BUSD Board Meeting 11/3/2022

001um are we good okay thank you I'm going to call us back from closed session it is now 704 according to your clock and um we're going to continue with our meeting um we do have something to report out from closed session on a student matter and I have it here somewhere okay um regarding um there's a student discipline and other confidential matters Ed code sections 35146 and 48915 the board considered and moved to approve staff's recommendation of the stipulated suspension expulsion of student number 22-015 for one year until October 20 excuse me October 12 2023. and it was um motioned by Mrs furucci and seconded by Mr macelli all five eyes got it okay okay this meeting is recorded for live streaming And archiving on the district YouTube channel for your convenience um I

002am going to let's see who am I going to pick on no I'll do it myself Austin would you please join me in the pledge 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 thank you can I get a motion to approve the agenda as written thank you can I get a second please and um real call please a second right yes yes okay president Zeta yes yes trustee Groves yes thank you all right we're gonna move on to student reports you guys came up really fast you're both from um Benicia High School correct who wants to go first okay so I'm going to introduce uh Brianna biniak from Benicia High School I don't know what your position

003your student board rep but what position are you yeah so I'm the ASB president at Bonita high school oh so nice to meet you nice to meet you too okay thank you yep so my name is Brianna viniak and I'm ASB president and this is all right changing from Indonesia high school as well I'm the vice president and on October 12th Wednesday we coordinated with vitalin for our blood drive and we just exceeded our appointment goal and on October 19th another Wednesday was Unity day we asked students to wear orange to show awareness for National bowling prevention along with uh we also asked students to wear pink every Friday throughout month of October or breast cancer we ended our month uh was last Red Ribbon Week dress-up day this week in uh which is the

004Halloween costume contest uh we had the comp competitions among students and teachers and my personal favorite is the four sharks to say my personal favorite would probably be the English Department they all dressed up as Hogwarts characters from Harry Potter it was very fun and the counseling department they were like the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park so that was super fun to see um so on Monday November 7th we will be starting the talent show sign ups and also um next week on Thursday November 10th we will be having a Veterans Day ceremony uh during lunch in the quad where we will honor veterans uh with a speech delivered by myself and uh we are going to or two of our veterans from the high school are going to raise the flag and our band will

005play the national anthem and on Monday November 14th we plan to have a Ruby Bridges walk to school at 7 50. and our intramural volleyball tournament as well as our canned food drive will also be taking place during that week and that is all of our events thank you well that's excellent I will be at your Veterans Day event for sure so but thank you so much for being here we know you guys have more things that are important to do before you rather than just sit here so you guys are welcome to leave but thank you so much for being here okay thanks bye-bye all right um superintendent report and Dr Wright you're up good evening president Zeta trustees and team I just want to take a couple of moments and just share Reflections

006that I've had over the past couple of weeks you know as I reflect back I've worked in public education for over 22 years and I enjoyed it every minute of it supporting various communities throughout my tenure I like most Educators didn't enter this profession to become wealthy but entered this profession to empower others I took my first guidance assistant position making a whopping eight dollars an hour but I loved it the Rapport I established with students the admiration I received from parents who are just thankful for the love that I gave their children that compensated the financial inequities a high level of respect for educators the appreciation made it easy to wake up and serve and I'm going to guess that many of you in Benicia had similar experiences I still see it educators are

007still appreciated sometimes through words of encouragement sometimes this is an occasional shout out Starbucks cards those tokens of gratitude are never expected but very much appreciated and I'm not up here tonight seeking gifts for staff I'm really not but I'm just here to remind our community that our Educators serving our children are human and have imperfections our educators their families also endured the pandemic and continue to work towards normality sometimes we're going to disagree but when we do disagree there's an appropriate way to address those disagreements Educators want to receive an end of complaints or grievances many of them live in this community have ties in this community and in some cases have kids watching these disagreements play out publicly so the manner in which we pose grievances matter complaints and grievances I agree they

008are necessary because they provide for assistance a system of checks and balances but when the Grievances are put out on public display without affording the educator an opportunity for a conversation or to counter that narrative their grievance appears to be more of a public shaming versus an attempt to resolve a misunderstanding as I and others working in education even those studying the field of Education reflect on the evolution of the treatment of those that serve children in all job classification we're talking teachers board members counselors psychologists administrators office staff custodians you name it there's a shift and at this pace I'm concerned about the future of our profession over the past four days I had unsolicited conversations with several strong and talented administrators and teachers regarding regarding unrelated incidents and some are questioning if they

009can continue in the profession it just breaks my heart because I reflect back on why I started I couldn't help the pause because the sentiments confirm that National narrative is Alive and Well in Benicia the discussions reminded me of an article I read this summer I was in a Washington Post it was called the rise of the Jackhammer parent which describes some parent Behavior as Relentless loud destructive empowered by fear now I just want to be clear very clear I am not describing Benicia parents behaviors or comparing them to jackhammers it's not what I'm doing but I am wondering if we're creating a culture where educators are shying away from being Authority if we're demonstrating a lack of respect and pushing qualified employees away from our field busd we made a commitment to listen learn

010and address inequities in our system we're only a few months in and we're committed to take action to improve our system we understand we have a lot of work to do in January we'll report our learning and identify a plan but if we want to improve our organization it's got to be inclusive of all stakeholders that includes parents and community so I'm asking you to reflect Unite with the district as we improve our practices here's my ask please be mindful and opt for a conversation to vent frustrations and resolve issues versus taken to social media social media is a useful tool however posting a narrative that does not include all of the information attempting to put pieces of a puzzle together with inaccurate information is unwarranted Reckless and damages a reputation of those living and

011serving this community and doesn't solve the issue but instead May create further divisiveness it was a time when journalists prided themselves on providing credible information when going public when we post information for the world to see we are serving in a quasi-journalistic role all sides to deserve a voice during the pandemic communities could not wait to get their kids back to school to provide a sense of normalcy and let's face it but their children back in the hands and guidance of capable educators let's ensure we keep our students in the hands of capable educators and they opt not to leave the profession let's make sure we create a culture that attracts new exceptional Educators to fill the vacancies we have it is true salary is important to recruiting highly qualified Educators but how we treat

012and value them will determine if they stay we can't control what happens in other communities but we do have control over this narrative let's work together let's Converse less model best practices and conflict resolution for our youth these were just my thoughts and I share them out of care thank you for listening thank you Dr Wright at this time we're going to move on to board reports and I'm going to open it up to my colleagues if anybody has anything to report out okay Mrs verchy okay I did um I was on the zoom csba meeting the other night and it was it was facilitated by Dennis Myers who is the um the the delays on between the state budgets and with csba members so the conversation that we were having about the budget and

013the idea that we need to begin to look through it um Dennis actually confirmed that what he's saying is right now and Tim I am going to assume is going to get hot off the press information for us come January but at this current time revenues are down in the state of California and what they're anticipating right now is 98 through the schools of being down somewhere around 6 billion dollars um what they what my partners were asking at this meeting was in fact what any of these grants be impacted and obviously they can't answer that they don't know but they were referring back to the last downturn so basically what they're saying is nothing is off the table so I just think it's going to be something that as as Tim and Dr Wright

014begin to go to these budget meetings those are going to become real important pieces of information for us so that we know so going forward we're well prepared and we're ready so it was it was not the kind of meeting I was expecting usually they're very upbeat and very positive and I left feeling very nervous and anxious so my second meeting that I attended was the district curriculum committee and um Mrs gub's got grubs was also with me at the meeting um it was the first in-person one that we've had in the district so that was really fun to just kind of sit around the table and talk to people um anyways there's a lot coming on they're looking at the fact that there's new Frameworks coming down from the state of California and with

015that new framework is going to mean that there's going to be um the potential of looking for new textbooks and the idea of what that what that could be totally regarding regarding money I think it was Dr beatson who threw out the idea that if we bought new books to go with every one of the new Frameworks that are going to impact us elementary middle and high we're talking about five hundred thousand dollars I think is what I wrote down on my notes so foreign my conversations this whole week have been about money money and money that was gross um I'd like to Echo what Mrs frucci said about the district curriculum committee it was really interesting um talking about the different textbooks and mostly about math the focus was math that day um and

016the um the school's all shared out they shared what they need what they're hoping for um and it was it was just so interesting to be back into that curriculum um that curriculum space one of the things that I thought was interesting was that the the teachers were you know teachers are so um uh respectful of their craft and um there was a lot of brainstorming about our reading program and our writing program and our math program and so there were some requests um made for certain trainings which I thought was really interesting Also earlier this week I met with Norma Perez from The Economic Development Council here in town and she was she was very interesting um was really uh committed to to partnership with with bosd wanted to know about our school wanted

017to know um how to enhance the relationship between the city and and the school district I also had the I have the great joy of going and reading to a second grade class and a third grade class and I go every Tuesday and um and I really want to thank those teachers for letting me come in and hang out and read to the kids and um so it's been a busy few weeks thank you sir anything and I don't have anything this time either so but thanks for attending all those meetings and being part of it and sharing all the information moving forward that's good okay um the next item is the comments for the members of the public all functions of the board meeting including public comments will take place in person members of

018the public May address the board at a regular 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 court to the book a card to the board's secretary the board president will call Open Session General comments during the public comment item comments for items on the agenda will be called during the specific item comments are limited to no more than three minutes per speaker or the board May limit the total 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 public comment periods and matters may be referred to staff replacement on a future agenda of the governing board please be reminded to

019keep your comments respectful as students may be watching the board meeting thank you and what I've heard is that we have no public comments so we're going to move right on to item 10. um the background information on these items is provided to the board prior to the meeting a common motion takes place without discussion on roll call vote unless discussion item or items is requested by a board member or members so I want to find out if somebody would like to make a motion to approve the consent calendar is written I'll make a motion to approve the consent calendar as written thank you can I get a second please I'll second that thank you roll call please yes okay then we're gonna move on to um for the resolution item yeah that's my apologies

020okay um approval okay so can I get a motion to um oh roll call I'm sorry on number 22-23-06 roll call please yes yeah thank you okay item number eleven we have a presentation of oh there's not okay never mind I'm gonna move on to item number 12. we're just moving right on okay the first item up on um our action item is consideration and approval of the award for the contract to the for Joe Henderson Elementary School uh Ewing restroom and accessory modular buildings to the lowest bidder so I welcome Mrs Egan to the podium for her to share the information she's got to share with us right all right thank you thank you um good evening so my agenda item tonight is for the Joe Henderson Elementary School restroom building replacement before I

021dive into the details of that I wanted to share out just a few details for upcoming Robert simple elementary school projects that are in progress the first project is an HVAC replacement project for the MPR and adjacent areas we are currently at DSA with anticipation for approval early next year and we'll be taking that to bid at that time then we're also working on new TK buildings and anticipate that they will be submitted into DSA early next year as well so it's a little tangent sorry I just wanted to share out that information with you we're pretty excited about it um I'll go back to the agenda item Joe Henderson Elementary School um the restroom building replacement so the scope for the project consists of replacing the restroom building this was identified in 2014 as

022a priority One need additionally last year we had flooding in the building due to Broken pipes so it really exacerbated the need for the project to be completed so we have a low bidder of AMS construction or it's American Modular Systems Construction we have worked with them before they provided our buildings at the middle school we are very pleased with them their cost is within limits for the engineers estimate as well as opsc allowances the schedule if approved we would get in the queue for the modular manufacturers off-site construction right away and then it would be ready to install on-site next summer their pricing includes the foundations as well so staff recommendation is to approve the contract to AMS in the amount of 520 840 dollars thank you are there any questions one if you

023don't mind Roxanne um the insurance money that we're getting to to do this job um does it cover the job and the contract costing this entirely or are we still going to need to be adding you know we're adding Bond money okay and it we're in lieu of making repairs to a building that we knew had to be replaced out it just seemed logical to try to just put it towards the purchase cost we had identified in our bond monies a line item for this as we knew it was coming correct no I knew that and this made perfect sense but I was just wondering how closely aligned the dollars were okay thank you um I'm excited thank you for bringing up information about Robert Semple I know we're all um interested to see when

024things start rolling over there because they really are needing some uplift so thank you for sharing that um okay to our board um would anybody like to make a motion please I'll move to approve AMS as the construction the contractor for the Joe Henderson Ewing bathrooms thank you do I have a second thank you roll call please president Satan yes yes yes thank you okay um no Item B consideration and approval of provisional intern permit um education specialist and at this point I'm going to turn it over to Dr Gill um and she will go over these and the following many items that are on the um and the action items all the way through to F so go ahead we'll start with the B thank you good evening uh president Zeta trustees superintendent uh

025and community members and cabin members um so this one we are pleased to be able to find the hire a teacher for our position this was the difficult to fill the position at Benicia Middle School resource position but in this case we do need to apply for a provisional intern credential permit for the teacher so I'm bringing this request forward for you to do the approval so we can make this get the permission for the teacher thank you can I get a motion please thank you we're going to get a second I'll second here thank you roll call please residency yes trustee Moss yes trustee ferrucci yeah trustee macelli and trustee Grubbs yes and you may continue Dr Gill thank you ma'am so for the next item C uh so in uh August I had

026brought uh August September one of those months I think August um I had brought several items positions forward where uh to to equalize and balance the positions of the similar type of Duties uh by air this position were left off and I apologize for their technical error and so we're just bringing forward the food service manager position also forward they should have brought up at that time we have several of similar title positions which is left out by mistake so we just want to be requesting for us to be in this position also to be moved up so we can pay the employee thank you questions okay can I get a motion please um I like to recommend that we approve the attached um mou for salary range change for the food service manager position

027and classified School Employees Association number 1096 salary schedule for the 2022-23 school year thank you can I get a second I'll second thank you roll call please yes yes and trustee grants yeah yeah thank you okay D van driver go for it yes thank you so um uh providing transportation to our students with the disability is not only uh necessary but also very important to us as a school district so we want to make sure we do an excellent job with that right now we do provide transportation by Contracting out with an outside agency um we believe that we it might be more beneficial to our students if we provide our own transportation we haven't done this one before we're going to try this new is what we're bringing forward is a van driver job

028description physician is going to be a part-time position uh and our goal is hopefully to hire our existing employees who are already part-time to give the couple additional hours maybe one in the morning one in the afternoon something like that depending on the news of the kids and so we wanted to bring it to you first as a job description approval so that we can post the position and hopefully hire our own drivers band drivers and grow make that program of Our Own if you have any questions um oh Mrs fruity did you have a question yeah okay there you go okay so um can I get somebody to make a motion please move that we approved the van driver job description thank you Megan a second a second thank you roll call please yes

029trustee Moss yeah thank you um clients and public the Pio office or Pio officer that doesn't make any sense what I just said public information officer anyway Dr Gill go right ahead so uh currently we have a petition poster called mental health coordinator this petition is in the student services office so so basically their duties that are mental health coordinator duties such as overseeing Wellness programs special friends programs those type of Duties and they are divided between the director of student services and mental health coordinator and there are other duties such as compliance Title IX uniform complaints um student discipline issues anything like that so originally we had the mental health coordinated disc job description we had posted that position for a while actually since June with the not really good success uh to find

030a really good candidate we just didn't want to hire anybody and everybody who wanted to find a good highly qualified candidate to take care of that job what we're rethinking is that to give the shifts the duties of those the wellness and those type of Duties to the mental health coordinator but instead sorry to the director but instead a poster position for compliance so take those duties from the director so that we can do a really good job with compliance Title IX and other things and with communication with the public health public information officer position so we're basically shifting duties but still it's not an additional position it is just meant Shifting the mental health coordinator position removing their position and bringing this position in so we're requesting the board to approve the job description

031so we can post the position thank you are there any questions no okay um can I get a motion please do we approve the compliance and public information optional job description for the 2020-23 school year thank you can I get a second roll call please president Zeta yes trustee ferrucci yeah trustee macelli yes yes um finally here's the consideration approval of early notification retirement incentive Dr Gill now this is a happy happy yes it is so usually we do this uh around this time of the year uh so any employees who want to retire we request to them that if you inform Us by uh January 13th Friday January 13th of and if they inform us uh and they follow the language in here I will be sending this email and all the details to

032the employees They will receive a 1500 or prorated for part-time employees incentive um for informing us of that we do inform them that uh it is irrevocable so once they make the decision it is a done deal but so we are bringing it to you so you could approve it for your approval and then we will share this with the employees thank you I'm going to ask if there are any questions I don't think there will be on this okay can I get a motion please I'll move to approve the early notification incentive for the 22-23 school may I get us oh sorry I didn't mean to cut you off that okay get a second thank you roll call please yes trustee Moss trustee for Ruchi yes trustee macelli trustee gross yeah yeah thank you

033now um it brings us to the part of our meeting of the board trustee candidate interviews and I know we've got four great people here that are going to be talking with us and um we're going to be talking amongst ourselves here and making a decision to fill our spot that Diane farushi currently sits in um big shoes to fill and so uh and and we thank Diane I'm going to thank her for many times over the next few couple months I know so in any case um I'm going to invite the four board members four candidates that would like to interview for this current position um to join me at the table at these tables I don't know if you already chose numbers they have not chose numbers so um am I supposed to

034choose numbers okay okay and welcome thanks for being here and while they're choosing numbers and seeding themselves I'll give you just a brief overview of the process so that everyone can understand how we're going to facilitate this evening um this evening we're going to do a group interview process but it's going to be in a rotating response order we're going to determine the order right now by having our candidates select a number one through four and we'll have them seated at the table in front of the dice in just a moment um it's okay I I'll just keep rolling okay so um once they're seated we have five interview questions and four candidates and what we mean by rotating order is if you draw the number one out of the bowl you're going to answer

035the first question first the first the the individual that Drew number one will answer the first question first on with two three and four when we get to the second question the candidate that Drew number two will answer the second question first followed by candidate number three four and one and so on Down the Line we have five questions and four candidates So the lucky person at Drew number one gets to also answer question number five first all right okay it's working now okay perfect so once we complete all five questions I'm sorry all applicants will have an opportunity they'll have two minutes to answer each question the timer will start once the question is asked once we complete all five questions the candidates answer the questions we will then go into what we call

036our ranking sheet this is a Force ranking document each board member has one they will rank their applicants one through four with one being the highest score we will then compile all of those documents and we will put the data on this sheet and this will be displayed so that you will be able to see it so the candidates number will be listed on the left hand side and as we compile the documents for instance we'll look at president zeta's documents we'll read out their scores Dr Gill will input her scores onto this spreadsheet and then we will have a Force ranking document a total score and all also an average score but I do want to emphasize that this Force ranking score does not constitute an abort appointment what this does is it gives

037our board members some data to discuss during the discussion component of this process so once those scores are compiled they will enter president Zeta will lead the board in a discussion of the four candidates until we get to the point where we're ready to they're ready to make a motion in second and do a roll call vote once we do a roll call vote and there's three s's that will constitute the appointment are there any questions before we get started we'll God we'll guide you you know we'll help you don't worry all right thanks um Dr Wright Okay so who is sitting in seat one please and who is sitting in seat two what was your last name I'm sorry Nicholson um and who isn't oh he was sitting in seat two thank you Martinez

038okay and who is sitting in seat three thank you rosito thank you seat number four on on these forms they each have their name on the top it's okay it's okay this is not something we do very often okay let me put you guys recorder [Music] foreign Mr Nicholson you know that we're going to start with you you're going to be the first one to answer this question and we're going to go down the line at that point okay so first of all I would like to welcome all four of you I think it's wonderful to have you here and I know this is an uncomfortable kind of thing to go through it's uncomfortable for us too but we're going to make it work and we're excited about the opportunity before us so I wanted

039to just start with that um second or next I'd just like to ask you to tell us about yourself and why you want to be a trustee on the Venetian Unified School District governing board um and then in your answer we'd like you to tell us why it you would be effective so Mr Nicholson you're on oh sorry oh push and then when you're done talking you'll you'll push to the green light goes off and then you have the two minutes that are going to be up on on the screen for you to kind of know where you're at where you gotta wrap it okay all right so thank you and welcome thank you uh good evening to uh president Zeta and superintendent rights and members of the board I very much appreciate the opportunity

040to be here tonight thank you for the the invitation um I have two kids in the uh in the school system a seventh grader and an 11th grader we've had a good success with Venetia schools we moved to Benicia because of the reputation of the school system um I've been very engaged with my kids education I volunteered in their classrooms all the way up through Elementary School was the best part of my week I work as a as a lawyer and so you can imagine the break uh that I would get by coming to an elementary school and I mean having a chance to teach a little person how to read if you're going to make a big difference in a person's life I can't imagine anything bigger than that and education has given me

041a life uh I left home when I was still a teenager 17 years old I joined the military got out and went to college in law school and I've made a life with books I continue to have a reading program I'm very much interested stood in education in general I haven't taken to be honest with you I haven't taken a real active interest in the board activities but I have felt a deficit because I haven't been able to volunteer at the middle school and at the high school those opportunities Peter out as the kids get older and so this would be an opportunity for me to get re-engaged to contribute I bring good analytical skills I'm a good listener I did litigation and trial work for about seven years and that requires a cute study

042of technical details and detailed questioning and listening closely and developing evidence and to make decisions based on the facts and the data uh and I think that I could provide some contribution to the to the board consistent with my experience as a successful attorney thank you thank you thank you okay um next exactly I have question number two yes who is okay well no no no we're gonna they're all gonna oh they're all answering I'm sorry I jumped no worries yes it's like you're you're ready to go I am all right so um next is going to be Miss Martinez um please would you like me to repeat the question oh reread it okay please briefly tell us about yourself and why you want to serve as a trustee on the Benicia Unified School District

043governing board in your answer tell us why you would be effective and your time starts now thank you for having me tonight um I have been a product of the Vallejo School District I've been a product of charter school and I'm a product of Benicia Unified School District so I have been through different School experiences and coming up from that school experience I value education I value the adversity that I faced uh coming through that and also my sister uh had an IEP so uh different types of Learners is really important to me I understand that I am a Learner in school came easy to me and then I was able to overcome my challenges and barriers and that's not the case for everyone and uh given the experience that I had I've been serving

044children since I was a child I volunteered uh with preschoolers for several years from middle school up through high school and then when I was in college I did take education classes to learn more about that and then pursued a master in social work and then I served for three and a half to four years as a child welfare social worker working for Contra Costa County and now I work in staff development and I train in onboard social workers so I've worked with a lot of different systems um I've had to uh listen use my social worker skills I've been on several committees and I love serving the community in public service oh I still have time um okay so yeah so this is an opportunity for me to use my experience in child welfare

045and serving Children and Families all of my life and to serve the community that I live in thank you so much okay then we're gonna move on to let me get to my next sheet is it Miss or Mrs okay it is Miss Hersh ey thank you so much for having me tonight I'm very glad to be here it's very exciting um a little bit about myself I am a mom of two kids no I got it I got it yeah um that's okay I'm a mom to two kids uh in the schools right now I have a seventh grader and a fourth grader and um I myself grew up in Benicia I attended preschool through 12th grade here um I left for a number of years about 12 years I went down to Southern

046California and my husband and I decided to come back to Benicia fortunately we were able to get back in and start our family here and a huge draw for us was the schools I had a terrific education I am friends with my teachers I think one is still teaching but most have retired I um I I was challenged in my education um I found that when I went off to college and law school I'm an attorney also I um I was extremely well prepared and many of the other students I went to school with had gone to private schools and all of this and here I was from small town Benicia and I was just as competitive as they were if not more so um about myself I mentioned I am an attorney I'm an

047employment law litigator um I am fortunate enough to be able to work part-time right now so I my schedule is flexible um I have before law school worked as a manager at SBC Pacific Bell I managed 4-1-1 operators and dispatchers so I I have that management experience and perhaps one of the most rewarding positions that I have served is as an Adjunct professor of employment law and tort law and contract law at JFK University when it was still operating in Pleasant Hill and through that experience I was able to develop classes and teach classes ah totally messed up my time there you go well in some I think I would be effective in this role um because of my community contacts I'm very active in the community um and and that with my background and

048just passion for Benicia I think would make me effective and it's why I want to be a trustee thank you so much thank you last but not least it is it's Mrs Mrs Mrs okay Mrs macido so please briefly tell us about yourself and why you want to serve as a trustee on the Benicia Unified School District governing board and in your answer tell us why you would be effective thank you thank you thank you good evening uh you know I would love to have the opportunity to serve on the board because I'm an immigrant I come from I come from Brazil and I did come to the United States because of Education I value education I came to do my graduate programs here I'm a veterinarian and I decided to pursue a research uh

049doing um you know public health so I came here and I graduated with a PhD here from the US and that was having two kids going through school at the time so we've really value education in our family now we do have a third kid now that is going through Benicia Unified School District and she's in special education and having a child in special education opened my eyes for completely different everything I had had two very successful kids that I never had to tell to study they were never had to tell to do homework and very successful and now having a child with special needs you have to be engaged you have to to know what you're doing you have to really uh you know address things that you're going to think you needed to

050address before with schools so I thought that would be a great opportunity for me to uh really put what I've been working with I have experience in governance I worked as a general manager under a board of 22 trustees so I have 22 bosses and you know with my experience with governance in Special Districts and public service I thought it was a great fit for me and that's why I think I could be effective in serving on the board because I bring different experiences that I was able to gather through life and plus my government experience and being in our public officer too I would love to to have the opportunity to to put that into practice thank you okay now we're gonna switch it up a little and we're going to start with Miss

051Martinez for our second question which Mrs ferrucci will read thank you again I apologize for jumping ahead I knew I needed to start with two so I was ready okay so Mrs Martinez as a trustee what do you see as your primary purpose or role how would you fulfill that role both as an individual and as a member of the governing board first and foremost my role is to serve the public it's to serve the community and so I see my role as listening to the Community Learning what the needs are of the community and advocating for everyone within the community and then um within the governing board uh ensuring that we are able to have the discussion that's necessary to take in all of the necessary and probation and facts to make uh good

052decisions because more information doesn't necessarily lead to better decisions it's organizing that information and by organizing that information and making sure that is relevant to the needs of the children and those serving the children at all levels being completely inclusive of everybody who is within the school district because everyone is part of the school district and serving the school district and meeting the needs of that Community as well as all of our stakeholders within the community parents uh those who interact with the children anyone who volunteers all everyone serves an important role and so I want to make sure that we are listening to all the voices uh within the community and taking them into consideration um upholding the uh needs of the school district and I look forward to learning what those needs are

053and how best to serve them by learning the role because I have not served in it I have not been active at this point in time in these board meetings so that'd be my first step in becoming a board member is learning how to be a board member and Lerner is my top strength so I look forward to the opportunity if it is given to me thank you thank you so much we're gonna move on to Ms Hirsch no Miss Hersh as a trustee what do you see as your primary purpose or role how would you fulfill that role both as an individual and as a member of the governing board as a trustee I see my primary purpose as making it is making decisions in the best interests of students and how would I

054fulfill that purpose um I'm I am I love to learn I can hit the ground running and dive in um I think it's really important to listen to constituents representing as a representative for the best interest of the students listen to parents listen to teachers listen to stakeholders um I think it's important to understand that people come everybody has something to bring to the table and I think it's very important to be able to listen to somebody and understand that their experiences while may not reflect mine are nevertheless very valuable um and should be heard um I I also know as a parent that parents come from a place of caring and sometimes things can get emotional but remembering that it comes from a place of caring and to again listen as part of a

055governing board I think it's important to um to make sure that we celebrate accomplishments um and especially in these times when there's a lot of negativity I think it's very important to communicate accomplishments and celebrate those accomplishments um also how would I fulfill that primary purpose I'm a very positive person um I would I I hope that I would inject some you know positivity open-mindedness um in my interactions as a trustee this is casito so as a trustee what do you see as your primary purpose or role how would you fulfill that role both as an individual and as a member of the governing board as a trustee my primary role would be to bring all of the experiences that I have to be able to listen and to be one of the votes in

056the board as a board our role would be to decide on policy and provide support to the superintendent so you know they are two role two different roles as a group and as an individual but I think that the individual role is very important because you are able to really bring your experiences to the table and you know each one of us is going to have a different background a different experience and something that we really believe in that we can help clarify so that's a very important role individually but as a board is the totality of our support and what we're going to be deciding it's what's important thank you thank you hey Mr Nicholson okay so as a trustee what do you see as your primary purpose or role how would you fulfill

057that role both as an individual and as a member of the governing board uh so I would view it as a fiduciary position meaning that I need to put the interest of others ahead of my own of course um and that would require to begin with um learning the the mission and the vision of the superintendent and doing a deep dive into the objectives of the uh the current Administration identify goals and benchmarks along the way that would require a lot of study of written materials and questioning you know certain things that I would not understand initially but I would be able to understand it after sufficient study I would also need to undertake a review of stakeholder needs to First identify who the stakeholders are that would include of course the children and the

058system and the teachers the staff um the support system and infrastructure for the the school district and there's a balancing that naturally has to be brought into into place and to figure out you know where where the ACT where the exact balance would be given all the different interests of the stakeholders uh try to be as fair-minded as I can be um and that means to be dispassionate to apply uh critical analysis thank thank you very much thank you all right um second question yeah we're gonna we're gonna move on and we're gonna go now to miss her she will be the first to answer this next question and Mr Micelli will be uh giving the question to you all what are you proud of in this District what would you like to accomplish as

059a board member what is your highest priority and why it's a great question um I didn't come up with it it's really good what am I proud of in this district there is a ton to be proud of in this District I'm on the site council at Matthew Turner and I don't think I fully understood what a great District we have um until I sat on the site Council and I got an inside look at um what do the teachers and what does the soup with the uh the principal what does the staff do how do they make this happen and what I saw is that we have the most caring people as our teachers as our staff and we are so so lucky to have that so I I am extremely proud of our

060teachers our principals and our staff in this District I think they're phenomenal um hmm what would I like to accomplish um I really feel a buzz of energy in the district I know that we are coming out of a rough two years for everybody we did the best we could we're back and I I am not on social media so I don't read all of the negativity but as a parent who walks into the school with both of her kids every day there is a buzz of excitement and what I hope to accomplish is to continue that I would love to see Benicia students be challenged I would really love to see all Benicia students have somebody who believes in them because I believe that every student every single student has the potential to achieve

061and can achieve and um and I would love to see the district continue to challenge students and support students where students need support because that is that is a reality um and and be able to do that in a sustainable way proud of in this District what would you like to accomplish as a board member what is your highest priority and why what I'm proud of you know I've been I I'm probably one of the most uh recent uh here at the table I've been in Benicia for only a little bit over five years and that gives me great experience you know with other school districts with my previous kids but you know what I was really proud when I moved here and my my kid is attending venetianified is the sense of community and

062the relationship between the school and the community the cohesiveness that we have between school and the in the in the city you know it's not a separate entity we operate all very cohesively and that made me very proud to be able to have my kid participate in that environment where if we could trust the staff where we could trust the teacher where we could actually have a relationship with staff and the teacher and they were just just not names on the kids folders that I'm really proud of what I uh what I want to accomplish is I would love to be able to uh help in the board in helping the venetianified school district uh fulfill its its Vision you know I as I said before I really believe in the power of Education uh

063I really believe that the students uh should be able to achieve at their Highest Potential and not just settle I think that each student should be challenged at their potential and that includes to the you know uh scoring Oasis students to my little special needs kid and I believe that we can do that and I would love to help the board fulfill the mission in terms of priority I think that it is again being able to help the district offer opportunities to all the students to achieve at that level thank you appreciate it hey Mr Nicholson what are you proud of in this District what would you like to accomplish as a board member what is your highest priority and why so what I'm most proud of was uh very apparent when I first started

064volunteering in the classroom and I just love the the energy of the of the teachers and the commitment of the staff and I really respected all the parents that would show up I mean we would have two and three volunteers in the classroom and that was just such a terrific thing to see that the parents I mean that's where education starts is at home and that there needs to be an environment and a microculture in the family that promotes education and to see that extended into the school system I just took great Delight in that I was very proud to to see that um what I'd like to accomplish would be simply to to maintain the reputation of Excellence that the school system has we moved here because of the reputation of the school system

065and I mean that's a very important thing to maintain and to keep keep moving ahead with it's a real precious thing for us to to guard and my highest priority um each each kid needs to be in a position where he or she can reach his full potential and potential is a is a huge burden you know to meet your potential that's quite the heavy lift and to have a system that can coalesce around that objective uh would be something that I would very much be motivated to to try to achieve and that would translate into providing suitable resources to the teachers and staff you know with the objective of helping each kid reach their full potential Martinez what are you proud of in this District what would you like to accomplish as a board

066member what is your highest priority and why I am really proud of how the school district has faced unprecedented times because I see the difference in when I went to school uh some long time ago that we will not mention um and I did not face these the level of adversity that our students and our staff here in our community is facing with a pandemic there are things that I never thought we would face in the world as well as a global unrest in political unrest and our students not having that structure and stability of being able to go to school every day and know what to expect and I uh as an adult even going through the pandemic and continuing to go to work and serving as an essential employee I recognize that I

067didn't know what was happening and I felt the struggle of that and the weight of that so seeing what our Our Youth and our children our community have gone through and not knowing how to face this and us coming together as a community and figuring it out and coming out not fully out of the other side but making it through it together is what I'm really proud of especially hearing that there are things like wellness centers that did not exist and that we are now looking at diversity equity and inclusion which have been issues that have existed since I went to school and now incorporating it into curriculum and talking about it and what the needs are and what I hope to accomplish is continuing to support that so that we become a stronger School

068District to be able to meet the needs of all of our Learners no matter how different they are and support our staff and being able to help our students fulfill that potential thank you thank you so now we're gonna move on to miss it number four and am I starting with um here we're starting with Miss Mrs macido okay all right okay so my question is um number four describe your response if a parent stopped you in the grocery store and ask for your support on a particularly controversial issue wow well yeah and and you know and and being in my current role as a general manager you know for public health I I get asked controversial questions all the time especially as we deal with disease transmission and and things like that um so

069you know you know as you know my friend here said before uh I think that parents come from a place of Love of course you know and that's always going to be in the back of my mind you know they are coming from a place where uh they may not have all the information or they may but they're coming from a place that that's their personal experience and that's where they're coming from so of course you know I think that my role will be to listen but my response would be thank you so much for your input and um we you know as a board we'll be taking this into consideration but as a board we'll make a decision on the matter thank you all right so describe your response if a parent stopped you

070in the grocery store and ask for your support on a particularly controversial issue well I I hope it wouldn't be like in an ambush format that it would be a respectful thing I would assume that it would be and I would respectfully have to reciprocate and listen at least initially and then if I could assess the situation quickly it might be necessary to arrange for a a meeting where I could dedicate more time and listen closely um I would have to convey that you know it'd be more than likely that I didn't have all the information I wouldn't have a position really and it would require me to study whatever the issue happened to be and that uh you know it's it's important to listen closely and try as what as I mentioned earlier that

071there's always going to be multiple stakeholders and points of view that have to be balanced it'd be kind of hard to go into that in the milk aisle at the grocery store but that would be the process that I would go through and hopefully you know it could result in uh you know a situation where there's a an Earnest parent and an Earnest board member that have a meaningful communication and and both parties would go away thinking that they were heard and respected and I'll read the question again is that or do you want me to can you read it okay yeah all right so describe your response if a parent stopped you in a grocery store and asked for your support on a particularly controversial issue I being a child welfare worker I believe

072my job is controversial so every conversation involves a controversial issue my clientele or the children families I serve don't usually want me to be serving them so I'm used to getting approached with things that I do not have a say in at that time and I don't have enough information however I would approach it by listening and asking open-ended questions and reflecting uh what they're telling me so that they hear feel heard um I would take in the inspiration that they're saying reflect it back to them and validate their feelings while not taking a stand and instead being transparent about the process and wherever we're at in the process as a governing board on that issue and what steps they could take to be heard whether that's setting up a meeting with them whether that's

073referring them to someone else that is more well-versed in the topic that they're bringing up to me um or if that is them uh attending an open session for a board meeting so that is the approach that I would take because I I want to understand where they're coming from and I want to thank them for being so passionate and wanting to uh bring that information to me and talk about it and try to gain my support uh ultimately though I I cannot act as a sole person and provide them what they're looking for and I'd be transparent in in my role as just one member of the governing board okay Miss Hirsch all right so describe your response if a parent stopped you in a grocery store and ask for your support on a

074particularly controversial issue okay um you know for work I'm an advocate and as a trustee my um I would be serving the best interests of the students I would be one member of a five-person board and I think it's important to note that um I I understand that as one of five if I do take positions on certain issues it could be seen as reflective of the boards so I'm cognizant of that if somebody came up to me in a store and asked for my support on a controversial issue I would first listen to them and I would acknowledge their position um I would then tell them that um that I I value their input if it's an issue that comes before the board I'd encourage them to come and speak at the board when

075the topic is on the agenda but um I would be hesitant to take a strong position on a controversial issue as a member of of a board um but as as I said before it is something I would listen to um and and gather more information and and and collaborate with my fellow trustees regarding an appropriate response thank you all right we are going to move on to our fifth question and we're going to start uh we're back to Mr Nicholson I believe at the beginning so um um Mrs Grubbs is going to be asking your fifth question um I want to let you all know that uh this is the last question so you can take kind of take a little breath and and hang in there because it might be a tougher question

076um I'd like you to identify recent board decision that you felt strongly about also describe how you would balance Community concerns student needs state and federal law staff considerations and your personal values and beliefs to term to determine how to vote on them I'd be happy to repeat that question it's a long one can you identify a reason for a decision that you felt strongly about also describe how you would balance Community concerns student needs state and federal law staff considerations and your personal values and beliefs to determine how to vote on an item sure thank you for that question you're so welcome as I mentioned earlier I've not really been following the the board's activities that closely although the decision to suspend in person instruction because the covid that had to have been a

077Monumental decision that was controversial and uh in my own family we reacted to that we we formed two micro schools one we had one uh we formed a social pod with two other families and we had um the older kids would meet together and we had a math tutor for them and the younger kids we actually hired a person that would come in and so we there was a significant burden financially for the families and the the isolation of the social isolation was a serious thing for the kids and that was a just a major uh situation for everybody and I'm sure that the board you know really struggled with that um you discussed or you mentioned you know there's a decision-making process so I served as a U.S Diplomat for a couple years in

078Geneva Switzerland and that required me to meet with a lot of different kinds of stakeholders and to listen very closely to what their situation was what their needs were and there is a a component of that that involves personal belief and personal values and sometimes I had to remind myself that I needed to set that aside but I'm still a person and I have these beliefs and values and I'm able to do it to a degree but we all have beliefs in bias to just try to be aware of it I think helps in the decision-making process and I'm starting to sound a bit like a broken record here because my final answer is there's a balancing that has to occur where you identify all these different issues and stakeholders and try to reach a

079just and fair decision thank you Miss Martinez [Music] can you identify a recent board decision that you felt strongly about also describe how you would balance Community concerns student needs state and federal law staff considerations and your personal values and beliefs to determine how to vote on an item not say like I truly identify a recent School Board decision that I felt strongly about um because I've not been following the school board I activity as of recent um so I will move on to the second part of that question and as a social worker I had the privilege of working with a lot of different stakeholders on different cases for the children and families that I served in reunification in court cases and I would have to meet with all of them sometimes in child

080and family team meetings bringing them together sometimes in service provider meetings and then a lot of times I'd be actually going to Student Success team meetings with uh and I'd go to different locations and I'd see the children the families in their different uh homes locations Etc and so really going out to the schools and meeting with those that I'm serving as well as listening to the needs of the community during public comment and taking all the information that I can by being a part of the uh schools and the community in the school district that I'm serving and Gathering that information and then taking that information and organizing that information discussing it making sure I'm getting Clarity on things that I'm not clear on in understanding and uh making sure that I am putting

081the needs of others first and aware of my any biases that may be coming into play when making decisions would be a way to balance that out is try to stick to the facts as much as possible thank you Miss Hearst can you identify a recent board decision that you felt strongly about also describe how you would balance Community concerns student needs state and federal law staff considerations and your personal values and beliefs to determine how to vote on an item I would say a recent board decision that I felt strongly about was the replacement of 9th and 10th grade honors English with the pre-ap class um I was I was in 9th and 10th grade honors English and those were probably the best classes I've ever taken better than college classes um and you

082know I realized that I come to I that was important to me because of my own personal experience as a board there are many different uh factors to weigh um and so I think that as a trustee it will be important to listen and get the entire picture of course working within legal parameters and I'm I'm not an education attorney I wouldn't be serving as an attorney from the for the board but I know that the Ed code is very complicated and so I do think that we need to be we need to work within the legal parameters make sure to listen fully to all of the different stakeholders the community the parents the students the staff try to balance those and also realize that we all come with our own opinions and our own

083experiences so my experience as an honors English student was so fantastic that you know me as an individual parent wanted that for my kids as well yet I'm not sure what pre-ap English is so this just serves as an example of how complicated these issues are and how important it is to be able to balance all of the different concerns and get all of the different information before making a final decision as a trustee thank you so much hello okay help me print out your name identify a recent board decision that you felt strongly about also describe how you would balance Community concerns student needs state and federal law staff considerations and your personal values and beliefs to determine how to vote on an item so yeah I agree that the the decisions regarding anything

084around the pandemic must have been very difficult to the board um but you know I I understood where the board was coming from so I wouldn't say that I had a very strong reaction to it so I'm gonna go a little bit before then uh to one that personally I I had a strong reaction to it which was the uh decision uh to award uh the contract uh to ride share for special needs kids Transportation which I was very happy that today we had a positive solution for that and the reason for that was because you know I wish that I was here that day to be able to voice my concerns and I wasn't and I wish that I was able to say that wait a minute we know these kids are the kids

085that need the most routine in their lives and now we're giving them a different driver in a different car every day I wish that I was able to be here to to voice those concerns so I I really felt strong about that one and I remember that one so um in terms of The Balancing Act um I think that each one of us and each one of the board members are going to bring different perspectives to to the board but when uh when trustees are here you know I I like to say that you're not wearing your parent hat you're wearing your trusty hat and what I mean by that is that even though you're bringing those different perspectives and experiences that you have in life when you're here you have the good of the

086community of the students and of the of the school in mind and you're trying to make decisions for that you're still going to have your biases but you you know I am my what I'd like to balance is I try to make sure that I don't let that interfere with what my uh decision in terms of a vault is I try to look at the whole and in terms of following federal and state laws yes you know there is a place to change laws and there's a place to follow the laws and we have to follow the laws and regulations and a place to change the laws is entirely different thank you so much thank you so it at this time I want to thank all of you I know it's it's a lot to

087go through we're throwing questions at you and you're thinking about the clock and all this so so thank you so much take a deep breath take a little bit of water um and we are going to now deliberate here it's all going to be done in front of you we're actually um yeah so we'll keep you informed on what we're doing here did we do the rank yes if if the board can rank each candidate one to four with one being the highest score um and then we will collect that data share it with Dr Gill who would input it into the overall ranking of applicants document that's posted on the screen yes once you complete the form um you can just pass it down towards me I'll come get it Mark s foreign candidates

088what are some of the highlights that resonated with you from each of our candidates starting with candidate Hersh and you're welcome to just share information make sure your mic's on well for me some of the plays it might not play a big role for everybody but the fact that she grew up here and they were rude she might have moved away for a while but I I that's just for me that play that means something that you know the culture in the community and you grew up in it for what for me that's important I don't know for anybody else yeah that was best um yeah that um that actually stood out for me too as well and then having gone through the school system so so there is a level of um familiarity you

089know in terms of what you know of the community and then also um sharing that she was really engaged in the community as well so that is important um but then also I did appreciate um especially particularly to the question um about you know if you're being if you're stopped in the store that type of thing um yes you can listen but the board we're not individuals that serve the community so we can't take on you know make decisions and that type of thing we we are just really one body so so I did we I really appreciated her response in that so I also appreciated that um she's she's active in the schools and she's also on the site Council so she's also on a governance board so to speak for the schools already

090so she's dealing with a lot of the issues that we do at the governing board except it's only you know one school but still they are the conversations would not be so different um I I think it's real interesting that we had a couple of attorneys sitting out here I know at one point we did and it was always an interesting conversation to have an attorney so that was kind of like a that was a good piece but but you're right I mean she's lived through the school she's part of the community she's an active part of the community um she has a lot of contacts out there which are always a plus for us because we know that each of us plays a role of eyes and ears on the ground anyways on our

091in our own life so I thought she brought a lot of strengths and she had a lot of experiences that I think would serve the team well you know I I thought that the way she said she would listen and emphasize listen um was a good thing also because that's one of our biggest things to do is to really listen and take that information in and you know I'd be interested to talk to her after about the the AP English versus honors English um I'm curious because I know we did change it but I am curious and um and she mentioned collaborate and that's a huge part of what we do as a board so those were the things that I along with what you guys all shared picked up on so we are going

092to move along to um Paula macedo um what are your thoughts about Paula I I love the fact that you were um or that she wasn't is it how are we doing we're gonna do it we're just doing this okay we are talking to each other we're just talking to each other yes all right I love the background in um special ed um I love the fact that she's gone through the Immigrant process she knows what it takes she has come um she's gone through the process of becoming um a citizen um I also love the fact the experiences that she could bring to um to the group to the Paul to policies um regard especially regarding special ed I I appreciated the fact that um she understood that during the pandemic was a very

093difficult time um yeah and I think that that's all that the special ed piece stood out for me um as well too um because I know that there are some you know some things that that really you know were like that we're working on yeah so so that's really important to have that lived experience perspective um and that as well as the background um and and policy the piece when she spoke about policy um I know that that's important because it's not like we can just make decisions it's everything is based on policy so um so I really appreciate that knowing that she would bring that that perspective and that lens to this to the board I I think also one of the other things she verbalized which um I think sometimes not everybody aware

094of but one of the things that we need to make sure that we do as a governing board is that we support our superintendent so when he is working with his team they can be successful because if we don't do that life for kids doesn't happen here in our district so that that was um that was a piece that I appreciated hearing as well I I I liked um when she mentioned that she wants to help fulfill the vision of Venetian Unified School District um I think that was important um and she did discuss policy and listening um and um and also the Rideshare thing and I'm glad she was actually here tonight to see that it has is evolving into something different and we hope that will be successful so that should um be

095something that helped so I was glad I mean not glad but I'm just I was happy to hear what she had shared about that yeah yeah the sped aspect that's a voice that you really need is not you know it's not every parent or anybody on the board you know that we none of us have had that right so it would be a good place all right so um we're going to continue our conversation discussing about talking about Ariana Martinez um yes okay um no please I know I was gonna say um one thing I really appreciated about Miss Martinez is um her she's working as a social worker like you are getting the brunt of so many different levels of folks that you have to deal with within this within the system itself um

096so I know having to navigate that is is something that is um is an experience in itself um also having the experience of having it um familiar with her sister with the IEP process that is that is really important um to have that lens as well um and then I also really appreciated her um her ideas of making sure that we're inclusive of every single person like that is so important because a lot of times people in situations are often overlooked and and it you know it shouldn't be a controversial thing just because everybody needs to be included in the process of learning you know we're here to serve students of course and their families but um to vocalize that is really important and that that's I think that brings another um uh another lens

097you know to to decision making too is is that um she has seen such adversity in her in her many jobs and she works with controversy on a daily basis and I thought that was that was a little aha moment for me just of course you do but you know so she would have that um that to um reflect on and and maybe help us reflect on as well and then I think started mentioning serving the like public service yes career which he's done with her life mesh is really really well with the education I remember being on SST yeah that really being able to hit the ground running because you have a knowledge of children that's the process and and there was three or four words actually that I wrote down that um are

098importance when we're all doing the work we do um transparency um she talked about diversity equity and inclusion and those are big things right oh that was my aha it's like okay yeah we know we know that is what we're dealing with right now and and are going to continue that path so I I think um those four words were really um taken here and I did like that asking when she mentioned opening app or asking open-ended questions so a lot of times um we we have to remember that we don't get to put our personal you know our personal ideas into into matters it's really um you know we ask the question so that you can you gain and understanding so so I really appreciated that yeah thank you right right and that's what

099I had really highlighted as well too is listening and asking questions so be sure they're being heard because I think you know though I think it's an important piece of our job just to make sure that that happens and the other thing she said was um or the one um the question about being stopped in a grocery store um and she said she would direct them to come to open session yes invite them to open session and speak to that and and I thought that was that was such a good answer foreign last but not least it is Mr Nicholson um what are your thoughts about Mr Nicholson well one thing that stood out for me um it was around the second question was just making sure that your he said he would put we

100put others interest ahead of our own so that to me is so important especially serving on the board because again we're not individuals here where we serve as a body um so um and so just really listening when you know if questions were to come up or and so I really appreciated that you know the other thing that he said was um he would see himself as a fiduciary someone that that has that responsibility and I think um although I think you know School finances are so complicated and and change throughout the year um I I thought that was um that was enlightening um he also spoke to teacher energy that to to for someone to really see that um and experience that and acknowledge that I think it is a is is really um

101an advantage yeah I I wrote down that um when he mentioned um maintain a reputation of Excellence like that's what we're striving for that's that's in the Forefront of our minds all the time and that um rang out to me and he uh mentioned having each child reach their full potential was another thing and balance and balance yes I'm sorry no no I just have one more little thing um but he mentioned that we all have biases and so I really appreciate that because looking at how decisions are made you know looking at everything is policy you know all these things that come into play when we make decisions but having a balance when we when decisions are made I really appreciate that statement that he made and I really liked to that he was

102looking at um he was looking at the needs of all of his stakeholders I thought that was important because each part makes the whole and you can't eliminate one out of and it out of the process so I appreciated that that he that he said that and did that um he also when he was talking about the energy in the schools and he was he was he was um the commitment of the teachers but then also the commitment of the volunteers because that's what helps to make Benicia what Benicia is I mean it's because we have all of these moving parts that are there working for kids so so I thought that was that was um that was real appreciated and also just as experiences oh my gosh it was holy cow I was I

103was amazed say so everyone had so many that's what I just said to Mark when we before we got going I I have to say we have very impressive candidates yes I I don't know where y'all been hiding but I'm so glad you've come out this time I mean they they are amazing people so I putting his time in in the volunteering and talking about how man I would have been the Middle School in the high school too but they don't really do it right right so I mean it's one thing to say a lot but when you're actually volunteering your time that to me shows you know how important it is exactly well and I did pods while we were closed so I have to tell you that kind of moved my heart a

104little because I did the same thing and I know how hard that was so to take the time to do that was I thought was I was impressed to hear pleased to hear so is there anything that anybody would like to hang out at this point differently different than what you already mentioned or are we ready to get the numbers of what the items that we turned in so we can get the ranking and then we can move forward why don't we see where we thought oh I didn't it's up it's up there we are all over the place I know wow and it can be a little deceptive so when you're looking at the numbers um the low number is actually the higher score right just to point that out okay so um from

105looking at this so that we're not looking at the average score the total score a little bit of the average the 2.8 2.2 2 and 3. so the highest I can't read it so we're looking at the lowest score so yeah okay so those okay the lowest score the lowest score is the best so is Ms Hirsch and the next lowest score it's so opposite of what I'm thinking yeah I know okay is Miss Martinez and that would be followed by Mr Nicholson and then Mrs macedo so I see a score at this point of having two um good choices in in Mrs yes Miss Hersh and Miss Martinez so as we think about the attributes that we seek in a board member what are some of the qualities that make either of these candidates

106are good fit I'm asking you it's a question like I said Miss they're both great candidates all four of them are but for me the reason that I ring Miss Martinez number one was that you know I think that her choice of careers has meshed I mean working with kids working with the adults you know that gave her to me the slight Edge in the whole thing because she spent the time she she gets it she'd be able to hit the ground running on that um yeah and I agree I agree I am I believe you know just her experience is um social worker and not to say that like career choice is what makes a good board member because I mean not to say that but just the experiences I don't have a negative

107view of anything yeah yeah so I think in that field I just think that that is a you know just in terms of what you know the decision that happens around students um which is you know unfortunately the the life of a board member these days um and then also just having that IEP experience and being especially a piece is very important um because that's something I never were really um you know you need to make yeah so I picked Miss Hirsch to be my number one and my one of my driving pieces which I think is really important is that we need to have someone who has children in our schools they are living our decisions and our experiences every day and I think that's something that we lack we lack that connection because

108what we think is happening versus what children may really be experiencing I think that's an important piece to have we also have someone she's very articulate she's very active in the schools um she has been volunteering and participating as well she has students in elementary and middle school which means there's going to be a lasting peace for her should she choose to stay because she's going to be here for a very long time and she's already lived it so that was my reason why I was going with Amy and you know it was actually one of the things that was drawing me to some of the other people over Mrs Martinez is because there is no connection to the community there is no connection to students and I think that's what's missing here we have

109connections on the board to other stakeholder groups but we do not have the child and one of one of our biggest roles is to make sure that we are in fact doing what's right for kids so that's why she was my number one thank you and I noticed um just looking at the ranking of the apple of what we ranked everybody um Mrs Grubbs trustee grubs um ranked Mr Nicholson a one okay okay can you you want to elaborate on that a little bit Mr Nicholson's kids were at Matthew Turner I saw him all the time he he was so active he was sweet and kind with the kids he's also had such so many um amazing experiences he's been a diplomat um and let me get out um he recognizes teacher and school energy

110he's extremely well spoken he does have kids in the schools yet he still has one child at Matthew Turner and one at the high school I thought he said seventh and 11. 1 right oh I'm sorry okay so and at the middle school and the high school I think that um we need we need people who understand the budget and if he's going to look at um uh see himself in a fiduciary position I think that would that would be very beneficial to us um I know that I have trouble getting the budget looking at the budget and I think that would be that would be helpful um I also appreciated um the emphasis on balance I appreciated the um he's very calm he's been a litigator so he is research based um and he

111he his emphasis is on students and he wants everybody he mentioned reaching their full potential and I think that's important and that's why I ranked him number one I've seen him in action and I wanted a super data too with what other pink things that we've all talked about struggling with so and if you look he was actually my number two and I was actually going back and forth yes and I was going back and forth for that very thing because I too was was taking well I said I was amazed by all of his experiences that he brings and he too had children in the school so he was also I was having a hard time between one and two so yeah me too so that was yeah so and I just want to

112say some say something I I really I just want to say that if a person doesn't have children it doesn't make it doesn't mean that they're not there they don't get it oh right right now no one is saying that at all you just say this because I think that not only for the sake of myself I just wanted for anybody who's listening so it doesn't doesn't mean that if you don't have children children in the district that you are that you're not qualified or that you won't get it or you know and I because we all have lived experiences that I can say you know something about myself because I have this experience or whatever and I can say about somebody else oh they don't have the experience so I don't want to Discount

113a person if they don't have children in the district I also want to say that from what my of every candidate was articulate and what they communicated so to to make a statement about a person and say this person's articulate I get it but I just want to make it clear that all of the candidates were articulate and they communicated effectively today so I want you to know that and I had to say that because again other people are listening to this and what they may hear is oh you know this person was articulate but this person wasn't oh this person has kids so that makes them qualified but that person does it so it makes them not qualified so I just needed to say that so you know I have to say that I

114respect what you're saying and I hear that but that was one of the reasons I started our conversation with we have four amazing candidates sitting before us they all have have some very unique qualities and qualifications that they bring I think they would all be successful in the job I but I saw some that stood out for me a little more than the other and that's you asked us to explain that that's normal that's fine I just had to say that so and I and I thank you for that because I was going to bring out that same thing about having kids or not having kids in the district um one of the people that doesn't have children in the district Miss Martinez she went through the schools here so she's very familiar in that

115aspect as well um so then I have an excuse can I just say I I wanna I wanna thank Dr Moss for for bringing that up but and I'd also like to say that that it none of it was meant on the negative side but I but I appreciate the clarity I um and I think it was in it was negative it was intended to be negative but but I just know what perception can be like for people okay and so when when you know some words that people use in their when they communicate is you know it could be a trigger for people so you know it's not to say that it was for any of you or anything like that but I just know this isn't you know how the communication goes down

116so I and and you know being on the other end and also listening and having conversations with people I also know how you know sometimes we say things that we may not intend for it to be negative or um you know but it can come across that way so it was important for me to say that on behalf of anybody else who is listening and on behalf of all the candidates too thank you for that and it also is to remind the viewers or people that tune in later and watch this tape to remind them that in the future when positions come up it's it's not always the most eloquently spoken it's not always the one that has kids in the school district it's it it's a variety of things and you're gonna all bring

117something different to the table and I just don't want anybody to be turned off from that in the future either so and this isn't awkward it is this is awkward I'm just gonna be white right I'm going to be honest with this and and it's kind of awkward and then we're talking about people and they're sitting here but yeah we're using third person and and so hopefully the four of you know that that you you're such an outstanding group and this is a very difficult decision this is difficult so the other thing I wanted to ask about was uh Dr Moss you had um ranked um Missy macedo um second um what and it was again it was that um her experience and it was also that special ed piece um so that part is

118important to me and um yeah it was that was primarily it and thinking about the process that happens on you know as a board member um so that was important okay and again I just have to say all four of you are excellent candidates and I mean I I believe that any of you would bring um you know something very valuable to the board but yeah it's very difficult for us right now okay so we have four amazing candidates we've already told you that I'll say it again um and it's going to be a tough decision for us to make um would a board member at this time like to make a motion um on any one of our four candidates to take the position in the area five I'd like to make a motion

119that Miss Martinez be our candidate that we bring forward as an appointment okay can I get a second all second day okay um can we get a roll call vote please yes and trustee um okay um the three votes in favor of Miss Martinez um it is Miss Martinez at this point so um congratulations this is wonderful thank you we look forward to getting to know you and getting to work with you as a team and um and we'll we'll get you up to par on everything so don't worry about anything we'll we will we got you back so um then I think what I need to do is somewhere here and there's something I'm supposed to read okay yes so um Dr Wright um we want oh so we just did that never mind

120so we did the roll call never mind so I want to thank you again all of you for coming here and opening up and sharing your information that helped us make a decision y'all are really great people and I hope to see you out in the you know out and about so thank you for taking the time I know it was time consuming to put this together and also to be here and present this evening so thank you and Miss Martinez we welcome you thank you um and I would like to share that our next regular governing board meeting is our organizational meeting and it will take place on Thursday December 15th um at six or at 7 pm right here um and at this time I'd like to say good night thank you for

121joining us and I'm going to close our meeting out at 901. okay thank you