001Okay, I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting to order at 5:30. Uh, the first item is the notice of teleconference. Uh, Miss Miss Herrick will be on video conference with us tonight. >> Yay. >> Okay, that means that all votes have to be by roll call. I need a motion to adopt the agenda for this meeting. >> So, second, >> Miss Walsh. Folks, >> hi >> Harry. >> Hi, >> Smart. >> Hi, >> Zamoya. >> Hi. >> Okay, for a moment of silence, we would like to take a moment to honor the life and legacy of someone who meant so much to the Big Bear community. On February 14th, we lost a revered member of the Bear Valley Unified School District family, Coach David Griffith. Coach Griff. Coach Griff dedicated nearly three decades
002to the Vber High School family, serving our students as both a teacher, a coach since 1997. God, >> during those years, his impact reached far beyond the classroom and field. He was not simply a coach and a teacher. He was a mentor, a role model, a friend, and a steady presence in the lives of generations of our students. Coach Griff had a rare ability to see potential in young people and push them to become the best versions of themselves. Through countless practices, games, lessons, conversations, he helped shape the character, confidence, and resilience of thousands of students who walked the halls of Big Bear High School. For many in this community, Coach Griff was part of the very fabric of Big Bear. His legacy is also deeply connected with his wife, Lisa Griffith, who's also devoted
003her life to education and to serving the students of this district. Together, the Griffith family has given decades of love, leadership, and commitment to our schools and to this community. The Griffith name has come to represent dedication, compassion, and an unwavering belief in the potential of our young people. The loss of coach Griff has been deeply felt not only by Big High School, but across the entire district and community. The Griffith family will be hosting a celebration of life for Coach Griff at Big High School Stadium on March 15th at 2 p.m. where students, colleagues, friends, and community members will have the opportunity to gather, remember, and celebrate the incredible life he lived and the legacy he leaves behind. On behalf of the Bear Valley Unified School District, we want to extend our deepest love
004and support to his wife Lisa, his children Ryan and Ashley, and his grandson Monty during this incredibly difficult time. Please know that Coach Griff's impact will live on in every student he encouraged, every athlete he coached, and every life he helped guide. So, at this time, we would like to dedicate our moment of silence and pledge this evening to in honor of Coach David. >> Ready? Begin. I pledge algiance 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 all. >> Okay. Student representatives, singular go first and last. >> Yes. So, uh, starting off, grab tickets have officially gone on sale. Uh, Winter Fest will be next next week due to our long week of a break due
005to the snow. Um, Friends of Best will be having starting at 700 p.m. on the 12th. There will be over 20 groups performing, including our Winterfest Core. All the proceeds will be going to the Jared M. Land Baker Memorial Foundation. will be having an all that jazz spirit week leading up to Winterfest. Our court members are Ricky Alvareis, Austin Chep, Isaac Dehan, Logan Martin, and Xavon Saburu. Our Winterfest assembly will be March 13th from from 10 through to 11th. The assembly consists of court members walking, a winter and spring sports video, a nit poet society will read poems, and there will be games and or video. That following night, ASB will be hosting our annual winter fest dance from 7 to 10:00 p.m. in the gym. All students will be on spring break from the
00621st to the 29th and that will end this month. Going on to spring sports. Um, varsity boys for basketball went on their third consecutive league title and went on to the first and second run of CF. Girls basketball has made tremendous progress this season and they are looking forward to making an offseason for boys soccer and then ended second in league and went on to both first and second round of playoffs. has completed in three trackments, one individual and one invitational. Um they have around 55 athletes and they're looking pretty strong. The team is excited for this year's home meets as they are very proud of their track. Softball is off to a strong start going through the window and their league starts in two weeks. Uh baseball is working hard and putting in work
007to have a a successful season. Boys golf has won the majority of their uh golf matches over two to one and their their record number of students in the program. Thanks for the update. >> Yes, thank you. >> Have a good night. >> Okay. Item six is the hearing section. I've got two cards, so I I need to review. Um, keep in mind the following guidelines in mind during this portion of the meeting. Each speaker will be allotted three minutes to speak and a total of 20 minutes for the for this item. Please note that in the Brown Act, the board cannot take action on items not on the agenda unless specific conditions are met, such as urgent matters or the need for immediate action. Public comments are an opportunity to share your views with
008the board, not to engage in a debate or question and answer session. Board members will not respond directly to individual comments during this period, but will carefully consider all input. The main the main to maintain a respectful environment, please refrain from using offensive or discretionary langu discriminatory language. Personal attacks against individuals including board members, staff, or members of the public are prohibited. These procedures are not designed to restrict public criticism of policies, procedures, or programs or service of the district or the acts or missions of the governing board. Okay, I've got two bodies. Bobby Martinez shouldn't. Anyway, um I'm here. Bonnie couldn't make it tonight and neither could Robin, but you know, we continue with um what we feel that the school district needs to do. And I've been looking to see what other school
009districts have done with their libraries because I don't know if our library has a standard by which they screen books. I doubt it. the librarians don't have time to read, you know, reading all these books. And as uh making call stated a few minutes a few minutes a few weeks ago, um we're more than willing to volunteer time to read books. And we just need the board to put on the agenda whatever you need to do to establish some sort of committee or something to come up and These are standards for our books and these are certain things we don't want in our libraries. And I know everybody says, "Well, kids don't go to the libraries anymore anyway." Well, they should because they they should be learning how to read rather than just staying on
010the phone, you know. Um, so again, you know, we come before you and we keep on asking and I look to see what uh districts were um what parents and citizens were saying that the policy should be and that it's clear and transparent and um ensures that final decisions especially in explicit sexual activity and all of that would definitely have to come to the board to say no we don't want those books but the committee would just make recommendations you you know, we're not in a situation to say, well, um, you know, you can't have these books. It's to, but your part of it is to lay for us some sort of criteria and that's what we're looking for. And um, you know, just some sort of standalone library um, policy. And We continue to
011ask the Lord ask the board. >> We're not there yet >> to um really help us. and we're here to help you come up with something that we could work with because it's silly for us to get a list of books that are not appropriate and then for us to have to meet with the superintendent and he has to do the research and then it's silly to have to go through all that when it would really just be much more fruitful I think just to have some sort of policy develop before you sit down. Um I would encourage you to meet with the superintendent because we had a meeting and we have a lot of the things you're asking for. I I think we dealt with it another meeting. So >> yeah, we did not
012have a you know we we put it on the agenda and it was there and it's we can what we can do lobby is we can forward you the meeting because it's fall in line still the presentation that Mr. Williams he did as far as what our libraries are like if we can even share the presentation the policy is and everything because there is a process in place there is a committee as far as who discusses the books and Mr. will need to do a presentation on that. I'll be happy to make sure we forward you the link >> to that meeting and we'll go from there. Okay. >> Yeah. Questions after that. >> No, we're not related. >> You mean first names are related >> sometimes. Um, good evening. I'm here to like explain
013that we have won something in court. So, California Family Council, in case you haven't heard, March 2nd, Supreme Court reverses ninth district in Marville versus Bonta, reinforcing parental authority and delivers general win for families. the circuit it reversed the ninth circuit um where it says a case challenging California's secret gender transition policies of public schools in regard to that the courts empathetically held that California cut out primary protectors of children's best interests their parents and reaffirmed that parents not the government bureaucrats or unelected officials hold constitutional authority over decisions concerning their children's upbringing and education This is a watershed ruling for the parental rights nationwide and sends a powerful message to the schools. Um the fundamental beliefs that parents must be informed and involved in all significant decisions affecting the children's lives was discussed. Uh
014these efforts include supporting local school districts, which we're here to do, uh in adopting parental notification policies that require schools to notify parents when their child expresses a desire to live or identify as a gender different from their biological sex despite the opposition from Sacramento leadership. Um these policies also create a government imposed wall of secrecy uh prior to that from our capital between parents and their children. Now the Supreme Court's decision fundamentally vindicates that fight. So yay. The Supreme Court found that the ninth ninth citric ninth circuit incorrectly state an injunction and parents are very likely to have scanning to challenge the secret gender transition policies and class certification was likely very likely proper ensuring board protections for all parents and teachers affected statewide. California's policy of hiding that gender child's gender transition from
015mom and dad was not only unconstitutional but it was also dangerous. No student should ever um be placed ideologically above a child's well-being nor should parents god-given authority. So no school should ever place ideology above the child's well-being. So I totally agree with this. Um I go to church with teachers and other people that uh work in the school district and I have my own kids and I have a son a grandson in Arizona who was I think secretly being transitioned and it and it really hurts. And I had a a grandson who was um had a counselor that came in who was a he she whatever and tried to impose things when I was there on my grandson. And so I'd like to see this go far and wide. It's um pathetical that when
016you were growing up, most of you that you even would think of such a thing happening within the schools. >> Thank you. This was just recently the second >> the second so we won't be getting updates. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay, moving on to the consent calendar. >> We only have one item. Um I have a motion to move Walsh. >> Hi, >> Eric. >> Smart. >> Hi, >> Zarina. >> Hi, I'm I was in here. There's two items. >> Nothing was removed from the consent calendar. There weren't any employment announcements? >> Yes, >> there is. Oh, that's right. There's one. >> Yes. Okay, real quick. Um we had a a stu a position we had to fill was the dean of students at Baldwin Lane. We are excited to announce that Shannon
017Burch who has been with us for quite some time will be filling that position. Uh Shannon has been a valued member of Bear Valley Unified since 2013 serving both as a dedicated teacher and educational leader. She holds a master's degree in education and has spent the past two years as an administrator in college at Falls where she has demonstrated commitment to student success and exceptional leadership. Shannon is known for her positive outlook, strong classroom management skills, and her ability to build meaningful relationships with students and families. Her supportive approach and organizational strengths make her an incredible asset to the new role as dean of students at Balden Lane. We are confident she will be an amazing support for the staff, students, and family. Uh we do know that everyone I know the Baldin Lane staff
018is really excited that she moved into this position. you know, we had to cover her class for the rest of the year cuz she was teaching the third grade position, but everyone's really excited about the transition. So was Chrissy, uh, somebody familiar. The parents already know, the parents were excited to see her. You see her up front opening car doors, being a part of that process. I think it was the genuinely the right thing to do to have Shannon there and she's done a great job with Falls. >> So what are you going to do? >> She will she will continue fall. She's she did that. That was even harder. She was doing that and teaching. She was the uh become principal, you know, in charge there. So, she was having to do both and
019that made it challenging because she was having to be out of her classroom, you know, every other Thursday, whatever it was to go down to Falls. So, that made it a challenge. This actually makes it a little bit more amicable a bit. She not leaving students, she just has to leave the site for when she goes down there. >> So, it worked out wonderful. >> And back to back to you, actually. Okay. I wanted to acknowledge first of all, thank you for your statement, Dr. Folks. Um I think we all share that sentiment. It was it was a tough tough week uh dealing with this issue and I want to make clear one I want to thank the the big BPHs. They did an amazing job. We you know unfortunately in the evening he passed
020uh we heard that morning so everyone had to rally pretty darn fast as far as making sure we were supporting teachers, making sure we were supporting students, everything. Um Brian and I are rushing out there is just to make sure and and Raven um just to make sure we have all the support in the world, but the reality is is that high school the way they came together and supported students found a system to making sure students didn't feel locked in the class if they needed to walk all the different systems that went into place the support from the different sites sending their counselors as a crisis team. We did have the sala crisis team but we also had different sites supporting their their counselors who had relationships with students at the high school. So,
021it was important to have that as well. I just wanted to acknowledge everybody there that just did a fantastic job and one of the probably one of the our toughest moments. You know, unfortunately, this school has been through a lot and they they came together in wonderful Big Bear High School fashion um for all the right reasons. So, it was a in the worst case scenario, it was the right staff there to deal with it. And I my hats off to them because that was a tough moment to deal with with all the students and all the emotions. And this is not this is not easy for anyone as you know the services will be on the 15th as Dr. and um the people helping you know Miss Holland Bos helping organize and everything. She
022wanted to encourage everyone there who is to wear their Big Bear it is obviously a little informal and the fact that they're asking you to wear your Big Bear High School attire anybody who went to Big Bear High School especially some of their older stuff they had been around for a long time. So we want to encourage everyone to wear big high school colors on that day to wear your jersey. So yes, you're welcome to wear your jersey, Dr. Folks, from your football. >> But but I wore that jersey before Dave was born. >> Even better, Dr. >> Even better. You know, we have situations like this. We want to make it clear that we have to replace a role. We will never replace the impact. >> Never replace the impact he made uh on
023that school, on lives, on hearts, on everything. So, we want to thank everybody. Um, couple things I wanted to shout out real quick that um, we was walking around today with um, you know, Mr. Zamoya at one of the sites and we were at Baldwin and I wanted to shout out real quick to Quay Mlin. We walked up to the just to look at the field for a minute up top and Quain was running. We were like, what is he doing out there? He's running, Mr. Quay McLean running back and forth. He teaches fifth grade and he's running all over the field. The children are spread out and they're yelling his name, Mr. Mclin, Mr. McMillan. He had to go check him, trying to figure out what they're doing. He had they were gathering rocks
024and they were solving fractions with and they were making the rocks and making the numbers and everything and meanwhile they were working in teams. Um and he's running back and forth. He must have been sweating. I don't know how many calories that thank God for his youth. But what a wonderful we hear the you know the cries of overuse of technology. But he's out there having kids work together to solve problems with fractions and lowest common all that kind of stuff. He's working out there and running. And it was just a wonderful thing to see that somebody was being extremely creative with how we're teaching kids. And to see that kind of energy out there was impressive. It was impressive. I don't know if I could have pulled off what you pulled off out there.
025So, it was wonderful. >> It's called me. Yeah. Yeah. We could all pull that off at one point. Not today. Uh last thing I wanted to um in preparation I'm right now for board planning session and everything I'm going out to see all the different stakeholders and just wanted to give a shout out to everybody to the sites and to the classified staff. I'm meeting with classified staffs. I'm meeting you know e I mean e aids and all the and the parent groups and everything and they have been wonderful and trying to create a better communication point that I'm going out there because I can send out surveys. I can do that. It's not the same. It's not the same with talking to people and getting their input and encouraging that process of sharing information,
026sharing strengths and challenges of our district. Um, I think is is absolutely wonderful and it's been incredible. Um, last thing I wanted to hit on just because I keep getting questions, you know, from parents and things like that about different districts in the area of some of their fiscal challenges. And I wanted to make sure everyone was aware that you know Jess presented on Monday is it on on our second interval where we're at and we are fiscally solvent and holding strong because of this decisions that made from the previous cabinet and the board and we maintain that. Not saying we don't have our challenges, but some of our local districts on the bottom of the hill genuinely have serious challenges that I can't even imagine with some of the layoffs they're doing, some of
027the hard decisions that they have to make. Uh my heart goes out to the superintendents and everyone that have to make because you're talking about people's lives that are being changed through layoffs and because of some of the shortfalls of funding um and the funding clip that's happening in the current situation. But I want to make it clear to everybody and all of our stakeholders. Bear Valley is has it challenges and we we're not laying off anybody because that's who we lay off. No, nobody's getting laid off. That's not happening in our district and we're very proud of that fact. We have to be smart and uh look at every position through attrition and any positions that vacated, you know, we evaluate whether those positions get in place or not. However, we are not doing
028to the level that some of these other districts and the surrounding ed are doing having the layoffs and rifts and all those things. And it's it's it's a pride point. It's a lot of work, but it's a pride point for this district that we have maintained with the smaller budget we might have comparatively to large districts. Uh with the board's direction and with the previous cabinet, what we're trying to currently do, we're hanging in there and making sure that our students are still receiving everything they deserve. And I think that's something at this point what I'm watching from the outside should be celebrated. So appreciate and that's all I got. Okay. Governing board member reports. You want to go first? I understand you have a video. >> Sure. I knew it was going to be
029a shorter meeting, so why not make it longer, >> right, Christian? Right. Uh Manny, what I'm trying to think what year did we go to CSBA and presented CSBA with the iPods in the classroom? That may have been okay. That had to be about 70. Hold on. >> It was 70809. I want to say it was 09 2009 2010. >> Yes. >> Interesting you say that cuz that's the date that's referenced. I believe it was 2010. >> Yeah. So that was our first introduction to the new technology in the classroom. Not the slide rule, but electronic device in kids' hands. And we were at the forefront of that. And I was a big advocate for it. and I pushed for it even though the district was going broke because I thought technology was going to
030be the answer was going to be a key component to the future learning of children. Keep in mind though at the time that we did not have smartphones, we did not have social media. Uh we did not have onetoone or nearly anything close to that in the classroom. This was a small little pilot that went out that we got really excited about and it was so cutting edge that they uh had us speak at CSBA about the program that we did. Since then, as I've toured schools and talked with Manny in particular, because we've both been involved in technology, we've always asked ourselves, how do we know if this is working? You know, it's like we see these kids and they're at devices. And you know, recently you're realizing with smartphones and with social media,
031they're not only devices at school, they're devices at home. So, when aren't they on devices? Is this good for kids? Is there any research that shows what's really going on that's definitive? And uh I've talked to other people about it, too. And one of those other persons that I talked to about it sent me this clip the other day. So Christian or >> name is Dr. J formath. I'm a former teacher turned cognitive neuroscientist who focuses on human learning. Um and I do not receive funding nor have I ever from big tech. Um so a sad fact our generation has to face this. Our kids are less cognitively capable than we were at their age. Um, since we've been standardizing and measuring cognitive development since the late 1800s, every generation has outperformed their parents. And
032that's exactly what we want. We want sharper kids. And the reason for this largely has been school. Each generation spends more time in school. We use school to develop our cognition. Congratulations. You see your correlation. Until Gen Z. Gen Z is the first generation in modern history to underperform us on basically every cognitive measure we have from basic attention to memory to literacy to numeracy to executive functioning to even general IQ even though they go to more school than we did. So why what happened? What happened around 2010 that decoupled schooling from cognitive development? It can't be school. Schools basically look the same. It can't be biology. This hasn't had enough of time to change. The answer appears to be the tools we are using within schools to drive that learning. Across 80 countries, as
033Gene was just saying, if you look at the data, once countries adopt digital technology widely in schools, performance goes down significantly to the point where kids who use computers about 5 hours per day in school for learning purposes will score over 2/3 of a standard deviation less than kids who rarely or never touch tech at school. And that's across 80 countries. Bring it home to the US. Let's go to the US. We have our NAP. That's our big data. Take any state. Here's here's a fun experiment you can try. Take any state NATE data. Compare that to when that state adopted one:1 technology widely and watch what happens. The nape data will plateau and then start to drop. Now, as Jean said, of course, this is all correlative. What we really want is causitive. To
034get causation, what you need is academic research and you need mechanisms, explanations for why we're seeing what we're seeing. Luckily, we have academic research stretching back to 1962 that shows the exact same story for 60 years. When tech enters education, learning goes down. In fact, one of the biggest um ed psychologists right now, Dylan William out of the UK recently said, "Edte is a revolution that's been coming for 60 years and we're going to have to wait another 60 because it ain't doing anything." Now, that's research, but now we need mechanisms. Luckily, over the last about two decades, we've been doing a lot of work in what we call the science of learning. How do human beings learn? And we now have the clear understanding of why tech does not work for learning. And it
035is all biological. It's not that the tech isn't being used well enough. We haven't been trained enough. We need better programs. It's we have evolved biologically to learn from other human beings, not from screens. And screens circumvent that process. I won't go too deeply into the mechanisms. They can get boring, but just know they're there if you want to talk about them. So that >> so after reading that I do what I always do. I look up this guy to make sure he's not some bozo and he has credentials and he does. He's been on every major network speaking in front of Congress and not just about this particular issue but educational issues in general. He's former teacher turned neuroscientist and uh has put all his research together in this book that he wrote which
036is about the digital delusion but delusion. Uh fascinating got through 50 pages today. Dr. Folks get your highlighter out. get your postits out. He goes through all the data and backs up everything that he said right there and it's absolutely amazing. Uh uh >> you didn't buy me a copy. >> I was going to buy everyone copies, but I didn't want to be forward and feel like I was being a bully telling me you have to read it. But seriously, probably the best book I've read. In the first 50 pages, he already gets into I love the three things that he's doing. Prove it there's a problem and he takes all the data, all the testing and shows it over and over in different ways and to the point where it's like this has to
037be true. Secondly, he talks about, well, why is it happening? And he gets into the neuroscience of why certain things work. Uh, two of the things that astounded me. One I knew but didn't know why is why taking notes on a computer and the research with it. Kids taking notes on a computer and taking a test and taking them on hand by taking a test, taking notes by hand crushes people who take notes by and when you hear feel when you understand the why neuro neurologically, it's amazing. Also, handwriting. I've poo pooed handwriting and said kids need to learn typing. Kids who learn handwriting first learn how to type quicker. >> It's crazy when you hear the neuroscience behind it, the proof of it in the studies and the neuroscience behind it. So, I'm not
038saying the last thing I want is to have the pendulum swing back this way and we throw out pencils and we write in the sand with our fingers. I think it's definitely worth considering some of the things he mentions there in the third part of the book, which I haven't gotten to yet. I haven't really got into the second part too much is what can we do to fix this? And that's what I love about books. They don't there's a lot of books that talk about problems. There's a lot of books that talk about problems and why. And then there's books that talk about problems and why and give suggestions on how to make it better. And when we were talking about the workshop that we're going to have, um, we're going to be dealing
039with physical facilities, but other things too. whatever. It just doesn't have to be it. But I think that this philosophy, if you agree with it, or these findings should be part of of whatever we decide upon that the human interaction developmentally and proven by science had might have more merit than we thought and computers might have a little less merit than we thought. So again, I'm not making any judgments yet. I haven't gotten through the book. I haven't discussed with other people. I haven't heard what other people doing, but I was very very eye opening. I've never seen more clear data, more clear explanations why through studies that have been done and I'm looking forward to the the things to make a difference. So the digital delusion is what it's called. >> Uh Jared Cor
040said that that's what she said. Dr. >> Yeah, this guy, this is my prediction, but I'm a stock prediction for you. I think that this guy will be speaking at CSBA if not this year in the next couple years and this is going to be like one of the main threads is using technology correctly and not just you know throwing it out there cuz it's it's pretty pretty incredible when you look at all the data and what's going on and it makes sense the pendulum was swinging back. Secondly, uh going around to see all the schools was uh fun with Manny seeing all the we basically were looking at the physical things of our planning meeting, but also obviously engaging with classrooms and uh uh I want to shout out uh some people who uh
041we ran into who talking to their principles are doing a great job. David Cohen, the custodian over at Northshore, uh Miss Brit said is a superstar on campus, engaging with kids, uh handling all kinds of situations for everyone, helpful in every way possible. And uh said that that's that's the person I asked him who deserves accolades at that that site and he said David does an incredible job and you can see it when you talk to him walking around. you know, he's really got a lot of energy, engages with everyone, uh, and is there to please, to really, really be helpful, you know, real useful person and loves to, uh, to do what he can to make everyone else's job easier. Second person we ran into today, I'm going to be somewhat hypocritical here. Not
042really. Uh, we at Baldwin Lane, we went into Heather Linquist's uh, uh, classroom and she was teaching her class, then stopped, gave him something to do, and ran over really excited. and she came over and said, "I took my essays this weekend and I paid $200 and I bought an AI grading program and I put them through the AI grading program." And she said, "It's incredible. I read the essays and graded them. It is spoton the grading that it did for all of my kids essays that were in class." She said, "Probably did a better job than I can do and it took a fraction of the time." And I thought, "That's amazing." amazing. Then she started talking about not only the time she saved, she figured what, two or three hours, she said that's
043more time that can be spent planning for lessons at school for, you know, meeting one-on-one with kids in class. Uh, but on top of that, I started thinking after I left like that, that's also a way to have equity and grad fairness. You know, I remember when I had 90 student contacts and I would give essay assignments for science. Getting through 90 essays, you start to wear down. You start to get in a bad mood. You start getting hungry. There might be a kid who's in pain to you. There might be a kid you really like. You can't tell me that's not going to affect their grades a little bit when you're doing it subjectively. That computer isn't going to have that. It's going to be take that subjectivity out. So, I thought that would
044be something that might be a technology is worth investigating just to see if teachers find out that it's accurate to see if it's going to save them time to see if it's a worthy expense and can possibly improve spending more time on things that are hands-on and that might be more productive for student learning. Uh last thing I want to mention is um I had many many interactions with co coach Griff, but there's two that I specifically remember. One is very descript, one isn't. Uh the descript was I was down at a CIF football game that we had to hold down in Lousern because we had snow up here. We lost the game and the team was really upset. They went to the end zone and I snuck up behind the coach and I heard
045uh one of the best motivational speeches I've ever heard given to students who had just lost lost the game talking about how the season wasn't about the score. The season wasn't about the score of that game or the plays of that game. It's who we became as people together and how we won't remember a lot about this day, but we'll remember how we felt and how we felt it together. It was an incredible, incredible speech and I was so impressed with the connection he had with the kids. It was dead silent and everyone was glued to him during during that speech. The second one which which I enjoy even better. It was very nondescript. I was going into graduation. I didn't know Dave very well and I stopped to chat with him and we had
046you know when you're a board member sometimes you talk to people you don't know well and they kind of get nervous and you know I'm trying to tell you know you don't serve us, I serve you. You shouldn't be nervous. I should be the nervous one as the board member. But still people get uneasy. Uh and he was so comfortable and we had this great sincere talk about the field and uh you know he was outgoing and just kind and you just got the vibe of who he was as a person and you could just feel this is a good guy. And one of the things that I remember him talking about is some people will talk about their problems and how things affect them and you don't know what it's like. He talked about
047the kids the whole time. this is going to be great because the kids will have this, the kids will have that. I've been waiting for this for years and you know, just just a great guy all around. So, um it's a tremendous loss. Uh but I'm glad that we all have I'm sure we all have good memories of him and uh think about the blessing we had to uh be able to work with him. >> Is that it? >> That's it. Uh, you know, I just wanted to thank Manny and all the staff for really supporting our Baker High School community during this very, very difficult time. We're all feeling the loss of coach Rift and um I just want to thank everyone that they have all pulled together to help our students, which is
048what Big Bear does time and time again. So, I'm very proud of that. I'm sorry for the reason that it happened because it it is such a loss and I'm glad that they're going to have a celebration at the most uh fitting place I can thank which is our new stadium. So, um I appreciate that that has come together so quickly. So, I just want to say thank you. >> Okay. Yeah, I think that was something forgot something. >> Yeah, I forgot smidges. I went to the Northshore Science Fair and I love going to those because I just I can't believe that the kids talk to you about what they're doing and I learn and I'm amazed at what they know and when I ask them questions they know the answers and they're just they're
049so willing to do it. It's very eager. They want to tell you what they know about this subject because they researched it and that's their project that shows it. And no, no, no. This didn't work at all. This was a hard part. This was great. And just the way they talk about it, it's so personal. It's their identification. It's just wonderful. I just love going to those scientists. It's all Wednesday. >> Uh I talked about it a little on Monday, but on Saturday at the county honors orchestra for it was the whole county of kids even coming from needles all over. Uh and each group, the high school and middle school had about 60 kids in the orchestra from all over the county. And then the elementary was huge. It was like 120 kids, 110
050up on the stage. Uh the program was great this year. It was a bridge. It wasn't it wasn't a lot of time talking. It was more about the kids playing. So it was terrific. Um they played some very difficult music and it was just neat to see the kids come together for three rehearsals from all over and um and do just a great job at and it was at Redlands University in the chapel which is beautiful venue. Um and Big Bear was represented well um for the high school. There was I want to say seven uh Big Bear High School kids that were on that county orchestra. So more than 10% was from our little school at home. And then uh the middle school, there were several um one of the kids was sick and
051couldn't make it. That was unfortunate, but it was a great uh program and good to see um all the teachers from all different schools with trying to hurt the cats get to play together. So it it was neat. Um, and I have one story about uh, Griffith just in general that I think um, is pertinent. You know, you talked about subjectivity and grading uh, earlier, Paul, and that's one thing that I really loved about Griff was, you know, you get coaches sometimes that if if the kid's really good in sports, well, they're getting an A in the class. But Griff wasn't like that. He was, if you try, do your best, and have a good attitude. You don't have to be the most sporty. And uh at least two of my kids had them that
052weren't sporty and they absolutely loved him. All four of my kids loved him. And you know, you I would go to the high school and just he would make my day when I would see him at high school because he he was always had a smile on his face and just you know, happy to talk to good guy. So he will be scoring for sure. >> Very special guy. >> Yes. There's so many of my stuff with him. Okay. Um, >> yeah, I went to the Northshore Science Fair. It's one of the highlights of my year. I give the kids kind of a hard time cuz I asked a lot of questions. >> No, no, I went to North Show. They said you gave him a hard time. >> Oh, that was fun. >> We
053have another conversation about >> you hit I don't know if you knew you hit Amy Stockwell and he's a nervous little guy. Oh, he was ter Well, now I don't know what to say. Um, but uh, no, I I love science and so when I see think kids doing good things and I want to make sure they understand and if if if they don't have a great answer, okay, I do a little teaching moment of system. Anyway, in fact, there was one of them I got to tell you. Um, the last one I did and I apologize to Joy in advance um, because I am very slow. I spend way more time ever. And I looked up and everybody was gone from the room because it was different this year. The judges moved and the
054and the student but at the end they all went to the to the um multi-purpose room and I was keeping this girl back and there was nobody else in but you know a lot of kids do a lot of different things. This was about gummy bears and the absorption capacity of gummy bears. Um and normally it's like three, right? That's kind of the standard. The kids will do three three tests. I swear this girl did every liquid in their house. And she had all this data and I'm scanning down the data. I'm going vodka. >> Is that muratic acid? I went I certainly hope your parents help you. >> It wasn't my kid though. Anyway, it was it was fun. I I enjoyed it. Um I also went to the girls semiinal soccer game in
055Silver Valley, unfortunately, because we had snow. Um it was a fabulous game. Two very evenly matched teams. Um it was it was exciting right up to the last few minutes um when it was tied and it was a great game. Um unfortunately, we came out on the short end, but the girls played great. We had a fabulous team and you could see it. Okay. Um, the only thing one thing that came out of it is the grass on their field is unbelievable. And I asked the staff to please contact them because I want to know what they did because I walked up to that field and I thought it was artificial turf. >> Really? >> Okay. And I had to walk up to it and went, "No, this is grass." I mean, it was a
056beautiful field. I mean, in the desert, it's all this green, but surrounded by sand, but it was a good Anyway, >> sun and water, Steve. Sun and water. >> See, they have heat. We have cold. Anyway, I still want to know. I know they redid that field in not too disappoint. I want to know what they have. >> Okay. Um, moving on to item 11. We have one wonderful item that I know everyone looks forward to every year. The second inter moved through it. >> I make a motion to approve. >> You may. >> Okay. I need a second. >> Second. >> Okay. There's no questions. I assume we asked all our questions on Monday in case anybody >> roll. >> Yes. I know there's your roll call vote. >> Folks, >> I >> Eric
057>> I Roberts >> I >> smart I Okay. Do we have any suggestions for future meetings? We got a lot to come out. Hi. >> For future meetings, we had the discussion the other day about doing a separate one for facilities. >> Oh, and I, you know, there's so many. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Roberts. There's so many you as a cabinet, there's a lot of things we'd like to discuss as far as some of our successes and challenges. You know, celebrate us for a moment, but we really want to focus on what our challenges are right now so we can solve problems. Um, and we can do a separate one if we would like to. We can go over a few things. Jess and I are prepared to go over a few things. Just our
058most important things, but as far as long-term, if we'd like to have another um discussion as far as a separate session as far as on just facilities because it is facilities tends to get into a longer discussion as far as >> we need a lot of input from staff before we have the discussion. >> Yes sir. Yes sir. As far as all that's concerned. Um, so I'd be happy to split that up a little bit and then and just go into what we're our current projects. Let's we for this session just discuss what is on the horizon. We had a meeting today with Craig, in fact, what is on the horizon for like what we need to get done right now with safety things, those type of items that we're looking at for this summer.
059Um, and then maybe have a further discussion as far as what we're looking at over the next few years, over the coming years. >> Is that what you like to do? I would think that at this planning session it's going to be the closest alligator to the vote. >> Yes, sir. >> And then beyond that, we need to look at, you know, 10, 20, 30 years. What we're looking at? >> Yes, sir. >> I'd be happy with five and 10. >> Okay. >> And would that something the board would like to do to add to do something like a morning session, something like that just on facilities? >> Well, why don't we get through this one >> and then schedule? >> I'd be happy to. Okay, perfect. or trust me. Okay.