BASS LAKE JOINT UNION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD MEETING - 02/11/2026

001Okay. Good evening everyone. U I'm going to call this uh meeting to order. Open session at 6:23. Please join me for the pray begin to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for us for all. Um, I need to announce the close session actions. In close session, the board took action regarding student discipline. The board voted to approve an amended stipulated expulsion agreement. The motion was made by Julie Greenwood and seconded by Rhonda Clark. The roll call vote was as follows. four eyes, zero nos, zero abstensions. And then secondly, in close session, the board took action by a vote of four voting yes and zero voting no and no abstaining to non-reelect certain probationary certificated employees of

002the district for the 2026 2027 school year. All right. My third item of business is um since Stephen is not here tonight, I move to appoint Julie Gothier as clerk pro 104 for tonight's meeting due to Steven's absence. I accept the nominations. Thank you, Julie. All right. So, let's move on to the consent agenda. Item five. Um, do I have an approval agenda? Move to approve the consent agenda. >> I'll second. Okay. Um, does anybody have any items that they'd like to discuss? Um, I just wanted to acknowledge the um, donations by the Bulmer family, I believe, and uh, oh, Buller, I'm sorry. And also, um, Sher Baxter to the Wasuma Elementary School. Some for field trips and some for the garden. Thank you for that. Um yeah, and I just wanted to acknowledge the

003retirements um that we got and the letters of resignation. Um we have a few employees of long time standing that are leading our district and uh Lesie and and Eric and they've been uh in our district for a long long time and have contributed so much um through the garden coaching etc etc. The list goes on. So anyway, we um wanted to or at least I do and I'm sure I can speak for everyone just acknowledge um that we appreciate their service and we wish them well in their retirement. Thank you. You're welcome. >> Okay. Is there any other discussion on the consent agenda? Okay. Hearing nothing, then let's go to a roll call vote. Diane, we'll start with you. >> I I um hearing of persons wishing to address the board. Um I have

004three tonight and I'm going to read um the guidelines for that. The public hear me. Okay. The public 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 the start of meeting unless otherwise determined by the board. Each person is limited to 3 minutes and 20 minutes per topic if multiple people speak. You may also email elderbaslake sd.org board prior to 12 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

005no action will be taken unless listed on a subsequent agenda. The public may also submit a request to address the 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 three minutes per item. Okay, so um our first person is Jacob Krauss. Um I my name is Dick Kra. I am an eighth grader at Wasuma Elementary and I would I came and decided to talk today because I heard talk about um the possibility of having to extend our PE teacher to more than one sorry to extend our PE teacher to more than one school and personally I don't think that's a great idea. I've been blessed to

006have Mr. Mechan as my PE teacher. She's been very beneficial to me and um all the kids in my class and classes been beneath me that I've talked to about it. Um we all love her. We appreciate what she's done for us. Um, and before she came to Wasuma, I would um take PE with my teacher. I was in the lower grade, so I didn't have multiple. But the difference between us having a PE teacher with a degree on the matter of physical education and a teacher who doesn't necessarily have that or might not have that is very different. And I've noticed that the amount of physical education and care um of that class has gotten a lot better since we've gotten Miss McMin. Um and Miss Mcmeckin does many things for our school. She

007coaches boys volleyball and girls volleyball along with other teachers. but she's a very big role in that. She also teaches girls basketball and she helps with track and field which is a big event that takes a lot of care and um as well as cross country which I've helped in the past and it is a very chaotic thing. She also um benefits the ASB at our school very much. Last year as a seventh grader, I was the treasurer and she would come in at lunch. She would help us write our announcements for the week. She would help us plan rallies. She would help us with just a lot of things that otherwise would not be done as well. And um if she had to be split up into multiple schools, she might not be able

008to do those things and be able to give such care and um be able to help as well as um well, like I said, I really believe that the need for PE teacher in each school is abundant and the care that she gives is if we miss a day of PE, instead of like marking our grade down, she'll give us a Google doc on a certain Olympic sport that we might not have heard of, but we read the articles and we take the thing. Well, take the quiz and if we get it right, we get our full credit and how a test works. Oh, Jacob, I'm I'm so sorry to interrupt you, but my my phone was on silent and that your your time is inspired. >> Thank you. >> All right. Now that I

009know the last name, I'm going to call Stacy Crossy. Okay. Hello friends. My name is Daisy Kraussy. I have been a parent at Lassima Elementary for 8 years now. When I first came to Lassuma, I spent two full days volunteering of the 5-day week in classrooms that I felt needed extra help. Specifically, my son's classroom, first grade, Jacob's classroom, and also RTI. So, as I watched the board meeting last week, I was really concerned with two things that were brought up for possible um cutting back in that particular department. One specifically, PE. Um Jacob and his brothers did not grow up in a home where we watch sports. We're doing other things. So, it was been really awesome seeing all my children go through the program and learn sports that they maybe would not have

010learned before had they been with just a regular teacher. love the teachers, but it is really hard to plan um sporting activities and new things when you're trying to just go between all the other educational classes that you're having to teach. So, I believe that um of course none of the programs none of none of us want to cut anything, right? Because we just want to build we love our kids so much. But I would strongly caution you um to look higher above the educator level if it's possible and also maybe those positions that don't have effect on every single student and every single teacher which the PE program does affect every student and every teacher. Also my passion for RTI um that is a very important class. Um, specifically, I didn't hear it mentioned

011in previous meetings that our Spanish speaking students, they go to RTI to help them to get to the point to that where they understand what's going on in the classroom. I spent time with a translator on my phone speaking with students because I don't know Spanish very well and they didn't know English very well, but we worked together and we had progress. So, I would strongly encourage you to um fortify that specific department and um not take away from it. Um again, that was why I volunteered there because I don't want to be a sub. I don't want to replace a teacher. I want to help the teacher, right? And that's why we're all here is because we want to help the students in the district and make it a better place. So, um thank

012you for hearing myself and Jacob as a parent and student. really appreciate all of you for what you're doing. But again, I would just encourage you to maybe look in other areas because those are such important departments and I will tell you that our PE teacher is a mental health coordinator. She aids the mental health of the teachers. She aids the mental health of the students. And it's very important that our students can take a break from the room that they've been in with the teacher they've been with. Go out, do a physical activity that's in plan for them. have a teacher saying, "Hey, looks like you're having a rough day. We're gonna work it out. It's going to be okay. That teacher loves you. Head back to the classroom and get it done." Right?

013So, I really would ask that you all really, really think hard in other areas that you can cut back besides those two specific departments. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. And then um and win. Thank you our board of trustees for the sacrifices you make and the commitment you make to our district. We are grateful. So we teachers are very disappointed that you authorized the cutting of teacher positions and we truly hope you will reconsider. Today's students have different needs than they did 10 to 20 years ago. And now more than ever, they need positive interactions with their teachers. When will the positive interactions that we have with our students be valued enough for you to please seek other areas in the district for reductions? We should be looking at our district's overspending of

014administrative conferences, trainings, and consulting. If you truly put our students first, you will not cut teacher positions. On behalf of our teachers, I present to you, our president, a letter with our signatures and we will be reaching out to you very soon to meet with you individually. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Uh we're going to move on to number seven, action items. So, consideration and update and adoption of administrative regulations 5117. Do I have a motion? I move to approve the adoption of administrative regulation 511 set. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Any discussion on this? >> This is what we talked about in the last meeting where we just had to clean up the district and school of choice language because we are that that's it. >> Okay. Uh so roll call vote. >>

015I I All right. Motion carries. So now we have 70 board resolution budget reductions. We have 261. Do we do these individually? >> Yeah, they're two separate. >> Okay. So we have resolution number 26-11. Do I have a motion? I'll move approval of resolution 2611. >> Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I'm just wondering how this is different because we voted on this at the last meeting. So, what what makes it different tonight? and have a res. >> Do we want to have a a second and then a discussion or >> Yeah. Okay. I'll second. Okay. >> So, the difference is um at the last meeting were um was the presentation of the options um based on the meeting before that of the directive to cut the between the 800 and the 850,000 from um the budget.

016So, um went back and did that presented presented the options. We discussed the options. you guys chose an option. Um, and so now what legally what has to happen is those options now have to be presented before the board on a resolution to approve um eliminating those positions because just discussing it in the last meeting with options isn't the official resolution of the board voting and taking action on the um reduction of these positions. So then um after that what happens is um if they were to be approved then human resources goes through the process of looking at seniority and all of the things that we need to look at um to notify the employee that their the proper employee that their um position is being eliminated per the resolution. Um I I so the

017reason I have the question is okay so we have two resolutions so we're on this one right now. >> This is classified classified. Okay. So my question is you can see yeah I see it in here but I guess my question is on the next one. >> Okay. So what I did is I took the action from the last meeting from that option of those positions that you guys took action on to reduce >> and took those positions depending on if they're classified or certificated and put them on a resolution. >> Okay. >> So the positions on here are the positions from that option four >> that was discussed in the last meeting. >> Okay. So we are talking about classifying right now. Resolution 2611. Yes. Are the um classified positions. >> Okay. Thank you.

018>> I just have a question on the position number four because it says under that heading the full-time/ hours being eliminated. So one says number four says 1.25 hours but it's a full-time position. Correct. That's the position if you remember on the options where it talked about reducing hours that would not affect the school day. So there were um there are some pair of professionals that have currently have hours that extend past when like students leave for the day. And so when we audited that and looked at that um it it was on the options because those hours can be reduced because they're not directly working with the students during that time. And so those positions the total number of hours that's being reduced from those positions is 1.25 hours. >> Makes sense. Thank you.

019>> Yeah. So we have a roll call vote. >> I I >> I Okay. So moving on. 26-12. So you can see this before you. Do I have a motion? I have questions about it. I just want to talk about it. So, okay. So, how do we talk about it without doing a motion? >> You have to have a motion. >> Well, we make a motion in a second, but it doesn't mean we have to do a roll call. Okay. I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> Okay. So discussion >> can we talk about the number one PE teacher because we are we do have schools they're very very concerned parents are very concerned about eliminating that particular position at OCI because of retirement. Um can we talk about the possibility of at a later

020time back filling that position? Yeah. Um we talked about this in previous meetings that of course um if um if money's come in that we were not anticipating um we're still we'll hear a little bit about the governor's workshop and of course you know the May revise is still down the road and monies come in that we were not anticipating and we want to look at using some of those funds for reinstating any of these position. positions. That's certainly something that can be discussed and considered. >> Good. That's that's the hopeful position that we would like to have. >> I mean, we do not want to >> eliminate any positions that we need. >> If we're if we're having that conversation, we're all going to be very happy because that means that there's more money,

021right? >> But keeping in mind that any additional funds that have been talked about are one time. So it could be, you know, a couple years sort of thing depending on, you know, our enrollment. Maybe it could be longer. Other programs could change, but just keeping that in mind if if that discussion comes up and the funds are um onetime funds, you know, having to plan ahead for that. >> Yeah. So if additional funds come before us, we will be transparent about those types of funds whether they are ongoing or not. And then we will have conversations about what we want to do with that money. Of course, if it's onetime money, the discussion will involve the possibility of whatever we choose to use that money for could potentially need to be reduced at a

022later date when that money no longer exists, which is part of why we're in the the situation we're currently in. So, I had a question because um we talked about um limiting a physical education teacher, the school psychologist, a special ed a special ed full-time, where is it on here? Um special education program. there was a cut to the special education program and um we talked about potentially I was I was under the impression that we talked about not eliminating the school psychologist intern at this point >> but now it's on here. >> Yeah, I can explain that. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So the reason I put that on here is because our conversation around that was depending on the school psychologist that we retain, we may or may not have somebody that can supervise

023the intern. And so if we don't have it on here, we can't eliminate it, which would put us in a situation where now we're having to employ somebody without the capabilities of them. if we don't have somebody to supervise them. If we do have it on here and we eliminate it and we can supervise that person, we can reinstate it. >> Okay. And and so why is the special ed program cut not on here? It had one full-time teacher that's not on here. >> That's not on here because that's a different situation. So, but we are cutting that program. I mean, we are cutting we are cutting we're reducing classrooms in special education. Yes. >> Okay. Um, I know that you guys all weren't here when we had these discussions over the last few months,

024but um, part of the reason, and I can't speak to everybody, but I'm just telling you that part of the reason that we came to the decisions that we did was because of we didn't want large class sizes. We didn't want combination classes. uh we also have to be at the you know 30,000 foot level looking down at the entire district which we understand 100% I understand 100% that the teachers and staff that directly work with the children are the most important um but we also have to be fiscally prudent and there have been lots of things unfortunately that have arisen over time because we haven't had right people or maybe we haven't had enough people doing what we need to do the business of the district. So, this is a very hard decision for

025us. Um, but we felt like this had the least impact on the students while still trying to keep us fiscally prudent and up to date. So, anyway, that's my comment. Um, and yeah. Okay. Anybody else have any comments? Oh, one more comment. Um because we also talked about the intern like and I get you're saying that if we have someone that can um proctor the the psychologist that we could have intern but we talked about the counseling service because that's important. We've heard from everybody about the discipline in class and that's another area that we really want to help with classroom. And so I was concerned when I read that that we were going to cut that program and not have an additional plan for that. We we don't want to cut it if we

026can legally supervise it. >> Okay. >> Right. And so if we can't legally supervise it, it's on here because if it's not on here, then we're in a situation where we have to employ somebody and we can't follow the rules and regulations that go along with that employment. However, if we want to use the funds that were allocated towards that for something else for the counseling services and things, we can do that. But the district can't put themselves in a situation where they don't have something on this resolution that we might not be able to work with. Right? We can certainly reinstate it. But after the after resolutions happen, then there's a whole process with human resources that we have to go through seniority lists, hire dates, probationary employees, permanent employees because you have to

027figure out who is the person in that position who is going to be released, right? And that's that's very tedious and we have to be very prudent with that, right? Because like we don't want to make any we don't want to trip up anywhere there, right? Because there's a lot of legalities, right? So we don't start doing that until we actually know from the board in these resolutions what's been approved. So then we go through that process. So we can't not have that on here if we can't supervise it, right? So that's why it's on here. >> Okay. Okay. And then I just wanted to ask because we kind of had these back and forth discussions about how much to to reduce etc based on the on the on the deficit spending that we have

028on the onetime money that's running out etc. So, um, I just have all these numbers in here and I need some help. So, when and Julie, you kind of mentioned this at the last meeting. What was that number that was like the we need to have this is the deficit spending. This is the I had from the previous meeting the 430,000 that we were going to be so the the money was coming to an endet time funds. >> That's correct. >> And 242,000 that we were already deficit spending. And I just used my addition and I came up with $672,000. Okay. So, so if we take the 816,000 that um is option for, if we were to take out the PE specialist, then that is $686,000. So, that would only leave us with um $14,000.

029that would be extra like added to the reserve >> and that's not taking into account any more deficit and currently there's additional legal issues and things that are coming up that are going to increase our deficit. So to keep that in mind, >> can I I want to be transparent and clear like a lot of times we see legal issues that doesn't necessarily mean that the district is constantly having conversations with attorneys, right? There are things that have come across the district in the last four or five weeks that we are obligated to do as a public education entity. Okay? So when these things come across my desk, Terry's desk, they are things that we're obligated to do. It doesn't mean that I picked up the phone and talked to an attorney, right? I don't

030like and I'm not I just want to make that clear. I want people to understand that like >> legal services >> I understand the legalities of running the district, right? and and when things and and sometimes we can't say what those are because it's confidential, right? But there are things that we are obligated to do to educate students in the general education setting and in the special education setting that have come to us recently and throughout the last year and a half that are very expensive that not only benefit the student but benefit our classrooms. They h some of these things have to do with significant behaviors. However, we are obligated to educate students that live within our district. Okay? And some of the things that we're doing for those purposes that not only benefit

031the student, but also benefit our sites and our classrooms are very expensive. And if we don't have the money and the reserves to address those things, we're going to be in big trouble. And so those are the kinds of conversations that we have, right? So when we're so tight and we don't know what's going to show up on the doorstep tomorrow, that makes me very nervous as a superintendent who's needs to be fiscally responsible for our district and needs to make sure that we have the funds available to do what we are legally obligated to do for our students and our families. And so that's why we've continued to have the conversation about the reserve and why we're nervous about that. Um, so I just I felt like that's important to understand because it's not

032just, you know, like I said, picking up the phone and calling the attorney. There are things that are are very expensive. I mean, in the last 4 weeks, about $250,000 of things that we're now going to have to do that we didn't have to do 4 weeks ago. So, that's just I mean that's just the reality, right? I I wish it wasn't, but it is. And it and it's what we're obligated to do. So, I was still And I know this is like a three-year plan, right? This is like because we have to make sure that we're fiscally solvent for three years. I was still an advocate. I mean, I get that we want to build up the reserve, but I was hoping that maybe we could try to scale it back even if it's

033just until then and we have to have that discussion again. I know you said why. Anyway, we had the discussion about if we don't do it now, we might have to do it next year, but is it possible that we again, talk about that? Like, is there something that we could do that like and and we all know like okay, you know, we didn't do what we needed to do for the three-year plan. We're going to try this and see how cuz you know, the funding changes right at the end of the year, the May revise. We don't know what next year is going to bring with new um anyway, >> we didn't meet the reserve and the two outgoing fiscal years in the multi-year projections without putting the cuts in there. So, that was

034the only way we had a positive budget. We would have had to have a qualified budget and have the county come in by putting that we listed reductions. It was written out in the bottom space explaining what the reductions were and that was the only way we passed our budget and had a positive um first interim certification by putting that we were making reductions. So we can't just go and not do those reductions and we won't be in our reserve and then our budget doesn't pass. >> Yeah. and they're not getting additional funding and our and our ADA is going down as it is projected to um currently even P1 it was down then that's what happens. So we're going to get less less funding and I'm going to go over that in my presentation

035that even if we get a COLA it's less of a COLA if your ADA is lower it offsets it. Okay. And just so I'm clear, that those cuts that was the $672,000, but that doesn't include anything for the reserve. >> No, it was um cuts in um both certificate and classified. Uh there were reductions on salary and benefits, which is the 430,000, and then the adjustments in the services and the supplies to get to the reserve, not taking into account that deficit. The deficit is just the current scenario. um if we end the year with more of a deficit, then we start off the year with less um and we're in a worse situation unless we get more funding. Yeah, the reductions in the multi-year projection in order to certify our budget, we had to

036have those reductions and that's why we started the process a few meetings ago to talk about what the reductions would need to be to get us there to be able to meet the budget and you'll see that at the second interim at the next meeting. These are the reductions that she was talking about that were included in the forehead budget. I just wasn't sure if that like you remembered that that was part of the options. >> I'm sorry. The color >> that's what she said. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. The positions made up the 430,000. >> Yeah. All right. I just wanted to clarify that and also for the audience. >> Yes. Um Okay. So is there any other discussion? >> I do have a question. So since our last meeting, we all

037received a letter uh concerning the number of hours that are required for each uh student to have PE, which I understand is 400 hours. Has that been looked into the ed? >> Yeah, I did look into that and the research that I came up with is it depends on how the school is coded, which is the um CDS code. And so schools that are coded as elementary schools, um it doesn't matter what the grade span is. If they're in elementary school coding, then it's 200 minutes every 10 days. If it's an intermediate, junior high, or middle school, it's 400 every 10 days. But in my research, it kind of gets a little complicated cuz then it like talks about your LEA, which is your district. And since we're an elementary school district, it says that

038like maybe then like cuz we have a K8 and then we have like a TK5 and then we have an intermediate within like our elementary district. So I sent an email to the person who's in charge of PE um physical education at CDE and I just said like this is my understanding based on our CDS code. This is the situation in my elementary school district. Um, and I explained what I just explained to you with the um, each school and their um, grade spans. And so I said, can you just make sure that I'm understanding this correctly that like RK8 would be 200 minutes, RK5 would be 200, but then our intermediate would be 400. And so I haven't heard back yet, but I did reach out and ask that question because I wanted to

039make sure that my research was correct and accurate so that moving forward with the PE program, we're doing it within the constraints of what what we're obligated to do based on our um grade spans at each of our school sites. So once I hear from CD, I'll let I'll let you guys know. >> So what happens if we do have to provide 400 hours to >> minutes? I'm sorry, minutes to the junior hours um to the junior high. You know, how is that going to affect the program? We have to provide those minutes. So, those are the mandated minutes. So, then we'll look at the program and we'll figure out with scheduling if PE the two existing PE teachers are going to service all those minutes or if they're going to split those between themselves

040and the classroom teachers. Okay. Is there any other discussion? Any other questions? I do want to mention that the letter that our BLTA rep wrote on behalf of the teachers that that has been considered all of those items between our board president you're and I understand you're going to address that in your superintendent report. So there's clarification as to what you know we did look at those items. >> Yes. All of those items were looked at and in my superintendent report I touch on that. >> Okay. Appreciate that. >> Of course. Okay. So, we had a motion. We had a second. Is there any more discussion regarding resolution number 26-12? >> Okay. I know. I have another question. need to do this. So, um I know that we after the meeting we had um last

041week on Monday, you know, the different scenarios go in your head and then I was like, well, what about like why couldn't we have like cuz one of these had like a case manager position, like a full-time teacher as a case manager position. It's like, well, could you do um one full-time that took like half of a case manager and half of the PE or you know what I mean? So that we were I know we didn't talk about that on last Monday and we did come up with the res. I mean I just you know it came up afterwards and I was like well we had it on here but could we have skewed it a little bit more you know like like because we have the case manager on here that we we

042didn't go with that option right we went with the PE teacher but I I think I think what's happening here is and I'm not going to speak for the entire board. I'll speak for myself. Every option had the reduction of not bu backfilling the retirement of a PE teacher. Every single option. So obviously that was the recommendation to us as a board. So within that, you know, that was I thought when we were doing that that we were doing a good thing. I'm going to be honest with you. I felt like, well, you know what? We're keeping two PE teachers because the entire PE program was on the chopping block. And so I thought, well, we're just we're not rehiring one PE teacher, but we'll still have two. And two is better than none. So

043that was my thinking. And also within that we didn't reduce any certificated teachers because we kept the two PE teachers that were already employed and we weren't going to reduce them. What that also protected was the classroom sizes because we've had declining enrollment for years now and we're not producing certificated teachers. So in addition with Lesie Peterson's retirement, we another option was to not backfill her position, but we didn't choose that. And so I thought we were doing a service. I thought we were making a good decision. and and then here comes the onslaught of, you know, the emails and and what we're seeing here tonight. And so it doesn't now it doesn't necessarily feel right because everyone's upset. And I get that. But but at the same time, when we were making these decisions,

044it's it all seemed like the right decision because I felt like we were protecting the majority of the employees and then we were taking some of the special ed department, which was also a concern out there, and we were making reductions there. So, in my mind, we were we were doing what we were asked to do. >> And we did and and we did a psychologist, too. We got rid of a psychologist. And we felt like, you know, we're trying to take a little bit from every different area to have the least impact. And >> Exactly. So, it's that's where this gets really hard because then if we don't take action on this tonight, then we have $130,000 now that we have to try to find. And it's not easy to find when you have

045a $14 million budget. And and if we don't do it, then next year if we have more, it's we're going to be coming here again and something else is going to have to go. So, when we use onetime money to hire people or to pay for raises, it's it's not ongoing and and it's really hard because we don't know what how do we we can't make money. The schools don't make money and we don't have when the governor is cutting and and holding back $5.8 billion from California and we don't have a guarantee, then we have to protect ourselves. So, I just wanted to put that out there because because last week I thought we were making good decisions, but now everyone's here and they're upset and I understand. I know you want your prep

046time. I get it, you know. Well, it's part of it. It is part of it. No. No. I'm sorry. I can't take No, you would have had to come to the podium. I'm sorry. But I got a letter about prep time and that's okay. I mean, I don't think Is there anything wrong with you wanting prep time? I think >> okay, you can suspend the rules. >> Okay. All right. We sorry about our meeting and we got these letters, but I'm addressing everyone. >> Anyway, it is hard to try and you know accommodate all these pets. every scenario there it none of it was pretty I mean we did try to do the work and so then after last week I was just kind of stressing out about it and just thinking well did we

047look at this and this you know um does do you guys have any more questions about what's on the resolution these specific positions >> I I just one more because again that the special ed cut is not in here. It does it mean it's not going to >> We've already done that. >> We've discussed that. That's something that's taking place on something other than >> Oh. Oh. >> of this resolution. >> So, it'll come to us later as a resolution. >> Okay. It's not on it's there's legalities behind that. the what is before you is what is needs to be on this resolution per last week's meeting and the vote that you guys took on option four anyway. Okay. It's not regarding this specific item right now, but throughout the course of the remainder of

048meeting tonight, there are things we will be addressing that will benefit our school and bring in more money. One of which I will be talking about later after we do this will be what we can do to reduce the absenteeism issue in our school. So things like that will give us more money. So doesn't have to specifically do with this something I'm going to talk about later. Just letting people know. I will go ahead and move to approve this at this time. Okay. So roll call vote. I >> I'm going to abstain. Sorry. >> It's okay. You're still going to pass. It's still going to pass, right? I'm just abstaining from it. Okay. Um, all right. I All right. Motion carries. Okay. Moving on. Eight monthly items and financial reports. A approval awards. I'm going

049to approve the awards. Second. >> Any discussion? >> I know there were items on here that were quite costly with the roof having a massive leak in the kitchen. So, things that are unforeseeable cost the district a lot of money. All right. Roll call vote. I >> I 8B. Governor's proposed budget presentation. Hold on. Just connecting. So, this will just be a brief overview of the governor's budget proposal. Michelle and I attended that up in Sacramento. Oop, sorry. I didn't mean to do that. Go back. Um, we attended that up in Sacramento a couple weeks ago. We were roommates. We shared a room and uh attended the workshop together. So, um, I'm just going to go over really briefly some of the things they proposed. Just kind of keeping in mind that it usually changes

050by the time May roll comes around. So, some revenue assumptions. So, the projected LCFF uh for next year is 11,000 or 11,134,747. That's about 108,000 more than our current year. So, that's um only a slight increase. Uh that's because they're talking about just doing such a small COLA. Um, and that doesn't include our P2 ADA, uh, which at P1 was 20 less than last year. We haven't reported our P2 yet. That's not till April. Um, when we did the first interim, they had proposed the COLA to be 2.51 and now in the governor's budget, they reduced it to 2.41 and then I've got the numbers there for the outgoing years. Uh, our costs are increasing year-over-year around 6 to 8%. So, the COLA that we receive doesn't really address that. And there are some proposed

051one-time funds with um additional money that was taken away from the learning recovery block grant being given back as well as additional money for the um student support discretionary block grant. Both of which we currently had had but they've been expended. So they're talking about possibly extending that on um one more year but there nothing's been finalized yet for that. And they also have talked about a long overdue special education funding increase. Every year our special education funding has been flat, but our costs have increased. So, uh, and that, you know, it's been a big soap box for me on all my presentations that they need to increase that because those services are really important to our students. So, um, we we need to receive the funding and there's a later slide that I'll kind

052of address for that. Um, also the governor is proposing taking 5.6 6 billion from school funding to set it aside for other programs and that is unconstitutional because it is in law that Prop 98 which is the LCFF funding is to be fully funded. So they are not allowed to do that. So there's a lot of people that are worked up in the state because that can't be taken um if they want to take it and put it in our reserve for schools that would be different. But um so we'll have to see how that all plays out on the uh legislation floor. But if they take that, that could also affect our LCFF funding. It could come in lower. Some other revenues such as federal funding like title one, title two, and other federal

053funds are flat. So, uh, this year, if you recall, title one, um, when I built the budget in June, and then when we actually, um, started off the year, title one was cut over 100,000 and title two, where we do most of our professional development for our certificate staff, was cut by 20,000. it's usually 50,000 and it was cut to 30,000. So, it's been pretty tough um with those funds as well as title three was cut by about 3,000 and title four was also cut um even though our upp which is our unduplicated pupil percent uh that's our students our high need students that need additional supports. So, even though we have a higher percentage of students with needs, we um those federal funds are not adjusted for that. And then our supplemental concentration funding

054is projected to increase slightly because of the higher UP, but that's an overall portion of our LCFF funding. And it has to be used for specific programs to support those high need students. So it can't be used for just general expenses. So sometimes people say, "Oh, we're getting more SNC funding, so that's good. That could go towards raises. That could go towards um different programs." It has to be for specific programs that are in the LCAP and that are related to the students who generate that funding. The funding for supplemental concentration is generated by the high need students or our percentage of um students and the subgroups of lowincome poverty foster youth uh homeless youth. So we couldn't just use it for overall expenses even if that increases. And then Prop 28 uh is ongoing

055which is great. Home to school transportation the TK implementation um grant that's all part of the LCFF and the ELOP extended learning opportunity funding will receive the cola and those funds there. We have started some great programs with our music and theater um and band programs as well as um the afterchool programs that we offer. So, I'm really happy to hear that's ongoing um because sometimes they add ongoing funding and it can go away, but those will only be increased by that co. So, I always have this slide in there every year that kind of shows right out the gate when we start next year. Um these are costs that we have. So, step and column is something that's just going to happen year to year because everybody moves unless you know people are topped

056out a certain step. majority of people move and um over a step and column and our stirs and pers those are our retirement costs. So right out the gate uh we have $176,923 in required expenses. So that's without receiving any additional funding. That's on top of everything we're spending right now. Current salaries, benefits, utilities, food, technology, all of that. But our LCFF is only projected to increase of 108,000. So, right out the gate, we're we have a deficit. This is why I say it's troubling when they want to take money from Prop 98, schools, if anything, year-over-year should have increased funding. So, if we're short 68,000 right out the gate, what happens if we have to make a higher special ed contribution? You've seen year-over-year in my time here, special ed used to cost 800,000.

057We received 300,000, so we had to contribute five. Now, it costs 1.8 8 million, we still receive 300,000. So, we're contributing 1.5 million. So, right out the gate, if we have more special ed services that are needed, and that has happened, as you've seen the um rates go up at all the districts with more special ed percentages, we won't have extra funding to offset that. So, it's important to get that out there. And then in terms of negotiations for next year, u new positions, if like last year we had to add a TK teacher and a TK aid right before school started. So if something like that were to happen again um or we got an influx of students, we don't have additional funding for that. Um we've had to add several uh special education

058pareducators due to IEP uh um compliance. So things like that, if they come up, which they have historically each year, we're not going to have extra funding for that. And I'm not trying to be a Debbie Down or anything, but I'm just trying to be realistic and look at our budget as I was hired to do and be fiscally solid. And then of course if we have to adopt any textbooks. Um things like facilities like Diane just mentioned on the warrants if we have a roof leak or any other kind of repairs. Um and of course utilities always comes to mind. So I know personally our rates are always going up for those items and they have been for the district as well. And then technology if there's we need additional alarms, cameras, um devices,

059things like that. Um we're really going to be uh stuck without receiving any additional funding. So this is a slide that school services provides that I always like to include every year. I'm not going to go through it line by line, but I just want to show you when you have lower ADA, it does it equates to a lower COLA. So if you look at the current year there at the top and then the projections for next year and then you look at the numbers along the right there where we calculate our base grant per ADA, it's crazy to think we only receive, you know, 10,000 or so student. Um and then um but our ADA is lower. Look in 2627 because we're using the current projections. You can see we have a little bit

060more funding over the previous year, but that bottom right box there, we're not getting a 2.4% cola on our LCF funds. It's only about a.9% and that's not move the decimal over like.9% cola because when your ADA is lower, you're funded at that lower rate. So, it's really important to point out because a lot of people get really excited when they hear, "Oh, we're getting a 2% cola." But if it's offset by lower ADA and lower enrollment, um, it's actually works works in reverse like that. This slide is really important as I had mentioned earlier with the special education funding challenges. This is from um the school services governor's budget workshop, this slide, but it's showing you the cost per this is the cost per student. So SWD means student with disabilities and currently it's

061around $25,46 per student. So look over to my words there in white on the right. We get around $11,000 per student. That's the base grant plus the additional add-ons, but it's costing $25,46 per student. Am I saying, well, we shouldn't be spending that or that's wrong. No, I'm saying we don't receive enough money, but then if 23% of our students are special ed, how do we make up the difference for that? And this is something that's really happening in all districts where the general fund contribution is having to go up to to support these programs because not enough funding is coming in. And that's why I'm really hoping when they're saying they're going to add to the special ed funding. Um it's not a huge amount, but any little bit would help because you can

062see how much the costs have gone up even since 2011 when it was 14,000 per student. That was a lot closer to what we were receiving per student. Could you just I know you're not wanting questions at the moment. >> Yeah. >> Could you kindly repeat how many the percentage of the students in our district that are now >> I think it's around 22 22%. >> So 22%. >> Say that again so everyone. >> Yeah. 22% of our 776 students um are are special ed. So if we receive $11,78 for each of those students, but it cost us $25,46 per student, that's where we're making up the contribution out of our LCF, out of our general funds just and those programs and supports are highly needed for those students to be successful. So I'm not

063saying that shouldn't be there, but I'm saying that we're not receiving the funding to be able to continue and sustain that. Thank you. This slide I also had in my last year's governor's budget uh presentation, but they are talking about the enrollment continuing to decline projected out into 2035. How um in California people are leaving the state, people are having less kids. Um they did two different lines here. So the gray dotted line shows TK through 12 and then you can see um the yellow line is K through 12 excluding TK. So basically what they're saying is because they did the full implementation of TK where students can start right in August even if they're not yet five um it has helped a little bit with some enrollment numbers and we've even seen that here

064where we had the two TK classes because we had such a big bubble growth. So that is helping the enrollment projection slightly but then uh in their other slide when they talked about the birth rates going down um I mean I don't know if that's going to continue where TK is going. I think it's because this year everybody could start if they were, you know, a certain age. Um, you know, by the start of school. So, it increased the enrollment a little bit, gave it a little bubble. And then our enrollment ad ADA history. I covered this in my first center in our presentation, the same graph, but just doing some projections for next year. So, right now, we're funded on the three-year average for our ADA. So if our ADA comes in lower, we're

065luckily able to include the two previous years to help. But if we're being funded, if you look at next year, let's say we have 760 students and we're only funded for 738, that's where it becomes challenging because you still have to educate them, feed them, turn the lights on. Um, but we're not receiving the funding for what you have here, for the number of students you have here. And we're in the business of educating students. So they've talked about in the state going to some enrollment based funding models because only five states in the nation still fund on an average attendance. The rest are all funded on enrollment. But there's a lot of um people pushing back against that in California because they're worried that won't make people accountable for attendance and that attendance rates

066will drop um if we're only funded on enrollment. So every year it kind of gets a lot of steam and they talk about passing it and then it doesn't fully make it. So, um, but that's something just to think about. And then we talked tonight about, uh, deficit spending and reserve balances. So, this is happening statewide. If you look here, um, in, um, in 2324, you can see the difference compared to now in the adopted budget. And where the slate gray bar there, that's elementary districts. Um so you can see that back in 23 24 there most people had around a 25% reserve and now it's around 18 or so. Um interesting to point out here remember we're at just our 4% reserve. So this is representing all the districts in the state. So we

067are far below that where we're not um giving anything above our minimum reserve. But the reason that this is happening, you can see it's happening with high school districts and unified districts where everybody's reserved balances are dropping and deficits of spending has increased. It's due to all the onetime dollars. So all the COVID funding going away. Um and then all of our costs have gone up. And then also declining enrollment has affected that as well. So uh reserves are continuing to go down at many districts um as well as um the deficit spending going up. So the next steps will be the budget and LCAP planning for 2627 and we'll be starting that over the next several months. And as I mentioned earlier, we'll have the second interim budget update at the next meeting. Uh

068our P2 report of attendance will be due April 15th. And just so you know, our P1 was 718.08. So think of if we have 770 students right now and we were funded at 718, that would be pretty drastic. But we do get the three-year average. So, right now it's around 74267 without P2 numbers in there. Um, we'll have the virtual May Governor's budget revision, which is nice. We can attend from our computer. We don't have to travel. And that'll give us more solid numbers. We're hoping the one-time funds. Um, and for some of the things we've discussed tonight, we'll have some onetime funds maybe to look at and try to decide what we want to do with those, as well as a special education funding increase. I really hope that is something that um stays

069in the budget. They were talking about since Governor Nuome's going out of office this year, it's like his legacy budget. So, he's really wanting to put in some good things um to leave a good legacy. So, I'm hoping it stays true to that. And then in November, there's many elected positions in the legislature in the state where they said it could change some funding priorities. They're talking about superintendent of public instruction no longer overseeing schools, kind of restructuring things within CDE. So, um there could be a lot of changes in the funding model in the future. Um a new person could come along and say, "What's this LCFF?" Who knows? I want to look at this and do it based on enrollment or maybe they could change it in another way. Does anyone have any

070questions? >> I do. Okay. on um page four um you had um listed several items underneath um the last bullet, the amount short for the additional expenses. You have that it's a negative $68,000. Are any of those categories underneath their restricted funds? Um well, special ed is considered it's like a local or state restricted textbook adoptions. Yes, that's restricted funds because we use restricted lottery for that. Facilities is restrict over team restricted maintenance which has its own special fund um that shows on our restricted page. Um and then some of the um teaching or classified positions. Some of them are funded with restricted monies uh such as title one um or different things like that. We've also got a special ed fund that's federal funding. Couple other things and some of our routine restricted maintenance

071personnel. So those are restricted. So it's only able to be used for that >> for those categories. Yeah. But if that um expenditures if if that total becomes more than what we have in that fund then our general fund has to contribute. >> Yes. So in those cases if we have to make contributions to any of we can't really make contributions to restrict restricted programs you'd have to cut probably in unrestricted unless in special ed we can contribute. Routine restricted maintenance is a contribution. Um but some of the other programs like lottery or whatever they're self-contained or ELOP proc 28 you know those programs are just restricted for those purposes. >> So that um the amount the negative 68,000 is that on top of what you have set aside in the restricted trade because we

072have our general budget and then we have our restricted funds. So is this what you're projecting that's going to have to come out of the general budget >> on top? This is just projected based on the LCFF numbers that they gave us at the governor's budget workshop that when we receive our allocation for next year, it'll be short what we need to cover our expenses just out of yes, out of the general fund unrestricted without having to consider what we would need to contribute to the restricted side. I'm very happy the teachers are all here tonight so that they can see the numbers and anybody watching can know the condition our state is in even though we're going to be having elections. Um, I think the public knows that there are going to be inquiries

073into spending in our state and uh, if we've seen been watching what's going on in Minnesota, it's going to be pennies compared to what's been taking place in California. So to even have any money to me is a miracle. >> Yeah. But that set aside is very concerning of that. It's almost 6 million and that's unconstitutional about when they pass Prop 98 those funds were guaranteed to schools. >> Absolutely. I hope they don't go forward with that. >> Yeah. So, I don't know how things are going to change in our state as far as leadership. Um, and you could advocate, you know, go to legislators, find uh people online that are pushing for, you know, the enrollment based funding or increasing special ed or the one-time funds. Like there's ways um, you know, people in

074the community and on the board can try to help advocate for that, too. The CSBA has legislative action week, which is coming up in March. So, it's virtual meetings with legislators. So, I am signing up for that to um how our voice is heard about the funding that we get, how how it should be tied to I keep cutting out how it should be tied to uh the amount of students that we have, not our attendance because we just always get dinged and it's too low. So anyway, that's something that's upcoming. Uh all right. Uh any other comments, questions on the budget? All right, moving on. Uh, number nine, information items, the academic achievement report. Stephan, can we get this up there by chance? I can do it if I'm still connected. >> Oh, yeah.

075If Terra's still connected, she can throw it at her. You just finish as I >> Yeah. Okay. So, um, for this meeting, I thought I would focus on our English learners because the district's doing, um, some work on that and we haven't really talked about that much in previous meetings. So, I thought I would take the opportunity to go through that tonight. Um, so the title slide is a path to proficiency, English learner achievement. The second slide um I have here is um the u percentage the number of students enrolled that are English learners and then their percentage um over the years. So the most recent year is at the top going down to the 1920. Um the second column says ending enrollment. Of course that's true for all years except for the current. So

076the 25 26 is like the current enrollment um total enrollment and then how many English learner students we have in the district and then the percentage in there. Next slide is um how our English learners are performing on um CASSP which is the um state test um in English language arts. And so you can see this over the years starting in 2019 um through spring of 2025. The 2020 and 2021 there was no data for that because of the pandemic. Um but you can see here that um our English learners are um significantly below meeting standard meeting or exceeding standard. Um we did have a a little bit of an uptick between the 24 and 25 school year. So that's encouraging. Um, but this slide clearly shows that we have work to do. So, what

077are we doing about it? Um, I'm going to give you some information on what some of the requirements are um for English language development. California mandates that all English learners receive both types of instruction daily. So there's designated ELD, which is a specific time during the school day where teachers use California ELD standards to focus on language skills tailored to students English proficiency levels. And then there's integrated, which is instruction provided throughout the day across all subjects. Um, teachers use EL standards in tandem with content standards to ensure the student can access the lesson regardless of their language level. Um, currently the district is piloting off to class which is a um curriculum designed for English learners and um we are piloting that at OCI with English learners in an elective class for the designated

078instruction. Next slide is assessment and reclassification. Um, so there's the ELPAC test. Every student whose home language is not English must take the English language proficiency assessments for California annually to measure their progress. And then there's reclassification, another acronym, ARP. Um, to be reclassified as fluent English proficient, students must meet local district criteria, which typically includes ELPAC school always includes the ELPAC score. Um, might include teacher evaluations. It includes current consultation and performance on basic skills assessments like the CASP and or local benchmark assessments. Um, some legal and administrative requirements around this. Um, teacher authorization. Teachers of EL students must hold a specific authorization such as a CLAD or BCLAD to legally provide instruction to English learners. And then we're legally required to have ELAC and DAC committees. Um, ELAC is the English learner advisory

079committee that um is mandatory if a school site has 21 or more English learners at their site. And then there's the district committee which um districts legally have to have if um districtwide they have 51 or more English learners. And then um parental notification. Schools are required to notify parents annually of their child's proficiency level and their program placement. So what is BLSD doing? We're working on an EL master plan. Some main components. These are main components. Um, often there are more than these, but I thought I would point out these in the EL master plan is identification and assessment, instructional programs, reclassification process, and evaluation and accountability. The district just um redid our new reclassification criteria. And um I'll just give you a little bit of information on that. Uh we've been looking at

080um you saw the slide where our students are struggling right um we were we were looking at what is the criteria that we have in place for our English learners on the threshold for them um their scores on CASP or their scores on our local benchmark assessment which is I ready and it became clear to us that it seemed like we were asking more of our English learners than our English only students. So, we thought we really need to examine and see what the average performance on those assessments currently is in our district for our Englishonly students and have that be the threshold of what we're expecting our English learners to do. So, we did analysis on that. I did analysis on that and we came up with the new reclassification criteria where the expectation

081of those tests match the average of what our English only students are doing on those two um assessments. Um so that's been done. So that that's encouraging and um hopefully that's going to help us um be able to reclassify um our students at a at a quicker rate. Um, so that's my quick sort of quick um information education on um on English language learners. Of course, there's a whole bunch more, but I thought it was good to start there and um give you guys information about what we're doing um in the district for our English learners. So, if you have any questions, go for it. >> Uh my question is, have you received any feedback on the the new curriculum, the off to class? um a little a little bit. Um I think there's been

082some difficulty with the rep and um getting some training with um how to look at reports and those types of things. Um but as far as like any like assessments that they've been doing in that um like pre and post assessments, I haven't collected that at this point, but the plan is to look at that as we move through the school year and um I review that. >> Okay. So, did that start in August? >> No. >> When did that start? >> Uh, help me out in second trimester. Beginning of second trimester start. >> It was It was in that in that range. >> I feel like it was right around when >> I have my broken eye. So, whatever that was, >> we looked at three different programs to be the best. Um, we

083>> we have been having some difficulty with communication. >> Yeah. Yeah. We did um sit in on three different like with the rep for um like the sales pitch right from the three different curriculum um choices and um the one that we're going with ended up giving it to us for free for the whole year. So that was encouraging and so yeah so we're piloting that one right now. Okay. >> Thank you. >> I have a question. um who is the like EL do we have an ELD coordinator in the district or who is that person that like can you walk us through the process of how um who leads that um those committees either the ELAC or the DAC if it's the same person do we have community members that are involved on those

084committees and then what's the process um like when someone enrolls in school >> they answer that question what language do you speak in Then what happens? >> Yeah. So, um, Mr. McGru is the coordinator, so he helps with all of like the ELPAC testing with the initials and the summit of tests. And then, um, as far as the committees, I've been, um, working with the principles and myself um to organize the committee and make sure that the committee members, there's like a requirement for who you need to have on there. So, we have teachers and we have parents and we have administrators. um on that committee and we just had our first meetings a couple weeks ago and the next one is I can't remember I'd have to look at my calendar but we have

085another meeting scheduled where we're going to start going over the master plan and getting feedback from um staff members and parents um on the credit on the components of the the um master plan. I have one more question. Um, aren't all teachers like clad or we clad authorized? It doesn't come with like your credential now. >> Mo most of the time. Yes, it does. Yeah. But like we need to make sure that they have that as part of their program and they have that authorization if they're going to be teaching the design. Yeah. the the correct. Okay. Um here we go. Um 9B enrollment ADA reports. So actually I just updated this a little while before the meeting. That's why I noted that they were on the agenda. I put updated to uh 211 because

086we did have an increase. I did this report last week um on Monday or Tuesday. So has changed since then uh where we were up at um we're up at Oak Elementary by 12 and then Wasuma Elementary um was down two and Oak Creek Intermediate was up three I believe and then Bliss was up one. Um and you can also see the ADA new enrollment report. I actually found that was really encouraging to see the um 94% on um two of the sites because usually it had been last year I look back at this time was 91%. >> And then 93 the earlier in the year so it is coming up um as well as OES last year when I look back I think it was 89 or 90 and now it's up to 91.

087So just seeing the um attendance rates coming up a little bit is good. Hopefully with the increase in in enrollment and the attendance rates, maybe that'll help with our P2 uh number that goes into the average being a little higher than P1. >> Am I understanding um actually this was on your slide that we've like our um ADA has gone down like a hundred in the last five years. Well, I didn't ask that ahead of time, so I'm sorry you don't have time to prepare that. On your side, for the English language learners, >> there's 800 like >> the numbers there, and it looks like we've lost like a hundred students in the last 5 years. >> Yeah, we had 890 students um in 201920 and then we had 840 ADA at that time. So

088now, yeah, I was going to say, so now we're around 770 students, let's say, and then the average ADA is around 730 or 740. So yes, it's around 100 plus. >> That's a lot of kids who've gone in 5 years, and we haven't really I mean, we're just now having to cut programs. So I guess I'm grateful that we didn't have to do it a little bit sooner. >> It's statewide though where the enrollment is decreasing at all all district. It's not just exclusive to us. More parents are homeschooling since co a lot of eyes were opened in that time. >> All right. Next, uh district transfer reports. So, since the last board meeting, we've had one student um enter our district from YUSD. And moving on 9B or 9D, the facilities report. We have

089the M manager James Gillespie will present a report on the facilities plan. >> Hello. So, I think October was the last time I was up here. Since October, went through um made a list of what we've been working on. Um as of a couple weeks ago, got a new hire at OCI for my custodial staff that were down since I believe December. It was early December, actually, Novemberish. So, getting a new hire there definitely helps the situation out. um in in things that I we've gone through and had done. One of the big ones was um was myself and multiple um maintenance and operation staff went through and tore out the old gaga court at OI um in that and that was one of the Williams acts field that when they came through and they

090looked there, they were wanting that removed just for safety issues. So went through removed that um and then had new concrete poured there and it seems to be working out great. I haven't had any any uh any complaints of any concerns there. Um working on I'm working on with Terra and u company working on a um electric grant for mowers. We we have we've replaced one here prior to Robert leaving. Um, we have two gas mowers still, but I'm working on a electric mower grant for which would replace the one out of Wasuma. Um, as well as a another smaller mower to do the interior lawns here and as well as OCI. Um, we did learn with the electric mowers are quite quite a bit heavier than our gas ones. So, going through the interiors

091here, you got to be pretty careful. Tears up the lawn pretty quick. So in that we have mowers to to exchange out with him. So we're working on that. Um as well as some electric edgers so we can stay busy and stay without stay busy throughout the day without causing a bunch of distractions with a you know an edger out there trying to we're trying to do our job while teachers are trying to do theirs. So we can work together with be able to do ours and hopefully it all works together. Um, another big thing that I had was uh the OCI 100 building ro. We were finally able to get that um sealed and repaired or repaired and sealed. So, as of now, no leaks. It's gone through about 8 in of rain so

092far, I think. And we I can go in his office and actually be able to sit down without worrying about what he's going to tell me about his roof. So, that's worked out pretty good. And I'm working um >> yeah uh we did purchase a couple of uh two um they call them gopher sprayers but they're to helped with the road control. We we uh we had one and trying to get that through multiple sites wasn't working out very well. And then we've got I don't know if anybody goes out on the fields but gophers and squirrels are pretty pretty rough. Um, so in that we're able to get one for each site. So now there's there shouldn't be a reason why there's problems and so or problems with the gophers out on the fields

093or the squirrels. So these definitely helped something that they can use two to three times a week out there for 45 minutes or so an hour if they have time to take care of that. So that's uh those are the the the overall bigger things we've done. I've had to replace a window on the back here that a rock came up and hit and um on the back of the Eagle Academy and so I did that and we've replaced a couple windows on the old curriculum building um outside of our site supervisor's office here that had cardboard up on it and so I get those taken care of. had to do a hot water heater which was a not fun experience for the kitchen but hot water heater was leaking flooding out the maintenance closet

094and uh it had happened over Christmas break and it happened a couple different times well one time cleaned up next morning it was still there verified what it was so that we had to get that replaced and actually had to install some vents in that maintenance closet because there was some propane smell going throughout the kitchen that they would complain about and it's due to their exhaust fans inside just sucks so much out of there and there was no there was no um fresh air getting into that maintenance fuzzle. So we had those installed got that taken care of. Haven't had any complaints about that which is good. Um kitchen got some electrical outlets finally on the wall that they didn't have at all and it was like their main main wall where they do

095a lot of their prep. They had no electrical outlets to plug anything in to work with anything. So had the Northwestern Electric come in and take care of that. Basuma, they did the same thing. Um ran some electrical for the new projector that Stephan has installed there. So we got that taken care of so we didn't have extension cords running on the ground and kids tripping on them. Mini splits. I just had that taken care of actually yesterday for the um the student service offices office or offices here at the end of the 200 building. So that is done and ready to go and up and running. To-do list things I'm working on. Um, I'm working on getting the metal roof repaired, not replaced, repaired to where it's not raining water all over everything at

096Wasuma. So that it was damaged previously, but um, looking into it, we can repair and actually just replace what's there and screw down the metal sheets that are there and not nailed in. And I think that was probably a big problem of why it went south the way it did. Just an older building with nails that only holds for so long. So I'm working on getting that repaired. Um and in that if that does when that occurs, everything out there is some people that work out there have seen it, but everything is open. So we have a lot of maintenance equipment out there that is just out in the open. And I'm not gonna work on a grant for, you know, potentially what it these mowers cost, which if anybody has one or wants one,

097$22,000, go pick one up if you'd like and then put it outside and tell me how you like it. It doesn't work very well. And I have mowers out there now. I have a tractor that just sits outside. I have all their carts sit outside. The principal's cart sits outside because there's no storage. There's nothing. There's nowhere for him to put anything to where it's secure. So, in that I'm working on getting the last bay of that for bay. Um, getting a just a a wall ran up to the top of the raptors with a rollup door. Um, and then entrance door on the side to where the guys can actually park stuff in there, lock it up, not have to worry about it. My guys out there don't they cannot they tools they can't

098leave tools on a car. everybody else here, OCI, they can have all their tools, jump on their cart, and go and they can go take care of what they need to take care of. They don't have that option out there. So, they're just grabbing here, grabbed there, put back, put back. I want them to be able to just go to their cart, it stays the way it is, and we're good to go. So, that's something that I'm working on hopefully sooner than later to get that taken care of. Um and uh one other thing is is the talk we've been talking is getting the portable the 12x60 portable that sits on the outside of the cafeteria that's not being used for whatever situation is um is I'm going to use it. I'm going to move

099that to the back and actually give the maintenance and operations, the three guys that are there, an actual place to where they have an office where they can store stuff. Um, again, their office is a small area about where you guys are sitting, but it's under that whole barn covered in tarps which leak. So, when you go in there when it's raining, the floor is soaked and just not I don't know. I'd like to get them an area to where they have a space. They don't have to worry about it leaking. They can organize them in as well. Take the things out of their seat containers, organize it inside that that space. All their their electrical like their electric guns and tools that don't need to be outside. They can stay in there. And then

100I can utilize one of those portables to actually park a tractor in and it can be under lock and key. and I can still have space on the other side that I've been talking about. So, that's something that I've gotten priced on. I'm trying to get the best price that I can to move it from one point to another. It's not cheap. Um, and I think moving at 1,000 ft would be as expensive it is. So, I'm working on that situation, trying to find out the best way possible. And last but not least is working with a company um that works directly with PG& in regards to updated lighting, thermostats, energy saving roofing material um and possible energy saving situations for the AC and heat um units. When it comes to that, it would be

101more or less the motors in that. And so that's a that's a districtwide with the three schools. They initially came out talked to us um but we didn't qualify for what they for what the what the situation was because of the because of Wasuma and the solar farm and as much as it produces they looked at that as a whole and so in that P Gen came out with some other ideas of what they can do to help with energy efficiency and one of those being metal roofs which works out in our favor because this whole school is metal roof and also the flat roofs. that we have at OCI, which I have two flat roofs that still need to be addressed that have leaking concerns. So, that can knock things out of one. And

102then as well as the AC units that are up on those buildings. So, that's something I'm working with them. I have a meeting with them March 2nd to do a thorough walk around and audit and then they can go back and see if we qualify for something like that. >> And they do that through on bill financing. Yes. So you have like a credit on your bill. So there's no cost to the district and then from because of that savings you get a credit then and it goes back to PG&B. >> Yeah. So zero cost per. >> So essentially what it is is it's our bill what we have our monthly bill is now they do the analysis they come back and they say okay this is what we can save and then your bill

103stays the same and you are going to pay that off. And if it's a five-year, let's say, projected loan, you pay your same amount and they're taking the savings at that point and making that your your payment. And then once you once the bill's paid, then you are at that point at your savings mark, not your what our astronomical amount is at this point for anything for the monthly. So, and that involves all interior lighting here, which needs there's some addressing. It's all the interior lighting at the OCI GM. So those are things that if we can get that done or something like that and not have to try to pay out of pocket for something in that regards, that's big. So those are my few things. So maybe in six months I'll have another

104laundry list with a few things. So thank you guys. Appreciate it. Um, I wanted to mention just uh how much I appreciate what you do um trying to keep all these facilities, all three going and your willingness to do work that sometimes we would have to hire people to do. You in your last report, you talked about demolishing a deck. You're talking about tearing out concrete. All those things cost money. And so when you and your guys have the skills to do that and you're willing to do that work, I really appreciate that you do that and also looking into these grants and other things, it's really necessary and it's hard to find, you know, it's time and everything to do it and so I appreciate all your efforts. >> Well, I appreciate it. Thank

105you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> All right. 9E, the local control and accountability plan mid-year monitoring report for the 2025 2026 LCAP and budget overview for parent. My favorite thing in the whole world, the LCAP. So, um we're obligated to do a midyear report and then share that with the board. And so, you have that as the supporting document um with the information that needs to be in the report. So I can take this is just an information item. So if you guys have any questions about it, I'm happy to answer them. >> Yeah, I I asked questions through an email and most of the questions that I had had to do with just some what I thought potentially were cleanup items and missing information or something that I thought needed to be brought over.

106So, I did read through it and so I don't have any additional questions. Yeah. And I think um just an effort for transparency. Some of your questions had to do with um the there was the metric for the chronic absenteeism with the like um the projected like desired outcome at the end and that was a typo. Um it said that our that our goal was to have 31% chronic absentee like no right. Um so what happens sometimes well often right because it's a very lengthy document. So that information is in the LCAP and then what happens through document tracking they populate this document was with what's was in the LCAP. So, when I did the LCAP at the end of well, in the spring of last year, um, you know, I there's a lot of

107things to populate and so I probably copied and pasted so that some of the verbiage was the same and then I accidentally didn't change the 31%. Um, cuz that was like what the actual percent was, but clearly we didn't want that to be like our desired outcome. So, I I made that change to 15%. So, um there was that and then um you had a question about the suspension rate because currently at midyear our suspension rate is actually a little bit higher than it was at the end of last year and we're in differentiated assistance for that. We're doing a lot of work on that. So, the question was like what's going on, right? And so, um I I would my thoughts on that are a few things. um one I anticipate that to look

108better at the end of the year. There have been um some students who um were struggling with behaviors and were ending up being suspended that are now more appropriately placed. Um so that should be helpful. And then also um we're still doing the differentiated assistance work and we're doing a lot of work on our student behavior management system and we're doing a lot of work on um restorative practices. And so those things I believe we're doing really good work there. Um but that's going to take some time for full to be fully implemented um and to be using that with fidelity so that hopefully then we'll start seeing the results um for that. But I am encouraged with the work we're doing around around that. >> Um, >> can I just throw something out there?

109>> Do you would you say that because of the management system that more documentation is is happening with behaviors so that you then can create a diff alternative placement. >> Yes. Okay. Yes. And then um there was a clerical error on um some of the I Ready data percentages. Um so I cleaned that up. Um the um PBIS support is on page 23 metric 2.11. Um I reported out how many of our students are the percentage of students that are receiving tier 1, tier 2, and tier three supports. Um we are still disagregating the data for the tier 2. Um so that percentage is not in there but once we have that I will add that and that'll definitely be in the LCAP um at the end of the year that data will be in

110there. Um and then we had to make a slight um budget change to the um health and wellness committee which is 3.1. Um, so far we haven't not spent any money on that um, action and there was an amount there that didn't match up with the fact that we um, are still trying to get that off the ground. So um, thank you for bringing those questions and those were addressed. If anybody else has any questions around this, I'm happy to answer them. >> I had a question um, on page 21. I was noticing like what I was looking at was um the midyear outcome data and the desired. So I'm I'm thinking that wherever we're at, we're going to see the desired outcome following year would be, you know, we want to improve, right? And

111I noticed that something that I just needed clarification on with reading was I wasn't going back to the one-year outcome column when I was looking at the midyear data. well, comparing the one-year outcome to the desired outcome. And so I had noticed that um it looked like we wanted to increase our desired outcome for um English learners and I was like or not English learners um where was it? um students with disabilities on the mid-year data it was 68.9 and then on the goal it was 95 points below standards and I'm like why would we want to increase that but when you go back to the year one outcome um it shows that we are at um 133.2 2 points below standard. And so when when you look that the goal is going to be

11295, like okay, good, we're going down. But the great news is is that at the midyear um outcome data, we're already improving at 68.9. So I just like there's a chart and you think you know what you're looking at and you're seeing, okay, this is this should look less, but um it's very important to look at these things like carefully because things can be miss and misinterpreted. And so I um appreciate you, you know, helping me navigate that question. >> Yeah. So um the LCAP is a three-year cycle, right? So your baseline is like what it is when you're starting that threeear cycle, right? And then you you're like, okay, in three years, this is where we want to be, right? So then that's what that other column is. And then so then year one,

113you report on what you did. And then halfway through the next year, you report, right? So that that's why you it was good of you to ask that so I can point you back to like you said the baseline and then the year one outcome compared to the desired as opposed to only looking at the the current midyear compared to the desired outcome. And then also I just wanted to reiterate I think >> that you made it clear but like our um LCAP it's a solid three years like it doesn't like as one year falls off we don't just add another it's a solid three years that we have to work on the specific goals and that's why we can designate those outcomes and show that progress in those three years. >> Yeah. like through

114the actions, right? And it is to a degree a living document. Like there are times when we have to um adjust our actions, but then when you do the LCAP, there's areas that you justify that like you explain. >> You explain. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So this is still the um LCAP that was created when um Superintendent Seals was in position >> two years ago. Yes. Um there was another question too. Sorry, is that the only thing Julie? Um Denise, I skipped over the question about the parent the LCAP um >> parent survey or like the um educational partners survey um because historically we've had um low participation rates on that. And so um um Denise had asked like what are some of the strategies that we're thinking about putting in place to try

115and increase that participation rate. And so some of the things that we've come up with are um maybe looking at um between now and when we want that survey to be done. If there are events on campus where parents are going to be coming in, maybe we dedicate a portion of time during that event to encourage folks to do the survey. Um, we also are looking at um purchasing well not the district purchasing like myself or others who'd like to donate purchasing um Amazon gift cards um for like a raffle, right? So, like if you participate in the survey, your name will go into the raffle to um win, you know, maybe we'll get three or four $50 Amazon gift cards to to raffle off to incentivize um folks to do to do the survey.

116Um so, those are those are some of our thoughts. I also thought maybe creating like a little um card like half sheet or quarter sheet with a QR code to the survey that maybe we can pass out during like student drop off or pickup and just explain the importance of the survey and hey like when you get a moment during your dayto-day if you could scan this and take the survey that would be super helpful. So just like getting it out there um multiple times and in different ways and then having some incentives in place um hopefully will increase the participation. >> Good ideas. >> Okay. Uh item 10, accomplishments and other reasons to celebrate from throughout the district. Uh we have Cat Williams with Pulary School. forget. >> What's that? >> You won't forget

117it's Valentine's Day. >> Yeah, we had um it's Well, I'll get to it, but we had spirit week and today is dress. It was so cute. All our little people, you know, little guys and like collared shirts and ties and these girls and these princess dresses. Yeah, it was really fun. So, >> um, we have a lot of wonderful things happening at OES. Back in December, uh, we had our teams compete in Battle of the Books again, uh, second year. This time it was cool. We included, it goes third grade through sixth grade, and so we included some OCI sixth graders here, and they had a great time. events included a relay race, friendly family feud, super challenge. They feed everybody pizza, and then they do a grand challenge and have awards. And so the

118kids had a total blast. It was it was great. Um, so our third and fourth grade team were the awesome Eagles and our fifth and sixth grade team were the Soaring Angels. And so they had a good time. It was a great event. Uh I thought I'd talk about our afterchool clubs. Uh we have tutoring lab up and going. It is a new and improved from our previous study hall. Uh we are serving right now 23. It might actually even be I think up to 25 today. Um so anyway we have teachers in there providing support for our students. Uh we've implemented some different like goal sheets and things where kids um some teachers will fill them out and send kids with things to do and if not then the teachers that are running tutoring

119lab will work with the kiddos and you know determine what things they need to do help them pull up their areas and look at like what's what assignments are missing and that kind of thing. So it's um it's really helpful for our kiddos. Oh, we have cadet core still going on. And so, um, oh my gosh, I had the number somewhere. I think it's 40. I want to say 40 cados. I reverse the slide. Don't have it, but um, yeah, our kids are loving cadet court. Uh, esports is still going strong. Esports is 40 students also. And, um, so it's going really well. This year we again have some sixth graders from OCI that are coming over and joining us and so that's great. Uh we have as usual Mario Kart tournaments which is a

120huge um draw and the kids love it. They have a great time. But really cool now this year uh there's a lot of Minecraft collaboration going on and our fourth graders some of them are creating their missions on Minecraft. So that's a a new addition this year and it's pretty cool. I've been talking to some kiddos out around campus and yeah one kid he's like I'm already done. I'm like perfect that's a great time to add some extra details. He's like I already did. So it's really exciting. It's great. After school um music lab is continues to be a big hit. Also, you see our kiddos there practicing with um rhythm sticks and they're doing all kinds of great things and um having fun. Wrong way. Here they are with silopones, right? Yeah. Okay. Just

121making sure there wasn't some fancy term that I was missing. So yeah, they have a bunch of new wonderful instruments this year that they're getting to play with and the kids are very engaged and having a great time. So that's Grace. We have um the pleasure of having YHS Big Buddies come to campus this year uh on Thursdays. And so here are the amazing Big Buddies. And um yeah, it's a big hit. They're coming a little earlier this year and so their time is a little bit more structured in the classrooms and I think it's actually going well. There were some concerns initially, but it's been pretty fantastic. So, here's some wonderful pictures of our buddies having a good time together. Um, there was uh Gina Hansen Cedar. she's the the leader for that. And

122so she did a presentation to the YUSD board and I'll get permission. I'd love to share just let you guys read, but every single kid everybody put on like what they're getting from the program like the high schoolers and yeah, it just melts your heart. So it's it's awesome. Our kids love that. We have art with Miss Donna going on. And so um our first session of art lessons were uh Christmas and winter ornaments. Um they used a variety of mixed media. And right now they're finishing up art lesson two where they're making um clay heart necklaces. And so it's really cute. You see the kids around wearing them. And yeah, they have fun. We love art and Donna. Um, I've been talking throughout the year about Energy Bus for schools and so that's still

123going strong. We're currently working on rule number three, which is no bullying allowed. That comes to an end in February and in March we will start with love all of your passengers. And so, um, that's going really well. We do an assembly at the end of every rule to celebrate what we've accomplished with that rule and to launch the new rule. So, um, it's going well and we're enjoying that. Mountain Area Ski School, of course, is amazing. So glad the kids get to do it this year. They're having a blast. Um, 100th day of school came around on February 2nd, and so we had our parade, our project parade, and all the brains participated. So, here's some little cuties and our projects and and our aids and teachers out there having a good so it's

124always a hit. And like I said, we had fe we are having February spirit week this week. Um, and so Monday was loved and comfy, which you know, anything comfy. Of course, pajamas were a hit, but there were a variety of joggers and different things like that. Uh, Tuesday was team up Tuesday and so lots of kids had different um different outfits. Uh, I wore a red shirt and jeans just so anybody that wanted to team up with me that was, you know, pretty generic and they could find something and so there were tons tons of red shirts and jeans on campus. It was fun. Today, as I said, was dress to impress. Tomorrow will be Hearts Day and then Friday will be Cupid's colors. So you can see our kiddos having a good time

125with a team up Tuesday. So um that's it. Thank you for for letting me share. >> Yeah, you can just wear your tomorrow. You're already ready. All right. Uh 11 superintendent report. Okay. Um, tonight I want to dedicate my superintendent report to discussing the financial environment of our district and the difficult yet necessary budget reduction of $820,000 we have recently completed. I know that budget cuts are never easy and they inevitably create a sense of unease and frustration within staff. I want to acknowledge the sincere concerns that have been raised and the feeling that some ideas and perspectives may not be fully heard. Please know that the administration and the board are committed to a process of deep and respectful listening. The document of proposals we received from the teachers union president which outlines several

126thoughtful cost-saving measures was reviewed with the utmost seriousness. In an effort to maintain transparency and gently remind everyone of the complex environment in which we operate. I want to share the nature of our response to some of these ideas. Our work is always guided by two fundamental interconnected realities. the law and the limitations of school finance. When addressing budget reductions, we must work within a complex system. Many of the line items that seem like easy cuts, such as curriculum purchases for social emotional learning or professional development, are often paid for with restricted funding. This means the money is legally designated for a specific purpose and cannot be simply moved to cover general expenses like salaries or operations. For example, while we were able to reduce the professional development budget by 20,000, the remaining funds are

127often tied to specific grants or mandates. As a public school district, we are bound by California Education Code. This legal framework prohibits several suggest suggested measures even if they would offer a path to saving money. We cannot require parents to pay for extended field trips though we can can and do ask for donations and conduct fundraisers. No student can be excluded for the lack of ability to pay. We cannot legally request parents to provide consumable classroom supplies as the district is obligated to provide all necessary supplies for a pre sorry for a free public education. Other decisions are made based on what is prudent for our students and our community particularly in a rural district. The idea of ending general education bus transportation, for example, while not legally required, would not be a prudent decision

128given our current challenge with chronic attendance issues and the negative impact it would have on our community relations. Our records show closer to 30% of our students rely on that transportation. We want to assure our staff that their ideas lead directly to action where possible. Educational technology. We agree that a survey of unused Chromebook software is warranted to ensure maximum efficiency. We conduct these surveys yearly and also analyze usage reports in Clever or within the program itself. If a tool has had minimal usage, we examine it and consult with the teachers who rely on it regarding its necessity. When we consider eliminating a resource, we actively look for free or cheaper alternatives to ensure teachers and students maintain access to a functional equivalent. We have already acted by reducing our supplies budget to reflect an

129ongoing effort to balance digital tools with interactive human- centered learning. Special education department. The district has reduced the special education department by two and a half employees and we are actively engaged in conversations about restructuring and addressing the use of substitutes for IEP meetings which is a key area of concern. I also want to address the reduction in the PE program. I understand there is a lot of uncertainty and emotion around this cut. Restructuring the PE program with two teachers is going to be difficult, but the district will work tirelessly to make it the best program possible and will do our best with equity as it relates to prep time for teachers. The district has consistently demonstrated its commitment to honoring our teachers time through measures such as reduced extra duty supervision and lunch periods

130exceeding legal mandates. These benefits were implemented to acknowledge your hard work and dedication. While we value providing this added time, current budget realities unfortunately ne necessitate a temporary pause on these p on this practice. In conclusion, every single one of your ideas was considered. Many are already being acted upon while others are constrained by legal obligations or the reality of restricted funding. We are dedicated to maintaining a high quality education while balancing our budget and this requires making complex decisions that go beyond simply finding things to cut. We value our staff and their input and we will continue to collaborate as we navigate this challenging fiscal environment together. >> All right. Thank you, Michelle and Mr. President. I just wanted to ask first of all thank you Mr. town addressing, but I I wanted to

131talk about if I may without doing this during my board comments because I think it's important concerning uh reducing uh student absent. Do you mind if I just share something I've shared in the past that's relevant to this? I'll be very brief, if I may. Can can you just include it in your board of comments? >> Well, I have something else. We'll talk about all of them. Yeah. Well, okay. >> That's okay. Well, yeah, because otherwise it's like we don't have it on the agenda. >> Okay. >> So, you can go ahead. Oh, thank you. I wanted to address something that I brought up before after attending the annual education conference which was uh before last uh concerning the uh everyday counts campaign which stands county implemented and they're extremely large county but what they

132did they is I asked them to give me the communication and marketing plan and I've given that plan to Mrs. Townsend. And I know that um this is quite extensive and a lot of work for one person to do and I wanted to make a suggestion. Um possibly uh our education support specialist could perhaps look into this because there are a lot of computergenerated notices that go to uh the families to increase attendance. Um also wanted to suggest that perhaps and if that won't work uh perhaps one school per month could uh using their creativity uh focus on a particular uh project to bring attention to to raising attendance. So something that the whole school can engage in. Maybe wearing a particular color that says, you know, um in in this particular marketing plan, we

133had t-shirts made. You know, we don't have funding for that, but something that will get them focused on the importance of being at school every day. So I brought this up in past meetings and as I said, Mrs. Townson has this. So perhaps we could be able to implement that and raise our attendance. Thank you. I get to M. Okay. I have to look at my phone for that. Uh and I talked to Mrs. Townsen about this as well as uh Madera Sheriff's uh he's the assistant sheriff in Madera. And what he does is um is a presentation to parents on internet safety. He said he would come to Bohurst. Uh he does a presentation that's about 45 to 50 minutes long. And I wanted to let everybody know that yesterday, February 10th, marks safer

134internet day. And I think this is extremely important. And for reasons I'll try to be as brief as I possibly can. Um there's some statistics internet safety risks by the numbers that all of our children are uh encountering with their phones. Uh our children are being exposed, all of us are being exposed to 5 billion people around the world with little to no safeguards. Um parents are handing their children a phone and basically there's no no safeguards. So um by the numbers, I'll just read this as quickly as I can. One in three teens have chosen digital quote unquote companions over human relationships. 70% of children aged 7 to 18 have accidentally encountered online pornography. Nearly half of teens aed 13 to 17 have been harassed or bullied online. The last one I'll talk about

135right here is one in 17 minors have personally experienced sex tortion. So when my children uh were first given a phone and this was over 15 years ago, didn't know anything about what we're experiencing today with social media could have saved my family and my children significant amount of pain and exposure to predators and really a lot of evil. And so uh Mrs. Townsen is agreed she would look into connecting with Sheriff Glenn to see how we can bring this to our community. Thank you very much. That's all I have. >> I am low. I am frustrated with education. I feel very sad um for the decision that had to be made tonight. I know that I voted for it. um because it is something that needs to be done. I know that there are

136a many many ways that we could cut the budget, but in the end, um it was important to me to uh preserve the two PE teachers that we had as um I felt very um strongly about the mental health um component that physical education provides. ides um the support the amazing jobs that our PE teachers have done as um cited by the young gentleman Mr. Krowy tonight and um I know it doesn't feel good to the teachers that this had to happen and I just wanted to share that it doesn't feel good to me to have had to to make this decision. Um, and I don't there's no words I can say that is going to make it feel better. I think that it's just it's going to suck. And um I appreciate whatever trust

137you still um have in me to try and keep this district fiscally responsible. Thank you. Um, I want to thank all of you for everybody's hard work in our district. I think everybody contributes to our kids' education and we see it. Um, I did want to tell you everybody who wrote a letter, we read them. We can't respond. We have one um spokesperson for the board who's the president. Um, but I can guarantee you we've read every single letter that we've received. Um, we not only received them from the teachers, but we did receive them from other support staff as well. Um, I, you know, tonight I had to abstain. I I we talked a lot about this and I just after the last meeting, we got a lot of this uh information from everybody

138and I felt like I was grasping at straws tonight like, well, maybe we didn't make the right decision. You know, I do feel like we tried. I mean, we really did go into it doing our homework and, you know, and and doing the best we could. Like I said, our goal is to keep the district, you know, fiscally solvent and um you so it it's hard and so we're doing the best we can. I also want to say that I have volunteered at Mass the last couple weeks. It is amazing program. I'm very excited about the kids that um I've helped. They're A's. I can't only do A. Um I will not do the lift. But anyway, uh it does remind me and I've said this to all of my teacher friends like I don't

139know how you do it. I had four kids and they had to take two away and I still had a hard time. Two kids teaching us. It's just I my hat is really off to you guys. Like I don't know how you teach kids to do stuff. like it is hard and we see that and we value it, you know. So anyway, thank you um for coming tonight and um you know we're hopeful that maybe things will change and we can restructure things um but we really are trying to take all points you know um and we have you know plans hopefully maybe with more counseling for kids and disrupting classes and whatnot. And anyway, we will continue to fight the fight and do what we can. And I will probably I'll have to um

140join the legislative uh action committee this year, too. So, anyway, thank you for being here. These last few weeks have been the most difficult of my tenure as a BLSD school board member. It has been a test of how our district functions under pressure and solves difficult problems. With that in mind, I have a few items for consideration. To Superintendent Townsend, I say that listening to the staff is important and I believe you try, but equally important is communicating the outcomes of what you've heard. Why a suggestion may or may not work. This will close the loop, create pathways for understanding, and build trust. recognize that your board supports you and appreciates you. To the board, including myself, I say take the time to learn deeply about the issues before us. Ask questions, dive into

141data. And when we are here, if you believe strongly about something, stand in your truth, and fight for what you believe in. We all have a voice, and the more we exercise that voice, the better decisions we will make. To the staff, I would ask that you assume good intent from both the superintendent and from the board. An us versus them mentality benefits no one. Over these last three years, I have seen attempts at improving behavior through the PBIS program, counseling, SEAL, and SBMS, improvement of your working conditions through the removal of your yard duties, and offering better compensation to try and give you what you deserve compared to neighboring districts. I know that the PE program will not be as robust as it had been and prep time will be reduced or lost, but

142we protected certificated jobs and low class sizes despite declining enrollment and that should show some good faith. Given the ups and downs of funding, nothing will ever be perfect when it comes to education. But I do believe that Superintendent Townsen is trying to work toward the goals the board has set before her and do right by the system. We want to see our students rise above the challenges and succeed. We want to provide support for our students and teachers despite budget reductions. We want to see our attendance rates and test scores rise. My hope is that moving forward, we can work collaboratively, communicate openly, and trust one another. Thank you. Okay. All right. So, future agenda items. Um, I think we have uh the board policy that Stephen wrote um for us regarding uh pull

143that up. Member at large. Yeah, the member at large. Thank you. and their responsibilities for um for monitoring the calendar, making sure that board members are aware of what uh happenings are going on in the district so we make sure that we are not missing things and someone is representing us at a different >> professional development, >> right? Yeah. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, that's a future agenda item. Um and also the mission statement. Mission and vision. Yep. Mission and vision that we worked on at our last board workshop. We also have the audit report because it had been delayed. We had gotten an extension with the state and the auditor was not available to come tonight to present. So, she'll be coming to the next meeting. So, we'll have our audit report

144for 2425 and our second. >> Okay. Great. Um any any other items we go? Okay. Uh, our next meeting date is Wednesday, March 11th. >> I do have a comment that I'm going to be out of town on that day now, so I won't be able to make it to the meeting. >> Okay. >> All right. So, March 11th at 5:30 close session, 6:00 open session right here. And I adjourn this meeting at 8:38.