001Sorry, I'm going to open us back to um open session. Um we have nothing to report from close session. And I'd like to let you all know that this meeting is recorded for live streaming and archiving on the district YouTube channel uh at youtube.com/benicia unified school district. That's for your convenience so you can watch it as you will. Um our pledge is going to be led by I I believe we have a middle schooler who is going to lead us in the pledge tonight. I pledge allegiance. Oh, sorry. Please stand. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you so much. And we come to um approval of the agenda.
002Can I have a motion? >> I'll move that we approve the agenda as written. >> And I'll second. >> All those in favor. >> Thank you. >> And our highlight tonight is Benishia Middle School. Um and >> yes, we have principal Mark Nelson here tonight. He's going to introduce our students as they uh highlight what's happening in our associated student body. >> Got it. Well, thank you everybody. Uh Superintendent Calibracy and board members, thank you so much for having us here tonight or for volunteering us to be here tonight. We're thrilled to be here. Um I have three wonderful young ladies behind us. Uh we have Birdie Newton who is our student body vice president. We have Emory Crumpton who is our secretary and Annie Romero who is our treasurer. And they will be talking
003about our leadership program and all the leadership activities that we do at BMS. But before I have these young ladies come up, I would like to give a huge shout out to Mr. Daniel Satakei, uh, who is not only a fabulous math teacher, he has run our leadership program for the last five years. And BMS just would not be BMS without Mr. Satake and everything he does. So, thank you, sir, for all you do. [Applause] And you're up, ladies. Okay, we're going to start with the Venetian Unified School District's vision. We are an inclusive community that cultivates an equitable and responsive environment, empowering all students to develop strong character, character, and academic excellence to become well-rounded and engaged global citizens. I'm now going to read the Benicia Unified School District mission. In partnership with students,
004family, staff, and the community, we are committed to inclusive community, respecting diversity, and nurturing a safe and equitable environment. Empowered students, being responsive to student needs and voices while fostering the passion for learning, collaboration, and individual expression needed to reach their future ambitions. Strong character promoting social emotional learning, integrity, mental and physical wellness, and values aligned actions. Academic excellence supporting and retaining a caring and well-trained staff who promote critical thinking, cultural and technological literacy by ensuring rigorous and innovative programs, well-rounded and global citizens, offering relevant learning opportunities to help build a sustainable future. I'm now going to talk about how leadership builds community in our school, which is we do it with clubs and activities. The main goal of our leadership class is to build a strong sense of community, and we do this by
005supporting our campus clubs and creating our own events. One club we've already worked with is Sources of Strength. We've supported their advertising and lunchtime events. September was suicide awareness prevention month, and we volunteered at their 9A awareness activity during lunch. In October, we're working together on their you can sit with me campaign. It to increase the sense of belonging on campus. Another club we pair with is the web program. Web stands for where everybody belongs. We help welcome sixth graders to BMS with activities throughout the year and we will be working together at our sixth grade dance in October. In addition to the sixth grade dance in October, we'll be organizing the seventh grade dance in February. The leadership students use fundraiser money to organize the DJ decorations, snacks, and games. We advertise the events
006with posters, videos, announcements, and ticket sales. We are we always try to make the events better each year. Finally, the most exciting and fun way we build community at BMS is through our TGIF events. Thank goodness it's fun Friday. We organize events for the entire school during our lunch on Friday. Some of the events I've joined the most were things like trivia where we where we choose a chop topic that usually coordinates with the spirit day. Another activity we like is volleyball cuz everyone loves a fun and competitive environment. Another one which is my personal favorite to work at is hula hooping because everyone loves just to listen to the music and have fun with their friends. So, as you can see, leadership always strives to build community at BMS by organizing memorable events that
007bring students together. As you can see here, these are just some photos of the school activities we organized at our school. One of my favorite memories at BMS was the sixth grade dance. It was one of the first events I had ever attended at Venicia Middle School. Throughout the dance, I remember being able to reconnect with old friends and having such a great time. My favorite part was definitely where everyone got close together and started dancing near the DJ. I just remember everyone laughing and having a great time. Our ne our next leadership our next leadership highlight is our community service. Here at Benishia Middle School, we support our school by organizing and promoting various acts of ser community service at Benanishia Middle School. For example, we help organize the annual Ruby Bridges Walk to
008School Day in honor of Ruby Bridges for being the first African-American child to desegregate William France Elementary School in New Orleans. We also support many campus events for students and families like back to school night and BMS openhouse where we help navigate parents to their students classrooms. Biking night where we helped create science to support the event and run games like giant connect for tic tac toe toss cornhole and giant jango for the young children who attend. Viking store where we run a small school store every other Friday for students to redeem the Viking tickets they've earned from their teachers for doing good things good things. Sorry. Finally, our largest act of service to the school is running the cookie dough fundraiser. This two-eek event helps us raise money to support all activities, clubs on
009campus, and end of year events. Our leadership students organize it every year without fail and with the help of our amazing students and teachers. This event ended yesterday and we were on track to have more than $30,000 in sales. The these events are the many different ways our leadership class provides service and back to our campus. In leadership, we strive to give back to our community. These photos capture moments of events where we have given back and brought our school together. One of my favorite memories of when leadership gave back was Viking night. It was last year and I decided to attend this event. It was nice to see all the families go together and all of the students attend this event. It was sorry. Viking night consisted of food trucks, bounce houses, games, and
010more. Viking night gave an opportunity for all students to have a good time with their peers. >> Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to be here and explain what we do for our school. Go Vikings. Thank you girls. >> Well done. You are all very fine speakers. Well done. >> Thank you so much for being here. One more. >> Dad picture. >> Thank you so much. >> Yes. And now we come to um our board our reports. And so we have our um our students here today, Bridada Sanchez and Freda Silva Cortez from U Liberty High School. And we also have Issa Renteria. Did I say it right? Yay. And um Caroline Pilot. Oh, excellent. So, Issa, are you starting or >> Good evening, President Grubs, fellow trustees and cabinet members. In
011the past weeks, the homecoming spirit week started off well on Monday the 22nd. Over the week, we had fun spirit days and lunch activities in the quad leading up to the rally and football game on Friday. The rally went well with the PTSA making some of our staff into human Sundays thanks to students donations from their latest fundraiser. After school, we had our homecoming football game which went incredibly. We won 48 nothing while dressed in our class colors. During halftime, our cheerleaders led an incredible performance and we had our first homecoming float presentation in years. The freshman float was voted as the winner. That Saturday, we had our homecoming dance. Leadership decorated the school with the theme of Candyland with inflatable gummy bears and donuts and homemade ice cream, whipped cream, and lollipop decorations. We
012hired three local food trucks. The dance was a great success. The day after that, the debate team had their first tournament of the year. It was an online tournament with new and returning debaters alike all winning at least one round. This week, the school had its first college application workshop on the 1st of October. Today was school custo custodian appreciation day. Also today we had a school safety drill during access where we practiced run hide fight protocol in the event of an intruder. This Saturday, October 4th, the band is having a car wash and a bake sale at BHS from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the front parking lot. That same day, student or parent volunteers can show up to the Benicia to the BHS's garden club fall cleanup day from 12:00 a.m. to
01312:00 p.m. in the school garden. In the upcoming weeks, Monday, October 6th, is National Coaches Day, and Wednesday the 8th is walk and roll to school day. On the same day, our school guidance counselors are holding a college application workshop during access. On Thursday, October 9th, BHS is holding its own SAT during the school day. That Friday is the end of the first quarter with a 2:30 p.m. dismissal for the day. After that, the school is holding a festival de la community event from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. celebrating the Hispanic heritage. Finally, that Saturday, the BHS band will be competing at the Franklin Band Review. On behalf of Benishia High School, thank you. and our uh and Brida are are you ready? Are whoever's going to start is just fine. Good evening. Oh, good evening,
014President Grubs, Superintendent Calibesi, fellow trustee, and cabinet members. Today we will be holding our monthly tomorrow, sorry, we will be holding our monthly assembly honoring our October birthdays, advisory allstars, students with perfect or near-perfect attendance. Shout out to Sophia, Jackson, Mia, and Immani for having perfect period attendance for the month of September. We're celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by learning about people um with Hispanic heritage who connect our own interests and spark. I have picked Dr. Helen um Rodriguez Triz. She was a um activist for HIV and AIDS and was also um the first Latin American woman to be named um the president of the American Health Association. Next week we'll be we will begin to construct our frienda and continue to add to it throughout the month. We are encouraging all students and staff to
015contribute. LHS students have many learning through interest opportunities in the next two weeks. We are going to see the ACT play Kim's Convenience. We are hosting a lash tech guest speaker. Several students have signed up to take the ASVAB and students at Elh LHS are participating in the forestry challenge in Santa Cruz Mountains. Thank you, Mr. Pound, for getting us ready for this trip. Next week, we will be starting to partner with Mary Farmer again to bring back our playground pals. Students from Liberty along with their adviserss go to our elementary school and partner with the younger students and we do chalk art, play soccer, basketball and we even do red light, green light, duck duck goose and we hope to continue building a wonderful relationship. Uh we went to BHS for put we want
016to say thank you to BHS for putting up a wonderful homecoming dance. Many Liberty students attended. The the bubba truck was great. The whole decoration of Candyland was honestly pretty amazing and it was really fun. On behalf of Liberty High School, thank you. >> Thank you so much. And you are welcome to go on and carry out your the rest of your evening. You're also welcome to say if you want, but I bet there's good night. Thank you, ladies. Thank you. >> So now we come to um the superintendent report. >> Yeah. Good evening board of trustees. So uh for October 2nd, my my 12th day in the district and second superintendence report. Really excited to share out about homecoming. What an incredible event that was and just the hometown feel. Love the uh the
017homecoming floats as golf carts got decorated. Uh great game. I will not say the scores to not embarrass the other team. Uh but our our our students out there played really really well and so did the JV team. I had the honor of going to the uh Benicia uh High School Hall of Fame dinner, second annual dinner. Uh it was a pretty much a packed house and I just want to give a shout out to these individuals here. There was a the award winners that night was it was super inspiring. But Dave Betard did not know that he was going to get the service award that night and he was nearly speechless. And just to hear all the things that he has done for this community and for um Anisha High School was just incredible.
018Michelle and I'm going to not get her last name right here. Gosion softball player and and going on to to play ball at the college level and just all that she has done with her career was was just incredibly impressive. But Randy Wright, the voice of the Panthers, um was just he got honored as a super fan, but to hear his story and to hear how, you know, he this is a retired police officer and the contribution that he has made to um Benicia High School football and and the support that he gave and he gave it all away that night. He he really spoke about the other players or excuse me the other people that were in the box with him and then all of his family members that were there supporting him and
019people that he grew up with and and their contribution and and it was just really really inspiring night. I got out to uh Benisha High School and got into some classrooms and these two young ladies, Gabby and Dolores uh shared with me uh from Mrs. choose fifth period art class um as they're doing some 3D artwork and the turtle there and the kitty cat. And so it was super fun. These were uh students uh were very inspiring as they talked to me about their artwork and what they were doing. Uh this is Miss Jones at Joe Henderson Elementary School and she's getting some help from her puppet named Molly. And uh Molly was helping the students identify letter sounds and if the they didn't if Molly didn't agree with the letter sounds, she spit out
020the uh card there. It was fantastic. Um, I asked Joe Henderson students, uh, what's one thing I need to know about Joe Henderson Elementary School? And they said that everyone is kind here and the staff is the best. Uh, this is at Mary Farmer Elementary School. Uh, Miss Fulton is classes annotating their math pages as they learn about composite and prime numbers. I have to tell you, I don't know that I learned composite and prime numbers when I was in elementary school. Um, and these students were annotating their math page. In other words, they were they were making notes. They were speaking to to the text there. It was super impressive to see the rigor that was happening there. Viking night, I want to make sure that you all know about Viking night tomorrow night
021from 5:00 to 8:00. Our middle school students spoke to that, but I wanted to put that out there. I'm super excited to be attending that tomorrow night. Um, we got some of us got to go to Axa Solano. AXA is the Association of California School Administrators. And uh, the night was to talk about leading with purpose. Um, and several of us were asked to speak. I got to speak for a short time there. They didn't give me the mic too long, which was probably a good idea. Um, but it was a great night. It was great to connect with other uh uh administrators throughout the county. Uh, reception was held last week for me as a new superintendent and just a few pictures here as I met with the the Liberty staff and got to
022connect with them and got to go in their classrooms today. Um, our chief of police and uh is number two and and lieutenant. And so that was great to connect with them. And I'm not sure what funny joke Miss Beaton told me here, but we were cracking up laughing as Lionel from our council was there as well and our librarian. Um, I don't know if you're aware of this, but our our dance team is going to be at the Chase Center on October 28th and they're uh they're looking to sell tickets to to help fundra for this. And so, um, I just want to put it out there to the community and to all of you and to come support our our advanced dance team. And so our hope here is that the Warriors win
023that night and that the the dancers here are the secret charm and they get keep getting invited back. That's that's that's our hope. So um and then uh um at Joe Henderson Elementary School, they had um Start with Hello Week. And I don't know if you know the background on Start with Hello Week, but but that is something that came out of Sandy Hook Promise. And so that's an organization that we partner with. And so um they conducted that about a week ago. And then as you heard the students speak to our festival de la Kumidad and that is occurring October 10th from 5 to 8 o'clock. That's a partnership between Mary Farmer Elementary School Benicia High School which I just love that we are connecting our elementary kids to our high school students. So
024hopefully you can come out and enjoy that. And that concludes my superintendent report. >> Oh, thank you. There's a lot coming up. So now we come to our board reports and I'd like to start. I had I had the opportunity to go to the um homecoming rally um last week and it was amazing. The cheer team, the color guard was they were so fantastic. But what I was really impressed with was how to play high school musical chairs. So it's not like the same high school middle. It's not the same as um the musical chairs that we know. So what they did was there was a group of kids. They were blindfolded and they were in a circle and unbe well I guess they knew this was going to happen. But then a bunch of
025other people came and moved all the chairs around like at different ends of the gym. And so then they had to take off their their um blindfolds and go and find chairs. I thought it was a great party game. It was so funny to watch their faces looking back and forth and where where's the chair and it was hilarious. Anyway, I had a great time. Um was very impressive rally was so fun. It was really fun. Um, I would like to give a shout out to Tanya and our food services team for the wonderful spread that they had for um our superintendent and everybody that came to visit. Um, it was it was lovely and we had dinner that they made tonight, too. So, it was really good. So, they do an amazing job and
026Tanya and your team, great job. Um, I watched homecoming, the football team, the football game rather, on television. Was watching the whole thing. It was pretty it was exciting. Um, and I I I wish I had gone after I started watching because those floats, I mean, I think that is such a unique fun thing to bring back and give the kids an opportunity to show their their artistic talent. And it was it was really fun to watch. So, thank you to everybody. Good job players. >> Great. Um, I also attended the homecoming game. It was a lot of fun. I attended with my kids, but they did not attend with me. Um, I sat with the band and I I want to give a highlight out to the band. They did a terrific job. It
027was It's just a lot of fun. Um, the students have a ton of fun. Uh, and it makes the game, I think, really special. Um, I was also able to attend the new superintendent reception um when the community members came and we had a fantastic turnout. So, I want to thank all of the community members who showed up. We um stayed the entire time and talked for the entire two hours. I was I was surprised. Um it was a really good discussion and I attended the Benicia Panthers Athletics Hall of Fa fame and would like to thank Mr. Ron Wheat for putting that together. It's a huge endeavor. He does a great job. It's the second year they've done it and I highly recommend going in the future. Um, one of our former teachers, Mr.
028Arp, puts together the program and it is so well done. Um, you can take it home and read it and it's it's really interesting. He does writeups on each of the inductees. Um, very meaningful writeup. So, it was a really nice event. And then last but not least, I attended the Uncork the Hope event with the Haymon Foundation. That particular event is spearheaded by one of our PTG members, Dana Jones, and she did a fantastic job. She's a huge support for our schools and so it was great to go support her and the Haymon Foundation. >> Well, I I don't have really have much to add except that I was at a lot of the events. Um, but I as we were talking, I was at the homecoming game and I just wanted to give
029a shout out to the parents and the the adults who are behind the concession stand. Um, wow, it's busy and they are really really hard at work. So, um, a shout out to them. And that's all I have. >> Thank you. Do we have any, um, comments from members of the public? >> We do not. So, Georgina, do I need to read the um the blurb? >> Okay, I will. Members of the public may address the board at a regular board meeting on any item within the board's jurisdiction. Speaker cards are available at the entrance table. Please note the item you wish to speak to and submit a card to the board secretary. The board president will call all the open session general comments government code section 54954.3 during the public comment item. Comments on
030items uh on the agenda will be called for the specific item. Comments are limited to no more than three minutes per speaker or the board may limit the total of time to 20 minutes per item with the timer displayed on the monitors. By law, no action may be taken on any item raised during the public comment periods and matters may be referred to staff for placement on a future agenda of the governing board. Please be reminded to keep your comments respectful as students may be watching the board meeting. Thank you. And I do want to stress that it is hard not to comment on public comments. I um I say this occasionally just just to remind the public that it's it's very hard for us to not reply but we may not. It's against um
031the Brown Act and Ed code. So we come to item number 11, approval of the consent calendar. Background information on these items is provided to the board prior to the meeting. A common motion takes action without discussion on roll call votes unless discussion of items is requested by the board members. Um may I have a motion? >> I will do that. Um I uh would like to make a motion to approve the consent calendar as written. >> Second. >> This is a roll call vote. So President Gross. Trusty Hirs. >> Yes. Trusty Seda. >> Yes. And then we come to >> resolutions. >> Oh, sorry. Yes. Resolutions. Um, we come to item F. Correct. Approval of re resolution number 25-26-10, declaration of obsolete items for Benicia High School. Um, and this is a separate roll
032call. >> President, >> yes. Trusty Hirs, >> yes. Seda. >> Yes. And trust. Yes. >> And item G, resolution of uh item number 25-26-12, authorizing signatures for child care documents CSP for the fiscal year 2026 and 27. >> Gross. >> Yes. >> Trusty Hirs. >> Yes. >> SA. >> Yes. And item H, approval of resolution number 25-26-13, declaration of obsolete items from Nisha High School. >> Go backwards. >> Yes. >> SA. >> Yes. >> Hirs. >> Yes. >> And President Gri, >> yes. >> And we come to item number 12. Oh, I sorry. um of approval of the quarterly report on the Williams uniform complaints. Wasn't that part of the >> That was part of the consent. >> Okay. No, no problem. Um so we come to item number 12A, our cast data presentation by
033Dr. Beat. >> Good evening, President Grubs and board members. I am very excited to bring to you our results of our state assessment. Um, I want to I'm not going to read the vision and mission um because we heard that so eloquently done from our middle schoolers, but please know that those are the the foundational documents that we always refer back to to make sure that the actions, the goals are um really in alignment with the the vision and mission of the district along with our equity statement. Um that is our call to action to ensure that we are closing achievement gaps. And I will give you a a quick highlight uh before I get into data. Um we have done some amazing jumps in closing the achievement gap with certain student groups. And so
034um that's just a little foreshadowing. Um so CASP as you know just very quickly uh came um as a state test in 2014. It replaced the STAR test. Um it measures students mastery of the common core state standards in English and mathematics. And then there's a newer newer science test called CAST which is also under this umbrella. Um interesting about the CASP test it is computer-based so it uses adaptive technology so that we can get a better understanding of where uh students truly are. Students are assessed in grades three through eight and then 11th for ELA and math and then 58 and 11 for high school. And um it is critical thinking, problem solving, uh analytical writing. There's a lot of um accommodating um uh accommodations built in. So students can turn the background to
035black with white lettering if that's better. They can raise it. They can highlight. So there's a lot of already uh uh accommodations and um tools built into the assessment itself. It also has a bank of practice assessments called interim assessments. And this data is used, we look at it a lot of different ways, but we look at it grade level, yeartoyear, and then we look at cohorts of students. And it really helps us make programmatic decisions. Okay. Um, and it's, as you know, it's uh students who have exceeded the standard, met the standard, nearly met the standard, or uh did not meet. And it is one of the core assessments that we need to use for state accountability. So just quickly um we have improved in um ELA by two percentage points and so not
036huge growth but it is continuing to move in the correct direction. I have NAS there for California and we always look at how are we doing with our surrounding districts in Solano County. That is not publicly released yet. So I cannot put that out here. It will be soon. I will tell you you will be very happy. Um we're doing well there. And then again in mathematics, the same thing. We went up one percentage point. I do want to point out that last year, if you remember, we got recognition at the state level for an eight point uh jump in our math scores, the highest in the state. And so whenever that happens, you're always a little nervous if you're going to maintain that or slide back. And um so we maintained and we grew
037a little bit. So we want to keep keep moving in that trajectory. And science um we did not make any gains. We stayed steady. Um, and I will also let you know that we are um continuing to monitor that and look at what we need to do there and we are also outperforming by a lot uh our surrounding districts. So, this I'm going to go through uh as I typically do the highlights of our data. I have all of the other data slides at the end of the presentation. If you want any further information on that, I'm happy to jump to any of those, but I won't take you through every one of those slides. Um, so I already talked about the overall ELA and math growth. Um, I want to point out our fourth
038grade ELA, a double-digit 13point growth, which is amazing. And then six points in math. And then that fourth to fifth grade cohort, same students, two different years, made an eight point gain. So those are terrific. Um, and this is where I am so proud of the work that our teachers are doing, that our administrators are doing, because this is where you're going to see the closing of the gap. Um, and so you can see with our student groups, this is at the district level. I did a darker highlight there on double digits. So typically we look at 3 to five points as pretty statistically significant, but here we're seeing 10, 18, 11 point gains with our student groups. And those were student groups that a few years ago we were in differentiated assistance for our
039our African-American students, our Hispanic students. So we're making great gains there. And you can see the same thing in mathematics. The next slides I'm going to go through quickly, but these are by school site. and the um amazing uh gains again. And so you can see the change the positive change of 11 points, five points, four points at Benanishia High School and uh two points for Liberty High. And so while we still have places to go in terms of the overall performance, we're moving in that direction. Um here we have Benicia Middle School and huge shoutouts and Mr. Nelson here in the audience, but uh I want to point out a couple. In particular, African-American students made a 28 point gain in ELA and a 20 uh our Hispanic students 25 points in ELA. And
040then over on the math side, Hispanic students 34 points and African-American students 28. And so those are while all of them are noteworthy, those are some incredible closing the gap. Um here we have Turner again many many many areas but you see 22s uh for students with disabilities that is the highest growth in the district that that group I will come back to a couple slides that's a group that we are still really paying attention to because we're not moving them as a whole as we need to um and our socioeconomically disadvantaged students 22 points so incredible growth there >> Dr. Mr. Beat, can I ask you a quick question? >> Absolutely. >> I know that we've been doing a lot in terms of our curriculum um with students with disabilities. >> Has have what
041do you think is explaining some of these numbers at Turner? >> I I think that's some of it. And so I have I have our um uh impacts coming up. >> Oh, good. Um I think part of it is really that alignment between general ed and special ed curriculum. It's professional development. It's the collaboration. And um one of the words I would use and it'll come up on my slide is intentionality. And I think that has been a big shift for us across the district is intentionality. We're looking at our data the on not CASP data ongoing but the NWEA data and really diving in deeply with what is it that students need next to move. Um here we have Henderson and Farmer and you're going to see similar things again. um 10, 12, 15
042point increases with different student groups. And uh I want to shout out again to Robert Simple, another uh school that has made 23 points for Hispanic students. Um 19 points in their fourth grade in ELA. And then over in math, you see a couple of groups with double digits as well. Um, and they're just it they're really digging in and working hard and it's it's fantastic. Um, so we always celebrate where we're making those strides and then um we focus in on where are some areas that we need to continue to really drill down. And so this is our opportunities for growth. Um I the the data that I put on the chart were any that had a five point or more decline from last year. That was my sort of cut off there. Um,
043and as you can see, one of the things that struck me was we had some decline, but it's not huge double digit declines like we saw in the growth, right? We saw a lot of double-digit growth. We're not seeing double-digit decline, which is good, which means we're not increasing that gap at the rate that we're closing it for some student groups, but we still need to pay attention. Um, and the other thing you're going to notice is the student groups are the same in all of the next slides. it's our uh students with disabilities um and our uh socioeconomically disadvantaged students that we need to start really paying attention to. Um so we have some some grow uh decline there that we need to pay attention to. So this is district and the high schools.
044Trying to decide if I'm looking at my computer screen or trying to see up there. Um and then we have the middle school and Henderson Farmer Turner here. and we have English learners and students with disabilities and socioeconomically disadvantaged. So, those are the the three groups. We had more and we're we're moving a lot and now we're going to really hone in on these student groups as well. Um, and then the next uh couple of slides are really that opportunities for clo growth for closing the achievement gap. So some of these student groups we saw on the increase side because we increased, but they're still quite far from where what we say everyone is performing. And so that I wanted them to show up here too because we need to keep looking at that. And
045it's the same. It's the students with disabilities, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and English learners at all the sites that we need to really pay attention to because they were at least 15 points lower than the whole school performance. So if you look at the top uh 55% of all students met or exceeded the standard as the district but then when you look at our English learners 11% our socioeconomically disadvantaged 37. So we really want to pay attention to that and I truly believe when we name it and we we focus on it starts to make a difference. Um and the same thing here you're going to see those same student groups and those are um they're not declined but that's their score against where the rest of the schools uh performed. Any questions on that data part?
046So, you asked Trusty Hirs um what were the impacts? Why did the changes happen? And while we can never make an exact onetoone correlation because there's so many different components that go into uh education, I really think um adult intentionality and mindset plays a huge role. We believe, as to use our superintendent's words, each and every student can learn at high levels. We need to all be truly leaning into that. Um, several years ago, uh, by a former superintendent, we were charged with being the number one district in the state and I think people really took that to heart and it really, uh, was a big call to action. We have very dedicated and committed teachers that are doing amazing work. One example is we have uh uh eightish nineish I'm don't have the exact
047number of our primary prek TK K12 teachers doing a one to twoyear indepth study of the science of reading. you approved theus a couple board meetings ago. That takes place on Saturdays and it's 80 to 87 hours a year of work and that's work that they want to do because it's good for our students. And so that's uh an example of that dedication. Um we've really worked on um best first instructional practices and we've named them. School sites have chosen one to focus on and uh teachers are working on that collaboratively. We're using our data in a very consistent way. Teachers get excited. They call when can we talk about that data and they're looking at it at staff meetings. Um, uh, Dr. Oick has really been pushing an attendance campaign and everybody's been working
048on that because kids need to be in school to be able to continue that learning. So, there's a whole list of reasons why um, uh, we have a high completion rate. students are taking the test and that that is very important. When when it drops below a certain point, we get dinged by the state for that. Um where we have evidence-based supplemental curriculum that teachers are using and um there's and the sense of belonging. One of the other pieces I I truly believe especially when we start to see certain student groups making those kinds of gains is the work we've done around equity and ensuring that students feel like they belong. They see themselves around the class. they see themselves in the materials that we're using and that's really important for students to feel like
049they're part of that community. So, I think there's a there's not a single reason, but many reasons. And I believe we're really on the right track as we continue to do that work with intentionality. And so, um, this does say continued and next steps because we don't want to throw everything away because we believe the work that we're doing is working. And so, we're going to continue our implementation of our new curriculum with uh, intentionality and supporting our teachers. We are blessed this year to have um uh Colleen Leong that can go out and coach and work alongside not only our new teachers but veteran teachers call her as well for support. Um we are working uh side by side with our special education teachers and our director um to make sure that the teachers
050have the professional development, they have the curriculum that they need so that they can truly collaborate and provide students that best first instruction. um site leaders are in classrooms. Our admin team twice a month goes on very focused learning walks and we debrief to make sure that we're all calibrated in understanding what instruction looks like in classrooms. And so when we're providing support to our staffs, it is in that um uh very aligned um expectation, checking in with principles on a uh twice a month, making sure that they have what they need. Um, one of the big the new pieces say new but it's more refined say we have really worked um and and launched professional learning communities and so it's not new work it's just a more intentional uh systematic way of doing the
051work. So, it's we're identifying what are the what are we all agreeing that students need to know and be able to do? What are the essential things that we're going to guarantee that kids get before they leave our fourth grade classroom, our seventh grade classroom? What is our how do we know if they've learned it? What do we do if they haven't? What do we do if they already? And so, those are the structures that we're putting in place to sort of frame and help us deepen the work that we've done already. Um, so lots of other things up there that are continued supports and and things that we'll be continuing to do. Is there any um and that's really the end. There's a whole lot more slides on the rest of the data, but
052I wanted to pause here and ask if you had any questions or things you wanted. >> I do. Thank you. Um, first of all, I want to thank the staff for doing such an excellent job um at at helping our students learn the way they need to learn. I think it's it's really really wonderful that they're doing that. And also, if there's any kids watching, you guys are doing a great job. Keep it up. I mean, that's great. But um getting back to this in general, the our curriculum, we've changed some curriculum. Has that helped with some of these numbers? I believe it has. It's very early to tell yet. And um so we did our new ELA curriculum, kindergarten through 8th grade. Only third through 8th take the this particular assessment. But early feedback
053from teachers is that it's making a difference, that it's very rigorous, that it's very aligned with this work. So again, all of those things help. >> And I just want to say thank you for everything you've done. It is just amazing. Some of the gains are truly phenomenal. And I do think that um the new ELA curriculum is um so uh so pointed and so um strategically aligned and I think it was a really good switch. So thank you and and that uh I have to give a shout out to my partner in crime out there, Mrs. Rice, who has done an amazing job working with teachers on that. >> Good job, Stephanie. Did anybody need me to go through any more data? >> Thank you. This is great. All the staff, that's amazing. Kudos
054to everybody. When I saw this slide, I was like, "Wow, this is really exciting." All of them. Um, and I think it, like you had mentioned in our um in your your presentation, I think the support that we give for programmatic um I don't know if it's opportunities, but that programmatic support I think you said is really beneficial to our students. So, I really appreciate seeing that. I have a a question um just in terms of, you know, I definitely appreciate your comments about continuing to to support our students that need it. What is and and then in terms of our overall goal, so we're, you know, 55 um% and 53. Are we hoping to like do we have a a goal of like do we want to get to 60? Do we want to
055get to 75? I mean, of course, we want to get to the highest number, but how how do we continue to support those students that are continuing to excel year after year as well? >> That's a great question, and I say we want to get to 100%. Um, and we're going to do that, you know, one step at a time for sure. Um, but part of this professional learning community that I was just talking about. So what teachers and and we're working through the process and and putting more structure in place is when when teachers look at data. So they give a common assessment and that common assessment might be looking at NWA data or it might be they've chosen five questions from a unit that they just taught in mathematics and they all agree
056to give the five problems at the same time and they're going to come together and really look at it and that's when they start to have the questions. students that already that are struggling, right? What are we going to do? Maybe it's a targeted small group. Students who may have already known it or definitely have shown that they understand this. How do we accelerate them? And so our curriculum does have um places where they can provide enrichment. Sometimes that is that they don't have to do something that the class is doing and they get something that's more challenging. They can go deeper with a standard. um they can look to what's what's coming up next and provide them those opportunities as well. So and and then the the uh term we are using for that
057is differentiation. So every you know these groups of students need some acceleration because they're not where they need to be yet. We're trying not to say remediation, but we want to accelerate them to that next level. And then students that need um extension. I do have a question. Um, kind of piggybacking off Trusty Manassie's question. Do at the individual school sites, they do set targets, right? I mean, I remember when I was on um, site council plans, >> they they set personal plans. So, I remember we would set, you know, everybody was at 60%, well, in math next year, we want to be at 65%. And then depending on their individual results. >> Absolutely. And thank you for bringing that up. So in the LCAP there's al I should have thought of that. Um we
058started with a baseline. Where were we a couple of years ago? We're in year two and so we update that every year and there is a target. I don't have all of them right in front of me but we do I mean eventually we want to we want to go as high as we can go. Right. We don't want to leave any students behind but we do have targets of where we hope to be in three years because we know it takes time. I'd be curious. I'll be curious to hear what you find out about statewide. >> I have not seen this. I haven't seen the statewide. They haven't released that at all. But >> I can see the count. >> Yeah. And it might be nice I you hear news about, you know, the
059national standards and the national scores, but if we could get this information out to the community to let them know of the consistent improvement in the scores and what we're doing and um would be good to advertise. >> Thank you. >> You know, I just want to add one thing really quick. What what I've seen out there is also the other question, which is how do you set students up for success? and the student engagement that occurs in in this district and the classrooms that I've been in so far. Students are being set up for success and they're being they're active participants in their learning and I'm incredibly impressed with that. I also attribute that to the reason why these test scores have gone up. Our our staff is prepared. Our aids out there are
060working hard and and kids are ready for their learning. >> Are there any other questions, comments? Okay. So, now we come to um item 13, our action items. And Mr. Calibri, say you are up. >> Yeah. So, what's before you tonight, board, is a consideration approval of district's vote for Proposition 218 for citywide park landscape and lighting assessment. And the documentation that you've been provided there also includes a sample ballot. And essentially what you're voting on is if this is a yes vote from you, then then we would indicate on that ballot a yes that we're we're supporting the the the city's proposition for landscaping, lighting, and assessment. And if you were to vote no, then we would indicate a no. As you know, that what comes with that is a yes vote would would
061support the the park and landscaping um that occurs in our city and the lighting. And um and then and with that does come a $17,000 bill. And so we we've we've talked about the um different ways that we would mitigate that and how we would address that. And then a no vote essentially means that we're not in support of that. We are a large land owner in the district and and or excuse me in the city and so that is why we have such a large portion of this questions. >> We do have Mr. Juliani here um answer any questions um discussion. I know this is a hard one. >> So, Mr. Giuliani, would you like to come and come to the podium and maybe say a few words? >> Why are we laughing? >>
062Well, thank you for the opportunity. And I think we're laughing in in some part because um if you're asking me, I'm I'm coming up in the role of city manager. And as city manager, it's um my job to make sure that you as a property owner are informed. I cannot as a city manager advocate one way or the other. So I certainly have um thoughts as a as a longtime Benicia resident and former board member. Um, but I I I will share with you again the the tenants of why we're doing this. And as I shared with the board two weeks ago, uh, this has been 36 years in the making. We have an existing district. And that district only covers 20% of our property owners and it had a rate that was set in
0631989 and there was no escalator. So in 1989 it was $136.56 and that is the rate that it is today. The design is to have a city-wide district so that there is a specific and dedicated funding source solely for our park system which also includes taking care of the medians and the lighting. And as noted by Superintendent Calabesci, yes, you are the largest land owner um in the proximity to to parks. And that's why that the cost is is $17,000. And I think though it's it's apppropo that when I gave this presentation to the school district two weeks ago, what preceded that was a discussion of our partnership just on the middle school and our partnership that we have with the James Limas pool and that just across the street we have a long-standing partnership
064with what was Mills Elementary School and it's now the Benicia Community Center in that long-standing lease agreement that we have with the district. that when children are crossing the street before and after school, it's supported by the city of Benicia to the tune of $30,000 every year. That we support our school resource officers by $80,000 um to make sure that that's in supporting the school district at our middle school and our high school. And one thing that that I think goes unnoticed um for more than a decade with the city's recent or city's franchise agreement with Republic Services, you don't have a garbage bill. The school district does not pay garbage. And that's rather new in the new franchise agreement. So, um that is a savings to the district of $31,000 a month, >> right?
065So that was more than than a decade ago and that franchise agreement ends in 2027. So it's an example of this kind of long-standing partnership that the school district and the city has in our relationship to promote the public good. And I would say too that when talking to whether you as a school district or um our residents, it's important to know that what we're trying to do is ensure that we have proper resources to take care of our infrastructure that supports all of Benicia and that when we talk about the recent test scores, um we're making investment into our students in order to do that. We're making investments into our teachers so that they can make investments into the classroom. So too is this making an investment in the infrastructure that we have um
066for our parks system. So that's the rationale behind it. If there's any specific questions that the board um has, happy to answer that at this time. Could you um just go back and uh clarify the garbage um agreement? >> So, >> yeah, it when when did it go into place? I believe you said it's going to expire in 20 27. >> Correct. Right. Every jurisdiction or most jurisdictions are going to have franchise agreements with a a local garbage hauler. And in this case, Benicia has one with Republic Services. and for more than probably about 15 years. There's a 10-year agreement with two success of five years and that will conclude in in 2027. >> Then what happens? >> Uh well, what likely will happen uh later in 2026 is is the city council will probably
067go out to bid um for proposals from a variety of garbage haulers to provide um you know, a quote for providing garbage service. And there's a variety of of aspects in which one's going to evaluate that contract. The city has had a relationship with the public services for more than two decades. Prior to the recent agreement more than 10 years ago, the district paid for garbage. When the city renegotiated that, the city negotiated the school district would not have a fee for garbage. And that was over $300,000 a year in value. So the city exchanged what would be a franchise fee money to the city of Benanishia so that the school district wouldn't be charged. And again this is just another example of the long history that the school district and city have and kind
068of the relationship to promote the public good. Does anybody have any >> I just want to clarify your the cost of the resource officer and the crossing guards those are those are costs that the school district takes on though the 80,000 >> so it's a shared cost so the the city and and school district share the cost of the uh resource officer and it's about $80,000 for the the city of Benicia to support that program and then the cost through the police department. Interestingly enough, our crossing guards are supported to the tune of $30,000 a year uh paid for by the city of Anisha through our police department. >> So those are not are not are not on the school district's ledgers. >> The SRO, the school resource officer is a shared cost. >> So
06980,000 each. >> It's approximately. Okay. >> Um it's about it's about 50. Okay. Yeah. >> Um and then there's not a cost for the school crossing guards. >> Now I don't know the history behind that though. It has just been one of those longstanding arrangements. And one of the things I I talked to um both Chris about as well as Janice and before that um Superintendent Wright is trying to memorialize that type of agreement so that we can account for it. >> Well, I I just want to make more I don't I don't have a question. And I don't know if anybody else has any other questions, but I I have um I just wanted to kind of walk through my thinking on this because my thinking has changed quite dramatically over the last two
070weeks. And I this is um an issue that I don't think I really knew how to approach until maybe even a night or two ago. Um I did have kind of a light bulb moment and I do want to share that. Um, we are very focused on our expenses right now, as we should be, because we're deficit spending. And I went back to I thought through why are we deficit spending. We're deficit spending because we're in declining enrollment. We have fewer kids coming into the schools. That's kind of the kiss of death for any school district. And and we have to find some way to reverse it. And in thinking about this, you know, I've been I I thought about all of the different things the city does, the things that we do for the
071city, the back and forth, and I kind of actually set that aside and I thought to myself, what will the overall result of this be if we invest $17,000? What benefit will the district have? And Mr. Giuliani addressed that um a bit at the last meeting. But another one that I do think is worth mentioning is if Benicia looks better. Right now it looks pretty shabby. The parks are in horrible shape. Um if we can invest in our parks, fix them up, make our public spaces look nice, we have good schools. I think we will attract families. And in doing the math, and Mrs. Bington may have to help me with this, but I was trying to think of how much um funding do we get per student. And I know it's by kind of
072like chunks like grade level. And I kind of thought 17,000 that's probably two students worth. So if we were to increase our enrollment by a net two students, this would pay for itself. That's kind of how I'm thinking about it. like sometimes you have to invest money to get a return and I kind of see this as an investment um in the future of the district. I think it's an really an opportunity and I I like I said I don't come at this lightly. Um, I don't want to, you know, I'm I'm very fiscally conservative, so this is something that, um, I've given a lot of thought to, and I just think that the best way to grow our enrollment is to invest in our community. And the district and the city, we have our
073squables, but we are in a symbiotic relationship. When the city does well, we do well. When we do well, the city does well. The bond passed and the city benefited from that um by higher property values. And I really really believe that the district will benefit from this. And as we head into this next chapter of Benicia with Valero closing, I just feel like if Benicia is has invested in itself, it sends a message. The people here in this community believe in it. We want to see it continue. We want to see it grow. Um we want to see it succeed. And I and I think that um that's why you know I do support this. >> Sure. I come from the opposite side. Sorry. um thinking about our expenses and deficit spending and knowing
074that Valero is going to be leaving and we will lose students by that and yes there will be openings you know in some of the homes that people could move into but I don't know if that and I know also before I get into this I know that the um our programs that we have set up we we have that onetime spending onetime monies are ending and we're going to have to come up with those dollars as well. And the 17,000 isn't only 17,000. It's a potential of going up I think four or five% possibly every okay 4% every year. And I think we need to it's very hard. I'm not I I love our parks and I love our city and I support it, but I I I feel like I my allegiance right
075now is to our school district and I have to think about that. I don't know if I don't know. You know, I I I have had such a hard time with this and one of the reasons is quite frankly is that um I don't I I don't see the BMS fields getting fixed. I don't see I don't see the city honoring some of their contractual um agreements and and that that concerns me um because what I want to say I think what I'm really searching for is what are the guarantees that the city is going to do what they say they're going to do if we as a school board um approve approve a $17,000 per year plus um up to 4% um in in the outgoing years. Where's the guarantee? Because what we've seen
076is from the contract that was entered into years and years ago, the 90, we call it the 99 year old contract. what we've seen is um you know a lack of commitment from the city to to take care of our fields and that was the agreement. So um so I I'm I'm concerned. I I also think that um I I agree with you Amy. I um I think that the uh if we can get the parks back in shape, will that actually happen? I I wonder will we get some of the medians fixed? These are all in a contract that we've seen that hasn't been, you know, that that could be pushed down the road. Um where's the guarantee? It's a good you know C good thing because I as far as guarantees because we
077have relationship with the city for the swimming pool for the next two years. What happens >> after two years we don't have a guarantee at the keep going for 99 years to use the pool. That could change because depending on the financial issues that the city's facing and the financial issues that we're facing and I know you said two students could make up the 17,000. Right. >> Right. Roughly, we're going to lose more than two kids and and I don't know we it's expensive. Venicia is expensive and I don't know how many people are because I've heard this over and over again can afford to move over here to take you know to live in these beautiful properties at in this beautiful city and it's nothing against the city. It really isn't. I'm having a
078hard time looking at you in the face because I really care about you and I care about the city. you know that I I just I financially I have to be responsible and I think that's where it lies and I don't know where the guarantees are like CeCe was saying um as far as the pool as far as there's a couple other things that you guys are involved with and I just it could change I mean you guys have talked about closing the pool at some point I heard so and I don't I understand. I mean, financially, I understand, but we're going to be having to take kids to who knows where to be able to do their swimming program. So, that that scares me a little. >> I I want to respond, but I
079want to make sure Trusty Manassie is able to give her comments. So, I'll I can if you want to go. You >> sure? Because you can respond to that if you want. >> Well, it's in my mind. >> Yeah. >> It because it's a broader point that I I'd also like to make for um consideration. I I hear you on the guarantees and I have and the first time I approached this I was like well like what about all these things that we have and this is where I ended up. I think if this assessment doesn't pass, then the city is going to be in continued financial distress. And so all of the stuff that we currently have, the trash, which is a gigantic amount of money, that is a a significant amount of money,
080>> which we did not know about. >> We didn't know about that. Um, >> if the city, and I and I don't mean that the city is going to retaliate. I'm not suggesting that. I don't think they would. What I'm simply saying is that the city will have less money to be able to help us out and we will get hit with a lot of expenses in the future. It is a big what if, right? But I do think that if the assessment doesn't pass, we do know that the city will be in continued financial distress. So I hear you. I I I understand my initial approach was the 17,000 like how can I authorize that when we're in a spending deficit? where I came out on it is that this is an as trustees
081as as trustee Zeta said as trustees we have to do what's best for the district and the students right now I believe that that best thing is to grow our enrollment to try to stop the declining enrollment because we're in declining enrollment >> and it doesn't look good right but how do we stop it if we if Benicia is a desirable place for families to move that is how we stop it and I know it's expensive of Benishia. But I'll tell you, >> Benicia is still one of the more affordable commutable places. So, you know, a young family just starting out, they're looking around, where are they going to go? Are they going to go to Danville? They going to come to Benicia? Danville's more expensive. Benicia's less expensive. >> Benicia's got great schools. Danville's
082got great schools. And look, Benicia has great public spaces just like Danville. So, that's how I'm approaching it. I'm seeing this as a relatively in the grand scheme of things small investment that could have huge rewards in terms of our enrollment and the growth of our district and um hopefully being able to continue some of these partnerships that we've had because I do really worry about that trash I'll tell you and the SRO. Um so that that's my response. ask. >> Yeah. Well, I'm coming from this perspective of being a board member. I just what I know all we all are, but I just want to make that clear for myself as well. Um, and the fiduciary responsibility that I have adding this to our budget every year um to me is worrisome. when we
083come up to the dis and we talk about deficit spending and we talk about you know then we talk about the the celebrations of what our students um and staff are doing and that's because of the programmatic you know support that we give um to our district you know thinking through in five years if it went up 4% every year that could be $20,000 um and I I worry about just our financial state um you know I I think we are lucky to have the bond and you know we're lucky to think that through in terms of like could any of those help support some of our school sites and some of our school sites huge lawn areas that we have that maybe we can help support some of our students in their extracurricular activities.
084like could we be could we help and partner and be part of that with the city where we're maybe taking on some of those extracurricular activities for our students to be in our backyard instead of parks. Um, so I from the financial perspective, you know, thinking through, you know, when when I went through my first round of having to cut teachers and, you know, that was really hard and um thinking through that, you know, we'll have to look at that again and again and again. And then I'm making a decision to say, oh, but we're going to add this this amount of a cost to our budget. Unless we increase our enrollment, >> it's all what and exactly what you said. It's all whatifs. I mean, we really are gambling. >> We we our enrollment
085has been creeping down down down down down for many many years. This is not new. I have wishful thinking that it will happen that we could increase the enrollment. But I are we have to be realistic at what the trend has been and that has been that it's been going down and that has nothing to do with the closing of Valero. It has nothing to do with any of that. So I mean I think we need to be fiscally responsible um because it's the trend has been going down without all these other things mixed in. So just I and you say it so eloquently and you make some really really good points. You really do. Um you almost switched me over, but >> I just >> No, but yeah, I I hear you. I hear
086the concern and I share the concern about the the cost of it. I do. What I come back to is it's $17,000 in the grand scheme of our budget. Um, well, let me ask you, let me ask the district. H, what does absorbing that look like? Is it like a a line cut to an entire program? Like, if this were to pass, what would that look like for us? So assuming nothing else changes, all of our expenditure stayed the same, um our students only attend 94% of the time, our enrollment doesn't dip, um yes, we would have to on the unrestricted side, um find ways to cut costs or on the restricted side that requires contributions, find ways to control costs. That's what we would need to do um to prevent further deficit spending. So
087one of the things I think that we need to keep in mind also is at this point there are 47 houses for sale in Benicia. That is unheard of. You know you so in the last um in previous years you've have we've had maybe two or five but we have 47. So what does that mean for the school district? What does that mean for our ADA? How many kids are in that in some of those 47 homes that are for sale? Um, and and I also come I h I do have a a trust issue u with the city. I do um I want to just be right upfront with that. But on the other hand, On the other hand, we are going to the school district is going to be in um a very
088precarious situation whether we spend $17,000 u for one year. I suspect that the CPI will may go up which means that that our contribution to the plaid will be greater. Um, this is a very hard decision. Did you Oh, please. >> Ask questions or or and so I wanted the opportunity to at least answer some of them. I weren't sure if they were rhetorical. A couple of things related to the the middle school lease. And one of the reasons two weeks ago we brought up the amendment of that change for that 99 year lease is that it made very unclear the responsibility of the party on fixing something that was damaged per >> per per the >> the solar pipes >> that was the um Matthew Turner. Matthew Turner. >> Wasn't it the city that
089broke them? I believe it was. No, it was um there. Well, I don't want to violate Brown Act because it's not on the the discussion, but the the Matthew Turner issue, there was a a leak um that flooded the cafeteria, I believe, at Matthew Turner. And the concern at the time was that the it was the city's determination that your contractor didn't do the digging right and that's what caused the leak. Um, it was somewhat resolved in the agreement that we talked about two weeks ago, right? We we utilized the $15,000 early exit fee as a way to kind of ameliorate the loss of the district at Matthew Turner. So, we incorporated that within that agreement and I shared that with Dr. Wright in our discussions in that related to the middle school lease. One
090of the challenges of that lease said that it was the responsibility of the party that used it to fix the damage. The city didn't use that property. We haven't used it for years. And so it created kind of a conundrum on which entity was supposed to correct it. So one of the things we wanted to do was address that. And so that's why the city will continue to to maintain it to the terms that were discussed two weeks ago up until the point when the district does its capital improvement project likely before 2027. In in consideration for that, the city said we'll keep the pool open for a period of five years. Now, what's important to know about that is the cost for March and February for for all intents and purposes for high school
091swim is $50,000 to heat the pool. for the the students at Benanisha High School. There are a handful of lapsumers, but it's it's done solely for the benefit of our high school program. And >> I'm sorry to interrupt. Don't we pay for half of that? >> No. >> Isn't there part that we put towards >> you? You pay a very modest splash fee >> per lane. Per lane. Okay. >> It is incredibly modest. >> Thank you. >> Right. Yeah. So, it's incredibly modest. Um, it I don't even think it pays for the lifeguards, candidly. Um, so, but it's a commitment for the community good. And that was the discussion that that Dr. Wright and I had when when conceiving the the middle school kind of school uh or the pool arrangement with regard to So,
092I I hope that answers the question with regard to kind of the cities or lack of trust. And if you have other examples of of lack of trust, happy to to answer them. Let me just ask you this then. Since two weeks ago, um, what maintenance has been done to the BMS field since since you were here at two weeks ago? >> I don't think there's any maintenance other than probably the mowing. >> There there is. We talked about the holes, the gopher holes, and we asked to have them filled with something. So students because we've had students get injured on that field and I I hear what you're saying when you say that we ha you guys have not had kids on that field for however many years but you did before. So, I
093don't know the upkeep of it up until the point you didn't have kids on the field, but the contract was it was written as such. And and we did talk about that last time you were here about the the filling those holes. it it's a coordinated effort between the district staff and city staff on trying to address the the gopher holes >> and and and so to the even in the terms of the the the new agreement and I don't think it's been even signed yet but even whether it's the old agreement or the new agreement it really is it's a mutual responsibility in the sense that the city will do what we can for um kind of pest control but with regard to actually fixing it as the property owner it's the responsibility of
094the district to fix it and it's mutual it's a partnership that we're trying to to to collaboratively work to address the middle school field. And the reason why you took the action you did two weeks ago is that it it was really unworkable because it it had outlived its its use. Um I want to return though to this the concept about the the guarantees. Um I I think what you can see in the condition of our fields is a result of what happens when you don't invest for a period of 36 years. And you you see, you know, the diminishing resources we have as a city to support those assets. And you know, Trusty Hirs, you know, commented, you know, the city of Benicia is going to uh enter in the most challenging time since
095the 1960s when we lost the arsenal. The loss of the city's general fund will be $7.7 million next year, July 1. And this is a time much like we have been over the last two and a half years when you have seen signs throughout Benicia that says believe in Benicia. What does that mean? We have to make a decision as a community. Are we going to believe in ourselves? Are we going to rally around ourselves as a community to ensure that we get to a new tomorrow? And what does that new tomorrow look like? That new tomorrow looks like a lot more homes. We know that we're going to have 2,000 units in Rose Estates. They're going to submit for their environmental in December. We know that Signature Development, the company that is working with
096Valero for redevelopment, has is eyeing 400 acres for residential in addition to the 4 500 acres of industrial and commercial. We know that we're going to have hundreds of units at the Yuba on the end of East Fifth Street. These are all homes that will be coming online within five years or beginning to start to come online in five years. We know that our demographics in Benicia is an aging population. 41% of all the homes in Benicia haven't transferred in 35 years. So, the homes that are up for sale now statistically um are likely to be empty nesters and you're likely to get families with students in there because as noted earlier, while expensive, it is still the most affordable place to live within the Bay Area. So, I think you're going to see a
097change in demographic in Benicia. But and I would argue that there is a need to make sure that you have that proper investment that you're when you're driving around looking to buy that home, is it familyfriendly? Are there weeds in the medians? Are the grass at Jack London or Community Park? Are is the irrigation broken? Are we have brown fields? Is that going to be inviting to a family? This is something to consider as property owners. And and again, I would conclude by saying too, as I noted, there are a variety of different arrangements and agreements the city has with the school district that far exceed $17,000. Right. >> I I hear you. Um my I do have a question though. We've you said that for years and years that that uh 1986 whatever >>
0981989. Yeah. >> 1989. >> Has the city kept up the maintenance? I know if I don't keep up maintenance on my home for many, many years, my home would fall apart. We've seen homes here that have done not well. So, has the city kept up what it should have kept up or are we here because there wasn't the proper upkeep? >> We're here because there wasn't the proper upkeep. We're here because what we're doing today is hard. It's hard to go before this body and ask for consideration for additional costs for you. So too with residents, it's hard to explain to our residents and property owners what the heck is a parks, landscape, and lighting assessment district. And then oh, let's add complication about a Proposition 218. Well, what is that? It's hard to ask
099people to pay more for existing services. And so what do you do? you don't do it in the course of 36 years, you delay and defer. And we've now racked up $55 million in deferred maintenance on our parks. As I said two weeks ago, we have 21 playgrounds. 20 of them are older or excuse me, 19 of them are older than 20 years old. But we don't fix that unless we take the step that we're taking now to finally fix it. >> Yeah. And Mario, I want to say that I appreciate that and I've been frustrated and and and I realized, you know what, this is the this is the first um city manager and council that has tackled this problem that should have been handled all along this time and now we have a
100really big problem. So, thank you for really trying. This is a tough spot. Um and that's why I kind of go back to where I'm at, which is I think 17,000 is a modest um investment in something that um could very well attract families. I mean, I know wish wishful thinking. I think it's far more likely that it would work out in our favor. I I think it's far more likely if it doesn't pass the city's financial situation is going to compound once Valero leaves and as as a consequence, ours will too. um even more. So, I think that this is a chance to stem some of that. So, that that's where why I am where I am. And I just I really want to encourage everybody to think big, think broadly. I know that
101we've had issues. I'm sure the city's gotten frustrated with us, too. Um but I I think we need to set that aside. We can we can deal with that tomorrow. I think today we need to think big picture about Benicia, about what the future looks like. How do we how do we get our finances on board? And like I said before, our relationship with the city is symbiotic. It re I really strongly believe that and I I fully support this. I think it's the right thing to do and I think um if we don't, I think the consequences will be worse. >> I appreciate your your viewpoint for sure. Um timing is terrible. Um and you know, Mario, thank you for being here. I appreciate you have a you have a really tough job. Um,
102as Mario was talking, I thought about, you know, we don't even know what the federal landscape is. You know, what if what if funding gets caught gets cut from our special education side and we're going to have to think through how are we going to fund that? our PT, our parent teacher, our boosters, how much money they raise every single year to support our students, you know, it's just sort of like it's just it's compounding and we're asking more and more and more of our families. Um, and the resources are slimming and slimming and slimming. Um, so, you know, coming it's just for me it's it's just not the right timing. and I 17,000 is today but you know in 10 years it could be 40,000 >> or not if we attract students and reverse
103our >> well it could still be it could still be the charge but right we would have more we would have more revenue in our budget >> right >> they're all >> well what happens if we don't so we have a huge huge number of votes and you know there are property owners in the city there are I know that there are people with who go to our schools that really want this to pass and if this doesn't pass you know we may see the failure of some of our community sports programs. So I know there are people in our schools who are raising money for our schools who desperately want to see this pass. So what and and we have such an a huge impact. What is what are our I mean a no
104vote I'm afraid would kill it. Um what's what is a a nonvote like just don't vote on it and let the taxpayers the other taxpayers decide? I don't know. I'm just >> What about that? I mean what about that not voting? Can we even do that? Do we have to vote? >> Mario, >> you should just stand up there. >> Uh, no, you do not have to vote. Um, just like the the city council, uh, your decision is to, you know, cast either a yes or no. Um, the vast majority of property owners won't cast a ballot. We've had about 3,300 uh, ballots that have been returned. A little over 9,000 property owners receive ballots. Um, as was noted, you are the single largest voter in this district at 17,000 votes. Um, so it you
105could you could absolutely um determine the the election with your decision. >> Juliani, what's the total number of votes? So the the total number of votes is 1.3,399,000 because you if you can think about it, it's it's one vote per um per dollar. Um so but yes, your decision is to direct the superintendent to vote yes, no, or you um just abstain and and don't cast a ballot. I think no would hurt for sure. I think that no would be a big a big um a big barrier to overcome. I I don't know about abstaining. I don't know. I want to get your thoughts on that. Um but like I said, you know, my position. I'm a I'm a firm. Yes. >> So, I just kind of want I I need to talk it through
106a little bit more. Um, I think you've made some really good points. >> No, I do. I I really do. I um but I and I think everybody has made some good points and I So, we all do we do have fiduciary responsibility to the school district and we have a responsibility to our students. So, and I I I agree with Trustee Manassie. It's this is a tough time to to bring this forward. Um I can see the pros and the cons of each. I think that um one of the things that would have been helpful for me is to have a ceiling. you know, the school district will not pay more than X amount instead of having this um uh potential percentage raise every year, I believe you said. >> Well, yet to be
107clear and >> and it's on the CPI, I understand. >> It's based on CPI, so it's it can only go up the um up to four%. >> Well, yes, it can't exceed 4%. Can only go up. So if inflation goes up 2% the city cannot raise it four. If inflation goes up 8% the city can only raise it four. And with regard to your earlier comment, this is why it's so challenging. It's not a city Benanishia thing. It's it's state law through Proposition 218. We cannot exempt the school district. We cannot give the school district um a discount. We can't give seniors a discount. It's based solely on proximity to park and basically the building in which you occupy and what you're zoned. And so this is the the provisions and limitations that the city
108is bound to by the state of California. >> So I look at some of the properties and and some of the um some of the parks. I live by a park that um is right on the water and it it's Bardoni Park. Um, and the weeds are like they're taller than I am. >> Um, and that's that's always a concern because they're our kids, you know. Um, I understand the need for uh beautifification of our city. I I do. I understand that that the 17,000 will will impact us. I did not know about the garbage agreement. I >> Right. Oh, in 2017. Yeah. Um, so I think Trusty Hirs has made some really, really good points. I this is awfully hard, Mario. I mean I >> no understood and and you know and I I
109I sympathize. I I was in in fact your seat, President Grubs, um 20 some odd years ago. So I I fully appreciate kind of the burden of balancing the fiduciary duty of the district as well as kind of the greater good within the community. Um again what I would just note is that there are again a variety of relationships and partnerships with which the city and the school district have and it's in our mutual interest to make sure that each other is successful and we talked about a few earlier today and so I think that's important to note. Are you are you saying I know there shouldn't be retaliation kind of stuff but are you saying if this doesn't pass that if you might pull some of these other agreements and that worries me. >>
110No also no that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is is that that through the course of history we have a lot of um you know relationships and there have been times when in fact I was on the school board and the city of Benicia uh took care of the high school and took care of um Robert simple school uh we recently took care of the state capital aiding the the the state of California out. So my point is is that in our history, right, we've had these relationships um where as public agencies, whether it's the school district or the city or the state where we support one another. Um but again, as a as a grander scale and what I shared earlier, this we're going to go into a period of time as
111an entire community. It's not just going to infect the city of Anisha. It's going to affect our nonprofits. It can affect our sports groups um on how do we make sure that we protect the quality of life. And so sometimes the best way to do that is if everybody pulls together and supports something, you can get a greater good. Right? Your $17,000 investment could have a return of investment of nearly $1.4 million to the city of Benicia to support our park system for which user groups and students rely. Bordeoni um public access area would be included in the district which it is not now. Right. >> Um the you know how um the park behind the fire department that's on military >> city park. >> Yes. City park. So I know in some years past
112there was a group of families they got together and came and they did maintenance on the wood and all of that. Can something like that be worked out among people that live near those parks? Like we can get a community of people that can come in with their mower or their weer or their their their edger or something to help alleviate the the cost that the city would end up having to cover. Is that even a Have you guys thought of that? >> It's happening now. Uh we partner with both the Benicia Community Foundation as well as Benetians adopting Benetians where folks will either have specified designated days for cleanups. We also have folks during the week that will essentially shadow a parks worker. Um but I I think there's there's an important understanding. I
113think you all in in the service of the public understand this. When we have volunteers, volunteers add value. It's very difficult for them to substitute the work that we have from our professional staff, right? It would be akin to someone saying, "Well, we don't need teachers. We can have volunteers come in and do that." Volunteers are great. They're going to support the teachers. We're going to have added value. But to rely upon the volunteer spirit to do basic services doesn't work. And so, yes, we're going to have to rely upon our community even more in the coming um years to have continue that added value. But for the core service, you're going to need professionals to be able to go in and do that work. And so to with regard to Playground of Dreams, that's
114a hallmark in Benicia to replace that park with like equipment that meets code, California code over a million dollars. I I so wish this was five years from now because I think we'd have a better idea of where we're at, where you guys are at, where with Valero leaving. I I think we would have a better idea. This timing really is not a good time. It's just not a good time to do something like this. So, do we want to have a vote? I I think that is there any more discussion? >> Do we want to vote? >> Yeah. I mean, that's the that's a challenging question. >> Yes. Isn't it? >> You know, Amy Amy brought up a really good point like Yeah. I mean, I would it I think it would be great
115for the taxpayers to make this decision and not put so much um on the school district. >> Yeah, I wouldn't say um yeah, not not putting all the votes. 17,000 or no, what is it? Was it 17,000 votes um on our decision? Um, I mean that's going to skew this. >> Ask a question if you have any other questions for staff because Trusty Manassi brought up the issue of uh federal funding and I just want to say that the the federal government barely funds us in special education. Right. So, um, you know, I just want to point that out. There's not much, right? Do you have any other questions for us as a staff before you make a vote? I just want to can I just clarify that for myself? So, if I understand from
116last week, Trudy, it was like 1.2 or three million that we get that we could get from the federal government and that goes to special ed. >> Some of the federal money goes to special ed. We do have title one money which supports um currently three teachers that provide intervention. Um, our allocation this year came in about 50% of last year's, so we've already lost title one funding. And title two supports a portion of um staff development. And title three, we were awarded it last year, which is um for um our English learners, but then when the year ended, we didn't actually get funded for it. Um we may we preliminarily we are supposed to get it this year. We'll see. That's was roughly 20,000 and then we do receive um idea funding which is
117much closer to the million um depending upon how the funding model at the SULPA the special education local plan area which is all the districts in Solano excluding Valleo depends on how that funding model um allocates it. So currently we get roughly a million dollars as long as the federal government continues to fund it at that same level. And as the climate is right now, things are being said that we might not get money from the federal government about the education uh stuff being stopped or lessened. So that that concerns me too because we don't know what's going to happen. What's been your experience in past um with the trash, which we all sort of like learned tonight, we're like, whoa, that's significant. What's been your experience in the past in terms of how other
118school districts handle that? So, >> every city is different. >> Yeah. >> Um it hasn't been my experience that the city offsets trash. Um CC asked me if I was aware of it. I wasn't. It's coded as sewer and trash in our system. So, I did not realize there was a long-standing agreement where we didn't actually get the bills passed along to us. >> You know, I have limited experience in that area. I do know that at times as a district, we went out to bid for our own services and um but in my past district, the city provided that service and so it behooved us to work with the city to do that and not an outside agency. And so, they had made that switch. But obviously they go through a bidding process. I
119will also say that the uh cost of crossing guards that we currently pay in this district compared to the number of crossing guards we have is a very low price. >> And the reason I brought that up is is not to suggest the city would take away the services if not at all. The reason I brought that up is because the city has very very limited funding. >> Yeah. and is in dire financial straits. So, I think that if that doesn't improve, >> it's it's you know, they're going to have to do what we would do, which is look at all of the line items that we pay for and say, "Do we still need to pay for this?" So, I think however this goes, we need to just keep that in mind. That's a
120reality. >> I agree. I I agree. I was not trying to imply that either. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. And like Mario was saying, it hasn't been taken care of for all these years because they haven't done it and it hasn't been budgeted properly or something with the financial way that the city is. I don't know if I can get if I can trust that it's going to continue to go into that fund. I know it's a it's a special thing, but they I I I have reservations. I I guess I my perspective to that is that they have to and things will get done. I don't think we're going to see things for a while. I think that there's so much work that needs to be done underground essentially. Go ahead. Yeah, >> if I
121if I may. So related to any revenue derived from a parks landscape and lighting district for which we've had one for 36 years and we've collected approximately $422,000 annually. Every single year the city council has to receive a report on where those dollars go and it has to go currently in five existing parks for which that district supports. Should this pass, two things to note. It doesn't go into effect until August of 2026. Um, and it's renewed annually by the city council and you receive a report on where all of those dollars go and it can only go into the park system. So the the money generated, the nearly $1.4 million and it would be a total of 1.8 because we're already going to receive the 400,000 we get now. So another additional 1.4. So
122a total of $1.8 8 million from the the parks landscape and lighting district has to go to the parks system. It legally through proposition 218 cannot be spent on city manager. Can't be spent on a fire engine. Can't be spent on a police officer. Can only be spent on our parks. >> No, it hasn't. Exactly. Because in in 1989, we generated $422,000 to support five parks for which that district was designed to. At that point, we had 17 parks workers. Today, in 2025, we have $422,000 to support those five parks. And we have less than 10 parks workers because in 36 years nobody came to this podium or other podiums to fix it. So if if the goal is to get something changed, you have to do something different. >> Are there any other questions
123or and more discussion? So, would somebody like to make a motion? >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll make I'd like to make a motion that we vote yes on prop the prop 218 lighting assessment. >> I'll second. >> I know. Was that second it >> CC? >> I did. I know. All those in favor? >> I I did you say I >> I think two eyes. Two and two. >> So >> now it's not approved. It just we don't vote at all. >> It fails. >> That's right. >> So we don't vote yes. We don't vote no. It just sits >> which was going to be my second motion. Well, but it's a tie. So, >> so there's no action. >> That is correct. >> You know, I just want I I did change
124I listening listening to everyone and just You know, I've raised my kids here and I utilize the parks. There's that fiduciary responsibility. So, it for me it's really a um hesitant. Yes. A reluctant. Yes. Okay. I just wanted to explain my thinking. It's a hard decision. >> Very hard. >> And thank you for this discussion everybody. >> Yeah, it was a good >> Yeah, this is not an easy decision. I agonized over >> we have to do. >> Okay, moving on. >> Thank you. So we are at 13B ratification and approval of the memorandum of understanding with Dominican University. Dr. Jennings. >> Good evening, President Grubs, uh, board trustees, superintendent Calibres, and the Bunicia community. We are requesting approval of this memorandum of understanding with Dominican University to allow placement of teacher interns in Benishia
125Unified who are completing their preliminary credential credential program through Dominican's teacher credentiing program. So that's what we are requesting. >> I'll make a motion um that we approve the memorandum of understanding with Dominican University. >> I'll second. >> All those in favor? I >> and we come to the end of our meeting. It is 7:50. Thank you everybody. Our next regular board meeting is Thursday, October 16th. Thank you.