2/7/2023 - Azusa Unified School District Board Meeting

001foreign ified School District Board of Education you would join us uh for item 4.1 flag salute we have Noah Nunez second grader from Dalton hi my name is Noah and I am in second grade from Dalton please Dad put your right hand over your heart ready begin I pledge allegiance to a flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all thank you Noah thank you let's give no our big round of applause moving to item 5.0 report or action taken during closed session there is no action um to there was no action taken during closed session and now for tonight's Main Event item 6.1 recognition of the 2022-23 Aziz Unified School District parents of the year good evening Dr

002Beau Board of Education cabinet and attendees it is an honor and a privilege to recognize Azusa unified parents of the year for the 22-23 school year the commitment dedication and effort of these individuals embody the spirit of what it really means to be the change that you wish to see in the world their selflessness and actions raise the level of service Azusa unified is able to provide to students in our community your individual contributions have made such a difference to our school communities your individual stories are an inspiration and a call to action you have taken the concept of giving back to the highest level our schools and classrooms are better today than yesterday because of you El compromiso dedication is there in el mundo to interest contributions Alto nibel ustedes join me this evening

003in recognizing Azusa unified's parents of the year we will Begin by introducing the principal and parent of the Year from Dalton Elementary School is Laura Clark good evening Dr Beau Board of Education members cabinets and attendees my name is Laura Clark and I'm the principal of Dalton Elementary School I am pleased to introduce our parent of the Year Cynthia Patino she has been an amazing classroom volunteer and so much more Cynthia is a proud parent of seven and is actively involved in their lives one of her children was diagnosed with autism which inspired her to earn multiple degrees including Child Development Early Child Development and behavioral and social sciences she wanted to learn as much as she could to support his needs currently she is almost finished with a degree in sociology and social work

004and is a top student her college professor shared that she has been helping fellow students who are struggling including providing food assistance she is involved in various parenting groups trainings and organizations to grow as a person and as a parent she volunteers as a coach with autism spectrum Athletics and as a member of Dalton's PTA speaking of Dalton's PTA Cynthia has contributed so much to make Dalton A Better Community for everyone she has raised much needed funds by gathering sponsorships for PTA events she has single-handedly raised over a thousand dollars this school year alone Cynthia volunteers at our special events and has even recruited the police and fire department to join us through volunteering and helicopter flybys throughout all of this she juggles taking care of her children navigating her son's many therapies and appointments

005and being a part-time caregiver for her granddaughter she is a superwoman I truly don't know how she manages all of this and always has a smile on her face and a great attitude Cynthia provides significant leadership and inspiration to our staff students and families we are so grateful that she is part of our Dalton Community Cynthia we truly appreciate all you do congratulations this honor is so well deserved foreign good evening Dr Beau and Board of Education members I'm Dr Anna Park principal of Ellington school tonight I am honored to present Ellington's parent of the Year Mrs Araceli Ruiz Zuniga and as Sally was born and raised in Los Angeles California she is the oldest sibling out of eight children and since she artistelli was the oldest she had to help raise her Seven Brothers

006family always comes first for her how to sell and her family moved to Azusa California in 2012. her two boys Nathan currently in eighth grade and Christian currently in second grade have attended Ellington school since kindergarten I met Araceli at the first coffee with the principal where she asked how can I help at Ellington School this year she has offered her time by sharpening the eighth grade field trip to the California Science Center and USC she helped supervise our school-wide stem mobile Museum and handled the food fundraiser with the school counselor during the winter festival she is a member of the schoolside council and has attended the monthly coffee with the principal meetings aracelia is friendly loves to make people laugh and someone that you can always count on when I asked her son Nathan

007how would he describe his mother he replied like a purple tulip purple is her favorite color and tulip because she is kind and loves nature her younger son Christian described his mother as the best mother in the world thank you Araceli Ruiz is going to go for all that you do for Ellington and congratulations on being Ellington's parent of the year thank you good evening Dr Beau Board of Education members cabinet and attendees my name is Jeanette Flores and I am the proud principal of Hodge Elementary it is with great honor that I introduce to you Hodge Elementary's parent of the Year Dulce Baron accompanying Dulce tonight or her husband Marcelino and two children Aaliyah and Noah who are both students at Hodge go cougars Dulce attended Hajj Elementary when she was a little girl

008herself since then she has lived in the community and now her two children attend Hajj she expressed having fallen in love with our school and Community back when she was a little girl when asked why she volunteers so much at Hodge she answered I do it for my children because I want to be a part of their life and their education on our volunteer days Dulce can be found single-handedly Manning the copy machine or the laminating machine she is the first to volunteer when it comes to a creative project and will volunteer in the classroom when needed Dulce shares herself and her talents with the entire school when volunteering on campus she goes where she is needed and does it with a smile she's already I'm sorry if she's not already at Hodge she's only

009a phone call away when Dulce is not volunteering at Hodge she can be found taking Noah to Mariachi basketball or football or driving Aaliyah to softball practice or or to the scouts where she also volunteers with the troops her smile and positive attitude precede her everywhere she goes we at Hodge are are happy to have Dulce as one of our parent volunteers we hope to strengthen our relationship with her and hold on to her positive attitude and willingness to volunteer for many years I am very proud to recognize Dulce Baron as Hodge Elementary's parent of the year for her hard work and dedication to Aaliyah and Noah and for her involvement at Hodge Elementary thank you yeah like that thank you good evening Dr bull Board of Education members cabinet and attendees I am Diana

010Rojas the proud principal of Charles H Lee Elementary School and I along with the entirely staff parents and students are excited to recognize Mrs Alicia Rodriguez as Lee parent of the year Mrs Rodriguez is an amazing woman mother and wife with her husband Mr Enrique Rodriguez Jr they have two children at Lee Elementary School Enrique III a second grader and Layla a first grader Mrs Rodriguez makes her children's education a priority by having high expectations demonstrating the importance of learning by attending school meetings and by maintaining constant communication with her children's teachers and School staff in spite of the fact that Mrs Rodriguez is busy raising two young children and working a full-time job she is a dedicated parent partner who makes time to volunteer countless hours to our school and her excellent leadership on

011past VTA and our current parent group along with her creativity flyer making poster making on popcorn making skills have contributed to many successful school events which students and their families have enjoyed while also raising funds for field trips supplies and materials for our classroom in addition Mrs Rodriguez has become an advocate for our school and for all these students by speaking to other parents about our school programs by attending board meetings like tonight and by collaborating with other schools PTA groups and closing I will end with a fun fact about this classy lady she is a huge Metallica fan so with that said congratulations Miss Rodriguez and keep on rocking it um oh okay good evening Dr Beau members of the board cabinet and members of the community my name is Jenny Lee director for

012the early childhood education program physician Unified School District it is a pleasure for me to represent the Longfellow School community in recognizing and celebrating the school's parent of the Year miss Genesis Lee there are countless roles that a successful parent must perform and perform well in raising a healthy well-adjusted child who would achieve at his full potential among these role Miss Lee feels her most important roles are her sons Joshua teacher and role model she is creative in teaching well whether while she's sitting down and working with a Joshua on a specific skill or while they do laundry together she understands that learning will not always go as planned and when it does not she will focus on actively finding resources and support to work with him she focused on always the positive Ms Lee

013tries to see things from Joshua's perspective he's a preschool student in our preschool program to better understand and to guide him she works closely with him and those who work with him to know his current interests and motivations as they would change as he grows she allows uh she this allows her to determine the best way to provide meaningful learning opportunities that he enjoys Joshua loves geese therefore going to the park to watch ease is a frequent activities that the family enjoy together Ms Lee second this is her second year at Longfellow she has consistently demonstrated a great commitment to supporting the school's program and Community she works and attend school she's a very busy mom yet she makes time to participate in the English language advisory committee The District Preschool advisory committee the parent

014advisory committee Plus Pack plus Miss Lee attends coffee with the director each month and participate in parent trainings and discussions she even volunteered to train other parents in the families in school reading roads she communicates with parents and teachers to have their voices heard at the school levels and at The District's level she advocates for all families and all children when Ms Lee has a concern or an ideas she does not hesitate to share and because she is solution oriented she always can prepared with proposed ideas or Solutions so I love when she visits because great things will be happening it is apparent like Miss Lee that helps programs and school to continuously grow and improve so thank you Miss Lee for your dedication and support of Longfellow School foreign good evening Dr Beau Board

015of Education members cabinet and attendees I am Marcela fonsica I am the very proud principal of Magnolia Elementary School and I am privileged to present to you our parent of the Year Mr Jesus Carrillo Jesus is a company tonight by his proud wife Kristen and his two precious daughters one of whom attends kindergarten at our school Jesus is a dad who brings a very special energy to our campus when the Carrillo family joined the Magnolia Community last year they were eager to find their place as new parents of a school-aged daughter but Jesus answered a greater calling in growing into an educational partner and advocate for all children and parents he soon found himself Rising as a leader galvanizing our community to learn about and become involved in the decision-making processes that affect our educational

016programs he told me you coordinate the meeting dates and times and we will bring the parents coffee and donuts and he did just that he made connections with other families learned their stories and inspired them to use their voices and presents to support their children in their own educational journey in addition to being a valued volunteer and generous donator of goods in time Jesus was elected to the school site Council his thoughtful questions and input always lead to valuable discussions about decisions made at Magnolia's School during his parent of the Year interview Jesus said he is inspired to do what he does because of his wife and children he wants more for them than what he had and in a small way he is thankful for the pandemic because it afforded it afforded him the

017opportunities to spend more time with his family and prioritize what matters most and as a result the Magnolia Community benefited too Jesus is an amazing dad valued volunteer cherished Community member and deserves this recognition thank you Jesus for all you do for Magnolia School we are so proud to name you as our wild parent of the year we look forward to you being a Wild Mustang for many years to come congratulations we appreciate you foreign Los Padres maestros Los pares principles principales sisters in Murray definition is Escuela Los Angeles opportunities the auto Ence foreign good evening Dr Beau Board of Education members cabinet and attendees my name is Antonio Flores and I'm the proud principal of Paramount Elementary and unfortunately tonight my parent of the year is not with me today uh or tonight uh

018her kids have a karate tournament so apparently they must be doing very well because she was going to try to make it afterwards but that just shows her dedication to her family she puts her kids first but let me just show you I'll share a little bit about Mrs Nava our parents of the year is Mrs kisela Nava she's been a parent volunteer for over 10 years now and since then Mrs Nava is someone that we can depend on to volunteer to help with our PBIS store and special events Mrs Nava also remains 100 engaged at our school she routinely attends meetings such as elac coffee with the principal and various parent workshops she she always manages to Foster positive discussions and bring the best out of out of our other parents we are lucky

019to have Mrs Navas part of our Paramount Community she is a very giving person and always looking to help others with their students by sharing her knowledge and experience so from for me and from Paramount we want to thank Mrs Nava for everything that we do and once again it's my pleasure to announce Mrs Nava as Paramount Elementary's parent of the year good evening Dr Beau Board of Education members cabinet and attendees my name is Jenny wiebe and I am the proud principal of Powell Elementary it is my honor and privilege to introduce to you how school's parent of the Year Mrs Erica Salinas Erica is joined here tonight by her beautiful family her husband Jaime and her two fantastic children Andrew and Karina Andrew is currently an eighth grade student at Foothill and Karina

020is a sixth grade student at Powell both kids have gone all the way through Powell so it is very fitting that in this final year for Powell Elementary we honor Erica who has been a steady and consistent parent supporter all of those years that her children have been with us Erica has a positive steady and calm personality she has always been one of those moms that would volunteer for field trips and help out with school events in these last few years she has increased her commitment by serving as a member of our School site Council and this year she was voted in as our co-president of our Panther parent group she told me that her daughter Karina was the one that encouraged her Erica is always encouraging her kids to put themselves out there Step

021Up for leadership try new things so Karina told her that she should put herself out there too and she did Erica strives to be involved with her kids in what they do and asks them a lot of questions she supports their interests listens to them and tries to understand their point of view she has worked hard to build trust so that her children can share their feelings and opinions with her besides being a wonderful mom and supporter of Powell School Erica is a police officer she brings her professional understanding of working with people and working within a community to Powell and we are the better for it thank you Erica for all the years of support that you have given to our pal Community please join me once again in honoring Erica Salinas Powell's 2022

0222023 parent of the year good evening Dr Beau Board of Education members cabinet and attendees my name is oracio Trejo and I am the proud principal of Valley Dome it is my pleasure and honor to present our parent of the Year Jody Gonzalez joining her here in support are her husband Salvador and her two daughter Estonia who is at Gladstone High School and Selena who is one of our sixth graders Miss Jody has not only been a dedicated and loving parent to her own children but also a valued member of our school Community as a staff member and PTO super volunteer she has given countless hours of her time to ensure the safety and well-being of all students during lunch and after school hours she is an advocate not only for her children but ours

023when she sees a need or handles a student with a social emotional issue she will take them under her Wing as a helper at lunch or she will come to me for advice or with a suggestion she is the voice for those still learning to use theirs Miss Jody has been a driving force behind many of our successful PTO events and fundraisers which have benefited not only her kids but also the entire School Community she has taken on these responsible abilities while balancing the demands of family life and she has always done so with a strong work ethic and with such a positive way of doing things that we just don't want you to ever go Miss Jody like ever your girls are blessed to have you as your mom and Champion I love hearing

024during your interview that Selena loves having you around our school in her words thanks to you she is famous at Valleydale I loved hearing about the reading that goes on at home and you doing what it takes to help your girls in whatever form is needed your dedication and commitment to your family and to our school is truly inspiring and you are a shining example of what it means to be a truly engaged and supportive parent as your family is blessed so are our Vikings so thank you Miss Jody and congratulations foreign Board of Education members cabinet and attendees my name is Dr Anthony Contreras and I am the proud principal of Center School it brings me a great pleasure to introduce our parent of the Year Mrs Crystal Raza Ms Razo is joined today

025by her daughter Aaliyah our ASB president and her son Miguel who attends Powell foreign along with the spirit of the entire center community here tonight to celebrate her contributions to our school Crystal has been a valuable member of our school Community for the last two years she personifies involvement in care she is a super parent and volunteer her hand prints are all over the school and as you can tell by her sign over there it's the one with the handprints crystal is ready to lend a helping hand to a variety of clubs and student functions if there is a fundraiser or a need at the school you will see her there we have witnessed her helping students with setups decorations attending field trips as a chaperone and even warming up the cheese for the nachos

026Mrs Rosso brings a cheerful and helpful energy that is a welcomed addition to our school site Crystal attributes being a young mother and not having support adolescent with her passion to ensure that she was involved in her students education and overall growth she says if you are not sure give it a try and try your best Mrs Roswell wants her children and all students to not only to not only give 100 to their academics but also try new school Endeavors such as Sports and clubs a number one cheerleader for students at Center and always ready to pitch in Crystal is a gem it is with great pride please help me celebrate Center Middle School's parent of the Year Mrs Crystal Rosa good evening Dr Beau and Board of Education members I'm Miss Fieri and I

027couldn't be prouder than to be here with Miss Rocio garduna and her family as we celebrate Foothills parent of the year Ms Garduno Jara grew up about two hours north of Azusa and began raising her family there however four years ago she decided to leave that area and move here to Azusa she enrolled her students in Azusa Unified Schools and says she has felt so good to be part of the Learning Community here currently Miss Garduno has two students in Azusa schools one son Raymond at Azusa High School and her son Ricky at Foothill Middle School and she has a very excited two-year-old toddler waiting in the wings who can't wait to go to school with her older brothers sometimes it's not easy for parents to find time in their day to volunteer and be

028active as a School site but miss carduna will have none of that she says she she knows how important it is to have her a stay in her children's education in fact Miss Garduno sets the example in her household by herself returning back to school to earn not one but four separate degrees Miss carduna has taken that education and now works in the security field as a security director she says I've gone to college to make sure my kids understand the importance of Education in any career they may choose and she adds I came from a household where Spanish was only spoken and my parents found it very difficult to help her through her educational Journey so she wanted to make sure she didn't she did everything possible for her kids not to have that

029as an issue and she demonstrates that by her commitment in serving Foothill as part of our School site Council and our d-lac committee we have been blessed to have such a wonderful parent demonstrate to us that involvement is important and staying active in our children's future is a priority and so for these reasons and so many more we thank you Miss Garduno for your generosity in helping Foothill Middle School do the best for our students no okay good evening Dr Beau members of the Board of Education cabinet and attendees I am Yvette Walker the proud principal of Slauson Middle School I am pleased to introduce to you this evening Alejandra madrigo flossen's parent of the year as a proud parent of a seventh grader at Slauson Middle School and a fourth grader at Hodge both

030her daughter's education is important but it doesn't end there she's also supports our school in many ways here are a few of the ways she attends our committees our fundraisers and being actively actively involved in not only her daughter's learning but all student learning in addition to being a mother Alejandra currently works as our temporary Community liaison and also the permanent Community liaison Ed Hodge where she is also able to help both front office I'm sorry at Valleydale Alejandra is very busy Alejandra has supported with many events at Slawson and to name just a few she has supported with additional additional activities such as school registration back to school night our school website translations organizing and planning parent meetings and phone calls as needed Alejandra is a dedicated individual who is enthusiastic about working in

031a school environment and supporting our students and staff in any way possible she Prides herself on her connections with people and is very organized in everything that she does she demonstrates genuine concern for students and parents and treats everyone with a first class service Alejandra's excellent communicative and bilingual skills have helped her build rapport with our community her creative knowledge of Technology writing in both English and Spanish is invaluable when necessary Alejandra uses her creative skills to also create flyers and invitation keeping parents informed of events taking place at Slawson it is always a pleasure to be around Alejandra her friendly demeanor makes it easy for parents and students to approach her please join me in recognizing and congratulating Alejandra as slawson's 2023 parent of the year buenas noches Dr Beau miambrose is Russell common

032Western Azusa is Azusa High School hey yes secondary Azusa illustrito area is Sierra Perseus is the upper and there foreign Azusa distrito and Finn apart and Western Community Azusa Felicity good evening Dr Beau Board of Education members cabinet and attendees my name is Kent Stout and I'm the principal at Sierra High School it is my pleasure to introduce our parent of the Year Anna Phoebe Beltran this is actually the second time I have the honor opportunity to share how amazing Anna Phoebe is as a parent in our district back in 2018 she was actually Gladstone Street's parent of the year when I was principal there so this is the second time I get this opportunity Anna Phoebe has been living in Azusa for 17 years with her partner Mario Garcia they have four children Daryl

033Jocelyn Juan and Delilah both Daryl and Jocelyn graduate from Azusa High School her son Juan is currently a senior at Sierra and Delilah 10th Center Middle School all four of our children have been attending Azusa Unified School District since preschool and If Phoebe has been a volunteer since day one she says she plans to continue to volunteer until her youngest Delilah finishes her education as a Sierra parent for the past two years she has volunteered in many different capacities she has been on multiple committees she has been our d-lac representative on elac on wasp parent Roundtable School site Council and volunteered for our senior women's tea event she attends all her coffee with the principal meetings and participates in our weekly LA County Mental Health parent classes as a parent Ms Beltran believes that open

034communication with their children is the most important impact she could have on them she lets them know they can always come to her with any issue or problem they have no matter what and she will always be there for them and if you be tonight we celebrate you not only as a positive parent impacting your own children's lives but also the lives of the students attending Sierra congratulations on being Sierra High School parent of the year it is it is now my honor and privilege to present Azusa unified parent of the Year from Gladstone High School Mr Pedro Palacios they make a great team good evening Dr Beau board members tabbed it and attendees my name is Sam Perdomo and I am the proud principal of Gladstone High School it gives me great pleasure to

035again present Mr Pedro Palacios as Gladstone's parent of the year and the Azusa Unified School District's parent of the year what makes the speech so different from the other speeches besides presenting a wonderful parent is the fact there is no time limit so Ms Kramer turn off your timer without further ado I would like to bring in my prolific speech Miss Camacho if I hit 20 minutes please stop me Mr Palacio is joined tonight by his lovely wife Luz his daughter Ashley who is a senior at Gladstone High School his son Alex who is a fourth grader at Paramount Elementary Mr Palacios attends all coffee with the principals elac parent workshops back plus meetings to name a few Mr Palacio expresses and consistently reminds other parents that they should not make excuses for their children

036but rather work together with the school to develop a viable solution moreover with respect to Mr Palacio being involved in his children's education Mr Palacio feels that he must always be involved with his children's studies this is evident because his daughter Ashley who I mentioned earlier has maintained a high GPA is being successful in an early college program AP and honors classes in addition Mr Palacios feels being present as children's social and educational development is of the utmost importance Mr Palacio also promotes healthy discipline and feels it is a key to productive decision making in particular with shared intelligent responsible decisions should be practiced now I would like to tell you a few anecdotal stories that involve Mr Palacios the first was last year when I instilled stricter policies at Gladstone High School the word

037must have gotten out because at the second coffee the ghs coffee of the principal Mr Palacios thanked me and appreciated me for holding the students accountable he added and stated to the parents that their children are here to learn and need to be in class learning my friend but this firm policy ties into my next story that is when it was time to tell Mr Palacio he was Gladstone High School's parent of the year um I had my community liaison called him to make an appointment so Mr Palacios asked Miss well can you believe that by the way it's all blank right there ugh good thing there's no time limit darn it okay where was I oh yeah um Mr Palacios asked Miss Miss Marlene he said what is this about and she says I

038don't know and he's he became really nervous and he said can you please come to the meeting with me and I was thinking why is he so afraid of me she's all I don't know he's afraid of you and I said I can't imagine why why anyway I think uh one of the last stories that I that I um like is that uh I was walking out of the district office just this past uh just right before Christmas and I saw a bunch of parents adults Christmas Caroline around the district and who did I see right there right there leading the charge was Mr Palacios and I thought to myself this is such parent of the Year material and and here we are with Mr Palacios so finally at the district period of the Year

039interviews Mr Palacio stated something very profound and it took me aback took the panel back and what he said was that our children are on loan to us and they eventually leave to do their thing therefore it is up to the parents to make them as successful as possible and guide them in the right direction that is so true ghs is so lucky to have Mr Pedro plus use as a contributing parent and we are so lucky to have him at ghs congratulations Mr Colossians suppose foreign [Music] Jesus senor foreign congratulations to all of our parents of the year and now I would like to turn it back over to Dr Beau thank you so much Miss Camacho let's have another big round of applause for all of our parents thank you so much moving

040to item 7.1 public comment on non on agenda or non-agenda items um hope do we have any can we say something can we see something to the parents yes okay so I'd like to congratulate all the parents that received any award today and also you know to forgiving of your time because I know sometimes you spend hours at some of the schools sometimes I thought some of the parents were employees but they were not because they spent all day working there and helping in the office or hopping in the grounds or with the children so I really appreciate you spending your time at the school sites with the children Palacio thank you everyone good evening everyone and and thank you for being here tonight and congratulations on parent of the year they say a job

041a job of a parent never ends and I used to hear that from my mother all the time but I really want to you know tell you the how much we appreciate you for your dedication your hard work and for being there for our students here in Azusa and thank you for all uh your time and hours that you put into our community and our school district here we appreciate you gracias [Music] ausd is lucky to have all of you guys here you guys have no idea like how how happy it makes me like look I I really like giving the awards to the teachers you guys teachers you're great classified but again like I say it takes a village to raise a child how do you say Village foreign as parents sometimes you'll see

042parents come in volunteer for I was one of those parents that was at the school all the time giving my time and I learned so much and how to be a better parent and better you know teacher to my to my child and just want to let you guys know we're in a Souza Azusa Unified School District family so thank you family good evening thank you parents family members Guardians caretakers anyone who's playing a family or parent role you're so important to all of our students and as family members we know that we are our child's first teacher and so in partnership with you we recognize your daily effort from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep and even during your sleep I know that you're thinking about your children

043you're working hard and we see you we hear you and today is just one small way of celebrating you and recognizing your daily effort so on behalf of the board the governing board of the Azusa Unified School District and all of our staff we celebrate you today thank you so much and this concludes our presentation and our formal celebration for our parent of the Year ceremony as a board we will be taking a five-minute recess and then we'll come back to continue our board meeting thank you you guys are all welcome to stay or watch Us online have a great night for those of you guys leaving be safe oh that's okay no no no no no that's not right yeah yeah I know like on Netflix no no problem no don't worry it's all

044good I know you I have all these notes for that I'll forget foreign good evening and welcome back to our meeting of the Azusa Unified School District Board of Education we will continue with item 7.1 public comment on agenda or non-agenda items we do have a number of uh participants wishing to make public comment and so we'll go in order with uh Ms Martina and Miss Martina you have three minutes testing one two okay thank you good evening Dr Beau and Board of Education members cabinet and attendees my name is viridiana marcena and I am currently the itinerant music teacher at Center Middle School and three elementary schools here in the district I have worked in the district for 16 years and I come to you tonight to express my concern over the certificated particular

045kinds of service list that recommends that three music full-time reductions should be implemented for the new school year and I strongly disagree with that by eliminating these particular kinds of services you will be essentially shrinking the district's music programs some people have been saying cutting you're not cutting our music programs because we're still going to be offered but they will shrink instead of grow with the new reorganization of our school district our vision should be for the expansion not elimination of the music programs the new high school should have a minimum of two full-time non-itinerant positions and the new middle school as well should have a minimum of two full-time non-itinerant teachers and with the reduction that leaves one position to cover all the remaining elementary schools grades four and five we currently offer General

046music band marching band jazz band choir orchestra Mariachi piano and guitar and unfortunately we're not offering the full spectrum of what we could with those classes because we don't have three levels for each each subject we don't have beginners followed by intermediate followed by advance so we don't we're not giving our students that opportunity to move forward in those programs in those classes [Music] um excuse me by reducing three music positions uh oh I lost my place we should be offering three levels of each class by reducing three music positions it will prevent the district have the possibility of offering everything we currently offer plus more our vision is expansion opportunities growth giving our students choices within the music program within the music program oh giving our students choices within the music program offers more

047opportunities for them to grow within the music programs please consider removing the three full-time music positions from the PKS list before you vote on it thank you for your undivided attention thank you Miss marchetta Miss Mary Turner please good evening whoops all right good evening president Beau board members cabinet and attendees my name is Mary Turner and I am the district music coordinator I am here tonight to ask the board to reconsider eliminating three of our secondary music positions before 2016 we had 12 music teachers every secondary school had two music teachers one for band one for choir and two at the elementary level today we are discussing eliminating three more positions in reducing the music staff to five members almost a 60 percent reduction within six years if we have two music teachers at

048Azusa High School and two at glasstone middle school we will have only one teacher for elementary schools since I am responsible for creating the master schedule for all music teachers I am unsure if we can continue meeting our contractual obligation to offer release time to fourth and fifth grade teachers with one staff member a successfully implemented music education curriculum is like raising a fruit-bearing tree from a Seedling the music teachers are the arborists who use their knowledge skill and Devotion to plan care and love the ceiling and raise it into a sapling a young tree they focus on the root system or the music feeder programs so the tree can mature and produce sweet fragrant fruits which would be our top-notch award-winning performing groups it is a labor of love the cuts made in the

049last six years have been deeply harmful to our root systems instead of having beginning intermediate and advanced music classes we have one course for all levels where no student can grow or succeed it is similar to putting beginning Learners in the same class as our AP or IB students with this type of curricular structure be acceptable to parents Guardians Educators and business and Community leaders if this occurs in other academic subjects before you approve the discontinuation of the music teacher programs please take a moment and think about the quality of the music education that you would like to see in the future think about the inequity we create in music education for our students compare what the affluent communities can offer their children versus what our parents can offer do our students deserve less music

050can increase academic achievement and success and assist the social emotional growth that many of our students need why would we choose not to provide the best for our students let us meet and talk about our vision what we want for our students let us plan first and before reducing teacher positions to ensure that we continue to deliver the best music education for all the children in our Care thank you thank you Miss Turner next we have MS Heather Sierra good evening Dr Beau and Board of Education members my name is Heather Sierra and I attended Azusa High School and graduated in 1994. Azusa High School has been my place of employment for the past 14 years as a parent and an employee serving in this community I cannot stress the importance of a PE Aid

051on both campuses regardless of the student's age currently with this merge of Azusa High School they will be eliminating two very needed positions my position and my current role as a PE Aid at Azusa High I have impacted and mentored so many young girls I have provided much needed oversight and helped maintain the school's property and gymnasium the need for this position will still exist at the middle school level as they merge three middle schools into one Gladstone Middle School taking over the existing High School allows for more students at a bigger facility the facility the facility will require the same amount of Maintenance and oversight the Safety and Security of these young boys and girls will be required maintaining the school property grounds will still be required my job will still be required so

052eliminating these positions cannot happen I know that the school board is committed to the safety of the children in this District so I am requesting that you please keep these very much needed positions thank you for your time and consideration thank you Miss Sierra next we have MS Charlotte Ruiz me number s Charlotte Ruiz I feel like the orchestra and Mariachi should have younger kids in their groups I want to play the cello and violin like my sister Emily I would also like to have a wire in all the elementary schools thank you adios thank you Charlotte next we have Mr Philip via good evening good evening superintendent Mr Arturo Ortega cabinet members of the board and student board members and audience my name is Phil via and I'm currently a sophomore at Boston high

053school I'm here to speak to you and express my feelings about the importance of our music programs and the need for our district to keep in up positions available to continue with a successful music program I'm currently a very well involved music student within this District this thing that's that includes a marching band District Orchestra and Mariah our music programs in aosd currently start from fourth grade to 12th grade with props 28th that passed on November 8th I would like to see our younger students from third grade and Below to experience all Arts whether it be band choir Dance Art piano guitar anything that is anything that is offered in our district so far starting Young starting students younger will definitely make our art program stronger and be a positive gateway to encourage them to

054be able to want to continue into the middle and high school years I myself was in a position back in fifth grade when I decided to join band my mom as well as as my mom as well as their siblings were in band and they absolutely loved it I absolutely loved it when I started and I knew right from right there I wanted to pursue I wanted to pursue music further I got to high school started at Gladstone with the glass and Gladiator Alliance and I loved it this year I was able to experience something new and exciting with joining forces with Azusa High School we became agma if you didn't know agnet is our name and that stands for Azusa Gladstone marching Alliance This truly made a wonderful addition to the music experience and

055built a sense of community I didn't know how to feel at first but after all that we went through throughout the season we truly bonded and made it our own being a part of Orchestra and Mariachi since sixth grade has also opened my eyes to other musical opportunities Beyond High School if I would have been in music at a younger age if I had music available to me at a younger age honestly I would have taken that on so many different levels and I would be in so many great places Beyond high school right now music has played a strong influence in my life and I hope that that with this funding from pop20 our district can influence younger students in the Performing and visual arts direction thank you very much and have a good

056night thank you Mr via we have miss Emily Ruiz good evening board president president Beau Mr Ortega and cabinet I'm a junior at Azusa High School and I love my community and school districts in third grade I joined the martial group in our district and the following year I joined the orchestra group in our district when I compare the growth of Orchestra and Mariachi it's sad because I see Marty actually growing and thriving because Mr Rios an amazing teacher is supported with two additional instructors as it should be and we're very grateful for that but with Orchestra Miss Turner has absolutely no support meaning she has to teach three different Orchestra classes in three different three different levels all by herself and on top of that she teaches the choir and piano classes and is

057a high school as you can imagine she is overworked yet she still is here because she loves her students and is willing to sacrifice her time for us when the orchestra is no longer alive who's gonna play at the field of Glory ceremony who's gonna play at the Azusa leaders for learning fundraiser every year after this group of students graduate the orchestra will likely be done because there is not enough students advancing Azusa unified will never truly have an advanced Orchestra because you can't you can't learn a violin you can learn how to play a violin a cello a viola or base in four years I'm in my fourth I'm in my seventh year and I still don't feel as though I have mastered the cello playing a string instrument is very hard and it

058takes years to train your ears and your finger muscles it makes me sad to think that I'm the only Advanced cellist in the whole school district I have been stuck in the same level though because we're so small and we can't even break out into our truly designated level groups I'm an IB student I'm an IV student as well as um interning with City of Hope applying to competitive Scholarships in so many clubs and Orchestra and Mariachi are the only place where I can relieve my stress and feel like I am taking care of my mental health Elementary schoolers are already creating the stage for torture music because the only option given to them is banned there will be only five music teachers for this whole district and only one for all the all the

059elementary schools I was so excited about the reorganization and merging of schools because I thought we were going to grow and strengthen our programs but we're doing the exact opposite by eliminating these music positions you are setting up choir and Orchestra to fail thank you for allowing me thank you Mr Reese next we have Mr Emmanuel Serrato good evening okay good evening board president Beau Miss Ortega and cabinet as well as all attendees I am a 10th grader at Azusa High School and I have been an orchestra and choir since the sixth grade so I've been doing this for four years this is my fifth year now from this from these programs I have found this passion and love for music that I know without it would have completely changed my Direction as a student

060and as a person in this world through music I was able to find discipline and this sort of feeling that I don't resonate with any other subject in school and I don't know how my life would turn out without these programs because it's been so life-changing for me and from what I've seen from this district for the four years I've been in these programs is that it has been reducing and shrinking all my my classmates I try so hard to make them join to share my love for music with them but it is just so hard with the lack of support given to not only the students but the teachers too and um excuse me I I hope to see all the future generations of ausd students be able to experience the love and joy

061of music that I do because before joining these music programs I had no interest in music at all until I was able to experience it myself and yeah I want to see in the future when I come back to visit once I graduate all these students with that have hidden passions like how I did in elementary school find that passion and take control of it um thank you for listening thank you Mr Serato next we have MS mayor Rico good evening Dr Beau cabinet uh sorry uh board Mr Ortega cabinet an attendance my name is Mayra Rico and I'm here today um as a parent of three amazing ausc students one that just graduated last year and two that are are still here I'm here this evening supporting this amazing group of um students that

062are so well-rounded and just love the Arts as you have heard they all are very passionate about one of their favorite subjects music I'm here to Echo their concerns one of the best ways for students to express their emotions is through music and the younger they start the more beneficial it is for them we have been very patient hoping that the orchestra Inquirer would receive more support but it hasn't we don't get to go to competitions we don't get to go play at Disneyland or Knott's Berry Farm yet our students remain committed we were extremely excited about the reorganization hoping that we would finally have a strong big Orchestra Inquirer this amazing group of students will soon move on to other amazing experiences and what saddens me the most is that the students that will

063not have the opportunity to learn to play classical violin Viola cello and bass our students love their amazing music teachers we cannot let go of another music teacher please reimagine the music program thank you very much thank you Ms Rico next we have Mr Jackson Jackson strong uh good evening board I am Jackson strong I'm a sophomore this is a high school and a piano student um I first started band back in fifth grade and I very much enjoyed the opportunity to not only connect with my peers but to learn about a subject that meant something more than just physical it had a lot of meanings man and eventually during Middle School due to my interest in other fields I took a step out of things and this year I have come back and joins

064piano and it has been an amazing experience however due to the cuts to the teachers I am very much concerned about the lower amount of classes there will be will be prepared for us as I would very much like to not only continue in piano but try out various different subjects if given the opportunity it would be a great Misfortune for many students like me to have to go through all of this work just to be unable to advance properly to our through our music class levels I appreciate your time thank you very much thank you Mr Stone and we have Mr Jason Ma good evening Dr Beau um Board of Educators and the cabinet my name is Jason Ma I am the band director at Gladstone High School as well as two other three

065other elementaries today I want to mainly talk about the the the three secondary positions that was set to be reduced or eliminated due to the whole organization response a little bit about prop 28. um so one of my issue right now is there has been little to non-com communication regarding what all this means and anywhere I'm asking for question and the answer is always I don't know I'll look into it and it's just crickets after that and so what I'm hoping is there will be some information talking about like what's going on with the three positions right now half of us is thinking oh we're gonna get rid of five three teachers some of us are thinking we're going to get rid of these position to sell But the teacher is still going to remain

066so what it's exactly is going on so hopefully soon you guys can give us more information about what's going on with that but kind of I'm talking about some of the things that these teachers and students talked about is prop 28. so as some of you may be aware over this last election cycle prop 28 was passed and it's written to our state constitution that one percent of our school budget is allocated for music looking at the preliminary numbers right now we have roughly 1.2 million dollars allocated for music now this number is probably going to change next year just due to our on decline enrollment and this enrollment does reflect how much we get but with that eighty percent of that is for Staffing what does classify or certified or just any coaches or

067speakers that's what those monies are for 20 19 is for supplies for like for example for us could be for music for Arts could be for paint supplies and things like that and one person's for administrative work I'm hoping that you guys will start be able to consider how we're going to use this money efficiently to help grow the program because now we're at a unique situation where we can reimagine how our ours program can look and we have this funding from the state that can help with that and I I hope by next May we can see the report that you have to pull out put out regarding how we're using this money and see the money being used in the right place to help grow the music and the arts program in this

068District thank you thank you Mr Ma uh mrtigas does this conclude all of our members of the public or do we have anyone on Zoom that hasn't been populated on this list anybody else on Zoom we have no hands raised on Zoom I'm sorry one more time we have no hands raised on Zoom thank you this concludes item 7.1 a public comment on agenda or non-agen agenda items moving on to item 8.1 comments reports and requests by the Board of Education uh we'll begin with uh board vice president uh Rodriguez Pena good evening everyone I want to um say happy concerts week to all of our counselors that is a unified school district and I want to thank them for helping our students um find their dreams reach their dreams I should say my counselor

069in high school helped me see the potential that I didn't even see myself so culture is not just a concert just gives you classes they wear many hats and I really we really appreciate them we really need them at our school sites and I also wanted to say um I did go to Bluffton High School to the annual faculty art gallery that beautiful artwork and ceramic work from the secondary staff and art teachers uh I went to Azusa High School at the uh Azusa eighth grade Expo there was Full House and parents and students were able to see large varieties of programs and classes classes offered at Azusa High School entertainment was fantastic speaking of the music program Azusa High School and Glaston High School band jazz van Taurus visually impaired student Brianna sang the

070national anthem was the ASL students using the sign language right beside her it was really beautiful to see and she is so talented she also sings in the Mariachi program so it was just like to see she's a beautiful student um I went to Paramount Elementary at their after-school program at their STEM Academy with Mr Hartman I want to thank him for inviting me to his classroom there were many students there after school very excited working on their projects they were doing um catapults they were making they had to design their own catapults first of all and then they had to put them together and if it didn't work or didn't match up they had to figure out you know how does this work because at the end they had battles against each other so

071it was really good when it was time for them to go home he says okay watch this he said okay students it's time to go home they're like no we don't want to go home they really enjoy being there so I want to thank him for his invitation I went to Dalton school um coffee with the principal and Tulsa uh Julie McGaw was did a really great job with parents working with the working with them and showing them techniques and how to use math at home just even in their kitchen you know how many uh chairs are sitting there or how many legs or they're going to the store the The Kitchen upper grades you know the mom was mentioning that she gives her son the five dollars to the one dollar and wants him

072to make the transaction so he knows how to count money so I really thank her for doing that and I also have a comment I have a comment that I do know that we have many talented students in the music program I go to most of their concerts and most of their um the plays and of the Arts I strongly believe in the Arts and and I want to know you know how are we going to continue our music program with um with cutting no more Staff first question um and how are we going to continue our programs are they going to be overcrowded or are students not going to be able to participate in the music program because it is too crowded or how is that going to work if we have less students

073are we going to have more excuse me less staff are we going to have more students in there I'm very concerned about that because Iran or Jasmine all our bands they're fantastic and I and I am I do have that concern and have we do we have any comparisons of other districts of our enrollment our future enrollment approximately you know how are the programs working for them are we just doing this um you know I do know that we have a Cuts I do know the the reorganization and there is a process and there's a necessity in our district but I still really want to know how is it working at other districts with similar enrollment and regarding the overcrowding and I am concerned with students you know um they love music they don't even

074know their talents singing dancing drama what whichever and I want to give them that opportunity thank you board member Rodriguez Pena and now our board clerk board member Ariana's board member Benavides please I just have a few comments and I wanted to say thank you to the students that did show up tonight to speak and it's nice to see that there is a passion and that you enjoy our music and arts program but um I know that um Miss uh Yolanda Rodriguez Pena also stated that there is a process and uh I I know the board is looking at everything um you know through the lens of trying to keep everything as positive as we can and we want to make sure that um we continue with the programs we can for our students so

075thank you for being here tonight board clerk Ariana's I I would like to wish everybody at home here Happy Valentines you know I'm gonna share a quick little story my my daughter's like why do we celebrate Valentine's and I said to remember that we that we like each other right but most importantly I said you know one thing that Valentine's we don't talk about is like before you start loving other people you got to love yourself right so be your own Valentine so I challenge all of you guys to be your own Valentine so happy Valentine's second um yes we're going through a lot of this year and and I heard this tonight um a lot of a lot of readjusting reimagining right and as this is a work in progress um I appreciate the

076comments the concerns right we cannot have a great District if we don't and I'm being completely on if we do not reimagine this right but what at what cost and so thank you guys for being here and sharing your concerns um I would like to look at that a little closer and um and then take it from there and I trust in our cabinet that they're looking at those numbers as well so when you know they do tell you certain things trust I I trust them so thank you cabinet for working really hard during this time as we make this transition thank you and parents um congratulations again to all the parents tonight that we're here congratulations to all of you guys at home parents grandparents just for being our village again thank you thank

077you board member bariana's um I too would like to Echo my colleague sentiments around the importance of our art and music programs um my older daughter spent her first two years in another Local District where she had music and art and unfortunately our school closed so I've experienced School reorganization personally as a parent and I as a parent I continue to Champion the Arts and the impact that art has on math and on social emotional development and I would encourage our district to continue to be creative and find ways to explore and expand what we have to be able to go deeper and also to expand our art and music programs down to the lower elementary grade levels moving to item 9.0 comments and reports by student board members superintendent and cabinet Mr Ortega good

078evening uh Dr Beau uh and board members uh just a couple of things number one I just want to uh also formally uh congratulate uh all of our parents of the year uh tonight uh what a great example of uh our our parents uh giving not only to their students but to the uh Community the larger Community uh as well I also want to Echo uh the uh Happy counseling week um want to show our gratitude to our counselors and the work that they do for our students I want to personally uh say thank you to Miss Donna Flores Donna Flores is a special education instructional Aid at Foothill Middle School and she allowed me to Shadow her for three hours and so I got to spend the morning with her and so just really

079uh grateful that she gave me the opportunity to download get to know her better but get to know the position better as well and then I also want to just say thank you to the art Department I was able to go to the glasson high school staff art show um and if you had not have not had the opportunity uh it is breathtaking uh the the pieces of work that are on display and the only thing I can I can think about is just how again just how amazing uh these folks that are producing this art are the same exact people that are investing and teaching our kids and so I just want to I want to say thank you for that thank you good evening good evening Dr Beau Board of Education I too

080would like to congratulate all of our parents of the year I had the pleasure to hear from all of them and it was so powerful and moving um to hear of the selfless commitment that they have to all of our schools and how much they give to our school communities so I want to congratulate all of them and all of the other families who Provide support and volunteer and are engaged in all of our schools I also would like to recognize our counselors this week on National Counselor week for all of the support that they provide to our students in Azusa unified thank you good evening I would like to follow suit and um welcome um all of our counselors and congratulate them for um this week um I know this is just one week

081of the entire school year but we thank you for all you do year round I also want to congratulate all the nominees and our district um parent of the year um additionally I want to congratulate um I was able to purchase RC the Gladstone boys soccer senior night as well as the glass stone girls varsity senior night and it was exciting to see our students out there I'm putting in work so thank you and good evening I also want to follow the course of congratulations to our parents of the year um and also recognize the board of education for putting this event together and helping us just recognize and uplift the wonderful work of our parents uh of the year um at all of our sites it's something that in my Third District this is

082the only District that I see do this on a regular basis and coming back in person truly is special and I also want to take the opportunity to also recognize our counselors for the work that they do in a previous life I worked very closely with counselors and really had a chance to see that the impact that they have on individual students uh really working behind the scenes and really being a champion for for students and in many cases being the kind of the motor Behind these students really get into the finish line and doing wonderful things in life so thank you counselors for the work that you do thank you cabinet and now we'll hear from our student board members we'll begin with Miss Carolina Dominguez from Gladstone High School good evening Board of

083Education I would first like to say that I have a sore throat so please do not mind my voice but um the Gladstone High School admin students and staff would like to thank superintendent Mr Ortega and the rest of the cabinet for coming out and supporting our soccer and that soccer and basketball teams in their final varsity game at Gladstone High School speaking of soccer Glaston High School would like to congratulate our boys and girls soccer teams for qualifying in CIF playoffs the boys played at home today against San juansito Valley and one one to zero they will play at Gabrielino on Thursday at 5 PM the girls will play at home against academy career Expo if they win their time and place will be determined by other teams outcomes Good Luck Good Luck gladiators

084highlights of events coming up Wednesday Wednesday the 8th from 9 A.M to 1 30 p.m ASB Mountain View League's Symposium at Workman High School Tuesday the 14th from 9 A.M to 11 A.M parent Google Workshop number four will present on Portal for parents Thursday the 16th from 9 A.M to 10 30 a.m copy with the principal Tuesday the 21st from 9am to 11 A.M parent Google Workshop number five will present on Google Docs and Tuesday the 28th from 9am to 11AM parental Workshop number six will present on Google Docs practical usage writing and formatting a letter printing thank you and do we have our other student board members here online Daphne and Natalie we do have Daphne online uh Daphne Pineda from Sierra High School please good evening Dr about Board of Education members superintendent

085Ortega and cabinet this week at Sierra our soccer team played their third soccer game and are currently undefeated their next match will be on the 16th at nine in the morning at Gladstone High School on February 9th the leadership class will be hosting a Red Cross blood drive in the multi-purpose room our parent group continues to meet at Fridays at nine in the morning in the parent room they will participate in the mental health class on the 10th and 24th on the 17th they will discuss the book on Mango Street which they have been reading for a book club finally the last week of February students will be taking finals for the end of the second trimester thank you Miss Pineda and I'll go ahead and read Natalie's state report for on Azusa High School

086so this is from our student board member representative from Azusa High School Ms Miss Natalie De La Cruz Azusa High School would like to congratulate Maria Russo as the AHS parent of the year and offers congratulations to the Azusa unified parent of the Year Pedro Palacios Azusa High School is proud of all winter sports athletes soccer and basketball and is looking forward to seeing the lady Aztecs in CIF action this week congratulations to coach Miranda and the team for their hard work in the Mountain View League this year last night they won their first CIF game against Hawthorne High School 2-0 and will have a match against Saint Mary's in Inglewood on February 8th azuzahai is seeking participants for the Azusa rotary four-way speech contest Azusa rotary is asking high school students to write a

087speech that quote imagines the world that deserves our best where we get up each day knowing that we can make a difference high school students that are interested should contact their English teacher for more details Aztecs and Gladiators are making plans for college readiness next year by either choosing the ECP or the early college program or the IB the international Baccalaureate program we're excited about all the programs that are coming together next year there is an early college parent meeting on February 8th at 6 PM in the Azusa library for parents of 10th graders parents of glad Azusa and Gladstone 10th graders are invited to attend this very important informational meeting Azusa High School is hosting parent technology workshops every Thursday at 9 00 a.m we are excited to see parents learning about different Google

088applications the courses build upon skills that parents learned in the first series of workshops and we hope to see Natalie at our next meeting moving to item 10.1 approval of the consent calendar May have a motion motion to approve and the second second moved and seconded we'll move to a vote and the motion passes moving to item 12.0 curriculum and instruction Miss Camacho good evening Dr Beau Board of Education I would like to invite up our director of multilingual and categorical programs Dr Krista Fairley who will be sharing tonight about our dual language immersion transition to the Middle School all right thank you Dr good evening Dr Beau Board of Education cabinet and attendees I'm so excited tonight to present about our dual language immersion transition to Middle School all right so just to frame

089our conversation tonight we just want to review briefly the history vision and mission of our dual language program here in Azusa we want to outline the transition to our secondary program and talk about next steps in our process so Azusa unified launched a district dual language immersion program in the 2015-2016 school year those students now that begin in that program are now sixth graders and they are ready to head to middle school so we're excited right now to transition we have about over a hundred students in DLI currently and we have 99 the 99th confirmed and committed today that they will continue on to our fifth and sixth or excuse me our sixth and seventh grade program at Gladstone Middle School we want to continue that in our commitment to dual language immersion and our

090goal of bilingualism and also by Literacy for our students so our ausd English learner vision is so critical we truly have this goal and vision to have our students become Global Citizens in this multilingual and Multicultural world and we can provide that through this opportunity we have three focuses we focus on a rigorous and Equitable language instruction for our students we build on their linguistic strengths and we address their individual needs so there are three pillars of dual language immersion the first one being bilingualism and biliteracy we really want to develop those high levels of listening oral reading writing in Spanish our second pillar is academic Excellence we want our students to achieve excellence in both content or in content in both languages and we also want to develop and nurture Multicultural and Global competence

091our students we want to really Foster and facilitate positive cultural understanding and appreciation so just a reminder and this is what I told our parents there's a lot of research about the benefits of dual language immersion and why districts like ours have really committed to this program first and foremost our students in dual language immersion programs have increased results on standardized testing our students reclassify right now we've reclassified almost 200 students this year but our students in dual language immersion reclassifier at higher rates um I like this one personally the executive brain function that our bilingual students there's a research that shows that they paid more focused attention they're less distracted and probably because of that dual language are able to switch back and forth between tasks and finally our students in dual language immersion

092have higher attendance rates and increased levels of Engagement which is so critical especially as students transition to middle school we want our students to have their people their group so what is it going to look like next year at Gladstone Middle School here is a graphic of the program that we offer and we're planning to offer here in the next years in Azusa so you can see the image begins with our elementary DLI programs at both Hodge and Valleydale we begin with a 90-10 model in the TK Kinder grades and we move toward fifth grade at the 50 50. of course right now we currently have sixth graders but they'll be moving on to Gladstone middle when students arrive at Gladstone Middle School they'll have two courses in Spanish they'll have a Spanish language arts

093course and a social studies course that social studies course is required and instead of taking it in English they'll be taking it in Spanish and as the students move on to high school the goal is is to continue their language focus and success so in seventh and 8th grade our Spanish language arts curriculum that we typically give at the ninth grade level will actually be given at the 7th and 8th grade level so as students move into ninth grade they'll begin with Spanish speakers too they're able to then move on to AP Spanish language and then by the 11th and 12th grade they have some options they can continue with AP Spanish Literature or if they're into language or another area of Interest they can continue with those choices so just here's another image that

094we've shared with our families so that to understand the transition when students go to middle school they have six periods instead of just one teacher it's a fun change lots of um new friends and new teachers all students in sixth seventh and eighth grade will take PE a science course language arts and math in English and then the the courses that are highlighted in kind of the orangish color there are the students that are excuse me are the classes that will be taught in Spanish um so the social studies curriculum and the DLI Spanish language arts I did want to make a comment we had several questions from parents about this course progression this is a a very common when when students progress to the Middle School level typically social studies is the content area

095that our Middle School schoolers take in that second language all right so here's an example schedule I really like the thinking on part of our future um principle of Gladstone Middle School offering some options for our students students can take a six period day so the first schedule shows their eight o'clock to 2 10 schedule with a first period through sixth period I feel like I'm echoing into the microphone I apologize um not not necessarily in that order but it's an example of what a student might take for a student that really wants to take an elective and Middle School having been a middle school principal it's about the electives and we have a lot to offer at Gladstone Middle School we're offering a zero period PE that way students can get PE out of

096the way in the cool of the day and also be able to choose an elective of their choice so there's an example schedule for a future student at Gladstone Middle School that maybe will have seven periods and we can't forget that the ultimate goal of this for our students is to achieve that state seal of by literacy and um that recognition and award is on their transcripts as they move on to College and Career and their future and is given to those students who have attained that high level of proficiency in speaking reading and writing in one or more languages so I just want to thank you for the opportunity what a great year to land in Azusa unified that I get to be part of this work and if you have any questions I'll

097be happy to answer them Dr Philly I have a question um last year how many of our high schoolers graduated with the cliff by literacy I will get back to you on that because that is a goal we're going to raise thank you so much moving to item 12.2 our resolution 22 23 22 recognizing National School counseling week Mr Chang good evening board president Dr Beau members of the board superintendent Ortega cabinet student board member as well as the Azusa unified community thank you board of education for the soon-to-be resolution recognizing our counselors and allowing me a few minutes to share just how amazing they truly are as you know this year has been a year of transitions which has prompted us to adapt quite quickly to the changing landscape at Azusa Unified not only

098are we still dealing with the effects of the covet pandemic we are transitioning with our reorganization yet thankfully our counselors have continued to do what they always have done they have provided a semblance of normacy while dealing gracefully with the many challenges that these transitions have brought for example counselors are still having individual and group counseling sessions doing classroom presentations regarding gpas graduation credits College and Career awareness and course selection they make mental health referrals take risk assessments facilitate peer mediation and even take on additional roles as ASB coordinator or as community outreach coordinators they have translated at parent meetings IEPs ssts and supported newcomers dealing with language barriers they have had heart-to-heart talks with students parents and even staff and yet each and every day our counselors shared the message that our students can

099they can persevere they can go to college they can explore greater opportunities and they can be better so please allow me to recognize these counselors by name and if they are in the virtual audience you know how I feel about you the district feels very um thankful that you are working for us and with us Dominique Perez as Slauson Middle School Karen desabio Center Middle School Steve Scott Foothill Middle School Maricela Casas at Ellington Sandra Wyant as Sierra High School Daniel Soriano here at adult end we also have the Gladstone High School counselors Joyce de Leon and Christy Calderon Azusa High School counselors Jackie Hoke Crystal Mejia Laura Ortiz and Anna Sanchez I would be remiss if I did not also take this opportunity to recognize two very important people who help our students in

100counseling support Karina Hernandez at Azusa High School and Lori Madden at Gladstone High School are two career center techs who do so much to counsel and support our students such as having access to scholarships grants financial aid for their post-high school graduation and so much more both Karina and Lori are accessible and welcoming to students and find ways to support those who choose a career path with internships and work programs choices that are Beyond or other than College as a matter of fact Lori teaches coaches are are gosh I believe it was basketball um yeah Lori teaches about and coaches the basketball team so they do so much Beyond um what their job entails um lastly and on a very personal level I wanted to share an experience last November the counselors and I were

101gathered in their room about to share a meal also to review California colleges which is on the concentric calendar today we're also talking about our fpn visit we're sharing some laughs and I remember looking around the room and just smiling I recall how honored and privileged I felt to be working with such a passionate and dedicated group of Advocates advocates for our students and for their futures throughout that meeting we laughed and joked as we always do we share the challenges we face but with always the understanding that we have to move forward with optimism and strength they continue to persevere through the transitions that continue to laugh and they continue to remind me of all that is great about Azusa Unified oh and by the way if Stella is listening to this we had

102an incredible meal prepared by the nutrition services shout out to them um delicious Thanksgiving dinner for me again thank you for the resolution and thank you for all that you do to uplift our support and support our counselors have a great rest of your evening thank you Mr Chang may I have a motion for item 12.2 motion to approve 12.2 is there a second moved and seconded any discussion seeing none will move to a vote we do appreciate them yes go counselors woo and the motion passes thank you and congratulations to all our counseling staff moving to item 12.3 review of our second quarter Williams uniform complaint report Miss Camacho so we have attached the review of our Williams complaint uh quarterly uh Williams complaint report and we had a report of three missed assignments

103that have been resolved thank you very much moving to item 13.1 presentation of new laws affecting Board of Education meetings Mr Ortega thank you uh board president uh Dr Beau tonight uh we have with us Mr Carlos Villegas who is going to be walking the Board of Education through two new bills the first one is assembly Bill 2449 which is going to change um the manner in which board members can attend a board meeting in a virtual setting and then also Senate Bill 1100 uh which uh has some new guidelines uh in terms of the board of educations uh powers and decision making in terms of how handling uh meeting uh disruptions uh so I'd like to uh turn it over to Mr Carlos Villegas thank you thank you Mr Ortega and good evening members

104of the board and cabinet and members of the public one question I have what's the easiest way for me to toggle the screen or can I just kind of give a signal okay great I'm going to move through this pretty quickly because I understand that the board is already received and reviewed the material so I'll go kind of quickly through this piece and then we can get into some questions if anybody has it I don't think the legislature has helped so I'll just kind of start there is that now we have this overlapping kind of three different sets of laws that potentially apply to remote and teleconferencing rules for the brown act so the traditional of the traditional setup was you had to have at least a quorum of the board physically in one place

105and then you had to post where you're going to participate in by remotely right so if you were for example on um on a river somewhere you would have to go out and post that and you'd have to invite members of the public to join the remote place with you some of the changes that you're going to see here first started in the middle of the pandemic with assembly Bill 361. and with that bill you were allowed to have virtual participation I understand the board did some of that during the pandemic but one of the requirements was that the board had to make factual findings every 30 days to justify the remote meetings and there had to be a proclaimed state of emergency right and so we had that state of emergency that was proclaimed

106by Governor Newsom but that state of emergency C is going to expire on February 28th so ab361 I even though it's going to technically be in the law for a little bit longer I don't think it's really going to have any bearing for Azusa or any other boards that we work with okay which brings us to ab2449 which is the recent Brown act teleconferencing rule that was just passed it's really a hybrid model of both physical and remote attendance you'll notice some of the requirements are are similar you still have to have a quorum of members participating in person from a single physical location that's identified on the agenda there's more information about that in the news flash that I believe was also provided to all the board members and some of the other requirements

107for ab2449 is that if you have that physical attendance Quorum meaning three members of the board are actually here in person then a member May request virtual attendance at the board meeting under two circumstances either just cause or emergency circumstances or just cause I have a kind of a list here of factors that are from the statute I won't go won't go through them in particular but it's kind of all kinds of different family situations that may arise for for board members go to the next one here now when a board member is requesting to participate remotely under the just cause exception they have to notify the board at the earliest opportunity including at the start of the meeting and they have to provide a general description of the circumstances and they can only use

108that exception up for two meetings for the calendar year one little wrinkle that that we're kind of keeping an eye on and let me just take a step back because this is a new law and I mean brand new there's no case law on it there's not a lot of interpretation about it we're going to have to figure out how all these things are going to fit together but I know one issue that has come up is whether or not just cause requires a board action when I look at the statute I don't see the same language that is used for the other exception which is emergency circumstances so I think the conservative approach would probably be to have the board take action to improve either request whether it's just cause or emergency circumstances but

109I wanted to point out that the legislature did use slightly different language when talking about this exception as we roll into the emergency circumstances this is the physical or Family Medical Emergency that prevents a member from attending in person some of the requirements are still the same the board member has to make that request to allow the the member to meet remotely it has to provide a general description and and make that request as soon as possible the brown act does use specific language that says requests to participate remotely under emergency circumstances it says the board must take action so that part is a little bit more clear but that action really has to be taken at the beginning and if it doesn't allow sufficient time to be placed on the agenda then the board

110may act at the beginning of the meeting and I'll go to the next one now before any action let's say that you're you are participating remotely under ab2449 so I'm going to get a little bit more into the Practical slow down just so some of this resonates here but if you're participating remotely under ab2449 before any action is taken you must publicly disclose whether any individuals 18 or older are present in the room at the remote location and the relationship between you and so this is just something to keep in mind there has to be at least a statement if you have family in the background somebody's over 18 you could say we have a couple family members here and and you can proceed I don't believe this was intended to apply to children so

111just keep that in mind the member who's participating remotely must also participate through both audio and visual so they must have the ability to go two-way you can see them and they can hear you I understand that you can't turn your camera off if you're participating remotely that is a requirement so they have to be able to see that you're doing that the the number of times you're allowed to do this under the emergency circumstances is set up on a kind of a different time frame can't be more than three consecutive months or 20 of the regular meetings for the board though the board meets fewer than 10 times only for two meetings if these issues arise please work at the superintendent and uh superintendent may get our feedback just on which particular scheme is

112going to apply in that situation all right so uh traditional kind of requirements for these virtual meetings notice agenda and public access the difference between traditional teleconferencing rules and I talked about that example if you're on a river somewhere you have to post it you don't need to post your location um for teleconferencing under ab2449 and the public access only needs to be assured here at say a Core Physical location where the majority of the board is going to be everything else really is is largely the same under the brown Act and we talked a little bit about the two-way audio visual so I won't belabor that point um and then on public comment board boards prohibited from requiring public comments to be submitted in advance to the meeting and specifies that the board must

113provide an opportunity for the public to address the board and offer comment in real time so just keep that in mind I don't think that's an issue here that we're tackling but I want the board to be aware of it now if you are participating remotely and at some point you your internet goes down we lose you something happens with the broadcasting we have to restore that broadcast and we don't want to take any action while that there's a disruption in the service so just keep in mind if you do take action while somebody their internet went out that that action that you take could be subject to challenge all right so we tried to in in one slide or so try to kind of weave together how these different laws are going to apply

114um I think the the most important thing really is to focus on the second bullet point here because we're going to get to the end of February here pretty soon after that you're going to be looking at Just ab2449 In traditional Brown act teleconferencing rules and after January 1 2026 ab2449 will also be gone and then I think we're going to Veer just back to good old-fashioned Brown act um for what it's worth all right I think these will help the board as well the Practical considerations for ab2449 you want to make sure that you're coordinating so there really has going to be some communication and I think the safest way to communicate with the superintendent if you're anticipating that you're not going to be at the board meeting the superintendent is going to need

115to make sure that we have number one a quorum so that you guys can actually conduct business and then once you get the Quorum then we can kind of figure out who potentially may need to participate remotely so that is going to put I think an administrative obligation to figure out and keep track of these folks um and then we have to keep in mind what circumstances being used is this emergency circumstance or is this just caused and there's going to have to be a little bit of a balancing in theory the board is there it has to take action on requests for emergency circumstances and so um the board is going to have to kind of hear probably more than it needs to hear because there needs to be a general description of what

116the circumstances are I think we can move to the next one all right we talked about administrative support and record keeping and the you know which more board members have requested to appear remotely how many times has this occurred and what was the basis for for doing that okay I think we can move on all right disruptive meetings I think this uh please Carlos before you move on to SB 1100 um just I I have uh just a question uh I know it's in here but just so we all hear it so uh I have an emergency um more president uh finds out about it or I find out about it that vote does not have to be agendized if the board member who's calling Under the emergency um calls us at 4 pm the

117day of the board meeting yeah and I think because the statute allows for the request to be made at the beginning of the board meeting I there's no way that the board could properly agendaize that because I think you're relatively safe doing that but I do think that conversation needs to happen right at the beginning so it's communicated to the public and it's completely transparent all right so we were getting to some practical uh or actually SB SB 1100 disruptive meetings I think this largely came out of um some of the things that we were seeing at board meetings during the pandemic but this allows the presiding member of the board to remove or cause the removal of an individual for disrupting a public meeting if they choose to remove an individual then there's a

118section of the brown which requires a presiding member to warn the individual their disruptive behavior and the consequence of potential removal and if they don't promptly stop then the individual can be removed um with all with all Candor this is going to come up every once and again I don't see it very often at all and even though you have this new law that says you can remove disruptive members in my mind the process for dealing with disruptions in board meetings is largely stays the same I think through good communication with the public through support of our partners whether it's you know folks on campus whether it's law enforcement I think you guys will be able to navigate those situations but know that you do have a new tool at your disposal to potentially remove

119folks from the room we could go to the next slide what is the disruption what would actually qualify to be removed you have to engage in behavior during the meeting that actually disrupts disturbs impedes or renders infeasible the conduct of the meeting my focus is on actually so if somebody comes in they're making a scene but the meeting is going to go on and at some point they are no longer disruptive I think in in that instance they are not no longer actually disrupting the meeting and I'll give you another example um and my mom was in CTA for a long long time and so CTA would like to come and they'll wear wear t-shirts and they'll support a certain position for the bargaining unit that's not necessarily an actual disruption can the board still

120proceed even though there's people wearing a certain color T-shirt absolutely I don't think that would be an actual disruption so just focus on is there something preventing the board from doing its business if there is this makes this statute may come into place um one other thing we should just mention because I think it is important uh apart from failing to comply with reasonable and lawful board regulations there's behavior that constitutes the use of force or a true threat of force I think if anything that would be the focus where if you know as a board member if something like that is occurring then you may need to have somebody removed can I ask you a question at this time this is Yolanda um so what about if someone is speaking and they're using file

121language is that disrupting disruption I think if they're yelling over the board and the board cannot call for a vote the board cannot conduct business no I mean like if you're just talking or speaking on Whatever item it is and but they're using cuss words because I think about us you know we have children watching our meetings and we have parents watching our meetings you know I'm not saying it's different than any other but because we are the board of education at school is that I mean can the what president stop that person is that considered I don't think that it actually disrupting the conduct of the meeting I think it's offensive I think it probably violates some of your other policies but under this new SB 1100 I don't think that by itself like

122for example I mean just to be um to use your example if I dropped an F-bomb somewhere in the middle of my presentation be wildly inappropriate but I don't think it would disrupt the conduct of this meeting but can we kick you up uh yes yes ma'am anytime I serve at the pleasure of the board so I think the the focus in my mind is is going to be on that use of force or threat of their use of force good and if someone's like a personalizing someone a use of threat right if you're like you know saying you know what remember Rodriguez Tanya you're whatever is that you know because they're calling out a person a a certain Ward member sure and I would I would suspect that this comes up often yeah you

123you are you know all for the most part experienced board members you've seen a lot and so my thought is it's not intended to prevent public criticism so somebody says I really don't agree with the votes you took I don't agree with those issues to me that's fair game you're elected officials that's that's part of what we signed up for and kind of putting ourselves out there um if it is a personal attack that makes you fear for your safety makes you not want to walk to your car to leave then I think we're getting into something else and so I think the way to think about it in my mind is as public officials as public employees you've put yourself out there to a certain amount of public criticism and there are specific laws

124that prevent the board from trying to prohibit public criticism but I think when you when you cross the line from good old-fashioned criticism to now something that is threatening now I think the presiding member of the board is entitled to remove you if that's the case okay all right so and one last thing no warning is required and I think that to me is not entirely consistent with the other piece about telling them that they need to the that they're going to have to be removed but I think here's the here's the difference right it's the true threat of force so I think for something like that you don't need to kind of go through a process there's a true thread for the force there's a sufficient indicia of intent and seriousness um and what

125does that mean we can unpack that at a separate governance training but I think if you think the threat is real then um you're entitled to remove that person okay um I think at the end of the day the way that you guys normally conduct business in terms of disruptive persons is probably going to hold true for you it's probably going to still work um so we do have another news flash on that particular topic and I think that brings me to the end so if any questions I was watching my watch here so try to bring it in time are there any questions or comments from the board thank you Carlos appreciate it of course thank you moving to item 13.2 approval of resolution 22 23 18 release or reassignment of certificated administrators is

126there a motion motion to approve 13.2 and is there a second moved and seconded any discussion seeing none will call for a vote the motion passes moving to item 13.3 resolution 22 23 20 reduction or discontinuance of certificated particular kinds of services is there a motion motion to approve 13.1 13.3 and is there a second second moved and seconded is there any discussion yes my only discussion is I would like answers to the the questions that I asked Mr Ortega in our next packet please thank you any further discussion all right move to a vote and the motion passes three to one moving to item 13.4 resolution 22 23 24 to decrease the number of classified employees due to a lack of work and or a lack of funds is there a motion motion to

127approve 13.4 and is there a second second moved and seconded is there any discussion seeing none we'll call for a vote and the motion passes moving to item 13.5 resolution 22 23 19 release of temporary certificated employees is there a motion make a motion to approve and a second something moved and seconded any discussion seeing nine will call for a vote and the motion passes 13.6 20 resolution 22 23 23 to establish a facilities advisory committee and appoint committee members is there a motion make a motion to approve 13.6 second moved and seconded any discussion seeing nine will move to a vote and the motion passes moving on to item 14.1 acceptance of the 2122 District audit report Mr Mall thank you um good evening Dr Beau and fellow board members and cabinet it was

128my honor to introduce you all to miss garima our auditor from harshall this is our first year with this Audi firm and she will give you a brief overview of our audit report thank you thank you everyone respected board members and cabinet I am garima representing harshwal and Company as mentioned we are auditing for the first year and uh I before I start I would like to thank Latasha Shannon who has cooperated Us in the audit first year is always tricky but we got enough cooperation from your team members and uh we are glad to inform about the results so I'll take you to page number and I can I will let you know all the results so summary of auditor result is unmodified opinion unmodified opinion is a clean opinion which means there is

129no finding internal control over financial reporting no material weakness identified non-significant deficiencies were identified and there was no non-compliance material to financial statement noted for federal Awards internal control over major programs no material weakness significant efficiency none reported and our audit opinion was clean unmodified opinion on the state Awards we have a modified opinion again the clean opinion no findings material weakness no material weakness were identified no significant deficiencies were identified we have also conducted a performance audit which was in accordance with applicable standard containing government auditing standards I'm happy to let you know that district is in compliance with performance requirement as reflected in Proposition 39 outlined in Article 13 a and our results our test results indicated that the district expanded building fund major K only for project approved by voters in accordance

130with uh preposition 39. so yes I am so happy to announce that we have a clean opinion clean audit this year and over to you and open the floor for the questions thank you board members are there any questions for our audit representative congratulations Mr mall and your entire department thank you um this is an action item is there a motion for 14.1 acceptance of the 2122 District audit report make a motion to approve 14.1 second moved and seconded being no discussion will move to a vote and the motion passes this brings us to item 15.1 adjournment is there a motion motion two approve 15 Point second moved and seconded we'll move to a vote thank you our meeting is adjourned at 9 31. have a great evening