BASS LAKE JOINT UNION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD MEETING - 12/13/2023

001call this Mee to order for to the flag of the United States of [Music] America so annual organizational meeting first item the new board res I you can you can do individual or you could do one entire group do we have anything we want to do with that I don't recall we so I um would like to add to the motion that has been motion presented and add Diane as vice president and Denise as Clerk and Rhonda as Denise and that's [Music] Rhonda representative on the M County school yes I'm sorry Rhonda as um representative for us at the School Board Association meetings and Steve can be our large Ro you good with that Amendment okay we had a a second on that well you you made the original motion she amended your motion so

002we need a second well we have to make sure that you who made the motion is good look that I accept her Amendment now we need a second I'll second okay uh roll call vote I I I I and I okay we've got our representative Bond you wanted to be the representative I I was just begging for that position again about our new board meeting schedule still going to be second Wednesday month uh for the most part yes um you will see in proposed dates those that are not the second Wednesday have been starred um in fact the January meeting we don't come back from holiday break until January 4th which is a Thursday and meeting agenda is due to be published that Friday the very next day so what we are proposing is to

003push that meeting one week further to the 17th um and then the other ones that are marked would be our La our second meeting in well actually the two meetings in June June 5th would be the first and then and it's not started but it should be and then June 26 which is the approval of our budget and our l C uh there's no meeting in July August 21 we are proposing to push it to the 21st because school starts on August 15th uh and then looking at December of next year because it is an election year and it will be seats up we cannot legally meet until the election results have been certified official by the county and that we cannot meet until the earliest is the second Friday of December following the election

004I don't see a board meeting on a Friday night in our future um so we're proposing to move that to the first inum is due on the 15th though so we might have to ask the county if we can get an extension the 15th of the Sunday yeah and and all Madera County actually all school districts in the state are bound by that so they'll be impa so that's why the dates are not truly all the second Wednesday of the month I think to work you might have to turn it on it is it's on can you guys hear us and I also know that August there's the 45 day revive so we might have to look at that one as well the December one but I'll follow up before the next meeting and for

005June we usually don't meet so early so we're going to do because we usually do it the last two weeks and and that's something that we could take a look at depending on the budget that early if you just get the numbers yeah and that really is dependent on on the budget process for this year we know with the announcement of revenues being extremely short for the state um we're anxious to see what the governor's proposal looks like in January and if it looks like it's going to drag out then at one of the meetings in the springtime we will propose changing the date of the August meeting because we anticipate the need to do a 45 day re there was confusion this year about our meeting date and it kept changing and it's all

006based on whether we have to revise or not this was the first time in in my memory of not having to do a revise from what the original proposed budget was is this an action item or okay I move approval of the um onates that are meeting schedu the meeting schedule as we have a second okay okay call I I I I and I okay next item considering adjusting our meeting agenda to start with the closed session this is something that we have discussed uh previously um a lot of districts have made this move already and it really is in an effort to streamline the business of the board and that is that we would meet u in advance of Open Session um to and we would start with Clos session and as long as

007work schedules allow our ability to get together what's being proposed is meetings will begin at 5:30 pm. with close session and then with the understanding that open session is scheduled to begin at 6 uh just as we always have for my my concern is most of our open sessions are longer I mean closed sessions are longer than a half an hour and for us do that I think we just need to minimize our chattiness maybe if we just focus on the business at hand most the questions who are are most I think knowing that we have that 6:00 meeting start scheduled would be the reason we want to take care of our close session business more efficiently if it if it means that we do start Beyond 6 o'cl on occasion then so be it

008closed session happen to take longer um we would meet in Clos session in one of the side rooms here so that the public could still enter and be waiting for us to come in um I don't see that really as as a huge issue um on a regular basis here sometimes we're here so late you know 9:30 or 10 that would be nice not to be here could we if for some reason you think it's a heavy closed session that might take more deliberation could we um change meeting times to like 5:15 maybe yeah as long as we meeting as long as we post it in timely manner to stay in compliance with the law absolutely so maybe that's a you know another option we flexible mhm how though okay should be okay and I

009try when I'm when I know I have a meeting but you know things happen and for for this board at least before four of you could make it earlier for sure um and so we would have a quorum okay not to leave you out Rhonda but we would have a quorum we need to get started earlier okay okay my yeah it's a legitimate concern yeah okay do we need a motion on this uh make it official probably okay I motion approval the session FR second roll call vote I I I and I so great January will be meeting at 5:30 correct correct okay the doors will be open so you won't have to stay outside and fre we come on in here anyway so don't worry with that section of the organizational meeting U complete

010you get to pass the gabble off to Julie Steve really you do that didn't take long to understand oh wow it's like you're a night you're getting [Applause] du are it's official I do want to make a note about the January 17th I have a meeting in Fresno so I maybe kind of late I'm not sure yet until it gets closer but I'll text you and let you know but you guys start without me like you said it'll be good I can barely hear you could you oh I'm sorry can you any now I was just telling you that for January um meeting I have an actual meeting that day in Fresno so I might be late or might not be able to or join this close session but Ronda I'm sorry but you have

011to give your excuses to I'm just letting you know don't expect me okay moving on to item number four consent agenda I move approval of the consent agenda is our second yes any discussion I I just had one question [Music] sorry I I saw that there was a anestos officer I just wonder One anestos officer does we have to um designate someone to be the contact for um asbes anything any kind of removal of items in the Robert Diaz is our so Robert Diaz go around witho keep track of the paperwork regarding what we have left of older build okay any other questions um I don't know much about Eagle Academy and I I read the whole thing and I didn't see that named the words Eagle Academy anywhere other than in the title for

012this one particular thing could did I just hear more about what that is the Eagle Academy is the after school program one of the after school programs here at OES um we were able to picky back on the grant that was awarded to chel Elementary and they have graciously through the years opened up the opportunity for other districts in the county particularly those of us in eastern M County to jump in on that Grant um the grant pays for the California teaching fellows to come in and provide programming for students space is limited in that program we always have more kids in need which is why when the after school program opportunity came up through the Extended Learning opportunities Grant from the state uh we jumped at it so there are multiple opportunities here at

013OES but this is a continuation of what we've had in place for a number of years I dare say close to a decade or more right so it's more or less a nickname for this it's always been called Eagle Academy okay the mascot here ATO yes is Eagles um all right thank you y no more questions I just had some questions that I had already given to sah regarding reink autism I wanted to know what that was and she gave me a very detailed description of that program and also um the training program um that was for developing resilient Educators and so I got all my answers I for crisis any other questions call vote hi hi hi hi oh wait I'm supposed to go last sorry matter well just because we're out of order

014sit up again I know I well I've got you here you can correct me I also just wanted to um just acknowledge um Mrs oer who is in the audience tonight who um she was part of our agenda but I just wanted to acknowledge her years of service and say thank you for everything that you have done for our students in our district and yeah you're are sad to see you go but happy for you okay um moving on to item number five Financial reports um monthly approval of the warrants I motion to approve is there a second I'll second thank you Rhonda any discussion questions I had asked Tara about the mountainer you program so I had told her that um this past year my collection was that they charged between 25 to 30,000

015but I notic they gone up to 44,000 without supplies you had mentioned that's part of the contract well they had raised the um rate they were paying the staff and they had added a couple staff but it was the contract that we approved I think back in May had the total for the whole year so it's broken out over each month depending on how many school days so some months will be lower or higher depending on how many school days there were on staff that was there but the total will net out to what we agreed on in the contract so and and an after school Grant covers that program so thankfully they have that I noticed that one a big part of our budget was the door locks and that projects looks like it's

016coming along well was good yeah okay any other questions call vote I Hi I hi hi motion carries okay item two quarterly reports on investments so this is just something um that comes up once uh we reach a certain period of the year right now we're reporting on July through September and and um the attachments there cover our trust which covers our funds and then our total investment for the op retiree liability um is slightly down from June but as you watch throughout the year it's kind of a pattern where it goes up a little down a little but has stayed more steady than it was during the co years so we still um we'll report on that at a later meeting about the the TR but we still have over what we need so

017we have a asset versus the liability because trust for the retiring cost [Music] information okay any questions thank you Tara moving on to item six hearing of persons wishing to address the board we have one person this evening Cecilia oer it's not all three of my students if it's not El it's yeah I got it right um lot of you know me I'm siser taught a lot of kids of yours um I just wanted to since I'm on my way out sorry I'm surprise you're going to come and say something so I'd like to thank you all for what you do to support our children community and School staff I have worked in the field of Education since I was 18 I have taught every grade great grade in a number of schools big cities

018little cities big districts little districts I've taught in a different language and even Tau a different country I've also seen a lot of changes throughout the 37 years I've been involved in education through all of that I'm certain of one thing new technology new curriculum new techniques none of that matters as much as good people and we have a lot of exceptional hardworking people in our district not to brag I've been one of them so I've never seen myself as anything other than an educator I've known I wanted to be a teacher since I was in eth grade but I'm leaving education sooner than a lot of teachers do I love teaching I love the kids and I love the people I work with because they're [Music] family the field of education is increasingly stressful

019in order to do my job and need needs my kids I found myself working 70 hour work weeks which doesn't leave much time for one to take care of oneself or one's family so please do everything you can to take care of the people you have working in our district I know how true their cards are and how much of themselves they give every day on top of that I've been on lots of interview panels and I know how slim the pickings are getting out there another thing that's close to my heart is the students that are English Learners if they don't ENT school at a young age we don't have a lot of support set up for them I really enjoy this year working with that group of students trying to figure out ways

020to meet their individual needs but even my help was less than what a lot of them need so I appreciate my 26 years that I worked in past Lake School District like I said we're family even though Friday is my last official day I'm not going to disappear I'll still be a around so thank you for your time [Music] number seven action items [Music] um okay uh number one positive certification of person report so you'll see there on the attachments there's um I'm just going to list with there really quick there's a board packet and then the cash flow which also gave you a copy of and then the presentation which I'm going to go through in a moment and then the full first interim report the 100 page report for all the funds um

021which is also on our website um but if you click on the word packet I just want to highlight a couple things before I get into my presentation so I'm not going to read through the first page which is the narrative first and second page because I get into that in my presentation uh on page three you'll see fund one that's our general fund so I highlighted the revenues and expenditures as well as the ending fund balance and then on page four um what that fund balance is made up of which is mainly the restricted funds the ones that I've talked about before that are for specific programs and then on page 11 uh I included the page that breaks out the restricted funds so you see what those programs are and the amounts that

022make up that restricted balance I just highlight that because when I first was here and was newer um I didn't always break that out so I want to make that clear because that isn't included in our Reserve that those are restricted funds and then additionally at Pages 12 and 13 is where you'll see the multi-year projections so that's why we're having a positive uh certification we're saying we can meet our obligations in the current year and then the two uh years Beyond and to do that if you look at some of the breakdowns of the numbers you'll see um some things are Ed you know a lot of the onetime restricted funds are going away um and we're just just meeting our Reserve which is there on page 13 um but that's what we need

023is those yeses at the bottom of page their te saying we meet the criteria in the state software so that we can pass a positive first in um so now if you want to click on the presentation so I have to uh load that up so this is as I mentioned the 2324 first intro so first I always like to get into the highlights I think it's really important to point out all the great things I'm not going to sit here and read through all this I pulled most of this from the awesome thing that Mr Seal's added each meeting where he's had all of the sites um doing their section on the agenda where they've been highlighting all the great things going on at each campus and I love seeing that and knowing that

024um here I am crunching numbers or whatever we're working on all these plans but actually seeing it come to fruition what's being done at each of the sites I love the pack program at the points program for PBIS at oci I've heard really great things about that um and I've heard about the fun uh dance parties at o at the recess on Fridays I'm trying to make it to one of those um and then we have um the positively POS how do I say that three times fast readers uh with suuma which is where they go over and read at the SPCA there to the animals and it also helps kids build their reading skills I think that's such an awesome idea and I'm sure the animals really enjoy the visitors um but I love

025hearing about all the great things going on at the sites and um you know seeing like I said everything that we've worked on um you know really providing all these great programs for our students so um I always like to start off the that so for the first interim um when we do the nyp which is the multi projection we have to have some assumptions so there's some factors that I have to put in um in order to come up with um the projections to say we can meet those two fiscal years coming up so the Statewide estimates are projecting a $58 million shortage through 2025 uh they thought by pushing back the tax deadline that that was going to bring in more revenue from the higher earning people in the state but actually that

026didn't um happen so they're talking about um you know the whole state being impacted for the next couple years by this so they told us to use a 1% Cola for next year and 2.7% for the following year though some advocacy groups are saying you should use 1% for the both years um which is really drastically different from the 88.2% that we had this last year when we were building the budget um so that's just one of the factors we plug into the calculator and that helps us give our Revenue projections um our lower enrollment is used on the first but the budget was built at the end of 2223 when we had more uh enrollment so you kind of have to keep that in mind because that will have a trickle down effect um

027as adaa comes in lower than enrollment and then now we have around 30 less students than we did when we ended the year the good news is our unduplicated pup count is up uh to 579 so that brings in some more um that means we have students in the subgroups English Learners Foster youth homeless Youth and um lowincome students and that came from our um income verification form that we sent out as part of the lunch program that brings in some additional revenue for supplemental and concentration grant funding and that's something we already have in our budget but it just allows us to have um a lot of those programs and extra electives and things it's good to have more funding there and then our myp always includes the step and column uh increase of

0281.75 just kind of an average number of use every year uh everyone um who's not topped out leads up a step and then stirs and Pur increases year to year uh this year we saw an 8% increase in the cost of our health welfare plan so if you think about Cola being 8% then everyone's Health welfare went up um that was pretty pretty crappy to see because in the past we would have 2 to 4% increase in our Health and Welfare but it's impacting everybody in the state um you know everybody knows that when you're going to the doctor and just the costs of medical and dental division have gone up Nationwide so I continued with that 8% in the multi-year projection just assuming it's probably not going to go down if the forecast in

029the economy is the that's good and then um there's lower federal and state restricted funds because a lot of the one-time monies on that restricted page are running out you know the co funds end in 2024 and then um it seems like they always add different different ones so there could there could be other ones some of them um that we've been doing all these big project and things with will be finishing up and since we adopted the budget our lcff funding went up slightly I'm going to cover that on a lat slide um but we were not needing the reserve when I loaded everything into the state software so I had to go back in to the county uh Financial software and I had to remove some vacancies of positions we didn't fill this

030year um due to our lower enrollment so so um that was the only way to meet our reserves so we're really kind of kicking the can down the road if um you know our enrollments down funding is lower but yet we need more um services and supports for our students and our staff um so you know education funding really should be more of a priority in my opinion but so now we do meet the reserve by me removing those vacancies they were placeholders in the budget in case we need to fill certain positions oops I have to go back sorry too much so what I always talk about what's our current status so this is just what we're here we're we're certifying that we can positively meet all our financial obligations through 2026 um but

031each time we're kind of just meeting the reserve uh our budget Workshop in January will show us the shortfall of the state will impact the budget but again A lot of times by May things can change even more and you can see oh wow in the cash flow the cash B seems really high but a majority of that is the restricted funds um and then you think oh there there's a lot of cash fting there but if you look to the next two bullets so monthly and this has increased dramatically over previous years we're spending around 1 million um with payroll and benefits and also um 285,000 in accounts payable so that's what you see on the warrants so that's that extra cash flow other than the restricted amount is what's sustaining each month we're

032doing payroll we're paying our bills um and then December and April they P they'll post our tax revenue and as I mentioned before we're down 30 students so we get funded on a threeyear average adaa um but each year our adaa is usually in the past before covid it was about 40 below our enrollment but then the last couple years it's been about 70 below the enrollment because we've seen a lot of absences and that's been discussed with chronic absences um so over time when you're using the three-year average and we had a couple of the higher years in there for Ada it's going to be um the lower adaa and that's going to catch up um when when you look at the funding and that's something not just here but Statewide all districts with

033a lot of people leaving uh California and um we weren't in declining enrollment a couple years ago so when I would hear people talking about that at conferences I was kind of like well we're not facing that our involement is going well um then the pandemic came along and we saw um a lot of families either moved or kept their students home and that NE number really never came back uh where we have 820 students now we used to have 890 that's pretty substantial if you figure our funding is around 11,000 a student and if you lost um 70 students that can be pretty F financially impactful so I wanted to I don't want to read through this uh in detail I know we have a lot of other things on the agenda but there's

034some new funding called prop 28 it's art and music funding and it's going to be ongoing this is different from the one time part mus discretionary Grant um it it's only going to be just a little bit over 100,000 and it has I didn't see that it's covered by that picture sorry um it has to use equally uh at each site and you have to have a plan at each site it's like they give us all these plans we have to do any each site and most of it has to be used for Staffing if you look at a teacher salary and benefits that's really only enough for one teacher or maybe a couple part-time teachers um but that's something you're going to have ongoing if they want to bring back some different disciplines art

035Music Theater different back into schools and then our learning recovery emergency block rant because of the shortfalls in the state budget they did reduce that uh down a little bit um but we haven't done anything with those funds yet they do expire in 2026 um and then the art music One Time Grant again was reduced um we have to have a plan to use that we had only really discussed using a portion of it for the high school band program but other than that we haden't really um done the plan yet because that one also we have till 2026 and then the covid Esser funds are expiring next uh September so right now we're using that for the door lock project and then um getting the portable infrastructure requirements um and then we do have

036four positions that we had moved um last year to meet the rise so we had moved eight positions over we moved half of them back to the unrestricted budget and there's still four positions that are in the co funds um and then as we just discussed earlier the elop that's after school program Grant we use that for my club and that's been great as well as some other um after school programing trips prek implementation and special ed those are one time um we're using them now for the for the staffing for those programs they're just a portion of those salaries and then the kitchen infrastructure Grant is what we're using to do that one that you saw with the bid that we're doing the walk in fridge and freezer so if you see an expens

037it's on a warrant that's actually under one one not under the cafe fund but that Grant just covered the cost of that and then we do have restricted Lottery funds that roll over year to year um and we've set that aside which you'll see on that snapshot of that restricted fund page um for future curriculum adoptions but we don't use that we just we get a small amount each year and we just kind of let it accumulate so I just wanted to go over that's the bulk of that 1.7 million so here's the lcff changes from the budget adoption as you can see it's really only in the supplemental and concentration grant funding um and it's because of that higher number those 579 pupils that are UND duplicated those are the students in those subgroups

038um so that just increased the funding in that area but it doesn't really give us any extra funding or anything because we already have all the programs um over there under supplemental concentrations so it was around 184,000 um that that up last year we had seen a bigger change in our lcff um between the budget adoption and the first in room but this year it's m and then everybody was excited last year when we heard about the home to school transportation reimbursement changes sorry um but then they said we are taking out um the part that's on the lcff calculator so we were told last year we were going to get around 400,000 for that um but then if you look I can refer back to this previous slide um but if you look here

039there's the home to school transportation that's I don't know oh it's letting me Point um those are on the lcff calculator so those are the two amounts so now we're only getting um you can see here the estimated funding for the HTS is the 76,000 so they may seem like we're going to get this additional for 100,000 for home to school transportation but then they said oh no that's already on your calculator we're just going to D that out and you just get a little bit we done a plan and all that for that so um that was something where we thought there's extra Revenue coming in but it's really just small amount um here's the general fund stats so you can see here the original budget versus first term if you look um the

040revenues and expenses um are close to netting each other out um the main increase in revenue is offset by required expense budgets in the restricted programs so anything we got like the art and music Grant or the learning loss Grant you can't just have a revenue budget in software you have to have an expense budget so we might have put something on your services or supplies like as a placeholder so that you're allowed to allocate those funds but that doesn't necessarily mean we're going to spend those we still have to do a plan and do all that but the biggest change we have was 28,000 in special education we had to increase the contribution since we the budget um and that's mainly in the other operating expenditures of 5,000 category of services because of our

041due process lawsuit where we had to pay a litigation fee which youve seen on the last warrant as well as the services for that student and this has been going on for several years so that's really impacting the budget for such a small District as well as the county um special education programs there's a few of our students who are lucky they go to the county but they had to hire at the county for those students 101 so they'll bill us for that as well as we pay some parents Mage currently things like that and we did add an extra teacher and a few AIDS so special ed is the biggest change where um we had to add to the budget in terms of Staffing and um and those services that are in the 5000

042so you can see we meet our Reserve there and we have a little bit remaining but that can be uh that can fluctuate um due to they've already said our tax revenues are going to be less so this will be fluid and changing throughout the year but the majority of the ending balance is the restricted programs and you don't count that towards your reserve um and I always like to have this slide Kurt could help me with this one just showing the cost of snc which is step in column and stirs and purs so just our benefit and our our um our retirement benefit and our salary cost year over year you see see there where there's a couple years where it's um bigger especially last year that was when we did the 8% um

043and then ongoing just knowing it's around um you know around 150,000 F certificated and classified so that's a cost that in your budget that ride out the gate without receiving additional funding or anything like that you have to pay because there's always going to be people lower up and the benefit costs are increasing so anything really extra that comes in this year um went towards that as well as a special ed cost but yeah that's why those two years look so much bigger um because of the um the r last year and then the year before was a one time and if anyone has questions or comments um the next thing coming up I'll be working with our attendance sorry this was such a gem Eric so it's on Facebook it's on Facebook so I

044feel like it's fair game it made my day so it's working so hard I wanted to share um we have the ABA report due on January 9th so I'll be working with Nicole who's our student our student database and attendance um U person and turn I'll be working on submitting that but we don't get funded on p18 but they want to report and see where you're at with your attendance and then the governor's budget Workshop is in Sacramento in mid January we'll get a little bit more with numbers um that will um give us some ideas for projections for next year and and then the second inter room so the second piece of this um is due in March and then we'll be working on elap and budget development and then in April so we

045turn in our P2 adaa that's where we get our adaa number that we build the budget off of so all the absences or different things we have going on that's when we kind of know where we're at at that time of the year in terms of um what our Ada rate is which is the average daily attendance and then in May uh we have the May rebonds and then that's some years it's about the same as January some different so it just kind of depends on the economy what's going on in the state and then in June we'll have the two board meetings where first we review and adopt the budget so if anyone has any questions I'd be happy to answer those question yes that recovery that be taken away or that um well

046as of right now they're talking about looking at reducing more of the onetime funds I think that is State sees that those funds are there and they haven't you know their the period to spend them hasn't run out yet and so they were talking about doing that to offset the Statewide shortfall they could reduce it down further but it wouldn't make enough of a difference you know if they have a 58 million but I could see that they could reduce that further hopefully they know a lot of districts have put things in for that um you know so they would but so have we plan for that and we haven't had a plan yet honestly I know everybody has just been so busy there's so much going on there's been talks of having be you

047know some type of man coach or um any type of supports for students for achievement and learning um it could be but it's onetime fund so it's kind of um you know you need to see how to best use that because you wouldn't want to hire Like a Rockstar app person and then F the F away you know so nothing's been decided there's lots of good ideas out there um some districts could be just using it to cover some cost but we don't have any plans that I haven't been made aware of we have had some plinary discussions internally potential uses of that um those discussions keep coming back to the idea of math coaches and providing RTI and Mathematics similar to what we do with Ela and um we've discussed previously the need for

048more focused attention of mathematics based on performance of of students and and Michelle's going to provide some of that data a little bit later on the agenda um that's where those discussions keep coming back to um but as Tara just mentioned Our concern is we start that program and that funding goes away we have to make sure to extend that program Beyond 2026 that there will be additional monies coming in either they renew the learning loss Grant or we get more funding in other areas to to allow us to continue to employ those individuals that positions but that being it's state instead of federal funding so it's a little less restricted you don't have to have a plan and there's not as much you know rules that are in place compared to like the covid

049funds so and I think not having a plan just makes it a little more flexible you know that we could have discussions I mean that' be a great item to have in the future if we wanted to have discussion plan for that but we just haven't gotten there with all the other stuff we have going on yeah so I conf that happen we have a couple years yeah those discussions that I mentioned they're really picking up seeing because we're looking at implementation AUST the upcoming school year right any other questions thank you chair feel like we have a good picture of what's happening and like you said it's fluid okay is there a motion to approve the positive certification of first in report I motion to approve second any discussion questions call I I I

050I and I two okay um next item adoption of board policies administrative regulations and bylaws presented for first reading at the November meeting so I make a motion that we adopt the policies administrative regulations and bylaws presented at the November meeting I'll second there any discussion yes I have a comment on regulations 6161 selection and evaluation of instructional materials under the criteria section it says criteria for selection and adoption uh I would like to add to that consideration of age appropriateness any given instruction that would be let is middle page [Music] right1 page in the middle criteria for selection and Adoption of instructional [Music] material right um you said the regulation right yes regulation okay I'm back okay [Music] well in there with regard to any kind of selection I would like to include wording

051that has to do with evaluating the age appropriateness of each High I think that's very important any other discussion I think my only com about appropriate is who deciding because everyone's going to have a little bit different opinion on when kids are ready for what so I'm not sure if we put that language in and how do we measure it I think to that question and also so Dian to your your suggestion I think both would be addressed with the first criteria and that they are aligned with content standards adopted by the State Board of Education and then consistent with the content and cycles of the curriculum framework also adopted by the State Board of Education which is a the content standards for first grade for example would be sa and say these are all

052supported by well item three um under criteria to the satisfaction of the board are accurate objective current and suited to the differing needs and comprehension of District students at the respective grade levels I think that agree ultimately if we if we as a district or proposing adoption of instructional material curriculum the ultimate decision rests with the board come forward you would have the opportunity to review that material and use your judgment as toiz policy 61631 the library media center we're changing what we okay can you give us a second over follow one more time16 policy 61631 Library Med okay my understanding is that all of the library materials are are they available for parents to see yes and there there's um there's actually an opportunity we have online catalogs where they can use their their

053child's device their child can go on and see what books are available for checkout the entire staff is listed okay so anytime there new books it's always updated there are concerns that there are are books um and it's not just about the LGBT but there's actually obscenity and and uh my understanding is that the American Library Association put standards for County Libraries public schools and colleges are they sent from all Senate laws do we have any concerns like that that have been brought forward in our district no they' been brought forward in oural that's great good and we have a County librarian uh oversees our libraries and works with the staff there I did find a book it's it's called gender queer and it's in the adult explicit section and it's all cartoons from page

054one do we have an adult explicit [Music] sectionary the county library we don't have any in the county library what this is just in our schools on our sites okay my understanding is that all across the country those available to show so I'm glad to know that and I was noticing um on page two the it's under the heading selection and evaluation of school library materials it's the second sentence Library material shall be selected and evaluated through a process that invites recommendations from administrators teachers other staff parents Guardians and students as appropriate yeah I appreciate concerned and I think where that's coming from this um well there's a there's there's groups coming into our our school district right now doing some seminars and other kind of things so parents start looking at the curriculum looking

055at the books in the library looking for for okay things I don't know I I don't know all the details that's since the parental right thing fail that's what they're focusing on right now is the library curriculum and one the books that are in the libraries you said there's a group that has coming into yes so we're going to have some parents that are going to be looking for something I don't when the Librarians Place orders those come through the district office so I'm reviewing orders but they don't even come to me till the principes have Rie the book orders and there's a whole process the librarian doesn't go to Barnes & Noble grab some books you know they have to place an order through the district using distri signs and it follow I'm not

056accusing anybody I'm just saying that it's that's the new Focus right now yeah I'm just assuring you that there's a lot of vetting and that's all looked over material up to be part of it minut I think that's important to understand the process that you just explain Tera and then to also have these policies in place that state that they are going to be selected and evaluated through a process that invites recommendations from administrators teachers other staff parents Guardians and students as appropriate covers it there are checks in B is in place I mean yeah you know we may hear more about it I I tell people to talk to your teachers talk to your principles principles will talk to the superintendent there's a problem you know so that's all I that's all I know

057about but I know that there's going to be more focus on on in our elementary school libraries the next few months are there any other um comments or questions about adopting these policies reg administrative regulations and bylaws [Music] you I I I I I three times um motion Carri um item three early dation of retirement incentive I found um very specific uh language in the last paragraph This is not a retirement incentive instead it is an incentive to provide early notification of the plan to retire which allows the district sufficient time to recruit and hire Quality Personnel to fill those vacant positions for the 2425 school year as well as develop an accurate District budget yeah so we always put this out around this time of year so that we can do that by giving

058the deadline and getting the early notice so that we know what people's plans to retire and as long as Randy and I have had this on there we had increased it so we had talked Michelle talking about um you know that amount probably should go up it's been several years you know and everybody knows the cost gone so we wanted to bump that up a bit um and put it out there this time so we have the deadline and give people time to decide if they're kind of on the fence just a little bit extra of a bonus so that deadline is February 2nd and the notification is to be given to the superintendent right and then that way we can advertise it um the positions earlier you know a lot of people were looking

059for changes in position or moving to a new area you know they're not waiting till July to do that people are planning head we can get the best candidates by being head of that that's a little bit of a was it bucks a couple years ago it's been a thous every year for probably four or five [Music] years theie to it is it's going to be especially important in springtime as Tera laid out and I may mention of it earlier with sa revenues coming in anywhere between 26 and4 billion doll short in the current year year current Year's budget what impact that's going to have on the governor's budget proposal in January um most folks connected to this are predicting lean times next year and a very difficult budget which doesn't happen very often in

060election year but it very well could happen um in California for this upcoming cycle we need to have very accurate picture of what our staffing needs are and what those costs are so those who were on the offence about retirement um we just need to know in advance so that we can budget accordingly and have something as accurate as possible I make a motion we accept the early notification of retirement in stive second discuss second wel I I I motion carries okay item four resolution 248 authority to apply for electric MERS Grant with sjb PCD some good news um as you may recall or maybe those who are newer to the may not recall we have partnered with the sing Valley Air Pollution Control District on a number of projects Through The Years uh that

061allowed us to purchase school buses as well as our maintenance custodian electric utility carts most recently uh there is a new Grant opportunity and as most of us know it's it's in an effort to get most if not all gasoline powered or diesel powered engines in our um yard equipment for the better term um out of operation and instead in their place replace them with electric power well recently you approved a right on Long mower that is no longer used as Surplus well not long after Robert had posted that mower um on the website that we put our Surplus items on we learned he was approached to learn of this grant opportunity that what one right on lawnmower is worth $155,000 to the S Val po Patrol District um to benefit our trade in for

062a new electric powered Ron lower and if you took the time to look through the attachments and all that can be available and all that is eligible for trade in it could be very substantial to the district and so what we are asking for in this resolution is that we we essentially grant our mot director the authority to negotiate uh the exchange of our Surplus equipment toward the purchase of the electric power equipment I make a motion we Grant the authority to apply for an electric M Grant I second any discussion thank you Robert you're welcome looking forward to this yeah to see what they're like this will be a good opportunity because we still have the gas um Power Bruns at each site so we'll have one um electric one that we can see

063how it lasts what it does how it does before we have to go that route for sure um my understanding um through this that if we find more of little stuff Randy that we have to come back with resolution each time that we do these and it's not just a blanket I think the board would be happy to consider that request Hi I hi hi keep on your toes been like this from beginning okayy um item eight informational items our enrollment report so you'll see two items there the last time I had included the adaa I forgotten about that but it shows you average daily attendance for each of the sites as well as the enrollment I'm not going to go over that but I'm going to start including that with the enrollment and then

064on the December enrollment you can see uh last meeting we had 823 this time it's 819 so it's kind of a usual pattern it goes up and down a little bit each month sight to sight um but still better than the 813 we had CI on Count Day few more than that small changes at each site what is encouraging on the 88 report that Tera has provided is that the 88 percentages are holding a little higher than what they have in recent a lot higher than what they were in recent years with all three primary sites at over 91% tendance and that's that's Improvement yeah understand that we were just entering cold and flu season but still yeah and back in our Heyday it was more like 95% and yeah during Co it got in

065the high 80s so it's good to see that getting back into the 90s very I'll take item two inter District transfer reports there were [Music] none um item number three uh 2023 2024 C proposal csca and csca 757 to Bass Lake joint Union Elementary School District so we uh completed this process with the bass Teachers Association earlier in the year and we are in the midst of negotiations currently uh CA has submitted their Sunshine proposal for the current year they are looking for a multi-year agreement they would like to discuss the Articles listed there article seven dealing with salary article 8 benefits article 14 classification and reclassification Article 15 layoff and Reemployment uh article 17 dealing of safety and article 21 was term looking for a multi-year agreement that is their Sunshine proposal that's before

066you just as an information item tonight I'm happy to answer any questions if I can I have to answer since it's cca's Sunshine proposal questions number [Music] four yeah and our proposal in response to CSC item four and essentially we have agreed to discuss their ideas in all of those [Music] areas okay item number nine presentation and discussion of student achievement data cast prity Etc and the School dashboard report there it is up on the screen can you guys hear me yes okay so I'm going to go over the cast data on the California dashboard for um the last several years so I took um so this information is the state test that word for eth graders take in the spring and um I went through and and took all of the categories that are

067reported on the dashboard and put together some data on each of them and compared best like to the state so the first slide is for chronic aism which we just kind of talked about a little bit so um just a little bit of information about chronic absenteeism percentage is a student is considered chronically absent when they have missed 10% or more of the school days in a school year so if you look at 2019 in red across this bar graph is the state percentage and then blue is basake on all of these slides at the bottom I noted this for 20120 and 2021 there was no data for those years so those are flat on all of the all of the barbs I thought it would be interesting and important to look at data um

068pre pandemic as opposed to post so that's why I chose these years um so this is a look at Chronic absenteeism percentages for um 2019 through 2023 I think it's important for our discussion when we talk about Chic absenteeism this is for any absence either the child is present or not present an excused absence doesn't just seriously disappear the child is absent okay they may it might have been an excused absence but they're still absent so it's all absences in total corre next one talks about suspension rate so this is um percentage of students that were suspended at least one day so this Compares again um California to Bass Lake and those are our percentages um across those years for suspension rate questions about that one do you have a question about just why do

069we think we're so much higher than the state average um prior meetings we've discussed our concerns about the change in student Behavior post pandemic and we're we're seeing violent behaviors exhibited at the youngest of Ages that we did not see prior to the pandemic now I don't know if there's a cause and effect associated with the pandemic or we're trying to ascertain what that is but it's interesting to see the state average where it is because I know everybody in Madera County has had a higher average than what they had prepandemic and it it's substantial so we have a lot of really smart people people who are a lot smarter than I who are looking into the why yeah and I'm going to work on comparing our data to the other districts in our County

070also um that information isn't completely out yet for the public so I just went ahead and compared for this presentation for now to the state but we will be looking to see um CU I think that's important to look at um our compare like our other County Schools too so like how we're doing because it's more Regional it's more apples to apples I thought the state [Music] doesn't so these are correct I do question um I these are calendar years not school years no it's a school year school year and then it's testing year so it's in the spring yeah this is all this is all last this this is all data from um the spring of 202 yeah like last school year could it be because you're enforcing it more than other districts yes

071thank you which we yes that's one of the concerns that we have with the state data is are the districts in Madera County drawn a hard line and I I would respond yes we are because there's what's appropriate and what's not and I don't want to go to what's not thank you it's very commendable appreciate that I appreciate those that sentiment however we get DED when we do and everybody needs to understand that and if we get to a certain threshold just like we are in differentiated assistance for like chronic absenteeism if the state continues to look at this data and see that we are at a higher percentage than like then um we might have to put some plans in place to try and reduce our suspension rate that's not a thing right now

072but that could be a thing so we kind of have to keep keep an eye on it I would be very concerned if our principles were using suspension as a tool too frequently or halfly and I can say with extreme confidence they are not I agree suspension is the last resort okay next slide is English learner progress so this is the percentage of English Learners that are making progress towards English proficiency can take a look at that if you have any questions okay question so 39.7 in 2023 that's 39.7% of our kids were making strides towards proficiency so basically 60% uh English Learners of our English learner population 39.7% of them are making progress towards English proficiency has defined obious criteria okay so have the test that yeah there's a test and then there's um

073like District criteria also for um reclassifying yeah so this is this is um defin definely an area that needs to be looked at this yeah so this is definitely something that has traction and is being paid attention to yeah what what I what struck me when I first opened it is you look at the data comparison between 2022 and 2023 the state data State performance declined 2% while local here in Bass Lake we improve by 7% I will take 7% growth any Year from one year to the next so that it's encouraging but it's still an area of emphasis for sure right like the percentage is discouraging however the growth is encouraging so we can continue to see that Trend but maybe like bigger jumps would be cool yeah would be cool yeah the next

074one is English language arts so this is um determined it's points below standard unfortunately we didn't have any that like all of our data is points below standard so um it's a really complicated and convoluted equation that gets to this um but obviously we would want to have that number be small right we would not want to be very much below standard and we would rather be above um but that's how you decipher those numbers so again something to be paying attention to and then the next one is the same concept but for mathematics which we talked about earlier and clearly is a top priority grow right% yeah Statewide it's a it's glaring and um there was growth so that's fantastic just looking at even the state average prepandemic to where it is currently Statewide

075oh my goodness yeah so that so as this data has been trickling in over the last couple of weeks it's got our attention and it's got the attention of a lot of folks Statewide and that's why when I said our most recent discussions about the grant funds have centered on math coaches so that's um for the cast the seate testing and the California dashboard and then I did do a couple quick slides on our I ready data for this school year so the slides I just went over for for for years previous and then last school year and so this is where we are currently with I ready I do want to put out a disclaimer the winter diagnostic is not completed there are a few days left and so those that's just kind of

076like where we are but it's not the very end result um I can actually report on that at the next meeting if we want a more accurate um but for reading in the fall of 2023 so the beginning of this school year 25% of our students were on grade level in Reading 34% were one grade level below and 41% were two or more grade levels below and then now currently the m s although it's not not all the kids have tested yet but um as of a couple days ago when I ran the reports um 37% on grade level so that's good and then um one grade grade level below is 33% and two or more grade levels below is 37% so we want those numbers to go those percentages to go down and they

077have good okay are my eyes seeing me am I a poor math student it looks like win looks like 107% 37 + 33 plus yeah it so that happens like often when I'm doing the reports for I ready and I've asked them and there's no real good answer yeah like I know it's it's weird yeah I know it's not helpful at all maybe some kids are more than one category no I don't know why it does not and honestly like I've tried to understand and [Music] they I CH it up to our kids give 110% only yeah it's super weird I don't know I and then I did the same thing for m so compared ball to so progress so that's academic achievement as of now at least for you know the data that I

078collected um but I will bring more data to you guys like I said to compare like within our region I think that's important to look at and then um continue to track that right the other thing that'll come to you is a report on the California dashboard the California dashboard does not go public until the 18th I believe it is that's correct uh so we have been allowed embargo access so we can see the data there is some good news to report there we just can't present it publicly tonight um but one it's what we've always done but two it is a requirement that we present the dashboard on the board agenda and so that'll be coming your way most likely in January I think the next step at least for me as a board

079member I would like to just have some sort of report on what intervention looks like in this District as a whole is there a comprehensive District Intervention Program is it by grade level at each site how are we handling intervention because we're making strides right but how can we like makees and what does that look like and I think it's important that all of us particularly around this table understand what is in place what is in place in terms of innovention what what programs are we running as I mentioned earlier we know we have RTI for ELA reading and we have a huge ging hole there for mathematics so we have to develop a plan together we are going to address those concerns because the data speaks for itself if you look at performance not

080not only locally Statewide so I think this absolutely has to be an ongoing conversation with regular data reports and I think to like not only the academic but also like probably bring to you what we're doing for differentiated assistance for The Chronic aasm because that's I mean those are related right like if we have so many kids absent so much well it makes sense that our academic achievement is probably going to suffer because of that so um I can put together what we've been working on in those committees to address that and then also what current interventions we have for academics and kind of like conversations about where we'd like to head yeah yeah because really at the end of the day you're all you teachers here you're all intervention teachers you're intervening every day

081that's what you're doing so but what does that look like collectively as a district so that just so that we know what's going on we know there's a map right where are we headed how are we getting there and so we see progress right but what's the next step to get to the next stage to really feel like you guys are empowered to make the difference you know so that the kids are working academically on grade level that's the goal right so how are we going to get there even with the challenges that we have even with the finances that we have how can we at least get as far as we can even if we can't get 100% there I think it's really important to mention as well and it really it to be

082part of our work with differentiate assistance and some of the things that we have coming up educating our our families our parents the importance of having the kids get to school on a more regular basis because when we're running chronic absente rates over 31% the impact that has on our classroom teachers the amount of ret teing that has to occur um was in a very interesting discussion last week in County Superintendent meetings as we were working on a project and talking about the [Music] change the changes that we have seen ushered in rapidly by the pandemic but the number of professions that are allowed to work remotely now and that that is really an appeal to a lot of Industries well I stopped and thought back to our local practices we have gone to one

083to one we have adopted Google Classroom when a child is absent and they they have this at home they have access to all of the activities that they're going to do in class that day so how much of that is playing into a decision well I'm just going to stay home today I I can do all my work but what they don't understand is they're missing a key ingredient to their education and that is the interaction with their peers in the classroom and the teachers in the classroom for that original instruction and we've almost out of necessity made it easier for them to stay at home and not fall behind on their assignments but they're falling behind in their learning and it's something that I wanted to throw out there for all of us to

084ponder for a moment um but it's the way of the world education has to figure out how we're going to resolve this and I don't have the answers but like I said earlier we've got a lot of people smarter than I who are working on this well plus I would wonder when you mentioned the behavior and the suspension piece too because Behavior plays a role in kids um they're disrupting their whole class so those students aren't learning or then that student who being removed I would feel like that would that impact achievement as well and I'm hearing about you know behavior issues districtwide do you think that ties in as well absolutely because the learning environment has to be not only physically safe but cognitively safe social emotionally safe and we our learning environments are

085being disrupted which is disrupting the work of our teachers and our students so everything goes into the supow if you will and it's a strange bre right now I have a question about theism so um so on the one side it's like 30 whatever per abente ISM but then the Ada say this for like 92% so how does that translate chronic abente rate is is based on a student if a student has been absent 10 or more days during the school year they are deemed chronically absent so 31 1% of our students have 10 or more absences to their name but the actual average da attendance still is over 90% weird right yeah it's two different ma a third of our kids AR are absent more than 10 days yeah I don't know it affects

086the a though because you know more and more kids that are chronically absent and that's where you see the Ava percentage go down overall [Music] any other questions thank you okay item 10 accomplishments and other reasons to celebrate from throughout the districts oakst Elementary School principal Williams Oh Robert she's m what I I can project that I'm Happ to want I'm with you know I mean you saw me today I I rocked should go on yeah super good and there's a partridge in a Paar tree yeah okay so um uh in November December um we had our OES connect Corp go March in the Veterans Day Parade I don't know if you guys know but um the Veterans Day Parade is one of the largest parades this side of the Rockies um they did a

087great job they were patient and uh respectful and they just really did a fantastic job um I know that um Lieutenant Smith and Taylor really appreciate all the support they get from the board and from parents and teachers so it's a great program and our district is really lucky to have that uh we have several classes uh embarking on field trips first grade classes uh went to raiy and learned all about the the jobs there in the different departments this was part of their curriculum for uh Community jobs so they had a blast doing that kids always do um something new that I I noticed was learning all about eart ordering inment so yeah big thing um we uh the K2 classes took a field trip to decorate Christmas tree and that was a blast

088I know Mrs Etta shared that um there were a few kids in her class that it was their first field trip and so that's really really exciting that they had the opportunity to go and do that so that was blast and the tree looked fantastic um and then a really big win for our district um in an effort between nurse Jordan right CFO Tera Panella our librarian Kelly R um and our health a Gloria bile nine students um and there's a few also that that are about to uh have three eye exams and glasses so that is super exciting that we have that opportunity going so um that's just amazing and [Music] [Applause] that's Archer [Music] Muma we're not doing sake shovel sorry we're not it's a one time only performance for the children good

089I got a video vide on interet all right so de shout outs um we did have a holiday performance today Mrs Peterson's lunchtime inal programs in full swing teams have been competing in kickball mini soccer matches basketball and in anticipation of rainy weather that hasn't been tled yet they've been playing card themes like spoons in theary and it's hilarious uh architect for kids were fortunate enough to join their oi and O counterparts to Mar in the B state parade parents loved their kids opportunity on that day amazing our acquired Club had a field trip to you somebody high school for vocal pant uh right after Thanksgiving break they had a great time they were able to work with the yhs band and choir performers as well as perform with their counterparts from River Gold Elementary

090our kids are actually at y High School now participating in the winter concert uh they were invited here but they were double booked but I believe they'll be here in January to perform PR you well the uh primary music program of Mrs event is an amazing addition to all of our extras the new Piano thank you very much is getting a workout it is much appreciated at today's dress rehearsal for the kids holiday performance one of our sixth graders performed a solo on the piano she did a great job she was so nervous she did so well um three of our wasuma girls were robotics champions last month there's an article attached in The Marosa Gazette two of our sixth graders page Stampley Shar and our fifth grader Chloe sanville are involved in a robotics

091program through their Girl Scout Troop they were the only all female team that walked into the competition and according to one of the moms everybody turned with the then went and then the girl one whole thing so kind of cool uh there girls to our Mass program is ready to go we're just waiting for some snow our first day on the slopes is set for January 12th weather perit our PBIS team is in puling with our tier two PA pushing into spring teachers with lessons our teachers are working with the PBIS team to discuss what lessons they feel their students would benefit most from and Miss Co either implements those lessons in class or they work together on lessons that are appropriate for the students are needing at that time and we know that children

092always let us know what they need Miss Kyle's December newsletter is the end of the presentation for you all so you can see what she's working on congratulations to our girls at basketball team for taking second place at their end of season tournament at Min High School last Friday came down to the wire they lost to Spring belly by one bucket it's okay they played really well our boys soccer team took third they did they did both our kids are wrapping up their second I ready Diagnostics the initial results were been promising the teachers have done a great job coming up with a variety of different incentives depending on the grade level to incentivize some growth and attention to the test because it is a long one Mrs retirement has finally arrived I'm not going

093to talk about it I already CRI about it today I'm not going to do it again uh there are some pictures in there about the pollinator Garden uh John Cotton came and spoke to you all about the pollinator garden and it was installed with the assistance of some of our second and fourth graders uh Miss balmer's kindergarten and Mrs Frank second and third graders decorated the community Christmas tree love that little spot right next to the highway uh there's some there's some photos in here about what our PTA has going on the Grinch came to do a special reading for some of our Primary students and we had our Christmas tree left uh you all are invited to our Jingle Bell run this Friday we are having sand pancakes after we run not before uh

094two of our sixth graders organize a canned food drive to benefit man house as a part of their make a difference project there's a picture in there about Jacob in Brooklyn and then our master lessons for the month involved plants as spices and let say Verma culture example wormology is what and of course they love learning about the [Applause] worms and principal mcgr thanks um so have to work a little harder on this one next time um is this all right uh let me see here mine was a little more succinct to the point I would say something like that uh we had our first dance on December 8th that's good we've been doing it for a while now we have each school has a dance and everybody gets to go from the local schools

095it wasn't always like that but it is now and it's nice because we can have like one and each school and then kind of travel around and that went really well a lot of Parental uh help and input lots of adults there other schools sent people um to cheron and to know their kids and that kind of thing but we've been getting a lot of support from parents this year more way more than last year at o which is super nice um our leadership students and some other students made ornaments and we went out and decorated the tree we hooked a ride with cat there I called her up and said would you like us to uh join us or something like that on the bus and we head over there and she said oh

096already got bus booked and everything like that I said okay well can we join you and she said yes um so that was good um we have intermal soccer going on right now we have five teams and seven students actually down playoffs right now so it's um getting down to the championship when is that tomorrow tomorrow okay um so that'll be that stepen handed out the card card lock badges last week to the staff and so we've been working on that you were asking about how that was going um it's been going really well uh we've been working together a lot uh Stu and I have and now the whole staff um just using our badges instead of keys trying to find out where any of the week spots are if something's not working correctly

097and just kind of troubleshooting like that it's been going very well uh and learning a lot about the system that way we're even able to use like those CS for bathroom passes now so we can have a restroom lock all the time and you can use that where could key in and then key back into their classroom that way and so it limits the number of people that'll be there but it also gives us a visual of who's there because they the passes are hooked up also to the cameras so you can see who went in and out that kind of thing so that'll help us um with any issues that right now specifically we have like their sensors and things like that we haven't had much of a problem with that this year last

098year we had a lot big problem with that and we cut it out a lot um but this will help with silly things like get paper towels W put them on the ceiling or something I used to do that yeah um so that's been going really well we have a new K bask um it's very cool there was a picture of it uh in your report yeah can wait you okay maybe ter can I come over on Friday I haven't asked you yet you know to where so that' be cool and then uh it's almost break is my last thought so we've been uh things have been going very well it's been the last couple weeks because you're amped up I might say something like that but things have been going much better and I

099just you know we you were looking at some reports and things like that Michelle was doing the report with the all sorts of different things um academics and behavioral stuff and um talking about suspensions last year we had a ton of suspensions in the last couple years at oci for sure and the behavior is very different um than it was before the pandemic and like Mr seals was saying I don't know if we can pin it on that or not but it's true that before and after are different that's for sure um this year again is different we have way fewer um suspensions and um coming up with other ways to deal with problems and that kind of stuff which could be more effective for that and and the kids are kind of getting that

100that part of mind is being drawn and that um that this is an acceptable way to be and that we're not going to deal with it here um and the parents seem to be getting that also which is really good so there's progress being made on that so it doesn't really have to do it this much thank [Applause] you I would add to that too only the parents are getting it they are supportive of those efforts so it's been a good partn and Tim's defense while his report May lack the photos and Blitz and glamour of the other two Tim has been the first to get his report turned in [Laughter] we won't talk about the [Music] effort on to item 11 report oh just a couple of things um I want to Echo some

101of the statements that or topics that have come up tonight I already had them listed to share and Report uh first the concerns about the state revenues coming in so substantially lower um while they terara mentioned in her reports that they have reduced some of the onetime funds already uh and that equates to midyear cuts um if ever there was a recipe for midyear Cuts this is it I to to push off the deadline as far as the state and the IRS did for individual tax returns coming all the way to November um and then to come up this short in Revenue that that's scary um so we're just we're monitoring the situation I don't want to be a doomsdayer but we need to be prepared of what that could mean fortunately we have the

102ready day fund U that is full that that the governor could choose to tap into to offset some of those shortages he's made no indication that he's going to yet um but we aren't sure what the implications are going to be since this report was just released within the last two weeks but but we need to be uh we should be concerned and definitely paying attention to that uh other concerns that I had came up in a report about student attendance and chronic absenteeism and we touched on all of that they're very real and um I'm looking forward to some of our efforts through the differentiated assistance um projects that we have coming up and those committees coming up with some of potential Solutions and educating our parents and family like I said earlier this

103evening is critical it it may just be oh it's it's just a it's just a Monday it's only a half day well technically no it's more than a half day it's an early release it's short by an hour um but it's so important that we get our kids to school to receive that original instruction um I do want to give kudos to Stefan and Robert for the door lock project that continues as Tim mentioned it we're pretty much fully operational at oci um I actually ironically used my new card this week and the irony comes and that it was to stepan's office so off the access that yet no well he may have since then my car did not work on his door anymore but um today after the the holiday show here at OES

104Tera and I were on our way out to the parking lot and we saw OES feachers using their their cards on their on their doors here and it is so slick you walk up boom you open and you're in there's no wrestling with the key and then have to turn then turn it back tap and go so very efficient and and so it's nice to see it all come to fruition um as I mentioned ter and I were able to get to the holiday shows not only here at OES today but also at wuma this afternoon uh the term I keep coming back to cuteness overload it is the both shows are awesome and the involvement of the staff which isn't going to be tomorrow sadly I'd sure like to see it happen again not

105to mention the dancing snowflakes of luma uh doing the shuffle if you're able to come tomorrow morning here at o and tomorrow afternoon at wasuma you will not regret the time the individual student performances at wasuma today one with the violin the other Heather mention the piano oh my gosh it's worth the price of a mission and it's free but it's still it's worth the price of the mission uh you'll be you'll be blown away the the talent I shouldn't be surprised at this point after being here in the community for for a decade more than a decade um and having served as four years principal of yhs is seeing the culmination of the music career through grade school but the musical Talent the theatrical Talent the skits that were performed wasuma today original work

106by students just so much creativity um it's nice to have pots of money coming our way for arts and music to support what is so much part of the culture of e County um so kudos to all involved with that and then lastly just happy holidays to everybody holy smokees I can't believe we're already here but um and know my Christmas shopping is not done but the the school calendar this year is going to allow time on both the front end of Christmas and the back end after New Year I encourage everybody to kick your feet up enjoy some lovees their time that's my report thank you and number 12 board member comments Rhonda you want to get us started oh okay um well I'm going to volunteer for Mass again and I remind you

107guys that I am a level one also known as a but they could still use my help so I'm going to do it and I'm really good in the boot room but um so we went to orientation and we'll have our first mask snow permitting on the 5th of you know January so that the students can come the next week so that's exciting um I wanted to say thank you so much to Mrs o Mrs oer I know personally firsthand how awesome and great of a person you are I love the um statement one person can make a difference and everyone should try and I think you exemplify that for multiple people not just yourself and like I said I can say that firsthand because my children had you multiple years and you are going

108to be greatly missed not only by your students but by your your co-workers and your principal I'm sure you have been a huge asset to the team and I just I it makes me get very emotional thinking you're not going to be there but I'm glad to hear that you are going to be around when you're not out having fun and um but I can just say thank you so much for all your years of service I have witnessed it and I have been blessed by you my kids have been blessed by you so many others have but I wanted to just say thank you so much you're going to be missed that's all for me this I don't know you really we met but but I want to e those sentiments as well just

109because um you know I just keep hearing month after month you know that when you announce your retirement just how everyone's so broken up by it and and sad to see you go and you know I also want to say I know the stress is a part of of you meing and it always breaks my heart as this educator to hear that someone's leaving the profession because of stress it's just it shouldn't be that way it is that way how can we mitigate that I don't know the answers to those questions but um thank you for everything that you have done for our distur and wish you all the best and continue health and happiness in the future um I also wanted to say that I really really appreciated the presentation tonight on academics um

110I felt like this year in some of the meetings we've had more controversial policy you know discussions that have been put forth that potentially affect a very small percentage of our student population but what we heard tonight affects 100% of our student population and I think these these discussions about academics should be absolutely at the Forefront of what we're talking about that is what we're here to do is to educate kids so I'm hoping that we can have those discussions about prevention and creating plans and helping teachers and everything that has to do with academic success so and happy hols everyone Merry Christmas enj yourth I just wanted to share my experience working or volunteering and this is it's second grade class this year and in addition to doing the math assessments which I did

111see a good Improvement since last last fall um doing some fun things in their phonics and such uh and so we before Thanksgiving she had a a pie tasting and so all the kids had to try about six different pies and by the time they filled up the plate it was bigger than them but it was so cute to see Mrs Elliot and she was like the Mama saying Okay you naing in your lap and this and that and then she says now class she says if you don't like the pie you think it's disgusting what do you do they said we are quiet we don't say [Music] anything yes it's been a privilege being the president of of of the school board last year and I know we've had some controversies and that's been

112an interesting experience anyway I don't have much to say tonight just Merry Christmas and thanks for for showing up and supporting us all oh and I will be at o in the morning for the for the show so will I I'll be S she said as she said as Santa let's get him she said as Santa oh oh you know what we will have [Music] okay okay last but not least um I'm looking forward to the upcoming year being your president and thank you Stephen for you know holding down the rins and I'll take it from here thank you um also wanted to just acknowledge uh Mrs o and her years of dedication to this district and her students and all that she has sacrificed to um serve all of us and I am lucky

113also like Granda that my children were able to be educated by her during a very difficult time in my life their lives and she just held them so close to her heart and her name comes up often as their favorite teacher and um you just have touched so many families and there's just not enough words thank you kind of works but somebody needs to work on that in ela better words for thank you okay yes okay perfect um item 13 future agenda items we'll have the audit report next month that's so exceding assets and the balance sheet and all and talking about intervention yeah learning about what how we do it well we mentioned earlier that we'll have a dashboard report coming your direction so yeah they'll be ongoing dialogue about student performance okay next

114uh meeting date um was one of the dates that was changed so I don't believe what's in our agenda is correct no it is 17 um she talking the 10th online signed in that that part didn't be changed but dates that you approved early the dates that we approved earlier January 17th but on item 14 next meeting date it says the 10th so that's and then just as a reminder the board will be here we'll start our close session at 5:30 yes and then open session at 6 that time does not change correct okay and then sorry January 17 um item 15 public comment regarding closed session items I didn't see any PR slips of anybody that wants to speak so uh we are going to um recess Open Session and start close session after

115the room is vacated thank you so much for everyone for coming and your participation tonight a [Music] res