001and have their own own own supplies and in a different type of soft software the teachers are going to used in order to to teach their cost effectively so I just want to thank the teachers that were there and because I know that they're on vacation but they took the time to work together to come out and speak on each whichever they were the music teacher the paintings dimension and singing and art so I want to thank the coach Heather and dr. Dana Mitchell also for facilitating that I also went to the ad hoc committee meeting what the city was souza which with Mayor Gonzales and the continum member Alvarez and city manager Gonzales superintendent Ortega ward member adrianel and myself we are in the despair hoc committee the discussion was very productive one of
002the concerns that they had and and we do meet to state concerns but also to know about the great things that are going on in Azusa Unified and also within the city and how we can work together to make things happen the they were concerned about the peach jar they said that their attendance has gone low in maybe in the sports program so they have a conversation regarding about you know how can they do Flyers like the old days so mr. daga Austin Ortega says that he will discuss that what things get back to normal whatever that means with with the city manager and also we were we were starting to meet quarterly but because of the pandemic and all these things changed like me seems like day to day or week to week we
003are going to meet monthly and and our next meeting is going to be in August so I'm going to thank again the city of Azusa for their partnership and the the reopening of school that imaginary team workshop it consisted of family community instructions operations safety and health in Sochi emotion you'll get five different rooms that you can go to and listen so I just wanted to again thank you one for their great ideas and I know they're all working very hard to be sure that you know the opening the school will be safe a safe environment for students and staff whichever model we'll use thank you and thank you board member Vania next step is board member Ariana's I have no comment at this time thank you okay thank you board member Greer good evening
004first of all I do want to formally welcome Superintendent Ortega to this this role in this disposition is his first official board meeting in this capacity so so welcome I'll just I'll just add on you know even even these past couple weeks prior prior to you formally being in this role I've just seen tremendous ways where you have engaged and brought in so many others and and I know I'm not the only person that I seen that and so just just just thank you I mean and you know excited and looking forward to to you in this role as superintendent congratulations do you want to report out I did hold a an online coffee I'm a couple weeks back and there were there were around 20 or so folks who were there and in attendance
005again it's my intention to do these monthly and there are a number of questions and concerns some of the things some of the thoughts and questions are in regards to items that we have today and so I'll bring up some of those some of those thoughts in line with them I know that Maria you were you were there as well and you shared some of those same concerns with with D lack and so thank you for sharing those on that you know forum thank you for sharing that here and I know that that staff has taken note and will look in to look into those those concerns was also like Yolanda shared was also a part of the ad hoc committee and there were a couple items that I would want to kind of share
006up from that we discussed one of them we talked about was just general Co vyd 19 planning and expectations and so of course as we've talked about here there are a number of things that we are waiting on to hear from the county to hear from the the state and and so we are still putting some plans and you know some some some menu of options and in place and without really knowing what that's going to look like superintendent Ortega will likely share out that there are some plans to discuss that and an upcoming board meeting what some of that could look like and so we shared some of these things at the ad hoc committee meeting and the city also shared some of the information that they have and we when we committed to
007to continuing to trade that information and see things as we see it in the city sharing what they see as we you know continue to work together as partners here in the community another thing that came up was the the school the old schoolhouse that was one of the the items that was on our agenda to discuss and if you were you know in attendance or viewed the last meeting you would notice that this item it's here again tonight it was on the last board agenda we tabled it to today's meeting and and engaged in conversation with ad-hoc committee there with the city and just kind of talked about and gave clarity to what this is and what this isn't I'll just I'll just kind of wait till we get to the item to share
008some additional commentary on that but we're able to give clarity and also communicate that we would be this item would be coming back again I'm today and it's here again today and so yeah just positive positive meeting just says as a board member Rodriguez pena shared positive meeting I'm just kind of talking through ways that we can you know continue to work together there was even conversation around looking ahead I should also note towards a meeting between the full meeting between the school board and the City Council but also recognized that now would be difficult consuming we're not even meeting together just just us and so it's something that we're going to continue to keep on on the agenda to talk about and hopefully be able to schedule as restrictions knees and and it becomes
009safe to do so last thing I'll just add mr. Rosales I know that you you shared and asked a couple questions just one point of clarification not sure if you Iraq you were talking about how mr. Baumer Ito has the you know the skill set and what not to be able to to meet some of those things so just a point of clarification that mr. Bomarito is not in that position that he he resigns step down from from the disposition and so that's that's that's what this consultant is coming in and doing and serving in mr. Morita's position for an interim period okay board member cruz-kun solace thank you I'll just be very brief because we are meeting it seems like every week just two things I just want to express my appreciation both for
010Meg subala and then Maria Thomas good enough for their job good honor for their comments one I really appreciate the comment about collaboration I think especially the labor management institute I've always been a big believer in in and collaborating focusing on student outcomes so I really look forward to seeing where that goes where we all are focused on not only student outcomes we're focusing on how do we how do we truly address inequities and I hope we can have a longer conversation about that today on the agenda as we address to talk about addressing systemic racism but I appreciate those comments because we need to all be working together and then and then in terms of the comments that Miss dummy's going on I gave I really appreciate highlighting the the English learners in our
011district and I'm looking forward to seeing the our plans that will include integrate both integrated and designated English language development and how we will be addressing those needs I also continue to be concerned and I and I repeatedly say I appreciate the the yeoman's work that everyone has done in the district but we do I think still have a significant number of students in our district that we're not well served by distance learning and so probably experience significant learning loss and/or you know so that that percentage that maybe never checked in and thinking about how do we really reach you students and looking at what that what group of students that is because I mean I haven't heard data about like what kind of student profile it is but I suspect that a lot of
012those worthy very sleep students from immigrant families who may feel disconnected and so I just really thinking about as we go back how do we prioritize those students and make sure that they're getting priority especially if we think about if we're going to have to make decisions about who gets to come back in person I think that's very important so again I want to express for appreciation for for that being raised in public comments okay thank you miss Cruz Gonzalez and I'd like to I am I have been a very big advocate of the United States military and our students joining and taking advantage of what they offers far as college and job training with that said I was processed out of the military after being assaulted for the best of the military I would
013like to put my voice out to our girls in our women dead and to everybody that we need to fix that situation we do not need people throwing it under the car under the rug I thought that went away when I was in and to have stepped forward and pushed for our girls to join the service and to hear that it is still going on bothers me to my core so I would like to apologize to anybody who listened to my advice and that he ended up in that situation and I would hope that we as a nation and as we push forward because this is one of the equalizing factors for some of our students so they can get a college education but you don't want to put your daughters in there to have
014them murdered without any investigation and it took an uproar to get any kind of investigation going so I hope we can move forward with this and I hope things get changed and taken care of but it takes people expressing using their voices so I'm sorry if I made everybody uncomfortable I just had to say that because I was such I was such an advocate so thank you and we will move on to comments and reports by cabinet and superintendent 7.1 comments and reports by student board member cabinet and superintendent president I'm going to pass at this point okay um mr. okay okay thank you a couple of things I just wanted to note last week I had the pleasure of meeting with mr. Fernandes the principal miss long and mr. Oyama for the who are
015the assistant principals and six students that are currently looking forward to their senior year this up-and-coming school year these students had expressed some concern around what's going on around our country in terms of black lives matter and some of the protests and I just want to say how impressed I was with these students they did an impeccable job of communicating their concerns their ideas and their gratitude around the the conversation and as I think about the the education of our students and as I think about the the skill sets that they're going to need it just gives me it gives me great pride to see that these the the communication skills of these students was was awesome and I just wanted to just show appreciation for that meeting with them just a couple of updates
016some of you might have been driving by Azusa High School or glass on high school and seen a lot of machinery and dirt we are moving forward with our field projects they are on schedule and so just happy to note that that is being currently being done we are also working on bleachers for both the Azusa high school and Glaceon high school gymnasiums as well and so that's work that's that's currently in motion and the bleachers are going to feature their school colors so I think that's gonna be that's gonna be pretty you look pretty sharp in terms of the reopening school imagination team again I want to thank the team members of that team that came together on Monday to look at some preliminary drafts in terms of implementation based on the guidelines and
017best practices that they had created at this point in time we do not have the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health guidelines in hand that has been long coming and we hope that we get that soon but we can no longer just sit and wait and so right now we are working on three distinct plans one plan that would put us in 100 percent distance learning if the guidelines come out and that is what we have to do we are also working on a hybrid learning plan which would be a mixture of students in person and students doing distance learning and of course working on a plan if we were to move forward with 100% of our students doing in-person learning those plans we look forward to bringing those at our next board meeting
018to dive into those plans for further conversation further feedback and further recommendations and then finally I also want to express my gratitude to mr. Greer mr. Langdon Rodriguez Pena who joined me with the at the ad hoc meeting the mayor the council member and the city manager it was a very productive positive meeting and like and I look forward to continuing those thank you okay have a quick question Jerry sure no problem um just a process question are through those so in terms of the the draft the draft for the project are you saying that I see a lot of districts that are offering all three options to their families so is that what you're saying or you're creating three different plans that we may implement it's a little bit of both where we're working
019on three distinct plans that we might interpret implement depending on the guidelines from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health but at the same time we we are working on a 100% distance learning option for parents that for whatever reason do not feel comfortable or don't want to send students to an in-person setting that is part of the big of the big picture in the big plan thank you and then my other question is in terms of timeline so so if this if the some draft some draft information is coming to us next week at our board meeting and what regardless of when the county comes out with their guidelines right our school schooling is is a month and a half away or less than that so do we have an internal timeline about
020maybe firming up some plans regardless of what the county puts out when they put it out yeah so the thought is that on July 14th depending on the conversation the feedback and the recommendations that we will move forward announcing to the community what it is based on the current guidelines that we have from the state and from the county our decision are moving forward of course that will be asterisks that all of that can change when the new guidelines come out so so we're kind of thinking that July 14th will dictate which route we go if it looks good and the feedback is minimum or the recommendations are small then we can move quicker if there are some major red flags or some major feedback or major recommendations and we'd have to work on that
021and come back with that so are we gonna get are we gonna get the the information like this Friday so we have the weekend to look it over okay Thank You superintendent I just have a question regarding me the work that is being done at the the two high schools I know I mentioned this before but I really would like to see a sign thanking the community because that is a measure K school on projects that are going on and and I think it'd be graded we thank the community for for tossing this this bond measure and let them know where their dollars are being spent yeah that's I think it's a great idea if I'm not mistaken I think we we probably somewhere and so definitely will if not we'll we'll work on getting
022that up at both do we already do we already have um posters from from before yes actually I just got confirmation that we do have those so it's just - it's just moving them there and putting them up great thank you absolutely and I I agree with board member Yolanda right rodriguez opinion thank you okay well then we'll move on to report it item e points your important action of closed session matters there is nothing to report and then we will move to general functions 9.0 and I won approval approve amendment to the contract for assistant superintendent Human Resources I make a motion to approve 9.1 so I can spice up a motion by court member Rodriguez opinion and seconded by board member Greer do we have any comments questions please have an explanation on
023that please sure yep so this action item is to extend mr. Ruggles who's currently serves as the assistant superinten of Human Resources just a term of the contract by two years this is there are no other changes to the contract just the two years in extension of two years thank you okay any other others yeah I just want to say mr. Onkyo being able to work with you just it's it's it's been a you know pleasure and you know there haven't always been you know do they make the nature of your role there there it's not always pleasant content and pleasant conversations that are there you know having to happen but there's certainly a degree of professionalism that you consistently engage in those conversations with and so just want to say thank you thank you
024for that and thank you for your service to the district or your continued service to the district I should say thank you okay go ahead and vote passes 5-0 and then we will move on to item nine point to approve public assistant superintendent of education services motion to approve nine point two thank you sir okay Mochan motioned by board member Ariana's seconded by board member yeah do we have discussion I just wanted it over what makes avala said mm-hmm thank you can I see something so I just want to say I mean I I will support this I am like with our through this contract my preference would have been to do a search I think some of these positions a very high profile but I think as board members we all understand that really
025the one employee that we actually hire is the board is a superintendent and really the assistant superintendents who they are really are the purview of the superintendent so out of respect for that I will be supporting this this decision I mean it we've got a burger regardless of all that I mean dana has done an exceptional job as an exceptional person but I do just want to put it out publicly that I do think for these type of high profile positions the best practice is to do a search thank you any other comments yeah I also want to ditto what what remember Rodriguez Pena said as she was doing Meg so Bella's comment as well and same kind of thing you know of there there are there are a couple you know a handful of
026employees here within the district and Dana may be at the top of that list where as I go around different places I get stopped in in hallways and I get phone calls I get text messages and emails just simply praising but just the work that you know that there are the of some of our employees and Danny you're at the top of list you're you're you're leaving the pack in regards to the number of just reach outs that I've had and so just grateful for the work that you've done under your purview and I am definitely in support of of seeing you as our next assistant superintendent of ed services any other comments I would like to go ahead and think Dana for the work that she has done you know it's a principle it's
027Lawson and the director of education services and just that the warm smile and just how she is with employees and you know just that she reaches out to everybody like what board member a drinker said and board member Rodriguez Pena and Mae said I I think yes we you know we are the ones that are the ones that hire the superintendent but I do I do agree at this time with the choice that the superintendent mr. Ortega has decided she's the best fit for that position and miss Tina Mitchell I know that you will do this district proud and you are committed and I thank you for that okay and I'd like to hop on this pig pile of appreciation for Dana Mitchell and I remember going to PLC training in San Diego and she
028held my hand and if that is any clue of what kind of leader she is then we are in great shape I just I really appreciate Deana thank you and congratulations all right let's go ahead and vote and passes 5-0 and then we will move on to 9.3 approve assistant superintendent education services contract motion to approve 9.3 second okay motion by bard member Rodriguez pinions seconded by member Greer stations questions is there I know that this happens with a superintendent contract is there a need to read aspects of this contract out or does that is that not the case where assistant superintendent just that's because we hire the superintendent sorry just clarifying thank you alrighty so we can go ahead and vote and 5-0 passes by 5-0 and then we'll move on to item 9
029point 4 resolution number 20 2101 exempting the old schoolhouse project from city of Azusa zoning they're usually we let the d person speak oh I'm sorry we'll go ahead I'm sorry I'm sorry Dana good evening president Bibles vogel members of the board superintendent ortega and cabinet I am equally humbled and grateful for the opportunity to serve as assistant superintendent of education services since joining as you see unified in 2007 I have had the privilege of working and learning with and from not only our teachers are classified support staff and administrators but also from her students their families and our azusa community I am especially grateful for the ways in which every single one of them have worked along the way with me to help grow me and build my capacity as an educator I am
030committed to serving the students the families the community through collaborative practices as well as a commitment to ensure an equitable and accessible learning environment for all of our learners through continuous improvement I would like to thank the board for this opportunity to serve my family for their unwavering support that enables me to do this work that is so important to me personally and professionally and to our superintendent ortega for his mentoring in his leadership I thank you all so very much Thank You Dana all right congratulations all right now we'll move on to item for point 9.4 resolution 2021 a something old schoolhouse project from city of Azusa zoning I moved to approve okay do I have a second they approved by move moved by board member Greer seconded by board member Rodriguez opinion any
031discussion yes as I mentioned a little earlier in in some of my comments and just giving clarity about what this is and what this isn't and miss Ortega would love you to also I'm a down after was clear to kind of talk about how this you know taking this step what this does this is not a step making a decision one way or another as to what is going to happen with the the schoolhouse this is this is just a a step to recognize that something needs to happen with the schoolhouse and any one who's been around you know the community long enough and has driven you know around that corner knows that that schoolhouse is there and it has been there for quite some time and and we need to do something and so
032there there will be future conversations and future meetings where that something will be discussed and we have certainly you know invited the the city to be partners and then in conversation for them to share suggestions and ideas of you know how we might be able to partner in in that but one way or another this is just the district ticking is taking the initial steps to keep options open this in no way restricts options or limits options as to what we are going to do next and last thing I'll say is just remind that we did you know a data as out of courtesy table it to this meeting and again let them know that we are talking about it here and and communicated what this means and what this doesn't mean so just want
033to make sure that was clear here as we're gonna be moving okay so I'm sorry go ahead thank you yeah I just want to say that I know this discussion is not new when I came in in 2011 we've been talking about what are we gonna do with this house but it seems like board members change and decisions change but it's really started since 2005 15 years ago that they really started talking about and have a timeline on what has been happening so distant just happened like today with this board it's been ongoing and and I do feel that you know it is time that we need to have this it's a very important discussion I know to the community and also to us but I think that we really just we I think we
034we reached our peak in England or forward thank you any other comments alrighty so we'll go ahead and vote [Music] and it passes 5-0 and then we will move on to item 9.5 approved consultant Colleen Patterson resolution 2020 102 do I have a motion I make a motion to approve I second motion by group board member cruz gonzales seconded by board member Ariana's any discussion or kinga please explain Claire for sure Mike it was Ted stated earlier by mr. Greer mr. Bommarito has accepted a position in another district we currently have that position being flown and going through a looking forward to going through a process for filling that position and if everything goes the way it's planned we look forward to bringing a recommendation to the Board of Education at our board meeting on
035August 4th I believe is the is the date of that board meeting in the meanwhile in the absence of mr. Bomarito and in the in the time that we're going through that process which again at this point in time we're looking at less than a month Colleen Patterson would serve as a as an interim but not as an interim in terms of someone who's at the office or someone who's you know eight hours a day every day but serve on on high leverage matters presentations reports sounding boards feedback those kinds of things mr. Patterson I come to find out has served in his capacity for azusa twice before and so she has she has some some knowledge of Azusa and that that really gets us moving because she already has that kind of recognition so
036that's what this is this is for this is just to get her services to get us to that August 4th board meeting this is Jerry frozen are you old enjoy I think she's frozen can we vote she's probably some Java di let do you mind taking over until she gets back yes ma'am we can go ahead and is there is there any more comments no as I see there's no more common so we can go ahead and vote you know I think it's because we're gonna go into voting I think it's really important that someone reach out reach out to let's see here she back no she logged off okay if we she may still be able to vote okay I want to be able to give her that opportunity Adrian do you mind reaching
037out to calling her sure she says her whole computer is frozen okay we have the majority we can actually go ahead and continue going are you guys comfortable with that um board yes okay let's go ahead and cast our votes I see we did it yes can we yeah no I think everyone said it but Jerry but Kim again can we close the voting and then I just want to suggest that someone asked Jerry to Colin via phone for computers down maybe eight I think Adrian's already doing that yes okay so it passes a four out of four and we'll go ahead and move on to the next item and I think we should wait or she's calling in she's calling you now she wanted to be part of this though so Lika she'll show
038up in the likely show up in the attendees at it I'm watching Bert you can go ahead and get started Oh minutes you could go ahead and try what are you guys okay with that yes this is nine point six this is addressing systemic racism and I'm gonna go ahead and this is recommended that the Board of Education begin a discussion on addressing systemic racism and discussion on systemic racism will help begin and shape explicit steps that the district can take to address support and build capacity among staff students and community would anyone like to it start you know if it's okay with the board I just like to kind of open up just with a little bit kind of give you some information on some of the things that have sprung up around not
039only staff but also in terms of professional learning if that's okay okay I'm back okay okay really okay so we just started at nine point six and superintendent Arturo Artega is going to go ahead and begin meeting back over to you thank you so very much board member aria and thank you mr. Ortega go forth so at this point in time I'd like to turn it over to a mr. drug deal who will share a couple of a couple of items in this in this topic do you mean or members cabinet and community I want to also start off by stating that you recently started the conversation with our association the earth about a very important topic of systemic racism implicit bias and as they relate to the Unified School District and us perfect by
040the way background the Association leaders and several board members participated in the labor management institute LMI who referred to it a couple times in this meeting that took place on June 23rd and June 24th there was a keynote speaker on a day two of the out of my presentation a gentleman by the name of dr. Fedorovna Gura now Dean of USC School of Education dr. nagura discussed generally how districts and labor partners could respond to the pandemic but he also discussed the barriers to education which really struck in accord with many of us in attended and he variably include issues related to complacency implicit racism and other beliefs affected other beliefs by adults that affect student learning outcome as soon as representation was remembered from ata aka the Management Association of ESEA mcpeck said earlier
041board members the know the commitment at this LMI to really continue the conversation because that lots of events many different conferences and while there is good thought that happens at this at the event itself very few and very seldomly does that conversation continue on so under the leadership of potato there was really an intentional effort to continue that conversation and there was a commitment from labor partners to continue this discussion specifically around a topic of implicit bias we agreed to meet regularly and actually built on a regularly scheduled mean that we already had we had our first meeting on June 30th so just a week after starting the LMI process we were already engaged in the conversation and we've already started talking about the important topics that really need to start address or addressing issues
042related to training having these conversations really identifying groups of individuals who should be in these conversations so that we could start really start growing the capacity of all of our self and I look forward to continuing this conversation here and hearing from the board what the next step are for us to continue this important work thank you okay like to turn it over to miss Mitchell Thank You superintendent ortega i would like to quickly share three items with the board and wellness topic the first one is that as we are working to develop our professional learning plan around again continuing student success drivers continuing to take a look at equity in terms of our instructional program making sure that of course all of our curriculum and instruction is aligned to rigorous grade level standards one
043of the pieces of the professional learning plan that we are developing supports culturally responsive pedagogy and when we take a culturally responsive stance this is one of the ways in which we build inclusivity in our learning community the second item I want to share is that last year part of the board strategic plan one of the items we did some listening circles and so we are going to continue with our student listening circles in the coming year and we're also going to expand that with middle school and we're also looking at elementary as well we find that to be a very important piece again student voice right it's extremely important and then the third piece I'm excited to share is the work that mr. creoles office was doing last year very exciting work around restorative
044practices and peer mediation through the partnership with the Western Justice Center and so this year is a Phase two and he will be working with other sites and doing some training with that but there was a lot of really awesome things that came out of that in terms of that peer mediation and so we are excited to continue to practice or continue the partnership with the Western Justice Center and continue that practice thank you so in no way shape or form right this is the beginning of a discussion but I am thankful to our labor partners that they have demonstrated a commitment to this a commitment to to training a commitment to having conversations and a commitment to a frequent meetings this doesn't kind of fall through the wayside so I'm very very happy about
045that and I'm just again thankful that that we were able to have those initial conversations building off of the owl in my experience and continue with that and so now we have a regularly scheduled meeting - to take this on and then also thankful to miss Mitchell as we continue to think about our own professional learning whether that's math whether that's rigor whether that arts in a distance learning matter how do we bring in some of these these topics to infuse into those into those tools professional learning opportunities so thank you for that I like mr. bronchial said I look forward to to listening and to learning during this conversation okay and I would just like to say mention is a Loza because I am so impressed with that young lady at Gladstone high school
046and her peers and stepping forward and asking hard questions of us her leaders I I cannot no words can explain how proud I am of those students so everybody else does anybody have comments questions yes on the listening circles I would like to include different students and hold the listening circles maybe every month see you're able to to get more students and not just the same students all the time you know to give all the students an opportunity if they want of course to be included and not just select a certain category because then those are the only kids that come I like you open it to to as many students as we can does anybody else have any comments or questions yes yes oh my my hand thing I'm sorry okay no worries I'll
047go ahead and start effects okay I was I would like to go ahead and explore and you know have a deep conversation about ethnic studies I think that goes hand-in-hand with on you know with what we're talking about I do appreciate you know Oh Dana Mitchell that the culture response the listening circles at all levels I do appreciate you know that expansion and the Western Justice Center but that that's only you know I wanted I want to be something more so I want to go ahead and open it up to you know for open for discussion about ethnic studies to my fellow board members and board member Grier had something to say in so did board member Cruz Gonzales would you like to discuss ethnic studies now or would you prefer to wait everybody comment
048and then we'll move from there you're called all right I'm gonna go ahead and let everybody comment so board member group go ahead thank you a few things that I'd like to say on this particular item I have over the past number of years had the tremendous yet laborious burden of having an important and needed burden of having some of these types of conversations in a number of different contexts and settings and have found that the these types conversations are oftentimes difficult especially when engaging a topic when though everyone sees the world they don't see it they don't all see it the same way and so it becomes it becomes difficult and extremely challenging when trying to communicate realities that are experienced by vast madeand are communicated or those individuals are told that that's not
049a reality and that it's made up and and that's and so that becomes difficult I have have had the burden of talking about the difference between that the argument tends to be non racist versus racist and you will often times have people who want to have that conversation and that's where you oftentimes have people pointing to specific examples or connections or relationships to try to prove that they that they fit into the non racist category but the the conversation that I have been able to lead other other groups in and that I would love to see us have is continuing to ask ourselves not not whether we are racist or non racist but how we can be actively anti-racist in our approaches and in our practices and and that requires us to look under rugs
050and open up closets and and recognize that there are that there are likely practices that are in place that maybe seem like a you know great and incredible practices at the time but as as things have played out being able to look at them and recognize how they have how it it may have or in some instances certainly has you know created barriers to access and so so this is a needed conversation and it's to be and I'm grateful that we're talking about it being the beginning of a conversation Sheila nee and I want to thank you for being somebody who who initiated and brought it up I guess again I said this a little bit at the last meeting and I'll confess that because I tend to have these conversations I'm used to being
051that guy who brings these kinds of things up and so thank you for for your courage to bring it here and just just into the rest of the board their support to have the conversation and staff and labor partners for for you know being committed to the to the process and having the conversation we all know that as a result of the murder of George Floyd that that is what kind of brought our nation and so many different entities within our nation to kind of look at and and have some of these questions and have some of these conversations and and I think that that is you know one of the ways that we can look at something you know how can we what are things that we can do here within our sphere of
052influence for that not to be in a I hate to say death in vain because they I mean it was it was a senseless and you know act but but to think that there is still some some purpose that can come out of such a horrific you know the things that we saw take place and to be clear that that that that was the final one that brought things about but but but there are there is a history that goes back decades and centuries of you know of these types of behaviors and so I'm grateful that we're having this conversation last thing I'll say is not not trying to get too political but I know that more recently there was some some comments that were made around you know schools and what schools teach and
053and and you know you know how are it being suggested that that things are taught within our schools to make our you know students hate this country and hate the country of the United States I just got last week I took some time off and I drove up near Yosemite and on my way back from Yosemite one of the things that I drove by as a going up and and and back was the Manzanar I mean if you've never been to Manzanar it is a Japanese it's it's a you know at this point it's a national you know monument but but but you can go there you can see that there's an aged apon 'yes internment camp and so I've been there and I've taken my daughter and we've gone and so to look at
054that and experience that and I think that those kinds of things are needed and necessary not as a as a means of point - and making people hate this this nation but that it's extremely important that we that we have these kinds of conversations and that the truth the true real actual history of things are taught because if history isn't taught then history tends to repeat itself and so it's important that we that we don't shy away from these difficult conversations and hide from the realities of you know and the blemishes and the bruises and the wounds that the nation has caused and and I believe me personally that that does not make us you know anti-patriotic but one of the most patriotic things that we can do is look within our nation and ask
055ourselves how can we grow and how can we you know continue to build a more perfect union which suggests that we were never there and we may never arrive but we will continue to strive for that and so within this sphere within the Zeus Unified School District I just want to say that I'm grateful that we are beginning this conversation thank you um thank you and I think I can just take you back on and what Adrienne said because I think especially the part about how it's really important how we have to be anti-racist straight and we have to really be proactive OMA about these issues and not just just not be complacent and say okay well that's not me so I can I can ignore it right um I think there was a great
056tweet that CTA put out I'm saying that you're either a anti-racist or a racist right there's no in-between I think maybe that's a little extreme but I think that just sort of sort of highlights you know where we are and if we really want to see change we have to be active about addressing systemic racism and it's hard I mean it's hard to even say the word sometimes and people it gets people's hackles up and they sort of - now and so I think that's and that's part of the reason why I as a you know as one of the five of us I didn't just come and bring a resolution and say okay let's to pass this resolution and because what I really don't want is whatever we're doing to be not being meaningful
057and just be a piece of paper that we pass something and we feel good and Pat herself in the back so there's a couple pieces that I was hoping that we could work on and whether it's whether it becomes part of our district priorities and or a resolution and or maybe our district priorities and I think I really appreciate what Jorge and Dana just talked about because and and Gabriela because those are the pieces that I actually wanted to highlight and there's a couple pieces that I want us to that I'm hoping that we can focus on as a district and they've been hit on right so for example the unconscious bias piece right I think it's really important I would hope that I hope that we can move towards having a a systemic approach
058to how we do that how we are training that and so it's not like hit or miss and we're using this consultant or that person to do it but really have like really have a create a common understanding of how we're going to approach I'm those unconscious biases or microaggressions and that we all have right I think I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but I've gone through training in and the best training I've gone through the guy he starts actually with the science and you said everyone has biases right there's only two requirements that biases one is to have a brain and to be part of society and so that's all of us and so so I think it's really important for us to maybe to really be thoughtful about what a push
059we're going to take and make sure that it's systemic when it comes to the kind of training I just also wanted to add that I've heard really great things about the CTA training they offer free unconscious bias training to districts but they have to be invited by the local unit right so we can't we can't reach out to them and say we want you to come in that has to actually come from our from our teachers association so I wanted to put that on the table too because that's also free so that that's one pieces around is around this how you know training unconscious bias and I really feel like that has to be at the very beginning because if you don't if you don't become conscious of what that is it's very hard to
060do these other systemic pieces and make changes because culture really drives a lot of our interaction so that's that's number one I - Adrienne's point I would like us to see I'm dig and being much more intentional about how we look at data and be more explicit about things so for example you know when we looked at our our cached data right if you look at our cache seat and you pull it apart and you pull apart low-income versus nominal income so kids I'm very reduced and not and you look compared our african-american and Latino student outcomes compared to our white and Asian outcomes even with the kids that are non low-income right and so these are these are people that are living middle-class lives or better there's a big gap between our Latino and
061black students especially african-american students and our Asian and white students and so we as a as a we as a district at to have the courage to say why we have to confront the data that we have that we have and make sure that we're looking at it and have real conversations about why is this happening and what do we need to do to change to address it so that's that's number two I think it's really important for us to be more intentional about how we look at our data to drive decision-making and then the last piece that I really hoped that I wanted to address and Gabriella brought it up is this idea of and gain I really about how does our curriculum and our pedagogy how is that supporting creating creating a culturally
062responsive framework right and and I really feel like I I would like to see it be the bedrock of the work we do not just an add-on right and so that so I think that's really important I think we can look at some examples around the state and I think we have a great start with our current ethnic studies class I would love to see how do we expand that and make it you know maybe expand access to that there's some great examples across the state where district where places have had a freshman English ethnic studies course right so all kids are getting it and they're getting it early in their high school career not the lives they're walking out the door um so I think that's something to consider that the Tucson program that
063that's very well-respected right that I think nationally that day that's what they started with so some something for us to think about and even beyond that I think that we see some great examples across the state where districts are doing ethnic studies Kate k12 so I would point to both Ventura and San Mateo Foster City as school districts who are trying to experiment with bringing in ethnic studies into the elementary school so whether you call it ethnic studies or you call it culturally responsive pedagogy I think these are all connected in terms of not only how we teach kids about what we teach kids so those are really the three big buckets that I hope that we as a district address and I'm hoping that we can come out maybe working to the staff or
064a couple board members come up with a resolution that we can pass it sort of puts these out there set some benchmarks and deadlines for us and and some pieces for us to look at that we can that we could adopt as a board so that so that we know that not only does work meaningful but that we're committed to to seeing things happen I asked the the the name of the second district that you mentioned right now Ventura and what was the other one it's a bit area I think it's a Matteo Foster City School District it's an elementary school district I need it I think that's the one that says and then these are actually I mean those are districts that are very early in stages and implementing cake Elementary ethnic studies but
065they're but I just point them out because there already is some work that has been done that we could look to um I'd like to state they you London I came from a different era to where we've seen the growth everything expand and then everything closed up again and the awareness that our children I see we wouldn't even be having this discussion if things hadn't changed and things hadn't grown and we need this discussion and to see our students just feeling comfortable enough to throw it at us makes a big difference to me and I mean things were the way we were raised in the norms that we had growing up and like you said Yolanda can verify we're so much different than they are now so things have gone forward but I'm glad to
066see because everybody kept putting band-aids and band-aids and band-aids that that it broke and now we have to fix it and I think that is absolutely awesome and I encourage Penix Studies because you don't know you can't form your future if you don't know your past if you don't and history books change to actually be true because I do understand the history books don't have it's written by white males so to adjust how we write our history books and we don't have responsibility for that we're going to have to push for that kind of thing but I agree in Yolanda I'm sorry I stepped on you please go right ahead that's fine yes I didn't want to say and that's very true we were marching back in 1968 52 years ago for for the same
067thing they were marching now for justice you know and it is sad because you know it it's true what she said it's like we're going back in the 60s that's right how I feel you know how we grew up in our schools and how we grew up and you know with police brutality and with racism in the schools and so forth but it is sad that that we're seeing the same thing happening and I think what we need to really take a very good look at is our curriculum when we adopt our books especially for history we need to take a look at those in and see our are we teaching our children the right thing are we teaching our students the truth what are we teaching them I also feel well with ethnic studies
068it's really important that the students in Latino culture know their culture why why taking Latino study classes I do notice that when we have the open houses were the eighth grade students going into high school and they have all the things that they're shown in the schools you know the band and in the Junior ROTC and so forth I never see a table there from for ethnic studies how do parents know that that that constantly announcer here this is a unified or how did the students know that we're offering it and and what are we offering also I think the students also um they need to know their own their own culture I know because you know some things I know that I was taught I don't even use it anymore I mean honestly it
069didn't pertain to me what is that we didn't pertain to me so I think myself as a board member I think that is our job to teach our students what they really should be knowing and and the truth when it comes to the books the history books that we're working with and when students do return I'm really glad what dr. Dana Mitchell mentioned it's going to be happening in and mr. O'Neill what I think we need to allow our students also to be open and to talk about what happened and and seen in mr. jars flood get murdered and to see these protests they're probably questioning why are they doing this or what's happening some parents maybe they don't want to talk about it but I think we need to allow the students so they
070don't have this anger that mr. grill mentioned you know because because it is you know it angers you and you're trying to you're trying to figure out Who am I or what are we doing here I think our job as educators this is our job so this is why this is a very important thing to talk about and not only talk about do something about finally hopefully we're not going to be watching in another 52 years I'll be dead by then but it's I'm just afraid that my grandkids will have to go to the same thing that I went through I was 18 years old now I'm 70 years old I'm still marching really wow that's a shame thank you any more input I'm one one other thing to add just a point of clarity
071I know Jerry one of the things you talked about is gratitude for the level of comfort that our students felt that they were able to bring this forward and I just I just want to make sure that I communicate that I don't know that I want to take it a step further than that because I don't I am ajan that it's not so much comfort or a place of comfort that they bring it forward but a place of extreme discomfort but but also recognizing that being being silent wasn't an option and so and so they chose discomfort over over silence and and and it's from that place that they chose to reach out and so I am so to those students who sent the emails and those students who participated in in some initial conversations
072and those that will continue to participate in conversations want to thank you for your leadership and and and what you are what you bring to the table as leaders here within the district as well thank you for that and thank you for clarifying I really appreciate that all right any more comments I'm sorry I was just gonna say um I you know one of the things that that board member Chris Gonzalez said that is really important I think we as a board also need to be included you know in the training as well and moving forward with this and having some deadlines you know being able to to to move this forward and how we're going to you know reach our district and and being able to you know to to move forward with this
073one I do want to share I was in a in a call today with the Department of Education and Assemblymember Weber and she's he she's a leader in and wanting to you know to address this in in the school systems and so one of the things that she said was that when you connect a child mister and she had a group and he was nine years old and we when she said when you connect a child to to understanding who they are and where they come from and what value that is to their community that right there awakens them for them to want to learn to be better to get good grades and so I you know as she was sharing that story today it it helped me remember my story which you know I
074went to a Sousa schools I went to Glassman Street Center and Claud stone high schools not not that you know I mean I it was great but at the same time you know there was not a lot of Hispanics when I was in elementary at Gladstone Street school and not until I went to Cal State LA and took ethnic studies and black African Studies it was an awakening for me so I would like to share that with our students I wish I would have had that you know prior to college for me to be able to want to you know be more engaged in education and in my community and it wasn't until college so I do appreciate us speaking fully about this and us moving forward with you know with this so thank you
075so what I was going to comment I just want to make sure that I try to summarize I heard today and I'm gonna take the opportunity to speak in buckets the way miss Cruz Gonzalez talked about it because as I as I listened to mr. Greer miss Rodriguez Pena miss Bibles BOGO and miss Audie honest I believe that these things fit in these buckets but I want to summarize that and make sure that I have clarity in terms of so the first bucket is around staff and trainings around unconscious bias implicit bias miss Cruz and Dallas offered some ideas in terms of CTA having some some possible strong trainings in that area possibly free but has to be initiated by CTA and so that would be one bucket one bucket around conversations professional learning trainings
076in terms of adults and that that should be systemic should not be a one-off but how are we thinking about this in a systemic manner from here moving forward the second bucket that I heard was around data and how we are looking at data and how we are not only looking at aggregate subgroups comparisons and digging into not only those numbers but those those faces and those stories and how are we how are we confronting that how are we addressing that and how are we conversing around around that and then the third bucket was around curriculum and how what we teach students how we teach students and when we teach students is important and so when we think about courses like ethnic studies when we think about to miss Rodriguez Pena adoptions and curriculum when
077we think about listening circles and student voice when we think about high school versus middle school versus elementary again how are we thinking this in a in a systemic manner that at each level right - its appropriateness to think about I believe that everyone expressed that this is a starting conversation a beginning conversation I think that when I think about these buckets and I think about the work and again that thanks to our to our labor partners and kick off with the LMI I think we're we're in the right trajectory and so a lot of work ahead but does that does that capture again I'm looking at all my notes right now and it looks like those three buckets would capture what every board member spoke about I turn it over for feedback if I
078got that kind of right that's good I think yeah I think you did a great job summarizing the only that I would add and you know I didn't want people to understand assent I really think especially with the unconscious bias changing and thinking about shifting culture I mean starting with the teachers it's great but we really need to think about top/bottom took of day let's point right and so really you mean you'd have administrators who feel comfortable having these conversations and addressing these issues and understanding them if we're going to expect them to be leading school sites - in this in the same journey so I think I think I mean it's really multi-pronged especially that piece but again I just really want to make sure that it's consistent right and not just like you
079know you know like thinking about oh they can do this and we'll do this and we're gonna you know we'll be all over the place I just wanted to add regarding the ethnic studies I'm not sure if the counselors are letting the students know I don't know you know or how can we advertise it more and you know how the conscience also offer that that pass to the students if well if you're if you respond to her um I can no I was not okay so and the other thing I would add so I'm not sure if if what we just did right now constitutes the conversation Gabrielle that you were referring to having or or if we're if we're wanting to have that you know at a future place and time but but I'll
080just I'll just kind of add some some thoughts there I know that there you know there's there are some bills that are that are going around where this conversation around ethnic studies being a requirement I know that there are also districts that have made ethnic studies part of their requirements independent of of a bill or a mandate that is definitely a conversation that I would welcome and I would be interested so it's one thing to just make it available and kind of promote it and let you know let students know it's another thing to again dig into the data to understand how why that's valve itíll and how valuable that is and and for us to have a conversation to consider is that something that should be a requirement so that students who come through
081and graduate as through a USD then you know are not only exposed but it but have some deep exposure to ethnic studies I would like to have that be a conversation for a future meeting i i i want to go ahead and chime in real quick i I agree I think that's why I think we probably need to continue furthering this discussion in the sense that you know we as the board you know can adopt a resolution to be able to like you said we remember agree or that we independently can adopt that you know the conversation is at the Department of Education you know it's there and some of the bills are there but we end we can take a stand and can adopt some you know curriculum so it's definitely something a topic
082of discussion that we as a board need to you know talk about and like board members channeling who said that I really you know that data-driven what one of the things is maybe the students you know board member Yolanda pea shared they don't know about these these classes and and maybe you know they're not beat they're not interested because they don't know what's it's all about but we as a board can have discussion and you know looking into the next school year but open up some avenues and being able to to you know address this and have a conversation looking forward to it thank you if it's okay with the Board of Education I would like to meet with staff come up with some proposed kind of next steps and deadlight and share that through
083through a weekly board packet and then we can we can move from there in terms of thinking about these three buckets not that they all have to move at the same speed or in the same direction I mean yes the same direction but not the same speed and so if if it's okay I'd like to meet with staff come up with some clear times in terms of next steps of coming to the Board of Education and saying okay here's the plan for bucket number one and this is the deadline for bucket number one here's you know the plan for bucket number two bucket number three but not halting us so so I don't want to I don't want to get in our way to say all three buckets have to come at the same time
084but if one's moving faster than them being able to to share that with you for further conversation and reaction and feedback to to what we have come up with well that also be during a board meeting so the community can hear what we're doing and we have a discussion ASEC we're doing correct that's what I am doing if my colleagues agree with that I think would be great yeah I agree I agree yeah and even even looking at time lines so you know love when we talk about timelines and deadlines as we're putting as we put something to that what what looks like an appropriate timeline for that Arthur I can imagine this Friday would be a bit of a rush and and would maybe be even be inappropriate to ask that that's happen is
085next Friday the 17th doable is the 24th you know more doable can you communicate you know when we could expect to see that in which Friday we could expect to see that in a packet I would say because this is multifaceted that this is not a like a Naruto thing by himself right would theta at the 24th to bring some initial thoughts I'm sorry the week of the 20th to bring some initial thoughts on that weekly board packet and then a subsequent board meeting again we can start unveiling some of those things to have a public an open conversation about what it is that you know sometimes around that just to be clear you said the week of the 20th and since the packets are usually on a Friday you mean around the 24th no
086not there not the Friday prior and then and then we can look to having that at a meeting after that public conversation mean okay thank you okay any more comments all right with that I will move ahead to ten-point o consent calendar 10.1 all matters listed under the consent calendar are considered by the board to be routine and will be enacted by the board in one motion on the format following the last consent calendar agenda item there will be no discussion of these items prior to the time board staff or public requests specific items to be discussed if discussion is requested by a board member that item will be removed by the consent from the consent calendar and will be considered separately the superintendent and staff recommend approval of all consent calendar agenda items so
087do I have a motion to approve a second I'll second okay motion by Board Member Ariana seconded by board member cruz-kun solace are there any discussions requests okay well with that you can go ahead and vote and it passes 5-0 and with that we are going ahead in a journeying open session and returning to closed session and the board meeting ended at 8:36 open session ended or open session thank you it's illegal a couple things will we can stop streaming and also stop recording yes okay Thank You mr. Runge oh no need to stick around thank you