> No. >> so I don't know what number we're at. >> Uh, we're at five or we just spent five. >> Okay. So, then could six be the the high school CTE? >> Uh, high school CT reconfigured that one. >> Yeah. >>

142Yep. >> I don't know if you guys Are you just >> Well, that one's the automotive shop and stuff. Is that >> Well, that's going to be next. Yes, because we have we have three options. We have a one, two, and a three on um the high school. >> But it's >> No, I want to go with number go with number three. >> Go with number three for the >> enormous. You can be stoked. We just we just did some new day before yesterday and receeded it and it's going to look nails. >> It's not going to be >> it would cost a lot. >> Yeah. So, another um another element to consider and to remember is our ability to supplement or pay back with the state matching funds. So, if we're able to identify

143projects that will not necessarily require DSA approve appro DSA in the process that have already been identified as priorities and that we can pay back with our state matching funds like our elementary playgrounds or shade structures, um furniture, like these smaller things that aren't going to require a process. That might be a really strategic way to spend down that initial amount in a timely manner. And the playgrounds and shade structures are very visible as well. >> So, and those would be integrated into a modernization. You know, one plan to go to DSA, it would include those costs at each site, right? It's not >> Where are we? >> Well, unless unless we did them separately like we're going >> Oh, sorry. >> Like we're doing with um this summer. >> So, How many do we

144have, please? >> We're at 358 um through the CTE reconfiguration modernization. >> Four more, four and a half, 42. >> Um >> we've got 93 million to get 40 today. >> Yeah, we want to get to 40. Now, >> regarding the the campus safety system upgrades, that is we would only spend a portion of that in the 40. So, we'd probably want to get to 45 to maybe 48 >> in that neighborhood. >> So, you're looking for something else, huh? >> Did you say that the Sorry, did you say that the play structures, shade structures are um qualified for state matching funds or No, >> they were previously identified as a priority on the list of appropriate expenditures for state matching. Um so, but we do have a spend down timeline with our bond. So

145it is appropriate to use bond dollars that falls within the scope of our bond and then supplement projects with state matching that would be an equivalent total if you will. So pay it back. >> Okay. I guess my question was are any of these projects do they qualify for us to receive state matching funds >> um for completing them? >> We we've we've pretty much rung the towel on eligibility with our previous bond effort. However, I mentioned before that um in February of 28, some eligibility grants become available to high school and um there there is a significant amount of money that is is that could be coming as a result of that. >> So, it might be a good idea to hold off on some of the high school projects until it's eligible. >>

146No, because we do not have to um it the timing of the high school projects don't matter. It just matters that we we utilize um we we play by the rules. >> And so we're gonna have to make sure that we comply by those rules, but we can apply for those even if the project has been done previously, >> okay, >> and is complete. We still have the ability. So it the timing doesn't really matter on that. However, we know that it's nice to get in line as quickly as possible. So we we would like to do we would like to take advantage of those grants >> and not hold off and not hold off on these projects because it takes time to get them rolling and everything. So >> yeah. >> It also takes

147a significant amount of time to receive the state matching funds after applying. Can I ask why the Santa Rosa modernization project is um so much higher than the other elementary schools? >> Yeah, they have um canopies that connect the the site, if you will. It's the covered walkways and um they've deteriorated to the point where they're, you know, dangerous. And so that's a a pretty big expense that none of the other sites have. >> Yeah. That should be up there because we're looking at safety. And what are what's our number? What are we at now? >> We're at 358. >> I got it. What are we at at now? Oh my goodness gracious. >> We're we're at 358. >> So if you add the Santa Rosa at 115, that puts >> you over your number.

148>> Then tada. There you go. >> I mean the high school which is already in process. That one's already counted. >> It's already counted. >> I didn't see it up there. Not the CT, >> not the NPR. Just the what's already counted is the ent front entry project that's in construction now. >> The NPR already. >> We simply employed architects to give us conceptual drawing and to give us a a semblance of what a price tag might be with each of the different levels of consideration. >> Primarily so that would help drive this conversation. Yeah. So we've already spent money and invested money in this project yet we're not putting it on our prioritization list >> for the round one. It can be part of round two. >> And when does when Okay. When does

149round two you guys can al also keep going to to hit that 93. You don't have to stop. >> Oh well then put that next. >> Oh yeah. >> Which one? >> Here we are. >> The high school. >> I want the last one. >> I do too because that encompasses the library also. >> Yeah. and her and her thought was we can always come off of that, but it's >> so would you like to put that number three option in in the next >> the next slot to see where we're at with that? Okay, cool. >> Ellis White for three. >> That's it. >> That's something we've been working on. You guys have been >> you guys have been working on that for >> before we came on. So yeah, >> it'd be nice

150to see a little bit of movement >> that we looked at >> and the conceptual idea that we had >> and it showed the three options. >> That third option that encompasses the library also. So you're getting one, two, three buildings finished up there. >> A lot of bang for your buck. We did >> I think or did we not? >> Yeah. Is there six priority six? >> What about the fine arts? >> One thing Well, I'm just one thing and I apologize um because I I leaned into this last time as well. One thing to consider with option number three is that there were a number of elements that are not included in that cost. Um so one example is that there's a grade change between those two buildings. So the library sits higher

151than um the uh existing kitchen. Um so we experienced a grade change for example or a grade challenge when we did the parking lot project and that compounded our our costs um significantly. So there are elements um >> that have not been calculated that need to be considered. Additionally, um there's positioning of where our gas lines and kind of that underground infrastructure, how it comes out, that is not calculated in that cost that could potentially really compound the cost of that project and jeopardize our ability to meet the needs of our elementary schools um and and work that really does need to be done. So, while I and I with all due respect, I I I do not mean to be disrespectful. I know it's been a priority for a long time. Um there are

152elements to our district that need to be addressed from a student safety and an equity standpoint um that really should be considered prior to committing to a project where the scope may not be inclusive of all of the elements at play. >> Well, do a little more homework on that and looking into that, you know, but that is a priority. It's been a prior been a priority for years and that's that helped us get that bond. I'm sorry it did because um I've I've gone through that with you guys before, we flew a second bond and it was turned down and then when the when the members of the community found out that we were looking at that which would make our whole high school campus safer for our students because we would be able

153to uh take care of them there. That's where they got enthusiastic. They were they were going, "Oh my gosh, yeah." So yeah, I don't want to stab this community in the back and that's how I feel I am because I was vocal, we were vocal, we all had voted on that. That was a priority. So, let's look at that and see what we can do because um >> if if I could suggest that we're at 61 million um with the priorities that have been set uh the elementary modernizations that are unprioritized at this point equal 352. So we roughly 96 mil uh if we were to put those back on the list as projects for consideration which essentially spend your bond. >> Um now the way that that this process goes we're right now focused

154on the first 40 mil uh the funds that have been spent every three years roughly uh bonds are sold. It it is it's a continuum and the priorities are constantly being uh reassessed. In the last bond measure, we did a you know an update every year and some of the changes were fairly significant in in the plan. Um so if we you know come up with a set of priorities and we have the the bond totally let's say allocated uh at this point it doesn't necessarily mean that that's the the way that it's going to be from now until the very end. Uh it's just a a path forward. It helps us to kind of focus on what do we really need to focus on now and and then um start the planning process. Okay.

155So, are you suggesting that when we're looking at the high school uh multi-purpose room, um are you saying that we can still keep it up there or that you're asking us to back it down after the elementary modernizations? >> Really, you know, we want to capture your priorities. That's really why we're here. Um and and u the I know that the high school NPR is very important. Um and uh option three is you know is one that that you really want to focus on and if that's you know the priority then uh you know we're going to march that way. Um I think you know with that the the modernizations you know this this scope is essential um you know given what uh you know the scrubbing that has been done um and so that's

156that's something that that I think you all are just going to have to weigh is you know the condition of existing facilities compared with uh really, you know, some some very I think uh high priority needs, you know, u such as the NPR. >> What if you and I I I can't believe I'm going to say this, but what if you looked this is 25,200 you have down here for option three on the M uh NPR. Could you just show us the difference what it would be if we did uh the option two, but also modernization of our library, >> fix the outside of the library or fix it so that >> how much would it cost us to take care of the library? Would that be >> doing that separate? Would it be more

157or >> probably somewhere in between? I you know right now you know these these numbers are earmarked and I think you know Kendall was explaining that there are a lot of unknowns um and so when we let's say we you know or take option three uh engage an architect um do a geotechnical survey a topographic survey which helps to you know clarify just what the you know what the soils uh in the grading and and the foundation systems are going to u uh you know how extensive those are going to be and then that will help to inform um I would say the feasibility of the project and for 252 you know and so there might be a a maybe a limited uh amount of um say just focusing on that project alone you just

158a a limited study >> to you know right now we have the conceptual plan that was done >> um feasibility sort of plan now it's a a validation plan um as to just you know what was what are some of the things that that are just uh you know just factors that >> that could stress that 252 >> right you'd get you would get the factuals information down and then we can look at that whole thing. >> And one of the factors that that Kendall mentioned a few, but one of them that's not on this and it's a glaring one is the the the the furniture and the fixtures inside this facility. So you talk about the facility in its expanded form would add millions onto that number as well, right? So >> it's it's

159not just 252 for any of the it's not just 12. These are just the soft costs and the construction costs. These don't entail actually putting things inside these spaces except for the kitchen. Kitchen is considered. >> Yeah. And and again, another thing Randy said, well, why don't we just shift all of the projects that are modernized that that were considered in the modernization scope. We put them over there. That puts us at our $96 million figure. However, that does not include fine arts at any >> no modernization scope. fine arts would remain as it sits right now which is not sustainable. It is not sustainable. The the the the upper campus is not s sustainable. We have got to do something with them or um maybe that's a a discussion for strategic planning. How to

160utilize the the lower campus and get rid of the upper campus. I I don't know. But I just want you to not walk I want you to feel informed if we walk away from here with this concept of leaving the $25 million project and then all of the modernization scope that we've already looked at fine arts and u there was another one. Oh and Paloma Creek would would be untouched. >> Yeah. I I'm uncomfortable not touching the fine arts campus because it's our growing program. It's a a gem in our district. Um, and when I went out to convince our voters to support this bond, my talking points were a Tesco High School multi-purpose room, the fine arts because they need a a cafeteria. They need a multi-purpose room as well to eat, to perform,

161and the transitional kindergarten classrooms because the classrooms we have do not support a TK program sufficiently. We don't have the our kindergarten classrooms had little bathrooms, but our TK's don't. So, that um so those are the priorities for me. And what I'm understanding is on this potential project list, you're saying we need to do that that there's with the one through 10 at some point we need to we need to we need to work on these projects. >> These are I'm saying that these are the things that facilities conditions assessments let us know where we're deficient and and staff has skinnied that list down to just like the critical deficiencies, >> right? And there is still significant deficiencies that are going to be at those sites when we walk away from this project. We won't

162touch those. But anything that's below 1 through 10, correct? They're just not categorized as of yet. And they haven't been extensively scrutinized either, right? I mean, we have a little scrutiny at the NPR because we've had the feasibility study the >> but you know, we're just putting money towards the fine arts based on a price per square foot modernization cost, right? >> Or reconfiguration cost. That's just price per square foot. We don't really know there. Yeah. >> Right. >> But but we know that those are pretty accurate numbers to earmark for those types of projects. A >> and we also know that you know fine arts is a campus that we simply can't let sit fellow. >> So I'm looking at this as we have 32,000 32 million sorry to move up from these other

163project considerations into potential projects. >> I see it that way too. Yes. If if you believed that the things that were on the 10 as we put them >> were important and imperative. Yes. That doesn't mean that the things below aren't. We just don't know how to prioritize them. We simply looked at the work at the fac from the facilities conditions assessment. That's the tool we used to start helping. And then of course the the IT integrations as well. >> Um >> right. Yes. >> I do I realize that we are our district is a little bit different. Maybe then maybe not. We have a lot of sites. We cover a lot of area. So that presents challenges with how many facilities we have to upkeep and maintain. What do other districts do if they

164don't have a bond to maintain their facilities and to come up with these outrageous expenses to be able to take care of their facilities? How how do other districts do it bes if they don't have a bond? They just let their buildings dilapidate or >> they shutter restrooms. They remove facilities that aren't necessary or they let them just deteriorate. >> Yeah. I mean, everyone is in the same boat. We're all trying to we're all trying to put band-aids on our on our facilities. >> Such a shame. >> Was supposed to cover our facilities for 25 years. The work that was done Sorry. >> Can you repeat that? >> This is picking on us over here. >> Yeah, >> you guys aren't allowed to sit together anymore. You're rubbing off on each other. No, I I

165I just want to I just as I've said before, we had our last bond and we had the fine arts, we had the multi-purpose room, we had the uh um playground structures. Those were the three things that we were looking at when we had the uh two, it was either 20 million or 25. We if we had 25 million, we put five million in that special account, I believe. Mhm. >> And so that left us the 20 million to um look at the playground equipment. We were considering it then. >> Well, maybe we should be more fiscally restrained and go with option two as as a as a compromise because >> Well, that's what seem like we don't have enough money to do. >> That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. I I agree.

166I actually agree with that. >> Yeah. If you do that then you could add a one of the fine arts right options >> right which we was very important >> I sorry >> go ahead >> well I was just going to say I I said this after we did our site visits or facility visits um it is when you look at all the schools it's really depressing to see how much work they need um and I think that that's part of kind of the shift in priorities coming from staff. Um I know what I can't remember we went to with San Gabriel off the top of my head and I mean the plasters the P plaster's cracked and I mean it's all stuff that you don't see from a distance and then when you look

167real hard I think we should just walk around with our eyes closed. That might be better. But it was really it was it was discouraging walking walking through there that day. So I just want to put that out there again. Um my preference so would be from the other project considerations to meet the 323 32 million is um the NPR option two the fine arts upper campus uh Paloma Creek um middle school CTE modernization and high school a uh attach high school modernization CTE modernization and then for the elementary play structures, shade structures, and classroom furniture. That's 5.3 million that I think should come out of our state matching funds because we have we should have about 15 million left in that. And I think that is for our community and voters. That would probably

168be less of a priority for them even though it's visible. Um, but that's that's my preference. I would I agree with that one too. >> Okay. So, I got the uh NPR high school NPR option to fine arts uh upper campus and that would be reconstruct reconfigure. >> Yes. >> Paloma would be nine. >> Yes. And then uh Tesco High School CTE reconfigure modernization >> CT. Okay. >> But Randy, she had the she had the original 60 million already all laid out up there. >> Oh >> yeah. So you're going to have to put all of those other modernization scopes in first before you start adding those others. >> I see. Okay. >> CTE. I pull Paloma Creek out there and then put those others so that it can fall under. >> Yeah. >> So

169take number nine out and then >> you know what I thought that was just okay. Thank you. Appreciate that. So on the right will be not priority ranking order just all the things we identify. And then I think that gives you flexibility to figure out timing wise what we can prioritize. So we're >> 104% spent >> which >> yeah these are all these are all going to double >> state. Yeah, this it's a the assumption that state uh matching funds would pay for play structures, shade shade structures, >> furniture, >> and those are things that we can that we can start on now. So even though it's not being paid paid for through the bond, it'll still the improvements will still be visible >> I in some instances. So, let's assume that every play structure

170and stage structure needs to go to DSA. We're going to put those projects in with the modernization project, right? We would assume those elements in the modernization project, but but Kindle would be able to do the money exchange later, right? So, we'd still build we'd still build those in one project because we don't want to go to DSA multiple times. That increases fees and complexity. Um, so we'll be able to have different funding sources pay for things. And so even though the number initially would look like it was uh larger or inflated because we included a shade structure and a play structure or two in that project, we'd be able to change that later. Yeah. For those elements. Yeah. >> Is that fair to say? >> Yes. >> Okay. So here's the list >> um

171where we've, you know, distributed the funds. So, congratulations. >> Yeah, we'll we'll revisit the list, I'm sure, many times before it's all said and done. >> Let's just not feel like we're starting over again. >> I don't want to get my hopes all excited and think, okay, this is I think this is >> Yeah. >> Well, that's great. That was arduous but very very good work. Thank you for >> for being part of it. >> Um and before they part ways I just would like to thank um our facilities team Brandt and Alice and then the Kitchell team um for all the work they put into it. There was a lot of meetings and a lot of uh scope refinement that went into this and I'm I'm deeply appreciative of their time. >> Thank you.

172All right. Our next item is our strategic planning, mission, vision, core values, portrait of a graduate. The order is a little bit different. What I have here is starting with a portrait of a graduate. If you think about it, if we start with the end in mind, um you'll you'll notice you'll notice that on each one of these, say for example, portrait of graduate, the form that you all have starts off with a set of reminders. Those are the same ones that I provided on your original form, right? And all I was trying to be able to do there was to help everybody remember like this is what a portrait or graduate supposed to do. Same thing with mission, vision, core value statements. And then what I did is I pulled together. So just as

173a a review, I've had meetings with each one of you to be able to walk through mission, vision, core, value based on the sample information about what a mission is. Here's some examples. Here's what we're trying to accomplish. and then to elicit your thoughts and response of which I recorded, pulled them all together, synthesized them, and put them together what you see at the bottom of each one of those. And then what I look to be able to do, I I provided also um our current profile um of a graduate. And then on the second page, if you turn it, is a draft. And that's all that's look uh we're not looking to be able to come out of here with anything finalized. All right, that's not the intent. The intent I think today is

174simply to ask what are your interests? Right? What do you think are good? What are the pieces that you want to keep? Is there anything that you don't want to keep? My goal would be for us to develop a draft that ultimately will not be formalized until we actually formalize our strategic plan because all of it really should fit well together. What I would ask is that we develop a draft together and trustees are able to say that's good for right now. It doesn't have to be perfect, but if we can get to a place where we say that's a great starting place for a draft on each of those four statements, then what I would ask that we do is to be able to put them out to the community and say provide thoughts,

175feedback, and input of which I'll pull together. I'll share with you trustees and we'll continue to be able to refine until ultimately when the strategic planning task force has it, we're able to finalize. Please. >> Okay. So then I suggest that we because we're going to run out of time and I think we should do each one of these as se >> a section at a time to have to have our our conversation >> and get input and then you have you hear what we're saying and then you're able to this come up with a draft and then send it out to us. Okay. And but because I think um I >> we need to be thoughtful. >> Yes. And I really I mean I did my home I mean I did and went through

176but um so let's break it down into pieces is what my recommendation is to is break it down into pieces and take one or two at a time depending on where we are at each one of our meetings. It doesn't mean that we have to do it as a study session, but we could, you know, do it up um up. Um >> I agree. I don't want to rush through this >> because there's a lot and I want to be thoughtful. >> There's an there's an awful lot and and again, what we're looking for is a draft. And I think the starting point to this is simply looking at this and saying, what do you like? What do you not like? Are there things that are missing? and then what are the pieces that we

177want to be able to put in. So if we do nothing more tonight than just look at the um draft profile of a graduate and if you can talk about as you reviewed it what are the things that you liked about it what are the things that you don't like or what changes would you recommend? What pieces are missing? If that's all we did and we left with just this one. This is a big one. Mhm. >> So, and if we could just bottle the the four girls from FFA and say that's what we're looking for as a graduate of our of our Tascadero Unified School District. Thanks. >> Don't forget the band student that came. >> I'm I'm just saying they were all presenting. I thought they were great. Um well, in looking at

178the profile, what I highlighted were um uh words that um um that you use to you use to describe um to to write comments about a student or to write about um well, the four girls or any of the students here. these would be some of the word some of the the the key words or uh that I liked. Um >> so maybe what I can do is just to highlight here's what I took from our meetings. Right? So when I met with each one of you what I pulled from it was that in terms of categories I came up with these four categories. You were interested in the thought processes how we're developing students as thinkers and innovators. And that's where we came up with critical thinking, problem solving. I mean, these were specific

179words that came out of our conversations with you. Create, creativity, innovation, curiosity, being lifelong learners. So, among all of the trustees, these were the words that came out. Similarly, the other elements that came out quite consistently was that you wanted more than just singleton words. You wanted things unpacked. >> That's what I was going to ask. So, we went from this. That's right. >> I like to This would be the actual >> That's right. >> Yep. And that's it. So, what I what I have here is >> version. >> What I have here is kind of a a breakdown of what a recommendation based on the input that you provided would be the profile of a graduate broken into four different categories, thinkers and innovators. Another section on communicators and collaborators. Another section on self

180and society. and another section on being responsible and literate citizens. Right? So then as you look at the thinking part, so what kind of thinkers and innovators do we want? Well, we want critical thinkers and problem solvers. We want creative innovators and curious and lifelong learners. Those were the elements that came together around a theme of thinking and innovation that came from our conversations. If you go to the next one, one of the big pieces that was quite consistent among all of the trustees was communication and collaboration. We want people that know how to be able to communicate effectively and who know how to work with other people. And that's why we have effective communicators and collaborators. The third set is around oneself as well as their impact on society such as self-directed learners, meaning

181that they're able in this day and age to be able to learn on their own. The second one that they're adaptable and resilient. Growth mindset came up with several of you. And so that's why that was put in there. Thirdly, socially and emotionally intelligent. So some kind of a a an ability to be able to socially get along with other students. One of the conversations that came up quite frequently was the impact of technology on students ability to be able to communicate with each other as well as emotional intelligence. And the fourth element there is character, integrity and ethics. So in a world that that we have today, I know some of the conversations we had was the value and importance of students having character and ethics, the ways in which they um respond to

182one another. And then finally, responsible and literate students being responsible citizens, digital and information literate, meaning where do I go for information? How do I use technology efficiently? what do I know in terms of the difference between what's truthful online and what's likely not. Thirdly, financial literacy was one thing that came up quite consistently among all of you and we talked about how the >> the requirements are going to be changing within the state of California, but that was something that I heard from many of you as well as being resourceful. And then finally, you know, that they're healthy and they're balanced and you know, physical, mental, emotional well-beings. That was another big piece. So trustees, what I hope that you see here is a reflection of your thoughts and input that was really synthesized

183together into categories and put put down together while trying to be able to unpack it to where it wasn't just a word and open to interpretation, which is also what I glean from our conversations. >> Tom, >> I like this format. >> Yeah, I think I know you've put a lot of work into it. Um, to Wordsmith, >> good. Is there um thinkers and innovators like is there a better word for instead of thinker? >> Sure. Yeah, we can we can play though like >> what about scholar? >> Is that too academic? >> Yeah. Okay. >> I mean I like the simplicity of thinker but >> it to me it seems very >> pedestrian. >> Yeah. I was going to say elementary. >> But who are who who are we trying to um grasp this?

184True. our students >> and I think that is a I think I think they understand that. >> No, I I'm and I'm actually with you because if you look on the portrait of a graduate on the very first page, the second bullet under recommendations for a strong portrait of a graduate. It's using clear studentfriendly language. And so that was part of what was trying to be done here. >> We can absolutely >> thinkers. Yes. Innovators and thinkers. It comes out better than >> you can do that. >> What's that? >> She's tired. >> Yeah, we're good. Good. >> Yes, I like that one. >> Are there other inputs from this? >> I had input if I may, >> please. >> And I recognize this is for you guys. So just for board consideration um on

185our under self and society on the third bullet point like the sub bullet um my recommendation was instead of demonstrate empathy that we have our students act with empathy um because demonstrate >> can sometimes be a little bit of a show. >> Um and then to include so instead of and build positive relationships change to build and sustain positive relationships. um because we want to maintain those connections. Um and then a little bit further up, I don't have an easy way to uh word smmith it. Um but under communicators and collaborators, I'd love the board to consider um building out the element of being a good listener and ensuring that our students don't have a fixed mindset. I think currently in society, we sometimes see a lot of conflict due to people not being open

186to others ideas. So I think this is an opportunity for us to really reinforce that we value um we value cultivating students who you know are they listen um with intention and with an open mindset. >> So then you would have a third you'd have a third bullet you'd have a third bullet um after collaborator collaborators >> or you could build out so right now listening is in collaborators we could you could potentially build that out. Those were just um two of the things that >> Oh, okay. I didn't see >> we don't judge. >> We >> I was thinking like listen to understand. >> Um not that you're going to change my mind, but I certainly want to understand where you're coming from. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Anything else? um for under self and

187society like the other headers talk they have like it's like a person a noun whereas self and society it's not doesn't follow that pattern and it's a little for me a little vague but it's an important part of I think our profile of a graduate so um and then I see some overlap between in that section and the responsible and literate citizen section as Well, um, >> so where is your overlap? >> Uh, responsible citizens demonstrate civic responsibility, contributing to communities, valuing diverse perspectives, and acting with awareness of impact. I think that there's some overlap in that with society in that or am I is it just my reading of it? that one up. >> I think if we could maybe um look at self and society and come up with a different terminology that

188might help >> um instead of a a different topic or header title. >> Yeah, a different header. >> A different header title. >> Yes. So what could it be character? I mean all of this is about is about a uh our character, our personal responsibility, sit in a 16-year-old seat >> as you're reading that. >> We're going to run out of time and just to be just for >> just to be clear. >> Yeah. 10. >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. >> Yes. Please. >> Do I have a motion to um extend the meeting for five minutes? >> Five to 10 minutes. >> I'll second that. >> We'll call vote. >> Mr. Arnold. >> Sure. >> Mrs. Ellis White. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Cosnik. >> Mrs. Connley. >> Yes. >> Mrs. President Man Mcgru Kane. Excuse me.

189Mrs. Pierce. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Taylor. >> Thank you. >> I think I'm hung up on society. >> I think I agree. I think the I think the self goes with those bullets >> and it's almost like how you interact with and impact others. So, I think if there's a way to change it, I think it is just the word society. It's um >> all right >> self and others. >> I think that community is overused, but I would make an exception to use community instead of society. >> All right. >> Oh, yeah. I think that's interesting. >> Community >> self and community or >> maybe it's self and something else but self responsibility. >> Okay. >> So did we say self in comm community or just self? >> Well TBD >> self as a

190placeholder >> for now. leader leader in me is very much like the learn to lead yourself and learn to lead others and so >> yeah and I I see that I see the impact of and I I agree with what you were saying Tom it's the self and then how I'm doing these things and the impact it has on others >> so it's almost like a self and others >> yeah it is >> so that's why community society is is stated >> okay >> itself that So, I I I think if nothing else, um you have an idea of where this is at. And if I can just use the next few minutes just to walk you through the next ones just so you understand how it's laid out and then you'll have an understanding

191of what you're looking at. So, you you get a you get the sense of what we're doing with the profile of a graduate. I think the number one thing for you to think about as you further consider these when when you meet a student like the ones that talked tonight And you want to be able to say, "Man, I'm so proud that you're from Atascar Unified School District." Like, what are those core elements that we want to be able to say, you know, that that's a graduate from our district, right? That's that's who they became. And so, what would what are those pieces? And so, as you think about this, that's a a big part of it, right? Well, Tom, what what if um why don't we look into what uh FFA has for their

192mission state? >> We certainly can. That's not a bad idea. >> Just to see if there's something that we're like, >> I'm with you. >> We can incorporate. >> We'll do that. Um the next set is on core values. And you know core values if you look at uh the second page of that set um at the very bottom are current core values which are known respect integrity teamwork and excellence. But the one big push back that that people pretty much had or all the trustees had is that it needs to be defined. What do we mean by it? Right? So, I heard that pretty consistently from all of you. And this is how we make decisions. And so, the way that this is laid out, what you see here, that whole set are the

193things that we value and how we're going to make decisions. So, an an example would be we put student first. So, when we make decisions, it's a student first mentality. We pursue excellence. And so, that's how we're making decisions. We're championing learning, innovation, student agency. We build strong professional culture. It's about our people. We act with integrity and accountability. We build strong partnerships that allows us to be able to look at not just internal to AUSD, but also our community. We prioritize well-being and safety. We use data to inform decisions. And then the other one too that I think needs to be on here that isn't on here is that we need to be good stewards. So if we're talking about decisionmaking, I the one other one that I would like to be able to

194add into here and we can revise, but is something along the being good stewards, right? That we're going we have to be able to make good financial decisions based on us being good stewards. So if you will look through those, the consistent comment that I received was we need a sentence to be able to unpack. Maybe we should add good stewards to our >> and we could. >> All right. Um the next one on uh mission statement. Remember mission statements are about why the organization exists right now. It should answer the what do we do? How do uh who do we serve? How and why do we do it? The findings are listed there at the very bottom and you can see some of the key words that came up. If you look at the

195second page, there is a detailed version and the reason why I put that on there is because these were the words that that were the consistent words that came out of our conversations together. So, I built that into the detailed version. A brief version was a synthesis of that. maybe missing some of or all of the detail but but really synthesizing it together to just talk high level but it was brief and the one challenge I have with the detailed is that it's not very brief and it should be the brief version I think is probably more like it and I know some people like the slogan version of the one that I had on there before but it didn't really say anything might still be the case here. So what we're going to be

196doing is kind of picking one of those as maybe a starting point and then we can we can reframe that. And then finally the vision statement is where we want to go. So mission is what do we do now? And the vision should be a future sense of where we're going. Um you can see kind of the findings. The synthesis of input was about integrity, growth, mindset, empowerment, uh staff and teachers who are passionate and direction for life. And then there are specific findings that are listed below it. And if you look at the very last page, you'll see what ours current one is at the very bottom and then a draft above it. And that's just a recommendation for a draft for us to be able to push against and to be able to

197say I like this word, I don't like this word, or I mean we can start over again, but it's a it's a starting place. And trustees, I really want you to know that this is your perview. We see it that way. Cabinet, we've had conversations. This is your area and you and I'm trying to be able to pull together. These are your words. These are your thoughts. These are connected to where AUSD currently is in terms of mission, vision, core value, and portrait of a graduate just embellished a bit further and trying to be able to pull it into something that truly represents not only trustees where you want to see us to be able to go, but also where our community wants us to be able to go. So with that, I think this

198would be a good stopping point. And then what I will do is I would ask if you have other input, send it to me now and I will I will continue to revise and then I will push those out there. Um and then we'll bring it back at our next board meeting. >> Do you have anything to do with helping students find their passion? >> Yes, absolutely. I think that's middle school. >> I do. I think I think elementary is about the basics. Middle school is finding who you are and what your passions are all about. in high school is where we help kids in CTE programs or be able to finish high school with a two-year degree under their belt. That would be great for moms and dads. >> So, >> that's what I

199was thinking. Help these kids discover their passions and education. >> You betcha. So, and as we think about that, as Kendall was talking about with all of our building and our bonds and the like, then we allocate those resources to be able to create spaces that do just that. And that's the connection I think with strategic planning. So anyway, with that, I would say thank you for indulging a few additional minutes. >> Oh, thank you. >> Thank you everybody. >> You put into this to help us then um look to see where we are. >> It's good. >> Um after our conversation with you, uh it's kind of interesting to see that we're all on the same >> we largely are trustees. I mean, you all had a lot of the exact same things to

200say. And so, I think you should just look at the examples that are there and just refine to be able to say, "What's missing? What do you hate? Let's take it out." And then, how do we reward? I think most of you will probably want to tweak words because that's what happened a lot in our meetings. It was >> great >> words. >> Thank you all. Uh, announcement that our next meeting is Tuesday, May 5th. Close session will begin at 5:30. Regular session will begin at 700 p.m. And we are adjourned.