2/22/23 -Azusa Unified School District Board Meeting/Study Session

001item 1.2 we have our flag salute and we have do we have our students um in the boardroom to lead us in our flight salute we do yes good evening please lead us hi my name is Diane and I'm a fifth grader at Valley Joe Elementary School please join me in the flag salute please stand place your right hand over your heart ready begin I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all in espanol yeah America is that was beautiful young lady Dr boy you might you might be on mute indeed I am I thank you I forgot how to do um I I congratulate and thank Diana for leading Us in

002the flag salute and now moving to item 1.3 roll call Board member Benavides board member Greer here board member uh Rodriguez Pena here and board member Ariana's I believe is on her way oh that is correct thank you we will note her attendance when she arrives and I uh uh board member Beau am present moving to item 1.4 may have a motion to approve the agenda someone second moved and seconded call for a vote and um I apologize I am not yet logged in um if you don't mind taking a roll call vote just for this item I would greatly appreciate the consideration benavidez yeah board member Rodriguez Pena yes board member Greer yes and board member Beau is yes it's for the motion passes for yes to one absent now moving to item 2.1

003public comment on agenda or non-agenda items uh do we have anyone in the boardroom uh in person to make public comment no one in person to make a comment and you have anyone joining us online we have no hands raised on Zoom thank you moving to item 3.1 presentation of the 2223 lcap Mr Ortega thank you very much uh tonight uh we have with us um Adriana Garcia Medina uh director of Educational Services uh who's going to give us um a high-level presentation on where we are mid-year in the out cap this is something that Azusa Unified School District uh does as a service uh to our community to our staff so that we can hold ourselves accountable about reporting now where we are kind of in the mid-year of our outcap um and so

004with that I'd like to sort of over to miss Garcia Medina all right uh good evening uh Dr Beau a board of education members uh Abnet and attendees I am excited to be here uh this afternoon late afternoon to share with you our uh January update our progress that we've made as a district towards our out in order for us to spend our supplemental and concentration funds uh we need to provide a three-year lcap plan and with that plan is included our district goals what we use to measure our progress towards those goals what funding we uh will we what funding will be spent as we work to meet those goals and additionally the actions and services that are applied to each of those goals um this is the second year of our lcap um

005next year will be our third year and today we're going to be sharing with you an overview of each of the goals actions and services and progress that we've made our first goal a 6-2 provide our students with outstanding learning environments and this means that we have to look at how we provide instruction for students and how we support our teachers and administrators to provide these outstanding learning environments we want to make sure through this goal that we're providing safe and positive places for our students while at the same time growing academically and supporting their social emotional needs vertical one some of the metrics that we use to measure progress include some basic services here you see that we are measuring instructional materials as well as facilities we're working to meet standards in both of

006these areas you'll see that four standards align instructional materials we're at 100 percent and for sale or facilities inspection results we're at 79 at the at the end of three years our goal is to be at 96 or higher or facilities ratings we do work with an outside agency to conduct facility inspections at each of our elementary and secondaries and Middle School sites and again we're partnering with our maintenance and operation team to ensure that we continuously improve our facilities so we can continue to see that number increase another metrics that we use is data from our annual YouTube survey this slide shows you some examples of survey questions that we present to our students and our parents uh the first is parents a sense of safety on campus as well as student sense of

007safety on campus we also ask if students are feeling challenged by the coursework that we are presenting and you can see that this reflects uh data from the 2021 and 2022 school year we just finished administration of this survey the window just closed at the end of February I'm sorry at the end of January and will we expect to receive results on this survey in March and we'll be able to share that with the board and the public another measure that we introduced last year was a professional learning communities and this is where teachers meet to analyze data and to determine what needs students have and to for inform instruction this is the second year that we've been implementing this process to collect data and so far you can see that 87 percent of the

008time that we're meeting of its monthly plc's and when we are meeting we're using data 89 of the time to inform uh instructional shifts so 91 of those plcs are leading to introductional decisions so that means that we're planning next steps for our students some of the actions and services that are tied to goal one include a professional learning opportunities for our teachers and administrators our professional learning that we've provided is centered around our three academic success drivers which are collaborative practices a cognitive rigor and academic discourse our teachers on special assignment have done a fabulous job of partnering with our staff to ensure that we are providing support and a job embedded coaching to make instructional shifts in the classroom we've also uh had our teachers on special assignment provide demonstration lessons and protocols

009where they're analyzing data with administrators and with teachers as well some of the course offerings that are tied to go one include offering Spanish and art at the middle school and also offering latinx studies at all of our high school some of the purchases that uh some of the purchases that we've aligned um are supplemental materials and supplies and focused on literacy and also on science this next slide shows you expenditures that are typable one as of January 2023 um and you can see that we are within budget for a cold one our second goal for uh alcat is to increase and improve the district's partnership with our parents and our students we value um partnership with our community and we want to ensure that we're working collaboratively to create these opportunities and that we're

010increasing opportunities for our families and our students to be leaders in our districts and at our site some of the metrics that are tied to go one include student engagement here you see our attendance rate that is a current rate as of December 2022 this is an ongoing measure that continuously change changes as attendance changes you also see that we are monitoring chronic absenteeism suspension rate expulsion rate high school and middle school dropout rate and these are also as of December 2020. can I ask a question regarding the Tennessee so I think 30 is very high in absenteeism do we have anything that um incentives or do the schools and I know the elementary I see it a lot but I think it's very important that we continue um middle school and also the high

011school you know incentives and and do things that that can bring them to school is there um are we still using the pandemic rationale behind it or are we well we were definitely affected by the pandemic um it's a shift and it's a concern that's across the state in terms of chronic absenteeism we're at par with the state and with surrounding districts we do look at Chronic absenteeism as an area of need um our its services team is looking at it through different lenses so we have for example our student Support Services director is working with his staff to re-establish the attendance and our acts art and SARP process at the school site we're also looking at it the lens of our multilingual and categorical director who's working for Community Liaisons to really work on

012Outreach and to share communication with families and to provide anything that might be a barrier to have our students come to school our school administrators are working with their staff have to not only identify these students but also to provide opportunity for mentorship or in in the case you mentioned to provide incentives for attendance but it is something that we really continue to focus on uh because the more students are here the more they're gonna learn but it's a definitely a team approach as we look at Chronic absenteeism as an area of foreign so do we have a percent of um do we have many truancies or they're just absent ill absent or you know what is the reason why they're not do we have a chart or something that says that the reasons can

013vary but the way a student qualifies uh to be chronically absent is that they're absent 10 of the end of the days that they're enrolled so that's what when they hit that threshold of 10 and they're considered so so you are still doing the the start and the sarbs then oh that's uh continuing we are um and it's about um sharing that information with our communities um because we during the pandemic we weren't um using that so it's going to be a process but we are looking uh to make sure that all the sites are following the protocols um that are associated with another question regarding um so is the after since the students that have been absent I mean they made me from high school middle school elementary and um if your tennis technicians

014are they trained you know to look for and you know I'm very concerned about chemistry absolutely that's a huge concern and um we were just looking at this data point recently with our administrators and we did notice that um the highest rates are with our little sprite with our TK and Kinder students um so you know with sharing that the importance of being here and learning and setting that foundation in in the primary grades especially as they're learning to read right and um so it's bearing that information and and making parents aware um I know through elac and through School site Council principals are sharing uh this data point to make or that everyone's aware of the importance of and and I recall that we had a um was it like a campaign for attendance

015we had that right before I think we need to bring that back yes that would be great yes yes great point it was September yes all right under your call thank you your questions okay another um next slide please another metric that is aligned to go to is parent engagement um here you'll see uh results from our annual YouTube survey in 2022 we had 1 631 parents um uh respond to this survey um and like I mentioned earlier we just closed the survey window so we'll be able to share updated results soon um but based on this we see that the majority of parents feel that they have input in decision making and that 69 of parents would recommend um Azusa Unified School District Schools I think it's great that we I'll do the unifies

016gives the opportunity for parents to either participate in person or um virtual or even Google I mean they notice them off with the principles are either in person or they're virtual um but they have that pain even looking at the meeting if they don't see it today they can see it tomorrow or whenever and I think they're doing a great job with that absolutely um this next slide shows uh the degree that students feel connected this is really important if we want to increase our chronic absenteeism we want our students to feel like they belong to our school community and that they are connected to an adult or to um classmates so when students have been asked if their voice is heard we hear that 49 do feel that their voice is heard um and

017you see the highest percentage or connectedness for our elementary students but all three levels are above 40 percent some of the actions and services that are aligned to this poll include professional learning um in the fall we publicize Ed 100 which is a parent engagement program that is in collaboration with um Abe and we um we plan to also offer a second round of project to inspire which is uh something that shows our parents how to become engaged how to be involved how to ask the right questions and so we we hope to offer that in the spring to our school communities that was great I graduated from there uhurio and I think it was great information for the parents absolutely yeah so some of the pyramids that we've offered are additional materials and supplies

018transportation and resources specifically for our hospitals um in terms of program implementation we've shared information through our Pac plus uh committee through our d-lat as a matter of fact I'm presenting could be like next week regarding lcap and as well as with the support of our community Liaisons to share information with uh parents at each of our sites this next slide shows you the expenditures for supplemental and concentration funds for uh goal 2. our next goal is goal three and this goal focuses on preparing our students for college and careers After High School we want to make sure that we're offering a wide range of programs to our students but we especially want to make sure that all student groups have an opportunity to participate in these programs at the same rate one of the

019metrics that's tied to goal three is perform student performance on the smarter balanced assessment Consortium which is also referred to as the s-back test in English language arts and math um here you'll see that for 11th grade students 47 percent of the students were meeting or exceeding standards in English language arts and 19 in math um we also take a look at local assessments which are our district assessments and for our 11th graders we have 33 percent meeting or exceeding standard in English language arts and 28 meeting or exceeding in math uh here you'll see um another metric that's tied to go three that is graduation outcomes you'll see both the Seal of by literacy and the completion of Career Technical education or what we call the CTE Pathways that students are working towards uh

020during the time that they were in high school this shows you that um we have a graduation rate as well as one of our metrics you'll see that for our district we're at 87 graduation rate and then each of the high schools are noted as well this next metric is also focused on college preparatory programs that we offer in our district um both the IB and AP classes take an exam each year and last May 39 of our AP test takers passed with the three or higher which is considered passing and 64 of our IB students passed with the four which is considered passing and then you'll see that in 2022 early college program seniors uh completed 30 or more units and that was at a rate of seven percent okay Miss Garcia Medina have

021a question okay yes Dr ball um what are our uh I see these are our metrics what are the goals for these um Pass rates and and uh a through dream requirements so if you uh refer to uh the written lpap report each of these metrics will have a three-year um at the end of the three year our Target um and so based on whatever metric we're looking at we'll be able to uh see what the actual um Target is for each of the goals and you would be referring to um 3.1 uh page 28 uh so if you look at percent of graduates earning the Seal of by literacy our Target is 20 for that after at the end of three years uh four percent of graduates completing a CTE pathway are uh metric

022Target is 25 for that and then for graduation rate our metric Target is 95 so we want 95 percent of our students uh to have uh graduated from high school thank you absolutely and I believe um Mr ayanes had a question yes um what is the the total number of students in the international program at this moment right now from this metric that you do I don't have the actual number but I can definitely um consult with our College and Career Readiness director and get that information can you also do all three we'll all free program right so the total amount of students in each one of them well thank you so our next this slide looks at um actions and services that are tied uh took College and Career um our College and Career

023goal uh some of the professional learning uh course is training in the different programs we offer like Avid I AP um also uh counselors receiving professional learning some of the course offerings that we provide are district white summer school are medical and Engineering Pathways our ibna forces our early college program courses and then we provide material supports programs as well this next slide shows you the expenditures of supplemental and concentration funds that are tied to uh both three as of January 2023 and again we are in budget with this goal uh for the fourth goal we're looking to increase student achievement for all students and to narrow any achievement gaps that may exist between subgroups um as well as a focus on uh increasing language acquisition and academic progress for our emerging multilingual students like

024some of our other goals we are using um aspect data results to measure progress this bar graph shows the 2022 performance of our students in a third through eighth grade and 11th grade um this is Baseline data this year as we're not comparing to 2019 and this is going to help us identify what learning gaps exist and how we need to support some of our subgroups if you'd like to see a detailed breakdown by school and by student subgroup that can be found in the January written report another measure that we use to measure progress towards this goal is third grade reading efficiency uh based on a local assessment that we give to our third grade students and here you see the percentages of students meeting or exceeding standards for all students and for some

025of the different subgroups that were I have a question so um when we assess the academic achievement in Reading in third grade do we follow these students as a cohort the city and assess their progress we are able to do that we're able to follow the students um it might not be through the same assessment um but we are able to use our illuminate student information system or assessment system to pull data for various groups of students by different ears uh would you say that third you know after third grade right I mean the the education to prison pipeline we we understand it starts in third grade when we start seeing right the the readings low the interventions are not put in place or or basically sometimes a family doesn't take the interventions um what

026does it look like if if we were to start um what would it look like if we were to start having a cohort and following that core have we ever typically we follow the cohort over time as well so if you look at this particular graph this is based on the data that we gathered in December 2022 so they take this proficient reading proficiency assessment three times in each grade level so what happens is is that cohort of third graders and that data that we're looking at they will continue to take the same assessment adjusted to their grade level but we use that data formatively so the teacher uses the data one to determine their proficiency and to Define where there's gaps so is the student lacking in fluency it's the student lacking and vocabulary

027comprehension so we look at all of those aspects of what entails reading proficiency to be able to determine where the student needs are but we do start administering this assessment as early as kindergarten because we want to close those gaps early because as you explained it becomes more challenging to close those gaps as the students move on but we do continue to monitor that reading proficiency through High School I would I would like to take the opportunity and sit down um who used to do it before right the um what is correct name it's for emerging multilingual it's Krista and then Adriana kind of handles yeah it's a collaboration and kind of explore this a little more absolutely we do have um Regular PLC opportunities where we look at this data with our site administrators

028and we look at the different subgroups and we look at the difference between fall and winter and spring so I'd be more than happy to sit down and explore with wins a good month where you think you would have a majority of the any month or we'll make it work love it thank you thank you for the questions appreciate it um this next slide shows you another metric that's tied to before um and it's specifically the percent of students receiving a b and c grades earned by our ninth graders uh and as you probably are aware you know evidence shows that if they are earning a B's and C grade uh they're more likely to graduate and be prepared for college and to meet those College and Career readiness also measure reclassification rate of our

029emerging multilingual students and that is when a student demonstrates that they are fluent in English um and here you see the reclassific and reclassification rate as of December which was at nine percent uh this is an ongoing metric because we continue to reclassify our students throughout the actions and services that are applied to the school again include professional learning opportunities for our staff specifically to support our multilingual Learners through the early sobrato early academic language seal a program as well as job embedded coaching for our staff member some of the course offerings that are tied to this goal include intervention and academic acceleration when appropriate offering music at all levels to increase that engagement as well as the Spanish dual language immersion program at our various sites this slide shows you expenditures for supplemental concentration

030funds that are tied to a goal score our final uh goal is goal five and this is uh tied to our District's implementation uh and focus on diversity equity and inclusion uh we want to make sure that we're addressing the needs of our community and our students uh and that we're building our ability to support our our community and that we're diminishing uh systemic racism this next slide shows you results from our district annual youth Booth survey and it asks questions about um our students uh about their experiences in our district um and we here are looking at the perception of how our districts and schools value diversity as well as how districts and schools encourage um our parents our staff and our students to speak out Against Racism this next slide helps us measure

031students Comfort level speaking about diverse groups and you have their uh the different diverse groups that we refer to um and we hope that as we continue to um share actions and services and and programs with our students that these efforts will lead to increased percentages um in in these areas this next slide shows you um the staff's perspective in terms of their comfort level speaking out about diversity um here you see um on a scale of five the different um levels for elementary middle and high school and they're about a mid-range to the higher range of out of five as well as staff's opportunity to learn about culturally relevant teaching strategies so in order to feel comfortable to speak on these topics they need to be able to feel comfortable when they're teaching these

032topics some of the actions and services that are tied to both five include some workshop and training opportunities that were provided by the Western Justice Center which are focused on restorative practices which include peer mediation restorative circles and student leadership increasing those opportunities the school sites we've offered the ethnic studies and the latinx studies at our high schools we've purchased a classroom libraries and School libraries to support these topics with diverse authors and shared stories with our our students that reflect some of us learn the next slide shows you the expenditures that are tied to this goal as of January 2023 and again we're within budget the next slide shows you what our next steps are as we continue to engage our community with the lcap process this will be happening in the next few

033months this update is shared with the board tonight and then we also share this with our site administrators and features at different meetings we ask our principals to share this update with their parents as well as with their staff we also share this at our pacplus meeting our student advisory Council and d-lac committee meeting we also post this report on our district website for parents and the Community Access as well as making it available via links to our social media I appreciate your time in listening to the progress that we've made uh towards the lcap we have the remainder of this year and one more year to go before we start to inform our next um lcap plan um and just want to open it up to any additional questions I have I have several

034questions but I wonder if others have any questions that they want to ask first that way anyone else okay uh president you have any questions no this time go ahead okay so so first I have some questions about just some of the details and some of the results because I appreciate the sharing out of the information um but but we have not yet really talked about like interpreting the data as as far as what what do we think about this or what does this mean or or how to uh so for example if we go to page three of the presentation we see that it says 79 of our facilities and Spectrum results are 79 percent so if that that means 21 or or somehow or you know we're at 79 and so there's 21

035missing what does that account for what what does that mean that we're not doing if we're at 79 as opposed to she said the target is 90. 90 so I could take that one so um when the Outside Agency come in they look at everything even to the DM so if there's a chip paint or if they wouldn't buy a desk and there was a chipping there it was markers down on because they're considering that meaning we need to monitor that make an adjustment if it or pick that do we have any kind of data that says of the of the areas where we were where we were docked where we're seeing that the percentage of those kind of areas that were docked is here in this in these categories are those categories um yes

036so the full report um the they gave us a detailed report for each School site um and based on the report that we um that we received last year that is part of our goal of increasing our night custodians that can assist us in reimagining of how we care because some of it is just cleaning this as well it's not even that something is broken and fixed it's just is this clean do we have gum on a floor vice versa so we and we do have a plan our goal is by we're increasing our staff at our school size that will also help us if our actual um another question I have on page nine either high school high school dropout rate is is listed at nine percent what what do we do what what

037what do we do if if we see that there's a if there's a student that is that has dropped out what is our what is our follow-up to that so depending on the particular situation um sometimes the course of action is um aligning the student to some of the resources that are available through adult education either additional courses that they may be missing or um taking the hiset or you know what other options are available to to that student depending on what their situation is so it's really you know bridging that collaboration piece between what resources we have available at the school site there's also depending on the particular student um an option for a fifth year depending on what amount of credits they're short um and often um the dropouts that we see tend

038to be our students who are are migrant or not our migrant are immigrant uh students um so really it's bringing them um some support for developing English uh language and we really try to tie them to some of the resources at the adult education center because there is an opportunity for them to take the hiset in Spanish and then also take their ESL courses to develop their English fluency as well so um before they they go to stera we'll say syrup that may need credit recovery so what do we do to help them so they won't become Dropbox you know they they'll end up at their high and they'll end up graduating you know who monitors them and who uh gives them that direction that they have that opportunity to to do just that so

039there's a there's a couple of entry points into that so one of the data points that we look at is that dnf rate right so we monitor the students who are getting D's and F's and we start looking at that at the middle school and counselors start to meet with students meet with families um to get the students on track before they get into high school and then um we are part of um on track um it's a collaboration with California Ed Partners where we look specifically um at ninth grade students um who are in that transition from middle school to high school and at that entry point to high school and look at their dnf rates and to begin to look at where we need to close some gaps for them so that they

040don't become credit deficient and fall into That Base where they are then feeling like that also has to have with the attendance you know on big big time on undergrades but um and I think it's important that we do educate parents when they're in eighth graders that when you go to high school it's not just you can just miss and this is credit your uh you know you miss or you get a certain grade you don't get too many credits I think they I'm not sure um our educating our parents so and the student to know that once you're in high school it's not like you're an elementary or in kindergarten where you come or you go or you you know it's it's their career it's their future and I think it's important that we

041need to um set the tone for them every I see the uh president thank you uh this is a piggyback question to Mr Greer's question around the facilities uh report uh Mr Moe how how do our facilities inspection reports um the metrics we have here how are those tied into the Williams reporting and or our sarc reports great great question so um we have one agency that we have that come that completes the entire fit which is the wave suspection for all of our sites um and that's us going over and Beyond um and then we utilize we pass that information onto our site so they can incorporate those metrics into the sart additionally Lego also um completes some William inspections as well only for our schools has been um flagged by them so with

042our current facilities rating um uh is is laco satisfied that we remedied um the deficiencies so it's not a I'm so sorry it's not a report that um we report out to Lego to copy rivety that's for us internally so we are currently utilizing the detail report that we have to um create goals and objectives for us to attend to so some well like I said before was Chip paint so we already have uh on our facilities plan of how we're when we're painting out our sites not everything can be achieved at this uh specific moment because of other things that have to have prerequisites but that's how we're setting up um our when we outline the facilities plan when we said okay based off of safety these are some things that had to be

043attained to um someone is our classroom Furniture um based on if the end of life the size of our for insurance and that will be achieved once we um purchase our district-wide classroom furniture that the board approved um last year so I'm not sure if that answers the question Dr Bill thank you so much you're welcome we'll have a few more questions uh and and still on goal two I also see that on pages on page 11 of the presentation it talks about the degree to which students feel connected and that their voice is being heard uh looking at I mean High School in particular and and and even with the student voice like I think I miss you said it appears that all of them are above 40 percent of 40 percent that would

044that would seem very low to me that uh and so I would see it as you know 60 of our high school students don't feel that they're connected or that they belong and that's that's a significant that's a significant amount of our high schoolers that don't feel connected or or that they belong um and uh same for a student voices being heard 51 over half of our students are saying that they don't feel like their voices are are being heard um I know that we I know that there's there are there are uh initiatives that we put in place to for students to be able to share their voices are we comparing this to previous years and to be able to say that even from an iterative growth standpoint that you know we were at

04546 and now we're at 49 so we are growing and students voices are they are feeling their voices are being more and more heard or is it it's it have we put initiatives in place and we're kind of stagnant these again are just some some uh data points that I think are are concerning and and warrants just the question what do we do about this and how do we assess if there are things that we've already been doing how do we assess if those things are working and or if we need to do other things but there was a small increase from um for that particular those particular data points that you identified from our 2020 youth truth survey to 2021 um and then we'll be interested to see what this year's data looked like

046uh but one of the the pieces that we put in place this year is in a partnership through the on track work is our high school principals and um High School teachers identified Target students to really look at and focus and build some relationship and you know they identified check-in times like a monthly check-in time to help the students feel more connected we know that distance learning did create more of a barrier for students and you know we we are still you know we don't want to keep saying the pandemic but we have to be you know recognized that there were some barriers for students that occurred um through distance learning so we are still in that recovery mode and we are very attuned to looking at how are we one creating a space where

047students feel that their voices are being heard and how are we carving out opportunities for them um to voice um their opinions and also again you know how are we finding opportunities to connect with them build up build relationships thank you again and moving on to goal three this would this information is on the page 15. so when it talks about just meeting standards it's both local and also spec standards same same question in essence just around okay how do we see the ways that this compares to the previous years and and is the even if it's ever so slightly is the new is the needle moving forward and how do we reflect that how can we when we report these things out report it out in such a way that it gives us if

048if we have this is the second year of our of our lcap show this is where we started and and this is what the trend is showing I think would be would be a helpful uh thing um I'd like to say something um board member Greer was we were going through the presentation I also felt the same way as how do you compare this even pre-pandemic years right as the newer board member I mean those are things that I would like to see so that we can ensure that we are making progress for our students I mean that's something that you know just looking at it in retrospect that that's what something got the opener so um as uh Adriana Garcia Medina has already noted that those data points are in the big report uh

049they go back to 1819 uh but as Adriana Garcia Medina will tell you I think she's heard it 7489 times when she's in webinars and reading that right now there is a lot of caution uh given out to uh districts uh particularly in this data point that we're speaking about uh to fight the urge uh to compare uh to the Past uh because of that large gap of that suspension uh that happened uh but nonetheless uh in the big report we do put from 1819 uh forward uh for all of our metrics if I'm not mistaken uh whatever metric that we're discussing some are newer so like Latasha was saying uh with the fit um and I think that's great right why only the schools that are Williams why are they only getting fit inspected

050like we should all be fit inspected uh you truth is a relatively newer uh instrument as well but that'll be noted in the in the report and ask a question so um going to the um the metric tools regarding the um youth survey uh students have not been heard are we talking about males females um students like are that participate in ASB or in programs or your middle child and and um unlikely um Norma mentioned that you know teachers are identifying them I think they need to identify them more not only teachers I mean even you know cafeteria workers you see someone sitting alone you know and and I'm curious to see again if it's your um the girls is it the boys is it who are we talking about here we just see a

051number but who exactly who are we talking about the number that you see here that's being reported is all students um but we do have the ability to segregate the data by subgroup male female um so each of the school sites can look at their school specific data but this is putting it all together I think that would be interesting for to us to have that data and a different second question so when they take this survey they take it during English class or in when do they take the state take it during the school day at the elementary level you know it's a self-contained classroom so it's with their teacher at the secondary level they pick a course and that's the course that administers the survey and we track you know uh progress uh

052in terms of when they're completing this and then you mentioned um obviously not all students are taking it the the number you gave us that's not as amount of students that we haven't at our school it's third and up but what I'm just saying so the but the numbers that you what you mentioned one thousand six hundred that was uh specifically to parents who completed the survey last um here yeah I think it'd be nice to have the data on thank you president thank you I have a follow-up question um for slide 10 regarding parent satisfaction in terms of recommending Azusa Unified Schools um do we have the the um qualitative data if regard you know parents submitted comments regarding what they were or were not happy with regarding the district and how have we

053taken a look at that data we we do have a comment section uh but it's it's General it's not tied to each of the specific subtopics but um that is available in the youth tooth reports that's available by site and also at the district level so we have we analyzed the comments for uh for findings or themes we we do um when we receive the results uh from youth truth in March uh they come and they do a presentation and they work uh with our School site administrators to interpret the data uh to uh plan next steps in terms of sharing the data with the community uh with their staff and their parents um what we're doing additionally this year which is I think going to be a uh something great is that each principle

054is going to be meeting with a one-on-one in-person uh online session actually with youth truth to go over their specific uh School data so that that'll give us more Tools in terms of how we're sharing out information and what our next steps are to bridge some of those gaps thank you and as a follow-up question um I I can't remember exactly what um what topic uh the district had asked of parents but what was our last uh application of the the thought exchange platform the last application was around uh the topic that we have tonight uh which is the Azusa High School mascot okay um I I would like to see if there's a way that we could use the thought exchange platform um to get deeper into this specific question about um parents recommending

055or not recommending is use a school we can definitely um definitely do that thank you so I do do you have a few more questions still and so please uh my colleagues interject if if there's any questions in between um and would it be possible actually to jump to the slides as we're we're talking so that those at home can follow along so I'm on we were on page 15 if we could jump down to page 17. so I'm just curious here look looking at this it says that uh for 2022 seniors completing 30-year plus units can you remind us all what is the upper and upper end amount of units that that a student would have been able to units that a student would have been able to receive if they'd been in the

056uh this this program throughout their time so that the 30 plus is um based on them starting at 11th grade so next year we're launching students being able to begin that in ninth grade so they'll be able to earn up to 60. up to 60. okay so starting next year up to 60 will be the upper end limit correct for ninth graders so that program will launch for that the ninth grade cohort so the students who are reflected here um entered at 11th grade and so that means that for for those students who entered at 11th grade what is the upper end limit that would have been available for them I believe it's 30 but all there okay okay and then just for clarification uh so next year there will be two entry points correct

057so there'll be a ninth grade entry point um and I believe um Mr Fernandez has already said that those applications and those interest forms are super high but then because that's starting at ninth grade we will still have the 11th grade entry point as well so as not to miss uh students along the way and that will continue or that's just for this upcoming year there will be two entry points moving forward that I I'm not sure I we haven't thought it through probably it has to be at least for two more years at least um so that again we're not missing students who might have missed uh an entry point yes on on page 17 I I had asked for a total amount of students in the program and how many completed it right

058for for all three um I would like to also you know having a conversation of um having uh past data to be able to compare right um moving forward since we're going to be moving into one high school I think it would be would be um great if we could have it like a you know start like a three-year study to assess the strengths and the weaknesses of each of the programs at the high school level since we are going to have IB we're going to have dual immersion dual enrollment excuse me eventually right right um right and since we are starting this is like historic here we we're starting our our dual enrollment at ninth grade and so with this new program coming through I I would like to see a three-year study moving

059forward to be able to see the strengths the weaknesses of each program and how we can improve um and tailor it to the needs of our our children but remember audience we have been uh pretty um transparent about the fact that uh we're merging the two schools and right now uh we are looking to have all of the programs that exist at Gladstone High School come over to Azusa High School but to your point uh we do agree um that after they have after the programs have existed at the one high school and giving them an opportunity to take root and to grow and we're not talking just about these here we're talking about Pathways as well right those kinds of things um then we we have to make decisions um if the data is

060pointing one way or the other uh but that for initially we would give all the programs an opportunity to to grow thriving and take root absolutely I think that that was my point for us to start this news as we're transitioning into one high school is transitioning to a new you know new middle school as we are downsizing um and what does that look like for our students so that way we can strengthen um see the weaknesses see the strengths see where the Gap where we need to merge most the gap we're going to go into a new era people here like I'm so excited to you know to to be able to do this um one more thing we we um I know that we uh spoke about this before I don't know what

061um and what uh meeting but um what what are we what are we doing to to excite our our neighbors about our new Middle School um you know our this this ribbon cutting are we inviting our you know our other elected officials and Covina Glendora you know even the elected officials even if it's not you know the parents right now this is just tomorrow right you know we should be able to invite other school board members um other superintendents teachers and so forth right um and other parents from other districts because I'm getting all of the mailers from other districts and seeing how exciting and programs that they have going on and I I would like to you know as we're moving into this era um let's talk about let's have a conversation about that

062you know um how big do we want our mailer do we want to be published in the LA Times in San Gabriel Valley um but anyhow um moving forward um I would like to go ahead and start to see this data uh compiling and present you guys can come and present in a couple years and see what happens thank you so I'm almost almost done here um if we look at page 22 the 20 second slide it's just the same question but different different categories but but the exact same question looking at at this um and so yes 41 of all 49 of all students third grade students are meeting this it means 51 are not um and similar to on page 28 the diversity and the idea about uh speaking out against excuse me

063speaking out Against Racism I I'd say the same thing this kind of reminds me to students who feel connected or feel that their voice is being heard this is just another one of those um not not necessarily academically connected areas but but how do we what what what are we doing and also how does this compare to as we look at previous years and and then the overarching thing that I I just say um and I feel like I've said a little bit of this along the way which is yeah how do we interpret this like when we when we look at this look at this data um there are certainly some things here that are that are are not you know that are concerning um and and as we look at the things that

064are here that are concerning what what are the ways so for us as a as a board who we don't we're not neces it's not our job to get into the to the weeds of how all this is implemented but it but it is for us to look at these uh at this data and see how things are progressing and so for us to be able to receive this data in such a way that that we can look and I when I see this and I see it's 49 but if but if this was 12 again if it's 12 or four and now we're up to 49 this is huge we should we need it we should let's celebrate this um but without being able to really compare it to previous Years or or being

065able to see the larger picture um it just appears concerning and so I'm wanting to keep that I'm wanting to keep it in in context um and and just ask yeah what do we do and that's a that's a broad question that I'm asking and so I'm not I'm not necessarily asking specifics for each one of these things that we do but I guess I am saying from year to year when we get this data how does this impact what initiatives we put in place for the following year so as to actually make improvements because if we don't then we shouldn't be surprised if we don't see certain increases and improvements uh from year to year that's a that's a great question and that's exactly the point of when we examine this data is it

066does inform what are what are our next steps as we move forward so some of the work that we're looking at in terms of our Dei committee is you know when we look at um I don't remember what side it was but you know students Comfort level speaking about diverse groups um we are looking at some potential trainers to come to support um groups and and how do how do we have these kinds of conversations so exactly to your point when we look at this data it you know gives us an indicator but also what are some areas that we need to move on and what are some things that you know when we have our supplemental concentration dollars what do they need to be focused on so that we ensure that we are closing

067those gaps for those specific students um so that we don't you know continue to see um some of the things that we don't want to see and those are all my questions uh president I have a question go ahead yeah I'm looking at this um July 30. I see here it says that Steph's Comfort level for speaking about diversity that diversity equity and inclusion I guess for me I'm just curious to see what I study or survey was given I don't know if we can be transparent about that um and then also how do we measure um the children feeling comfortable about that I'm trying to understand that so please come topics or specific questions that are in the youth proof uh survey uh there's a section on diversity equity and inclusion and there are

068questions that are specific to for example you mentioned diversity there's a question specifically uh like the diversity and we take the percentage from there is there a way to get a copy of that or yeah we can provide you a copy of the report and then again when we receive our new results in a mark we'll be sharing that with the board as well so um these uh responses were in 2022 so last spring but we're we should be receiving in March the survey that just closed so we'll have something to to look at to compare and and the survey that's given to the students or the questions is that also available yeah the questions are listed um so you can look at the survey by topic or you can look by specific questions and

069then we can desegregate the data and look at uh specific subgroups by questions so there's a lot that we can do with it is there a way I can get a copy of that absolutely and I realize I I want to make sure that I also say thank you very much like one of the this is it takes it takes work to to synthesize this data and to provide this data to to provide us with the information to know what steps to take and and where we need to focus and and you know where our strengths are and where our areas of growth are but I want to make sure that I'm saying thank you for for the work that that's here um and yeah I'm excited to see us continue to utilize this data

070and roll up our continue to roll up our sleeves um to uh you know provide the the best opportunities and and and you know potential for for growth for our students that we possibly can so thank you for the presentation any further comments by the board I just want to also extend my gratitude um during working in marketing I I know data collection and being able to to do all this is a lot of work and I know that we're asking for more work but thank you for being so flexible and um accommodating to our to you know to our questions and and we appreciate you we're in this together right absolutely yes I just want to Echo um board member Greer and um Adriana's comments with respect to just saying we appreciate you for

071your work and the staff as well board member you did a great job cabinet and I know everyone worked together very well to make this happen but yeah thank you moving on to item 3.2 budget proposal update Mr Jamal will this be your item yes ma'am thank you [Music] so good evening Dr Bill Board of Education and members of cabinet um tonight I will be presenting um a budget update based off the January's Governor's um budget um presentation that we attended in January so here we're outlining the governor's proposed budget one of his main goals is that the governor is focused on maintaining the programs where it's possible and trimming down some I'm so far based on the governor's current projections the only reduction we will see is in one of our categorical grants so

072here we have the prop 98 resources and um and also outlining the key goals that we're finding in the governor's budget um he will maintain the purchasing power of our lcff which is our local control funding um he will continue to um fund transitional um kindergarten that is one of his goals and initiative um also um the budget um further furthers um Equity uh Equity shortfalls I'm going to use that word um or closing the learning Gap this is a new funding line that the governor is proposing this year for lcff um and also Governor Newson will be making a reduction of about 35 percent and one of our um our Arts and Music Grant what does that look like for our district for the reduction in Arts and Music so um so um was

073risky so first of all if we lose it that's approximately I'm gonna say our allocation is almost 2 million and then so it'll be 35 of that whereas risky is that all districts were awarded their allocation last fiscal year and it will be next fiscal year where they'll make the decision if we have to send back funds um the one good thing about our district is that we had a spending plan and we did not spend everything at once so we wouldn't be having to cut some programs but we are also hopeful that this is not materialized but as of right now it will be a 35 reduction and the Arts and Music Grant and do we do we um we get grants um or Arts and Music have we gotten any Grant we do

074we currently have a grant and an art visual art specific Grant um through a collaborative and I believe there's one other that could be wrong I'll double check on that you're welcome so oh hold on Latasha okay here we go I apologize so um this is the lcff overview so we have three um funding changes are um that we're excited about one um from first interim to now we have an increased Cola first interim our projected Cola for next year was 5.36 um this year right now is projected to be a 8.13 cola um the governor is also adding that Equity multiplier which is based off each specific school um one at a secondary I mean elementary level and two at a secondary level for our secondary schools if our free percentage of our student

075population is 85 percent we will receive additional funding and our elementary schools if our free population is over 95 we would receive additional funding at this time we would not receive those fundings because we have a high population of reduce um families and not free families so we're open that if there's a trend that this does not materialize meaning a lot of leas could receive the funds the governor will change his position but right now is based off each individual school to receive this additional fund we also have our categorical funds um this year um the governor is going to actually apply the cola to some of our categoricals typically in the past the cola is typically only applied to lcf funding so we're excited about that and I will show which of our categorical

076funds will receive this so this side is just out I'm outlining the equity multiplier um again the goal of the multiplier is to close the achievement gaps also to allow us to do additional um um funding resources um fulfill prior commitments it's not as restrictive to spend the funds but it is very um challenging to receive the funds to qualify for the fund so here are the categorical funds that we will receive that we actually have that we will receive the cola 8.3 percent that is our nutrition services our mandated block grant our special special education fund from the state only and state preschool and here is just outlining um the funding that we receive so our cost of living Cola will be tied it will also forward onto our grade spent adjustment we receive

077grade spin adjustment for grades TK to three as well as 9-12 it'll also increase our supplemental concentration which will also increase our unduplicated and the reason why it's showing a pillar is because our base Grant actually feeds into the other category of funding so now I'm going to outline what this all means specifically for our addition so at first interim this is showing the change in Cola so we're excited the cola for this year signed it won't be changing but the Colo 4 the projected Cola for 23.24 is projected to increase to 8.3 but you'll also see a projected decrease in Cola in the out years from four percent at first um interim to 3.54 and going to 26 27. we were projecting a 3.58 Cola and right now it's projected to be at 3.23

078Pull-Ups for the first time in a long time both Department of Finance and school Services is actually aligned but they are telling us that that is because um both have the potential of us seeing it may revise a reduction if the recession were to hit but right now everyone is feeling hopeful that we will get through um May re revision and we'll um 8.3 will materialize but it's the out years that we're done um here is just showing our enrollment and Ada projections there's no change but just so going forward all of our funding that we receive on lcff is based on the predicated either on our enrollment or our average daily of attendance so this is just for um context just to see where we were at first interim and these are the factors

079that we'll be utilizing for the rest of this presentation so we're going to start breaking down and dissecting our local control funding formula yes ma'am and then Roman Ada the blues the enrollment can we go back to the experiment okay and the Ada is orange for our viewers at home can you explain that a little more yes so the blue identifies the students that are actually enrolled in our district um the Ada is the average daily attendance so we're funded on every day we receive funding based on every day a student is actually in class we do not receive funding just because they enrolled in our district so the more the students are absence the less are funding we projected all of our Ada typically we're about a 95 percentile and right now we're realizing

080our Ada is dropped down to about 90 to 91 percent do we have any um I know I've said this before but I haven't seen it um campaigns for our attendance since it is dropping do we have like campaigns to um get parents you know riled up like a long time and you know it's cool I don't know English sure yes ma'am so so we're we are um as Adriana had shared a little earlier when we were talking about chronic absenteeism we have been paying a lot of attention to the data where you know there are some specific needs and targeting those specific groups of parents um also through our elect meetings you know that's one of the required topics that we cover is the importance of attendance the rules around attendance um and all

081of those kinds of things um but we are definitely looking at that as a big push to increase that that attendance rate and we also brought um the stuff we have where we have our budget Review Committee and we brought down our decline in Ada with our Union partners and seeing how we could partner with them to stress the importance of attendance and we do have until April to get our attendance rate up by P2 um so we're um Confident by sharing this data with our um principals and our administrators that we can try to figure out what the target um figure out our Target population we're trying we are seeing the trend is in our um TK Kinder classes so how we can educate our families to help to understand the importance of being

082in class so in another District El Monte Union High I think it's called um or El Monte study I know that they have um child welfare and attendance uh directors great bad half campaigns so for example they have um a a hot dog in hamburger or you know what not a celebration to the kids that have not been absent um you know incentives like that so the Child Welfare attendance director will launch the campaign the parents he will have a meeting with the parents and you know and the target goal and I can't remember there's a slogan that they use um so what happens is every child wants to come to this party it's it's a party and they're going to eat and you know have games and I think it was about a month

083ago they had a foam attitude to their their little party and so oh the kids were just you know we're telling the teachers I'm not gonna I I I'm not sick but but I'm a little coughing a little bit but but I want I want to get 100 you know and so just the incentive just something small and I know that we used to do this before back in the day at odd when my 20 year old was there as a kindergartner um where PTA or the you know that principal that was there would launch and just just that Community I would not see it in other schools so maybe food for thought that um food does bring people together um a little hot dog or whatnot for a child is too big to eat

084with their you know their other friends and have a um a bubble party or a phone party you know is big for them and it's an incentive even for them and they will drag their parents you know like I want to hit that 100 Mark to go to that part so I don't know food for thought something that we can look forward to yes ma'am all right so we're going to go to our lcff so this is our base Grant um this is the first of um several pillars that make up our total lcf funding um so this is outlying the amount that we received per Ada um so every student came to school every day um taking a consideration of the cola and TK we will receive 9911 for each student um that would

085also be true if we go down to our 9th and 12th graders if they were at school every day we would receive 12 um for that student um but again every time a student is absent this is decreased um on an average basis for our students so taking this in consideration based on our current projected funded Ada are projected lcff base Grant allocation for next fiscal year is approximately 73.6 million dollars now we're going to go to our great span adjustment which is our next pillar for our lcff so we received a grade span for Grace TK through three as well as grades 9 through 12. um both were increased by the cola so we're going to receive additional 77 for grades TK through third an additional 23 dollars for Grace 9 through 12. that's

086going to make um the grade span adjustment for TK the third a thousand dollars 1030 and for a 9-12 we receive additional three hundred and twelve dollars and again this is also on base on Ada So based on our funded projected funded Ada for the next fiscal year our total grade span adjustment that we will receive is approximately 2.8 million now we're going to look at our total lcfs base Grant allocation when we include the grade spin adjustment plus the base funding we are looking at approximately 76.5 million dollars in our base allocation um this is important because one is based off Ada but two are lcff dollars make up almost 85 percent of our funding allocation that um how we pay for all of our resources for our district here is our supplemental concentration

087um where this one is important our supplemental concentration is a direct reflection of our current year Ada everything else is based off prior year funding um prior year Ada calculation that's given to us by the state but our supplemental concentration is based on our actual Ada um so if we receive if we realize the decline in Ada are supplemental concentration will actually be impacted for the current fiscal year um right now we're showing that we're projecting to receive 13.5 million dollars in supplemental adaptation for the concentration allocation is 12.8 and for the concentration add-on is 3.8 all of our supplemental concentration funds are directly tied to our lcap plan that was presented on earlier today so now we're going to look at our total projected Revenue um right now based off the lcff face supplemental

088concentration add-on as well as our um um our targeted of inclusion on block grant our transportation block grant and our new transitional kindergarten Grant we are projected to receive 108 million dollars from lcff from state revenue additional projected state revenue that we're slated to receive we have our Lottery dollars as you can see here there is no increase in projected Lottery um we receive 170 per Ada for unrestricted um resources um that we could utilize for instructional materials um but then we also received 67 um in Lottery funds for restricted that is only allowable to be used for like textbook adoptions yes sir just for clarity once um on slide 18. yes sir going to be tremendously clear here as the years move on we are we are seeing the total base grow and that's

089due to I mean just the number of these increases and so that means that as we are projecting decline enrollment we are still seeing our Revenue go up not go down correct because uh for two factors one the cola so that will continue to grow and right now this is based off of first in our projections we were projecting Ada to maintain 95 so a second interim when we're one product Nicola will still have the increase but we will show not a constant increase because we're projecting our Ada it'll be 90 flat until we have a change in our attendance Natasha I have a question yes ma'am what happens or at what point do you adjust these numbers let's say we don't you know what I'm saying so at what point does those numbers get

090adjusted yes that's a great question um we uh just our numbers at both of our um interim reports so our first interim um if we receive any changes from the state um we um reflect it there um and then after the January update we present to the Board of Education in March the second interim and that's when we utilize these factors to show what our new net effect will be you you're so welcome Mr Jamal I have a question while we're still on slide 18. yes ma'am for transportation um can you describe a little bit about what this um Revenue stream supports specifically yes um so the um last three pillars are just um add-ons that the governor gives us when they took away all of the categorical funds before lcff was enacted and basically

091what they did is whatever your District was receiving back in 2013 they just give you that amount flat we currently currently use the 795 thousand dollars um to cover all of our school to school transportation um we cover it for our fuel for our buses as well as our bus drivers and with that are we um exploring the possibility of electrifying our Fleet yeah so we um we've applied for a couple of Grants um right now is based on if you have diesel um buses and right now we only had one in our Fleet so we're waiting to see if we can at least get approved for that one and then we're going to continue to work with our grant writer to continue to apply for more Fleet and so I heard you say that

092one of our buses is diesel or the rest uh CNG or a different fuel just a different fuel thank you yes ma'am what along those lines um looking at the new buses that are um what is it a electric yes um the district was speaking with um actually with eyd on that where is that conversation there be byd that the company selects as as um Natasha has referred to we have been pretty aggressive in learning and looking uh for Grants um most of the grants are looking at districts that are um for lack of a better word worth in a worse state that we are because their their Fleet is closer to being all Diesel and so they're starting they're starting with those seem to be the districts that get funded first um and so

093but we are continuously keeping our eye out we have our grant Rider continues to be keeping her eye out as well uh to make sure that we don't pass up on an opportunity uh for those particular grants isn't the deadline 2030 but I also want to add um one thing where by working with the grant writer we've we have um allowed ourselves not to be like some of our other districts who receive either the grant just for the infrastructure and put up the um the charging station only to find out that the buses that they were going to purchase would not work on those so we're trying to be strategic and being Mindful and prudent on the um how we go about just what what I haven't heard of byd it's a is that that's

094a company that we work with or what is it that that is a company that actually has the fleet of electric buses um and they came to our district a few years ago um and made a presentation and presented to to the school I'm sorry the superintendent and um the assistant superintendent I think it's before um amen I think they met with um Brian yes yes they met with Brian all right and so this was our Lottery funds there's no projected increase on but this is based off annual Ada mandated block grant um is one of the resources that is going to receive the cola so we will see a increase from going from 34.94 for grades um k through eight right now TK is not included um with the projection increase from 67.31 to

09577 for our grades 9 through 12. a mandated block grant is um the state's way of giving us some funding allocation for all the mandates that they put on um but this amount that we receive doesn't even touch the surface of all the mandates they put on our requirements but this is their way um they're still I mean they actually have a budget line of trying to actually true up and fund all the mandates but as of right now we have not seen that Latasha I have a question on the lottery ticket Lottery lottery um allocation what can you give me an idea just a general idea of what I don't know what percentage do we spend on like unrestricted and unrestricted what kind of maybe a little Insight on what the unrestricted most of

096that money goes spent on instruction all of the lottery funds have to be tied to some sort of instructional whether it's instructional supplies or material the restricted has to be on Structural Materials such as textbooks thank you you're welcome so here we have our calstrs and Calpers Cal stirs is not projected to have an increase so we will not realize uh material change we will still have to contribute 19.10 for all of our employees whereas Calpers we will continue to see an increase in this slide is to show what that projected increase um we currently pay 25.3 um seven percent for um all of our Calpers members and that's based off their annual salary um so we will we're projecting an increase of 74 72 000 and the next year um and going down by

09748 but as of our population our employee population increases this will also be a decrease that we will materialize so here we're going to go to our multi-year projection um we're going to start with the um School Services slide typically we do not see what we're seeing in our current year where we're currently seeing that the amount that we're receiving in the cola is able to hand um handle all of our statutories um so you'll see in the current year as well as in the next um 22-24 23 24 fiscal year um with our projected 8.13 Cola we are projected to be able to handle the statutory increases which will be the person's thirds increases but that will slowly change when you go based on the projections for 24.25 with a smaller amount of cola

098our statutories will continue to go up our special ed costs will go up so it will now go to have the reverse effect of yes we'll receive Nikola but our statutories are going to exceed the amount that we're receiving in the colon and here are as our nyp and we're showing the current year plus four out years and we continue to maintain that we're meeting our reserve requirement um we do show that we are currently deficit spending um but as I shared our deficit spending is a structural deficit um in order to not deficit spend that means the revenue that you received this year is the only Revenue that you're going to spend um we have a lot of our carryover funds particularly our one-time covet funds that we've received two years ago and we

099had a two to three year spending plan so every time we spend those actual funds it's going to show that we have a deficit because we're spending funds that we received in the previous year and with that I'll open up for any questions other questions by the board I have a question on the I think he talked about in the previous slide on 24. talked about not being able to meet our statutory or something like that yes as we progressed right later in later years are they doing anything to address that or no um what they do is what they tell us you know that's why we have a spending plan I mean we're supposed to always work to align our budget based on our actual enrollment in Ada so that way even though with

100article or with the cola we can still meet our financial obligation thank you you're welcome any further questions or comments by the board no okay thank you Mr mall for this detailed presentation now moving to item 3.3 uh review of potential Azusa High School mascots and logos um Mr orteg I know we had I had a preliminary conversation um if you could share out um the uh the mock-ups on screen um so that we can have a public look altogether and I think for the benefit of those joining us if you could give just a short recap about um The process by which um the new mascot uh was identified and how we got here where we have um three presentations thank you uh yes so uh for the direction of the Board of Education

101a committee was formed we actually shout out to miss class and Mr lemunion who were on the committee uh in the audience with us today uh that committee uh had a bunch of stakeholders from staff parents members of the indigenous Community students uh alumni um and that was facilitated uh by Dr Wong from APU um and the board gave direction that that committee would make a decision on what the new mascot for Azusa High School would be uh that committee uh decided that the new mascot would be a jaguar they also provided uh some guidelines on what the Jaguar should not represent or should not have um and then we launched a thought exchange to staff students in the community to ask the opposite question what should the new um mascot represent all of that

102data was provided to NTS Communications which which is the design company um and they provided a draft these are drafts only uh three different drafts uh we call them A B and C of what the low of what the mascot and logos might look like and uh tonight we're looking for direction from the Board of Education uh in terms of uh where do we go from here to actually making a decision uh on these uh mascots and logos thank you Mr Ortega um you know I'm looking at this on the shared screen is there a way to um flip through um the Thriller logo a b and c uh yes uh so what you're seeing on the screen right now is a and a um has three different components and that's true for B and

103C as well so you'll have the first thing you'll see is a School logo followed by a spirit logo and Then followed by a spirit icon and so every I'm sorry can you repeat that again 100 okay so a is so a is comprised and this is true for B and C as well it's comprised of three different um sets the first one is called the school logo so for example this is something that would be on um maybe some um stationary um maybe on folders maybe on a wall right so that's a School logo each set also has a spirit logo so a spirit logo baby on a banner maybe on a shirt um so that's that's the spirit better and then you have a spirit icon the spirit icon think about maybe a

104hat um you know maybe a patch those kinds of things uh so each one has these three so what we just saw is a and then we're going to show you B so here's B same thing School logo followed by Spirit logo followed by Spirit icon and then we have C School logo Spirit logo and spirit icon again just want to reiterate that these are just drafts uh first drafts of potentials and so Mr taga I will um I'll just share with with my colleagues my my thought process before before we saw these presentations um knowing that um the original mascot for Azusa High School was voted on by students um and knowing that our school mascot committee was comprised of students parents staff members and alumni um kind of taking all that history and

105moving forward I feel pretty strongly that the next logo that we adopt as a as a school district should be um you know decided upon by students and when I think of students I think of our current high school students as well as our current eighth graders those that will be joining Azusa High School next year um I'd like to remain fairly agnostic um in in terms of you know design I I think that these first drafts um all you know they each have their different flavor and Flair um you know something that jumps out to me is the incorporation of the blue and the red um which I'm sure is intentional um and part of this process um and I think in short my my strongest opinion in in this process is for um

106our students our current high school students and our our eighth grade students to um exercise their voice and selecting the final mascot and Logo set and um with that I'd love to open up for discussion with uh my colleagues Mr would you like to go first sure well just a question I have so I'll say um I I appreciate that and that that makes a lot of sense to me uh board president what you what you shared there um I I also notice the um the red here along with the the blue and and probably doesn't take too too much thinking to to imagine where some of the integration comes from can we speak to where in the process that came along and and what what some of the conversation was about including red with

107uh the typical Aztec blue yes uh in the thought exchange uh this is one of the more resounding uh feedbacks uh that came out of the exchange uh is that um there was a desire to pay some kind of homage if you will uh to Glass on high school and mo I would say the overwhelming majority of that came via adding some red uh to uh to the design difficult because I can't see you um Mr Ortega uh can you confirm that the blue and the red presented here are the current blue and red from the two high schools I can definitely confirm that the blue is uh I'm not 100 sure about the red but I will double check but I can definitely confirm that the blue is the correct blue thank you go

108ahead Mr Graham sorry to interrupt yeah so the the only thing I think I I would want to communicate is that that it does it does seem um the the way that the two contrast um I I understand the the intention behind it but the way that the two contrast does seem to present somewhat of some clashing um and so I'll just kind of I I wonder as as peop as that thought came out was there an opportunity some sometimes their ideas or their thoughts and then we kind of see it and then after we see it we may we may think differently about it so in the midst of a of a thought exchange were there were there any kind of uh mock-ups that were shared within the thought exchange um to see the

109two colors together so that uh folks could speak into that uh there there were not um but what I could tell you is that uh in our uh contract with NTS um it is very clear that this is draft one and so I I couldn't imagine that if we wanted to we could get further feedback on what we have right now in terms of feedback likes dislikes you know those kinds of things um and then based on that you know there could be a second round of of drafts based on that feedback that we receive uh and again we would be looking for the direction from the board is that feedback that the board is giving and then we bring a second set and then it goes out to students is that feedback that the

110students and Community like you know uh either way but 100 we can get feedback on now that we actually have a product yeah and that's maybe the only the only thing that I I would would talk about it again if if um I I so appreciate what board president shared and so if if we share this out and our and and our students in particular are excited about this and have ownership then I want to get behind and I want to you know then then let's go um I wanna I guess be able to call out um and invite um students in particular to look at are there ways where something sound like a good idea in principle but then when it's actually played out um is should there be adjustments or tweaking of certain

111colors so as to to allow for them to um you know work and and um coordinate with each other or do we want to take or or is this uh you know an intentional thing that we are wanting to do so again I want to be careful I'm probably already saying more than I should here um but but that that's the only thought that I have is um wanting to honor the thinking behind this but leave room for some some back and forth and and exploration board member Ariana's is that we'll come back to you board member writing his Pena yes um so you're saying that we should give the opportunity to the 8th graders is that the great are we going to pick a specific grade or are we I I was suggesting our

112current 9 10 11 12th graders and our current eighth graders because they will be the first new class coming in as ninth graders to have this new mascot and logo yeah I I think that's a great idea but I I also I do like actually um my opinion how they have the red and the blue mixed together because I feel I know we spoke a lot a lot about fairness on on both schools respecting both schools and maybe that's the idea they had they were trying to do just that other than when what remember girl mentioned I mean we did say we were going to use azusa's colors we didn't say that um but if you mixed it the red and the blue then you get purple or something like that I think it's called

113um you know then you you're you're mixing both colors um but I still I do like the idea if that is not possible because I know that we did mention we're going to keep the blue in the in the in the black um and that we have the red red behind it um also I I was wondering that when we wrote it the board of education is what I mean on November the 1st and we we spoke about um what was on the mascot and I was just questioning where it says on the third one um home with the Aztecs when the teacher came and read to us what um it was going to look like and I thought I was voting for Q you know she mentioned Azusa High well the committee is proud

114to announce this is a high school to be home of the Jaguars so myself is voting I'm voting just saying okay yeah well I vote on that you know I'm voting what she's reading this is what she read to us and then she read you know the the characteristics in the rationale she did mention you know we we hope to bring the Jaguar will bring Unity and pride um and I see unity and pride is looking at the both colors together but I go back to the same thing when I voted I'm assuming that okay yeah the home of the the home of the Jaguars and then it's changed so I don't know I don't know where that thinking was or that's just a question I do have a board member uh Rodriguez vice president

115uh Rodriguez Pena is absolutely correct uh the board did vote um on four different distinct items for Azusa High School and one of them was that they were going to remain the ice Aztecs and one of them was out they were going to change uh their logo uh and their mascot uh this is something that came up during the committee work and something that came up when we were talking to the designers on how to square away the fact that we're the Aztecs but we have the jaguar and ultimately if we were to say Azusa Jaguars or home of the Jaguars then where does the Aztec fit in um so then are we changing the name of the high school like Azusa Aztec High School home of the Jaguars and so that that was a

116piece of conversation um and because the the board had decided that they would remain the Aztecs uh taking everything into consideration that the logo and the mascot was about um about being culturally appropriate and not not being offensive um this seemed like we thought we were embodying what what the board was intending to do but we could be wrong but yes also how it says um Azusa ask text and then you have a Jaguar I mean is the jaguar the animal of the aspect do we I mean you know it is okay so maybe that's what was behind you I'm just asking the question not thank you board member Benavides I think I would appreciate um I don't know when you recommended the or suggest the idea of going to the students or showing the

117mark of the committee right I'm thinking that um and then it kind of you know it kind of brought me back to the l cap and where students are you know they're saying their voices aren't being heard and I think that this because it's so you know it it was such a you know I don't know when I wasn't here as a board member then but I I heard of it and I had been watching the the committee um you know it's very they're very passionate about um the logo and so I think it would create an opportunity so that students could be heard and that their voice would be heard and I think there's value in that so I think that um that would be something we should look really better board member Ariana's

118are you ready for yourself I don't know thanks thank you um I I actually really like the colors the the red and and you know white it's red white and blue that come together that that's what I see I see Unity I see like I said red white and blue represents both schools um I do see the the blue that we are showing our that we're showing um on our screen is a little different than what we're seeing in our computers right now so I would agree that checking back on the original of what you know what a Souza High has right now and the color that Gladstone High that it matches um that as well um I since we are not voting on it I can't say which one I like but I I

119would agree yes that our students I I eighth grade and let's hear what you say eighth grade and middle school right Middle School eighth graders you said and the high schoolers um I think we should also include the seniors in it you know they were part of this transition as well and leaving some type of Legacy as well so I would include this you know all of high school and um actually I wouldn't I would include all middle schoolers because they're the ones that are going to grab they're the ones right um that have been with on this journey with those who are closing their schools you know the middle schools we're combining it to one school one Middle School one high school I I would like to include all Middle School not just eighth

120grade um for them to have their voice so when they do graduate from this new high school that they have pride in being part of this new high school as well and um and have that connection um other than that I again I I want to say which one I like but I can't but I I would like to stick with the red and the blue and uh home of the Aztecs is spine um a Jaguar looks great the one that I like but no yes so um yeah I would like to see the students all high school all middle schoolers um and how what is it what does the time frame look like for for this survey to to go out and for us to be able to um get the results um how

121are they going to uh you know how are they going to uh vote thank you um because I would not like there you know if we're going to have students let's record their student ID they all have an ID number right I mean let's record it with that so that we don't have parents or other community members or other people voting for this that it's truly coming from the students if that's what the board is saying right and that's what I'm hearing with the board is saying tonight is that we want the students is that correct so so can we can we have some tracking on each student so that way only with the student ID they're able to go ahead and vote one time so is that something we can accomplish using email through

122Google forms the student email addresses yeah I'm envisioning I'm envisioning if I'm if I am uh hearing the board correct uh that phase one would be to actually enlist a student voice for feedback on the current drafts and that we would take that feedback from the students and then we would uh provide that to the designer and say okay these were the first drafts uh here's some feedback on the drafts they would work in that feedback rework the uh the logo sets and then they would vote on a b or c um but I'll I I believe that for the vote uh we can definitely uh probably use uh their email accounts because that is um that's another way to to identify can they use that that youth group survey is that is that possible

123uh not the youth truth survey but I am thinking for the feedback session we would launch another thought exchange and then would they do that like in in their classroom like they do when they do the other surveys that's a potential yes okay and I only think of that so I I remember audience I heard you sure about expanding it out to Junior High I I actually personally would be comfortable um keeping it at what was originally suggested which is high school and I think that extending it out to eighth grade uh in my opinion uh would be a sufficient expansion into middle school and I personally wouldn't expand it all the way down uh to seventh and sixth grade but I want to share my my thought on that I have a I I

124have a almost middle schooler that would and friends that are in middle school that have shared that they would like to be part of this and this is why I'm putting out the table because they're feeling they're also feeling you know a loss in in their schools um such as the middle schools middle schools closing the least that we could do is gift them this you know vote so that is why I'm asking the board tonight to extend it to all middle schoolers right and I'm saying I I hear that and I I'm saying I would I would be comfortable going down to eighth grade but not down to not down to sixth grade personally and we have some further discussion uh board member already his Pena your thoughts on the the grade span um

125the student participants or voters well I think like when we first started when we mentioned the um the 8th graders 9 10 11 because those students um well the 11th graders will be graduating next year from their correct and then the um the 8th graders will be going into the high school so you know I think that they're the ones that should be able to to decide Thank you And to clarify my my proposal was grades 8 9 10 11 and 12. I'm sorry we mentioned you know the timeline you know our timeline is is you know getting pretty tight knowing when when this change has to happen and and I know that um hoping to work a little faster this time because I know they took a while they took seemed like an extra

126month I may be wrong but you know I don't know what their job is and how hard it is them to do all this so we also take that into consideration on on the timeline and when this has changed needs to happen yeah if we get direction tonight from the board um I will definitely uh move quickly on launching The Exchange getting that feedback into the designer and then launching the vote and board member benefits your thoughts on the grade level voters I'm comfortable with eight nine tenths of course I'm sorry did you say just 8th 9th and 10th no 8 9 10th 11th grade and 12th also yes okay um so I'm yeah can you speak before so just just and again the majority whatever they want I'm going to support but again the

127students are watching and and they're asking to have a vote on this and I'm just clarifying so we're what we're saying is I'm sorry even though you're in middle school you don't get the vote I mean just to clarify we're not saying that I mean that's why I'm asking that they're watching because they know that we're talking about the logo this is why I'm bringing it up and putting out on the table so we said students we didn't we didn't clarify before so to their understanding they thought they were going to have a vote in this and like I said for them is also very emotional to the fact that you know and their middle school is closing and so forth so I just want to clarify as a board I mean I I support

128the majority I've said what I've said but I just want to make sure that that's yeah so to reiterate I would I I my preference would be eighth through 12th grade right um that was my question yeah so I think we've heard uh Mr Greer board member Rodriguez Pena and board member Benavides and I um share our thoughts around 8th through 12th grade inclusive um and board memorandas um you'll you maintain your opinion about including grades 6 through 12 or 7 through 12. 6 through 12. um so we we've shared out um you know it seems like our um our stance on this has been stated um so I'm I'm not an expert in in consensus but it sounds like we have a consensus um among the majority of the board with that would we

129have consensus on that do we do we have consensus around um student grade levels that will ultimately vote on the mascot and the the presentations to be a through 12th grade inclusive yes uh yes Dr Beau it's the consensus and that that's why I just said okay just to be clear and that's why Adrian said yes this is I still stand on the assistant and so yes it is uh eighth through 12th okay so Mr Ortega um do you need any further Direction on how to proceed with uh the mascot review and design process um no I just want to just summarize it really quick before you summarize it time frame you're going to get back to us on the time frame correct yes okay uh just to summarize real quick uh we will reach

130out to uh eight current eight nine tenth eleventh and 12th grade students who provide feedback on the current logo sets uh first drafts we will take that information uh analyze it and uh provide that to the uh designers they will Implement that feedback and uh bring back uh three new logo sets or tweaked or edited local sets and then uh those three will be the ones that then go out to vote for eighth ninth 10th 11th and 12th grade students thank you very much and I heard you say Mr take it that um you're planning to use the thought exchange platform for the feedback correct for round one feedback thought exchange and then for round two um we'll get together but uh probably email with the vote right in the email body probably makes the

131most sense but we'll figure out the the best way to ensure that it's one vote one student thank you so much thank you everyone for your thoughtful discussion and feedback on this important issue I'm excited to move forward with a fresh look for Azusa High School the time is now 7 31 and it brings us to item 4.1 adjournment may I have a motion make a motion to adjourn second can we hand vote please I logged out absolutely board member Greer yes board member Ariana yes board member Rodriguez Pena yes board member Benavides yes the board member Beau is a yes we are adjourned at 7 32 pm