001Open session. Roll call, please. >> Student member Chibique. Miss Armstrong, >> present. >> Miss Cron, >> present. >> Mr. Critchfield, Mrs. Garza, Miss Stewart, >> present. Tonight, we do not have requests addressing close session agenda items. Is there anyone else that would like to speak? All right. At this time, the board will recess to close session. Open session will resume at approximately 6 pm. Welcome back everyone. Tonight's meeting of the board of education was called to order at 4:00 in open session and then we adjourned to close session and we'll reconvene in open session at 6:01 p.m. Um, board clerk Critzfield will update us on close session topics. Thank you, Madam President. The topics discussed in close session were anticipated litigation, labor negotiations, and public employee discipline dismissal release. The board took no action in
002close session. >> Thank you. All right. Tonight for our pledge of allegiance, and we're going to also bring them back for our student spotlight, we have BHS senior Jason Harris II. Thank you for being here so much. Appreciate it. You can hit the if you push the little button right here, it'll go green. There you go. >> Okay. Please stand. >> I pledge allegiance 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. You may be seated. >> Thank you so much. Tonight we do not have replacement pages. Dr. Simon, do we have any amendments to the agenda? >> We do not. Board President Stewart. >> Thank you. All right. So, we are going to go back
003to our student spotlight. So, again, tonight we will be recognizing Belfare High School senior Jason Harris II. And so, reading you. >> Hello everyone. My name is Lauren Conte, a high school counselor at Belfflower High School. On behalf of the counseling department, it is a great pleasure to present Jason Harris as Belfflower High School's spotlight student of the year. I've had the privilege of knowing Jason for the past six years. Um, from the very beginning, he stood out as a remarkable young man. I still remember how outgoing and confident he was with introducing himself, setting the tone as an ambitious and dedicated student. Jason has been planning his future with intention and maturity since the ninth grade, an uncommon trait in underassmen. I would describe Jason as flexible, helpful, patient, and scholarly. His leadership skills
004are particularly impressive. Jason is a student with high aspirations, resilience, and a genuine eagerness to succeed. I am confident that he will continue to excel beyond our walls, and I wish him every success as he takes on the bright future ahead. >> [applause] >> Um, good evening everybody. My name is Jason Harris II and I am currently a senior at Belfflower High School. Um, a little bit about my upbringing. I was born in Belfflower, California, but I did not attend elementary school. I went to uh Amler Avenue Elementary in Carson, California. And now that I am in high school, I've been at Belfflower all four years with an additional two years of middle school with seventh and eighth grade. And as far as sports, I played basketball, football, and baseball. I probably would have played
005hockey, too, but it wasn't really here in Southern California, but I do love sports 100%. A few fun facts about me. My favorite NFL team is the San Francisco 49ers. Yep. Thank you. Thank you. We could be 0 and 17 and I would still be a fan wholeheartedly. Um I've been to a hockey, baseball, football, and basketball game before. So that kind of illustrates how much of a sports fan I am. And a week from today, I'll be performing in my first play. >> Uh yeah. Uh-huh. High School Musical. I will be uh Chad. That'll be Starring as Chad. I never thought I'll be doing it, but you know, I take on a lot of challenges, so it'll be worth it. I've been to Disney World before with my cousin, my sister, and my two
006grandparents over there. And last basketball season versus Downey, I hit the game winner to secure first place in league. It was mid like mid league, but we were able to withstand it for the whole season and ended up winning league for the first time since 1978. Um, a few of my accomplishments. I am a mentor at Belfflower for the middle schoolers who may need help or guidance towards the right direction. I've been doing this since the 10th grade. So, this will be my third year doing this. And as stated, I helped my team win league for the first time since 78. And for as far as my college acceptances, um probably a month or a month and a half ago, I got into Arizona State University, the business school. And uh funny enough, yesterday around
007like 3:30 p.m. I opened the mail and found out I got into LSU as well. So yeah, thank you. [applause] Um, I I wouldn't say I was surprised because I do believe in myself, but I wasn't expecting to get accepted literally yesterday. So, that was great to see. Um, throughout high school, I've been able to maintain a 4.0 GPA as well. And although Oh, thank you. Thank you. And as far as my character, I guess it isn't a award or anything of that sort, but I do take pride in my character. I feel like a lot of people gravitate to the type of person that I am and the personality that I have. So, I do view that as an accomplishment, too. Yeah. [applause] And kind of the same situation with these next three. It's
008not necessarily a certificate, but I do view it as an accomplishment. these past two summers. So last year during summer I went to a USC camp and this year during summer I went to a UCLA camp where I learned about you know the basics of coding and engineering. And for this year at the UCLA camp I was able to stay one week on campus where I was able to meet a whole bunch of different people from around the world actually who I still talk to to this day. So I do enjoy that. My supporting cast right here to the right of me. Um, you know, I wasn't, this wasn't my choice to be born into what I am, but I'm very thankful that I was. They're supporting me throughout anything. They love me. They care
009for me, and I know I could be going through anything and they'll support me. So, I do take pride in that. And last, but certainly not least, I my Lord and Savior is Jesus Christ. I feel like any accomplishment, every characteristic I have, whether it's, you know, my athleticism, my smarts, my personality, anything of that sort, I thank God for it because without him, I'm [clears throat] nothing. So, yeah, 100%. Thank [applause] you. And also, I do want to add something. It might not be on the presentation right now. Hopefully this doesn't come off as a little bit of selfishness cuz like I said I do like my family, my friends, my mentors, everybody that supported me, they set the boundaries for me, the guidelines, but I feel like everybody also should, you know, appreciate
010themselves too cuz every like where you guys have gotten to. Um, you wouldn't have gotten there without your strength, your dedication, and uh I feel like everybody should thank themselves. So I do also appreciate what I've been able to do in order to get where I'm at. And as far as my activities at school, um I'm in Apex, also known as the academic program of excellence, which is for students who have high aspirations for themselves, whether it may be being a CEO of anything of that sort. So, I'm in Apex, um Young Black Scholars, also known as YBS. I'm the secretary for them, which is a safe haven for the black and brown students at my school. Um, for the basketball team this year, I am a varsity team captain. This is my first time
011being a team captain for basketball. And when I did play football, I was the team captain for football as well. And as stated before, I'm a mentor for the mentorship program at my school. Mr. Flores behind me, he leads that. And last but not least, you know, I've been selected for the student spotlight. This took a lot of preparation. You know, I made the slide presentation, so I did decide to add that as well. [applause] >> My plans after high school, so far, I'm doing pretty well. I've gotten to Arizona State and LSU as far as the top choices. But in addition to that, I hope I able I'm able to get into North Carolina ENT, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, Clark Atlanta, and USC. Uh those are my top choices. So, if I'm able to
012get into any more of those, I'll be thankful. And once I do go to college, I plan to major in either business information systems or business analytics. And what I would like to do with that once I gain my bachelor's in whatever choice. So for example, if I get my bachelor's in business information systems, I would like to get my masters in business analytics so I can tie the two together. Makes my resume stronger and have more knowledge within that field. So that's why I would do that. And then during college, I plan to and will participate in internships to strengthen my resume. And after I graduate, um, if it's business focused, I feel like my one of my starting jobs would be either operations manager or if it's technology focused, it would be like
013a data scientist. So that's kind of the vision I have right now. But, you know, things could change. And my reasoning for picking those careers was due to the fact that me attending the USC and the UCLA camp. My um interest in technology continued to grow. And as far as business, I always was fascinated about how businesses work. It's been a well prestigious um major within school. So I've always had a interest in that. And once I do have my bachelor's, my masters, I feel like my top career choice would either to be a chief technology officer. So for a um very big business or start my own business and I know a lot of people do say that they would like to start their business but never have a concept of what their business
014would be. Um I have thought about it for a very good while right now. Um, I feel like I would like to tie with the healthcare industry to help people reach their goals, whether it's their physical goals, whether like say they want to lose weight or anything of that sort, how they would do it, where they can do it at. And I've expanded on the topic a little bit more, a little bit more on my notes app, but I wouldn't get into all of it right now. And finally, besides all the academics, I feel like I envision a family where the love, the bond, and the connection is so strong to the point where I feel like we could talk about anything. Um, as far as my personal life, I envision a life of happiness
015and where I could help anybody in need, but more specifically, I envision a life of peace. Um, you know, there's a lot of issues that do go on within the world, and I feel like it's too many to the point where I feel like you need to focus about all of it. So, peace would definitely be my main uh focus for my personal life once I get older. And as I said, I'm a very big sports fan, so I feel like it was only right if I picked the greatest hockey player of all time, Wayne Kretzky. And the quote says, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. And I feel like the reason that quote stuck with me as much as it does is as it states, you can't succeed without taking that
016leap of faith forward. It's like for example on McNav Street, you see LeBron James walking down the street, you might want to take a picture with him. You're never going to get that picture if you don't ask. So just that's a funny example, but it's very serious to the point where I feel like you do need to take that leap of faith so you can accomplish what you want to. >> Um, that was the end. Does anybody have any questions for me? >> I'm very invested. I went to Bellflower and I was an athlete. So we need Jessica to let us know where you go cuz I want to know where you go. Please let come back and tell us where you decide to go to college cuz I would love to see that. >>
017Yes, ma'am. Thank you. >> Any more? >> My only other question too is will you take a picture with us? Can we get your family? >> Oh, 100%. Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Yes, please. >> Yeah. [applause] >> Um, here is my father. Here is my grandmother, grandfather. Uh, that's my godmother over there. And last but not least, that's my mother standing right there. >> [applause] >> Which way? So next we'll begin with uh recognitions and thank you again that was very beautiful. So at this time our board is coming back down from the dis for the recognitions and now I'm going to ask Miss Bonnie Carter to assist us with recognitions this evening. This evening, the board of education is pleased to recognize athletes and teams from our district who earned the distinction of mid
018cities league champions during the fall sports season. Students and staff, please come forward as I call your names and remain for a picture. Representing girls tennis from Mayfair High School, Coach Chris TR, please come forward. [applause] Receiving recognition from the board of education for earning the Suburban Valley Conference singles championship for the second consecutive year back-to-back titles is Dana Lee. Give her a round of applause. [applause] This season, Dana went 29-7 overall and 23-1 in league play. >> [applause] >> Over the last two seasons, she has compiled 65 wins and an outstanding 44 and1 league record. On top of that, she's ranked 12th in her class with a 4.5 academic GPA. Let's give her a round of applause. [applause] Congratulations both to Dana and Coach TR. Is there anyone that you would like to thank
019in the audience tonight? [applause] Another round of applause. [applause] And thank you, Coach TR, for your dedication. Appreciate it. Next, representing Belfare High School, girls golf, coach Jay Shu. Please come forward. All right, J. [cheering] [applause] >> Receiving recognition from the board of education for earning the title of Mid City's individual league champion is Abigail Mcato. [applause and cheering] As team captain, she led the way, averaging 47 strokes per nine-hole match and earned the league champion title. [cheering] [applause] Abigail, is there anyone you would like to thank tonight? If we could please have Abigail and Coach Shu please remain as we continue with recognitions. Overall, the Belf High School varsity girls golf team had an outstanding season this year. Through eight league matches, the team remained undefeated, [applause] demonstrating exceptional skill, dedication, and teamwork. The
020board of education would also like to recognize the Belfflower High School girls golf team for earning first place in the Mid Cities League. [snorts] [applause and cheering] As I call your name, come forward, please. Nathaniel Aguiri >> I want to hear their name. [laughter] Nathaniel Giri, [applause] Michelle Airi, [applause] Valyriia, Coreo, Rola, Echeladius, [applause] Abigail Machado, [applause and cheering] Margie Hernandez, Mahia, [applause] Hennessy Gonzalez Catro, [applause] Angeli Pades, Ram Ramirez, [applause] and Isabella Sido. [applause] Another round of applause. [applause] Ladies, is there anybody in the audiences you'd like to recognize tonight? Congratulations everybody and thank you Coach Shu. [applause] And that's the end of tonight's recognitions. Thank you again and congratulations to you all. All right, we're going to move on to our student representative reports and we're going to start with Mayfair tonight with
021Mr. Gil Freeman. Thank you again. Good evening, Superintendent Dr. Simon, board president, Miss Stewart, uh board members, and district colleagues. This is Mayfair's November board report. So, on the 17th, we had our homecoming assembly, which was super fun. We played a bunch of games, a bunch of crowd games, a bunch of teacher games. I actually got to play the dragon in our skit down there. That was that was a lot of fun. Uh, our skit was basically Disney themed and we got to announce all of our princesses and princes of homecoming. And the dance was the next day on the 18th. It was super fun. We lit up the sky as you can see up there. Red Ribbon Week was from October 27th to the 31st. Um, middle school uh, ASB actually took charge on
022this and set up lots of decorations and counselors and PTSA held games during lunch where students could win prizes and we all just celebrated living drug-free. The Hispanic Heritage Fiesta and soon spooktacular was on the 24th. We had lots of performances. is we had a live band up there. It was super cool. We had some face paint going on, some booths from different clubs and organizations to raise money and to give out some food and some snacks throughout the night. It was a really fun time. Senior seminar was held that same day. All of our seniors at Mayfair gathered in the gym wearing their class color red. And it was a super sentimental day, sentimental moment where all the seniors just got to say some things that they've been holding in. Uh I heard it
023got pretty emotional, but it was overall just a great time for them to all bond. Here's some Halloween looks from the 31st at our campus. [laughter] Some teachers dressed up as 67. I'm not sure if y'all know what that is, but I'm sure some of you guys have heard of it. Yeah, pretty silly. Oh, yeah. You know it, Mr. Critfield. Yo, that's it. [laughter] I believe we had over a thousand students get honor roll this year. I could be wrong, but I know we had a ton of students and that was uh handed out on Halloween. So, congrats to all those students. Super big achievement and it's nice that they get to get honored for that because it's some hard work. and our field renovations have begun. Ground was broken on the 1st. We want
024to say big thanks to everyone and all the support. And we're looking forward to our new field. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. All right, moving on. Will Belfar, are you ready? Okay, awesome. We're gonna go to Belfar and we're gonna have It's Zua. >> Yes. Uh Castro, thank you for being here and filling in short notice. We appreciate you so much. >> Thank you for having me. Um so this is our presentation for November. Um so first up we have homecoming. Um we homecoming this year was actually a huge success. Um students had an outdoor venue uh where they got to enjoy food and they DJ. Um we also want to congratulate our homecoming queen Mariah Bondo and King Sebastian Lewis. And we also like to thank the class of 2028 and their
025adviserss, Miss Shler and Mr. Ellis, for their support in making this event possible as they take the lead in planning homecoming. Um, next up we have our senior parent information night. Um, this is our first year we actually hosted this event and it was actually a very huge success. We had over 200 parents and seniors RSVP to learn everything they needed to know for their final semester of high school. Um families received informations about senior activities including grad week and price breakdowns along with financial aid options and Certo's complete details. Um parents also got to learn about the significance of graduation regalia. Sorry. Um including the differences between caps and gowns, accords and tassels. Um lastly, our just representatives also walked everyone through how to order how to order these um like everything basically. Um
026they even brought samples so that students could try on the sizes and ensure that what they are ordering are actually fit correctly. And it was a productive information night that left our families feeling confident and prepared for the next coming months. Um, next up we also have Fall Fest U which was hosted on October 29th. Uh, we held held it like every year as well. Um, we also welcomed Buffalo students, faculty, families, community members, and local elementary schools to enjoy all the activities, food, games, and our famous haunted house. A huge congratulations to ASB and all the clubs and organizations that participated as we surpassed our previous records with over 11,000 in ticket sales. It was a lively and memorial evening that brought our school community together in the best way possible. Next up, we
027had our blood drive and red ribbon week. We had a successful blood drive this month and we want to extend our thanks to the Red Cross Club on a campus for facilitating this event each year. For Red Ribbon Week, this year for Red Ribbon Week, we teamed up with our amazing PTSA to host a fun-spirited week and lunch events that promoted the drug-free message of Red Ribbon Week for all our students. for Halloween and Dia de los muertos. Our world language club put together an incredible celebration for the deos mutotos. They decorated the hallways with beautiful ofas and even invented our buffflower students and staffs to make dedicate dedications to the loved ones they've lost. Um next up we have our CIF spotlights as we just honored. Um we have girls tennis. We want to
028congratulate our amazing girls tennis team for making it to the third round of the CIF playoffs. They had an amazing season and we wish them the best of luck next year. Next up, we have football. The Buffalo Buccaneers football team secured a win against Noles High School last Friday in the first round of CIF playoffs. They enter round two this Friday as they played Colton High School at Roni Stadium at 700 p.m. Next on our CIF spotlights, we have girls golf. Uh we want to congratulate our amazing girls golf team for making it to the first round of the CIF playoffs. They had two an amazing season and we wish them all the best of luck next year. Um for our upcoming events, we have our annual play. Um this year we got the chance
029of doing high school musical. And then for we also are hosting um a Buffflower or city of Buffflower canned food drive. So this year ASB and Key Club members are teaming up to collect canned foods for the city of Bufflower and our local families. ASB will be facilitating the collections and key club will be helping with the distributions and I'm pretty sure oh so these are some upcoming events. Um we have our KATA field trip on the 17th. We also on the 18th we have our Cal State Fullerton field trip and on the 21st we have our USC field trip. And then lastly we are all excited for Thanksgiving break. [laughter] And that is it. Um, yeah. [applause] >> Thank you so much. We appreciate it. All right. From Somerset, we have Jolene Learo. Good
030evening, President Stewart, members of the board, superintendent, Dr. Simon, and guests. My name is Jolene Liera. I am a senior in ASB. Thank you for the opportunity to share some of the activities happening at Somerset High School. Last month, me and a group of students attended Screamfest at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. We learned about script writing, makeup, acting, and filming. We also got to watch some student made films and got to learn I got to learn special effects makeup, which I used on our Halloween event. Halloween at Somerset was lots of fun. We worked hard to set up a community event on Halloween night, but didn't forget to have fun during the day, welcoming students from the adult transition center and district office staff. This year's haunted maze was the largest one yet. It
031ended up being 3,780 square ft with 250 ft of walking path. Students across the campus worked together to construct and decorate the maze. It's pretty remarkable that the whole thing was built in only nine days. The art department designed and printed all of the graphics for the maze and 32 students participated as monsters inside frightening. 200 community guests students made their own costumes and did their own makeup or each other's makeup which was a great bonding experience. Outside of the maze, we offered 12 studentmade carnival games for kids to play to win candy and prizes. It was really fun for everyone who came. The Enrich LA garden um has made a fun part of the campus for three years now. Students learn about sustainable living, nutrition, cooking, and more throughout working in the garden. Each
032week in Miss Egan's class, Mr. Guzman has worked to get drones and drone competition field on campus. Students are in the process of working to construct and program drones with the end goal of playing drone soccer. Sort of like the game in Harry Potter. Those are some short videos. Um, we were able to outfit two rooms on campus with new furniture at the start of the school year and have plans to upgrade our science room with new tables and desks. Students and staff enjoy the environment, the improvement on our campus, which made the school feel more modern and welcome. The news was made official today that Somerset High School increased our graduation rate by 18.1%. [applause] With this with this, we are setting more students up for success in the future. This was a schoolwide
033effort that we are very proud to announce to the school board. We have a couple of great events coming up tomorrow. Students are going with Mr. Guzman and Mr. Praalta to the NH in Pomona. In additional to watching the race, they will learn a variety of jobs in all sorts of transportation industries industries. Um, and you are all invited to Turkey Day on November 20th, right before Thanksgiving. We will be enjoying food, socializing with one another during the annual Somerset Tren tradition, which was started by the school's first principal back in 1960s. Thank you so much. Have a great evening. [applause] >> Thank you so much. And I see Jamie back there. I just want to say congratulations their principal at Somerset. That's pretty awesome news. Really nice. All right. And last but not least,
034we have Josana Torres from our Loser School. >> Okay. Um, good evening board president Amy Stewart, board members, Dr. Simon, cabinet members, teachers, and students. I'm glad to be here again and update you on what has been happening Alice Flores since the last board meeting. How do I do it? Okay. Okay. On November 3rd, we had our second student of the month ceremony where all 13 students from TK to 12 received their certificates along with speeches from their teachers. We're proud of all students work ethic and dedication to their studies. So, the annual fall festival took place on October 31st and it was a huge success. students loved playing the games, doing crafts, and walking the harvest treat trail, which is essentially trunk or treat but with tables. Um, ASB also decided to hold our
035second fall egg hunt after the success of the first one during the last fall festival, um, which students enjoyed as well. We also appreciate all parent volunteers who helped work the event and make it a success. So, on November 5th, Los Flores had the chance to be visited by Elks Lodge and receive a speech from one of the Elks Lodge members. During the same visit, the third graders also got gifted the best dictionary for students, and they really enjoyed that gift. Okay, so this last Thursday, we held our first ESBACK celebration to celebrate this school's success on the 2025 ESBACK exams. Students across third, 8th, and 11th grade were recognized for their exceptional test scores and growth with certificates. We are very proud of everyone's dedication of taking the time to show what they've learned
036and taking the test seriously. Okay, [snorts] we're also proud to announce that we have been named a 2025 educational results partnership honorable school. This program recognizes high performing and achievement gap closing schools nationwide and we also have made it to the second round of the schools to watch application process meaning that we will be visited by the schools to watch committee on February 4th. Our students will be recognized for successfully meeting the required criteria. We appreciate this opportunity as the honor role is a valuable resource for all schools to recognize high achieving students and effective learning processes that support students academic growth. [applause] And then um some upcoming events are the college and trade school field trip for high school. We have the turkey trot, the middle school science fair student of the month spirit
037day, and last but not least, the winter festival. Yes, that's it. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you so much. As always, we know that you have time with family, homework, and things like that, so you can definitely take off at this point. Thank you. Amazing job, though. Thank you so much. I didn't see Tammy back there either. Congratulations on your school, too. That's pretty awesome. 100%. All right. Yes. All right. So, moving along to our employee representative reports. We have BTA um President John Young. He's here, right? I saw him. Okay. I see you behind everyone. Yes. >> Uh we go ahead and push the There you go. Okay, just wanted to tell them before they left. I don't know if you guys know this or not, but I coach flag football over at
038Mayfair and I just wanted to throw it out there that this Saturday they're going to have the first annual 605 all-star game. >> Oh. >> And recognize the flag football girls. We have two from Belfar. We have two from Mayfair that will be in the game. >> It's at Pioneer High School. It's at 5:00 at Pioneer High School. So, we'd love for you guys to come out and support our ladies. Again, we have two from Belfflower. We have two from Mayfair representing us. >> Awesome. >> I should have told them beforehand, but I just want to throw it out there, let you guys know. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> All right. >> Go, Joe. >> All right. Welcome. >> Am I on? >> You are on. >> Good evening, uh, President Stewart, board, Dr.
039Simon and cabinet. Um I'm going to just review some um data that I got from uh site visits that we did over the month of October over the course of two weeks. Uh this is survey data. There's over 400 uh responses. We have approximately 530 teachers and um I've shared this information with Dr. Simon and she's uh free to share that as well. Um and I just wanted to summarize that with with you. um kind of get a temperature of um teachers and things that are on their mind. Um so uh many many teachers responded. We had all groups from uh teachers who have taught three years or less, four years to 10 years, 11 to 20 and 21 plus years. They are all represented uh pretty much equally in the survey. Uh, one of
040the questions that was asked was um, how important is a regionally based competitive salary um, to you and uh, without um, not not surprisingly that was extremely important and one of the reasons why we asked the question and I um, like to revisit it is it's one of those things that we have to keep in mind as we attract and retain uh, new teachers if that salary is um, competitive with those around us and obviously health benefits and everything else that we can do in terms of facilities, curriculum, uh support for teachers to help not just attract them but retain them over time. Uh speaking about uh healthcare, we were asked we asked uh uh teachers to tell us how they felt about our packages and um it was a 6040 split. 60% uh felt
041less satisfied with it than more satisfied. And when you dig a little bit deeper into that, um, not surprisingly, one of their bigger concerns was the, uh, out-of- pocket costs that are, uh, coming as we know that health insurance costs are improving. Uh, but also, um, the amount that it's going to cost to cover a family was extremely important. And uh in this survey uh there was a greater number of people who responded uh saying that they would like more opportunities for mental health services as well and that was represented by 15% of the employees. Um when we asked teachers to share with us uh what plans they currently have, you know that uh approximately 50% of our teachers have Kaiser. And when asked uh now that you've done open enrollment if you're going to
042remain or change um 70% approximately 75% said that they would remain with the um health benefit plan that they have at this time. Um moving on to um kind of climate and culture things. We were asked uh we asked uh folks to tell us um some of their top priorities and uh those two came out to be class size and case load reductions and safety and discipline policies at their schools. The the other things that they could have chosen from were uh preparation time uh support to the classroom specifically in special education and facilities but uh safety and discipline and class sizes were the number one concerns. Um when asked how are things going this year, uh 65% of our teachers said great or good. Uh 30% said fair. So that's pretty good. Um just
043about 5% on average uh said that they were either experiencing difficult difficulties in their classrooms or at their school sites, but for the most part it seemed positive. Those positive things were attributed to uh collaboration among grade levels and having the opportunity to do that and support from um administration and office staff as well. And we know that goes all the way to our our district um administrators as well because you're obviously supporting the programs at the schools. Um when um you take all those categories, uh the one that was the um working the least well was parent and community engagement and uh morale. And I think that uh the morale was primarily talking about um student engagement and morale. And then just lastly, um the top concerns at schools. Uh the number one was
044student behavior and discipline policies and uh pay and benefits. But that kind of repeats the first part of the report. And again, um Dr. Simon has this and she's free to share that with you guys. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next, PTA. So, we have PTA president Alexandra Cortez. Everyone join PTA. Yes, please join PTA. Okay. So, uh good evening um President Stewart, board members, superintendent, BUSD staff and community members. I'm very proud to share with you our community report for November 13, 2025. So, we're going to begin with Red Ribbon Week. On our first slide, you're going to see all of the schools we visited on a school bus. It was so much fun. We had Mrs. Stewart on the bus. We had uh Shawn Diaz on the bus and a
045few other members that are here. Um it was such a good time. We visited all the schools. The theme this year was life is a puzzle, solve it drug-free. So, they took that theme and at every school that we showed up to, they presented it in different ways all the way from kindergarten through seniors in high school. So it was a great time and that was Red Ribbon Week across BUSD. Then our next slide, uh, we were part of the BUD breast cancer awareness walk. So thank you. Thank you for having us there. It was an amazing time. Um, not just because we were there and we got to experience it, but just the stories that we heard because we were talking and walking alongside survivors and supporters alike. So it was a really good
046time. even people that we didn't know that we were involved with throughout the community that had experienced this, we we got to see them and we're like, "Oh my god, like thank you for sharing and thank you for being here." So, it was a great time. Um, you'll see a couple board members behind me. They were here in this picture as well. They're from Craig Williams. That's the next slide on here. That's my first spotlight school. So, I'll let them talk about their school. So, this is uh I have Elizabeth, the president of Craig Williams, and their historian, Maria. Okay, this was totally random, but I will speak about our So, I'm the PTA president for Craig Williams right now. And um some of our classes got a presentation with for our Red Ribbon Week
047judges, and they did an awesome job. And this past Monday, they also shared their performances with the rest of our school during our morning announcements, and they did really good. Um, we were so happy our little cheer squad kind of uh did their own like during their recent time instead of playing they were making sure that their little show for you guys was perfect. And then we also had trunk or treat. Um, that was really fun. It was more than expected because there was a Dodgers game that day. I thought everyone would be watching that but they all came and then judging off the score most of them didn't watch the game during that we had that out that night. So they were mostly just visiting all the trunks, but a lot of kids had
048fun. They talked about it um counseling around the school that they had so much fun and they thanked PTA and all the staff and teachers that were there with their trunks supporting us. And that is it. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] Thank you. [cheering] Thank you. And they didn't know they were going to do that right now, but I just was like, "Hey, you're here. You might as well talk about your school." Okay. The next one on here is Stephen Foster. They had a bubble run. Uh amazing time. Everybody participated at the end. Whoever earned the most. As far as the students, they got to be the winner who pied the PTA. Always a good time. Then they had trunk or treat. They had everything from aliens to monsters to cat lady. That's actually their
049caring connections person, which is super involved at their school. She's also a PTA member at Ramona Elementary. And then um our next couple of months, we're just going to be focusing on a lot of new activities. So, we're so excited. So, continue to join. Uh we are at 2,224 members. Yay. So, yep. Let's keep that growing and enjoy your break, but we're going to enjoy our break and we will be back in December with some more amazing things. Thank you guys. >> Alexandro, when do we get the winners of Red Ribbon Week? >> What was that? >> When do we get the winners of >> So, our next meeting, which is December 2nd, you guys are invited to come. They're going to be having our Red Ribbon Recognition Night. So, it's going to be in
050here as well. 6 PM. You guys are all welcome. You'll probably be getting a little invite from our Red Ribbon chair soon. Okay. Thank you so much. Have a good night. >> Thank you. >> All right. Moving along to our superintendence report. Dr. Simon. >> Thank you, Board President Stewart, and good evening to you, Board President Stewart, our board members, cabinet honored guests, and our billflower community. Um, as our PTA president just mentioned, Alexandria Cortez, during the week of October 28th, our schools celebrated Red Ribbon Week across BUSD. Thank you again to our PTA president, Alexandra Cortez, and for our PTA site presidents for leading with such energy and heart. Thank you so much. Um that same week our board hosted the first ever state of the district known valued ready. From listening to liftoff.
051Thank you to everyone who joined in person and online. Your presence show what makes Belffflower Unified special. A community that shows up for our students. The evening was about listening, learning, and launching forward together. We celebrated our progress, recognized the work ahead, and renewed our promise that every student will be known by name and need, valued for their strengths and dreams, and ready for the opportunities that lie ahead. A special thank you to our student speakers, Zulu Lima, who was here just moments ago, and Juliana, who remind us why we do this work, and to the Bellflower Middle School choir for inspiring us through song. On November 1st, we celebrated a major milestone, the groundbreaking for the new Mayfair Sports Field. The space will soon host moments of joy, teamwork, and excellence. You know, I
052got to throw that in. And excellence for our students and community. On November 4th, assistant superintendent of educational services, Mrs. Bonnie Carter and I attended the Cerrito's College Partners and Education meeting, which highlighted our growing dual enrollment opportunities and many other opportunities ahead, not just for us, but other school districts in the area. On November 5th, I joined the City of Lakewood Award of Valor, honoring first responders and community heroes whose courage lifts us all. On November 7th, several of our leaders and Dr. Ryan Smith, Dr. Frank Almos, Miss Alma Uoa, and Patricia Aoyo shared Bellflower's innovative work on AI and the Soore program at the AXA Leadership Summit Conference in San Francisco. Thank you all for your service and for sharing the work of Bellflower Unified as well. I want to thank our CSA
053president who is not here tonight, our CSEA members, cabinet, uh both middle school and high school principles and our black black night security staff for a productive meeting this week that was focused on teamwork and also shared goals. And as we approach Thanksgiving, I wish everyone a season of rest, gratitude, and connection. Um, and also to anyone experiencing just loss or hardship, please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers in any way that we can help and assist you. Just know that your family, the Belflower Unified School District, is here to support you. To our students, we are proud of your efforts as you work hard toward excellence. And to our staff, thank you for all of your hard work. You are appreciated. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Dr. Simon. All
054right, we're on to committee updates. Are there any updates from our committees or departments? >> Uh, Cler Crutchfield. >> Um, so two, uh, one, at our CLAPS, uh, meeting, we just had our CAPS meeting last night. Um, one thing I I I want to be let known is uh thanks to our our colleague on the board Eric Lindstead that we're working on a AI pathway which uh the board has talked about a lot on Calabs but uh seems that to be some momentum now so that'll roll out uh and I'll I'll keep everyone updated on how that rolls out. Um and then also safety committee uh do you want to speak on that one? Okay. Uh so we had a great conversation. Um and we were talking about the Halo uh devices and we got
055a a great update on those and I I know that that uh information should be coming to the full board uh hopefully at the next couple meetings. Uh but thank you for that presentation uh on that and another great meeting. >> Board member. >> Thank you President Stewart. Um I did attend a a locka meeting and um um we had you know I I used to participate um I'm not a in the state council anymore but we invited a teacher from uh that attends the CTA state council and she shared um some things. Her name is Dr. Melinda Hurley and she's out of um out of [snorts] uh oh my goodness, I forgot what area. Ontario Montlair. Okay, that's her local chapter. And so she um she was just uh sharing with us the major
056concerns for teachers. Um she she talked about the financial pressures on teachers and and retention risk. She went into detail, but I'm not going to do that at this time. Um, she also said another major concern was staffing, class size and and resources resources because they know that you know there are uh resource shortages um which leads to overcrowded uh classrooms and you know lack of staffing. She also mentioned that um uh the underfunding of public schools, the funding system uh instability and you know this is all you know from I guess she's gathering all of this from the teachers that meet together uh during state council um up and down California. And she had said another major concern for teachers at this time is that uh are some of the working conditions, professional rights
057and uh equity and uh and equity. Um and she recognizes that there is a they say there is a there really is a teacher shortage and um retention crisis. you know, sometimes they when they do call out sick, sometimes they cannot have a, you know, they don't do not have a sub and they have to re rely on sources from within the district to cover classes. So, if that's happening here, it's happening a lot of places. Um, I also um I got an update from uh CSBA, some of the the the legislative um uh oh, where's legislative stuff. Um they talked about some of the bills that have been signed. Um let me see if I can just the one that uh our assembly member pushed of course has been signed into law. Um I
058don't know whether or not we need policy or or anything to like make that change happen. I think I I I talked to board president about that earlier today. Um so anyway, it was definitely signed into law. Um other bills of let me see I don't know what we how we feel about re let's see. Okay you guys that's it. It's just a lot of stuff. But anyway, that's it for me for locka. >> All right. I know um athletics were meeting on December 8th. We also had a climb in culture. Um Alma, do you want to just give a brief scenario very short? I know I put her on the spot. I didn't ask you to do this ahead of time. I'm sorry. So, >> it's okay. Um so, we had our meeting yesterday.
059We went over um a pretty good laid a pretty good foundation for what we're going to be working on throughout the course of the year. um introduced cultural proficiency um laid out a fra framework of um equity pathways and we also talked about street data which is what we're going to be looking at next year throughout the course of the year. >> Thank you. Any other committee updates? All right, so moving on to public comments. Um tonight we do have requests addressing open session agenda items. While meetings of the governing board are not public meetings, they are open to the public. Individual speakers will be allowed three minutes to address the board on each agenda or non-aggenda item. The board will limit the total time for public input to each item to 21 minutes as
060per board bylaw 9322.2. We want the public to know that the board and superintendent will be listening carefully to each public comment. However, we will not be providing responses during the meeting. the superintendent or a designated representative will contact the parent, guardian, and or community member if the comment may call for followup. Um, so first we have Ann Marie Sharp. Welcome. Thank you for being here. Good evening, board president Stewart, board members, Dr. Simon, members of cabinet, colleagues, and families. My name is Ann Marie Sharp, and this is the first time introducing myself publicly as an elementary physical education specialist. As many of you know, I have served this district for 24 years as adapted physical education specialist, and I've moved to the elementary position to um start including kids at a younger age to
061carry on the unified movement that currently exists at Mayfair Middle and High School. I currently serve approximately 800 students between Albert Baxter and Steven Foster. Each physical education team consists of a credentialed teacher and two pair of professionals. Between the five teams throughout the district, we serve elementary students at all elementary schools with the exception of Los Flores. Um, and that's just kind of some information for everybody. Um, through our LCAP, that's how we are funded. Yeah, I'm gonna kind of switch tunes and go to um tonight it's appropriate to celebrate the signing of theou the memor memorandum of understanding between Belfflower Unified School District and Special Olympics that will solidify the work that many many staff, teachers, administrators both past and present have been working on for over seven years for that specific um
062relationship between uh Special Olympics and our school district. I'm proud to say that um I believe we beat some of the surrounding districts that try to steal some of our students in signing that and that will be a movement forward for students of all abilities. On December 5th, we will celebrate theou. It will be memorialized. You're all invited to the unified basketball tournament at Mayfair High School. I think you guys might be up at a conference in Sacramento, but if you're not, please come. Um, you're all welcome to attend. And thank you again on behalf of our amazing students, families, and communities. In a time in the world where there's division, BUSD is bringing everyone together through this movement. Thank you for helping our dream become reality. Deeply appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you
063so much. All right. Next we have Clarissa Ruiz. Is that my phone? That is my phone. I apologize. There's my ring camera. Thank you. Welcome. >> Hi. Good evening everyone. Um my name is Clarissa Ruiz. I just I'm a parent and I just wanted to speak about some concerns that I'm having. Um, last week, Wednesday the 5th, I received a call from the assistant principal at Craig Williams Elementary where my 9-year-old fourth grader attends. She called me around 10:30 a.m., and let me know that a incident happened before school started, which was about 8 8:15. She said that my son was involved in an incident where another fourth grade student was on the floor and a fifth grader was on top of him fighting him and my son stepped in and pulled the fifth grader
064off of this other fourth grade student. Um there was no supervision on the playground. Enough time for these kids to be fighting. Enough time for my son to step in and stop the fight. Um, unfortunately the fight didn't stop and this fifth grade student um got up and started fighting with my son um slapping him around and ended up pulling off his gold necklace. My son was extremely upset and crying, but I didn't get this call until about 10:30. So, it was way after the fact that this had happened. Um the principal or the assistant principal let me know of the incident and explained and I asked you know what was going to be the disciplinary action that was going to be taken and she said all kids involved we're just going to have to
065sit out recess for the next two days which I didn't think was the appropriate action because not all of the kids involved had the same involvement or one started and you know my son was actually trying to break up the incident. Um, and in regards to his necklace, she made the comment of her words were he shouldn't have been wearing it anyways. Um, I mean, I don't think that was appropriate for her to have even said in regards to the situation. My son was extremely sick to his stomach and I received a call around 12:30 from the nurse um, who told me that he was feeling really sick and he seemed to have had a fever. He was totally fine when I dropped him off that morning. Um, and when I picked him up, he
066just said that the whole incident had really taken a toll on him. And he didn't want to go to school Thursday, he didn't want to go to school Friday, and he didn't want to go to school today, but he went to school today. Um, I have had other issues in the past where I've had to talk to the assistant principal in regards to bullying and I don't believe that the school has the correct action plan set in place or even giving the disciplinary actions properly to the students depending on kind of what they're doing. Um, I don't believe that her calling me at 10:30 in the morning saying that the incident happened at 8 in the morning was either appropriate. I'm not sure of what their action plan is or how they're supposed what the
067timeline is of them handling situations, but I don't think that two hours of something happening should have been appropriate. Thank you for hearing me tonight. >> Thank you so much. I do see your number on here, so we'll have someone follow up with you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak? All right, we are moving on to discussion items. 12.1 mission, vision, and core values presentation. Um, Dr. Smith or is it Dr. Simon? Sorry. >> No, no. [laughter] Thank you, Bo President Stewart. I was just going to pass a baton to Dr. Smith who would share a presentation with the board tonight on the feedback of the mission, vision, and core values um survey. [clears throat] >> Thank you very much, Dr. Simon. Uh good evening board president Stewart, board members, community and
068staff. I am really excited to share the results of a survey that we conducted to gather some feedback on our mission, vision, and core values as a district. So as the board knows, our mission is meant to describe why we exist. Our vision is to describe what we want for the future. and our core values are to describe how we go about the work. These are key foundational tenants that are critical to have in place. They're meant to be both inspirational and aspirational. And it's of critical importance that these foundational statements are collectively believed in and held. In our survey to gather feedback, we had 416 total respondents. Most of them were parents and family members. We had a number of certificated teachers or staff, classified staff, administrators and so on. We had a healthy
069balance of respondents from both our elementary schools and our secondary schools. And when I say from our schools, uh the school sites that they felt most affiliated with, we had them identify that. We also had representation from our alternative schools um as well as district office. And we asked a key question. How familiar were you with our mission, vision, and values prior to taking this survey? And you can see that 49% or nearly half indicated that they were somewhat familiar with our mission, vision, and values. And 35.6% or almost 36 were very familiar. So, we took a closer look at our mission, why we exist. And our mission currently states, we build futures for our students by providing a pathway for all students to become responsible, informed, productive citizens who can compete in a diverse
070world. We asked, how well does our mission reflect what you want for our students? The majority said, very well, over 60%. A third said somewhat well and four said 4% said not well at all. We also asked which of the following words or phrases do you feel are important for a new mission statement? And as you can see, the top responses or the top most popular responses were opportunity for every student, respect and inclusion, equity for all students, future ready graduates, and lifelong learning. We also asked some open-ended questions to gather some additional responses. Specifically, we asked for additional suggestions. And there were several key themes that came out in the open-ended responses. And you'll see some of these themes appear when they when we share feedback that we received for our mission as well
071as our values and some other questions that we asked. But in particular wanted to highlight that some of the feedback that we got was around student voice and agency. The importance of highlighting empowering students to lead, innovate, and make choices about their learning as well as a whole child focus. broadening the mission to include emotional well-being, character, and social emotional growth alongside academics. We also asked some additional questions around our vision. And please remember, our vision is meant to describe what we want for the future. Our existing mission states that the Belfar Unified School District produces graduates who are globally competitive learners. Through equitable access to high quality academic, social, and applied learning, students are ready to excel in college, careers, and life. We asked, "Does this vision inspire and challenge the district to aim
072high?" About half of our respondents said, "Yes, it is bold and inspiring." About 40% said, "It's somewhat, but it could be stronger. We then asked respondents, "Which of the following words or phrases do you feel are important for a future vision statement?" College, career, and life preparedness continued to maintain high marks. Leadership and citizenship also was a standout. Student wellness and belonging and academic excellence. We did ask open-ended questions regarding our vision and again you can see some familiar themes from the feedback we received on our mission. In this case two to highlight are one belonging and inclusion reinforcing that all students feel connected and valued. There were several comments that emphasized belonging as a foundational component to success and also real world readiness, expanding the vision beyond just college pathways to include trade skills,
073career readiness, and lifelong learning. We also ask specific questions around our core values and our core values are meant to describe how we go about doing the work. We currently have three core values: equity, achievement, and community. We asked respondents, "Do these core values represent the most important values for our school district?" Nearly twothirds indicated yes, and almost a third indicated mostly, but some are missing. Less than 5% indicated no, they should be different. We asked a question, when you think of our schools at their best, what stands out most to you? And we had a number of themes that emerged. In particular, three things, three themes that I'd like to highlight are one, the dedicated and caring staff that we have in Belfflower. Teachers, administrators, and staff who are hardworking, inspiring, and student focused
074stood out as hallmarks of excellence, high expectations, and achievement. Respondents emphasized academic rigor, excellence, and accountability as markers of success and leadership and vision. comments noticed that schools thrive with strong shared leadership and clear direction. We also asked respondents to think about possible values for Belflower Unified School District and how much of a priority each would be for inclusion in an updated list or updated desript description of core values. What ranked the highest were coherence, innovation, excellence, trust, and joy. And you can see several others also ranked well as as well among the open-ended feedback that we received around our core values. You can can again seem see some themes that cut across all of our questions. In particular, belonging and student voice. Respondents emphasized the importance of ensuring every student feels heard, valued, and
075represented in the district's core values, as well as collaboration and communication. Many noted that teamwork, open communication, and partnership with parents are essential aspects of Bellflower's culture. We also asked a couple of additional questions to gain additional feedback. in particular, what is one word or phrase that describes what you want Belfflower Unified School District to be known for in the future? And again, you can see some consistent themes. Among the themes to highlight continue to be excellence, and high expectations. Many respondents envision Belfflower as a district recognized for academic rigor, excellence, and quality education, innovation, and future readiness. frequent mentions of technology, creativity, and career pathways, including trade school opportunities. I also think it's important to point out that a theme was safety and well-being. Several mentioned safe, secure campuses and mental wellness as part
076of what should distinguish the district. We also asked, is there anything else you'd like to share to help us shape our mission, vision, and values? Two themes that stood out or three actually are belonging and respect, a strong emphasis on valuing people, listening, fairness, and celebrating all cultures and identities. A student centered focus was a major theme calling to honor each students unique identity, interests, and goals. Emphasizing that students should feel known and supported and innovation and continuous improvement. mentions of using technology in particular to maximize learning outcomes and adding programs to support diverse learners as well as the arts. Would like to share some recommended next steps with the board as to how it might use this information moving forward. One of the key things when it comes to mission, vision and values are
077those essentially are the key components of any strong cohesive comprehensive strategic plan. So among our recommendations would be moving forward to form a guiding coalition. In other words, a diverse team of stakeholders to come together to represent all of Belfflower Unified School District's community. That guiding coalition would spend time recoming foundational documents. In other words, spending time studying the current mission, vision, and values and using that feedback that we just went over through this survey. Developing recommendations, the group would then determine or would then determine whether to affirm, refine, or suggest revisions around these foundational statements for the future and recommend updates to the board. Board engagement in this process is crucial. We would recommend inviting two board members to participate in this collaborative process and ultimately integrate all of that work into the strategic
078planning process. The board a couple of months ago I believe in particular approved a partnership with the learner centered collaborative to formally kick off the strategic planning process and we are very excited to get that going. We think the framework for the future that comes out from that process is going to be something that's going to guide our district as a north star long into the future. And so integrating this work into that strategic planning process we see as a strong recommendation to the board. And we think that that's a perfect uh part to really integrate into the first phase of that project. And with that, I'll turn it back to the board for discussion. Thank you so much. Do we have any questions or comments? Board member Cyn if if the board does decide
079to move forward, forgive me, I have splitting headache. um does decide to move forward. I would like to ask that um a lot of um when it's talking about recruitment of community members and parents and things. I think if we could try to recruit parents that might not be so involved right now but are very much um want to be involved with this piece, not just the parents that are already really involved, which I appreciate them. I'm not knocking them at all. Um, but I think just integrating those other voices in our community that don't necessarily feel like they have um time to, you know, to be participating every day, but it wants to be involved in something like this. >> Thank you for that feedback and that was absolutely something that we will fold
080into our um our process for identifying that guiding coalition. >> Thank you. Anybody else? All right, moving along to Thank you. Okay, moving along to major action 13.1, approval of theou between Belf Unified School District and the California School Employees Association. Um, is there any background or anything, Dr. Simon that we need to know on this. Dr. Smith, did you want to explain anything specifically about the memorandum? >> Uh, absolutely. Sure. Uh, just generally speaking, this is anou between our labor partners with CSEA. Uh, that does a couple of things. It one addresses our district contributions and employee contributions to CSEA's healthcare plan for the 2026 school year. It also provides some additional new language and revised language around a few different topics, but specifically and mainly uh early retirey benefits. This was a long
081collaborative negotiations process with CSEA and we're uh proud that we came to an understanding and it brought the MO2 MO2 theou to you this evening. All right. So, do we have any other questions or comments? I'm just really excited that that is happening. Um okay. Okay. So then can we get a motion to approve item 13.1? >> So moved. >> I I second. I just [clears throat] wanted to I got kind of got caught, but I thank you because it was really clear and you know it was just to the to the point clear. I understood it very well. So yeah, I give a second for this. >> Roll call, please. Miss Armstrong, >> I. >> Miss Cron, >> I. >> Mr. Cridgefield, >> I. Miss Stewart. >> I All right. Moving along to the
082consent agenda. Do we have any items to withhold from the consent agenda this evening? >> Armstrong. >> No, [clears throat] no, no. All my questions were answered. So, thank you. >> I would like to pull item 14.16, purchase orders. Are there any others? Or member Cong. Um 14.3 14.3 calendar. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Any others? >> All right. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda and withhold items 14.16 and 14.3? >> You have that motion. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. Miss Armstrong >> I >> Miss Cron >> I >> Mr. Critchfield >> I >> Miss Stewart >> I All right. So moving to 14.3 the calendar board member Cron >> I had a question um when drafting I don't know who to direct this question to so forgive me. Um, when
083we're looking at the board meeting dates for uh 2026, I see there's only one special meeting on the calendar. Is that dictating to when we need like if we have additional special meetings or how does this work? >> It can't be dictated for the board and special meetings. That's one was specifically called to discuss special items around um budget and also around instruction to take deeper dives. um as board members have asked for more understanding um around such topics. >> Okay, that was my only question. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> All right. Can I get a motion to approve item 14.3? >> So moved. >> I can I get a second? >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Armstrong, >> I. >> Miss Cron, >> I. >> Mr. Critchfield, >> I. >>
084Miss Stewart, >> I. All right, moving along to 14.16 purchase orders. Um, the purchase order that I have a question on is on on the actual purchase orders, it's page 31, but if you're online, it's page 33. And I have a question regarding [sighs] um it's P2601465, Community Family Guidance Center. I really enjoy them. I went and I looked at their facilities and I think it's awesome. But I also I have a lot of questions. Um $512,000. So I did ask the question how many students we service and we've only serviced 45 students. So my question is is that like a total that we're paying or is that a total that is sometimes we have like accounts that are built that we can spend that much or sometimes that's what we're paying for the contract.
085So my first question is, is that how much we're paying for that contract? >> That is the total contract amount. Yes. >> So I guess my next question is if you break that down, you know, 45 students, that's about 11 a little over 11,000 for each student. What types of or Okay. So then my next question is, is it broken down evenly per student? Do some students get more in that contract that you know amount or just explain to me how this works please. So, it depends on the needs of the students. They get referred through by the school and I think we're actually up a little bit more. I think we're in the 70s now um at this point in the school year of students they've served. Um but it really just depends on
086the student. Sometimes it's a shortterm individual type of counseling. Sometimes it might be a little bit more long-term. It really just depends. >> So that could be one student can go for maybe one time and another student could go for 20 times. Just throwing an example out there. >> Yeah. Typically, it's more than one. When by the time they get referred to that level, they need more intensive support, more than our teams at the site can provide. So, typically, it's more of a long-term, but it it varies. The term of service really varies by the students needs. >> I guess my concern is, and again, I like the program. I've visited the facilities. They do do different things, but I'm thinking of all like a counselor we could put on campus. um a mental health
087person that we can put on campus with our students for the amount of that we're paying. [clears throat] Um I don't know, colleagues, I I don't know if anybody else saw that, but it bothered me. I'm going to be honest. And again, it's not personal. It's just when I say 512,000 and I ask the question, how many students is our we service and it's 45. I have a problem with that. >> Yeah. And again, we do have other agencies that we partner with for different tiers of support. Typically, this goes to the more intensive needs that we have. >> And I guess even a clarifying question, let me ask this to to Alma. Is that how much we've spent so far or is that just how much the contract is and we only go up
088and to that much? >> That is the total amount for the contract. That's not how much we've spent so far. >> So, with that, I I understand what you're saying and the services are so very needed. Is there any way that we can see how much they have build us so far? Would that help? Would that help you, President? >> I guess I'm confused because I don't see it that way. You just said it's not billing. That's how much we paid for the contract. So, that's the contract, but it's we don't use all of that. >> That is the up to up to amount for the contract. >> Okay. So, that was my question. So, then >> I'm sorry because I didn't ask this ahead of time. And I didn't realize this, but I'm wondering
089how much we paid for that contract last time and how much we are at right now. >> I can get you that information. >> Can can I ask um [clears throat] again I'm I'm very supportive of of the community family guidance and I think any service that's helping our the mental health of our students, I'm by no means uh going to knock it. I I support it. Um, but for clarification, the contract is it goes down to like 94 cents. It's a very specific amount. Are you sure that's up to you amount? It doesn't look like it. >> I I can double check, but that was my understanding, but I'll double check. >> It would just be weird to make a contract that's up to $512,000, $764.94. >> Yeah, it's it because it pays for
090staff. So I think that's why they were very specific with the amount we pay for a certain number of therapy staff. >> Okay. >> I don't know if someone could guide me on, but I personally would like to approve these and table that to get more information because for me again I just feel like maybe there is something else that we could get for 512,000 that might help our student needs. I don't know if there is. Maybe there isn't. But I have a real hard time voting on this purchase order tonight. I'm gonna be honest. >> Would there be any impact uh to student services that I I'm f I'm fine going forward with this? But I it is there any impact if if it's tabled? >> They they are currently providing services at our
091schools. >> Okay. But is there any would there be any direct impact to providing those services over the next three weeks? >> My my fear would be lapse in services. That would be my biggest fear if we don't approve that there would be a lapse in services to students. >> When was this contract created? Like it didn't just happen today. >> No, I I I can get you a date. I don't have it off the top of my head. >> So for clarification, this is not uh the contract. It's a purchase order based on the contract. Um, so if the board would like, I can go back and review the contract itself. Um, but this is just a specific purchase order for services for a specific period of time. Um, again, I I'm I'm not
092sure what the interruption would be to to services, but this is not the general overall contract >> with with that size of a purchase order. When was the contract brought before the board? >> That's what I'm trying to find. Yeah, I don't have it off top, but we can give you that date. >> I don't want to interfere with services. Um, but I I would say it'd be worth having a conversation and bringing the contract up and having that conversation if we've already signed the contract for we've already passed the contract for that amount. I I wouldn't want to jeopardize services, but I I think it's I think President Stewart makes great points. Um, and I I I still say if you can give give us so that we can see what they've built, you
093know, how many I mean, she already knows how many students that they've served, but you've also said that they've served more since then, but if you could just show us some type of log of how they're billing, how you know that that might help. But again, this this uh that the 500,000 plus is a blanket amount that we're going to pay up to that we have not paid that much as of yet. Am I correct? >> Right. And I can get you the amounts. >> Okay. >> Did you find it? >> So, can I make a comment just looking at the contract? I think Thank you, Dr. Smith, for finding that. So there was a multi-year contract signed um May 9th of 2024. >> So how many years was that contract? >> Five years length
094of agreement. >> So pretty much then we would have to break the contract or we have to pay this amount. >> The actual contract amount is larger and it's split up by the length of the years of the contract. >> Explain that more please. So, it's a multi-year contract. Um, it's two I I don't have the exact amount, but that the total amount of the contract that was done last year is split up into the cost per year. So, if it's a, you know, five-year contract, um, you know, >> multiply that by five years. >> So, is this 512,000 for the entire year? >> Yes. >> One year. >> A fiveyear contract. So, we're saying this is about a $2.5 million contract >> over the course of 5 years. >> True. But if we take
09540, let's go 50 * 5, 250 students for $2.5 million. >> Again, that that is the most intensive needs that we have, the students that get referred to that support. >> I totally get it. But all I'm saying is are those I mean, I'm not the expert you guys are, but as a normal person just sitting up here, I have a problem with that. Like I understand student needs like please don't you know think that I'm not saying that but it just sounds like those are very expensive. Those are I mean more intense than some of our other needs that we see or or not needs but other things that we see with our sped departments and things like that. That's so maybe we should explain actually what type of supports the center provides. I
096think that would ground and give the board a better understanding to why many of these contracts are built based on we not having right the staff to support higher level needs. So maybe Elma just break down what types of services they provide to which types of students. >> So they provide intensive services to students. I don't have basically we pay for staff. So we have staff assigned to different school sites. So at at Ramona for example, they might serve a certain number of students based again on referrals and based on need. Um but they deal with a lot of like the the more intense uh social, emotional and mental health issues that our students have. And so we pay for the staff that we have assigned to different school sites. >> Then how do we
097come up with a log that says about 45 students because they refer them to go to that facility. >> Correct. There is a log of referrals and I do get updated service logs. Madame President, if if the board would like, we can always request that CFGC come before the board and provide a presentation as to the services that they render, the amount of students that they see. Um, just to kind of give you, >> we've had that. I honestly when I got on this board, I visited the facility. The facility is amazing. I like the people. I like the facility. But again, for me, representing my community, 512,000 for 45 students, I have a problem with that. So that's where I understand the services, but can we get services the same types of I guess
098my questions that I would like to see is can we get the same types of services elsewhere? Can we get them from our own staff? Can we get them cheaper? Can we I mean I guess if we're locked into this this um contract, but and and I do just want to clarify that that number goes grows throughout the course of the year. So they'll get referrals and they'll provide services as students are referred and that number does grow throughout the course of the year. >> Can you tell me the number for last year then please? >> I don't have it off the top of my head but I can tell you right now we're about >> and yeah students that they've worked. Yeah. >> I I believe so. But they've they're you know and again
099the referral process they go through a series of intake and all of these different things with parents. >> Do all all students qualify? There's no you don't have to qualify for it, right? Right. >> Income based, it's for all students. >> Correct. >> Okay. I mean, I I I hear what President Stewart say and I I agree. I think, you know, there's a lot of sticker shock there. Um but but I do know for the like the uh when we're talking IEPs and we're talking services, you know, they are um you know, even on this PO list, there's some some bigger numbers on there, too. Um, I think the main thing is when we have this service, making sure that our students are accessing it and utilizing it. If that number of students utilizing this
100service was higher, uh, I think that would actually ease a lot of the concern as far as being fiscally responsible and making sure we're being good stewards of the money. So, it's not about uh, the service that's provided. It's very important and honestly if if it you know uh helps one student make a huge decision that's going to affect everybody in their lives like it's it you know the money is is money but we need to get students to access these. So 45 students isn't enough in a district our size. So, whatever we need to do to get these services in front of kids, because we heard it in just the last presentation, the the the sense of belonging, the students uh mental health, well-being, that's a big thing that we want to emphasize. And
101in the last presentation, all of that stuff sounds great, but what are we really doing to to put truth in those words? And for me, it's just making it to where it makes sense where enough of our students are utilizing it. I'm fine. I'm fine uh approving the POS, but I think it it there it does warrant a conversation. >> Agreed. And I think that when we get a purchase order for this amount, I mean, our purchase orders are $45 million. I don't know if we're doing them quarterly because we used to get them more often. It seems like now they're very long. I mean, there's a lot of purchase orders in this, but if there's something that's, how do I say this? respectfully, if there's something that's 512,000 and you guys know that there's
102only 40 students, then I feel like you should bring that to us because yes, the contract we did do that and maybe we shouldn't have contracts for five years either because that's quite a long time to find out that we're only servicing this amount of students. Um, I just I don't know. I don't feel right voting yes for that. I'm sorry. And obviously I have to take accountability because I voted on this contract last year. But I guess I should have gotten more data at the time because if I had known that this is how many students were serving per year, I wouldn't have voted for this. Um so question for Andrew. Um I would like to approve all the orders except for that one. Do I vote no on all the orders then myself
103personally? Um, so you would, the difficulty is you'd have to make a motion that excludes that specific order. >> Um, and then everyone would take a vote on that particular motion. Um, if there aren't a majority of votes to approve that, then it would fail and it would go back to the an original motion of passing the the entire thing. So, whatever the motion is, that's what the vote's for. >> Okay. And then my next question is maybe on our Friday memo, can I get some type of just information on breaking contracts? If we broke the contract, what would that look like? Can we not break the contract as ironclad? Just some information, not just on this contract, but just in future contracts, what that looks like? Because I've learned a lesson tonight that I
104need to really look at these contracts a little bit more deeply. So, just if we could get that information. >> Yeah. And to to kind of uh provide the board with some background, um roughly about sometime last year in uh in the fall, I went ahead and redid the district's templated contract, which is when we made the switch to um actually using that standard contract for for all um services that require it to to be in place. This was done prior on the contract matrix that the district had been using. Uh so all new contracts that come before the the district that are based on that template contract do have a provision in there that allow the district to basically uh nullify any contract at any time. Um it's a provision that I felt was
105important to have in there in case you know situations like this where the district or the board uh reflects on a contract and decides does not want to continue with that service. So, what I can do is I can pull the contract, look at the terms, um, see what they are, and provide the board with some options as we move forward. >> That would be amazing, too. Even the terms of the services, because if we have staff at every site, are they allowed to pull students? Are they allowed to do different, you know, wellness checks or different things? Can we use them in another way that is to me more fiscally responsible? >> Yes. And that would be under the scope of work. And you can always amend the scope of work. So even mid
106uh midc contract um we can make a request to CFGC to expand the scope of work to add additional services. Um and that could certainly be done at you know we would ask for no additional cost to it and so it would just be a conversation with CFGC. >> Okay. Thank you. So, for example, if we wanted them to spearhead something for no bullying and kind of like really um you know work with the bullying because we do we had a parent here tonight um talking about bullying. So, you could probably say, "Hey, what more can you do with our students?" >> Yes. So any any additional services or or scope within that contract that you would like to see, I can certainly review it, provide feedback, and then in turn get feedback, reach out
107to CFGC and see if we can work on adding those as an addendum to the contract. >> Clickfeld. >> Yeah. I just c can I can ask how many so we we have a PO for speechcom for you know one point almost $2 million. How many of our students are using that? >> A lot. Um every speech pathologist has anywhere between 50 and 70 students on their case load. And so for speechcom I have um they provide five SLPs and four slippas. So that is, you know, with just with just that um those five SLPs, that that's uh I don't know, I can't do my math, but maybe 3,500 students at least with those with those um providers. >> But it's staffing based. >> It's staffing based. We pay per personnel. >> So similar to
108the CFGC, >> correct? >> So how many staff do we get with CFGC? >> Um I'd have to get you the list. I don't I don't remember the number. I just remember kind of schools where we have them, but I don't remember the exact number at each school site. >> Wait, you didn't >> But I can get that to you. >> You didn't help me make the point I was trying to make. Uh, which is we we do have a lot of services for uh for our kids with IEPs and that that cost is very great. Um, but we're meeting those needs. And so, uh, we we do it um because it's right. But there's not we don't really offer that many services for our general ed students that need extra support. I mean there
109are things but CFGC um and there's there's only a handful that they that we do pay for for them to access when it comes to their mental health. Right. I I I feel like if it's servicing, you know, whether it's 45 or 70 or hopefully more, uh as we kind of put a little spotlight on this, um I think it's a good investment, but I do think we need to look at I mean, we knew how many staff for speechcom, but we should know how many staff we're actually getting if it's down to the penny like that. Because if it's case load, maybe we don't need that many staff. if uh maybe it's maybe it's eight staff and you know really we only need three. We need to be able to scale if we lock
110into a contract for that long which we shouldn't do. Um you know there's a scalability problem and that's inefficient. Um yeah >> and I can get you that breakdown in the Friday memo. >> Any other questions? >> All right. Can I get a motion to approve item 14.16? >> You can have that motion. >> Second, >> sir. Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Armstrong, >> I. >> Miss Cron, >> I. >> Mr. Critchfield, >> hi. >> Miss Stewart, >> no. And it's just because of that one contract. Thank you. All right, moving along to board communications. Um, start with board member Centron. >> Thank you. Um I'll try to make this short and sweet. Um so I participated in the first annual B USD cancer walk. Um great event. Enjoyed walking in honor of
111the survivors and in loving memory of others. Having a place locally to come together um by anyone and everyone that has been touched by cancer. Um me personally um several members of my family have been touched with cancer. So it felt incredibly um familyoriented and incredibly helpful to heal um for those that um were able to tell their stories, their success stories especially. So thank you for that and I look forward to many more years of that. Um also attended the state of education. Um incredible time listened to the student speakers which of I love student speakers at big events like this. Um our superintendent of course uh just great presentation. The data was amazing. we to be able to communicate data in a way that our um parents and our community members and our
112partners can really get a hold of and and think of as baseline and just I can't wait to see those percentages just um go more and more. Um so it was great seeing all the families and um collaborating with the partners and understanding and actually um having time to speak with our partners there was an incredible experience for me and them just so happy to to share how amazing our cabinet has been and working with them and collaborating with our school district and just having that energy was really really nice. Um, and just as a note, this was the first one, but not the last one. And I remember our superintendent saying that. Um, I also attended the Mayf Fairfield groundbreaking. Um, long time coming as we all know, but it felt incredible. Um, I'
113I've said it before. My daughter is an alumni of Mayfair and she was there when the steam building was being built and she got to um use it her senior year and I cannot wait to see our students on the new fields coming. Um and the great timeline, it's going to come faster than we even thought. So, it took a very long time to get here, but um I can't wait to go to the grand opening celebration of that. Um, so personal comments is well, I'll just keep it to just two. Um, I want to wish everybody a great Thanksgiving break and it's almost here, so hang on BTA. Um, hang on. Um, and I'm very jealous. I do not get a week off. I get two days. So um please enjoy and rest and
114um love on your family members, your chosen family and friends. And um I look also in soon after that three weeks I think um we'll also be I'll be attending the S um CSBA annual education conference. Um so I look forward to that. I got to attend last year and it was incredibly eyeopening and I can't wait to participate again and bring a lot of my knowledge back to this seat that I hold here. So, thank you so much and everybody have a great evening. >> Thank you board member CO board member Armstrong. >> Thank you, President um Stewart. Um I also attended the our first ever cancer walk. Um, uh, it was really nice seeing, uh, families. I, you know, I've see the teachers, you know, my kids, I have five kids go through
115the Belfflower Unified School District programs, so I got a chance to see a lot of the teachers and we just had a lot of fun. I didn't want to wear no shoes that day. So, I wore sandals and I still walked about five laps. So, so I I felt good about myself and again it was um very emotional event but we had fun and I you know like the vendors that was out there you get a lot of goodies and if you signed up for uh if you signed up on the social media you got the little bellflower uh cup you know you know it was just it was just a lot of fun. So um I I can't wait till the next time so we can you know um make this a regular thing
116here. I uh attended uh the state of education again the student speakers and our very own Dr. Simon um you know presenting you know growth. we we had growth in every area. And so I I kind of like I was like, "Wow, okay. I'm I'm loving this." And so it's really important to have that basic data like like that baseline so that we can know where to work. So even if it was a small win, she talked about small wins and uh and we'll take it and we'll we we'll we'll get bigger wins hopefully, but we're going to celebrate every win whether it's great or small. So, thank you for that. Um, and that's it. I I I didn't get a chance to um uh go to the groundbreaking. And it's probably good cuz I
117have a habit of getting crazy around equipment. I probably would have done something that, you know, could have put the district in, you know, liability. Yeah. I'm telling you, I used to work at the shipyard, you guys. They took me off the yard, put me in the office. So, yeah. Stories I'm telling you. But anyway, anyway, I missed it, but I am really excited for what's to come. Thank you. And have a again, Thanksgiving is coming. Don't don't eat too much, but eat a lot. Enjoy the food, enjoy the family, stay healthy, and stay safe out there. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member Armstrong. Clerk Crutchfield. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh October 25th, uh really enjoyed the uh breast cancer awareness walk. Uh thank you Dr. Smith uh and your team for
118for putting that on. I think it was it was really awesome. You could feel it uh in the air. Um and I I think it was a it was a great example of what you know living out some of those words that we talked about earlier mean of building community and place of belonging. Uh, one thing I I do hope is done in the in the future, um, in addition to that is I think putting a spotlight on pediatric cancer is very important. I know uh, a couple uh, students and there's and I'm sure there's more even at Mayfair High, our own students are dealing with cancer and cancer treatment. And I think that um you know providing a space like you were able to create uh on October 25th for them I think that
119could be a really powerful thing for them. Um but great job all around. Uh state of education is great. Dr. Simon you did a great job. Uh you the baseline is there. I'll be I mean you you you did we have work to do and you did a great job presenting it. Um, but it it really did uh put a spotlight on on what we need to do and and how we're going to get there. So, thank you for that. Uh, and then the groundbreaking was great. I actually did get on one of the tractors, but I I did I didn't do anything. Uh, messed up except for cuss on the microphone, which I apologize to my colleagues for. Um, got a little loose. My dad was in the audience and yeah, I guess I
120was talking to him. Uh, but uh, great. I mean, I'm really excited about the Mayfair uh, field renovation. and I think everybody is uh thank you for sending the update about the trees uh along Cane Hill there. I think the more communication like that we're able to give the community going forward I think is just really important. Um other than that, happy Thanksgiving. One thing I'm thankful for is the uh privilege to get to sit up here and advocate for our students and work uh with you three up here. I'm thankful for you and I'm thankful for uh you, Dr. Simon, and our entire staff. Uh, thank you for all the work that you do. Uh, I mean that. And thank you to our teachers and our CSEA, our classified workers. Um, you know, we
121I know every one of us does put in work, but we do it because we're grateful for the opportunity to be able to do it. So, happy Thanksgiving. >> Thank you, Kitchfield. Oh, I was almost through the meeting not messing up your name. Okay. Good evening. Um, I hope you guys had an awesome uh veterans day. On October 25th, I attended the Cancer Walk for a Cure. Very special event. I walked in honor of my mother, Priscilla Jan Stewart, a Belfar High School alum and past employee of BSD. I look forward to this event every year. And again, thank you Dr. Almost Dr. Knox, Dr. Smith. Thank you again for all your hard work. On October 28th, our governance team hosted our first state of education. I really liked the data that was presented. Thank
122you, Dr. Simon, for all of your work. It is appreciated. I look forward to more discussions regarding academic achievement, dashboard data, future adjustments, and things that we believe are in place now that are helping our children. I think that even if some of the data is ambiguous or hard to pinpoint, we can still have an idea of what is helping, what our needs are, and try to identify what will improve our test scores even more. So, I look forward to more conversation on that in the future. Dr. um Dr. Simon, I'm wondering on a board memo if I could get maybe just a list of the top strategies, programs, focuses that we believe are helping our academic achievement. We did make some pretty good growth. I just would like to attest that to something. So,
123um just maybe just for like reading, ELA, and math, I would love to see what our strategies are that we think are working that helped our test scores and maybe where we still think we need improvements. All right. On October 29th, I attended a UCP training in Roondo Beach. UCP is the universal complaint procedures. I learned a lot. I was the only board member there. I was with a bunch of superintendents and HR and it was pretty awesome though. Um it was really rewarding to me. I didn't understand. I know Dr. Smith had said, "Why'd you go to that?" Because I just really didn't understand it and I'm a person that just wants to research and learn more. So I gave a packet to all of my colleagues. But um it was it was a
124really good training. I want to just break down for my colleagues um a brief overview. There are six types of complaints. So there's the universal complaint procedures that basically are used for most everything except for a few things. Those cover discrimination, harassment, bullying, intimidation, retaliation, graduation requirements, and student fees. There's Title 9, which is strictly sexual harassment or sexual discrimination by an employee or a student. There's non-discrimination in employment. There's complaints concerning district employees that are non-discrimination. There's complaints including instructional materials and Williams Act. So, it just reminded me that these complaints aren't always a bad thing. They talked about them. They're concerns. We want to work together to fix them before they become a problem. So, these are very proactive and they shouldn't be looked at as a bad thing. Um, there are a
125few policies that were signed in October that may affect our board policies. So, I want to make sure that we take a look at those and we work with CSBA to update ours. Also, um, Andrew and maybe Dr. Simon, I believe Governor Newsome signed a bill regarding board members completing training in their first year. There was something regarding training. So, I'm wondering if we can get clarification on our future memo for that so that we can all stay compliant. If we can get that on another memo as well. On October 29th, I also attended the Ernie Pile meeting with parents and staff to collaborate on the qualities they would like to see in their next principal. That was awesome. Thank you again, Dr. Knox, Dr. Simon, Dr. Smith. Um, I'm thankful for our superintendent and
126staff for being proactive with this. Ernie Pile is a love of mine and I really want to see the right person go there and be a strong leader for our community. So, I'm appreciative that you guys held that meeting and you really are listening to our community. That's really a nice thing to see. October 30th, I went to the Red Ribbon Week. I was one of the judges on the bus. It was so much fun. This might be in one of my top events ever because it was so much fun. So, I encourage all board members next year to try to go. You really get to interact with so many students and staff members. You get to see the creativity of our sites and the energy. My top three um I know we're going to
127be in CSBA when they have that meeting and I really want to know who won, but my top three would be Foster, Woodruff, and Mayfair, but they were all I have some fans there. Um but they were all so different. They all had beautiful posters. There was lots of singing. you saw at Craig Williams, the cheer team, they performed. Um, there was just a lot of routines, hugs. It was just a great day. So, thank you again to all of our sites that participated and for PTA again for everything you do. November 1st, I went to the groundbreaking ceremony. Really cool day with family and friends. I also got my dad out there, which is really hard to do. Um, he's a construction person, so that's how I got him out there. But, we walked
128the site. We're very excited for our student athletes. We're very excited for our PE students, our band, everyone at Mayfair that's going to be able to utilize that. And that complex is going to be so beautiful. So, we're so so excited for our community. November 6, Dr. Simon and I met with Assembly Member Salache, um, Jose Salace. We discussed current legislation and just really it was kind of a meeting to just disc just talk about things that we can do to partner in the future with community events, grants or just any collaboration we can do um between the two of us. So that was really a nice thing. I also attended the Belfar High School football game. It was our first CIF playoff game and we won 14-7. Again, our next game is tomorrow at
129Belfar High School at 700 p.m. Just so proud of Coach Miller and our his staff. Last year we were 0 and10 and right now we're eight and three going into the second round of CIF. So what a big improvement. And also another congrats. I always talk about Austin Miller, but I just can't help it. He was offensive player of the year this year. He had 1,279 all-purpose yards and 19 touchdowns in 10 games as a freshman. So you can understand he just went to Alabama. He's going on a lot of uh recruiting trips already. And with those numbers, you can understand why. And then yesterday I attended the Cal Apps meeting. Being a teacher, I love collaborating on the programs that um get our students really excited to be in class, classes that are life
130skills that they can use forever. We're adding new pathways soon. Um Clerk Critzfield talked about the AI pathway that we're talking about, which is so exciting. And I really love our partnership with Paramount Lynwood and ABC. And the programs are just getting better and better each year. So I just want to thank again CEO Arlene Whitney and her staff. And then one random thing that I just thought of [laughter] I was telling Clerkfield is when we have recognitions up here. I'm wondering like the students talk or we talk and you can't hear it on our you know YouTubes. I'm wondering if it's possible to get a mic during those situations. So when the students talk or I know he had good ideas of something or tech so that we can actually hear the people when
131they're talking in front of the deis because I would love to hear what our students have to say especially when they're thinking their family members their parents. So, I'm just wondering if we can look at maybe having a mic. And that was it. Thank you. Um, are there any questions onformational items? All right. Um, if there is no objection, this meeting is adjourned at 8:05 p.m. until the regular board meeting to be held on December 11th, 2025. Thank you.