001One, two, three. One, two, th test. Test. One, two, three. One, two, three. Testing. Testing one more time. One, two, th one th testing. One, two, three. One, two, three. Yeah. Test test one two th one two th test test one two th one two Ah, thank you for your patience, as we are adding additional seats here. We'll begin as soon as that's finished . Good afternoon and welcome to the regular board meeting. We will now begin the open session to conduct regular business. They write to Sintron. Now he's giving us an update on the closed session topics , as we'll be returning to the closed session after the regular meeting. So let's move on to the oath. The Anthony Martinez flag can lead us to the oath of allegiance to the flag. If everyone
002can turn up to the flag, place your right hand over your heart and let us begin the salute to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic it represents, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Now is the time for acknowledgments. Dr. Simen. Thank you very much, President Garza. I'm going to ask the board to come downstairs for the acknowledgments. Miss Carmen will help us with the awards this afternoon. This afternoon the board of directors would like to recognize the athletes and teams in our district who earned the distinction of CIF titles during the winter sports season. Please introduce yourselves while I call your names and stay here. Mayd, wrestling team. Uh, the men and the girls represented the struggle and we want to recognize the cars
003Juan Tran Casco and Tony Nuelen. Both teams did incredibly well, despite having several injuries during the season. They sent 12 wrestlers to the Sensor High School championships and four qualified for the state championship in Bakers. The girls won a league championship, and it is the sixth one they have won in 10 years. They also held their CF championship in the northern division while doing advanced high school wrestling. Although some of them are among the most humble athletes, their achievements deserve recognition and we at Mefer are proud of everything they do both inside and outside their wrestling mat. They deserve a round of applause. This afternoon we want to recognize the following fighters. Hack Alvers finished sixth in the state championship and qualified for the Masters championship . Sam climbed to fourth place in the Cif
004championship and also qualified for the Masters. George Silva finished second in the CF state competition and also competed in Masters. C Palacios was sixth in CF and also qualified for Masters. TJ Alvarez, who finished fourth in C and then fifth in Masters, qualified him to run the state championship in Bakersfield. We also want to recognize the champion female wrestlers of the CF championship. Boys first. We'll take a picture. No. Congratulations. Okay, let's acknowledge the champions, the fighters with Heiden and Ganasawa. He finished second in CF and won the championship in Masters, which qualified him for the state championship in Bakers. to give him a round of applause. Kita Inter Méndez won her individual CF championship and was fourth in Masters, which qualified her for the state championship in Bakersfield. Madelia de la Cruz finished third
005in CF and qualified for the Masters. Masia ERE, which was a second place. in the CIF championship and also qualified for the Masters championship. AH finished fourth in the CF championship and also qualified for the Masters championship. Alana Fuyaba finished third in CF and also went to the Masters championship. Reina Chavez finished second in CF, second in teachers, and also introduced Mayer at the state competition in Bakersfield. Let's give a round of applause to our fighting girls and they're going to take a picture. Tá. Another round of applause for all our athletes. Congratulations. Well, that concludes the awards for tonight. If the females can return, then yes, I want to see a name, I don't have it on the list. Okay, uh, I apologize, students, please stay put. Now we would like to recognize the
006entire team as a team for winning the C and F championships and call out the rest of the team. Diejos, Danica de Ojos, Eva Méndez and Romina Castillo. champions of the Inter-School Federation on behalf of the Board of Education. Congratulations. Great job, ladies. Well , that cleaned the room quickly. Well, we have some corrections on the agenda today. We have no corrections tonight, Board President Garza. Thank you. Presentations from staff and committees. President PT, Alexander Cortés, may pass. Go ahead, please. Well, good night everyone. Good evening, Madam President Garza, Board of Education cabinet, community members, staff and cabinet. This March issue includes reflections. That will be my first slide. Ah, here we have our theme this year was I belong. This issue grew throughout the district and truly resonated with our community. I am pleased
007and proud to announce that 100 students from across the district joined the reflection program this year. As you can see in these photographs, our recent Reflections Award Tonight are the 30 winners from our Quinter GF PTE Council district up to 12th grade. One student was so lucky that he made it to 33rd and won an award in that competition as well. These are the other winners. A large presentation of his artwork. They received awards, certifications, and we were able to see their art, play the videos, and showcase their art. There's more here too. You can see one recommendation from each school. And this is our membership report. We currently have 2,394 members. Our net total is 3,000, so we are 600 short with 6 members. Please continue to accompany us. You can register for one
008or all of them. They can scan the sheet and become members by supporting us. Only a few are missing. These are the information sheets available on our Instagram. He can show you each unit, each school, and what events they have planned for next month, this month, from Bankster to Mayfer and Wrf. And these are our upcoming events, this, HSA Awards Night, where we give awards to district volunteers for all the things they have done, April 17th will be uh and Volunteer Application Week, April 19th to 25th, official week nationwide. Thank you all, and then we have this Spring 23 awards ceremony, and thank you very much. Have a great night. Thank you, Miss Cortés, superintendent, he will give us his report. Thank you, President Garsa. Dear board members, staff cabinet colleagues, and valued committee members.
009It's a pleasure to be with you tonight. I want to share several breaks in the Bellflower district as we continue to move forward supporting staff, students, and the community. I want to congratulate the teams at Bellflower, Mefer High School and Preparatory School for their successful WASK accreditation through 2029. It was a significant achievement, a reflection of the dedication, professionalism and collective effort of the staff, students and site leadership members . It is a sample of our work in school facilities and our commitment to excellence. We also made progress in district leadership and innovation, third collection of guide. On March 20, they tried to shape the future of this great district. Our second AI team met on March 25th, and the next meeting with Dr. Casandra Vigas was held on March 24th for Summersell students. Each
010effort reflects a commitment to conscious planning, innovation, and the development of systems that will continue to advance this district in the area of arts education. This elementary school band session concluded, the choir session is in full swing. They are very important for students, not only as places where they can express their creativity and other expressions, but it gives them experience, giving them confidence, discipline, and joy. Our Master Plan survey has also received over 1000 responses. The level of participation shows the community's commitment to investing in the future of our schools. We thank staff, community members, and parents for their conscious contributions in planning for the years to come . Now we're going to have our first... Well, many years ago there was an annual sports day that took place in this district. Cortés shared photos
011with me about... Well, about three weeks ago we're going to return to that effort. We have a fourth-grade IOC student who has spearheaded this initiative, bringing together superintendent Bonnie Carter, principals, and PTA representatives to plan a great day on March 27th at Foster Elementary School between Foster and IOC. The bands will be performing with students from fourth through sixth grade. It's a day I can't wait for, and it's going to be fantastic for our students. Personally, I want you to know that if it weren't for something good, I would be announcing it because members of the cabinet have asked me to report on this. I was sworn in as the next elected president of California's African American Superintendents and Administrators known as the house. On March 17th, I accepted the responsibility with gratitude and humility
012and will gladly represent the Belf district at the state and national levels. Thank you Armstrar for coming to the entire meeting. I appreciate all your good wishes and support. This means a lot to me. And as spring break approaches, I want to extend my... Well, let's go, we're here. Wait for our vacation time. As we come to our spring break, I want to extend my sincere wishes to all students, staff, families, and members of the Board of Education for a well-deserved rest. Hopefully, they will have the opportunity to recharge their batteries and return refreshed to the important work we have coming up soon. Thank you all, I appreciate you all very much . Thank you, Superintendent Simon. Now we're going to move on to, sorry, comments. Well, uh, updates from the committees. The Board has
013some updates on the Rock committees. Yes, I have one. I believe that through the COPS committee we went through the Wask accreditation and it went very well. We are waiting for the news, but many teachers, Mr. Whitney and his staff did a great job. It went very well and I was very excited about the effort. That's all. Anyone else? Thank you. We will continue with public comments. Tonight we do have a request to address an item on the agenda from John Paul Treer. Could you please come closer to the podium? Hello good evening. My point is public comments. I completed my second walk in the neighborhood where I grew up and went to North Bellflower School. One of the points that the parents expressed to me was that when their children turn four, it will
014be easier to understand which school they should go to. They're about to start, where are they going to attend? TK. It would be nice to have maps of where our district is, where each student goes, and how they are in other districts, and also to see if there are ways you can track who has a 4-year-old to improve our enrollment. People call me and ask me where they're supposed to go. They were interested in elementary school W. They have also expressed this topic to me, uh, a sentence by Albert Baxter, it was Ernie Pile originally where he was supposed to be , but behind Albert Bax they say that they were transferred to another school. I do n't know why people who live in one area are sent to another area outside where they live,
015so they can't walk to school. A parent on Rosc Avenue told me that if the bathrooms aren't working and are being repaired, they could have secondary bathrooms, temporary substitutes for their portable toilets, because the lines to go to the bathroom are long and they also have to change schools in Mayfer for special education. B Mayer for special education has hundreds of programs and then they are sent to their BF home area, they don't have the same programs, so I don't know if we can work to have the same special education programs in both middle and high schools for special education students. Uh, I also saw other signs from other districts. My son goes to the Downy or Salamitos district, Catholic schools, Gar Preparatory, Cerritos. We too can have a label that is proud of being
016on Bacener's honor roll. I am proud to be graduating in such and such a year at Bellflower Mayfer. We need to encourage people to return to improve the district. They should consider returning to the Belfary district. We need to have more contact to increase enrollment. I've gone door-to-door twice in my neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you, let's move on to discuss the consent agenda. We have a few points that we want to retain tonight. I would like uh 11.5 of expulsion 27 this 17006. Well, seconded, list of votes, sir, yes. Well, a motion has to be made first for the rest of the consent agenda. Excuse me, I have a motion to approve the agenda, consent withholding case number 26-17-006. I second the motion. Uh, I'll vote, please, student member. Yes. Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Armstrong, yes,
017Mr. Stuart, yes, Mr. Sintron, yes, Crveld, yes, Mrs. Garsa. Yes. Now, the matters that were withdrawn are 11.5, the expulsion case 26-17-006. I have a motion to approve this matter. Well, I would like to make a motion to either continue or adjourn this matter until the next board meeting. We make lists. Armstrong. Stuart. Cintrón. Crit. Garza, yes. Now we will move on to the board's communications. Chevke student, as member Cintrón said, I want to make it brief and short. I only have a few things to say tonight. First of all, the last time I was here I was 17 and the day after that I turned 18. So, uh, I think my free membership is over now and I have to switch to the real-life paid membership. So, the only thing is that on March
01819th, a Thursday, Mefer invited Now High School's F415 electronics teams for the CF contest. We held an event because Mayor and Norw are the best talent in CF, and we also invited all the classes, all the teachers, all the students to come and be spectators, and it was a very good event, with very good attendance. They were all very agitated, they were making a lot of noise. Uh, it was the last game. Yes, it was very close. Yes, we ended up losing two to three, but it's the only loss we have on our record. I think we're still in good shape for the playoffs. So, even the people who were confused and didn't know what was happening were smoking some joints. So that's it . Thank you. Thank you, my Ilshevik president, eh Armstrong. Thank
019you, Madam President. Let's see what I did. I went home and represented well, I behaved well, and it was truly an amazing conference to see so many superintendents and community-based organizations . In one location they also had board members and some teachers present. And to know the support that superintendents have, this is what I honestly didn't know about this. It has an academy where they can create connections, network, have mentors, and they really help each other up. And this leadership is centered on the soul. Their goal is to cultivate more leaders. And they talked about five fundamental energies that leaders must have: purpose, wisdom, growth, love, and self-actualization. I could go on and on about different things, but as leaders, we are only as good as we actually do things. We are representing the community
020and we are like this link. So it's very important for us to do things and we have no problem doing them. And they also talked about it; it was a long story, but what I took away from it is that sometimes we have situations where we feel hopeless, that we can't get out of the hole we fell into or dug ourselves into. But we should never, ever lose hope, because losing hope is an enemy of justice, and we are working to ensure that all our children are receiving what they need at school. And I'm going to leave it at that because there's much more. But I just want you to know that I know you all would have loved our meeting. So, we have to keep going and we're going to keep advocating for our
021students and teachers and we're going to use and pull out as many resources as we can. We have very good community resources and we're going to do what we can for our students. That's all. Thank you. Thank you, member, member Ste. Thank you, President Garza. To clarify, I am reporting to bring awareness of the amazing things the administrative staff is doing for the children in our community day after day. I report to celebrate the success of the students to bring conference information to the board that could educate colleagues or our partners who elected me to carry out that work, and many people thank me, send me emails, messages, telling me that I provide a lot of information and that I present because they work hard to provide something for the students and appreciate the recognition
022for students. So my report is not going to be short and brief and probably never will be because I'm going to continue to celebrate with students and staff and I actually go to a lot of events and I'm visible in the community. So yesterday was a meeting regarding the facility's master plan and input on the vision that I've heard from our community members, and what I would like is for it to be a priority for the facility if we had the funds to do so. My response was that they should install restrooms to provide more shade and trees for students. A science lab at Belf High School. The aesthetic aspect of the school is basically the painting; each school may have its own accent colors, murals, something that invites them to be there, illustrative elements
023that give them their own identity. The floor in the halls has heard a lot about this. In our SAC reports, it says that the interior floors are needed, and possibly the NPR or the wrestling room above the high school would be good for scheduling with the equity that all schools have it, and Belf has some very good athletic programs and they are always sharing the gym space. So maybe a gym that's used only for wrestling, so other teams can practice when they don't have time to share the gym. So that's what I hope we'll keep in mind in the future. Later that day I went and I know I've said it all along, but I truly mean it from the bottom of my heart, it was my favorite event as a board member since I've
024been here on this board. It was the Mr. contest at Belf High School, and it was organized by the ABS team and Shannon Hones. If I want to report this event to promote it so that the third-year students can hear about it, it will be their last year and maybe they'll go. Basically, what the Mr. Bud contest is about is that, as Sat said, she was very good as a master of ceremonies. It's like a children's beauty pageant. There are 11 of them and, well, trust, participation and creativity are what you judge them on; one had to put on something with spirit. Some came out wearing their soccer or sports jerseys, one had the mascot, there were no cheerleaders, and they just showed their school spirit. The second one was a talent show; they sang,
025they danced, the comedy was incredible, it was very good. The last category was formal attire and interview. So Ángel Basán was Mr. But of 2026, Jonathan González was second place, Sebastián Luz won for best formal attire. Congratulations to Idren Garcia for winning the prize with genius. And I thought that award was really cool because they won and I was very impressed. But they also give him a derogatory mention for his speech at the Farewell Assembly for being the brilliant gentleman. And Alejandro Corral won for best talent because he played the drums, and Tan Martina won for the People's Choice Award where the public could put bills in boxes and vote for who their favorite person was . It was really cool and I thought that the ASB was also so interesting because they have so
026many sponsorships and thanks to everyone who donated to the winner, but Mr., what he won. I hope your students can compete next year, but the person who won won a 2026 book, a prom ticket, a free rental of the venue, a prom photo package, and a Cheesecake Factory gift card. And I thought it was incredible, he also won a ring and I thought it was very impressive that they tied it to the activities that are happening at the school. I believe this will increase student participation, so thank you for having me there as a judge. I appreciate Jonathan C, Angelica, Betan, Carlot Trip and Director Consens as well as the other judges. Thank you Miss Consens for bringing this up again. This is part of the celebration tonight is the 75th anniversary of the opening
027of Belfower High School, so it was pretty amazing. On March 23rd I also went to the meeting of the Cerritos council Mayor Frank Okuyama. It was his last night as mayor and I received a proclamation for Women's History Month. Thanks to Mary Ocayama for her service. There were so many members from the city who were celebrating. Titos College President Dora Don Green and Assemblywoman Sharon Cork Swers were recognized. ABC directors, board member Tatiana Yokiamo also received recognition, as did the others. So thank you very much for the recognition and the partnership over the past few years. And finally, I just wanted to give him some recognition. I already spoke with Dr. Simons, but also with Esmeralda, and with our team staff about the registration video. It almost made me cry, it was so good and
028honestly, so many students saw me involved, I had a lump in my throat, but Dr. Guitana surprisingly said it was incredible, it was fabulous, I shared it with everyone, she said it publicly, so she can say it too, but it was so good and so thank you very much, Esmeralda and everyone who was involved. This company. I simply love seeing all the students and what we have to offer here at Belf, so a shout-out to all of you. Thank you. Thank you, Board Member Stewart, East, Board Secretary Sintron. Thank you. I mean, I really loved Member Armstrong's report on leadership that he shared. I think I would have liked to go; it's definitely needed. I left my notes at home, but I do want to say congratulations to the wrestling team and it's a place
029that has a special place in my heart that everyone looks to Mr. CRF for this, but I was a wrestler in high school too. Watching the female wrestlers, seeing how far they've come, I'm not going to say how many years, but it was really cool to see this. I really loved seeing our young women blossom in other ways, in other senses that they haven't been able to master, and I'm looking forward to going to the coast-to-coast conference. That will be at our next meeting in Tulare; I think we talked a little more about it last year. We'll be reporting more again, but to remind everyone, coast to coast is where we get the opportunity to meet with our legislators, have time with them, sit down with them, give our opinions and show them evidence, give
030them stories about what's happening in our district and how they can truly support us, especially, very especially in these times, and that always brings me to report that we can't ignore what's happening politically because it is hitting home more than ever for some, for most. And I just want to say that I am really looking forward to bringing or going with this group to the coast-to-coast meeting in Washington DC with cabinet members and the superintendent with us as well so that we can truly and properly advocate for and hold people accountable. Our unique ways and styles, I eagerly await that day and to share if we can, we'll be back with reports for you. Enjoy your spring break and tell me how it went. I don't receive it, but all of you deserve it. If
031I missed anything, sorry, but that's all from me. Thank you. Thank you, member of this Sintron, Vice President Kchfield. Yes, thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I was able to go to the guiding lunch. Thank you staff for doing that. Great job! Garza and I were there. Great collaborative work with all interested people. I am very encouraged that this work will continue. We can both be wrestling fans. I want to congratulate the Mayfer fighters again. I see that you know that I, along with my daughter, would like to say thank you to everyone who communicated their thoughts and prayers. He is already at home recovering. We're back home. I want to thank everyone who contacted me about that, because at the end of the day we are parents first and human beings too. This, yes, it
032could be a pleasant distraction to have quite a few conversations. Uh, I did meet with Dr. Simon and I love the work, it was a pleasant distraction, but we're back home. Thank you to everyone who contacted me. Thank you, Vice President KF. In my opinion, everything has already been mentioned. I'm going to say thank you to everyone. Thank you so much. Have a relaxing spring break. See you on April 23rd. At this time the Board of Education will reconvene, take a recess, and close the session . President Garsa, just one correction. Our next meeting will be a special meeting on March 30th. We have a Board of Education meeting on March 30th. It's special. I had forgotten about that one. Well, at this time the Board of Education is going into recess in closed session,
033no further action will be taken in open session. Have a good night. Thank you.