BASS LAKE JOINT UNION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD MEETING - 04/8/2026

001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Jeffries Good evening everybody. Um, can I Laura Jeffries? Laura Jeffries Right Hi, sorry I couldn't see you. So, are you wanting to speak about in the for the public hearing? Yes. Okay, thank you. Thank you for that. I think [cough and clears throat] those glasses I think somebody left their glasses up here. We have some lost [clears throat] glasses up here. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Okay, thank you everyone for coming tonight. Um, we're going to call this meeting to order. And I wanted to let everyone know that in closed session we approved by unanimous vote final settlement agreement OAH case number 2025120573. >> [clears throat] >> We're going to do the Pledge of Allegiance. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance [singing] to the flag of the United States of America and to

002the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Item 4 A before the consent agenda. Do I have approval for the consent agenda? I move to approve the consent agenda. I'll second. All right. Roll. Any discussion? Uh thank you for the donations that we've received and thank you to those teachers that are willing to take on additional duties. >> [clears throat] >> Anything else? I'm good. Okay. We'll call a vote. Aye. Aye. Aye. All right. Moving on to number five, hearing of persons wishing to address the board. Um you're going to meet with the um when I open the hearing. Yes, that's going to be a little bit later. Thanks. Um so the first is I'm going to go over the the rules, so to speak. The

003public may address the board on any matter pertaining to the school district that is not on the agenda. Members of the public may sign up requesting to address the board by filling out a request form and turning it into the board president prior to start of the meeting. Unless otherwise determined by board, each person is limited to 3 minutes and 20 minutes per topic if multiple people speak. You may also email Larissa Durr prior to 12:00 p.m. on the date of the meeting if you would like to address the board. Your email will be read by a staff member at the meeting up to 3 minutes in length. There will be no board discussion and no action will be taken unless listed on a subsequent agenda. The public may also submit a request to address

004the board on each of the remaining items on the agenda as those items are taken up by specifying the agenda item on the public comment request form. Unless otherwise determined by the board, each person is limited to 3 minutes per item. First, we have We have uh Brooke Allen. >> [clears throat] [clears throat] >> Not 25 anymore. Press the button. You there? Check. Good evening, everybody. It's really good to see you here. >> [clears throat] >> I showed up to see one of your guys' board meetings. You guys see Julie at one of my board meetings, it's it's great. Um I guess the biggest reason I came was because of all the hubbub that was going on and all of this stuff and mostly I guess I just wanted to say that we are all

005here for kids. Right? I sat here before and we we all cross paths in public and to just speak kind words to everybody in our frustrations. Every time I have spoken words of anger, I always regretted it later. So this is not their fault. The state is cutting everybody's budget right now. And they are left with the bag. You know? Los Angeles Unified everybody is striking. There's not going to be any kids that go because they need we need to stand up to the state. This is the fifth biggest economy in the world and we have to cut. It's not fair. So as we move forward let's let's just remember we all live here in this town because we love we love this town and we're all here for the same thing. I appreciate you

006guys all for for doing a hard job. I I totally understand very much so. You guys have a good evening. Thank you. >> [laughter] [applause] [clears throat] >> All right. Uh next we have uh Gail Lancaster. Good evening. Thank you for your time. Um my name's Gail Lancaster and I worked for this district for 29 years. And I was a resource specialist. But 20 years ago we started an RTI program. Uh Kathleen Murphy, Carol Surratt, and um Andrew McSalley and that program took I had 28 every year average RSP students. That program took me down to six kids on my caseload. That early intervention when it comes to reading is extremely powerful. Statistics, when you take a look at children who are at risk and you do early intervention like RTI it what we were

007one of the first in the state to start it and we watched the numbers go down and the school scores go up. As you have more kids with disabilities coming to you it's a shame to get rid of it. I'm asking you to keep it and one of the things that work is low student to teacher ratio. As much you can look at all the statistics, you can look at the research and uh by the way, I am I still work. I am a full-time college professor for a university whose specialty is reading. So I urge you to keep looking at that, to try to make the classes for the response to intervention programs four to one teacher ratio if you can because what we did in the past is still happening and if you

008cut it too much, you think that the school psych you need to cut that down, it's just going to blossom. You're going to have an adverse effect. Thank you for your time. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Um next we have uh Michelle Burton. >> [clears throat] >> Hello. I wrote mine down because even though I talk to pretty kids all day, adults terrify me. No, just kidding. >> [laughter] >> Um my name is Michelle Burton and I'm a fourth grade teacher here at OES and thank you for allowing me to speak this evening. I know you have heard from parents, students, and teachers alike on the recent cuts to the PE, sped, and psych departments. I know you hear us on this issue and are trying to do the best you can as a board.

009And I want you to know that it is seen and appreciated. And I want to make sure you are aware of some solutions and I wanted to share some concerns. Several of us teachers are looking at current class size numbers and see an opportunity here at OES to have a four-five combination class next school year. The class size would be around 27 students each, which is common in fourth and fifth grades, and we would be mainly would have room to grow. One of our teachers here resigned. If we did not fill that position and have a combination class, the district could keep one of the positions planned to be cut. I spoke with the staff and offered to teach the combination class and we fourth and fifth grade teachers agree that it would be better

010for students to have a combination class for one year than to permanently lose a PE or a psych or a sped teacher. There would not be a need for another combination class in the foreseeable future and we only have one grade level that is large right now, fourth grade, and this would be a temporary situation to permanently save one position so that many of your constituents who have advocated or save one position that so many of your advocated constituents have advocated for. Combination classes classes statistically do not negatively impact students and we have taught many combination classes before and as a small district we understand this is something that we teachers will have to continue to deal with in the future. Many of the staff and parents are discouraged that these cuts are being made

011and that they seem final. I was present at the school board meeting where you voted to make these cuts and I could clearly see and hear that all of you did not want to have to make these tough choices. You wanted other solutions and this makes me hopeful that the idea of a combo might be reconsidered. We teachers are concerned for our students and what we know is best for them and we are trying to be helpful and work collaboratively to find solutions. My own son attends school in this district and my sons love their PE classes. My oldest who goes to OCI often only tells me about what he is learning in PE and he loves that subject. It's the highlight of his day. As a parent and a teacher, I do not wish

012to see these cuts. The other concern I have is our numbers for our psych our psych to student ratios. I have a student who qualified for and received counseling this school year but then promoted out and now is in need of counseling again. I was told by the multi-tiered systems of support team that my student cannot return to counseling as tier two and tier three MTSS support is on hold due to the caseload that to the psych being too large on the psych being too large. What are we going to do next year if we fully cut three sped and psych positions? Is this closure going to remain in place? I find this to be concerning as a teacher who is already being subjected to violent behavior issues this year. Um our support admin and

013psych staff are already stretched thin and are constantly unable to answer calls for help due to being in meetings or working with other students. I was under the impression from the previous board discussion that we were overstaffed in the psych department. If students are not able to reenter into services, overstaffing does not appear to be the case. I urge this board to reconsider the current cuts and ask what else can be done. Um thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU. NEXT WE HAVE MEGAN HAGGARD. >> [laughter] [clears throat] >> HELLO, I've never done this before but I have some concerns. Uh my child is in fourth grade classroom in this school and has been subjected to violence, bullying, intimidation, and threats from another student all year and even with the limited psych interventions

014that have happened, it's still ongoing and I worry that further cuts will allow this behavior to escalate. It's already harming my daughter and I'm worried it's harming other students as well. Thank you. >> [applause] >> All right. Thank you. Next we have Becky Knight. I just wanted to know if that's okay. I have a question Nina after me in case I don't get to read my letter. Oh, yeah. She is She is behind you. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening. My name is Becky Knight and I'm representing our special ed department here in our district. I'm here tonight because I am deeply concerned about how the proposed budget decisions will impact student safety, staff capacity, and the sustainability of our special education programs. With the loss of our lead psychologist and the psychologist intern and

015no plan to replace them, we are not just losing vital support. We are losing trained responders for student crises. Additionally, principals are now required to attend all IEP meetings which will make them less available to respond to crises as they arise. For example, at OES next year, our principal will start the year already needing to attend over 100 IEP meetings. This is a conservative estimate that does not include part twos, threes, initials, and 504 meetings. When a crisis occurs and they do daily, IEP meetings will be interrupted, rescheduled, and instructional time will be lost and cost will and cost will increase due to the need to utilize even higher numbers of substitutes. This does not only affect special education. We have many students across campus who require crisis intervention including those not on IEPs. When

016both the psychologist and the principal are not available, there is no current clear system in place for these students. This will place an increased and unsustainable burden on both general education and special education staff. In my classroom, I serve students with significant emotional and behavioral needs including students who become physically aggressive and or self-harm. Up to this point, I have relied on our school psychologist and principal to support situations that go beyond what can safely be managed in the classroom setting. But with these changes, I have to ask who will help now? In my SDC class, I will begin next year with 16 students in a program that is typically capped closer to 12. Due to elimination of a special ed teacher, our two lower grade SDC classrooms are potentially being combined placing 15 plus

017students with an intern teacher who is still in the early stages of her career supported by a case manager who is not on site. That same classroom will serve second graders age seven down to preschoolers age three. Many of these students are non-verbal and have significant support needs. Some of the older students are physically aggressive during moments of escalation. Combining these students in the same environment arises serious concerns about their safety and whether we are providing developmentally appropriate placement for all students involved. At the same time, sped teachers will likely be asked to take on additional assessments and still expected to maintain compliance with IEP timelines. >> [clears throat] [clears throat] >> At this I'm going to just go back a sentence. At the same time, sped teachers will likely be asked to take on

018additional assessments and still expected to maintain compliance with IEP timelines without clear guidance on how to do so under these conditions. When teachers are stretched beyond capacity, burnout becomes inevitable. Teachers are less emotionally resilient, succumb to illnesses, and are more likely to take stress-related leave. Students then lose the consistency, stability, and support they depend on. This is not sustainable. We urge you to reconsider these reductions. These decisions are not just about budgets, they are about whether we have the systems in place to safely and effectively serve all of our students. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. I have one more that was sent in by email. Good morning. Physical education teachers play a vital role in supporting the overall development and well-being of our students. Having a dedicated PE teacher at each site ensures

019that students receive consistent high quality instruction focused on physical fitness, healthy habits, teamwork, and lifelong wellness. PE teachers are specifically trained to design safe, age-appropriate activities that promote motor skill development, cardiovascular health, and injury prevention. In addition, regular physical activity has been shown to improve students' focus, behavior, and academic performance in the classroom. A qualified PE teacher has also created can also create inclusive programs that encourage participation from all students regardless of ability level while fostering confidence, sportsmanship, and social skills. >> [clears throat] >> By maintaining PE teachers at each school site, school districts demonstrate a commitment to supporting both the physical and mental health of their students helping them build habits that contribute to long-term wellness and success. With that being said, I hope you will consider keeping a PE teacher at each site.

020This was from Kendra Chancey, PTC president West Linn Elementary School. >> [applause] >> All right. Thank you for all those comments. We're going to move to number six, action items. The first is the resolution number 2613 resolution authorizing emergency repair work related to the OCI fire alarm panel. I'll move approval. I'll second. Okay. Let's have discussion on this because we need to choose which contract we're going to approve. So I just wanted to apologize again that we had taken that off the agenda last time at the last minute but we had just gotten that other quote and we were waiting on the architect um and worked on some other projects to review because they have to have an electrical engineer make sure that it met all the specs. Um but here it is now and

021all the pictures are attached. You can see the shorted area on the board. Um we do have the the fire watch protocol in place and we have a log that's being kept where they're monitoring the campus so we wanted to assure everyone that they're safe. Um but it had to be done as an emergency repair because if we put it out to bid, it could be several months and we wanted to get it fixed sooner rather than later and we will be able to use our capital facilities fund 42 or our developer fees fund 25 so it won't impact our general fund. Okay. All right. Thank you Tara. I had asked Tara a question by email prior to this meeting because on the second quote, it said that we I wasn't sure whether we had

022to add the 6600 to replace existing Simplex horns and strobes. Um and she said that she thinks that we need to do that. Yes. It all has to tie in together so he had broken that out separately on the quote but that would be added to the total. Um because the strobes have to work with the fire alarm system as well as the horns which are the speakers. Okay. And then the other one, we keep the horns and that we already have. Is that correct? >> No, I think he was replacing it as well but [clears throat] he included it in the breakdown there and in the total. Okay. So, he didn't break it out as a separate amount. >> Yeah. Yeah, I think that's part of the struggle with these is a little Well,

023I mean, I guess there's there's check marks, but it's not as detailed as the the side. Yeah, and they're pretty close. They're just pretty close. They The basic difference is the different kind of equipment. So, they use a different model of equipment, and then also we'll have to have a annual subscription to the notification system software, but that's around 500 for the whole year. Um they We currently use a couple different companies for the other two sites. So, James is researching trying to get it all on board with one company, and then they would monitor the systems at all three sites. Okay. So, they don't have that in the quote either. But, yes, they're both pretty close. It's just different different equipment. Okay. Do we know anything about the equipment? >> [laughter] >> Do you

024know anything about it? Can anybody speak to the what the struggle is? The architect actually reviewed both quotes, and he said that both systems are are sound, uh good systems. He's heard of both um the Digitech, and then I forget what the other one is on there. Order Yeah, it's Yosemite Fire. But, I mean, the equipment that he's using Oh, there's the pipe. >> Yeah. Um I think Oh, Potter. Potter and Digitech. Yeah. Um so, but he he had reviewed that ahead of time, and he had said he thought both proposals were exactly what was needed. He had reviewed it with the electrical engineer. Just a different It's like you're buying um you know, a Dell versus a Sony or Apple. Apple or Grace. Whatever. I was just curious too about like user-friendliness. Like, does

025um is James here? He was here earlier. Did he leave? I don't know. Yeah, I Pardon me? I can come in on it. Yeah, can you, please? No, I don't have it with Yosemite Fire, and there's some And you know what my needs were with technology part of it. And and I'm I'm looking for less proprietary better, so that we can integrate stuff with it. Um I do like the Yosemite Fire one, in my opinion. It's all It is the powerful Mhm. So. They're both going to do the same thing. Right. Do they both have the same type of warranties? And I mean, do we know anything about that aspect? Good question. Did you read all the fine print, Rhonda? I didn't take it. You have to have a law degree to read the fine

026print, but Did you Could you answer the question with that? Okay. Yeah, one year warranty for parts and labor. For both of them? For Yosemite Fire? The both. What's the other one called? If I understand this, this is just all at OCI, right? Yes, it was They were running some tests, and they had noticed that um different uh NAC panels weren't communicating. The one had the blinking light, and then that's when um they realized that um the communications between certain pieces weren't working. But, it's just at OCI. The other two sites, the fire alarms are up and running. They're very old, okay. Yeah. The system light It's a very old system, too. So, you have to go get the other ones fixed, too, perhaps. No, because uh that site that system is a lot older.

027Okay. In the uh proposal for Yosemite Fire, it says here in the fine print that um I'm asking a question now. Does the district typically name the company we do business with in this case uh as as additional insurance on our general liability and auto insurance policies? Cuz that's what they're asking that we do. Usually, we get a certificate of insurance from any of the vendors we work with that have equipment on site. So, they would They would have to provide that. Uh and and we would you know, if there was a fire or something, you know, the insurance would cover that equipment. >> more question. So, it was this because of the uh like a blowout or an accident, or has it just been an ongoing thing, and now we got to handle it?

028Well, in the one picture they showed that one area that shorted out. >> that. Um so, we don't know what caused that or when that had happened um because that isn't uh part of the panel that's normally opened up. Um and when they were having the issues noticing the orange lights that were saying the communications were down, then they opened up that section and saw that it was shorted, but Stephen, I don't remember. Do you think that Didn't James say something that could have been from like lightning? Or I couldn't remember what they thought. >> the answer panel of the walk what happened to it. Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, thank you, sir. Okay. Well, the um the bid that came in from Digi What is it? Digitech. Digitech. It It doesn't specifically mention a warranty,

029whereas Yosemite Fire says it has a year warranty. I mean, and if they're about the same cost, I'm just giving you my two cents. I think I And Stephen likes Yosemite Fire, so I think I would tend to lean towards that proposal. I mean, I'll I'll make a pro- I'm going to make a motion that we go with Yosemite Fire. Well, just we have to Now we have to decide which one we want. Right? You want to add to my So, I'm just going to say I'm making a motion that we go with the Yosemite Fire proposal, because we have to choose between the two. Well, I would like to choose them because they're local. I would like to keep the business to our community if we could choose them. Yosemite Yosemite Fire? No. I'm

030saying I would choose Yosemite Fire since they're local, as opposed to using Ham Horton company. We could use the community could use a little prosperity, so Okay. So, Diana, are you going to give a second to that motion of Rhonda's? >> Yes, I will second. Okay. And that vendor they put in the original system. It was the same gentleman. He's familiar with it. Okay. Uh any more discussion on this? Okay. Roll call vote. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. All right. Motion carries for Yosemite Fire and Security. Well, if you're local, I guess. All right. 6B, adoption of board policies, administrative regulations, and bylaws presented at the March 11th, 2026 meeting. Do I have a motion? I'll vote for approval. I'll second. Okay. Uh discussion? I did have a question on or a concern on the

031form right here. I'm not sure if I should have these pulled, the ones for Yosemite. Okay. So, it shows um So, if you look at the January policy update guide sheet that's on there. And I'm looking at the administrative regulation uh 145, which is on the first page. It says new. So, this response to immigration enforcement is because of this new Assembly Bill 495. Uh a lot of people are following it that I follow because there are parents family advocacy groups that are concerned about children, because this AB 495 uh allows that if a student whose parents are um in the middle of immigration issues, where they could be removed as a parent, the concern is the form that our governor signed is currently It's the caregiver's authorization affidavit. So, if the parent cannot be

032contacted either because of enforcement activity or whatever other case there may be, this particular form, caregiver authorization affidavit, here are the requirements for a person who can take charge of a child. Okay. And this is from the California legislative information family code with respect to minors and under 6550 H1. So, these are the persons that could take charge of a child. Person includes an individual, a corporation, a partnership association, a state, or any city, county, city and county, or other public entity or government subdivision or agency, or any other legal entity. This is the problem here, especially. Item two, quote unquote, relative means an adult. Everybody, please listen to this. Relative means an adult who's related to the child by blood, by adoption, or affinity within the fifth degree of kinship. Um That includes, according

033to our governor, has approved this to include all step parents, all step siblings, and all relatives whose status is preceded by the words great, great-great, or grand, or the spouse of any of the persons specified in this definition if any party to the marriage has been terminated by death or dissolution. So, that is the concern that was There were literally hundreds of thousands of people that protested in the enactment of this assembly bill at state capital who wrote in. This was on TV news because of this broad term that somebody just has to fill out this form The current form we have in place is excellent. Michelle, would you speak to the current form that we have in use >> [clears throat] >> or share with me currently what we do? So, the directive now

034is to use the new new caregiver affidavit. It has to be filled out by a parent or legal parent or guardian. And um if that's on file and that happens, our principals and office managers know to you know, they they would know where that is where that is, where they can access that. And then um >> [clears throat] >> so long as the legal parent or guardian has approved whomever they've put on this affidavit, then that then those children can be released to to that individual. If we don't have a caregiver affidavit on file, we look at their emergency contacts. And if we can't get a hold of emergency contacts, we get a hold of um law enforcement. That's the way it should be. I'm guessing maybe uh I I don't know. I don't know

035anything about this, but in what I'm reading, it sounds like so if they don't have this on file and they go law enforcement, they kids go with law enforcement, then that's where this comes into play. Has nothing to do with us. Well, the law enforcement, they can't come and just pick up the child. Well, who's going to take the child if we don't have an affidavit on file? CPS. And that's where I think this is coming in. But that has nothing to do with us. We want the law enforcement We would like I would prefer we would all prefer to have our children be safe. At least with CPS, you know where they're at. You know, you can track them. But with this particular form, anybody can download it. It is not required that you

036even ask It doesn't need to be notarized. You don't have to ask for ID. Yeah, it doesn't have to be notarized. There's a statement on there that says under penalty of perjury, I you know, that that is true. Um we're making sure that the legal parent or guardian is identified [clears throat] as the person filling out that form. I'm sure your response to my concern is that all of California and this We don't have a jurisdiction all over California. In other words, this is a problem in the period. It is, but I don't think it's going to affect us because we are doing like you said, the legal parent can fill out this form. And if they do and they get taken by immigration, their child would go with who they decided to go for

037on this form. According to our policies here at the school. That's all we can do. And if state California CPS takes the child because they don't have a caregiver affidavit on file, then that's up to CPS of the state. I would say a large percentage of our families have folks on their emergency cards, right? So, like those people would be contacted also. You said not necessarily everyone has an emergency card, is that correct? I would have to do an audit on that. But I I I feel very confident in saying that a large percentage of our parents or guardians have somebody on listed as an emergency contact. Okay, that's a great question. So, like I said, the concern by many groups, and you can even look online, the cons of assembly bill 495 is uh

038it opens the door to abuse. So, I'm glad you will be looking into this and making sure that was the issue that There was no timeline as to whether this is the length of time that a parent could be contacted. Somebody could come with this and you don't have to have ID. You don't have to have a court order. You don't have to have it notarized. So, I don't [laughter] understand why our state um did this. And literally that tens of thousands of people were concerned that this was on the Georgia news. So, that's why I'm bringing this forward. And I would hope that every parent would look into this and make sure that you do have uh the proper people in place, trustworthy individuals. So, about the form now. May I speak to this?

039I'll be I'll be brief. What So, what Diana's referring to with uh with assembly bill that was just passed, it's a little bit vague. Um what's currently in our school policy regulation and I can just read it straight out is exactly what Michelle was saying. We're making sure there's [clears throat] no no no um if they're not merged at just yet. So, what what could happen since this is passed is we may get guidance coming down the pike from Sacramento as to as to a change we might have to make. Maybe we won't, but as currently we're doing just what's in our board policy, which is what Michelle has addressed. And so, this is So, Diana's concern is very valid, but it hasn't just yet. Am I over speaking that in any way? It's all

040right. I think we have the proper safeguards in place. We're okay for now, but but it's something to watch out for. Well, the the updated policy says in the event that a student's parent or guardian is detained or deported, the superintendent or designee shall release the student to the person's person or persons designated in student's emergency contact information or to any individual who presents the caregiver's authorization affidavit on behalf of the student. The superintendent or designee shall only contact child protective services if district personnel are unable to arrange for the timely care of the student by the person or persons designated in the emergency contact information obtained by the school or identified on the caregiver's authorization affidavit. Right. And those were people that the parent said before anything ever happened that they would want their

041child to be with who they want to be with. Yeah. So, maybe we just make sure I mean, I know that at the beginning of the year, you always ask for emergency cards, right? I mean, that's still part of Yeah, it's part of the term data confirmation. Yeah. So, so that's part of back to school is getting those emergency cards in. So, I guess maybe just follow up and make sure that we have as much participation as possible. Would be a good practice. Is it a choice? It's all digital now. And to go through each step of the parent data confirmation, they have to complete each section. We're giving parents choices to fill out the affidavit. Right. And we also give parents choice on >> [clears throat] >> who they're going to put zero people

042on there or they're going to put 10 people on their emergency contact. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Any other discussion on any of the policies? I do have a comment, but I'm trying to find it. Okay. Let me just do this. Like I said, I don't know my number. Um I'm looking for my policy. I thought it was Yeah, 4,000, but why am I not seeing it on here? Um It's on the left hand side. Oh, there it is. Concept and roles. Okay. I just wanted to make a comment about this one. The bottom and I I see now that Hold on. You don't have everyone's attention. Oh. Rhonda, is I'm not talking about policy 4,000. I just have a a comment about the board policy 4,000. Policy uh policy 4,000 concept and roles. Um and

043at the bottom, it says "Superintendent or designee shall establish procedures where the superintendent or designee will receive and consider employee suggestions and submit them when appropriate for consideration to the board." Um we are I'm reminding people that you set the policy, the board sets the policy, um but the superintendent runs the day-to-day and she makes the decision decisions. She's the um you know, officer. And um I just given what has been, you know, the confusion and things that have gone on this year because we've been talking about things, but it sounds like maybe, you know, staff and employees might not have known what's going on. So, I just wanted to take that and maybe establish something that so that people feel like they can be heard. The staff is not supposed to come directly to

044the board because of labor negotiations and, you know, there's many regulations put on us, right, about talking to you directly. So, I just thought maybe Michelle could come up with something to where the staff can have input into, you know, if things are going to be um Anyway, things for the superintendent to consider if employees have um suggestions. Obviously, she does not have to um she's not I'm to take your suggestions, but we hope obviously we want to work together as a team, and I know Michelle wants that, too. And so I'm required to take the suggestions. I think what you're trying to say is that we're not necessarily obligated to adopt them or have them say this is what's going to happen. So, of course, I Yes, I would like to listen to suggestions

045and consider them. So, I would like a clear, you know, maybe guideline for staff so that, you know, some a policy or or something that you have in writing so they know. You know what I mean? >> Yeah. I mean, we might already have a protocol. We might already have something, but I would like for it to be revisited so that everybody we all know, right? That we all know that it's there and what to do and where to go and that kind of thing. So, that's my comment on that policy. Thank you. Yeah, and you brought that you sent that as a question, and so I did a little bit of research in the time I had today after receiving your email, and it looks like there are some things that I probably can

046be shortened, right? What am I saying? And possibly placed in Not possibly, but I think it would be important to have that like in the employee handbook, maybe on the website, like employee [clears throat] staff resources. Of course, let supervisors and principals know about it so they can help redirect and and explain those protocols and procedures as well. So, I agree. I think we have some sort of like unwritten rules and expectations of chain of command, but I think it's always easier for people and more transparent for people when those things are in writing and they can be directed to a place where that's outlined. Okay. So, I agree with that, and that is something I will work on. Is there any more discussion on any of the policies? I want to vote on the

047ones I mentioned. >> [clears throat] >> Oh, no. Well, there they're a bundle, and you're voting on all of them. So, if you want to vote no on all of them, then that is your choice. Yeah, no, no, no, no, no. It's fine. All right, actually. There was a There's a You have a motion and a second. Yeah, we have a motion and a second. Uh so, roll call vote. Oh, me I I No. I'm an I. I. Thank you. Uh we're going to go to seven, monthly items and financial reports. 7a, monthly approval of warrants. Do I have a motion? I move [laughter] approval. I'll second. >> [cough] >> Okay, discussion on the warrants. I'll go first. Um I'm having a question. Let me get to it on here. On page one, the lockdown

048toilets. Um So, I can get a toilet in Is that every classroom now? I just curious. Yes, after last year we had had the lockdown, Michelle had had tasked Mindy, who's our business services assistant and handles all the accounts payable, accounts receivable, all that good stuff, pays the bills. She had tasked her with researching some portable toilets because if we were in the classroom for an extended period of time, there's always big and little people that need to use the restroom. So, she found these They're kind of like It almost looks like a Home Depot bucket kind of situation with a seat on it, but it has a privacy tent that goes around it. And they were They were a little costly, so we were kind of trying to find some different deals that were

049going on. Mindy's good at finding those deals. So, we did end up ordering them so that we have them in each classroom if we did have an extended lockdown. So, that $1,000 covers all the classrooms? Yeah. That's great. It's my understanding that Mindy went back and forth with the vendor quite a bit and explained that we're a public school and this is what we're doing and we want to make sure we have these things for our our students and our adults, and they brought the price down quite a bit after some negotiating back and forth. >> That was from 4,000. Yeah. So, that was really great, and then they're in every classroom and space on campuses that would not have access to a bathroom in the event there was a lockdown and people couldn't leave

050that space. Um and [clears throat] so that way there's the ability to use the restroom in a private ish um much more private than if we didn't have those, right? And so those are there, and um they're in place now. So, we we've talked about those for quite some time because we've had some issues where that was a problem, and so now we have those available. Cool. Okay. Um also on page two, I just I just I wasn't sure what the 10 GBPS HTTP mix-up So, that's our 10 GB internet I knew it looked familiar. I was like, I know this is something. It runs down to the county, and so then that's how we're connected to things like Escape um that we use for all of our budgeting Okay. and payroll and everything. And

051then we have a different line that runs from from here up to Wasuma, and that's the other the the live line that you'll see on the bill sometimes. Okay. But the county line goes for OES and OCI because it runs here into town. Okay. Thank you. So, that's how we're online, you know, and so during school they can be on there doing all their homework on students. Okay, cool. Um thank you for reminding us to do that. Um and then the other question I had was on page seven, the school access liability fund, which I know has to do with that new law, but can you remind us what that I think it was on page six, that's why I didn't see it. Um It's on page seven towards about two-thirds of the way down.

052>> [laughter] >> AB 208. Yeah. Yes, that's the AB 218, and that's we're sharing the cost of all the claims in the state. They split it up between everybody who's a member of this pool. We were a member back from 1988 up until 2007. So, even though we're no longer part of this school's excess liability fund, in the agreement that we signed at that time it said that we would share the future of liability. But the cost for this year was 88,000, and we don't receive any funding to offset that. So, actually SELF worked with me and went back and forth with them over a long time to break out the payments and spread them all the way till next December till the next fiscal year um just to try to make it more manageable

053to pay 88,000 um that we didn't get any extra funding. Got it. So, you'll see that regularly because we have a monthly payment, and then after June 30th our payment will be doubled because I made the payments lower for this year because of the budget constraints, and then they said that I couldn't spread it out any further, so I had to make the payments a little bit more for for July through December. Okay. And that's just that liability from that new law. So, anyone who's filed any kind of claims against the school district, everyone who is a member of SELF is sharing sharing the cost of that. So, even though our district has not had any claims filed, if let's say in that pool was another district in the valley that had a big claim

054that was millions of dollars, that's what we're splitting up the cost. They base it on our ADA, so they have the cost for the year, and then they divide it between all the districts charged based on your ADA. Okay. And it's your ADA at the time cuz some of our years there we had a thousand students. So, our assessments are higher even though we currently have 300 less than that in students. >> [laughter] >> Thank you for clarifying that. Um and then my last question was on page eight, the Eagle Academies. Um is that the cost for Can you just explain that cost for me? We receive a grant from Teaching Fellows through Chowchilla, and every year that I've been here up until the last couple of years, the grant covered the full cost of

055the program, but then over the last couple of years they've increased some of the salaries of their staff, so of course, the costs have increased, and the grant only covers about two-thirds. It's around The program's around 90,000, just to give you rough numbers, and the grant covers about 60. So, the remaining amount they are billing us for broken out over each month for our students who attend right here after school after school program, and we're able to use that specific restricted E funding extended learning funding for that cuz we use most of that is for my club, but we also use some for the Eagle Academy, which is great cuz it isn't impacting our unrestricted budget cuz it's specific to anything after school. So, it's a perfect use of that if we wanted to grow

056that program and add more, you know, we could even use those funds in that way as well. But they uh they didn't start charging us cuz the grant covered the beginning, and then now we're paying the difference. Okay. through the rest of the year. Thank you. That was Those were my questions. Thank you. Thanks for sending them to me ahead of time. I have a question on page three that I didn't send ahead of time. It's okay. Um so, I was looking at the the legal fees this time, and I noticed that on page three they're labeled January 26. Is that Yes, so it's the January legal bill that we pay in February. So, you pay it the next month. So, it [clears throat] showed up on these warrants actually cuz the check run was

057from March 5th. So, it would have been when the check printed. So, sometimes it's a it's a month catching up. But in the last page of the bill, I think the next one is the February. It's on page Yeah, it's on page eight. Oh, yeah, page eight. That's that would be February's bill and then that earlier page is January's bill. And we just received March's bill. So, it's just kind of stacked. Okay, so so when we cuz I did go back and look at warrants from previous months. So, so on the January to February it showed $10,000 to Lozano Smith. So, with that then so this would be in addition to that for January but we just didn't have get Yeah. What says January 26? So, I'm not certain without I pulled all the bills

058to label the warrants. But it could just be a typo there. And we get one bill every month from them. Okay. >> So, perhaps that's the February bill or it could have been the end of January to the end of February cuz Mindy she had labeled it with the the date on the bill. But I'd have to double I can double check that and follow up with you. Okay. Those are our last two months' bills. Okay, yeah. And those those are really high and I um I have I bring [clears throat] up already just that we're paying I have just in this on these warrants alone from what I can tell from what's labeled 13,868 on special ed. And so I'm just I've been raising concerns about the level of special ed cases and questions

059that we have to ask regarding special ed considering the amount of people that we've been hiring to shore that up. So, just putting it out there on the radar something that I want to keep watching and hoping that these legal fees And I'm glad you're pointing that out because if you recall on the previous bills I was highlighting the due process. There was a a due process act from 2019 and the services that finally got settled and you know, it's a couple million dollars total for that all those years. So, just pointing out when we're looking at where our budget is and why is it that there? If you add that up over time, that's how how we got there. So, that's why now we're trying to make sure everything's in compliance so we don't

060get into another situation like that with a large settlement. It might be helpful Denise and the board if I create some sort of spreadsheet to that shows which of these due process fees are old versus new. Mhm. Right? Mhm. Cuz some of these things that are labeled due process, you know, like Tara explained, we're going to be paying those for quite some time from previous situations. And then of course, there's new things that are coming up that we need to be paying attention to, right? And so I think since we're in the state that we're in and really even if we're not in the state that we're in, that's something that should be paid attention to. So, um I think that that would probably be helpful for everybody so that when we look at it,

061we can decipher like like I said, old versus new. And I can help you with that cuz you can see where it says services matter number. So, on the bill it gives us a matter number and you obviously that's confidential but I can help you on your end to know these matters are sped and then which ones are old and which ones are new. I know when you said this bill was high but usually it's in the 20s so I was happy when I thought it was only 14. Tara always comes in when that bill comes in and goes good job or what's you know, what a good job. Yeah, so I mean I know just in general, right? So, um We're finding with all the other districts in the county and the state there's

062just a lot more litigation going on when it comes to sped. So, it's not a a problem unique to us. I just submitted some costs to the special needs pool that we can get reimbursements for from due process and everyone in the county had a huge amount of things submitted. And usually then they only give you a small portion back cuz we all have to share what's in the pool. So, seeing the other things that other districts were submitting in the you know, in the seven figures you know, made me realize these smaller numbers even though it's hard or at least a little smaller. But to your point like like unfortunately some things are like wildly out of our control, right? But there is a lot that we can control. And so we need to

063be paying attention to what we control, what we can't control, and how we're controlling it so that we can minimize these expenses to the best of our ability. >> And keeping our students and our staff safe. Yeah, absolutely. And just making sure that we're if if we can handle these things in house or we can find this information another way through a resource that we already have here that on one of our campuses versus their calling an attorney that's going to charge an exorbitant amount. Well, we have been using our insurance offered a free legal services here just for this year. And we have been utilizing that very regularly. But you can only use it for human resources and employee issues. So, we've been leaning on them when we've had different questions or concerns on

064that side of the house. But you can't use it for anything student related. So, but you'll see there's not as many things that are labeled that are that used to be more employee issues. Whereas now we can reach out to that free legal service. And and out of everybody in our insurance JPA, we've used that service the most. Pointed out the last meeting our district had used something like 40 hours of the free legal services. Well, good. All right. Well, thank you. I appreciate you labeling these in more detail just so we can really understand what we're what we're paying for. I just I was going to say this in my board member comment but I'll say it now it seems to fit in. I requested more information from CSBA because they have a Julie

065and I went to a legal symposium a while back and the attorney there was telling us about this new program that they have for school districts and it's um um it's a legal service program so it's a sub subscription based program that provides CSBA members with cost effective legal advice and legal services. Anyway, I just asked for more information because it does say it they have attorneys who can provide low cost legal services on all matters related to public education and unlimited access to online resource library and with information base, you know. So, I just asked for more information. >> Yeah. And then I thought we could talk about it because I know that we have to go to you know, certain attorneys for certain things. But this might be a good thing to have

066on just for the general information that we need. So, I did request information a couple days ago. I still have not received it and I will forward it to you as soon as I have it. >> And I want to point out to you the ones that say public records request Lozano Smith usually when we get a public records request it's every district in the state like that previous one we had. So, they're actually making it so they make one response for all the districts and they're trying to do some cost another hero of kindness one day ended up being several thousand dollars. And since you wanted to bring up about the school's excess liability fund and you want to thank you Tara for making it clear what that was all about and the fact

067that we do have to pay the 88 thousand dollars for um the other sexual abuse claims in California. And so I just wanted to make a comment concerning that topic is um to avoid any further I'd like to question how the sexual abuse did take place in the first place that's such a massive problem that districts are having to pay that. So, just to be diligent um parents being aware of where their children are and these are slight plain sight and there's information online to recognize the signs of sexual abuse grooming which is very subtle. So, um it's important to know these things. People are being we need to watch who's with their children whether it's in school or after school programs or wherever. >> And these are claims that were filed they opened the

068statute of limitations up to people up to age 40. So, it's claims from incidents that happened you know, many many years ago. But I do think that's an important thing. Yeah, and we have not had any claims in our district. That's I don't want to Exactly. Okay, any other questions or comments on the warrants? Okay. >> [clears throat] >> We'll follow up. I. I. I. I. [clears throat] I. All right. Moving on number eight, information items. 8A, academic achievement. No report tonight on that. 8B, mission, vision, goals. I'm hearing it up. On my screen up there. Okay, so I wanted to do a short presentation on what myself and the board have been working on for almost it feels like a while. Like since the school year. Most of the school year, yeah. So, um

069we've been working on a new mission statement. So, what is a mission statement? A mission statement acts as the district's North Star. It defines why an organization exists, whom it serves, and the specific promises it makes to its students and families every single day. A shared commitment to students. It acts as a formal pledge. It tells parents and the community exactly what kind of environment and outcomes they can expect for their children, whether that is academic excellence, emotional safety, or preparation for the future. Next slide. So, why a new mission statement? The district's mission statement had not been reviewed in quite a while, so the school board and superintendent determined an update [clears throat] was necessary. So, we started looking at that. The current mission statement for Bass Lake School District is every child a

070promise. We will provide an education that emphasizes reading, mathematics, science, technology, communication skills, and a broad-based exposure to cultural, fine arts, and other academic disciplines. This education will be achieved in an environment which enhances integrity, respect, responsibility, and compassion for others. We recognize that these values are best learned when model modeled by all adults and children. So, that's the current mission statement. So, the new mission statement that is in progress achieving excellence together. We will collaborate to empower a diverse school community that is student-centered and academically focused. We believe that every child is destined to succeed along with building strong moral moral character and critical thinking skills. Our highly trained staff will honor every identity and achieve excellence together. So, that's the work in progress. Uh a little bit of information on that process. So,

071we looked at LCAP goals, we looked at academic achievement data. Student future readiness for high school and beyond. Um we've had several board workshops where this has been an agenda item that we've discussed this and worked on this. Um with in-depth discussions and strategic review. And um the new mission statement is in progress. It has not been adopted >> adopted. Um it's in progress and it um is in alignment with district visions. So, what are the next steps? So, the next steps, of course, we want feedback from staff and community. So, um you know, we all know how much you guys love surveys, so we're going to do another one of those, but we out to principals, I think, last night asking them for um to give me some suggestions on a space that would

072be easily accessible for staff at their sites so that I can [clears throat] um work on that over spring break and get that up at the sites so that when we return from spring break, that'll be accessible. So, board, do you have any questions about that? [clears throat] Or suggestions? Okay. >> [clears throat] >> All right. We are now at 8C, parent involvement opportunities. So, the next presentation is um we're in the midst of LCAP season and um the LCAP surveys I've done and some reflections I've done based on, you know, just moving into uh my second year and um making sure that we have opportunities for parents to uh be part of decisions with the district. And so, I put this together to um let the board know what's going on and then of

073course the public um become aware of some of these opportunities for our parents and guardians. So, um first slide, Stronger Together, a guide to parent advisory committees. We have the English Learner Advisory Committee, which is we love acronyms, right? So, that's ELAC. >> [clears throat] >> And then we have District English Learner Advisory Committee, which is DELAC. We are starting up for the first time um this year the Parent Advisory Committee. And then um each school site has Parent Teacher Clubs, PTCs. So, each of these slides that I'm going to go through gives you a little bit of information and the community um what what are these, right? Like what are these committees? So, the English Learner Advisory Committee, what is it? A school-level committee for parents and other community members who want to advocate

074for English Learners. >> [clears throat] >> The purpose, the ELAC advises the principal and school staff on programs and services for students learning English. And why it's important to join. Um you, the parent or guardian, [clears throat] are the expert on your child's needs. Um helps decide how the school supports language acquisition and ensures your culture and language are respected and integrated into the school environment. DELAC is very similar. It's the district-wide English Learner Advisory Committee. Uh when a district has 51 or more English Learners, they form this committee to look at sort of the bigger picture district-wide on what is the district um doing to address their students that are learning English. Um the purpose, DELAC advises the district board on district-wide goals, teacher training, and the master plan for English Learner services. And

075why it would be important for a parent or guardian to join, influence policy that affects all schools in the district, connect with parents from other sites to share what's working, and your voice ensures that district-level funding is spent where it matters most for EL students. Any questions so far on those two committees? Okay. Let's move on to the PAC, the Parent Advisory Committee. What is that? A committee that works directly with the district to review the Local Control and Accountability Plan, which is the LCAP. The purpose is to provide feedback on how the district is meeting its goals for all students, particularly those who are low income, foster youth, or English Learners. And since we have junior high students, uh special feature and also um a requirement is that we have student voice as part

076of that committee. And so, we're excited to include junior high student representation on this committee. We believe students should have a say in the programs that affect their daily education. Why join? See exactly [clears throat] how the budget is allocated as it relates to the LCAP and um these specific students. Work alongside students to bridge the gap between home, school, and the district office and help hold the district accountable for student success. So, that's the PAC. >> [clears throat] >> Let's move on to Parent Teacher Clubs. What is that? A site-based organization that brings parents, teachers, and staff together to enhance the school experience. The purpose is to support the school through volunteering, community building events, and supplemental fundraising for items like field trips, assemblies, or classroom supplies. Why it would be important to join,

077get connected. It is the best way to know what is happening on campus day-to-day. Build a community, meet other families, and create a supportive network. Direct impact, your involvement helps fund the extras that make school fun and memorable for your children. In summary, why your voice matters. Accountability, schools perform better when parents ask questions and stay informed. Equity, your participation ensures that every student, regardless of background, gets the resources they need. Modeling, when your children see you involved in their school, they see that education is a priority which often leads to higher student motivation. And then this last slide gives information about how information on how on how to join. Parents guardians can call the district office. They can speak with Larissa. She will be happy to take your information and direct you to the

078correct contact person for the committee that you're interested in joining. And then also worked on Larissa's worked on creating a parent involvement tab on the website and they can navigate there and it will have all of these explanations of all of these committees and how they can join and what it means to be part of of these committees. So, really [clears throat] trying to reach out and get more um involvement and make sure that we're staying compliant on um these committees and having our parents and guardians involved with with our school community. Questions? >> [clears throat] >> Comments? Do you find that any of these committees are more popular than others? I mean, obviously if you don't have an English learner, you're probably not going to be on that committee, but do you find any

079of these to be like you need more people on We we need more people. The ELAC and DELAC are brand new this year and the PAC are brand new. Um so, that's to be determined, right? Like we've had an ELAC and DELAC meeting already um and we have another one coming up and our first PAC meeting is also coming up soon. So, we'll see. Um the parent teacher clubs the principals would have to speak to that um as far as if those are well attended, if the attendance has been stable, if it's low, I don't know. Are they taking them? Yeah. So, we get it. Like parents are busy, right? And people a lot of we're we're in a situation where we have a lot of families where like both parents or guardians have are

080working, right? Um we are trying to make sure that we hold these meetings at access like times that would be helpful for folks. But you know, we also several of them need to have their principals and teachers on them too. So, we have to be mindful of like their time also. Um So, I think just like talking about this in this forum, sending out a parent I'm going to send this out on Parent Square, direct people to the website. Now it's more public, people know about it. So, if if parents are asking how they can get involved, we can direct them to places and spaces that maybe were not in existence before. I have a question. Um the parent advisory committee, is that um one committee for the entire district Yes. or is it site

081specific? It's for the district. And then the school site councils, those are site specific? >> Those are site specific. So, what we've done this year to start developing the PAC is we've asked that those that are on school site council all three school site councils are going to come together and be the PAC. Oh, okay. So, that's how we're representing Okay. Right? And then of course more people can join. Yeah, we want that. That would be that's what we want, yeah, but in an effort to get it launched and off the ground, that's how we've organized it. Okay. And then added the students. Okay. Thank you. Do you ever recruit people to be on these like the teachers or like I remember when I was on school site council, like we would like be like,

082"Hey, you're you'd be good on this. How about you? Would you do it?" And sometimes they'll say yes and sometimes they'll say no. I'm just curious like if you've ever done that. Okay. But I mean, you're a parent, right? And the teacher but I mean just other just like not teachers but parents do as teachers do you ask parents, "Will you be on this committee because I think you would do a good job?" Yes. Curious. We would appreciate that. In their defense, like they're new committees, right? No, I just meant saying like the school site council or PTC and all these things, you know, you probably send out to parents and sometimes they're not voluntary. You say, "Hey, if you ask them, will you and they will?" Yeah, I did solicit the principals like, "Hey,

083who do you think would be great to to ask for like the the DELAC and ELAC?" Right? They did a great job and they they've reached out and helped with that. Um >> [clears throat] >> And then our um translator Daisy helps me make phone calls to those folks and and kind of get them excited about being involved. And so, I've made it sometimes um in my experience, some of these committees can feel intimidating, right? Because there's a lot of like school stuff and so, we just make it sound like, "Oh, like it's going to be low-key and we're just we're talking about your kids, right? Like we we want your feedback and it's going to be as relaxed as we can as we can make it. Sometimes we have to do some business like

084that's required, right? By law that And we always have snacks. Makes it nice. I can get in there. Okay. Taran, did Vaseline go from a PTA to a PTC? We did this year. I noticed that. It kind of made me a little sad. Um PTA has an advocacy group to it is which is where a lot of us got involved with being more of an advocate for public education and PTA has a national voice and um but it's very hard to get people that will do it and I get that and I'm just a little sad about it because the voice it is, you know, they're lobbying and they are helping trying to raise awareness and so, anyway, but you know, it's understandable. But I I just wanted to verify that cuz I saw that

085and I was like, "Oh." Little heartbreaking. But I mean, I'm still very grateful for the parents that can come to the the parent teacher club and that's still an amazing advocate for your local schools. I just liked the PTA vision because it was for the entire, you know, district, the whole schools in California and whatnot. So, anyway, thank you for sharing. Right. Any other comments on the parent involvement opportunities? All right. Thank you. You're welcome. Um moving on to AD enrollment ADA reports. So, last month we had ended with 773. Currently, we're at 778. I like seeing it moving in that direction. Um so, um it looks like there's a good size increase at OES and then uh one at Tular >> [clears throat] >> PCI, I think it went down one, but that's to

086bliss. stayed the course. And then the other one that's attached, the ADA to enrollment, um seeing that 94.48% and 93.93%, those are up from the previous month as well as OES, it was a little bit lower and it went up. So, the percentages of enrollment attendance are up. All right. Thank you. And now we have E, interdistrict transfer reports. So, there was one student transferred into the district from WUSD since March 11th. All right. [clears throat] Now we are going to close the regular meeting and we're going to have a public hearing. So, I'm going to close the meeting 7:27 and I now open the public hearing regarding AF 2026 to 2027 Bass Lake Teachers Association Sunshine Proposal to Bass Lake Joint Elementary School District and G, the BLGJUESD 2026-2027 Sunshine Proposal to Bass Lake

087Teachers Association, H, 2025-2026 Sunshine Proposal CSEA and CSEA Chapter 757 to Bass Lake Joint Union Elementary School District and I, the BLJUESD 2025-2026 Sunshine Proposal to CSEA and CSEA Chapter number 757. I'm going to invite public comment for this and we have one from George Andrus. >> [cough] >> Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes. I apologize if there was a miscommunication. I did not mean for this here to be directly attached to this part of the meeting. It was just an overall statement I wanted to say, but thank you for allowing me to come up here. Um the teachers at Bass Lake School District pride themselves on representing the school, the children and the community and work every day to make a difference. We have worked through COVID, administrative leadership changes and our resolve

088is unwavering in our dedication to support this community. Most of us have been working here for 10, 20, or even more years. We are experienced and know what works and what doesn't work, especially in this community. The great joy of working for Gastineau School District is what keeps us here. >> [clears throat] >> The tight-knit family we have created all focused on serving the community. We have a long-standing history of working collaboratively with the board and leadership until recently. It is my opinion that at this time our communication is broken in this district. It does not feel collaborative to me. If our school district is going to thrive, we must get back to working together to solve our problems from budget to behavior to school operations. >> [clears throat] >> I am asking and moving

089forward that a committee made up of teachers and administrators working together to work together to resolve operational and budget issues. The Gastineau School District must work together. I invite you to please help us be the best we can be as a school district. Thank you FOR YOUR TIME. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. WELL, THE board will now return to the regular meeting agenda. >> [clears throat] >> Number nine, accomplishments and other reasons to celebrate from throughout the district. We're going to hear from Tara Tompkins about awesome elementary school. >> [cough] [laughter] [clears throat] >> Did it stop it? Where is it? Oh. Okay. Okay, perfect. Uh let's see. So, the last time I presented was January. So, all of this stuff is from January to now and we've been unbelievably busy. Putting things together was like,

090"Wow, we did all that in such a short amount of time." So, um back in the winter we had our boys and girls basketball for sports. Um our boys soccer, girls basketball and our boys soccer team were champions in the tournament. So, they were in first place. That was really exciting. We had mass and we had a an incredible season. We got to go every single week um except for the last two. They cut it short, but other than that we got to go. The kids were awesome. They went to ski and snowboard and they had so much time. So, we're really grateful that we got to participate in that program. >> [clears throat] >> Um then we had cross country um and that was available to um kindergarten through eighth graders. So, it's the

091only sport that we get to do all grades. Um we had I think 90 90 runners. >> [laughter] >> Um so, school was really small on the days that they were gone, but it was so fun for them to be out there running. Um as you can see they're all tired. Then we had our academic pentathlon which the last meeting we got to see them and congratulate them. They won first place um down at their county competition. So, that was a great season for them. >> [clears throat] >> Um we still have our garden going strong. Um we didn't have lessons in the month of April because we have our Earth Day activity, but every month our kids get to participate in wonderful garden lessons put together. Um so, there's some pictures there. Our wonderful

092[clears throat] PTC sponsored um the sky dome assembly. So, they come out with this big dome and the kids um climb through and they look at um different constellations in space. So, that was really cool. So, it's fun for them. Um our ASB team, those girls up there in the corner with the aprons on, they wanted to raise some money for ASB um to allow us to do other fun events. So, they put on a movie night. So, they um we had pizza, popcorn, candy and we watched the movie Cars. So, that's why those decorations are like a road and a stop sign. >> [clears throat] >> And the girls did everything. They were amazing. Um in January it's it was time to start preparing our eighth graders for their transition to high school. So,

093Yuba City High School came out, their counselors, and they did like a registration presentation for our eighth graders and they got to register, pick their classes, all of that good stuff. Um our middle school theater class um did a mock trial and they invited members of the community to come and be on the jury. Um I don't think she had it in her plans. It was kind of one of those go with the flow kind of things. A student's little squishy ball exploded one day, stuff went all over. So, they held a mock trial to see who was at fault. Um and just another note, they are preparing for their spring show at the end of the year. So, um just if anybody wants to come, they've worked really hard on that. So, in February

094we celebrated our hundred hundredth day of school. Um the students made hundredth day projects. Fourth grade was stacking a hundred cups. So, it was a really fun um celebration of being in school for a hundred days. I kind of put these two together, but we at Gastineau love to go, you know, all out and celebrate everything. So, we had fun on Valentine's Day as well as St. Patrick's Day. Um if you can tell from some of the pictures in our primary classes, the little leprechaun came through and made a little bit of a mess and then the kids got to clean it up. So, that was really neat. Um and then I just wanted to give a shout-out to Miss Bethany in the kitchen. Um if you can see in the picture there in the

095middle on St. Patrick's Day, everything she served was green. It was really fun. Um so, Mrs. Peterson and Mrs. Steel celebrated Chinese New Year. So, Mrs. Steel's fourth grade and Mrs. Peterson's kindergarten are big buddies. They meet once a week and so they got to have a little Chinese New Year's feast together and then they put on this wonderful um parade for the whole school. >> [clears throat] >> We also celebrated Dr. Seuss Day at the beginning of March. Um so, as you can see up there in the corner, Cat in the Hat showed up. They served everybody popcorn. Um we had reading all day. That was some of our big kids reading with our little kids. Pretty fun event. Our fifth graders did um state presentations. So, they picked a state, researched it, and

096then um did a presentation that the school got to walk through and read their boards, ask them questions. They did a great job of knowing a lot of facts. Um so, Mrs. Dent and the high school kind of did a collaboration this year. Um and so, we had our jazz parade. So, up there at the very top, um those are the Y Jazz Band students who came out and they played for us. Um after they played, our fourth and fifth graders got to play their recorders. Um I don't know if you can tell on one of the lines down there at the the bottom, the fifth graders got to march and play the recorder. So, they had to learn how to do that. Um our kindergarten through third grade worked with Mrs. Dent to learn

097a dance. Um so, every it was whole school. It was probably the best event. It was so much fun. I hope we get to do it every year. Everyone was dancing. It was wonderful. Um in March we had our spelling bee. Uh and so, right here you can see those winners from each grade level was first through third. We had some really tough competitions. I don't remember what grade level, but there was some that just went back and forth um for a while before we found the winner. Um our PTC in March set up a wonderful book fair for us. Um it it was an all week thing. The kids absolutely loved it. Um I don't remember the number, but I think we raised a lot of money and the kids got a lot of

098books. One of the most amazing things is PTC makes sure that every student gets a point and that point equals a book. So, every student in the whole school got one free book for them. So, I just wanted to shout out to this student, an eighth grader, um was in our leadership class and requested to kind of do something different besides make posters. Um he his idea was to create this game. So, the little screenshot that you see is a game of life that he coded and when you look at the code, it's insane. And what happens is the little um like food or the implement will fall from the sky the little wildcat has to catch it and he opened a new level every time either the the trash was picked up or all

099the playground equipment was picked up, he would open a new level for all the kids. So, that was a pretty cool thing for him. Um our leadership class, one of the students in the class had a wonderful idea that the month of March is kindness month and so they presented the idea of doing kindness bingo for the whole school. So, the one with the pictures is for K3, one with the words was for eight and so what students got to do is when they did those things they would mark it off and have their parents sign and then they would earn PBIS points for every box that they did. We had a lot of a lot of field trips now that have been happening in the spring. So, in fact in February our third grade

100students went to Monterey. Um just recently our fourth grade students went over to Mariposa to the mineral and historic museum. And then our first first graders got to explore the pizza factory, make their own pizza, see how it's done and they got a behind the scenes look at Riley's and how it operates. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Cherry. My goodness, that's great stuff. Thank you. Uh next up is number 10, superintendent's report. No report today. All right, then [clears throat] we will move to board member comments. Seeing none, staff comments. Um yes, this is a little bit out of order but uh let me uh uh I I couldn't help but notice that a lot of the conversation tonight was about uh participation, being heard and uh involvement and when I started on

101the board six years ago we I learned this about this thing called an LCAP and I asked and I thought, "Wow, that's how we make all our decisions based on this uh local control and accountability plan and uh I I was looking at looking at it and Randy was the superintendent back then and we were making decisions for the whole district based on these numbers. We got 70% of parents like this and uh and 60% like that and I said, "Well, what are the what are the actual numbers on that? What does that mean?" [laughter] And he said, "Well, we got 25 survey responses back and so 70% of that would be like 18 people. That's what we were making our decisions with, the opinions of 18 people. And so we're talking about involvement and

102we like hearing everyone says, I like it and we take that into account but the the actual numbers that go into the what's important and what's weighted on our LCAP is is up to the parents and the people that take these surveys. And and I realized that was important and so the second year I talked to my neighbors that had kids and they talked to some of their neighbors and we got the response up to 84 people district wide and it should be like 300. I mean, I I it's my assumption that every child in the in the in the school district has a parent. You know, I'm just assuming that and and so we would really like to to get if everyone participated, that would be ideal but I I know that's never going

103to happen but if you could all just encourage people to take their surveys I know it takes us a few minutes. Some of them are multiple choice, some of them are short little essay two sentence two sentence questions. That would just be um in instead of you know, reacting to decisions that are already made, you'd be really participating up front in the process doing that and I I think a lot of people don't understand that and uh so I just like to encourage everyone, you know, push it out there. Tell them to take take that survey. And let's get that going and that's my what I wanted to talk about. And also the mission statement I'm not real happy with it. I mean, it's a work in progress but we could use we could use

104some help with that so and I would really like to see some participation on that as well. But my that's my two cents for tonight. Well, I like the mission statement said every child is destined to succeed so I think you know, a lot of it is really good so everybody had their input and I appreciate that. I just wanted to say that last month I was on webinar with Capitol Advisors regarding budget and they were very they had some very positive things to say and then the last proposal that our governor gave did not include the December and January revenues for whatever reason, I don't know but they're expecting they're pretty positive that things could look a little better in May when they do the revise so I also signed up for the budget

105perspectives workshop coming up and um there was a lot of legislative action during legislative action week which was last week uh they had quite an agenda and uh I think people are going to have some progress so just hope that everyone could just be a little patient. But we appreciate all of you and I'm excited to see the things happening in our schools so thank you. Is there anything? Hi. I was able to attend the Wassuma uh awards ceremony last month and I just went to like absorb and like soak in what an awards ceremony is like and I was able to see how much our teachers um are right there at where all of the magic happens, where students learn and the teachers have figured out exactly what makes that kid tick and the

106other kid tick and and how they're all different and how our teachers keep that all in their mind as they're going through their lesson and they're presenting and and they can see the littlest switch or detail in kids' behaviors and they respond and they know who needs a little bit of extra and they know who's feeling super strong today and can be a leader and it was just really awesome to hear all of the details that each teacher could identify about the their students in their class and why they were getting that award or especially there was a teacher that said, "I'm giving the grit award and a lot of you are very happy about that but you need to know that it comes because they've overcome challenges." And for the teacher to be able

107to know that this kid is going through something and is recognizing that they're showing up and giving their best was just like so heartwarming. And they notice the spark that lights the curiosity, the word like catching the reading bug or catching or when they get when they the kids get it, when it finally clicks for them, it's awesome to see how excited the teachers are when the kids are learning, too. And I just wanted to say like how much I appreciate when I was in there I could just see the teachers showing up, giving 100% to these kids and and all of the, you know, differences that are happening here do not it does not appear to me that it is reaching our students and I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the

108professionalism, how much I appreciate that you guys put your all into these kids and show up every day to do that regardless of what's going on in your personal life because you guys are humans and you have things going on, too and I just wanted to say thank you because it's pretty cool to see kids up on stage so proud of themselves and identifying their parent in the audience and then also their classmates being so happy for them. It's just such a wonderful celebration of all of the learning that's going on in our district and even when they had to like re-teach the one clap so that the timing could be like, "We only have 20 minutes for this assembly. Come on, everybody, one clap. Let's do it. Let's practice." It was great. So, I

109just wanted to I know what I did. I sat there and I closed my eyes and I thought of my favorite teacher and I know this is done over and over and over and over. Um many of you have already done that so many times in professional development but it was really just a great moment for me to remember that. Like when I think of my favorite teacher, those kids on stage that are happy and high-fiving their teachers, they're getting to experience the building of their educational um experiences and they're going to remember their favorite teacher because of cool moments like this and I know I'm running on and on, but I did also want to acknowledge not just the teachers, but the staff because as I walked onto campus, I had to go in

110the office and I had to sign in that I was there and I had to get a sticker and they had to have the sign-up sheet ready and they had to have the student visitor stickers printed in advance. Um I wanted to thank MOT for having all the chairs set up and um you know, for everybody to be there and then or the families to be there and then I I was thinking about how the teachers had to have everything graded, had to look at all the attendance, had to run their reports, send the list, get the certificate printed. Those need to be printed in a timely manner to get back to the principal to sign and the teacher to sign and there's just so much that goes into an award ceremony and I just

111I'm sure that I forgot something, but I did want to do my best at recognizing all of the moving parts that go into celebrating our students. Thank you. I'd like to clap on that one. Gosh, it's so hard to follow that. I mean that was amazing. Thank you, Julie, for saying that and thank you to these teachers and staff and um you know, we're supposed to comment on things that we're doing in the district or our for district and I didn't get to go to the last mass days cuz they were canceled, but that was my that I don't I don't need it my time this year to mass and that was very fun. Um and I am going to attend tomorrow. There's a Central Valley Education Coalition Legislative Luncheon that I'm going to go

112to tomorrow and hopefully learn something that I can bring back. I don't know. Um but I am going to be there tomorrow in Madera. So that's all I have to share today. Uh I had the pleasure of being invited into Miss Noble's and uh Miss Valdene's uh classrooms to read on author's day and they their theme was star books, which is really cute. So they had all these little cups that are aprons and fun things for for [clears throat] that day and so I appreciated the invitation to come and read and I read um All the places Wait. All the place All the places you'll go. Um to both classes and I had uh really good attention and really good response. So thank you for the invitation. Um I March has been a busy month.

113I also um attended uh both sessions of Legislative Action Week through CSBA. Um Julie was in on the meeting with um uh David he's Assemblyman David Tangipa office. So she and I were both on that Zoom call and uh with other district representatives of other districts uh school board members and um and I did actually get to speak and I spoke on Proposition 98 uh the how to reject the 5.6 billion dollar withholding that the governor's um proposing right now and um also got to speak on AB 218 about how our fees have increased and you know, how we were only paying like $9,000 a few years ago, but now it's up to 88,000 and this girl's eyes were like this big and she actually wrote me down. So that was good. Um and then

114um Julie spoke on um extending 30-day substitutes uh to 60 days. That's um Assembly Bill on that along with other other packages of things that that the CSBA is working on um to fully fund the COLA, uh to protect LEA solvency, um which addresses the impact of AB 2018 or 218. And then there are four four bills that the CSBA is sponsoring um and they're trying to close the achievement gaps and one is AB 22 2000 Oh my gosh. Okay. I can talk. >> [laughter] >> 2225 state plan to close achievement gaps, AB 2514, which is a state of the achievement gap dashboard. So what they're trying to do is build in some accountability for the state because we're given all these unfunded mandates and all these things that we have to do, but the

115state's not really being held accountable for any of the student achievement that's happening. So those bills are support for that and then there's um another for them to report on the state's pro- the state's progress on how they're achiev- achieving the um on closing the gaps so that they have to actually report out instead of just us giving the reports to them and then also trying to get a state board of education advisory commission to try to spearhead some of these efforts um and then put some limitations on reporting requirements and then I already mentioned the 60-day substitutes. So so those were all the the items that were discussed with the representative. So um like I mentioned, Julie and I met with Assemblyman Tangipa office and then I had a meeting also with a representative

116from Senator Alvarado Gil's office and we covered the exact same agenda just with a different representative and um and I think they were receptive. So so that's encouraging and I know that um I also saw a post yesterday on Facebook from um CTA about the Prop 98 um withholding and so there's a lot of um people uh coalescing to try to get the governor to change his mind on this. It's it's an incredible amount of funding for our district. It's about $900 dollars ADA per student. So it's an incredible amount of money that if we can wrangle that back and we can plan for it, it would be amazing. So we're really hopeful that in May that happens. I know there's districts down in Southern California that have never gotten together before like LA, the

117charter county and they wrote a letter very strongly worded letter to the governor. So there's just a lot of opposition to this and I'm hoping that that through all these efforts that the governor will will change his mind and give us the money. And uh finally, I wanted to say I'll be attending the OES open house tomorrow. So I'm really excited to get to see the classrooms and all the work. It's always a fun evening to attend and um I wanted to say good luck to all the track meet participants on Friday cuz that is like so stressful. I remember the time Tomorrow. Oh, it's tomorrow? My gosh. I'm so off. Um but anyway, I hope you guys all have a great time um and I hope the kids all do well cuz that's a

118really fun event to attend. Um and then I hope you enjoy your spring break. Thank you. Enjoy your time off. You definitely earned it. And that is all I got to say to you guys. Yep. Legislative talk. Yes. Um so everybody knows, the superintendents also get together and talk with these legislators and we also were talking to them recently about the 60-day substitute and then two other things that we've put on their um radar above is the public records request. Like something needs to be done about that because it's so time-consuming on staff to respond to those. So um there needs to be some sort of law looked at and considered or rules and regula- regulations on that. And then we've also um been talking a lot about the swatting, which is the fake active

119threat calls that unfortunately our district was a part of last year where somebody calls from like another state and makes a very serious threat that um causes schools to have to go on lockdown. And so um there aren't big penalties for people who are doing that. Like it's a misdemeanor and so um we're putting a lot of pressure on the legislators to increase um the penalties for for that act um because of how disruptive it is to schools and social emotional for not only the students, but the adults and just the amount of um chaos that has ensued um because somebody thinks that they're just going to call from, you know, Florida and and and think that this is fun. So um there there's a lot of push on that. There's been petitions that we

120letters that um the Madera County superintendents have put together and signed um to hopefully work towards making if the penalties higher, then hopefully the the acts will decrease. So >> [clears throat] >> just to feed back on that. All right, thank you for that. Um number 12, future agenda items. Uh I just wanted to bring forward something that we've kind of been thinking about and that is having some type of a flow chart of special ed and giving us an overview of of who's doing what, who can do what, who's job, who what positions are you know, we're just a little unsure of the hierarchy and the duties and I know there's a job description that you all have on file, I don't think every job description's on there. So I think it would just

121be helpful for all of us to have that information so we know. Anybody else future agenda item? Okay. Um our next meeting date Oh yeah, we changed that. There's a board workshop coming up 4:30. Before the break. [clears throat] Oh, yeah. >> [cough] >> Okay, so April 30th we have our board governance workshop. That's at 3:30. And then our actual board meeting we changed to May 6th. Um Michelle has her son graduating in the academy. Yeah, from [clears throat] Myers Park Academy. It's from the fire academy. So she's going to be gone. So we decided to move the meeting to May 6th. And we put out a public notice for that public on Parent Square and it's [clears throat] reposted on the website with the crafting. Yeah, so hopefully that works for you all. And

122then I think >> And it'll be live streamed. We've I've already coordinated with Stephen so that'll It'll be exactly the same just a week earlier. Okay. Um and I mean the journey in this meeting I 8:00 in the morning. Thank you all for coming.