Special Board Meeting - Wednesday, January 21, 2026

001announcements. We have one non-aggenda item speaker and then we'll uh we'll do the middle school alignment. So, with that, I want to call to order. The official time is 6:19 p.m. Please rise for the flag salute to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, for liberty and all. >> So, um, Trusty Northup and Trusty Bruno, um, unfortunately will not be able, uh, to attend due to they're just late on their way. >> So, um, when Now move to speakers wishing to address the board on non-aggenda item. By the way, before that we have Anna who's our translator in the back and she will be assisting translation. >> Okay. So we have one speaker Brett Elliot on first grade placement. I'm here

002today because my wife and I are not in a frustrating frustrating loop with the district office over our daughter Atlanta's enrollment. Atlanta turned six on August 31st. Because of that birthday, the district is telling us she has to skip her the first year of school and go straight and go straight to first grade. The problem is she's never been in a public classroom. uh her current teacher teachers at Carlmont Parents Nursery School have written a letter which I've included in your packet warning that she isn't ready for the workload or the social expectations of first grade. I want to point you specifically to we were proactive. We emailed the district registar last May to ask about this exact situation. His written reply was that it would be unusual for a child with no prior schooling

003to be put into first grade. uh we made our family plans based on that official word and now the district is trying to walk back that that and force us into a uh into a grade that she isn't prepared for. We aren't asking for a special rule. Um we do grass the district to to honor the specific guidance you gave us. Um California law gives you the the local authority to decide with us. We're asking you to use that authority and let us sign a kindergarten continuence agreement so Anna can start her education at the right level. And that's all of our public speakers for the non-aggenda item. >> Thank you. >> So, I'd like to just open um some with this opening comment and I want to thank you. Good evening. I want to

004thank you for being here tonight. We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts on an issue that matters deeply to our families, students, and staff. We know there will be a range of perspectives shared this evening and that is exactly the purpose of this forum. During public comment, our role is as trustees is to listen to understand the experience and concerns of the community of our community and to consider the full picture in our deliberations. We during the public comments part, we won't engage in back and forth during individual comments, but certainly after the public comment, the board will discuss what we've heard. And your feedback is an essential part of our decision-making process. In a few minutes, I will go over the kind of ground rules for the public comment. But with

005that, I'd like to turn it over to Superintendent Duara for a brief overview. >> Great. Uh, thank you, President CS. I just want to take a couple minutes to share uh the presentation that we've shared in the past with a few little nuances. I think certainly every time we reach out to our community uh we learn of different perspectives or strive to clarify any information uh that's out there. I want to also thank all of our San Piper and Nesbbit actually our district community for being here tonight uh to participate in this uh important information sharing. Um this evening, uh I want to talk a little bit about enrollment, why we find ourselves here. And I will make sure that I am clicking the slide as I'm looking at my deck. Here we go. Uh

006so a couple things that came before the board is really the idea, should the RSSD consider transitioning from two take TK8 or K8 schools uh to one? And I know while our community feels that this has been kind of a quick transition, um we've actually been monitoring enrollment and program growth um over the last uh several years. Uh certainly when I joined the district uh six years ago, uh that was one of the tasks that our board uh gave to me. Look at enrollment, monitor enrollment, and make suggestions uh as we go over time. One of those suggestions several years ago was to look at uh design thinking here at uh Sandpiper and Ivy at Nesbbit as uh potential opportunities to spur growth. Um as we've moved through time, we've realized that we haven't seen

007the growth we'd hoped for uh within both of those placements. The sustainability of three middle schools is becoming less feasible. uh in about six years we'll have about 290 fewer students uh than we do uh this year. Um and that's the size of both of our middle schools, small middle schools combined. Um well are the the models that are middle schools inherently come with additional costs. Um it's not the costs or the finances that are really driving it. Um we've been looking at enrollment uh desires from the community as well as ensuring that the programs that are offered at both schools uh remain feasible and remain strong. Uh when we look at a couple of the data points uh right now approximately 30% of the students attending uh fifth grade at Nesbbit and Sanpiper last

008year u metriculated into sixth grade um here at Nesbbit and San Piper. So about 30% retention from fifth grade between Nesbbit and San Piper uh combined. When we look at our enrollment, our enrollment through 6th through 8th grade ranges from 36 to 52. Um you can see that how that's broken AC across at San Piper and Nesbbit. Uh and then in terms of capacity, uh we're between 70 and 79% of program capacity at both schools. when we look at decision points and ideas as I shared uh just a second ago uh finances come up um as a strong point uh but I will say that that wasn't our starting point um really our starting point was looking at enrollment was looking at uh community um transition from fifth grade into sixth grade looking at the

009number of students that currently are enrolled that are seeking uh transfer to Rston uh the comprehensive middle school um as well as ensuring that the programmatic uh success at each school is there. Um we find it really difficult when um new students uh enrolling in the district are placed at one of our two small u middle schools. Uh that makes planning extremely difficult. um our teachers, our communities take great care in ensuring that they are planning appropriate programs. Uh that becomes hard to do when uh new students coming are are driven towards one or two small programs. So looking at uh the number of factors transportation uh does uh uh is a factor that we look at. Currently transportation, we have SAM trans that goes from the Redwood Shores up to R up to Rston

010with no return travel back. Uh it's the reverse um in the um afternoons. The district does rely on SAM Transportation. We continue to work with SAM Trans to adjust any district needs. Um in fact, uh the SAM Trans uh annual community outreach is is happening next week. Uh finances, as I mentioned, uh does come into play. It's not a driver. Uh we anticipate um uh each small school program runs roughly between three or $400,000 additional. That's the savings we would anticipate. Um enrollment related to facilities, definitely making sure our facilities can do it, but it's also programmatic. Um, as I shared, um, we want to ensure that our programs are, uh, staffed and enrolled, um, appropriately. We take time, uh, to ensure, um, balanced classrooms. Uh, and that's hard to do, uh, when, uh, kiddos

011that are enrolling in uh, honestly anytime after our our internal fifth grade um, slot. Um, it's hard to do to ensure that balance. And then of course tonight we're looking at um community desire and input. Uh so that puts us uh with one of four choices moving forward. Um the first choice is status quo. Uh keeping Rston, Nesbbit, and Sam Piper remaining as is. Uh the one caveat I do want to say is that we owe it to our students and to our our community to make sure that our programs are running um uh at capacity uh to ensure that the uh program is feasible uh for the students and staff. Um and that would come at making sure that we are optimizing enrollment at all of our schools. That is our goal. Uh that

012is our charge. uh the potential for that of making adjustments to maximize enrollment at Sandpiper and Mesbit uh is something that we would need to do. uh choices two and three are uh slight variations of one another uh and that is uh to reduce one of the two small schools either Sandpiper or Nesbbit and finally uh option four is is one that would take um many many year I won't say many many years uh probably threeish years uh to assess uh that is much more complex it would involve likely moving elementary students to another site. Uh creating two middle school programs uh and um uh finding kind of that middle of the road um kind of model. Again, uh it would take a planning year, it would take a facilities study year, and then uh

013the change probably could happen the third year out. Just a couple things that we've heard uh from our community. We heard loud and clear about the survey not being representative of uh community desires. We heard that, you know, the word realignment or middle school alignment really didn't perhaps capture uh what we were looking to do. And honestly, uh the study was designed to get a feel for uh community desires, um things that people found attractive to our middle schools. Um and no survey can ever capture 100% of the voice um or opinions. Uh from my perspective um that survey does provide information that information is probably lowest in terms of our consideration using that data to drive our decision. Uh when we look at uh uh the enrollment study uh we also uh add questions

014about our demographer. Did he look at uh the developments planned in Redwood City and in Belmont? Yes. Uh when the debographer does their study, they look and talk with all of uh city folks. They try and um identify potential developments, look at the housing that uh is slated for those areas and and base their projections on that. We've also had questions about um what happens um if Nesbbit or Sandpiper um were to close. And uh a couple of considerations. One is clarifying that we're looking at middle school programs only. We're looking at 6,7 TK5 remains untouched and the same. If a school were to close, we would need to determine how we execute that transition. uh whether it's um the sixth grade, seventh grade transitioning to another school all at once um or if there's

015a slow fade. And then finally um the choice is important. We want to work with our community to ensure that our students who are impacted by the decision u most have uh priority in one of the other two um schools. So we would work very closely with uh families. And then finally uh when we look at transportation I mentioned this uh SAMR is our transportation source. Uh either decision any decision uh we would continue to work side by side with with SAM trans uh to service our community uh the best way possible. And then finally timeline uh we're in the January the community outreach portion. Um we are uh hoping as a board to make the decision whatever that may be uh at the February time frame. Uh folks folks have asked and shared hey

016this seems quick. Um why do we need to make that decision in February? The truth of the matter is is uh staffing. We look at staffing. We have to make staffing adjustments. Uh we have to make sure that um our families uh have their choice in middle school. We do that middle school survey choice. Uh and then we work on balancing. we work on um slotting and aligning uh students uh for their their middle school program. So that's the timeline there. Um and I'll turn it back over to Trustee Cross uh for public comment. Miss Ellen, would you put that screen up? >> Thank you. Um so to participate um please and if you haven't yet please uh complete a speaker card with Miss Ellinger that lovely shade of green uh speakers will be called

017in the order received. You have three minutes per person per topic and the board um can adjust the time limit. I I would say that we really want to hear from everybody. So, if somebody before you has said a theme or a topic um and you have other points, please maybe just go to those other points or just add on to what other speakers have said. Um we really want to hear your perspective and make sure that we hear from everybody in a timely manner. Um again, this is a sensitive topic as we've discussed with real impact on student, families, and staff. And please again focus your comments on the issues and experiences. Um, and I think that's it. So, with that, um, Miss Ellinger, should we start with the first, um, comment? >> Absolutely.

018So, what I'll be doing is I'll be calling up three speakers at a time. So, just go ahead and line up. Um, first we have Valerie Gao, Kristen Ozorio, and Francesca Sarowski. Did I begin? >> Hello, my name is Valerie Gao and I teach 8th grade at Sandpaper and I want to take I want to thank the board and superintendent Dara for their time and consideration. I especially want to acknowledge the parents, students, and staff that came out here today to support San Piper. Seeing you here is a powerful reminder that this school is not just a program, but a community that people believe in. When I was first hired at BRSSD, I worked at Rston. Then when Sam Piper was opening its eighth grade to be a full middle school program, I was offered

019an opportunity. I decided to go for it since it was a chance for me to help build something new and explore a different kind of learning environment um within our district. I want to share with you some key points that make Sam Piper unique. Stan Piper's strongest data points is acceptance and belonging, which is a huge accomplishment for any middle school. But what does that look like beyond a score and its impact over time? Let me share a story. Our first graduating class of 2020 lost something huge. The pandemic shut everything down in March. They never returned to campus. They they missed their Great America trip. They missed their graduation ceremony. They lost an entire trimester together. And yet in 2024, four years later, they organized a reunion on their own. They contacted every classmate,

020reached out to current and former teachers, brought their families, and created an event simply to reconnect. Seeing them as young adults, still connected and still showing up for one another was unforgettable. That is what belonging looks like. Not just a number, but a community that chooses to come back to the middle school that helps shape who they are. Another data point that often comes up is academic rigor. And I'd like to reframe rigor as how much students grow within a year. In just one year, our English learner progress on the state dashboard moved from red to blue. That is a 20 24% growth. That means nearly 69% of our English learners are now making progress. This is remarkable growth for a single year. That kind of growth comes from being attentive to data, seeking professional

021development, adjusting instruction, and responding thoughtfully to student needs. In just one year, uh, many Sandpiper students who entered behind in MA leave at or above grade level. In green, those are the students that made over a year's worth of growth in math for 2023, 2024, and 2025. And that's just the eighth grade. So um we also see that trend with accelerated students in algebra 1 with many ready for algebra 2 and even pre-calculus. This is due to our block schedule with two 1 hour and 50 minute math classes each week which supports that depth of learning and allows for differentiation to meet our students where they are. I had one student who was working at a fifth grade math level. Knowing her circumstances, I gave her extra support during home room through one-on-one mentorship. She

022didn't just grow, she excelled. She reached grade level, gained confidence, and earned a math achievement certificate at graduation. More importantly, her view of what was possible for her future expanded. That is rigor. I'm almost done. Sandpiper shows what is possible when a school model is designed to support deep relationships, responsive teaching, and meaningful growth. It doesn't replace other repro approaches. It adds something extremely valuable to the district as a whole. In just a handful of years, Sandpaper has made many intentional changes and has already shown meaningful success. It truly feels like we are finally hitting our stride. To close or dismantle this program now is not solving a problem. It is an it is interrupting a success. Thank you. Good evening at Belmont River Shores Board of Trustees, Superintendent Duara, Fit staff, families, and committee

023team members. I am Kristen Ozorio, a seventh grade teacher here at San Piper. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight, and I appreciate the time and care you were giving to these important decisions. As the board dis considers um their decision regarding the district's middle school programs, I want to highlight what makes S Piper a strong and valuable educational option within our district. Our district is fortunate to have multiple middle school programs that offer meaningful learning experiences and strong support for students. Each serves families in different ways and I want to sincerely thank all middle school school educators across the district for their dedication and care for our students. So San Piper is a design thinking school and this philosophy shapes learning every day across all subjects. Design thinking means that students learn by

024identifying real problems, understanding the people affected by them and creating thoughtful solutions in math, science, humanities, arts and beyond. It is also a way of thinking students will carry into their daily life. how they approach challenges, work with others, and reflect on their choices. Through this human- centered approach, students develop essential thinking, sorry, essential skills such as empathy, critical thinking, and metacognition, collaboration, communication, and problem solving. A defining strength of Sandpiper is the close relationship between teachers and students. In this learning environment, teachers truly know their students, their strengths, challenges, and learning needs, and are able to support both academic and social emotional growth. Students feel known, supported, and engaged. Sand Piper's programs are intentionally inclusive and responsive to diverse learners. Through flexible instruction, and reflective project-based learning, students learn how to learn, how to

025think deeply, revise their thinking, and persevere through challenges. Importantly, Sandpiper prepares students not only for higher levels of education, but for the world beyond school. Students develop the skills needed to collaborate, adapt, consider multiple perspectives, and navigate real life challenges thoughtfully. The middle school years are critical, and Sandpiper provides a supportive environment where students grow academically, socially, and personally. S Piper's middle school program reflects the district's core values and strengthens the range of quality options available in our district. Now, on a final personal note, when I started my teaching career a little over 10 years ago, I never imagined that I would be a middle school teacher and loved it. You told me that, I would probably say you were crazy. Now, the possibility of not being able to continue being a middle school teacher

026is something that is very difficult for me to think about. So, I really appreciate all the thought and consideration that you're making with these decisions. Thank you. Okay. Hello. Um, my name is Franchesca Caroski and I teach sixth grade math and science at SPE. Our middle school community is truly special. Teachers and students are closely connected and friendships naturally form across grade levels. Walking the halls each day, you see smiles, hear laughter, and oftentimes you'll hear students yelling hi to their teachers. A source of pride has been the positive feedback we receive directly from students via youth truth about our school's culture, student sense of belonging, and the strong relationships they experience here. When I think back to my middle school years, I remember how challenging this time could be. Which is why it means

027so much that our students know they matter and are truly cared for. Beyond academics, we nurture curiosity, growth, and kindness. Students collaborate on projects, lead clubs, and support one another during transitions from elementary to middle school. Families are part of this fabric. Siblings grow up together here. Parents volunteer and celebrate milestones. Our community works tirelessly to create a safe, inclusive environment where students can thrive. As the district is considering changes, I ask you to weigh the relationships, routines, and supports that make S Piper a home for so many families and our team. Thank you. Okay. And next up we'll have Supri Bali Smith Rama and Switi Trusties and Superintendent Duara. My name is Subrio Paul and I'm currently a senior at Carmmont High School. The comments I provide are be on behalf of myself and

028my older brother Susant, currently a sophomore at UCLA. We both attended San Piper from kindergarten through 8th grade and are disappointed to hear that the district is considering closing Sandpiper Middle School. Our experiences at San Piper Middle School were instrumental in shaping us as individuals. Outside the classroom, we employed critical thinking and logic in robotics, expressed creativity through participating in theater productions, and learned valuable lessons about leadership on the basketball team. These extracurricular activities helped us explore interests, which we could do because we were not spending hours each day on a bus. Also, San Piper's small class size fostered community and connection to a degree that a larger school may not have been able to provide. Importantly, San Piper prepared us well for Carlmont. The project-based learning and design thinking aligned well with classes at

029Carlmont such as AP Seminar and AP research. Even in math and foreign language, we were able to take honors and AP classes. And we know this to be true for many of our Carlmont peers who also attended San Piper for middle school. Moreover, having experienced the traffic commuting between Redwood Shores and Belmont every day in high school, we can say with confidence that the benefits of a short commute to Sandpiper could not be underestimated. In essence, San Piper provides a unique middle school experience that prepares students well for high school, college, and beyond. As evidence of its impact, San Piper Middle School graduates have been accepted to and are thriving at top universities such as UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Stanford. I hope the district leadership considers all the benefits that Sandpiper can offer students before

030you make your decision. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Thank you for your time this evening. I'm Smitha Ratna. BRSSD is an amalgamation of Belmont and Redwood Shores. We have two middle schools in Belmont serving four elementary schools. It's only equitable and fair for the two redwood shore schools to have a dedicated local middle school, especially for families who find the unique program a perfect fit for their individual choices. Sanpiper Middle was also funded with community contribution, some local and state funds, but a large chunk came from school force, our tax dollars via measure C and measure P for which many of us parents campaigned actively. So it's only um fair that this community requests uh and implores the board for a voice in deciding what the future state of the school would be. Uh demographics

031have been mentioned in prior meetings. Demographies are already shifting uh due to various factors, macroeconomics, geopolitics, immigration policies, social constructs. It's one data point to influence a decision. projections can never guarantee an increase or decrease in birth rate. Um if we push closure now, we could very well need a middle school in 5 to 10 years based on shifts again. So something for us to double click on. The school also has gone through a lot of uh teething pains. Uh my older child was the third batch. We've had our challenges uh you know in the initial years but it is only in the recent years that it is hitting optimal run rate and it has reached a stage of maturity of programming and it doesn't feel ideal to shut a program at this stage of

032maturity and and further improvement. I've spent 25 years in tech and I see that design thinking is a critical absolutely critical foundational building block and imperative for children to be successful in the future. Rston is already overloaded with 1200 students uh older infrastructure pushing this to 1400500 is only going to impact quality and output uh we'll definitely see supply demand constraints as well. uh as a sandpaper parent for the last 14 years and also as the theater producer for the uh uh for Sandpiper the last 5 years. It's been an absolute joy and privilege for me to watch kids who are shy, reserved and hesitant blossom into poised unabashed young adults through the support of a small tight-knit community, specialized resources, studentto staff ratio that's offered here at San Piper. It's for this reason that

033I have an obligation to advocate for a school that has given students of diverse backgrounds and needs equitable opportunities to succeed. Whether it be through steam or the performing arts, I respectfully ask the board to work with the community to brainstorm alternatives and avoid rushing into a decision that somehow appears to be an accelerated process. Community awareness is still emerging. We need sufficient time to evaluate options, implications, deliberate, thoughtfully and plan accordingly. Thank you for your consideration. Hello board members. My name is Sweet Creaty Rethnam. I attended Sanpiper from kindergarten to 8th grade and am currently a senior at Carlmont High School. While there are numerous benefits to a small school environment, San Piper gave me the fundamental opportunity to better myself. As a more reserved person, I was able to socialize and seek support

034in a tight-knit community, garnering a sense of stability and cohesion from elementary school all the way to middle school. It was this support that enabled me to get out of my comfort zone and try new activities such as sports and the performing arts. While at Sandpiper, I witnessed a staunch commitment to student mental health and well-being, where it was far easier to receive mental health support due to the counselor to student ratios, and where teachers had the ability to ensure every student was able to speak with a counselor. Sometimes we as students don't fully understand when to seek help. So having the added personalized support of the adults around us was absolutely crucial to a culture of student welfare. Additionally, San Piper's project-based learning model is conducive to real world scenarios and has definitely supported

035the work I've done at Carlmont High School. From analyzing social and cultural perspectives through literature to using STEM education to address environmental damage and real world problems, we have always been pushed to understand the impact of our education on the world around us. the work I've done at San Piper, from design thinking in science and math classes to public speaking and graphic design electives and the collaborative approach used in every English classroom has prepared me for the work being done at Sequoia Union High School District high schools. And some students do respond better to a hands-on engaging nature of project-based learning. And they deserve a learning environment that supports this. By potentially closing such a forwardthinking style of instructions, students who don't fit the traditional academic model will be stifled. I am incredibly grateful for

036the education I've received at San Piper for 9 years, and it has been the community, the personalized support, and the unique academic experience that has allowed me to grow as a student and an individual. I respectfully hope that the board will consider the equitable learning opportunities that Sam Piper has been able to give all students before making a decision. Thank you. Okay, next up we'll have Christopher Yip, Yang Lee, and Tisha. Trish Larson Lawson. >> Hello. Hello board members. My name is Christopher and I go to San Pepper Middle School. I'm in eighth grade and and here and um here are three reasons why S Peppers should stay open. Firstly, we have good teachers here and they get to know you really well due to the small class sizes. For example, my sixth grade teachers

037still remember me. And then during inter sessions, teachers can do cool classes because they know they know you. They know you and they can trust you. Some of the inter sessions that I have enjoyed are have been polymer clay and Japanese culture. Secondly, sandpiper is close for people who live in redwood shores while rston would require taking a bus. Additionally, sandpiper is also good because I can bike with to school with my friends and have fun. And then after school, we can go play or do other things since we have a wide since we have a mode of transportation. Finally, S Piper has quest time where students can choose what they want to research or build for around two weeks to to expand our knowledge in a certain subject. For example, the quest time that

038I'm doing right now is building an automated watering system. Thank you. Hello schoolboard members. My name is Ying and I'm the proud parent of Christopher who you heard from just now. I would like to share our family's positive experience at San Piper Middle School. Christopher has attended San Piper K to8. So all through the all the years here and I have served as school force rep, PTA leadership and specifically I have been room parent during the sixth and seventh grades and I have had the privilege of spending time on campus interacting and observing the students during the school day. I witnessed firsthand how welcoming and engaged the students are. The teachers foster a setting where students are encouraged to interact, build friendships, and develop social skills. Everything that our teachers talked about this evening is

039absolutely true. I especially appreciate that students interact naturally and respectfully. In one of the field trips was the MSI's boat ride. And during the downtime, it was so amazing to watch the students chat with each other, interact, and play games in a big social circle where students can come and go, to participate as they wish. I think this is something very special about San Piper community. Another big plus is the ability for kids to bicycle or walk to school. The students form informal social groups to bicycle together. That is really great for practicing responsibility and forming social ties. Sandpiper is also special because teachers have the flexibility to offer classes and projects that supplement the main curriculum. The electives and the interession classes such as cooking, CSI, technology, Japanese are wonderful examples of this. Another

040special aspect is the quest time projects. Students get many opportunities the design to do design thinking. And truthfully, I think going through the process of picking projects that are meaningful to them is in itself a very important growth opportunity to develop their individuality. The decision to close a middle school is a big and important decision. Please come and meet the students. And we're grateful that some of the board members have come visited our school is in recent days. And I encourage all of the board members to come visit Sandpiper, maybe more than once. And when you visit, watch the kids during lunch and PE and see for yourself how special San Piper is. And then finally, having a variety of options in itself brings extra strength to the district. Different students are best served by

041different environments. And I hope that you're able to develop a plan that would preserve the KTA program at San Piper. Hello again. We met last week. Thank you again for this opportunity allowing us parents to speak. Um I am a mother of three children at Sam Piper. My daughter originally was at Redwood Shores Elementary. I had mentioned that we moved to this neighborhood specifically for the smaller middle school and knowing that um there's a real community feel. We're able to walk to school. Um okay, so my point is I don't think it should be Nesbbit versus Sam Piper. They are both amazing schools that serve unique communities. They're valued. They're gems. Um really it's not fair to the kids. It's not fair to the staff that work so hard. I'm sorry. Um we choose to

042live in this community. And I think that a lot of these families don't even know what's going on. The community doesn't know what's going on. Um taxpayers paid for this, wanted this. The families, the neighborhoods want this. There are other solutions. Um, you know, like you mentioned, there's we could merge. We could maybe why are the families up there? They want some advanced classes. Maybe we could bring some of that down here. There's there's very there's other ways to approach this than just shutting it down. And I just encourage you to do your due diligence and look at other options. Also maybe um the way we re like structure our enrollment I know isn't ideal if you want to give everybody choice but realistically there has to be some changes there there's ways to boost

043enrollment aside from shutting and merging schools um like you know this is this is an amazing community I really hope that you guys see that I hope you guys take some time to really think about the implications of closing one of these schools and um thank you for your time. This you oh another point is it's not necessarily a financial emergency, right? If if it was, we would be more of okay, something has to happen right now. It is not. You mentioned the treasur that we will still be able to close the financial gap in year 29 2018 if we keep both schools open. So, it it's really there's a lot to think about. So, I urge you to please vote for one option one, keep both schools open, and let's continue the discussion and

044involve all of the community rather than just some that are paying attention and like really perking up just now to what's happening. Thank you. Thank you, Okay, next up we'll have Katherine Poshel and Margaret Watson, Aaron and Emma Venlar and Anisha Romani. Hello. Hello. U My name is Katherine Pochell and I've been a teacher at Sandpiper for 10 years. Uh nine years in second grade and one year in third grade. We're here tonight to share the profound impact that our middle school has had on the elementary students and our school community as a whole. Hi, and I'm Margaret Watson. This is my 28th year at San Piper teaching students from kindergarten to fourth grade. In my time, I've seen many changes in leadership in teaching and in extending our school to 8th grade, which I

045think has been a great thing. Um, I've always been a proud member of our Sam Piper community. So, teaching at a TK through 8 school gives elementary teachers something rare. We don't just teach children for the one year. We get to watch them grow into the amazing individuals you see them become. Those long-term rel relationships matter deeply to our students, our families, and to us as educators. Students at San Piper Middle School also get the rare opportunity to foster those relationships with each other, with their current and their former teachers in our smaller and supportive setting. So students are invited to build these relationships across the grades with our sting stingray families led by our eighth graders which is an amazing program. I enjoy watching these families develop their new leaders and foster their relationships

046from TK up. Another pro powerful example of this is our buddy class program. Our middle school students regularly partner with the younger students for learning leadership and team building experiences. In these moments, the younger children don't just see older students, they see role models. And our middle schoolers don't just participate, they step into leadership, responsibility, and really become nurturers of our community. Um, the impact goes beyond structured programs. Um, because we are a TK to8 school, our elementary students get to share the school day with their older siblings. I see the difference that this makes on a daily basis. On hard days, a student might get to catch their older sibling in seventh grade for a big hug and motivate them and to go through with the rest of the day. The pride that the

047older sibling says, "Yeah, that's my little sister." Um, it's priceless. Uh, not every school can offer that and not every child gets that sense of belonging and continuity, but at Sandpiper, they do. This sense of connection is also reflected in the adults who support our students and sta staff, especially having an assistant principal at Samford. In addition to supporting Mrs. Higgins, they support all students across all grade levels and the same for all staff. They know our kids understand our families. She's a steed steady trusted presence in our school. Losing her would not just be a staffing change, but it would be a loss felt throughout our entire school community. My first year teaching at Sandpiper was the last year that we were a kindergarten through fifth grade school. My first year teaching ever. Um

048I've watched our community grow alongside this TK to8 model. And I truly cannot imagine Sandpiper without these sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students and staff members. They simply aren't an add-on to the elementary school, but they're part of the foundation of who we are. So, thank you for giving us um and the staff and community the opportunity to speak. Good evening. Good evening everyone. Uh my name is Aaron Vanlar and this is my wife Emma Vanlar. Uh uh I've been we are both teachers, coaches, and parents at Sandpiper. I want to start off by acknowledging that this has been a stressful few weeks for both Sandpiper and Nesbbit for fear of losing the community we have worked so hard to build and create. We wanted to highlight the opportunities students at our middle school get

049through sports. As our athletic director, I firsthand I I know firsthand that at Spiper students have the opportunity to play any sport we offer and are guaranteed playing time, which is not always the case at other schools. Uh we work closely with NEZVIT in order to create teams if either one of our schools are unable to field an individual team. As coaches and teachers at a smaller middle school, we're able to create relationships and bonds that go beyond just the sports season. With that being said, I will now read a short letter from a Sandpiper graduate who is uh now a junior at Carlmont. Spiper provided me with new opportunities and provided me with a great education. I was able to find my love of mathematics and I was able to find my love for

050basketball. The teacher supported me in every way. To this day, I am still close with many of them. I believe it is wrong to take uh take part of the Redwood Shores away. When I had moved to the shores, I was uncertain about my own schooling situation and Spiper became my community. For many others, it is the same case. We wish to keep the shores community together, especially in the school system. If you take San Piper Middle School, you take more than just a school away. You take away a part of the community and you take away opportunities for future classes. Thank you guys. >> Good evening members of the board and Dan. Hi. Um, my name is Anisha Romani. I'm the school counselor at Sandpiper and I would like to highlight how integral Sandpiper

051Middle School is to the Redwood Shores neighborhood and to the students and families we serve. While our enrollment [clears throat] numbers may be smaller, our students benefit from an environment where they are truly known and supported. For many middle school students, especially those who are socially shy or need additional support, Sandpiper provides the setting that suits them best. It is a place where they can build confidence, strengthen social skills at a pace that works for them and develop a genuine sense of belonging. Sandpiper is currently a TK through 8 campus that and that continuity matters. Many of our middle school students do walk or bike to school, often alongside younger siblings on the same campus, and this creates a sense of familiarity, safety, and community that is rare. students are able to grow alongside their

052neighbors, build lasting relationships, and remain connected to their local community both during and after school. I urge the board to consider not only enrollment numbers, but also real impact that closing the middle school portion of Sandpiper would have on the Redwood Shores community as a whole. Sandpiper is a valuable option within BRSSD because it provides stability, close adult support, and an a school experience where students feel safe, seen, and connected. Thank you for your consideration. >> Okay, next we'll have Leila Azar Alassan, Boris Ramstein, and Ferris Alassen. Good evening. My name is Leila Ogiral Hassan. I have two kids at Redwood Shores Elementary and I have one San Piper middle schooler. As a constituent homeowner and donor to BRSSD schools, I hope the board and superintendent will do research on the following and hold themselves

053accountable for this. Why should we take a drastic solution of closing a school? Has the board looked into understanding if access in terms of location is more important for lower income families? I would think that it is since these families probably have less flexibility and less time to spend commuting to schools outside of their neighborhoods. How do students with IEPs, 504s, and English language learners benefit from smaller neighborhood middle schools? How important is the well-being of these students to the school board? What do voters think about closing a school that we voted to fund? How will this affect future votes for school funding for children? What are the benefits of walking or biking to school? What are the benefits of having more sleep or more free time? What are the drawbacks of sitting in a

054car or bus for two hours a day? Is it reasonable, healthy, and necessary for kids to bear this burden? Has the board and superintendent done its unmost to understand how families choose their middle school? I have heard from Redwood Shores elementary parents that they chose Rost because that's where their kids want to go because that's where their friends are going. Should 11 year olds choose what school they will go to? How can the board and superintendent teach parents who should make this decision and what criteria they should use? Don't all three middle schools use the same curriculum? Do parents know this and how important it is? I don't think this survey was weighted to account for the number of students per family. Was it? How do school assignment methods reflect priorities of the BRSSD administrative

055office? Why is school choice for rston given preference over school choice for Sandpiper or Nesbbit? What are the programs that we are not able to offer at small middle schools? Are these programs important enough to close a school? Are you also considering afterchool programs that are offered and before school at Sandpiper and costefficiently done so with other grades? Why isn't Redwood Shores Elementary a feeder school for Sandpiper Middle School? How can it be made into one? What is an ideal middle school size? How do you decide that? What are the benefits of small class size for kids? What are the environmental and infrastructure impacts of closing one of these schools and forcing more people to commute by car or bus? Has there been an environmental report that was publicly shared? Finally, how will financial savings

056change given the larger proportion of kids with IEPs and ELLL students at Sandpiper and Nesbbit Middle School? Thank you. Good evening board members and trustees. My name is Boris Broomstein. Since I last addressed you in my email, our petition to preserve sand papers has grown to over quarter thousand signatures and continues to grow daily. This represents families deeply invested in our district and deeply concerned about the potential decision to close our school. The purpose and potential of small schools is different from large schools. Both small schools serve the geographic needs of their neighborhoods and both show success. Some families choose Rstone for its extensive curriculum and offerings. Small schools can't compete with Ralston's on brand and that's okay. Small schools were built to cater to local needs and provide personalized education. Instead of closing one

057of the small schools to optimize capacity, I urge the board to reinforce your investment in small schools so that we'll develop signature programs in areas where they excel. I believe this will increase enrollment and even attract families who currently choose private schools. The geographic acuity issue is critical. Closing Sandpiper forces every Redwood Shores family to commute across the district through a congested highway interchange during peak hours. What is currently 5 to 10 minutes walk or bike becomes a long commute to NASBIT or an hour long commute to Rston each way a two-hour daily burden. This directly impacts student well-being and educational opportunities. Students will lose independence. Families will lose two hours daily for homework and activities and students will experience increased stress and fatigue. Your own survey shows transportation is a significant concern. The board

058stated ease of access for relevant student as critical decision driver. Closing sandpiper director contradicts this commitment. The survey data provides insight into famil family's voice. Your survey identified strong teacher relationship, community belonging, safety and geographic accessibility as top priorities. Both schools deliver these outcomes. The survey showed our community values having both traditional experiential models among families preferring small schools. Twice twice as many prefer sandpiper over nit that does not detract from Nesbbit's value. It shows both schools are valuable and deliver what they were built for and Sandpiper's added values address the all priorities with a special values in accessibility and experiential teaching models. I ask you to make decision grounded in your findings. Preserve multiple education models. Maintain geographic acuity. Honor the community voice and consider investment in differentiation rather than close closure as your

059path forward. Our community stands strong. Over quarter, thousand signatures and growing. Thank you. Hello, my name is Paris Hassan. I'm Leila Ozer Hassan's husband and I'm also a parent of uh the you know San Piper Middle Schooler and two Redwood Shore students. Um I wanted I I appreciate you having providing these forms for us and listening and patiently listening to what we're say sharing. A key takeaway in the demographic report that I believe hasn't gotten enough attention is that um predicted drop in the enrollment from 2025 2030 is not equally distributed in the district. In fact, if you look at the numbers in the southwest regions west of Alamina Royale they which represent the majority of the drop across the district with 80% of the TK TK through eight students west of west of the

060that's where the drop is happening according to the demographic report. Um, if you just look at the region closest to Rston Middle School, west of Alama del Pulgas, that's 64% alone of the drop. And I want to quote that what the demographic demographic found um, which I found is very insightful as what's going on. It is worth noting however that the K22 reduction since 2016 in these more expensive homes, this is referring to the area near Rston is by a significant 176 students uh minus 35% not show on the table with fewer students in all but one subsequent year from 2016 2025. There also far more students now in grades 6 through 8 than in grades K through2 in these homes. So significant further TK through 8 decline is a near certainty in the next

061three years. These more expensive homes are constra in the west end of the district and currently provide 31% of the district students. So that's that was the that was from the report. I'm concerned that in our planning of the options we are taking a short-term view what is happening which is that the um basically the centroid of the district the the student population is shifting northeast towards towards Nesbet and towards uh Sanpiper even though there are drop drops other areas of the region but that's the overall center is shifting and so the reason I mentioned this is IST used to be bigger as well and so you might think to think oh they can handle the traffic because we used to have it but what's going to be what's looks like is happening is that

062because the roster there be more pe Roston population is dropping. There'll be more people commuting over the next 5 years. Again, the report says, you know, we're looking at 80% of the drop that we're seeing is is going to be in that region. And so, I'm that we that it's not um I'm concerned about traffic getting worse and worse. And then also that um and then it's apparently even right now um if you want to pick up your child, this is what I've heard, you have to come an hour early before the pickup so you can get a space parking space. So right now it's already pretty bad and I don't know um and whatever with what solution we have can be better I think. And so we know with the AI boom happening and

063tech workers also being forced to back in office, I'm concerned that we'll have to have these conversations again in a few years providing equal access to middle schools and where the main middle school is the region with the most expensive homes and the largest decline of BRSD eligible students. Thank you very much. Next, if we can have Brian Zable, Raymond Jin, and Alexi Chis Chisikov. Hello, I'm Brian [clears throat] Zable, parent of uh Kendall Zable, who's in Miss P class, fifth grade here at Sand Piper, and Maddie Zable, who uh went to San Piper K through 8th and is a ninth grader at Carlmont and has a JV basketball game tonight and couldn't be here. I have some comments from uh both of the kids. Uh first of all, from Kendall. Uh this is from

064Kendall. She texted this to me and asked me to please present this. So 11 11-year-old Kendall says, "I want to go to Sandpiper Middle School like my sister got to. Overall, it's a great school and much closer to my house than Rston or Nesbbit. I really like the middle school teachers that I've met through Sandpiper family activities and my sister telling me about them. And I'm excited to play volleyball and basketball there. At Rston, not everybody gets to make the teams like at Sandpiper." Okay, so echoing what coach Aon was saying and we're we're very proud of the uh the NEZ pipers or the Puma Rays as we call the combined team. Yeah, go Pays. Um okay, now from Maddie, a freshman at Carlmont High School. So I am a freshman at Carmont High School.

065I attended San Piper from kindergarten to 8th grade and had an amazing experience. During middle school, I participated in volleyball, basketball, and the theater program. I was able to make many new friends at the start of sixth grade at Sandpiper Middle because of the smaller grade size and positive class atmosphere. My teachers in middle school also had a very positive impact on my life. Due to the class sizes, they were able to connect with each student. Sandpiper also prepared me and my classmates well academically. Like most of my sandpiper algebra class are taking algebra 2 and trig class at Carlmont and excelling between between trimesters we had inter sessions where we could explore different interests like moot court public speaking and Japanese art and culture. One class during inter sessions that I really enjoyed was

066forensic science. This class helped me learn more about myself and gave me hints on some possible careers for later in my life. This school has a big impact on my life. So, please keep Sand Piper Middle School open. Um, thank thank you, Maddie. Uh, I don't know. I I've, you know, heard heard a lot tonight. Um, I found I've heard very little compelling uh information that we need to close either of the schools, the middle schools. It doesn't seem that complicated. It's a great school, great teachers, great programs, great extra extracurriculars. So, uh, great community. you know, it's close by. It just doesn't seem that complicated. So, let's just keep it open. Okay. Thank you. >> Good evening, president, board members, and superintendent. My name is Raymond and I'm a student at Sam Pepper Middle

067School. I'm here to tonight to talk about the proposal to close S Pepper and Nesbet Middle School. I want to be fair, look at both sides and but I'm asking you to keep our schools open. I understand why the district is thinking about this. Enrollment sound, the budget is tight. Keeping a school open costs money. And if there aren't enough students to fill the seats, I get why that looks like a problem. Combining schools can mean spending less on buildings, utilities, and staff. On paper, it might seem like a smart financial move, but I don't think the savings are as big as they look. If you close Piper or Nesbbit, all those students have to go somewhere else. That means other schools get more crowded. When you pack more kids into a classroom, teachers have

068less time for each of us. That makes it harder to learn. It is also harder for teachers and some of them might burn out or leave. Speaking of teachers, what happens to them? What happens to them if you close our schools? Some might transfer, but others might decide it's not worth it. Leave the the district completely. These are people who know their students and know how to teach. Losing them. Losing them hurts everyone. There's also transportation. Right now, San Pepper serves rose city/roshores. Nesbet serves Belmont. Kids live near these schools. If you close them, students have to travel farther. That means more buses, longer rides, and less time at home. That cost monies, too. And could life much harder for families. And here's something that doesn't show up on to these areas knowing their kids

069could walk to school or be close by. When you shut down neighborhood school, you're not just closing a building, you're changing the whole feel of that community. I know keeping school open schools open isn't free, but closing them isn't free either. You have to emerge students, move equipment, uh, and figure out where everyone goes. Some families might even leave the district completely because they're unhappy. That that that means even less enrollment, less funding down the road. We are taught in school every day to face challenges, not run away from them. We learn math not by avoiding the hard equations, but by figuring out the steps to solve them. We win soccer tournaments not by dodging the toughest opponents, but by presenting or practicing harder and giving our 100% in games. You teach us to be

070leaders, to be bold and brave. I urge you to approach the enrollment and budget challenges the same way you teach us by providing better education and overcoming the challenges and not by simply running away and closing schools. Let's look at how we can make our schools so excellent that more families choose to enroll. Let's invest in programs that make St. Pat the first choice for every middle school [snorts] student in Rose City and Belmont. We raise the level of education we offer. Enrollment will follow and the budget problem will take care of of itself. So yes, there are reasons to consider closing schools, but I think the reasons to keep open are stronger. Sam Piper and Nesbet are both doing their jobs. Students are learning. Teachers are teaching. Communities are being served. That's not broken.

071Please don't try to fix it. Thank you for listening. Uh hi everyone, my name is Marina and I'm mother of seven grader and uh he also wanted to be here today but he's sick unfortunately. Uh so we will represent him and I just want to share a few things. Um, if our school didn't have a middle school, uh, my younger son would probably never have started biking to school on his own, um, because he was afraid and his older brother helped him overcome this fear. And this is just only one example how, um, elementary and middle school together benefit uh, siblings. Uh if our school will be closed, uh my older son will spend about 2 hours in YouTube watching stupid videos while he will drive to on a bus. Yeah. And I'm sure this

072will not will be good for his mental and physical health. And instead of this now he has biking to school getting fresh air and uh just have some physical activity before he has uh classes and after school too and he has opportunity to hang out with his friends. Uh even now studying in St. Piper. He has uh struggles with time management between uh school activities, his hobbies, sports and so on. And um if he will spend two hours per day to drive to another school, uh I think he will just uh limit his rest or his time uh with his friends. >> Thank you. It it's a very emotional moment for us because we we fully believe it's is both life-changing and we we also hope our voices will be heard. So we are the

073Chikox family. We are proud parents of the seventh grader Andre and uh second grader Sasha. And maybe just to to add to the previous speakers, I think and I I would really want the board and superintendent to consider that this decision is not to be rushed because and we are here not advocating for closing either of the schools. We believe it should not be even an option. Both schools should stay because we are all one big community. Rston, uh, Nesbbit and, uh, St. Piper and if closing either of the school will will be both inequitable and not fair because it will be a disproportional burden burden and disproportional cost for the impacted families. And if it's the cost, it has to be shared among families of all three schools. All three schools should stay within

074the district. And we are incredibly grateful for the work done by the district and by the teachers of St. Piper. So that's an opportunity for me to thank. Thank you very much. >> Yeah. And maybe and maybe couple of more thoughts. I mean there are so many things in life you cannot attach a price tag to and like I think closing either of the school we will lose those intangibles forever for the community of that school for the parents for the kids and that shouldn't be that decision that option shouldn't be on the table and the last but not least we are coming from the country where short-term costsaving reductions make le make public goods and and school system less affordable and this is what negatively impacted demographics and not vice versa. If you close

075the school there will be less kids in this community so the demographics will be even worse. Thank you so much. Yeah, we respectfully we respectfully ask the boards and superintendent to consider other than closing either of the schools options. Thank you. Hey, next up can we have Cindy Shay, Langley Pylin, and Eastston Pil. Hello trustees, board members, and superintendent I am Cindy Shay, parent of a fifth grader who will love to attend Stamp Piper Middle School. As an active school volunteer and coordinator of various new for numerous years, I see firsthand how the middle school teachers and students support our elementary students. For example, at Halloween, students play different roles ranging from doing big brothers, loving big sisters, taking their TK and K buddies around to actual station carnival station managers that manages games for

076the entire elementary school, 400 plus kids. While at the same time, the journalism students go around taking photos, conduct interviews, and take their club duties seriously. The middle school students provide a role that is seamlessly integrated with our elementary school and fosters community bonding. As you're aware, San Piper Middle School models after the highly acclaimed Unea School with emphasis on design thinking and social emotional learning. The skill set acquired from San Piper is learning with emphasis on strong executive functioning which is incorporated as part of the weekly lesson plan. These are the different attributes that our school provides unlike the typical public high school. Given there was numerous confir there was previous confirmation that budget gap can close without shutting down any school. There's significant concerns that the decision may be rushed. Neighbors in the

077neighborhood not are not aware. We do have about 5,000 home units uh with uh condos, town homes and homes and a big portion are not aware of this alignment. Um it would be great if you guys can think of alternatives and come up with a solution that works for the neighborhood. With that said, you can bet because of this, parents of both Nesbbit and Sanpiper are giving input to respective schools. Instead of hastily choosing to close one, why don't we take this opportunity to enhance both schools programs, collaborate with school district, parents, and teachers, and make both schools the desires choice for many families for years to come. Let Nesa and S Piper be the judge of the neighborhood. and let our students shine where at the school where they belong. Thank you. >> Good

078evening board members and superintendent. Thank you for listening tonight. I am Langley Piland, a current eighth grader at Sanp Piper Middle School. I have two brothers in first and sixth grade here at San Piper, and we have all been here since kindergarten. My memories go even farther back than that, though. I remember as a little kid, vaguely, but I do remember, not even in school yet, watching what are currently the kindergarten classrooms being lifted into place by a crane. As part of our middle school, I participated in two musicals, soon to be three, with our upcoming production of The Lion King and play three years of volleyball and basketball with the school. One thing my family has loved so much about Sandpiper is its excellent community. In my sixth grade year, there was an immense

079influx of new students coming from private schools, other states, or even other countries. Many of these students, having only heard about Rston, wanted to transfer there before even attending their first day at Sanpiper. Multiple people had originally mentioned this, but as time went on, I could only think I can only recall one person actually following through with this plan. I recently sent out a survey to discover who else this situation applied to. Of the 50 plus Sandpiper students who responded to this survey, a third of the students had originally attended to transfer out to Rston, but chose not to because they were so immensely happy at San Piper, particularly with the great friendships, student teacher relationships, and schoolwide community. A great example of our strong seventh grade teachers, Miss Bjorkquist, who retired last year after

080working in the BRSSD district for over 30 years. So, believe me, a well-deserved retirement. She not only promised us, her last class on the last day of school, that she would come back and sub for our class, but she attended a student volleyball game out of retirement this year because of the great connections she had made with the students and wanted to come back to support them. I've also made many friends in a variety of grades thanks to theater experience, my little brothers, and most importantly, our stingray families. This year I was given the amazing opportunity along with my class of 8th graders to lead the Stingray families which not only supported our great community but provided great leadership opportunities for all of us as well. I attended almost the entire board meeting at Nesbet

081Middle School about two weeks ago. I could clearly hear the love each student, teacher and parent had for their community and school. To me, these are two amazing, beloved schools and communities. To close one of these middle schools would be devastating for the current middle school students, as well as all the students that plan to go there in the future, including my first grade brother. So, please don't rush this decision. With more time, we can come up with a solution that works for everyone. Thank you. Um, hello. I'm Eastston. I'm in sixth grade at Sandpiper Middle School and I've gone here since kindergarten. In fifth grade, I was the only person in my class not wanting to go to Rston. I mainly chose Sandpiper over other middle schools because I'm able to bike to school.

082For my friends who live in Redwood Shores and go to Rston, it adds two hours to their day to get there and come back. With all the sports I do, two hours extra in the day means I would have no time for my homework. I know I made the right decision because once I got to Sandpiper, I not only found out that many other kids at San Piper were biking to school, but I also learned some things that made S Piper special. Everyone there is inviting and the teachers and staff know the kids by name. The whole school is connected. I talk to people in the grade above me, the grade below me, two grades below me, and I know my brother's friends in first grade in a whole TK buddy class. Thanks to S

083Piper's no cut policy, I was able to try out for basketball for the very first time, whereas at bigger schools, I wouldn't get that opportunity. This was very good for me because it helped me try out a new sport and have a lot of fun. I've been able to take full advantage of all the things Sandpiper has to offer. One example is that for my Quest time project, I was able to write an original guitar song. This is something you wouldn't normally do in school. Another unique thing about Sandpiper is the amazing electives. I'm signed up to do culinary arts and I'm currently taking digital media. Closing the S Piper Middle School would stop me and my classmates and future students from experiencing these wonderful things. Please reconsider making any changes to the middle schools

084for the 2026 to 2027 school year. Thank you. All right. Next we have Thea Young, Sahini Kachi, and Daphne Lee. Hello, my name is Thea Young and some things I love about Sandpiper. I love the neighborhood school and how it's so close to where I live. I love the community and how I made many friends at Sand Piper. Some of the things I enjoyed also during my middle school years is the elective and inter sessions. I'm currently taking Japanese art and culture and I took textile designs last trimester. I loved also the elective that the inter sessions that they offered. LA um last one I took polymer clay and I forgot the other one. But um some reason some reasons that I think we shouldn't shut down S Pepper is because it would be an

085inconvenience to the middle schoolers to not have a school near them since most middle schoolers that attend S Pepper live in Riverwood Shores and they wouldn't have a school close to them. Having having us go up and down rston would be an inconvenience for some people when they live here since tra traffic is rough in the mornings and plus for people who might have to take the bus in the morning. I have heard that some dangerous things could happen there. But last that I heard that fights have been broken out and they've been pulled over by the police. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Sohini Kachi. I've been a resident of Redwood Shores for over 20 years. I grew up here when Nedbet was the only ch school of choice, the only public school

086of choice for elementary kids and Rston was the only school, the middle school choice for Redwood Shores residents. My husband and I made an active choice. Our son, who is now currently in sixth grade, attended Fox Elementary School. Nearly everyone in his school was going to attend Rston purely due to the proximity to their home being a neighborhood school. We made an active choice. I'd like to highlight the word choice to not attend Rston. With an attendance of over,00 students, with a population that massive, we made a choice for our son to attend a school that was a middle school, not a population that was pushing him to experience population sizes the size of a high school, if not a small private college in some states. This news, as you have seen from everyone standing

087here today on the phones and from letters and emails, has completely blindsided us. This news has come up so fast and so few people are aware of it even today. There really hasn't been communication to the community at all. There also doesn't seem to be much transparency in the urgency. It looks like the budget deficit is closing in a few years with or without these changes. This doesn't seem like a crisis yet. Yet, this decision is getting pushed very quickly as if we are in one. Please, let's take this time to really review this. We all as you have seen from everyone's arguments here and discussions that we really need to understand what is going on and put a lot of thought into this before a decision is made that is irreversible. It took decades

088to create Sandpiper in this community but what seems to now take just a couple of months to destroy it down. As I've said, this decision to close either school is irreversible. I am still and I can probably stand here before everyone else and say that we are probably still very unclear why things are moving so fast. I do understand that there was discussions about this for the last several years that I just learned today. However, no one here seems to have known about those discussions for the last several years. So with that being said, I ask for the people that we elected to work with us, not against us. You have a team of very intelligent, motivated, and ambitious people that want to work with you as a team. We all felt that we would

089be a team with you up until the last couple months when this news came as a complete shock. So with that being said, I ask elected officials that the community has put forth their votes and trust in you. Please let us work with us. You have heard from very intelligent people and more people that want to make this a better community. We also want to optimize the population for all the schools. We understand that there are hard decisions that need to be made, but this does not need to be one of them and especially not one for this year. So, please listen to us, work with us, and let us help you help save sandpiper. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you to the board and Dan for being here and creating the space to listen

090to our community. My name is Daphne Lee. I have two boys at San Piper, first and fourth grade, and I'm currently serving as a PTA uh president. I'm here tonight to share some observation of our unique middle school environment and to show support to the family and staff who are navigating these potential changes. While discussing number and enrollment, I want to highlight the human elements of the Senpiper Middle School experiences. For many of our families, the small school environment is a deliberate choice. It provides a sense of belonging, a tight-knit community that helps certain students thrive during these transitional period uh years. This environment will bring build lasting bonds between students and staff, ensuring that every child receives the individual attention and support they need to succeed. This this sense of a community is anchored

091in our schoolwide program. Through Stingray families, we foster crossgrade connections so that every student feels seen and known. These groups allow students to collaborate, problem solve, and experience the value of being a part of a team. Furthermore, the buddy system of our school that Miss Won mentioned is a vital part of our stingray culture. Seeing our middle school work alongside the younger grades is incredible. It gives the older students genuine opportunity to practice leadership and mentorship while showing our younger students what it looks like to work together as one community. I also want to specifically highlight the incredible work that Miss Balono has created for seventh grade with the special day class through the all-in programs. Having seen this program firsthand, it is moving to witness the intention and heart that these students put in

092building a connection with their peers. This collaboration foster a profound level of empathy and inclusivity which we all val which are values that we need more in today's world. This is an example of the compassion that flourishes when students have opportunity to support one another in a smaller setting. As you weigh the different scenarios for middle school alignment, I ask that you consider these values that the students are learning and the impact that this and the impact of our students development. We hope you will take this observation and the spirit of our community into account as we move forward with your decision. Thank you for your time and for your visit. Okay, next we have a safe Shelch. Sorry if I wrong. Uh LRA and Leo Bloom, Joshua Bloom, and Lily Pan. >> Good evening.

093Uh my name is Af. I have um currently my son goes to sixth grade here at San Piper. Uh he's on with Miss Beret's class. Um I want to say that I agree with many of the things that others have already said and I want to reiterate the point repeatedly made here tonight that uh you are making a hasty decision without fully understanding parent and community preferences. For us parents, it is too quick a decision for us to evaluate our options if something like a closure of our current school happens. Um, something about me and my family. We are a new family for the current academic year. Since we live in Belmont, our first preference for our new sixth grader was Ralston. However, uh, as it turned out, he was placed at Stan Piper. Um,

094at first we were a little apprehensive because we didn't get our first preference. Nevertheless, as the year progressed, we came to love San Piper School and the teachers here. The academics and extracurriculars are strong. Our son is in the robotics team and is enrolled in world languages. We are very happy with the teachers and our son is performing very well here. To know that this can be disrupted due to Sandpiper's potential closing is very disheartening. We fear that not enough time and attention is being paid to come to a decision. We strongly urge the board to take its time. We you should do more work on finding out parents preferences. We fear that the decision is being made too quickly and putting parents in a tough bind. We are afraid that our preference once again

095is not being considered. Sandpiper has a strong reputation in the community and as we know a great social and learning environment. If the board does not consider and pay attention to parents preferences uh more and more families will move out of the district which will in turn further decline enrollment. Uh uh lastly I'd just like to say you should prioritize parent choice and preference over everything else. Thank you very much. Hi, my name is Leo Bloom and I am in sixth grade at San Piper Middle School. I like to call my S Piper my home away from home. It has and will be shaping my life in a very positive way. Spiper is a huge chunk of my personality and without it I will change significantly. Sandpiper is an inspiring place to learn, to make

096connections with friends, and overall is a very happy place for me and other students. If sandpiper was taken away from me, it would be a massive change in my life and would greatly impact not only me, but many other students, parents, and staff members. I would have to say goodbye to all my friends and all the great teachers at the school. And to the many fond memories that I've had at St. Piper Middle, I respectfully ask for you to keep this wonderful school open, not only for me, but for a community. If you close S Piper, you're not only closing a school, but you're also closing a community. Hello, esteemed board members and superintendent. My name is Lyra and I have been at Sandpiper School for 9 years now. And I just wanted to continue

097on with what my brother was saying. And as he shared his experience from the incoming sixth graders, I want to share my experience as an outgoing eighth grader. When I started at St. Pepper Middle School, I'd like to think I was like a blank white piece of A4 printer paper. Now, I know that doesn't make much sense, but hear me out. In my time here, I've seen this paper fill with color as I've grown as both a learner and a person. The lessons I've learned through unique experiences like design thinking, quest time, and stamp paper families have contributed to this. Not only that, but the large, supportive, and tight-knit community of friends I have, fondly nicknamed the friendship tree by the parents and students over here, I have made these colors me even brighter. As

098I see my relationships and social skills being enhanced, the small school environment has fostered this and helped the greatest bond as well. Not to mention the amazing teachers who have made my growth even more fun. Overall, my experience at St. Pepper Middle School is one I could not have anyway, and I'm grateful to have this great middle school community here for me and my family. I hope that you take me and my brother's experiences into consideration when making a decision. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good to see you all again. And now you've met two of my three children in San Piper. I I've been a resident of Redwood Shores for 15 years and I I just wanted to to start by uh sharing two observations from the la last two board meetings really. Um

099you know to not to belabor the point but as a board you do not need to close a school to close the budget gap. Um, this is a choice and we elected you all to advocate for the children of this community, not to ek out a few extra dollars like this is a for-profit enterprise reporting per quarterly earnings. Um, this is being on the school board is difficult. You all have day jobs. I'm sure you're all professionals in your own right, but this is an entirely different setting with an entirely different set of stakeholders and priorities. And uh, really listening to the the children of this room is is really what I would ask you to do. Um, second, what we learned in the last board meeting was although closing either middle school will affect

100over a 100 families whose first choice was a neighborhood school, um, contrary to urban myths, there are less than 20 students, maybe what we heard, on the wait list for Rston. These figures underscore that on balance, closing a school would actually be a huge step back for school choice, not some backwards twisted way of improving school choice at the district. Um, but putting counting statistics aside, I would also ask the board to think about the discrepancy in equity in asking some residents to attend their neighborhood school where they chose to live versus the alternative of telling other residents they can't attend a neighborhood school where they chose to live. These harms are not equal. While this process is difficult for all involved, I I I just want to stress it really is the credibility of

101the district at stake here um for the long term. Uh not just the ability to manage taxpayer funded initiatives, but the overall concept of the union of Belmont and Redwood Shores as a school district. If we really get through this process and after these listening sessions, the outcome is still somehow that we need to close Sandpiper. I think it's fair for Redwood Shores residents to be within their rights to ask if they're being effectively served by a long-term school district with Belmont. In conclusion, our proposal to the board is to really shove unnecessary drastic measures and instead focus the professional educators in this room, the professionals, the people who dedicated their lives to helping children's education to creating more amazing educational opportunities for the students here at San Piper and all of the schools in

102the Belmont Redwood Shore School District. And uh as again I I would just encourage everybody to listen to the students who in some minor miracle actually enjoy middle school and they enjoy it here at San Piper. Thank you. Good evening everyone. I'm a parent of two Sam Piper students and I just wanted to appreciate you all for making the space for us to make our voices heard tonight. Uh good job making it this far. Um I wanted to offer some considerations as you approach um the decision making an issue at hand. Um I really believe that we need more due diligence and further validation done in two areas. And the first area is the drivers of declining enrollment. Do we really have the whole story on the drivers of declining enrollment here? Sure, we're talking

103about birth rates, right? Demand. I'm not sure we have done that sufficient due diligence when we're examining can we examine whether these two special unique schools have been adequately promoted, differentiated or positioned to attract families before concluding that demand is is not good. Um, and the potential of Sam Piper reminds me of this following parable. A farmer plants a new seed and checks the field the next morning. Seeing no sprouts, he digs it up and declares the seed defective. He never watered it, never protected it from birds, and never waited long enough for it to grow. So, let's give our seed a chance to grow here in the shores. Second, the second area I'd like to kindly request more due diligence on is the possible drivers of growth for enrollment. I believe that the question

104before us is not which school should we close, but rather have we exhausted all possible strategies to grow enrollment before making what feels like an irreversible decision? Which then leads me to the question, is this even the right set of options? So, as you know, San Piper is a design thinking school. In the spirit of design thinking, I propose that we reframe this challenge into an opportunity and design around a new problem statement of how might we drive healthy enrollment for our schools and create a sustainable thriving community. And it's something that is going to be ideulated on not just be by one party but across all stakeholders across parents, teachers, students, staff. Um and who knows this might lead us to a different set of options. So in conclusion, I believe that what stands

105before us is a test of our BRSSD strategy framework. One out of the four prongs is to promote community engagement and in its own words to foster effective partnerships with families, communities, organizations, and educational institutions for the continued support of our students and schools. So, let's walk the talk and let's put this into practice. I firmly believe that there is nothing we can't solve when we put our heads together. Thank you. Okay, if we can get Manique Bloom, Hame Young, Jamie Young, and Anan Caport. I promise this is the last bloom you will hear from. I will not inflict the third grader or the dogs on you. Um my point is somewhat boring, but it's an important point. And it's not about resisting change. It's not about protecting one school or the other. It is

106about whether our approach to this question has been legally and procedurally adequate. Uh from what we have heard there are still some serious open questions. First the decision framework is unclear. We have not heard what the objective decision criteria are or how those criteria will be weighted without clear standards. Any final decision risk uh risks appearing arbitrary or predetermined. Second, the district and the board are public entities. Town halls and surveys are not a substitute for properly noticed formal public hearings which are tied directly to the potential closure. Simply telling the public that this has been internally discussed at the district level previously is simply not legally or procedurally sufficient and may even trigger Brown Act uh act problems. Third, we have not seen a robust sideby-side comparison of options that includes detailed financial modeling,

107educational and programmatic impacts, long-term implications for receiving schools. The district has to show that reasonable alternatives were seriously evaluated in good faith and documented. The board deserves this information. Fourth, equity is a guiding value for the district. If one geographic community, Redwood Shores, bears the burden of closer while closure while others do not, the district must be able to show why that outcome is equitable and unavoidable. Fifth, we need to see a clear public plan for considerations such as special education services, the increased burden on public transportation and seek see review. The board and the public are entitled to this information in a full and detailed way. The reason I bring this up is that the district may be aware that there is currently an action pending in San Monteo County against the school district

108for closing down two schools in that district. We should take the action and community input required to make sure our process is datadriven, comprehensive, transparent, has taken the time needed, and above all is fair. Thank you for your time. Hello board of trustees. I was here well at the office last week um and I want to make this short a little bit more aspirational in effect than um others but I think what I've seen today is just an amazing turnout both of students parents but also really clearly graduates of Sam Piper. It is amazing to see them and I'm proud and it makes me tear up just to hear how well spoken they are. This is our future. So the aspiration while it might be a little cliche is that we need to help our

109children rise to the potential because they are our future leaders. It is really important that they have these skills in these types of environments to truly thrive. And Sandpiper and Nesbet and Rston gives us those opportunities. So like a lot of the things that you've heard, it isn't one versus the other. It's not option two or option three. Please consider and reconsider thoroughly all the things that you have on the table. So in the time being, option one of status quo is truly I think the most viable for now until you have had more time with us to be able to go through this decision process. While I also said that my theme is about the future, think about the future of the current workforce. Even though that might not be in your scope of

110terms but there is an influx even those demog uh democ the the demographic reports may not reflect that but those are the future as well when while jobs are still growing in this area. This makes this a very attractive area to still be in and potentially for them to also have children and consider this uh a school district of choice. Think of also the future of the environment impact. The city of Belmont has not been able to uh determine and solve the rston uh thoroughfare. It is continuously bogged down and it continues to strain the community. More buses are not the solution. More time commuting is not the solution either. Lastly, again, stability for our future is critical. And so this environment has allowed our children to achieve that and to have this um safety

111place for them to learn and to grow. So thank you for your consideration and I hope that we can hear out your deliberations in February. Kapor, are you still here? Right, we'll move on. Uh, can we get Michelle Wobbles, Noah, and Sam up? >> Hi everyone, my name is Michelle. I'm a proud parent of two S Piper Middle School students. One is in the eighth grade and the other one is in the sixth grade. So we moved here eight years ago when my older one was ready to start first grade. Yes, we bought our property because of the school. One of the main reason that we chose Redwood Shores over Bono St. Carlos was the K to8 school system. It was not started at that time but we know that it will happen. So since

112we not live here during the kindergarten, our older one was originally assigned to Nespit because S Piper didn't have a space for him. We were very concerned about the traffic and the lack of ways community network. So we I worked very hard to apply for a transfer. Fortunately, he was reassigned to S Piper before the school started. After all these years, we truly believe that our decision and the effort we made at that time was absolutely the right one. Both our children have thrived academically and socially. When our older son had opportunity to attend other prominent private schools before the sixth grade, he chose to stay. And it is because of the friendship. Yes, I know a lot of people went to Rousston because of friendship, but my child stay here because of friendship and

113also because of the teacher, the safe community and the design thinking program offered to S Piper, which he was eager to continue. As a product designer myself, I'm deeply impressed by S Piper's design thinking program. It teaches children how to solve human centered problems using technology. Given that that we live in Silicon Valley, these skills are absolutely benefit them throughout their lives. Now that my older one is graduating from 8th grade, he's more than ready for high school. And because of the positive experience our oldest son had, our younger one also chose to stay in San Piper. However, he would be directly impacted by the potential closure of the school. So we would be I would be my entire family would be extremely disappointed if this were to become a reality. While I understand that

114there are the district has its justification, I sincerely hope that the district and the board will allow more time to truly evaluate the pros and cons and make the right decision to everyone. Thank you. Hi, my name is Samyak. I'm in eighth grader. I'm going to graduate this year. And if I was any other eighth grader in any other middle school and it was closing, to be honest, I couldn't care less. I'm I'm graduating. I'm going to high school next year. But this sample we're talking about and um these last three years in middle school have been like really mindblowing because you get so many opportunities here and I've made really close relationships with both the teachers and all my fellow classmates. It's like really tight-knit and um uh I all the classes that I

115took over the years have been like a very unique experience and like I said so many opportunities like there's quest time and study hall there's all types of opportunities but you have to take the biggest one out of them all and that is to join the school in the first place and If people actually do that, they'll understand that deep inside that Sandpiper is actually a really great school. It you learn way more than you would at other schools. And I I'm really proud to make the decision to go to the school. >> Thank you. >> Oh. Oh, one more thing. Uh my bad. Uh, I wouldn't be up here and talking about this if it weren't for um my seventh grade teacher, Miss Bjorkquist, who taught me how to uh do arguments and stuff.

116So, it's for >> Hi, my name is Noah Santh grade at San Piper Elementary. My brothers are in seventh and eighth grade as S Piper. I want I want and I want to keep the S Piper Middle School open because I want to have the same opportunities as my brothers have. The teachers are kind and help me through challenges my brothers and hardwork and All right. And for our last round of speakers, can we have Leo Chang, Herman Young, and Madison Reichen? >> Evening board. My name is Leo Chain. I'm a parent to two Sam Piper students. Thank you for your public service to our Community, that's the key word you heard over and over tonight. Community is medicine. Community is home. Our community is here. We do not deny that there are real issues

117with enrollment, with utilization, and financials. We ask to solve that together as one community with each other, not against each other. We do not deny that your jobs are really, really, really hard amongst really hard choices. We asked to find new choices together, as one community with each other, not against each other. Others more eloquent than I have cited this inexplicable rush as if we were in a crisis when we are not. If there are real reasons, please share them with us. If this were two patients coming into a hospital showing some real symptoms but nowhere near critical, how can we decide that we don't have the time to properly treat and diagnose and treat and simply decide that we must pull the plug on one of them when they're not even on life support.

118years from now when you're at the end of your terms or even decades from now in at the end of your careers in retirement reflecting back at your time in this entrusted seat. Will you take pride in hitting a utilization percentage on a spreadsheet that's long lost or saved X dollars or close some gap on numbers you probably won't remember by then? Or do you want to remember that you spend your time in this esteemed seat of yours furthering and enriching a vibrant, passionate, loving community that you see here tonight? I hope tonight has shown you that we are more than numbers on a spreadsheet or figures on a table on a slide. We are living, breathing families and communities with real stories, deep bonds, and love. Our community's future and our children's lifelong memories

119are in your hands. Hi, I'm Maddie. I'm in eighth grade, so this doesn't really affect me, but I didn't think I'd be up here tonight because honestly, this talking in front of everybody, but I wanted to be because I feel so bad for all of our sixth and seventh graders. um because they're starting this year with such amazing teachers and they don't get to finish their entire middle school experience. Everything was so amazing for us and I just can't believe that I got to be a part of this community. I mean, look at this. We have been with each other since sixth grade. And honestly, we always make room for each other. We've been squeezed in along this row even though there's not enough seats. >> I know what it's like to leave schools. I

120was actually put in Nesbbit first when I came here in fifth grade and um it wasn't a good fit for me. I just didn't really fit in there. But when I came here, I had such a great community and I can't believe that I get to be a part of this because this is so amazing. I've gone to so many different schools and I've got to say nothing compares to this. all you board members. I was up here um last week. I think the the group has grown quite a bit. Thank you everyone for for showing up here. Um I'm a big community person. [laughter] I won't be long. I'm a big community person. Um this is my daughter my daughter's friend group here. They'll be together for the rest of their lives. Um, one

121thing that I kind of wanted to point out was uh, the bus. I know that a lot of people have talked about SAM tra offering a lot of different services and whatnot and whatnot. I was a bus kid. I took Samras for five years. I went to Burell and Aragon. There's a lot of things that go on that bus. >> I don't know if um, if you guys are aware of the incidents that happened on the bus. Um, I think, um, that's not a good formative years for these kids to be exposed to something like that. Um, I didn't I didn't hear that being being talked about, so I thought I'd kind of put that out there. Um, that there's a ton of stuff that goes on on that bus and I think it'll be

122a waste of these students time to be exposed to that type of environment. That's all I have. Thank you. President Kas, those are all the speakers for tonight. There we go. Okay. So again, just before just to conclude the public comment part, thank you for everyone who shares tonight. We do appreciate your time, perspective, and engagement. Clearly, you're passionate about your school as we are, and we want to make sure that the decision we make next month is the most informed. and this has helped with that that informed decision- making. Um, so with that, I'd like to to open it up to the board for discussion. You know, this is our opportunity as well together to be able to take it where we wanted to do um before our deliberation in February at our regular

123board meeting. I'm kind of opening this up now to a discussion or anything that um we would like to raise at this time >> if there is. Go ahead. >> Hello. Oh, the power button, guys. Um, so first off, I want to really truly sincerely thank our entire community and all of you for speaking tonight and acknowledge how difficult this topic is. It's it's deeply it's deeply personal and it affects families, students, and our staff. I don't think we've talked about the staff enough in very very real way. Um, tonight we heard your tears, frustration, pride, and deep care that we have for our schools and our students. Um, and I just wanted to say that we respect the voices that have shared for tonight and the courage it takes to speak on an issue

124that matters so deeply to all of us. Um, thank you again for the care and the thought that you put in to the comments tonight. And I know that we as a board we will be taking um a lot of or we will take everything that we've heard with us into our board this time. Um I did have a question um for you that I wrote about um historically how much [clears throat] does our enrollment go up and down? Right. I know I know there are dips and surges in enrollments based on, you know, families moving in and out and neighborhoods changing over time. Um, at what point would having just one smaller middle school stop being workable from an educational operational standpoint? And how are we factoring in these um these longer term cycles?

125Because I mean the demographer projected oh out to 2030. What about beyond that? because I from everything I've heard, it goes up and down. It happens all the time, right? Um and especially since this school was only built 10 years ago. I I'm concerned and I would hate to consolidate it now only to have to open it again in the future or not even open again. As someone said, it's it's pretty much it's you can't make that, right? we close it or we consolidate it, it's consolidated and it's done. If we were to need it again, what does that that amount of space that we have over at Nest and or else what does that look like? >> Power button. >> There we go. Thanks, John. >> That was a really really good question. Uh,

126so I'm going to write off pieces and if I miss part, please uh feel free share microphone. >> Uh, so first I can use my little So I'll I'll just go ahead and hold it and when it comes on I'll I'll speak as loud as I can. Um so a couple things um I'll mention just in terms of planning um you know I think it's really important we can only look at the set of facts that we have um here and now um and do our best long term to uh ensure that we're making those decisions uh with as much information as we can. Um when we look at enrollment uh we can go back to our our TKERS uh TK data is even a little shaky now because we just started uh full enrollment

127but we can certainly look back TK and we can kind of graduate kids up and see uh the nomographer adds an extra four years because they can start to look at birth rates. So certainly we don't have a crystal ball um but we can make um our best guess our best judgment based on the facts that are in front of us. Um, one of the things that is uh, strong about BRSSD is we do have pretty stable enrollments. I'm not going to quote numbers from grade to grade, but when we do our projections internally, we move our second graders up to third grade, our third grade, up to fourth grade, and so on. And that pretty much nails it. At certain at certain points, we know kids come in, kids go out, there's private school

128enters and exits along the way. there's kids coming from uh private um uh extended daycare opportunities that mirror TK that they're going to probably come in with more kindergarteners. So there's some trends like that that we can predict uh largely year-over-year um we're consistent. Um when we look across multiple years, we do see that decline, right? We see over the next few years, we're going to have larger eighth grade classes leaving us and smaller kindergarten classes coming in. That's one aspect of enrollment, right? Projections. Um, when we look at enrollment at our middle schools, our particularly our small middle schools, Nesbbit and Sam Piper, we have never fully optimized enrollment at either Nesbbit or Sam Piper. We've come close a few years um but right now we have 36 and 44 students in sixth grade

129um enrolled in our programs, right? So um roughly space across 68 for 168 Again, we're running at about 70 79% capacity. Um, we do know that um uh our community does value choice. Um, we've done several things to boost enrollment. Uh, by no means perfect. Uh, but we've brought on board design thinking. We've brought on board IB. Uh, we've done before and after school language classes. We've tried music in different capacities. and consistently we've still not been able to meet that target kind of enrollment at our small schools. So there's a there is one aspect of uh declining enrollment fewer kids in the district but there's also that aspect of few kids fewer kids are selecting uh sandpaper and nesbbit than we really need to be selecting sandpaper. Can I >> um so I'm hearing

130you say that we are we are having this choice made and the students despite multiple efforts are not necessarily selecting Stan Piper or Nesbet as their school choice. Um, and just to think outside the box here, what what might happen or what would the ramifications be of potentially capping rston and almost forcing that full enrollment of our smaller middle schools and and let me finish. Um, and I and and if we were to do that based on Langley's survey, >> which said that the students that said that they wanted to go to Rston, the majority of them ended up not wanting to go to Rston, they were happy where they were. Um, I would like to see the results of that survey actually. You know, I [laughter] I feel like that's really important information because

131because as someone else in our community had said, we're allowing students to choose to go where their friends are going. And I know that there's a big piece of it where where it's, oh, I want for sports, I want the music programs, I want XYZ, various different things, and those are the reasons I want to go to Rston. But ultimately, how much of the of that and I I know we have our our survey that says, "Hey, these are things that are valid by our parents in our community." Um, but is that something that is that that we have to do? We don't let our students choose the class that they want to go to or if they don't get to choose their teachers. Why do they get to always select where they want to

132go? Uh so uh yes I will say that that is a family choice. Um and families are responsible when that survey goes out or selecting the school that they prefer their child to go to. Um we do our best as a district to present all of the options for families. Uh thus far we've said there's three great options and we stand behind that. uh with um one great choice for each individual. Um we do have to make sure that we're optimizing our programs so that our programs are um feasible but also continue to provide that opportunity for kids. And part of that is um steady and consistent enrollment, right? So um yes, we we want our families to pick their local middle school. Our data shows that that's not um always the case. Um actually

133I would say Langley your survey is probably a little probably close. We said about 30% of kiddos um that were in our fifth grade sandpaper and Nesbbit that attend sixth grade actually stayed at their at their schools. Right. So 30%. Um uh and that's something that we have been trying to work on um through uh you know family nights through um outreach. I I I know certainly Sam Piper staff have been talking with kiddos, Nesbbit staff have been talking with kiddos and families. Um and yes, it is a family decision. I have uh middle schoolers myself and that is a family decision, right? So um yeah, I'll just speak last year uh and I always quantify numbers as a point in time, right? So even if you've been following presentations, uh the numbers shift slightly

134as as we update enrollment and look at trends. Um last year, uh the vast majority, I won't ever say all or every, very rarely, um the vast majority of our kiddos um in fifth grade eventually got their first choice. Not all, but most most uh that left all of our new >> Why is that? >> Say say >> why is that? Why why were they given their first >> at the judgment to the judgment of our enrollment? Why why was that? We've we've had a practice as a district of valuing that family choice and when we could honor it um with uh uh our projections, we did our best to honor it and um we honored it for the last several years um in spite of low enrollment uh at Nesbbit and Sandpiper. So, um

135I think you know as as the board makes any decision um we do have to work to optimize programs um and um be aware that we will have fewer middle schools as we go along too fewer middle schoolers right so just keeping that um big picture in mind um it it does create a challenge um and not a reflection on families that are joining us um in end of fifth grade year moving on to sixth grade. Uh but certainly our fifth grade families when we've had six years, seven years to work with those families, we know the Langley's and Eastens and and whatnot, right? And we can design um environments around um our kids to optimize the instruction that happens. um that's not the case um when we're getting sixth, seventh, and eighth graders uh

136that are brand new to VRSC. That does impact the quality of programs and it disproportionately impacts uh smaller programs. So, those are some of the struggles that we've been grappling with. We we talk about enrollment and and yes, it is um uh it's in it's in opting in enrollment in our small middle schools compounded by fewer kids districtwide. Um and we just have to make adjustments um as we go. You might have a good question. >> Um, hello everyone. I just wanted to echo Trusty Tang's um sentiments and we really appreciate you all coming here. I know it's getting late. Um, thank you for all of the comments, for your ideas, for sharing your thoughts and I know it's very emotional. I also get emotional listening. So, um, one thing I did want to to

137bring attention to is that I think that it's very clear and evident by our student speakers here tonight that Sam Piper is an amazing school. So, >> they're here. >> So, I did um also just want to address my fellow board trustees. Um I am feeling um similarly to some of the people who commented tonight that we may need more time with uh with reaching out to the broader community. Um I know that we have done due diligence in putting communications out to families in the district. I know that Superintendent Duara did work putting um articles in the Redwood Shores newsletter and a couple of other u mailers and things in the Nesbbit district uh Nesbbit neighborhood. Um, but I do think that we should take the opportunity to um to make sure that we

138do everything we can to make sure the broader community and also the NEZVIC uh the uh pardon the Rston community has a chance to have a a forum as well. Um so I'd like to to formally request that we add another special meeting so that we can do that. If if I may just uh talk about outreach, um it's it's there's an element of of communication. It's hard, right? Um we always work hard and we strive uh to communicate in the best ways that we can. Um in this case, um we um absolutely reached out to our community uh via parent square across the district. Um, we also, um, did a couple articles in the Redwood Shores pilot, um, which is, uh, the community magazine, um, that circulates within the shores. Um, we in Nesbet,

139we did some outreach um, with the neighborhood association, the Sterling Downs Neighborhood Association, which did outreach as well. Um, we've been invited to the Redwood Shores um, uh, uh, annual neighborhood community for Q&A. Uh, as a typically as a it's not us presenting, it's us as a booth um, hearing community feedback. Um, and uh, we continue to to receive feedback the board has in front of them um, feedback from feedback at BRSSD.org. Um and c uh certainly um there is the opportunity uh we have uh a spe uh not special we have our um uh board study session a board retreat uh for the community typically that's where the board goes um a little deeper in terms of topics of relevance. Uh sometimes we're talking about construction, sometimes we're talking about turf. Um other times

140like planned for this one uh we are doing a deep dive uh into special education. Uh that said um we can we can absolutely if the board uh decides we can readjust um we'll look at another input session um and open that up uh for another community rston. Um I will say uh uh because of Rston's um reach um we have families at Rston from all of our schools. Right. So, um, uh, word does tend to to spread out there, but certainly if the board, uh, desires to to shift that, um, uh, retreat, we can move it. >> Anybody else? >> Hello. Sorry. Thank you. Um so again just to just to um echo my fellow trustees um everyone's heartfelt and wellthoughtout comments and ideas. I really appreciate them. We as a board really really

141appreciate them. Thank you. Thank you for uh coming out and letting us know how you're thinking about this and how you're feeling. Um uh I'm just you know thinking off the top of my head but um uh you know I think um and having another session is would be a possibility another listening session and ideally I think um because I think what we as board members have been dealing with is we've been trying to honor choice and um unfortunately we haven't been getting uh as many families as we would like who are choosing the smaller middle schools. Um but I would love all of you to be ambassadors to uh our current our current fifth graders throughout the district and our fifth grade families. Um and um I do take it to heart of um

142the suggestions that maybe we haven't done as much as we could to try to encourage enrollment. Um so I would definitely be interested in that. Um however, however, um I do think I and people did allude to this as well. I think it's part of it is we're gonna have to decide on choice versus geography, right? So even with more encouragement for families to pick our smaller schools as our enrollment declines in the future, which it's projected to, then it prevents us from having a robust program at each small middle school that families are so proud of and want to be part of. So, I'm I'm definitely um as as I believe um Trusty Tang mentioned like, well, why have we been giving people their choices? I think overall it's been part of our board

143policy is that for middle school, we try to if you uh were here in fifth grade that we try to give you your choice. And maybe that's what the community wants us to continue doing, but if the community is more interested in sort of a geography kind of uh channeling people into a a certain school. That could be something we consider changing. Um I'd like to piggyback off that, Trusty Northrup. Thank you. Those are great points. Um, I think I just want to be really direct in in making sure we say out loud very directly that that option that was just mentioned would mean that residents in Redwood Shores would then go to Sandpiper Middle School. So that would then take away the choice for students in Redwood Shores who wish to go to Rston

144to go to Rston. So, it's it's definitely an option, but I just wanted to make sure that we publicly say directly that that does affect your ability your child's ability to go to the larger school. Thank you. Oh, actually, I wanted to say one more thing. Sorry. Um, just another comment that I think is really important and that is um the ambassador piece. We really do want to work with you. We're we're here for you guys, the community, your children. So, um that's we we want your ideas. We we want you to to give us those other things, thinking outside of the box. We're just five people. We can't think of everything. So, if you do have ideas, please email the feedback at BRSSD and tell us what you think would be a good idea.

145I if I can really quick um I just want to speak to program. Uh I I I want to say it's it's been of the last uh three four years uh that we've gone down the design thinking and I pathway um in an effort to grow enrollment. Uh and um I I uh we have not been as successful as we would have hoped. Uh that said, I do want to express my confidence in both programs. they are uh it is instruction that is important uh for our kids whether it's um here Nesbbit Roston um it's an instructional practice that that is important right um I also want to say that uh there's an element of of the yes all the all the data piece um our kiddos uh who spoke tonight um it's indisputable you

146got Everything aside, as superintendent, when you guys step up to the podium and speak with eloquent eloquent um passion and um uh have those skills that persuade um we know we've been successful. So I I do want to just say you guys are all such fit. Uh a lot goes into our program. uh your teachers um are doing some incredible things. Uh they are going above and beyond. Um they are um I I won't quantify their their work ethic compared to others. Uh but their work ethic is amazing because they're creating those opportunities that um don't exist in kind of the silo that comes inherent with a a middle school program, right? So there is an element of our our board decision which we need to make sure that we're maximizing our teachers potential too

147that we're not um uh uh having them create something um that is not being optimized as well. So all of those things come into play uh in this very challenging decision. >> Don't go there. >> Um I have things to say. I'm going to start with a question based on something I just heard just to make sure I'm taking in all the same things. When we say we talk about choice versus geography, but our current number being [clears throat] 120ish, we're actually saying 40 families. Maybe we would choose geography of choice. Not all families in Redwood Shores. That >> that that's great. I think if we did the number, we wouldn't be able to quite fit all families all fifth grade families attending Redwood Shores uh in Nesbbit here. Um but um we would we

148would need to work on some criteria that um allow uh for some flexibility, but um Right. >> We're not talking about actually extending the capacity. >> We are not. Gotcha. We are uh the models the mo the small middle school models are pretty defined um and pretty limited in terms of flexibility. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. I just want that clarity. Um I'll try to get through my bullets. Uh first thing I want to say just to this group, uh good job. I I seriously Yeah, it's like we say thanks for coming, but I didn't know what to expect. Uh and I'm feeling all kinds of things. Um so yeah, just a good job out there. inspired by some, humbled by some, taking the task, which I always respect when I witness it and even

149experience it. Um, again from students, adults, parents, faculty members. Um, yeah, seriously, great job. Uh, thank you for service. Um, I I was a PTA president. Uh, the support you shown for each other. Um, I want to really appreciate the support that I heard for Nest while here. And I'm not trying to actually bring that into it, but it was very clear. It was a very cool one. Uh, which I didn't I didn't foresee that. So, I I loved how that felt. Um, bravery, especially if you just throw your name in last, things like that. Just want to shout that out. Uh, cander. Again, I always love it. Um, clarity. And then, uh, pride, right? Pride in the thing that you're you're part of of the thing some of you have created. Uh, just wanted

150to shout that out. I love it. Uh we're all public people who got elected. We're also all parents. So just like parents in the room. I can't say how it feels. I can only imagine. Um but I feel it as I'm I'm in this room. And again, just want to give that air. It's Yeah. It's hard to look at some of you. Um [clears throat] yeah. Uh when it feels like it's rush, you might wonder if we hear you. And I just want to say at least tonight definitely. and and what's back in front of us in these papers and we do. Um so if you're wondering that are like are we listening? Are we taking notes? Are we taking this seriously? Again I and if I want to being completely honest in general I

151think that becomes more and more true in sense of like there were conversations over years that maybe I didn't see faces to and I do now. So I want to just give that air that like if you're wondering are we listening? I want to believe I took the job that I always was and I will admit that I am more now. Um I always wondered about programs and how people are choosing it and I appreciate just kind of the call outs for just making deliberate and active choices and the just concepts of collaboration and accountability both like with the community. I think that again when I think about like why I chose to sit up here and be part of this nights like this are it which again I in this is what is possibly

152my last year of doing this I haven't felt so clearly as right now um so again thank you for that uh what I heard asked for again I just want to make sure I give air just to hear myself say it and commit to it was uh clarity um creativity due diligence and validation. And again, I want to like if I'm making a checkbox in my head of what I do my best to contribute to a community that's going through what you're going through, that's there. Um, some of my last thoughts I I live on the other side and uh and and and my kids go to Nesvet and so even in this and I learned more about Nesbbit and I like thought I knew how awesome it was and I and I heard from

153my community that told me that um I feel less so about Sandpiper again as a boarding member. I thought I knew and actually as a parent in the PTA I knew of it. Um I feel like what I'm trying to say is there's a commitment that I think I owe to this community of kind of meeting the invite. There was somebody who literally talked about you should just come here more and I own that I haven't done that. I haven't done that. I have been there a couple times could do more. Um I thought of a real thing. Somebody mentioned Nova and I shouldn't give this complete air. I'm the dean of students at Nova. So when you think of design school, Gloria, I apologize for not having connect with you here and whatever we

154work on here. Let's talk about might be of value to you. Um, just want to say that because I do think design thinking has high potential and we've talked about them before, but I haven't actually shown up. So you'll see my face. You'll see my face. Uh, go ahead. And that's that's not me speaking for the club. That's you getting Jackie Bruno for that bit. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and actually I want to commit to just like a a deep deliberation and I am kind of going into this next few weeks with actually a more clear confidence in what kind of [snorts] could be created and in all of our options and what these two small schools that we're kind of explicitly talking about have done for communities. So again, just thanks for laying that out.

155I appreciate your presence. Um, I'm intrigued to hear more questions. You have my minutes. Appreciate you. So, one of the things that you know as we as we kind of deliberate to you. >> Okay. So one of the things as we deliberate right and I think it's been very eloquent around like keep coming back to okay there's some drivers and why why now right what what is it because everything has an impact and so there is um part of this community it's 70%ish that have picked rston right so when I'm talking to other families some families in the written feedback back and anecdotal and and one-on- ons have also said, "Well, we're also happy with our choice and it was a family choice and and sometimes driven um by by by the students that are

156independent of the amazing curriculum, right? And I think we want to have to as a board and as a district also do service to that and especially I think it was well said if the if we value choice and family choice however that's decided um right wrong or indifferent there's plenty of choices I look back and I wish my parents had made a different choice for my middle school and and high school but but and it had nothing to do with the academics and you know we don't have a I always say we don't have a parent handbook right so We're trying to do the best for our children, our families, and uh with what's in front of us. And we're very lucky to have amazing three amazing schools and that that capacity to be

157able to to do that. Um, so first I really want to recognize that again as been said before the amazing program teachers and staff that allow us to be sitting in this position unfortunately but and have that that that choice in front of us and what we value as a community. I just would like to just though ask this when somebody is like well what would time kind of give us what what maybe have we not done or done in the last six seven years as as superintendent said when he first came in the board at the time said please continue to monitor this um since I came in four years ago um you know this has been something that's been um dis discussed and and I'm very confident that the profession professionals, our professional

158leadership have whatever to up to this point have done the best that they can jiggering programs, you know, getting um more maybe marketing and again can more be done probably. But I would imagine that if something could be done to the extent that it has been done just to give you an idea with the IB program and and again, you know, I'm not comparing the two. I'm just giving you a different perspective that you might not be aware. They went through the teachers were very motivated as as the teachers here to but to go through with a certification and even before certification to to envelop the IB to create the planning to to move that forward the framework and then go undergo annual reviews even before the ability to then finally get certified as the

159only middle school IB program in Sonteo County. So the teachers have certainly you know have the passion the energy it's not a reflection on that. So I guess I would my my question just to remind myself as well as as others to this open tendon is why what there's there's obviously a tipping point right so and we know that we are kind of I don't like the word we're augmenting or making sure that programs are viable by assigning people who um are are not maybe this is their first choice. Again, we've heard certainly that people have said, "Maybe it wasn't my first choice, but I'm so blessed to finally be in these two smaller schools." And I think that's amazing. But there's equally there is a waiting list of of some again, right, wrong or

160indifferent, no no judgment, that are saying, "I've given it a shot and it's still not the right kind of community feel." Um so my guess my question is is why this year after years of monitoring, observing, tinkering, um is this the kind of the year where this decision needs to be made? Can you kind of reflect on that and like why you know why why is this the the tipping point year? >> Uh I think when we look at this year's sixth grade classes at both Nesbbit and San Piper, they're very small. 44 and 36. uh two teachers assigned to sixth grade. That puts our class ratios at 22 and half of 36, right? Um uh those are really small classrooms. Um I um always support uh we always say small small class, small teacher

161uh student ratio is great. Uh yeah, I think it's great, but there's also the positive that comes from the collaboration, the interaction with with more kids, especially as we get older. Um I think there's that right balance. We've never said that the program has to be like maximized at 168, but when we're running a program that has capacity for 168 and we're at 119 and 133, um that's a pretty big gap. Um when I look at both programs together, I see one strong program um that meets the needs of our district and of our community at least on face value on numbers. Um there's there's only so much numbers can say. Uh there's only so much uh you know, community input says it's it's finding that um balance. So I'll go back to the question

162of why this year. Um it's becoming harder and harder um for our teams to staff and teach a program that is dwindling. Um uh and we've we are pouring resources in. as it's as teachers and and and low uh ratios, but uh we're also uh uh trying to uh identify those high lever things that we think our community wants and address that. For example, uh at Sandpiper this year, language was the challenge. Um so we introduced a virtual language option. Still our numbers um are are down. Um we um look at um uh music. It's really hard to have a um music program in uh at in Sandpiper structure and Nesbbit uh structure just because of the small program feel and the way they have um blocked and rotated and um all of the elements

163that go into crafting that program. it's not possible to really have a dedicated period that kids rotate through that everybody has that comprehensive music. So, we've done one-offs like um morning or after school um music, but for some of for some students um who uh have been taking music virtually their whole lives um they need the the comprehensive option that Rston provides that just can't be provided in in the small school environment, right? So, um it's a lot of factors that are coming together at once um uh that are looking uh that we're looking at, but primarily driven driven uh by our low numbers. Um I will say and and I again I hate quoting numbers, we're we're about 20 to 30 between the two schools of requests to go to a different middle school

164um that we were not able to honor this year across um across all grades. um uh that's a number they they put in their application at some point we've kept that application kind of on hold u in a list um might they all say they're they're satisfied where they are perhaps um but again our numbers are still low right so I think I think that's our why and bring it here um I think to trustee Northrup's point um as a district we have always valued choice uh and we have um valued um choice of our families that have been with us um long term um which is incredibly important. Um but there's also sustainability um uh issues with with the way that we're doing enrollment. >> So thank you very much for that clarification. Um,

165I guess I I want to just pivot to um the opportunity to um shift our board retreat um to another session for both public comment and and and discussion uh before February before the regular board meeting. And if that if the board would find that of value to um kind of um configure that differently from what from the the the the work of the business work of the district that we had planned which was special services construction and and perhaps some board governance, right? Um so is there a motion? Well, uh that's the best way to go. Sure. I move that we change the special the board retreat to another special board meeting. >> I have a second. >> Second. >> Can I ask a question? Yeah, for >> um are we talking about a

166meeting where there's a presentation and questions answered or is it just another session where we're >> session? I was thinking the same. So >> is a microphone. So I think that that's that's all on the the table. You know, I mean, in every uh correct in every board meeting, there is an opportunity for public comment. And so again, as um Trusty Northrup said, we certainly if you feel that people have not been heard or that that are out there, regardless of even if they're not at these schools, I think this again, we are trying to understand what our community values and we have done that through a couple different mechanisms and I think here's another opportunity um kind of to to show and and maybe raise an area that we haven't thought of or just

167a different approach or just be heard. So, I think to your point, I think it's really kind of all of the above. It gives us an opportunity um with the, you know, with the Brown Act and just being out in front of the public to kind of just have some more deliberation and it also provides an outlet with public comment that that's how I'm thinking about it. Does that kind of jive with everybody as well? >> Sure. >> Okay. So, um why don't we Yeah. >> Your vote, do you think? >> Well, okay. Okay. So, I have a first and a second. Um, do I have uh all those in favor, please? >> I >> Okay, five in favor, none object. So, we will uh work I will work with Superintendent Aguard. Yeah, >> it's

168just a clarifying question. Um, so that would be completely dedicated towards this le listening session and we would no longer be talking about >> that. Right. I I would recommend that we uh table uh the agenda that we've have had have had planned uh president and I had planned for the board. Um we will uh either incorporate that into future board meetings um and or uh just reschedule our board study session um for another day. >> Yeah. So good question. This will be just solely dedicated to middle school alignment configuration. >> I I did hear the board's desire to uh move away from uh our normal general space at the county office or temporary space, away from Nesbbit and away from Sandpiper and perhaps uh do a session um uh I I'll just say Rostston

169because it's the other middle school. um not knowing if Rston is available that night or if there's any other conflicts. Um but somewhere on the other end of the district is that um what I'm understanding from my trustees. >> That would be great. >> Y >> I'm sorry. I realize we voted but I have another question. >> Zero actions will happen at this meeting. It's purely discussion. >> Vote on anything at that meeting. >> That is correct. So uh uh any I I'd say any item that the board takes action on I guess independent of uh changing the topic of a meeting um has to be agendized for action. Uh so there will be no action um taken uh at that meeting. So again there were five five ys zero nays. So it passes that

170we will convert and have another uh meeting on this another meeting for this discussion point agenda item. I want to thank again everybody for coming. Um we are closing this session at 9:04 and thank you again. Have a nice evening.