23-09-13 Berryessa Union School District Board of Trustees Meeting

001foreign during closed session we'll be having a conference with our legal counsel for anticipated litigation we'll be also having a conference with legal counsel for for an existing litigation and we'll be discussing any student discipline student suspension student exposures Local 150 and management and we'll also be discussing any public employed discipline dismissal issues uh we have seven uh comments for uh closed session items uh before we begin let me read the speaker conduct for all those who wish to address the board during the public comment periods speakers are requested to state your name and affiliation for the record each speaker will be given three minutes to address the board five minutes per organization and a maximum of 20 minutes per topic speakers are reminded to communicate with respect fairness and courteousness to each other and

002to all present you're reminded not to use the name of any District employee in your comments the board welcomes orderly communication from the public so first we'll have uh Mr Joe Herman good evening a little flexibility when we have a lot of index cards from our members for me tonight so I'm hoping you're going to Grant some flexibility with time okay good evening my name is Joe Herman and I am the President of the California Teachers Association of Berryessa or ctet many of us are gathered here this evening because ctab members are working on expired collective bargaining agreement negotiations are at an impasse teachers and ctab members have been working diligently with students to build their classroom culture and to ensure that students feel safe and that they will thrive teachers hi my name is

003Christy Gurney I'm a third grade teacher at brooktree elementary I Am The Sole Provider of salary and benefits for my family my husband does not work that's never really held a job um I have two kids one in high school one in college and each year my take-home pay decreases because the cost of benefits increase full Kaiser family should be the standard that is paid for by the district not everyone needs full family coverage but for those who do it is an absolute necessity and then to kick it off I just got a letter saying that the cost of Kaiser is going up 11.78 percent I I don't know what to do I'm beyond I I have no money I can't afford this I can't afford benefits for my family I can't afford to live

004in this area and this is my 27th year in this District this is ridiculous so I'm asking for you to please look at full coverage for our families not everyone needs it but I do many others do um I have three other cards to read from other uh Berryessa teachers regarding benefits this one is anonymous my family is struggling to stay in this community even though I'm a an 11-year veteran of busd we are not able to survive because my whole paycheck goes to health goes to child care I'm not even paying for medical through the do we struggle living paycheck to paycheck staff members who do not have medical insurance through the do should get an HSA card this one is from wee Chen if you appreciate teachers don't just give them Donuts give

005them the salary they deserve Kaiser just raised the premium by more than 11 percent don't turn a blind eye and then finally from Paul Chen dear Board of Trustees with an 11.87 raise and the health care costs along with Rising inflation the Bay Area is essential for our teachers livelihood to be paid a salary that shows an appreciation for what we do for our community I stand proudly with my fellow teachers and I'm committed to public education because public education education takes in everyone and that includes us teachers and one last thing not on benefits but on prep time this year has been Beyond hard I am regularly leaving work at 9 00 PM last night I didn't get home until 9 30. because I am I'm there I am pulling hours like never before

006so something's got to give thank you [Applause] Thomas our next comments will come from Miss Christine Johnson [Applause] I'm a long time substitute teacher here with Berryessa and I'm reading a letter from one of our members at Brook Tree Elementary dear Board of Trustees it was my hope and now in retrospect naive expectation that the state of education especially within our own District would improve after the pandemic I believed that surely we would all come together to tackle the new realities and burdens laid upon our doorstep unfortunately it has been quite the opposite things are quite worse I find myself and my fellow teachers doing too much with way less the needs of our students have shifted and grown yet the resources at our disposal have shrunk as an educator I attempt to shift with

007them to meet them where they are so I can measure the progress towards their goals but that has become an even more difficult task without the infrastructure and support system that is no longer there for me one of the greatest hurdles is the lack of professional respect you might not see it you may scoff at this and think surely this is a ridiculous notion but to put it quite simply nobody is listening to us and it just shows a lack of respect for our position and expertise we are the teachers the Educators the experts the ones on the front lines so to speak we know what we are doing you are in a position of leadership if you lead without listening who are you leading exactly we all answer to someone just as you answer

008to the state I know but if you can imagine if we were on the same team and moved as one in the interest of the students we could do great things but that takes true leadership which is listening with respect so listen to us when we say we need reading interventionalists full-time counselors newcomer program lower class sizes and of course Fair pay listen to us when we say that something is not working listen to us when we tell you that we need support listen to us when we say something it needs to be changed listen to us I grew up across the street from Piedmont I went to Noble I went to Piedmont my parents both retired from the district as a child I sat through endless meetings played around the district office listen to

009All the gossip and fell asleep in board meetings patiently waiting to go home I am now a teacher myself in the district as well as a parent I have seen this district from many different angles and am obviously invested in the community trust me when I tell you to invest in a in your teachers make the needs of the teachers a priority in order to put our students first with respect sick and tired I think if it was comments or our next comments will come from Miss Melanie ontiveros [Applause] hello I'm Melanie on Tavares and I'm a U.S history teacher at Sierra Mont and I'd like to tell you what I did over my summer vacation two days after school got out I went to Santa Cruz more specifically I went to the Santa Cruz

010Office of Education where I participated in a professional development on U.S history it was so exciting I brought back six lessons and three of which I've already implemented in my classroom I was so excited that I attended another one last Saturday Roxanne no she saws me afterwards and I was still excited from the experience it was wonderful and then of course when we came back I attended the professional development that we had here I'd like you to know that 78 of the teachers said in the survey that they would rather take a one percent cut in pay than attend the two days of professional development provided by the district it is important for you to know that most teachers do not find these professional developments developing and if you're looking for where to get funds

011so that you can help pay teachers a decent wage that they can live in this area might I suggest you get rid of those two days of professional development but leave that one percent on the salary schedule you've got one percent right there plus whatever you're paying these people to come from Wisconsin or Wyoming or wherever they're coming from they're plane tickets their fees for them to stay the night at their Mills Etc I don't know what that's costing the district but I know that that would be better invested in the community and in our teachers thank you thank you for those comments our next comments will come from Miss Madison Martinez foreign Martinez and I represent Sierra Mount middle school so I've taught and lived in the Bay Area for five years since I

012first became a teacher I got lucky when finding a first teaching job at siermont with the amount of but with the amount of loans I've had after college and the expenses needed to live in San Jose I've had a difficult time staying afloat my parents always told me to live like a student as long as I can in order to pay off my loans and survive here since moving to the Bay Area I've had to move five different times to fight to financial purposes at one point I was having to commute an hour and a half both ways so I could live with family members and have a lower rent with the demand and expectations of the job as a sped teacher I knew I had to get myself out of that situation so I

013fought my way to do so I don't see how the district expects us to continue teaching and providing an education to the community that is enriching when we are barely scraping by the stress outside of work deeply affects our mental health while at work if Cola is 8.2 percent then the district should at least match that if they want to keep qualified teachers who are passionate to stay in the district and these next comments are from other members of Berryessa and this one says current salary is a hundred and seventeen thousand with a 5.5 increase I will see an additional 370 dollars a month most of the raise will go to cover additional monthly costs due to inflation teachers are not getting a raise they are not being compensated for all the additional work and

014responsibilities placed on them this next one says financial hardships is giving an issue for those of us who are living paycheck to paycheck on paper we make too much money to receive financial support electricity bills water tuition Etc yet we lose the majority of our pay due to rent and utilities and nothing is left at the end of the month receiving no financial aid in college tuition or utility bills hurts us we need more salary to survive in the Bay Area and the last one says everybody knows this area is insanely expensive the district states that retaining great teachers is a priority please help us instead of just saying you value value US show us thank you thank you for those comments your next comments will come from Miss pandini pal foreign [Applause] I'm one

015of our instructional coaches and I'm here today to show my absolute compassion and support for my fellow teachers I'm reading comments that they have submitted this is from a noble teacher as a former primary teacher having more prep is very important it takes a lot of time to prepare the different Hands-On materials that Little Learners need to learn content K3 students learn best with their hands and touching physical objects while materials can be bought teachers don't make a whole lot many put things together on their own on their own prep time would benefit all K3 teachers and give them time to meet the needs of their students better this money also teachers spend from their own salaries you know a lot of the supplies that I bought I strongly feel that third grade teachers need

016prep time I can't find the time to prepare for lessons and learn new training teaching materials also from Noble elementary elementary teachers one through three need prep time to plan for English learner students in primary grade students need more small group instruction and teachers need more time to prep for that also from Noble with emphasis on small group instruction plus using Hands-On activities for science the third grade teachers need more planning time also the class numbers do climb up from 24 to 26 so we need extra prep for third grade teachers shouldn't have to make extra money by working aside job to be able to survive in this country give us a fair salary this is from Sierra Mont Y Park special education teachers are doing multiple jobs and being paid a single low salary

017other districts have multiple roles to complete the job requirements we are assigned preschool cost for my child takes 40 percent of my paycheck I have heard statistics that say people pay at least 30 percent of their salary into mortgages at least 10 percent for utilities and everything else also from Mincey Park this is my 10th year of teaching in in Berryessa Union School District I have been trying to save up to buy a home but I can't even afford to afford a one-bedroom condo with my paycheck my paycheck includes my masters and extra units too please give us a raise I'd like to move out of my parents house and be able to pay for my wedding from a ticket teacher younger kids but longer day proposed by the deal more students 24 now same

018size classrooms not an age-appropriate furniture or materials from NC Park quality education well compensated teachers are generally more motivated and committed to their roles this dedication can lead to improved teaching quality enhanced classroom experiences and better educational outcomes for students from Lindsey Park parent and community community satisfaction parents and the community generally appreciate well compensated teachers as they understand the vital role Educators play in shaping the Next Generation this support can lead to positive relationships between the school district and its stakeholders from Vinci Park II economic impact higher teacher salaries can have a positive impact on the local economy when teachers have more disposable income they contribute to local businesses and support economic growth and finally from ncpa the cost of living Santa Clara county is known for its high cost of living a raise

019can help teachers afford to live in or near the district reducing Community stress and allowing them to better engage with their school communities I want to add that as a single woman I can barely make ends meet myself I own a house I have a mortgage every month there's something new that I have to pay for I mean either there's a leak or there's something goes wrong with uh you know the a system and it's really really almost impossible to deal with these emergencies thank you post comments or next comments will come from Miss Mandy Matsumoto Moto [Applause] hello my name is Mandy Matsumoto I'm a first grade teacher at laneview I will be reading comments from other ctab members financial hardship I have two little kids at home to feed the inflation is too

020high and my salary isn't enough to cover the cost of mortgage groceries and clothes for the kids with the salary with a salary raise our family will be able to keep the house and raise our kids another member reducing Consultants and admin expenses money spent on care Solace is wasted money instead just provide fall full medical benefits instead of sponsoring these third-party care programs this one's from siermont I am reaching an age that I hope to retire soon however the income amount one needs to achieve in order to live in this area is much higher than what I will will receive in retirement increasing our salaries brings me and many others closer to being able to survive after we retire ment again I went into education because it was my calling I knew I wasn't

021going to be rich but I didn't know I would be struggling with the cost of living especially when I work for a district that isn't matching it again from Sierra mod when teachers earn a fair salary and have less requirements to attend unnecessary PDS they will be happier there they will be happier quality Educators which will then directly impact the quality of Education a student receives another CRM comment our salary is an indication that we don't matter to the district this impacts the way students and parents value US appreciate appreciate Us by giving us a raise in eliminating useless PDS um this one's from Noble it would be better for everyone involved if we were paid well enough to live where we worked teachers are living hours away and that amounts to less sleep which

022then affects how well we teach how can we expect students to learn when their teachers are tired from sitting in traffic for too long it is also horrible for the teachers Mental Health and this one's from Somerdale at Somerdale I have watched multiple teachers leave as they are priced out of the area some have left the profession entirely because the amount put on our our plates is so much new committees and adjunct Duties are constantly added when nothing is taken away we need to be attracting more talented teachers not driving them away thank you thank you for those comments our next comments will come from Miss Linda Simone hi I'm Linda saboni first grade teacher at Brook Tree Elementary um I have some cards about prep and I want to let you know I had

023a prep day today and it was fabulous I prepped for my plants and animals seal unit today all day I am nowhere near done but I thought to myself I how could I have even done this without this day so I want you to know that I really appreciate it and teachers really appreciate those seal prep days and it allows us to prepare really wonderful units for our students I actually really love the Seal program and it's nice to have the time to you know develop it and put it in you know place and and I'm excited to start um teaching that unit in two weeks so that prep time is really really valuable to us and I just want you to know that um Noble member said primary grade teachers should have prep and

024another member said prep time for grades one through three Exclamation point Exclamation point Exclamation point yes the upper grades may have more students but the younger grades have a lot of Hands-On things to prep which takes more time there have been years where I actually had more students than the upper grades and actually that's been happening more and more at Brook tree it happened to kindergarten last year it happened to me as a first grade teacher two years ago and you know it's declining enrollment I'm sure but we're ending up with 26 and they're ending up with 26 or 25 or 24 but they still have those two days and we don't have anything now we want them to have those two days we know how important it is for them to have it but

025we need it as well so we just want you to know that also grades one through three need a prep as much as fourth through fifth this is another member grades one through three tend to be more prep heavy having this would allow teachers to to just catch up on all of their work so thank you very much for considering adding prep for our younger students and teachers thank you for those comments our next comments will come from Miss Angela Jacobson [Applause] um I'm Angela Jacobson I teach at Lane view first grade I'm going to be reading some stories and some feelings from other members so my first one um says my classroom is overcrowded our classrooms are small and with 36 plus students this not only feels like a fire hazard but I cannot

026adequately support the individual needs of that many middle school students at once in each class I have three to five newcomers who need my support plus several students with IEPs plus 504s many with anxiety and depression these kids deserve my attention and to not just feel like a member please cap our class sizes another member said we need to clap cap sorry cap class sizes at 30. our load is too overwhelming um caring for 150 students Max is enough also having 36 students in one class with diverse needs is crazy to get a true sense of our struggles board members and other leaders leadership roles who have not had at least two years of teaching experience should be expected to teach for one month out of the year this might help you understand why we

027need our pay increase to be consistent with inflation even with that we can't afford housing another member from Summerdale class size reduce k-3 class size to 20 to 1. that's what it was when I started um from 24 to 1. with fewer students teachers can provide more individualized teaching to at-risk students fewer children in class also promotes fewer distractions for students to make it easier for students to focus on the teacher and what they are learning last one um from laneview I am a veteran teacher who is unable to live in the area where I work I can't even afford to live in my own place and therefore live at home I travel a minimum of 10 hours a week just to get to work it is insulting that this is the reality especially when

028District administrators are the only people who can afford to live in the area off their salary teachers should be paid the most because we are the ones who work with and actually care about our students daily District leadership continues to show that they only care about themselves the fact that they bought themselves a building during the peak of a global pandemic instead of making School sites safer for students and School site staff proves that this is true I do not feel like my safety or the safety of our students is taken into consideration I am in the high risk category regarding complications of covid and the fact that District Personnel who are the furthest from the front line bought themselves a building with was a disgraceful act that will stay in the district's reputation in

029perpetuity furthermore it is absurd that the district leadership feels that it's appropriate to hire assistance if anyone should have assistance it should be teachers District Personnel have exorbitant salaries and should not be in their position if they are unable to fulfill their job responsibilities our workload is increasing without other items being taken off our plates the care Solace program is a joke as someone who periodically struggles with depression I want to know that there are legitimate resources that I can turn to with that being said even if those resources were made available District leadership has proven that they cannot be trusted thank you for your time thanks for those comments or final comments for the closest closed session items will come from Miss Perdue Bala thank you that's actually Rada Bala a preschool specialist teacher

030Toyon Elementary I'm here to read um some uh that's the end of the day I can't talk I'm just reading I'm just here to read something there we go um so this is from brooktree teachers third grade it's too expensive to live in the Bay Area on a teacher's salary and we need to lower grade teachers lower grade teachers need a prep period and I know a lot of the stuff I'm going to say is really repetitive but I just wanted to make known that it is repetitive and that is extremely crucial if it's being said over and over um and I do value that your time and thank you for giving me this time Brook Tree teacher SDC students need more one-on-one support in mainstream classes cherry wood every year M1 kindergarten classes have

031a class size of 26. this is way too many and it's really hard for us to address everyone's needs please make our A1 for a whole day it will benefit all Learners Heritage speakers and non-heritage speakers something in the back sorry care Solace is not very helpful we currently have no prep K3 this is not good proper prep time is the foundation of oh my God high quality teaching our pay is too low compared to our neighbors busd students and staff deserve more again this is from Cherrywood M1 program school we need the district office to support us more in the following areas Specialists to support students with behavior needs PE and music schedules meet the M1 switch needs larger classrooms are that makes no sense longer classrooms are more facilitation two more from Sierra

032Vermont there are these are the biggest class sizes I've ever had I have 34 students in each class and I have 30 students in my ELD class which is way more than twice the normal ELD class size these outrageous class sizes are a direct contradiction to our District's mission to adequately serve our students especially our English learning population we deserve Cola because teachers are working hard to inspire the Next Generation Sierra Middle School thank you so much thank you thank you there's a little comments uh we actually have one final comment uh from Miss Betty Chen [Applause] hello good evening um I'm here to represent a colleague of mine um this is from Krista Leisure a second grade teacher at Cherrywood Elementary School this is regarding class size and combo classes I want to thank

033the board for your time I'm a second grade teacher at Cherrywood and would like to express my concern about the Mandarin immersion program here at Cherrywood for the past two years the district has chosen to divert from the original program model promoted to parents the community the understanding of us teachers of a one Ela class with a one Mandarin immersion class currently we are in our third year of the bubble of low enrollment putting us in a position of one Ela class with two Mandarin immersion classes this situation has put a huge burden on our ELA teachers as they have three classes to teach which for me makes 70 students to not only teach individually assess at the second grade level four times a year for the district assess weekly on their writing spelling Etc

034and give report cards which comes out to be about 700 grades per grading period comments and comments and give report card comments three times a year in second grade we are expected to switch with our Mandarin immersion class for 90 minutes per day with the three-way switch that puts me without my home room students for three hours of instructional time per day we have come up with some agreements with our grade level and principle to allow my english-only students an opportunity to be with their teacher for a little longer and not compromise the expectations for instruction of the M Mandarin immersion students the day before school started our principal was told that we were to open a G3 combo class excuse me and now puts the second and third grades in the same position the

035way I see it if the district could dissolve this combo class and give us a slightly smaller homeroom class size to honor the program model promote it to the community and the model we believed we were in agreement with we would not be in this position and we don't even have prep dissolving the combo class would give us a still larger class size than all other Elementary colleague colleagues but a more manageable class size of 40 to 45 combined english-only and Mandarin immersion students I have a many I have many concerns about this three-way switch model first of all this puts myself in the third grade ELA teacher in a position similar to that of a middle school teacher as we mostly teach one subject we don't have the time to build the solid Community

036with our students which is very important for both the student and the teacher in the Elementary grades it also creates a situation that many of our students are not developmentally ready for for or capable of being successful with with regard of now having three teachers to get to know remember expectations for and learn from it concerns me for their development access to curriculum and future s-back testing parents have also shared their concerns for the future State Testing as well the students I have this year started in kindergarten with this three-way switch so far I have observed deficits in their knowledge and core subjects their Social Development and their behavior among each other there's been no way to split students up who do not do well in the same classroom as they would be if we

037had one to one switch models we had had since this program started with exception of this bubble it also puts us in a position of doing two-thirds more work than our other second and third grade colleagues with the same deadlines as everyone else before we were doing twice the work of our colleagues with the same deadlines not ideal but more manageable often the amount of work is overwhelming and frustrating for example I'm in the process of individually testing all 70 of my students with running record reading tests it is an overwhelming task and I have already had two sub-out days and have a been put a small dent in this task I feel discouraged as I have not met the district deadline to turn in my results and feel as though I will finish this

038testing and then have to turn around and start over the next cycle with Little Instruction in between each student takes anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes to test our school has brought this issue to the attention of the board superintendent and Union since the beginning and I feel as though it is overlooked I feel as though the district is showing the community how wonderful this program is for our district and being the people we are we are going to work hard to make it work however this isn't working and hasn't been working since this three-way switch began I know for myself and many of my colleagues that we are frustrated exhausted unhappy and looking for other options of employment I would have been here myself however I have significant family obligations which don't allow me

039to stay after my working hours thank you for your time and hearing my concerns Krista leisure and and just have a quick card that says we should not have a combo class because it is extremely hard for both teachers and students and um teaching in a at Cherrywood this year and in I am in the minor management model in the program I can attest that even with just the switching I'm on a 50 50. that has been a challenge of continuous planning with my colleagues in order to make that a successful program and I know that it is a very successful program and the the schools enjoy it the parents enjoy it the the the teachers we do see benefits of this program however this model that missed laser is speaking of is not the

040model we agree to thank you very much okay once again thank you to all the comments that were provided so at this time the board will now adjourn to closed session and we'll return in approximately eight o'clock maybe sooner thank you again thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you Google foreign thank you very much thank you foreign thank you foreign thank you okay somebody else we can beat that to open session at 8 14 p.m um trustee srinivasan can you lead us in the fly salute uh repeat after me I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

041and to the Republic foreign thank you for that and uh trustee boy can you lead us in the district mission statement Berryessa Union School Street provides all students the skills to become lifelong Learners and success for 21st century Global Citizens thank you and trustee Jimenez can you lead us in the Norms of the Board of Trustees at all times [Music] thank you for that and during closed session the board took action on two items Dr Puentes can you report these actions items out yes for item number [Music] 7162-9729 the governing board approved the settlement agreement with a vote of Einstein regarding special education services provided to the district for Educational Services against the district in addition um the second playing item number two number two zero six zero the governing board approved the settlement agreement

042based on their own for Educational Services to adopt the agenda move to conduct five seconds okay it's been moved and segment all in favor say aye aye motion passes five to zero uh we'll now move on to the consent calendar is there a motion to uh adopt a consent calendar I move to adopt the calendar I'll second move to Second and all in favor say aye sand calendar has been adopted five to zero we will now move on to agenda item nine comments from the public on non-agen items uh we have one uh I'll invite um shiko Habibi to the front for her comments hello as you all know me I'm the advocate for a special ed a special needs I am as a parent as a para educator as a mother of the special

043need um I had a visit to one of our school and I observe the classroom with the 12 students with a spectrum of the mild moderate there was only one teacher and one parent educator five hours I just asked you a question maybe you can answer me and I don't know how they do it and this five hours pair of one working there what happens to the rest of the hour the teacher is there the kids are there for at least six hours what happens for the rest if one Pera can cover for 12 hours I mean 12 students with a teacher with with when the parent leaves what happens to the teacher how do you think the teacher is going to deal with that just it's so hard the teacher is I'm not here

044for the teacher but I'm thinking of the students some students got picked up by parents and other students uh would be picked up by the bus so this teacher with 12 kids how do you can you imagine how hard it would be for the teacher to handle all these 12 kids to drop them some to the bus some to the parent so how this will happen and I felt so bad for the teacher but teacher has Advocate to defend but for my para and she's been asked to cover for the lunch time and then do one-on-one under lunch time and then another student is clinging on her so um but after all I'm thinking about those kids these kids are capable to you know go to the next level they can learn they are smart

045enough and they are just mild moderate why can't we have another support for that teacher in that classroom to make this classroom more calm and this is so much stress on both teach and Emperor and so the the kids and the family I don't know if the family know the teacher are getting I mean the kids are getting enough support in the classroom so we I wanted to make you know uh for the student better every day we want to a student to go home by learning something every day so that that environment is not a good environment to teach or foreign and then she's giving the teacher support but as a special ed but it's a special ed Department doing anything for that so it's a special ed is aware of that and I'm

046sure there is another classroom I am going to visit tomorrow and I heard it has the similar issues and I want I really I am asking the the board to do something about that and for our students really they are our future they can accomplish in future they can be someone and we want them to be a good citizen and I want you to I don't know maybe you don't want to answer me but District I'm just giving this you know information to you and then you are the one who have the power you are the one making decision and I want the special ed to do something about it thank you those comments uh we'll now move on to our presentations Dr Fuentes can you introduce the first one for summer school Hernandez Marta

047Jindal are also going to be speaking and sharing the majority of our three programs that they focused a lot of energy on over the summer so I'm going to hand it off to Janet and the group well thank you that and then I would like to thank you for your attention and your time thank you thank you for your hard work [Laughter] sorry I definitely want to just express my thanks I had the opportunity to visit the different programs this summer and the children were so engaged and having so much fun especially during their summer time that you know they enjoy it still being with their friends but also we're just you know actively learning more which was great um also looking at a labels program right at school program you know they also I

048saw were making a lot of efforts to try to continue to reinforce some of the student standards to to help them also move forward um but you know I wanted to compliment the three of you on your leadership in running all of those programs every summer the number of students participating in summer learning has increased we're almost at a thousand which is great and our expanded learning opportunity program funds have been able to give us that opportunity to do that and uh you know I want to share with you that as I was visiting the classrooms this staff also were so complementary to all three of you in terms of you know feeling supported and feeling that they could go to you to help get what they needed uh you know for the children and

049Janet the field day for um Mark was so special and truly it's understated how wonderful his family felt and how surprised they were that that memory was being put in place you know for for their very special beloved family member and uh and they just you know they were very teary just and and one thing that resonated with me that they said was they said you know if he were still alive this is exactly the kind of event he would have done and put together for the children too and they just really felt his Spirit there that day so thank you so much for coordinating that uh it meant a lot to them so thank you thank you for the presentation [Applause] all right uh Dr Fuentes would like to introduce the next presentation from

050MLT yes thank you I'd like to invite our director um Dan Norris who will talk about all the teamwork that happened across mot to ensure with all the additional students and programs being offered it it gets more challenging too to do the deeper cleaning and everything that we need to address so happy to hear all the work that was accomplished good thank you good evening everyone so every September board meeting I have the pleasure of showcasing the mot family of teams accomplishments from the last summer period and this meeting is no different temperatures to where it would kill the weeds so the weeds just kept growing more smiles oh I just want to say uh I just thank you for the presentation I wanted to also note that as a student I played with that

051ball wall and so I understand what I laughed when I saw the more and after so thank you to you Marla and your entire team for taking the summer and really making our schools beautiful thank you thank you a presentation we'll move on to the bond update now Dr Fuentes can you introduce this yes I invite Tony conistob to provide the board with his monthly update oh Mr Norris is there one more thing you'd like to say I saw that uh reaction wanted to end by saying which Mr canister have a happy birthday today don't worry Daniel get yours when it comes thank you Dan I'm still waiting for my lunch but that's okay foreign okay so we're ready for the there we go again this is the bond update this is the latest I

052think I took this picture I asked I want to say we met with them last Thursday we meet with them again every Thursday it's when's the mechanical unit coming and they're saying they haven't told us anything I don't know if that's actually a good thing or a bad thing to be honest so we can just I mean again we're just on the um we're just waiting for the subcontractor to you know deliver it we did tell them that we are going to charge them liquidated damages because everything we hear is people are stepping up in front of everybody and Sam will give you money to do this so we said great if you're 30 days late that's sixty thousand dollars so that's your incentive to get it on time so or at least only 30

053days late put it that way anything else great thank you thank you Tony at a question first of all happy birthday thank you roof replacement for the old district office will be replacing the entire roof or just the flat roof so the shingles we don't need to replace yet just the flat roof okay and the hatchback so and basically the HVAC there's a lot of duct work on the roof yeah so we're going to replace all that and we're going to place there's one new unit and I think there's five other old ones we're going to replace those okay for the uh Jim you mentioned the you can put the tint on the on the Windows because correct is there any scope of adding like uh rolling Shades yeah something like that we talked about

054that a lot during design and usually what happens is either they end up getting broken and I think similar to and Dan you can back me up on this byc is the same way they have Shades and they just always break so it's just if it's up there then yep and it's just a matter of time things wear out and it's just hard to replace okay we looked at the angle of the sun related exactly and that's yeah that's exactly why I was in there a couple nights just to see how it was at about 5 36 just to see where it was playing the sports for the most part it should be okay volleyball it could be a little iffy if excuse me where Sunset is but if you're actually sitting in the stands

055that's where it's going to get you that that's what that's what I'm thinking it'll hit the yep The Spectators and their eyes right so okay so the thing should help yes okay good to know thank you all right great thanks all right thank you um Dr Fuentes would like to share your report yes thank you um I just wanted to share uh in terms of our student enrollment we continue to monitor our progress there uh now that we've had about a month into a little over a month into the school year we are noticing uh enrollment starting to stabilize uh we continue to see growth in TK so we are looking at TK and looking at adding again another additional classroom to be able to balance those numbers out and also to be able to

056still continue to offer that opportunity for early learning uh to our community in addition last time I shared with you that the county had verbally expressed our conditional approval of our budget since then I have received the official notice of that um of their requested requirements so I did receive approval of our lcab and then as well as the conditional approval of our budget with the County's expectations from us in terms of an October 9th deadline so for October 9th by that time they want to ensure that we provide them three things one any increases or decreases to our fund balance as a result of 2022-23 end of year closing the second item is the budget advisory committee's fiscal stabilization plan that provides for reserve for economic uncertainty that exceeds the three percent minimum requirement

057for all three fiscal years of the multi-year projection and then a third a multi-year projection incorporating uh said changes as a result of the year-end closing balances and the recommendations that will be provided by the budget advisory committee um and so we have that to provide to them in by October 9th and then of course they'll be reviewing our first interim budget report that we do in December I also want to share uh with the first month of school our school sites have launched their back to school events last week was middle school so thank you to all of you for being in attendance I think this year each year we see more and more engagement and participation with our families so it's really nice to see those numbers out there and seeing our families

058engage with our staff understanding you know the student expectations for this next school year having that opportunity to ask questions all three middle schools did a phenomenal job in hosting those opportunities I do want to give a shout out to Piedmont Middle School they did something very different with their back to school night this year having a community resource fair for the first hour that included um all their Community Partners it included a dinner for their families as well as student entertainment so it was a very welcoming way to kick off the new year and bring their families in tomorrow we'll be celebrating our Elementary School uh back to school nights so those will all be running at different times tomorrow evening so we look forward to seeing our families there and having another opportunity

059for them to engage with their their new classroom teacher and get to see their students new friends uh finally I do want to share today I had quite an experience I was out in at Walden West we have two schools there this week we have Northwood as well as Ruskin and it was just incredible to see our fifth graders out there they have beautiful weather in Saratoga right now and I didn't know this when I said yeah I want to come along that I was on one of the most treacherous hiking trails feature shared with me that they couldn't go on last year because there had been so much rain and water so there was a little too much risk um and uh I have to admit I didn't make it all the way to

060the top of the mountain I cut out two-thirds in but uh the kids are you know there was so much that they saw during that hike I was glad that I I did challenge myself to join them because along the way we saw banana slugs we saw you know ladybugs in their natural habitat we saw salamander coming down through the creek uh so it was just really wonderful and the um the campus guides there are fantastic you know they really um are just building that vocabulary for our students and letting them know about the importance of taking care of the environment that we have around us and the the kids are just engaged from start to finish they are so busy and I was chatting with them and um you know some of them expressed

061that they're starting to feel a little homesick because they've been there since Monday but then you know their friends are like oh we only have two more nights left and then you'll be home uh they had huge accolades for the meals and I got to have lunch with them today and uh you know and it was it was quite quite good and all the students have jobs and they help set up for lunch and they serve everything family style and and I met the director and several of their team members who really committed to the Walden West program and have been there for 20 plus years uh coordinating that so I'm just really glad our students continue to have that opportunity and it was just fun to be out there with them today no I

062did not see snakes I missed the morning session where they did have they had snakes and they had um a tarantula and they had some other interesting animals there were lots of pictures I got to see with the kids holding all of that so I'm glad I missed the snake interaction both my daughters this is a fun fact nothing uh what my daughter's uh volunteered for this summer summer program at Walden West and they had nothing they had a lot of fun they had nothing but good things to say but yeah it's a great opportunity for for us I I got to visit uh Walden West every day is to drive up and down and I got to see the trails and that they saw deer and all that stuff it's it's a great great

063opportunity for the for us I'm glad we had that partnership uh you know hope to continue that the future yeah and I was glad to you know I've seen our our fifth grade teachers I I've attended many of their parent information nights and I know sometimes our families are concerned about this is sometimes the first time their child you know goes away and of course stays the night um but you know it's such a well-structured program very well supervised the high schoolers that are involved are very mature and excited to you know be there and kind of be in a mentor position with the students so yeah it definitely has a lot of value all right thank you for your report adopt sequences are there any comments or announcements from the board I have something

064I just wanted to put a placeholder on this I'm not I don't have all the data and I know we're running out of time tonight but I wanted to revisit our Environmental Policy we did have um there's something put together a few years ago uh I was not on the board at the time but I just want to revisit some of those points to see uh how we can prioritize some of those uh things that we agreed on um that there was I just learned today there was a there was a resolution or or a bill or I forgot where it was uh called zero waste from the state of California that uh zero food waste or something like that um where it's each lease expected to um not you know to try to try

065to not waste educate their students to not waste food or uh so I want to see how we can expand that you know on our in our sites I'm interested in uh looking at um uh you know paperwork reduction uh admin paper production uh to see what we can do how we can achieve those things uh so if you uh can think of ideas please let's try to bring those things back um the easiest thing I think would be uh to replace some of our aging equipment uh you know some of the uh during some of the site visits I saw we have aging gas powered equipment that we can replace with batteries uh you know you know if we have that as part of the bond program maybe bring it up right in the

066priority list uh so in the next couple of meetings I'll probably bring up more of those things uh review some of the past agreements that we have if my colleagues have ideas please bring that forward also thank you oh yeah just to add on to that I really appreciate that I really love climate advocacy at our school districts I did bring up earlier this year the low flow toilet initiative the valley water does give them out for free we did do an inventory but then I think kind of just like fell through the cracks which is okay but like you know that might be something that we could do or look into so um that's also something that I would love to see and also our Gardens at our school district or other school sites

067I know that individual teachers usually take ownership of that but you know if there is some sort of curricula that involves gardening I'm a gardener so I would always support that so just an idea thank you okay any other comments from the board all right we'll move on to uh review in action uh Dr Puentes can you introduce A1 yes uh A1 is board policy 1113 district and school websites uh for first reading this is related to a new law ab2273 uh it doesn't necessarily apply to leas but it requires it applies to a general business with any kind of online service product or application that a business may use making sure we have safeguards for uh online um Online safety or is there a motion or any discussion from the board move to approve

068board policy 1113 okay it's been moved executive all in favor say aye aye I guess five to zero motion passes uh Dr Fuentes can you introduce A2 it amended the Board review and approved board exhibit 113e size 4 first reading uh this is also regarding uh recent um legislation requirements for items that need to be posted on our website there are three uh one is a covid-19 testing plan what is in place for every school district for testing accessibility the second one is going to be an upcoming requirement in after December a learning recovery emergency funds how districts have used those dollars needs to be posted on the website and then the third one is a new um requirement that went into place this school year and that's the requirement of a digitized mental health

069poster if you have students in grades 6 through 12 so for us six through eight making sure our middle school students know that there's mental health support how do you um understand the signs that you might need some mental health support and where you can do Outreach this is the expectation that these um resources be on the on the home page or somewhere just within the district website okay so for example the mental health poster is under our health and wellness page within our website is there I mean and then the same thing like our covid-19 testing plan that's on our covid related page within our website trying to figure the easy way I mean I'm trying to think is there a priority if there is a priority placed on these items there should be

070an easier way for for someone seeking that information to get there which is why I asked whether it'll be on the phone sure well just say just so you know um usually it's not the home page because these are the newest three many other s like our El Cap like our Title IX plans so these are the newest three that are being added to the existing list of required documents to be posted on the website thank you you're welcome I will move to approve for exhibit one one one three e one okay so it's been moved in seconded all right so um is there a motion on I'm sorry all in favor of this motion say aye aye aye okay that's five to zero motion passes we'll move on to uh A3 now Dr Fuentes

071can you introduce this it is recommended the Board review and approve board bylaw 9322 agenda meeting materials for first reading uh this one is also reflecting a new law AB 2449 just ensuring that uh for public meetings if there is an individual with a disability that we're able to accommodate that disability uh for their participation in uh in our board meeting and that we can swiftly make that possible for them that's the the language is swiftly in the legislation is there a motion or discussion on this item all right it's been moved in second all in favor of this motion say aye aye okay this is five to zero passes we'll move on to B1 now Dr Fuentes any questions all right all right thank you all right thank you for that presentation um there's

072no questions is there a motion in this item s okay that's um been moved in second um all in favor say aye aye okay motion passes five to zero uh we'll now move on to uh B2 can you introduce this item yes it is recommended the board conduct a public hearing on the Gan Appropriations limit calculation summary and adopt resolution number 2301 to establish a revised Gan limit for the 2022-23 fiscal year and a projected Gan limit for the 2324 fiscal year okay so with that said uh we'll Now open up to a public hearing for any comments from the public regarding the Gan limit uh seeing no comments we'll go ahead and close the public hearing now um now is there a motion to adopt resolution number 23-01 move to a doctor okay it's

073been moved in second and this will be a roll call uh Kim can you call it I um okay so that's a five to zero resolution has been uh adopted uh we'll move on to um B3 Dr Fuentes can introduce this it is recommended the board approved the insurance archeology group retainer agreement to research the district's historical liability insurance records uh specifically we're seeking if the district had a liability insurance prior to the mid-1980s okay is there any discussion uh or motions on this item move to move to adopt uh approve the agreement yeah okay it's been moved in segment all in favor say aye aye okay motion passes five zero we'll move on to C1 now Dr Fuentes can you introduce this it is recommended to declare a public hearing and accept the Teamsters

074Local 150 2023 2024 reopeners proposal and 2023-2024 initial successor proposal for negotiations okay so with that said um we'll go ahead open uh another public hearing on this item for any public comments okay seeing and hearing none we'll go ahead and close the public hearing is there a motionless item from the board second it has been moved and seconded on favor of this motion say aye aye I think I heard five so that's uh motion passes five to zero we'll move on to C2 it is recommended the board conduct a public hearing and accept the district's initial proposal for negotiations with the Teamsters Union Local 150. okay so we'll go ahead and open up to the public again for any comments all right there's no comments so we'll go ahead and close that public hearing

075now is there a motion on this item from the board move to approve okay has been moved and seconded on favor say aye aye aye okay motion approved is uh approved five to zero we'll move on to D1 now Dr Qantas it is recommended the board declare a public hearing and accept comments from the public regarding the adoption of resolution 2302 sufficiency of textbooks for instructional materials for the 23-24 school year all right so this will be another public hearing we'll go ahead and open it up to the public for any comments all right there are no comments we'll go ahead and close the public hearing now is there a motion from the board for uh adoption of resolution 23-02 okay he's been moving in second and this will also be a roll call I

076okay so that's uh five to zero resolution 23-02 has been adopted uh we'll move on to D2 now it is recommended the board approved the compliance and Improvement monitoring for comprehensive coordinated early intervening services our ccase plan and we have a presentation this evening from our director of curriculum and instruction Nicole Friday's thank you good evening trustees and executive cabinet I'm pleased too is it going to display um oh any questions so is this the plan that will be sent to the state in on September 30 once you approve it yes so this is it you are this is it yeah this is it yeah I just want to let you know this is it's a great plan thank you it's a team effort for sure um it's truly a great plan thank you congratulations

077it's good okay I have a question yeah thank you so is is there an effort to maybe identify other factors that might be involved besides those students bring about these results in terms of time learning disabilities or the discipline issues so what other factors you know might you say that they haven't come into sites you know being Hispanic or being black yeah maybe social economic factors could be issues at home at home a lot of things are there ways to maybe try to figure out somebody yeah I think the data that you know the um intensive data that we have and I'm happy to re-share all of that because the bulk of it is in the 2022 plan um and a lot of the qualitative data that we got around focus groups and empathy interviews

078um we got a lot of good information and I think um where where we believe we need to focus on is providing those interventions whether they be academic social emotional engaging families and and seeking resources to meet the needs that might be contributing right and for every kiddo that's part of this group there's not one thing right there's not one reason so when we look at it and and the state's telling us but we can see it for ourselves it's we're disproportionate and so something needs to be changed whether you know and it's not just one thing it's system-wide there's multiple things um if I had the answer believe me we'd be doing it you know um but I think it's going to be a collective effort and obviously a commitment to really examine the

079things you're talking about and those are those hard conversations right like what are the things we're not even aware of that we're doing that are contributing what information do families need that we don't know they need right so it's about building our system together um I don't know if you want to add anything to that will will the state help to fund all of these things that we are trying to do no no they take 15 of the um idea funds for us to do this yeah that's not a yeah it's terrible it's it's like a an auditing process it's very similar to that except you know obviously there are issues and they have to be addressed and it's working within your resources to do so [Music] um you know in our uh the technical

080advisors you know have been working we've been fortunate that we've had consistency in that too because sometimes those individuals change you know through the state but we've had a pretty consistent uh technical advisor as well as the uh person directly from the state so they've been monitoring every iteration that we've been doing they do in addition to our own data collection they do their own cold data research they will pull student cumes they'll evaluate those to really look at um whether uh what we're saying about what's happening in our system is truly that or are there inconsistencies and where can we give improvements and their uh very much part of that analysis component in terms of determining what are those findings and how can we begin to work towards them I think for me as

081we've gone on through this process what's been most frustrating with the state level is not really having that time to truly fully Implement all of the work before we're expected to do another new plan and and that iteration you know so it's nice that this plan at least does have tangible components to what we've been doing in the past and we're giving that room but we weren't given that room year one in year two and so um because we are committed to making change and showing improvements for our students and it takes time to do that and so that's kind of been our our feedback we want to be able to uh you know fully realize the action items that we've put before us um before the state says okay now we need you to

082like complete this and complete this and this you know we want to be able to go through and work through that progress so the good thing though like I said is our technical advisor has been consistent um she's been part of our leadership team meetings uh so she's uh has a good understanding now going into year four of you know our community our um our student outcomes what they've been uh to be able to give us uh strong feedback on on our Direction and I believe we will be having a visit this month from the state the state uh director of the program they'll be coming into the district uh next week next week yes and I would add that um much of what is in here aligns to the goals we have for lcat

083the same data right so if we integrate and connect the plans um and and maximize the resources that way that will be the opportunity to really um address this which really is addressing all students within the system so I think lcaps the the big opportunity Beyond this plan so thank you oh I just wanted to have I have one more question so I just wanted to point out that you know this is mainly due to systematic racism and bias that we have within ourselves I just wanted to ask directly do we have implicit bias training for everyone and how is that implemented yes we do we're getting there you know to train everyone you have to do it in waves and stages and so um before I got to join Berryessa um work with Dr

084Nikki Elliott of the mindful leaders project was already in motion and it really is around um examining implicit bias our own um and learning how to identify our implicit bias perhaps triggers and how to then know how to respond or not respond right um so it's a lot of personal work first and so I'm pleased to share that we um we are providing we're offering so September 28th and 29th um nearly all of our school secretaries library media techs district office staff will be going through a two-day immersion and then six session follow-up after and then we're offering another session during our October break for people who are interested in attending but there have been several of those sessions offered since 2021 so a large portion of our District staff at you know leadership has

085gone through teachers classified so we're getting there we're getting there and then in connection with then the culturally responsive practices right not only the pedagogy and the teaching practices but how do we understand and respond um to you know our families who come from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds so it is exactly what you just named and so we continue to to work on that so thank you for asking that um nearly all right um many the majority in California that are identified as significantly disproportionate um a high number are for the same category not all though and then some are in for multiple categories so we're trying to avoid that um not because I don't want to have to write a plan but because I don't want none of us want any groups

086of students to be significantly disproportionate for anything um but yeah I mean it is it is back to what you just named right it's institutional we have to figure out how to dismantle and disrupt the things that we we know are contributing and then figure out what else is contributing that we might not even be aware of right so I think this has been going on for many many many years like a lifetime time that's right yeah this is nothing new this is really just we just need to be honest with ourselves but unfortunately not everyone can do that yet yet that's the word it's an opportunity right and I think it is ultimately what we're all committed to but getting there will be together for sure so thank you so I had a question

087also oh I'm sorry if if it's okay no go ahead I'm here but I mean the comments are very well taken I know we have had a tough history you know um in our country with systematic racism but I feel it's such a double-edged sword because um you cannot have a blanket statements saying that uh you know just because uh let's say students is being disruptive uh disrespectful repeatedly they happen to be in the category that we identify and they do get suspended you cannot immediately say that the uh you know the teacher is you know practicing implicit bias it's it's happening I I feel it's like a very broad statement to make um unfortunately it's based on our past um history I I won't deny that there is no uh systemic racism it's it's

088there everywhere but I feel it's a it's a double-ed sporty you have to be very careful as to how we assess and not assign blame and not just say that because you're you're suspending somebody it's you are in that category I feel that it's a little unfair to have a blanket statement like that but the the main question I have is about the I see this I saw this I think the last time also I see this all the time uh there there's a there's something called as the hard conversations to have about around systemic racism bias and uh and things like that I'm curious to know how does that conversation sound like what is what is a hard conversation surrounding system like racism uh where do we start it looks like if if I

089say something it's perceived as you know if someone gets offended if I use a certain words someone says oh you're you're not you're not in the right uh you know frame of mind you're you're being uh you know racist you're being you have a bias that's not it I'm just trying to have a conversation and trying to bring up those hard points that you mentioned how do we how do you balance it or how do you have like a real open harness conversation and what does it sound like exactly so so it looks like we're just running running in circles because we cannot have those hard conversations uh if we do bring it up we are labeled and then we are you know I end up identifying and then we end up being in that

090same Loop so uh yeah I wish you know I had a better understanding of how those conversations go so they could help and those conversations could go all kinds of ways and I think you know for me I'm sorry Dr Fuentes I know I just realized you I want to say something okay thank you uh first I just want to share I want I want to be clear to the board that this work is not about one person one type of person it's it's not about blame of a teacher or blame of the student or of a parent it's when we talk about in institutional racism and our systems its historical beginning with structures that we have in place which is why we're um the state starts in terms of examination is our policies and

091uh and what what do our policies say and are they in alignment with current legislation and uh all of the learnings that we've had over the years regarding what research has shown in terms of different demographics and what their outcomes have been in terms of their school experience so I I think that's part of it because one of the examinations in looking at policies for example that just talking about recent legislation around suspension right that's a very easy one to talk about in terms of removing uh K which is for willful Defiance no longer being able to be used for suspension because there's just been data Countrywide that that one item has just shown a repeated pattern of having impact on black and brown students in general and and that's over years and years and

092years and not just in one school but in multiple schools not just in one city but multiple cities you know so all around so clearly you know we're in a new age our school system still functioned how they did when they were first created and so it's kind of looking at how do we meet our current community's needs our current student needs and at the end of the day without putting labels on all of these things for me it's very simply relationship building right we have such a diverse Community here in Berryessa for example and I think it's how do we create those opportunities to appreciate what our students and families and staff all bring to the table into that classroom in building that classroom community and what the difference is it's not looking for

093what's missing or what's wrong but it's more it's flipping that mindset to what are the strengths that we all bring to the table and how do we work from there so it's an assets approach but that's not how our systems designed our systems designed to find gaps to find uh you know what are the areas of improvement that are needed and that can become very stereotypical very fast and so that's where this shift in thinking is about you know looking at how can we open up opportunity in the classroom you know for our students how do we value what they bring whether that's language that's culture that's uh just their own family um experiences whatever they might be whatever culture they may be from and work from there to take them to that next level

094right for success and making sure that there's open opportunity for that you know and and all of us staff in this position it's also our role to ensure we're creating those spaces and that we're contributing towards that too because we all have things to offer based on our own backgrounds and in history as well but you know I've been to multiple trainings and at the end of the day it's about having that open communication about building those relationships and coming into that space with an open mind and acceptance of where we are and we're going to grow together and the better we can get to doing that whatever approach that might be will have more successful children you know overall and and I do think everyone has you know good intent but there also as

095we've mentioned there's also things built within our system but built within ourselves out of just repeated history go on unnoticed or uncalled not called out that this is what this data does for us it allows us to examine more deeply it allows us to ask our families how do you feel when you come onto our campuses do you feel welcomed do you feel because we know just again if you're not an educator in a school space school can be really intimidating coming into an SST meeting as a parent that you've never you know been in that structure before that could be intimidating you know um even though everybody there at the table is there to talk about your child to give you resources and support you've not been part of that you've not navigated that

096it can be scary it could you know people may not really um be an equal partner in that conversation on how to build a good learning experience for their child so you know I think um that's where we're kind of coming from at the core but knowing that there's lots of you know different areas that we can continue to build on and improve upon so that we we're making those connections with our students and really understanding our families and trying to build in the right supports um it's very much more of an individualized approach I think that's really you know we always talk about our IEPs for our special education students but when it comes to this work it's really doing that for every student it's not easy you know it's not it's not easy

097I appreciate that that's uh that's that's great yeah it's a it's a flipping the script kind of a thing but we're practically speaking you know educator has limited time uh in a day to um to you know first teach the core subjects not signs or whatever it is and also address uh issues and also be identified not not an education I mean just um as a general uh rule uh get identified as a you know being disproportionate uh as far as suspension goes and so on so my my console main concern is you know we first we're putting we might be putting um in an effort to align ourselves we might be putting way too much pressure on on the um on our Educators uh that we're not able to focus on our Court teaching

098um subjects and so on uh how how best can we I think that if if if we need to have this kind of plan uh our Educators need to have a lot more support uh you know for specifically addressing this you know how we can uh how they can balance it out because like I said there's limited amount of time during the day to to teach core subjects and also engage with uh with families and also understand the Dynamics also understand the cultural aspects also understand the uh the conversations about racism and bias and and things like that so those are my concerns that's what that's where I'm coming from okay yeah no I just wanted to just to speak and hear what you're stand but you know my view of seasace and I'm really

099interested in this work as you know I work on policy and this is my area where I'm really interested to see how we can really help our students who are really struggling and you know at the end of the day whenever a student has to come to us for suspension or expulsion the question I always ask is why what brought the student before us what happened why did it happen and I think that a lot of this training and you know the behavioral Matrix and the alternative ways we can help our students instead of punishing them you know there's a lot of different reasons why a student may act out or a student may not be showing up to school or you know all of these different reasons and I think that you know it's

100not to say that everyone is racist or everyone has a bias whatever I really think everyone has their own bias whether it come like minimally small nobody knows it's an implicit thing that we all have you know I even have it too but it the the core of this is asking why is the student being this way you know why is it like that I remember in the fourth grade when I had Mr Herman as a teacher actually we spoke on our cultures and we spoke about the differences between the cultures that we had I brought my own little jeepney toy and explained to them you know this is my culture this is where I come from and in that moment I realized you know how diverse Berryessa is and how many students there are

101you know a majority of various of students are come from Asian descent but then there's also a handful of them that are black and brown students and you know there are the minority here but they're constantly over represented and you know the question comes in why and it may be because of those social socioeconomic reasons and why we have to have this plan and have extra supports for them because they may not be in a position to get those extra supports and so you know just to get off my stump here but you know I really think that this is really important it's an amazing plan and thank you as well for bringing this before us but you know it's not to say you know we need to punish these students or for acting out

102is to ask and ask us and ask a student like why are you behaving the same what is going on you know like what can we do to assist you and this is an issue that we see Across the Nation and I think it's something that we as a society have to address you know that there is systematic racism within every institution and education is truly the basis of our society and you know the intervention is there in the first grade we need to make sure that those students are supported and helped and so we really need to find alternatives to suspending or just pushing them into special education you know because so maybe a student may not need it maybe a student will just need extra tutoring after school maybe they're just gonna need

103to have extra support instead of just sitting on a bench silently and not being assisted you know we really need to meet our students where they're at and give that extra step to them because if we do not extend our hand and ask them you know why what's going on who will you know we can't just throw them to the curb and say you know you're disrupted you're being disruptive we're not going to help you no we really need to intervene and ask you know what's going on and you know be able to give that extra support and so I just wanted to mention that because this is really important to me and this is something that I truly care about as someone who recognizes the disparities we have here in this Silicon Valley especially

104with how how hard it is to live here with the High Cost of Living and you know a lot of students within our district may not have the extra resources that other students may have and so you know having lived that too you know I really understand that we really need to spend our time in this plan and really dedicate ourselves and make sure that we go through with it and so I'm really excited to see the outcomes of this and I'm excited to continue working on those issues especially so yeah just wanted to say that completely agree ment part of you know I think part of the role did you obviously over or underpaid but part of the job of Educators also produce and sometimes that's not always the academics but it's planning on

105the dark um teacher is able to reach a student you know who may be falling behind give him or her the ability to to then succeed in the future I just have one anecdote that I want to show real quickly well my personal experience as a student has found a male student in second grade uh I wrote something I misspelled bicycle I changed the eye and the and the Y spelled it b-y-c-i and I remember the second grade teacher asked me have you been identified as having a disability and I wondered why why the teacher asked me that right I said well I'm a second grade you know it's a big word and I'm thinking well you know and that only stuck with me so just you know just to put a kind of perspective

106I've experienced there's a no one ever before or after it so if that's something that you and I remember that was supposed to go yeah thank you yeah I think I agree with what um all of you have been saying and uh going back to I I'm an English language learner when I came here I went to school as a ninth as a nine-year-old and um I was asked to stand up and this is in the middle of 35 or so kids I think this was in fourth or fifth grade I was asked to stand up and I had to pronounce get this the state of Connecticut I'm a I'm my my thought on that was I'm going to pronounce this like I would pronounce it in Filipino so I did I pronounced it like

107Connecticut that's exactly how we would pronounce it I had to stand up until I was able to pronounce it and I had just been here about three weeks and I had to stand up and everyone was looking at me you know and I thought my goodness but I was I was trembling but those things I will never forget like what you said Hugo um yes we all there there has to be some kind of understanding and apparently sometimes teachers do forget either they forget or they um just maybe they're too busy because there's so many kids in the classroom at times but I understand I'm I'm a I'm an educator myself so when I became an educator I will never do that to any child what they did to me as a nine-year-old and get

108this I taught English language learners for almost 20 years and that really stuck to my mind that I will never never do that and no teacher should do that you're welcome and I'll just close with this is a collective effort and responsibility um all of us and so yes teachers are in there with the students every single day but it is a collective responsibility for the entire community and the idea is that we're creating systems of support across all of the domains so thank you okay thank you for the presentation and lastly is there a motion on this item move to the dog it's been moving second all in favor of this motion say aye aye motion passes five to zero we'll move on to E1 now Dr Francis can you introduce this one it

109is recommended the board ratify Lone Star landscape in Clump ink lump sum agreement uh for the relocation of irrigation lines as a result of the new Piedmont Middle School gymnasium move to approve it's been moved in segment all in favor say aye aye aye motion uh carries five zero E2 dot Qantas it is recommended the board approved the Silicon Valley Paving ink change order number one for site work for the new gymnasium project at Piedmont Middle School on bid B 0 6 20 22 23 this is a change order for an increase if approximately a hundred and three thousand dollars and I know uh Tony conistop can share some highlights uh for some of the the work it had to do with uh improved soil uh with um pipes that needed to be repaired when

110the ground was open and some electrical work as well correct yeah there were basically four things um two of them were unseen for the water lines and the storm drain one was um I just went blank um [Music] of the um anyhow the biggest thing is we did lime testing or we added lime to the soil so that we could actually move forward with during the rainy season and the other item is that we actually did work on the existing main switchboard where it's not really for the gym but it's for the Portables that are associated with the gym so when we started the project instead of going to PG e and have them give us power for the gym we actually have them gave us power for the Portables because right now we can

111actually still use the switchboard we have for the Portables we knew PG e was going to take about nine months to do this so we created a separate project to do that later well PG e actually came ahead and actually approved some of the work so we incorporated some of that work into this project so we could get it done during the summer so then we can start some of the other work during the rest of the year so again it's not really an increase because we already had the budget the money budgeted for something else if that makes sense I think it does all right second I moved in second all in favor say aye aye okay this change order is approved are there any requests for staff follow-up or items for future agendas

112from the board no but we already have that okay all right there's nothing further is there a motion to adjourn it's been moving second off David retirement say aye aye because meetings adjourned at 10 20 pm thank you