City of Carpinteria Unified School District - September 9, 2025

001Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Good evening and welcome to the September 9th schoolboard meeting for Carpenter Unified School District. Um I'm going to do a couple bits of housekeeping before we get to the flag salute. Um for anybody who plans on making public comment on different agenda items tonight, we will announce the item heading. So the the letter heading and at that time we will take public comment on all items under that letter heading. Um you'll have 3 minutes. Um and please just listen for the beep, the timer. um for your three minutes. Uh I try and keep it very

002even for everybody. Um so please just respect the the timer. Um so I don't have to ask you to stop. Um and with that we will begin with our flag salute. So if everybody could please stand. Thank you. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. And we are going to begin this evening with C2. Um we are honoring exiting board member Sally Green after Meredith service with the Carpenter Unified School District. Sally has served for seven years um but really many many more than that for our district and our kids and our families and we are so lucky to have had her and we will continue to have

003her in other capacities in the many capacities she serves and um and I'm just very thankful to have had the the honor to serve next to you. So uh Diana is gonna say a few words. So Sally, in recognition of your dedicated service to the students, staff, and families of the Carpentry Unified School District, for your commitment and devotion to the power of public schools, for your leadership, compassion, and dedication to the lives of students and their families, and for your belief in the success of every employee and student, the board of trustees, and the entire school community offer their heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Sally Green. Thank you for your seven years of faithful and dedicated service to enriching the lives of students in our communities through your commitment to our public schools. >>

004Thank you, Sally. And we have our rose bush. >> I know that's your even Thank you. Um I would just like to say a couple of things. um and since I've been working with the district for 25 years. I started in 2000. So, um done a lot of things for the district, but I just wanted to thank Diana and Jason and Monica for working with all of us and doing all the wonderful things that you all provide to the district and to the students of this district. Um it's it's pretty amazing. and four of the four of you for Jamie and Andy and Eric and Aaron um working with you and we've it's been amazing how we've been able to manage doing all the things that we do and never a cross word and I

005think we've accomplished an awful lot programs and opportunities for students in this district and I'd also like to throw in that I want to thank all the businesses and the companies and the corporations in Carpandria for all the donations they give to this school district and for the children to have arts and music and uh PE and after school programs and it really is pretty amazing. It's been a real privilege and I thank everybody for allowing me to do it. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you, Sally. And if you wait right there for a moment, I think uh our fellow board members have a few words for you as well. >> Well, I I'd just like to thank you for everything you've done for Carpa as as a transplant. um you you have

006um uh done more for for Carpandria in the time that you've been here than than a lot of people that have grown up in Carpia and and you this is truly your town and and I know your family feels that way and your community members feel that way and and we all do too that that you you your contributions not just here on the board but through CF through your time at Canalino as principal but just as a community member, you know, and and and seeing you around town helping with a myriad of things that that people ask you to do, walking the Franklin Trail nearly every day. I did, >> which which just the example you set just in your in your in your fitness um is is is is a great uh you

007know, it's a great model for for everyone and and I just but it's really been an honor for for me to serve on this board with you for the past seven years. So, I just want to thank you so much. >> Thank you very much, Andy. Thank you. >> Yeah, I'd like to say just thank you. Uh it was great serving with you. You bring so much knowledge from all your roles you've had in education and you give so much back to the children in our community and thank you so much. >> Thanks. >> Yeah, I'd like to follow it up too. Uh I saw you at the crosswalk on opening day at the school, the high school. So um thank you for your wisdom and all your support and you've always provided a bright

008light to us at the end of the meeting. you always had some event or something you noticed in the schools that you know just makes it worthwhile to be up here at times and you really provide a bright light that will be missed. I will miss >> you. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Thank you Sally. And we will now welcome public comment >> for Sally's for Sally on for this item. Thank you. Anybody? [Applause] >> Yes, Peter. >> Can I just speak? >> Yes, please. You have three minutes. >> I didn't know what I was walking into, but I I remember when I learned that Sally turned 80, and my only reaction was, I wish I was that I hope I'm that cool when I'm 80 years old and that active and that

009involved. And just to see somebody come from a role of being a principal at one of our elementary schools and just bringing that knowledge and that dedication to Carperia and joining the school board has been very uh nice to watch and so I just want to say I appreciate you. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Okay. Um we are going to move on to C3 uh announcement of appointment to board vacancy. Um We'll give Sally a minute to >> get her rose bush. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> Thanks, Sally. Um so C3 uh announcement of appointment to to board vacancy introduction of board appointed uh the board appointed Janette Alcarez to replace Sally Green um on September 3rd. I believe was on the 3rd. Um and her oath of office is scheduled for October 14th

010at the board meeting. Um, I just want to say thank you to everybody who applied. I believe we had four people, five, >> five people apply, four people came to the interviews. Um, and it was really great to see this much interest in the board position. And so we look forward to 2026, the election. There'll be, I'm sure, a great field of candidates. Um, and we will take public comment on C3. Okay. Not seeing any. We are going to move on to our oath of office uh for student board representative. Uh I'm going to administer the oath of office to our new board representative, Lacy Zimmerman. So, please join me at the podium over there. Okay. So, please raise your right hand and you will say, repeat after me. I, Lacy Zimmerman, do hereby solemnly

011pledge myself faithfully to discharge the duties of my office. >> I, Lacy Zimmerman, do hereby solemnly pledge myself faithfully to discharge the duties of my office. >> I give my pledge that I will do everything in my power to uphold the constitution. >> I give my pledge that I will do everything in my power to uphold the constitution. that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. >> that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. >> And to promote the general welfare of the student body of Carpa High School. >> And to promote the general welfare of the student body of Carpa High School. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. Thank you. Welcome. Do we have any public comment on C4 oath of office? >>

012Uh I was going to save this for later, but I think I will now. So great. Uh it's good to have you in the seat, Lacy. Uh you have a reputation. And I'm going to I I crafted it here, so I'm going to kind of look at that a bunch. But um you have a reputation for working hard and for high achievement. Uh you earned the respect of your peers and the adults in your midst. And now uh you are volunteering your time on behalf of district students and providing them a voice and demonstrating what's possible for an engaged student. So we really appreciate that. In the coming year, you're going to hear a lot from me. Uh and so I wanted to clarify how the comments that I share fit into these meetings and

013the oversight of the district. Uh just like students uh uh who look to you to represent their interests and experience, um district teachers and support staff elect fellow colleagues to represent their interests and experiences. And for the past 20 years, the teachers and support staff have elected myself and a team of teachers and others uh to be representatives for their for their interests. Um my formal title is the employee union president. Um but really what that means is that I'm the primary servant of district employees. Uh our team of elected re representatives is responsible for sharing employees ideas and questions and experiences with uh district with district administrators uh the school board and the community. Uh and sometimes this role is absolutely a pleasure. Uh we often work with uh directly with employees during some

014of their most rewarding moments and life events. Um and at other times the work is much less enjoyable and it includes helping employees navigate personal hardships as well as sharing their most difficult experiences and their frustrations and their professional concerns with our district officials. Uh so you're old enough now to know that uh when authority figures don't um that they don't always necessarily appreciate um being told that their decisions aren't so well constructed and informed. And uh fortunately like a student representative like the role you're in, uh employee leadership roles are also protected by state and federal laws. And fortunately, those laws account for the reality that uh powerful people like our board members and the superintendent um whether or or not they appreciate it, whether they don't like to have their performance scrutinized or

015don't always appreciate their um their you know employees publicly demanding explanations or pointing out failures or holding them accountable. Um this is a right that we have and a right that you have as a student representative to share transparently what's on the minds of the students. Um, so setting all bruised egos aside, uh, employees are certain this USD's problems only get worse and students problems only get worse when we ignore them or we refuse to acknowledge that they exist. And ignoring our problems, it doesn't work in our personal lives. I'm sure you know that it doesn't work in our family lives and it certainly doesn't work in our professional lives. So, we're here to make sure that the record is more accurate and that um it might be uh more accurate than it might be

016if it was just left up to the district officials in our midst. So, uh, moving forward, you should know the teachers and support staff, um, that we represent, we really appreciate your contribution and, uh, thank you again. >> Thank you. Any further public comment? Okay, not seeing any. We're going to move to C5, our closed session report. Uh, C5A, confidential student ma matter, residency appeal. Um, for closed session agenda item, uh, let's see here. Uh the board voted unanimously to deny the appeal of the residency determination hearing. Um for 5B conference with legal counsel existing litigation, the board voted unanimously to uphold CISK's decision in the claim. And we are now moving on to C6, public comment for items not on the agenda. So if you'd like to speak to something that is not on

017this evening's agenda, please step up and line up at the podium there. just go one right after the other. Um, you'll have, like I said, three minutes and please just respect when the buzzer goes off to to conclude and and let the next person speak. Okay, she's separate from me. >> Thank you so much. Hello and good evening to you all. My name is Lori Lee Collins. As most of you know, I teach fourth and fifth grade at Carpa Family School, and I'm proud to share I helped start the school with a group of parents and administrators 23 years ago. It has been my greatest joy to experience the blessings I am privileged to enjoy each and every day as teacher Lori Lee. Upon return to Carperia this summer, I received the same comment over

018and over from dozens of folks in town on campus. I hear you're retiring this year. I would like to clarify and answer this question. Ponder posed at the board meeting on June 24th. I'm not retiring this year and I'm actually hoping to achieve 25 years of service in three more years. My father, Michael Collins, who instilled my work ethic and made me mow lawns at 5 years old, would want me to strive towards this goal. Carbonia family school is not just a school code, not a step state test score. It is a relationship built on upon creating a community. It is the essence which is too hard to put into tangibles. You just know the feeling in your heart when you are a part of this community. Carpondria Family School will always live on in

019our hearts no matter the status determined this past summer. So on June 24th, it was voted as Newsh wrote in their title, "Carperia Family School is closed for good." That was hard to read. Well, good and goodness is what we're all about. And I'm here to also share the goodness will always continue. This year is our 23rd year as team captains for the California um coastal cleanup on Saturday, September 20th from 9 to 12:00 p.m. Please consider increasing the good vibes in our community by coming out to joining this event. Last year, there were 45,000 folks who volunteered along the California coast and waterways. This is incredible. The trash picked up and the data collected helped to move public policy to take care of our oceans and estuarian habitats and environment. Did you know that

020the most interesting item found last year was a rubber chicken? This rubber chicken was not a victim. Um, this is just my personal rubber chicken. If you do volunteer, please use the QR code found on the posters, flyers, and postings. Register and sign the waiver online before heading out to the beach. Jan and I would love to see you all down at Jelly Bowl Beach being of service. So, thank you for allowing me to be of service as teacher Lori Lee in this amazing community. >> Thank you, Lori Lee. If you don't mind, I just want to say I want to apologize that the conversation we had during that meeting caused confusion or any any hardship or harm or hurt to you. Um, it was a a broad conversation, but bringing that up or saying

021that it kind of puts it out there and people get bits and pieces and so I I personally apologize to you for that. I I already we talked with you about this, but I want to say that here. >> Um that that really I am very sorry that that conversation caused any hurt for you or confusion. So >> really appreciate that. Thank you so much. I appreciate all of you. >> Love that you have your own rubber chicken. >> I do. I have a rubber chicken. Don't tell the kids. >> Harvey might take it. Okay, Sia, you're up. >> Thank you. >> I'm here in the middle of support. >> Hi, my name is Sia. I'm in. >> Can you press the Sorry, sweetheart. Can you press the button so that the green light is

022on? If it's on, just raise the microphone higher so we can hear you better. >> Thanks. >> Hi, my name is Sylvia and I'm in fourth grade at Carpia Family School. I'm here to talk to you about the coastal cleanup day and let you know I love participating because it keeps our beaches clean. Carpondria may have the world's safest beaches for humans, but our marine life I've but to our but for our marine life, the coastal cleanup is critical. It is also really fun to participate. I I would love if everybody would join us on Saturday, September 20th. Thank you. Thank you. >> I have a fly fishing club meeting to go. >> Oh, have fun. >> Hi. So, this is a very emotional uh issue for me. So, I hope I can make it

023through. Um so, I along with concerned community members, staff, and advocates for student well-being come before you today with a renewed and urgent request regarding immigrant safety. take immediate proactive steps to support our students, staff, and greater Carpia community. Twice now, a group of Canalino educators formally requested a special board meeting to address crit critical concerns impacting our district and community. Twice, we were denied. We urge you to reconsider this in action. The Supreme The recent Supreme Court decision has significantly raised the stakes. This is no longer a matter of discussion. It is a matter of immediate responsibility. Carpentry is considered a high-risisk area. We are not immune to the consequences of federal actions as we have seen in our own community. Other districts have already begun taking concrete steps to protect their communities, implementing

024policies, providing training, and establishing clear protocols to ensure the safety and support of students and staff alike. We ask, why are we not doing the same? Our students are expressing fear and confusion. Our staff members, many of whom are also directly impacted, are asking for training and support. These are not abstract issues. They are present lived realities for the very people we are charged with serving and protecting. Organizations such as CIRC are sharing many of the requests and recommendations that we as a group had hoped to bring forward in collaboration with the board and administration before the school year began. That opportunity was denied. Yet the need remains and grows. The time to act is now. In light of the political climate and the known leanings of some members of this board, there is understandable

025concern from the community about whether this board truly stands with students, families, and staff. We urge you to lead with humanity, courage, and responsibility. We're not asking for symbolic gestures. We're asking for action. We're asking you to do what's right before it's too late. Thank you. [Applause] Okay. Any Here we go. >> Righty. Thank you. So, um, my name is Jay H. Ner and although I'm a CMS teacher of 24 years and the parent of a current and a former CUSD student, I join you this evening in the role of employee union representative. Uh this evening on behalf of district employees who uh just this spring reelected myself and the members of our union leadership team. I'll share their experiences and questions and concerns, just a few of them. Uh moving forward, district employees look

026forward to working with Miss Alcarass to address the critical issues facing the CUSD. uh our district is in a unique position at this time that she joins us as a basic aid district. We have a significant advantage with revenues that are proportionally higher than 96% of the TK through 12 districts in the state. However, we've seen a troubling decline of over 290 students over the last 39 months, a 16% contraction under Superintendent Rese and your leadership. And we believe this trend is tied to several key challenges uh we hope you will uh or Miss Alcarez and you will help us address. So several areas for collaborative improvement exist. Ending the legal and fiscal mismanagement pursued by current district officials and the superintendent is just one. We must ensure that our substantial funding is directed towards

027students, not litigation. For example, the district's legal costs have increased to seven times what they were when Superintendent Riby first arrived. Recently, as determined by multiple state and county judicial bodies, those expenditures include 3.5 million on unlawful attacks against elected employee leadership and the collective bargaining process. Another 4.2 million was spent to defend against prior prior legal issues tied to CUSD's historic and even ongoing practice of covering up for administrative malfeasants. By working together, we can provide future costly where we can prevent future costly mistakes and redirect these funds to our classrooms. Another area for collaborative improvement involves student support and programmatic integrity. The current approach to class composition has resulted in general education classes routinely being composed of up to 50% students with unique academic language and/or emotional needs, including non non-English speakers and

028students with severe cognitive and emotional disabilities. Simultaneously, district officials have drastically reduced the necessary instructional aid support in these classes. This year we've seen the cancellation of the gate program, the near liquidation of the Carpa Family School, a DLI program that has divided versus united campuses and students and created programmatic worlds of halves and have nots. And just recently, the media exposed CUSD's decision to deny, illegally deny TK services to many of Carpa's families. We're ready to collaborate on solutions that ensure every student receives the support they need. CSD's safety posture and practices also remain an area of great concern. Not only are the district's safety policies and practices a paper dragon, but Superintendent Riby has refused to honor the district's obligations in this area. The obligation to meet with elected employee representatives at each

029school site and discuss safety improvements. >> Thank you. Uh this is uh Jay's uh translation uh in Spanish. Superintendent Ribyes. No. Uh, processor. Uh, the negoti and programmers. Okay. Uh, family school. Uh, uh uh now I would like to uh uh proceed with my own >> okay >> public comment not on the agenda first of all in Spanish and then in English. Okay, hold on a moment. >> Okay, thank you. >> Okay. This reservoir They don't irresponsibility. [Music] Don't understand. for reser. of us in most grandest reser of us. You don't Yeah. Record. foreign. Okay. I notice great discrepancy regarding the district reserves. Look, it's one way or the other. Can't be both. on social media, Superintendent Rippy just said that districts the district the district will not be above 3%. Maybe less for many

030years. What are you getting those numbers? If those figures are correct, that shows incompetence, shows his responsibility. The state could take over. $42 million budget. What is all that money? 42 million. Now, the $4.2 million settlement with the uh three men uh that settlement of the for the sex abuse of the 70s, that's not even on the budget. That's on the side. So going back to the uh reserves during last budget uh assumption and last interim financial report by assistant superintendent C major resource on literature and on the record 5% 10% 14% even higher than that. So we see there your reserves for Mr. C's reserves. No his report have to be approved by all of you standard record. Once again the evidence is on the on the tapes. Now, a huge a huge mistake

031by Superintendent Ruby and school board on the record last month. I asked you three times and you didn't respond statewide. I ask you, are you apologizing to the three men for the sex abuse of the 70s? No, you did not. Instead, you complain, "Oh, we're going to be paying all this money. It's unfair. That's not right. First of all, you have to acknowledge the damage." And that's why uh the legislators created that law for their own benefit. >> Thank you. >> So once again, >> thank you. >> Okay. Um we're still taking public comment, open public comment for items not on the agenda. Oh, hello. Good evening. I am Dr. Johnny Williams. I'm a licensed clinical trauma psychologist here in Carperia. I'm also mother of two Canalino DLI students. I'm here tonight on behalf of

032the Carpaia Immigrant Rights Coalition. We have grown to over a hundred members in just six months since our formation. We're a group of concerned Carperia residents, parents, grandparents, teachers, health professionals, community leaders, businesses, and employers. We're all increasingly concerned about the trauma being inflicted on children and families because of ICE. We're here tonight to make requests of this board. We're handing to staff copies of our letter sent to you, the superintendent and the union. Today, in recent months, we've seen alarming examples of federal overreach in Southern California schools. Immigration officials have been reported near campuses creating fear and intimidation for families. This has led to absenteeism, mental distress, and in some cases, parents pulling children from school. We know from neuroscience and education research that students cannot learn when they're in the state of fear

033or fight or flight. When children are worried about deportation or family separation, they cannot focus, engage, or thrive. Schools must act as safe havens and adopt trauma-informed practices that create stability and trust. In Carperia, all students have the right to a safe and non-discriminatory educational experience regardless of immigration status. And we believe that in the current political climate, six actions are required to ensure this right. We therefore are asking tonight for CUSD to adopt these six actions. Number one, safe haven schools. We urge CUSD to establish a perimeter on campuses where immigration enforcement is not allowed without a valid judicial warrant. Our organization has formed and trained a group of volunteers who are patrolling near schools, and we stand ready to help the district create and monitor safe perimeters and walking routes. Two, provide multilingual

034know your rights resources as required under AB699 so that families understand their protections. Three, train all staff on how to respond if approached by immigration officers and respect student privacy at all times. Four, ensure equity and attendance policies. No child should be penalized for absences driven by fear or family safety concerns. >> Thank you. If somebody wants to pick up where you left off, that's welcome. >> What did you get up to, John? >> Five. Thank you. Hello, my name is Deborah Dentler. I'm a resident of downtown Carperia, recently retired child welfare attorney, grandmother of four, and also just for identification, I'm vice chair of the Santa Barbara County Human Services Commission. Um, my colleague Dr. Williams got through four of our 10 requests and they are all spelled out in writing uh in our

035letter uh that was emailed to the district, the superintendent, all of the schoolboard members and the union uh officials. Number six of our requests was to expand mental health and counseling services to students experiencing stress, trauma, or anxiety. Offer a virtual therapy option for students who may be too afraid to attend school in person. Seven, ensure equity in attendance policies and access to education. No child should be penalized for absences driven by fear, trauma, or concerns for their family safety. We're hoping the district will offer flexible learning options that allow frightened students to continue their education from home when necessary. Eight, provide safe transportation to and from school. We feel that our coalition can help with this. Uh as Dr. Williams mentioned, we are already um uh organized into trained patrols um assisting uh keeping

036eyes on the roads uh around our school campuses. And we would um like to partner with the district to do more of that. Offering safe district supported transit routes and monitored walking routes so that students can arrive at and leave school without fear reducing absenteeism and keeping education accessible. Nine, ensure equal access to all programs and opportunities including school meals, extracurriculars, college prep, AB540 guidance, and California Dream Act resources. 10. And this is very important. We'd like to see the district help make available the family preparedness packets, have them at all school sites. These are already available at the children's carpentry children's project family resource center, but they should also be available at every school site and um the district can really help encourage parents and guardians to become aformed informed of the availability of

037these packets. Um I'm here tonight also to hand out our um CIRC know your rights um cards. I've got one for every schoolboard member and for the superintendent. I've also got with me I'm going to step away from the microphone but I have a loud voice. I've got a signup sheet if people are interested in join Oh my goodness. Well, I want everybody standing and everybody sitting at home to um consider reaching out to CO the Carpria Immigrant Rights Coalition. And I have a signup sheet tonight. Uh also have buttons, also have more know your rights cards. They are bilingual as all of our materials are at the coalition. Thank you so much. I hope you'll all join the Carpandria immigrant rights coalition and help protect our families, kids, and school staff. >> Thank you.

038Okay. Um, so I'm going to speak together on both uh Christa Munisuch's comments as well as Cir's comments. Um, and I appreciate we got the letter this a uh I'm trying to think it was earlier today uh little after lunch. Um, and having looked through it quickly, um, a lot of it is similar with what was requested earlier, I think it was August, um, by some teachers and what I had referred them to were the things that we already have in place, a lot of these things. Um the safe haven resolution was done in 2017, the first time uh there was a concern of of activity like this. Um but reading it again, there is uh a part of it that that it it I think that there's like a continual conversation because each situation

039is different. Um we've sent out to staff and families on numerous times this year throughout the year um what our policy is in our response to immigration enforcement um and what needs to happen. Um I am pleased to see that the assembly and senate bills are working their way through the state level um for uh to attempt to restrict immigration enforcement on school campuses. And the things laid out in there are things that our district has already and has has been adopted or has adopted and has been doing. Um I was also given uh a sheet that I believe has been given or at least that emailed or is available to all staff of what to do if immigration enforcement officer comes to your school. Um not to say that that's it. There's a conversation

040that needs to continue to happen. Um, and so I don't know that necessarily having a board meeting is the place for that, but I do think having a meeting um is something that I'd be I would be happy to meet at with um with a group of folks to discuss what we're already doing and how that differs from what you're asking, but also what um we are able to do as a district because there I'm with some of these things I I don't know what those lines are, those boundaries are. Um and so um I will reach out and uh and and we can figure out a time um and a place to go over what I have is what we already have on on record. Um which I believe speaks to most of what

041was in that letter, but not all. Um and that's Yeah. Okay. Any further public comment this evening for items not on the agenda? >> Hello, my name is Bianca Perez and I am a member of the Carpentia Immigration Coalition and I'm a concerned parent of Carpentia School District. Um, I have a 13-year-old daughter at Carpentrea Middle School. And today I would like to voice my concern in regards to protecting the safety and mental health of our children and families. Children should never have to fear going to school. Is activity near schools causes extreme anxiety, trauma, and long-term mental health impacts on students, especially those from immigrant families. Parents must feel safe sending their kids to school without fear of separation or arrest. Currently, CMS has a strict attendance policy, sending email notices to parents as

042soon as a student has one late arrival or absence. And I know because I received one the first week of school. Um so I would um recommend that this to be currently amended due to the current um times that we're living in. The second one is uh school should be a a safe zone. School campuses should never be used as grounds for immigration rates, staging operations or arrest as proven on July 8th. ICE was observed um staging an operation on Canalino campus that later led to a kidnapping of a fellow Carpentria Unified School District uh parent just blocks away from Canalino school in the early morning like around 7:30 8 a.m. Staff and educators have the right to know the law. you just mentioned that there is something that was rolled out in paper. Um,

043as being an active member of the coalition and being one of the members that's consistently out patrolling and reporting to sightings, something that has been very helpful for me has been the consistent trainings in person and the different uh meetings that I have attended. There are many organizations that are offering trainings to educators and I would highly recommend that this is something that is taken into consideration. Um all we ask is that you know you said you allow these um staff and teachers to attend these trainings and I'm sure that together many organizations can bring those uh trainers so that way we can be uh better well uh prepared. Um and that's all that I have. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. I will I just want to mention one thing on the noticing

044of like absences and tardies. Um so a parent can call if there is a reason for the tardy or absence and it would be excused. Um I think it's dangerous to not send those notifications because there was a time not long ago where those weren't going out in a timely manner and there was a lot of concern about students maybe not actually being at school. the notification wasn't getting setting out set out till 3:00 or 4 in the afternoon sometimes. This was years ago. And then to think like what if as a parent like I didn't know that my kid wasn't there all day and if something terrible had happened, it's been hours. So there's there's a there's a there's a reason for for those getting sent out. It's not to penalize. Those are to

045notify parents. So if there is a reason then you can call in the school and say hey for whatever the reason is my child is going to be late my child will not be coming in today and that's the the I just want to >> we're not going to go down the avenue of not sending out notifications of absences and tardies. >> I can't I I would never be okay with that >> specific uh notification that I received my daughter was late >> I'm sorry >> at the office. >> I'm just I'm just >> getting I just want to put that out there. Um, so okay, we are now going to move on to C7, approval of the minutes. >> One more. >> Oh, okay. Uh, oh, you already >> different topic. >> You already

046had your time for public comment for items not on the agenda. >> Okay. Can I speak on a different topic? >> No, you have the three minutes. Each person gets the three minutes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thanks. C7, approval of the minutes. Um, we will take public comment on C7, approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of August 12th and September 3rd, the special board meeting of September 3rd. >> Have a good day. >> Oh, September 3rd. Is that the one you just mentioned? >> Of August 12th and September 3rd. >> All righty. So, let the minutes show that past board member Sally Green did not announce her resignation from the board at the August school board meeting. Let the minutes show that Miss Green's later resignation until it was too late for

047the community to access the process designed to ensure that the public selected her replacement versus the school board. Given the composition, collective experience, and insular nature of the school board's decision-making practices, this is no surprise. Let the minutes show that CUSD settled lawsuits for approximately $4.2 million, which it had claimed would cost at least $40 million. 4.2 versus 40 million. Throughout the spring, board officials used exaggerated claims of the $40 million legal settlement to justify severe cuts to student programs and an entrenched bargaining position. when in the end the district settled for approximately onetenth of the projected cost. Again, no surprise. Let the minutes show that employees recognize that $4.2 million spent on a settlement of 1970s abuse cases is an extraordinary amount of money. But let the minutes also show that the messaging CUSD

048pedled once again proved grossly inaccurate and as is the district's practice grossly overestimated the district's projected expenditures. Given the consistency of the district's fiscal fear-mongering, it's hard to believe the district did not intend to adle employees, the community, and the state appointed factfinder on the health of the district's reserve balance. Let the minutes show that the process district officials not with this process, the district officials not only misled the community on the health of the district's reserve balance, they also used this form of fear-mongering to justify cutting the gate program, all but liquidating the Carpa family school. Uh, the misleading narrative was also used to release the very teachers needed to provide services to the families of the TKH children that the district is now legally required but refusing to provide services to. CUSD even

049used this misleading fiscal narrative to further reduce services to non-English speakers, mild, moderate, severe, and special needs students who now populate up to 50% of general education classes without sufficient and in most cases any without any instructional aid support. Let the August 12th minutes show that district officials once again inflated legitimate concerns only to acknowledge their doomsday predictions did not transpire on August 12th. And in the interim, district officials have again undermined the mission of the district and shortch changed students, employees, and their families. Let the minutes show that for the 97th board meeting in a row, our trustees once again reached a 100% consensus approval rate on all matters before them. Once again, without even a single significant inquiry in public dissenting opinion or public discussion. and let the minutes show that this is

050not the way a healthy organization is run or a family or relationship. Thank you. >> Any further public comment on the approval of the minutes of August 12th and September 3rd? >> Okay. Not seeing any. May I get a motion to approve? >> I'll move to approve the minutes from August 12th and September 3rd. I'll second >> discussion. Okay. All in favor? I >> I >> going to move on to C8, approval of the agenda and consent agenda. And before we take public comment, I'm just going to flag that we are removing E3, the measure U. Um, where is it? The measure U, Citizens Bond oversight committee report. Um, Jen Cotto is not able to make it this evening. So, uh, approval of the agenda and consent agenda. We will take public comment now. >>

051Public comment for D or is it >> this is this is public comment for approval of the agenda and the consent agenda. So if what >> yes >> consent agenda? Yeah. Okay. >> You're on. >> Yeah. >> I got it. I'm figuring it out, guys. I'm figuring it out. Uh Peter Bonning from the Carbon Foundation. It is my distinct uh pleasure and honor and privilege to be going into a fourth year of partnering with the school district to deliver the push project to CMS students. Uh we before I throw some staggering statistics at you um positive uh I'll just say that um you know from a from a nonprofit standpoint that's working in the community to deliver uh programming to students most in need of programming. um this school district and this board and our

052superintendent uh have demonstrated a lot of um positive leadership and collaborative effort to make sure that um a lot of these students that need the programming we deliver are able to get it. Um I will stress that everything we've done for the last three years and we're going into our fourth year is all with no barrier to entry. So students don't need a ride to get there. They don't need um to pay a penny to participate in a um visual arts and skateboarding based curriculum that leverages social emotional growth, financial literacy, academic accountability with district leadership. Um all to give kids a sense of their voice and gives them self-esteem and um gives them creative self-expression and all the things they need to be powerful members of the community. We've been overenrolled every semester for

053the last six. We're we just started our seventh. Last two semesters were overenrolled by double. This semester I had 51 kids sign up over two days at the middle school. I I I'm in a contract. I'm in anou with the with the district for 14 students. I'm not in the business of turning kids away. So, uh I work hard to cover the cost of any kid that wants to come in. I do not turn kids away. I had 51 kids sign up every day. Last week, I had over 30 kids in the push project. Yesterday and today, I had upwards of 30 kids show up yesterday and today. Uh equal gender balance. We have we have wealthy kids, we have poor kids, we have all the kids coming together to engage this curriculum. Middle schoolers,

054I don't need to remind you, um they don't voluntarily opt into a lot. They want to be left alone. and they want to be mature and um adultish, but uh these all these kids are opting into this program. No one's forcing them to be there. They're all choosing to engage in this curriculum and engage in um the civic engagement that we take place here at the skate park. Um and I've seen some amazing growth and it's just really outstanding to think that we're going into the fourth year and there's it's we just have had a ton of success. I owe in large part to our collaborative efforts. So, I appreciate you all. Thank you so much. >> I look forward to keep doing this. No matter how this all plays out, we're going to keep

055going. Sit down. >> Please don't make me do it. I don't like having to do that. >> Are you done? >> I >> He's done. >> Have to have Peter here as an enforcer all the time. >> Yeah. Tough tough act to follow. Uh Peter Deg Grrey. Um thank you guys. Uh President Diamond, Superintendent Riby for hearing our comments tonight and uh thank you for an excellent start to 2526 school year. My kids are just thrilled to be back in school. I'm thrilled to have them back in school. So, thank you. Um, Push Project is awesome. We are so lucky that when our kids went or when our eighth graders went entered middle school, Push Project started and it just they're they can't get enough of it. I don't know what they're doing next year.

056They'll probably be peer mentors. Um, and tonight I'm here on behalf of Girls Inc. and I'm proudly serving as the president of the board of Girls Inc. this year. Um, unlike Push Project, Girls Inc. did not get um funding extended for this school year. I appreciate that those are difficult challenges with a limited pale of money. Um but I don't think it can be doubted that the educ educational support and culture of Girls Inc. um is one of success stories. Um Girls Inc. is a known quantity for um providing excellent service to all students in our district. Uh every summer for the last four years at at my business, Two Trumpets Communications, we've had a um Girls Inc. extern for the summer and without exception they're extraordinary girls. They're they're ready to work. They're confident.

057They're poised. Um and also no notice each year that the community organization that puts together the junior carpenter of the year award without fail there's always girls in girls in there as finalists for those awards because this is a quality program producing quality students. Um, and part of why I bring this up is because we're we're in this together and we celebrate their successes together, both CUSD and Girls, Inc. Um, our our first our first ever extern uh Natalie um Martinez, I I got to read in the newspaper last year that she headed to Brown University. That's an Ivy League girl from from Corp Unified. So, thank you. Um, and I think that's some evidence that this partnership is going well and we appreciate the partnership because it's been going on for about 30 years

058now. Um, So, and additionally, when I go talk to teachers, I find it amazing what they tell me before they even are aware that the girls at Girls Inc., they can point to the girls in their classroom that are the ones because they're the first to take the leadership role. They're running for office. They're volunteering. They're helping out their peers. Those are Girls Inc. girls. And tonight, you'll hear from uh Kenya and Meline are here with the Girls Inc. staff. These are quality people with quality programming. Um, and we've been doing it for a while. I think we've had a Harvard student come out of Girls Inc. recently and these are these are high in the resume of achievements for CUSD. So, thank you for that. Um, so please in the future when making decisions

059about funding, consider this track record, consider our relationship. We appreciated it. Um, and consider investing in in the shared success that we've enjoyed for all these years. Thank you. >> Thank you. Hi everyone. My name is Kenya Rodriguez and I'm the programs director for Girls Inc. of Carponia. Um our executive director, Jamie Collins, regrets that she couldn't be here tonight, but I am so honored to speak on behalf of our team. Um I want to begin by expressing our sincere gratitude for the incredible 30-year partnership that Peter pointed out um between Girls, Inc. and um the district. We truly value our long-standing collaboration and the opportunity to serve students and families across Carpria. Um I don't live in Carpondria, but I am so so blessed to work here um through Girls Inc. and have um

060have had the opportunity to work with with many CUSD students. So thank you. Throughout the years, we've worked together to meet the evolving needs of students. From supporting remote learning during COVID to providing essential programs like literacy initiatives, our STEM and college bound collegebound Eureka pro program, child abuse prevention, and our healthy sexuality program. And this year we've expanded our efforts with no cost inschool STEM program at Canalino, recess programming at Aliso, Canolino, and CMS, and of course, our healthy sexuality program for the middle school. Altogether, these programs represent over $110,000 in in value for the year, and we are proud to contribute to the success and well-being of the students in this district, and we remain deeply committed to continuing this work. Um, we are in the business of raising the next generation of

061leaders and we truly appreciate uh the district's support and look forward to our ongoing partnership for years to come. Thank you for your time and for everything you do for students. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> All right, so thank you. This evening's consent agenda is a pretty good example of why district officials likely reduced board meetings to just one a month. Tonight, a member of the public has just 3 minutes to provide comment on 24 individual topics. That's approximately 7.5 seconds per topic. Meanwhile, several topics are included in violation of the Brown Act, which prohibits several of these topics from being crammed into a single consent agenda for a single up and down vote. Once again, district officials obstruct transparency and the public's ability to better monitor the district's governance of public tax dollars provided

062for the betterment of Carpandria students and families. Regarding items one and two, no surprise that the district makes no effort to compensate district faculty for the extra contractual service they provided the sei trip. 72 straight hours away from their families and their children and their personal responsibilities with no additional compensation. Regarding items three and five, once again, Miss Garcia, incredible Miss Garcia, sacrifices another considerable portion of her personal time to support students, families in the district's reputation by providing service far beyond contractual expectations without any equivalent compensation. Why doesn't CUSD recognize our FFA teachers with additional contractual compensation versus the generosity uh versus taking their generosity for granted? Isn't this why her predecessor, Mr. Lopez left CUSD. >> No. >> Yes, it is. He told us. Will we also have to lose a Miss Garcia

063before the district recognizes that asking so much of district faculty while refusing to compensate them adequately not only drives away young talent like Miss Garcia, but it negatively impacts district students. Items six, seven, and 8 represent over $1,150 in additional special education contracts paid to external agencies at very high hourly rates to cover services that CUSD before Miss Riby's devastating management of the program was able to provide in-house at a lesser rate, more efficiently, and more consistently. Items 9, 12, and 15. Employees encourage the board's approval on funds paid in support of the push project, girls in services from FSA. They are proven entities and clearly value bring value added to programs that directly support students and families. Regarding item 14, 43,000 for surf lessons. How many students at the junior high who are reading

064several years below their grade level and desperately need academic support will not get that support because it is being spent on surf lessons. Who is really being served by this club? And what are the measuring tools that we're using for success? Since Miss Rigby has said we can't afford instructional aids during the school day, why aren't we investing this money towards increased EL and sped aids in the afterchool tutoring support or for small groupoup instruction? Regarding item 23 tonight, the revised local accountability uh local control and accountability plan will be quietly approved. 105 pages containing thousands of >> thousands of data points and we call that accountability. Thank you. Okay. Make it a motion to approve the agenda and consent agenda removing E3. >> I will mo move to approve the agenda and consent agenda

065as modified. I'll second. >> Okay. Any discussion? Um I just want to thank our community partners for the work they do. Um Girls, Inc. Peter um and and others. And um I'm I'm really excited for the school year. Everything on here, almost everything on here uh is a renewal. Um or an annual event like Sei. And um and so these are all uh exciting things that we get to do at the beginning of the year to renew and get going for our students for the year. So, um, roll. This is roll call. Yeah. >> Yes. Roll call. >> Eric. >> Hi, Erin. >> Hi. >> Jamie. >> I. >> Am I? >> Okay. And we are now on to our student representative report with Lacy. Take it away. >> Carpondria High School has started the

066new school year with a really great energy, and this week's spirit week promises to be full of exciting activities. Tomorrow we have the annual Rush Club and it will take place um offering students an excellent opportunity to explore and join a variety of campus clubs. On Thursday, the first student rally of the year will be held showcasing our all of our fall sports teams and Morp. On Saturday, the first school dance of the year, MORP, will be head will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. in the cafeteria. And the tickets are on sale now. And just a reminder, tickets will not be sold at the door. Um, in sports, Mr. Cooney, the Warrior athletic director, notes that in one of the most collectively successful weeks in Warrior history, Carperia grabbed wins all over

067the place. The Warriors notched a couple of first wins of fall 2025. as the as the football warriors blasted the Santa Clara Saints of Oxnard and the girls volleyball program earned matches match wins over Santa Clara Providence and Hillrest Christian in the fall classic held at CHS. The boys water polo team also won a big-time event as they came through with four wins in a row and a first place finish at the Malibu tournament. Nine warriors earned medals at the cross country scary dairy invitational hosted by Dell Soul High School while three of the CHS girls golfers tried tied for for third on the San Bua Ventura Golf Course. Warrior girls tennis won twice at home as they dis dispatched Bishop Garcia Diego before hopping over the toads of Thatcher School. We look forward to

068a week of great participation in school spirit. >> Thank you, Lacy. And I apologize. I I jumped the gun. I was very excited for you to be able to give your first report. Um, so thank you for your report. Um, we are going to take public comment on all items under E at this time. Um, so if you would like to make public comment on the items under E, public interest reports or presentations on the specific items one through four. Please step up to the podium at this time. >> Thank you. So um, appreciate your comments again and uh, the buzzer rang before I had completed some of our thoughts and this is an opportunity to do that. Um, I mentioned I closed I think with mentioning that you should know the teachers and support

069staff uh really appreciate your contribution and that the student representative report is your report. It is you and the students who decide what issues you want to put in front of the community and um we look forward to it. Um it's also uh important to know that um whatever is on the minds of students regardless of whether or not it's easy or difficult for the adults to hear these things that um that we need to hear them. And so, you know, again, thank you again and please, please be candid. Um, beyond that, uh, teachers and, uh, let's see, I'm sorry. Um, I wanted to also make sure we wanted to make sure the union that you, um, were aware of the following that, uh, under California Education Code, uh, 35120, you are entitled to compensation

070as a student representative. And, um, it could be in three different forms. Uh, monthly financial compensation. the local board is responsible for determining the amount of monthly pay that a student board member um receives. Another one is elective course credit which could save you a lot of money moving forward looking at your colleges and things. Um in addition to or instead of pay the board can award elective course credit based on the equivalent number of instructional minutes that you serve. And uh the last is mileage allowance which fortunately in carpenter it shouldn't be too much but um uh student members are also entitled to receive mileage allowance for official business to the same extent as regular board members. Uh in regard to the superintendent report uh we'll address the highly concerning enrollment data later um

071regarding the class size core averages that she's going to speak to. Um there are several inaccuracies in your report. We suspect you're aware of this. Um, as we shared earlier, the current approach to class composition has resulted in general education classes composed of up to 50% students with non-English speaking or students uh students who are either 50 or either non-English-speaking or students with severe cognitive or emotional disabilities. Simultaneously, district officials have drastically reduced instructional aid support in these classes. And by drastically reduced, what I'm saying here is that CUSD is not providing any instructional support in these core general education classes. No instructional aid support in these general education classes, which again are loaded with students who possess exceptionally broad ranges and abilities and needs and challenges. Um, we're wondering how Superintendent Riby can justify

072this with the reserves that we have and how can the school board allow this to happen knowing that these students will never get back the opportunity to turn these formative years into something better than they may. And knowing that these formative years will have such a dramatic impact on their personal and professional trajectory. because it seems so clear to district officials or that um or or because it seems so clear that district officials are uncomfortable are so comfortable brushing off already concerning data related to this elected employee leaders are collecting it and we'll share it with you at a later time. Thank you. >> Any further public comment on E? >> Uh thank you Carpenter resent. I just would like to welcome you as a uh the student representative and uh uh thank you for

073your uh service living here at at least a little bit more than an hour of your time and uh that's something that uh we should thank you and uh we're going to learn a lot from you and you're going to learn also a lot from us from the board from the uh superintendent and uh once It's a pleasure. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, so Lacy gave her report. Now I'll give the board an opportunity uh if they have any comments for Lacy on her report. No. Okay. Um, so California School Board Association does have some student board member resources. Um I looked and they don't have any training available uh scheduled at least for this part of the year but um if anything pops up I'll be happy to share that with you and um

074I look forward to working with you. >> Thank you. Okay, we're going to move on to E2 superintendence report. Thank you. Um tonight I'd like to begin with appreciation. I'd like to recognize all the principles, assistant principles, and teaching staff for organizing the back- toschool nights at each school site and thank all the parents who attended. When parents are involved in school, students earn higher grades, have better attendance records, drop out less often, have higher aspirations, and more positive attitudes towards school and their schoolwork. Uh, congratulations to our CHS agricultural teacher, Miss Emily Garcia, for receiving the 2026 Santa Barbara Distinguished New Educator Award from SBCEO. Emily would be honored at the 12th annual A Salute to Teachers Gala in October hosted by the county office. The press release is as follows. An agricultural science

075teacher at Carpandria High School, Emily Garcia has transformed the school's agricultural program in just two years. As a school's sole agriculture teacher and future Farmers of America adviser, she develops engaging hands-on lessons that integrate career technical education and science standards while coaching multiple student leadership and competition teams. Her commitment extends beyond the classroom, from early mornings at the school farm to securing community partnerships that expand student opportunities. Miss Garcia is a profoundly compassionate educator who consistently seeks opportunities to broaden her students horizons. Her innate ability to connect with students and ignite their curiosity is clearly evident in the thoughtful lessons and activities she meticulously prepares. And that was shared by her principal, Mr. Cano. My next item is the expanded learning opportunities programs for TK to 8. CUSD receives approximately 1.4 million for free afterchool

076programs for TK to8 students. At CMS, 40 students participate in the daily after-school program with additional students participating in skateboard, skateboarding, surfing, soccer, and volleyball. 100 Canalino students attend the Canalino ELO program and 80 students attend the ELSO ELO program which offer daily structured enrichment activities in art, science, gardening, music, dance, physical education, chess and assemblies. Additionally, afterchool tutoring is available at all schools. My next item is our enrollment for this uh school year and our current enrollment is at 1,812 students and that is uh we have lost about 103 students um this school year and those students that we've lost 30 of those students were residing in communities outside of Carperia. So those students are returning to their home district, Oxnard, Ventura, Galita or Santa Barbara. In addition, uh we have a number of

077families that have moved out of Carperia and Santa Barbara County to other communities in California. In addition, we also have a number of students that have moved out of state. We have um approximately 10 students that move to private schools and 10 more students move to charter schools. My next item is the CHS early college program and Mr. Kaneo is here tonight. He will uh be providing a presentation on all the information related to that program. But I did want to let you know that in 2016, Assembly Bill 288 was enacted and added to the California Ed Code section 760004, which enabled the governing board of a community college district to enter a college and career access pathways partnership with the governing board of a local school district. The CCAP legislation seeks to expand the

078availability of early college credit locally. It enables CUSD to limit Santa Barbara City College classes at the high school to just high school students. It also envisions a more inclusive version of dual enrollment beyond enrichment and expands the maximum number of SBCC units per term a high school can enroll in from 11 to 15. It also encourages student completion of a degree or certificate pathway while enrolled in high school. The CCAP agreement also creates a course sequence for early college program at our high school. And this new CCAP agreement addresses matters pertaining to student access, course development, articulation, instructors, data sharing, facilities, and pathway development. Our next item is related to our children's creative project in Santa Barbara County. The Santa Barbara County Children's Creative Project provides artists for weekly lessons in dance, coral music,

079visual arts, and theater in all of our TK to5 classrooms. These lessons are designed to cultivate students appreciation and understanding of the arts in the ways that are enjoyable and support students academic and personal growth. For staffing, we are currently recruiting a preschool special education teacher and an adaptive physical education teacher. And my last item is related to professional development for our teaching staff. The K5 teachers will participate in professional development to improve phonics instruction using the University of Florida Literacy Institute foundations program, which provides systematic explicit phonics instruction during the daily literacy block. And then both CMS and the high school teachers will participate in professional development in the classroom use of AI tools to enhance instruction and support individual student learning needs. Thank you. Any uh clarifying questions for the superintendent report? Okay.

080Um, I'm just going to say, uh, at the high school we have an average of 27.5 across the core classes. And I mean, that's the average, which means yes, we have some lower, but we also have plenty higher. >> Yes. Um, and that I feel like what can you what was our do you sorry and this isn't fair because I didn't ask you to bring these numbers beforehand or anything. Do you know what our average was last year on our core classes at the high school? Yes, it was closer to 25. But um you'll recall that part of our budget um actions in order to uh reduce the budget uh we uh cut a number of FTEEs and um four of those cuts were at the high school. So this is a direct um result

081of reducing the FTE equivalent at the high school level. >> So we were expecting um higher class sizes at the high school. Yep. >> If you if you deduct the if you if you take the SBCC classes out of there, it's down closer to to the >> to 25. >> Yeah. Um, and I'm just wondering is that would we be well I guess the contract with city college is for what it is. So we can't like add another class to that like another >> no and um most SBCC classes are >> are enrolled over 30 and 40. >> That is the expectation. >> Okay. Okay. Um, all right. We are skipping E3 and we are moving to a presentation of the new theater feasibility study at Carpenter High School. We have Joe Wilcox here um

082to present to us. >> Thank you, Joe. >> Thanks, Joe. >> Bring up the PowerPoint. >> Yes. >> Can I control it or not? >> You can and I will give it to you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Okay. Good evening. Um I'm here to talk about the feasibility study we did for the high school for theater. Uh the KBZ team was myself and Jason Connor. We had a theater consultant, Rose Steel, who we've worked with on other theaters, and we're doing another theater with her at another high school now. She's out of San Jose area. She's probably done 500 high school theaters. She's been around for a long time like myself. And Kobas was a cost estimator on this project. So I thought what I would like to do is kind

083of walk you through how we started and kind of how it all morphed into how it got to we worked with the principal. We worked with Elise, the theater dire, theater teacher, and Diana. And once in a while, this assistant um principal showed up. So, we start on the bottom left. The first question they ask us is since we already have the theater in the dining area of the cafeteria, how would it work for us to Is there a pointer on here, too? Yeah, here we go. How would it work for us to Oh, I I did the wrong thing. How would it work for us to fit 120 seats in that dining space and where would the stage go? So on the bottom left, we thought, let's try to put the stage to the

084north, see how it'll fit. We'd have to block off access to the cafeteria. Um then on the bottom right, we put the stage on the west wall to see how that would work with the restrooms and the exiting and access. And then obviously became very clear that this isn't going to work. That's what they're doing now. So they said, "Well, what if we do an addition on one side or the other, the west side or the north side for um support for theater uh production and props and so on. So that's the top slide. We added to the west and we still kept it at 120 seats. In the next slide, if we start at the top, we said, okay, if the stage is on the north, what would we do with an issue to

085the to the top to the north side? Then it was real clear, you know, this just isn't going to fit. This is a complicated building. It's a complicated structure. There's lots of glass. What if we just take that, they asked us, well, why don't you look at taking out and removing the the dining area and putting a new building to the west of the cafeteria? So we did that and we said, "Well, that doesn't make any sense either. Let's just push it to the south in that open space." This a pointer right here. So once we did that, we started looking at, okay, what kind of theater do we want to look at? The first theater was sort of the grandiose idea. It was in December 13th of 2024. I didn't mention we started back

086in October of 2024. 2020. Yeah, 24. And this was an idea for if we were to put a fairly large theater on the south side at 7,500 square feet. It includes a lobby. It includes restrooms for the public. It includes a control room which is raised. It includes slope seats. You can see in the section right over here. These are slope seats and an actual stage. And it includes a a high section above the stage. It includes a rack for lights above the stage and above the audience. It has uh all the support prop rooms, dressing rooms, restrooms for the students and a corridor for access and a screen. And we were asked, okay, what if we were to reduce this because that this may be a little bit too big of a project. So

087the next slide talks about, all right, well, let's knock it down to 4,200 ft. And you can see the cost comparisons that Kobas Milan did for us. And the top one is the 4,200 ft². It is uh one advantage of this idea is that they would be able to use the existing dining room area as support during a play like they do now for changing or whatever. Um we do have a prop yard on the west side. I'm going to get into the details about this idea because it's in all the rest of the ideas. It's retractable seats. And when with retract retractable seats, you're able to have a big large classroom if you need it. You can use the space for building props for practicing. So the bottom left is a 6,000 ft² theater

088and it has all the support space on the north side. The one on the top, the 4,200 ft² theater only has support space in the existing dining area. So it's not the best either. And then again, the 7,500 ft² design is on the bottom right. Study one was uh $7 million. Study two was $8.5 million. And the study three is $12 million. The study says black box, but that's a misnomer. It's really a small small theater. This slide is kind of out of order. Kind of shows you where it is on the site. This is a little bit larger plan of the 6,000 foot theater. It has all the support faces in the back. Has the area, let me go to the next slide. Has the area for um the seats that can come back.

089It again has a lobby. Has an entrance off the parking lot. Has dressing rooms for male and female. has a covered um secure but covered but not not conditioned props yard because I've seen lots of high school theaters where the props yard ends up being on the corridor and they're painting props on the corridor exterior corridors and uh it's not not the best. This is a slide that shows you the retractable seating. Um it's not like gymnasium seating. It has backs. It has um the slide on the bottom right shows it when it's closed. So, it lets the space be almost basically be used like a blackbox theater. You can bring in chairs, so you can do whatever you want. Um, slide on the left shows that the stairs and the handrails all come with

090it. It's all ADA compliant. And if the principal has any comments, he can make comments. Diane, if you have any comments, if you have any questions, board. Do you have any questions or comments? >> So, uh, thanks Joe. Yeah. Um, so with the retractable seating, I'm assuming it's just just a flat floor. So, there's no there's no >> You're exactly right. On these last says flat floor all the way through. The 7,500 foot theater has the slope seats neck have you have to have access to the stage ADA access. It gets pretty complicated. And through all the meetings we had with the user group, they said we can live with a flat floor. We like it to be flexible. The other one is more like um a miniature libero, you know, slope seats in a

091stage, but they said they didn't need the stage, the formal stage. Oh, so the stage is the stage is the same same level as the as the uh I mean there's no there is no stage. >> There's no stage. That's just the area. Okay. >> And they can they can >> Oh, there's the cross-section. >> There you go. Yeah. >> And then Yeah. With the seats retracted. Yep. >> It's open. And the exterior architecture is going to probably are we going to do anything different or is it going to mimic the the existing buildings or the architecture of the new >> I think we should mimic the existing buildings as best we can >> and so entry would be off of the main the big the the student parking lot. >> Yeah. if there was

092a performance that the public was invited. In fact, in that that other latest design, we have a ticket sales area. We have restrooms off the lobby, but yeah, it would be an entrance plaza off of the parking lot there. And then we've created access off the school for the students and the teachers to use coming through here. Mhm. >> And then again, this is a props yard which is not conditioned, but it has probably concrete walls up to six or seven feet high and then some screening and a roof to keep it dry because that's it's really a dirty messy area with saws and paint and um yeah, years ago when DP had their theater in this which was called the small theater that those corridors, exterior corridors were just trashed. Now they have a

093big theater with a props area and they wanted to have a access on the back side so that when they there's a play or something they can they can go from one side of the stage to the other. There's also a curtain. There's a projection screen in the design. Um and the control for all the sound is over here in this lower left this corner here because it's all done now off of an iPad. >> Sorry, maybe I missed it. How what's the I know I missed it. What's the seating capacity? >> 156 for this one. >> 156. >> Yeah. And the other ones was 120. >> Oh, there it is. I see it. >> It's hard to Sorry. >> And the the sound systems are included in this. Or is that That's not enough.

094>> It's in there. >> Okay. All right. >> Sound and lighting. Yep. So you you you're presenting a grant for this too, right? >> I'm joking with you. >> Um what is I recall when we when we did the like the pool feasibility study? Now I know like there's definitely more cost to a pool because of water and the pumps and all that kind of stuff. Do we have any type of cost like ongoing expenses what that would be on this? Do we have any idea? >> We didn't do that. We didn't ask the estimator to do that. >> I guess the ongoing costs would be electricity. Um >> maintenance. >> Yeah, maintenance. >> Um >> nothing like overt that I >> Does it have >> It's like a large classroom. >> Is it it'll

095be have an HVAC system? >> Oh, yes. Oh, yes. >> Standalone. >> Yeah, it's all down here in the lower lefthand corner. There's an electrical room there and mechanical room there. >> What do we know about the ground out here? Is it We got weird stuff in the ground. >> Of course, every time we we go into the ground. I mean, for the Gen 7s in the science wing, we had an issue over there, >> right? But um it's right across from the admin building. >> Oh. And we didn't have any problems with the admin building. >> True. It's in a different area. >> Yeah. I mean, of course, they evaluate it, but we're not anticipating that. Well, I say anticipated at this point because we've had it in almost every high school didn't really

096have issues. >> There was something >> the flood plane. The flood plane. We had to raise those buildings because the flood plane. >> Is that what it was? There was something like there was >> CSA made us raise those buildings 30 in or whatever because of the flood plane. >> And u >> so this would would this because the admin building is also raised. >> Well, that flood plane those maps have changed. >> Oh. Since then. That's right. >> So we don't wouldn't you're saying based on I don't really know right now. We didn't look at that. >> Okay. >> When I was getting the Gen 7, >> the lease is not raised as much as they originally. So I I imagine the high school is going to be lower than than it was when

097>> right >> when we built the Gen 7. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um so we're not taking any action on this. This is just the presentation. Um any further questions of Joe while we have him here? Well, I' uh I'd like a last >> Sorry, I didn't see you there. >> Hi. Would you like to >> I'm assuming that you've you've had your you've put your two cents in. >> Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. Mr. Corno and I and Superintendent Riby had tons of input on this and um everything that we suggested because I was the one who first suggested can't we just renovate the cafeteria and then as we proceeded it became obvious that this is what we need to do and since we can't do the fly loft in the the huge

098theater like we all wish we would be able to do but we understand that that's not really feasible. This is a wonderful, wonderful solution and it will give us everything we need. It will give us um changing rooms, dressing rooms, makeup rooms. I don't know if you're aware what we do now. Um, we as the sports medicine room has been converted into more of a storage area for district food services and maintenance, that room has gotten smaller and smaller. So, it's not even really the way that we used to be able to use it as a dressing room. So now we literally are dressing in the band room and walking across and we bring clothes and we change in sports medicine but we don't keep anything there. And last year we actually had to build

099we we we curtained it in outside the the corridor so that we could use it as a changing room. So, this would just be so incredibly awesome to have something like this. And um they worked really well with my saying where the projection screen should go and we need some masking on the side and where are we going to hide the piano when we don't need it. So, yeah, I'm totally on board with this. >> Just make it happen before I leave again. >> Well, that's not going to happen. >> You're not >> Oh, boy. Um and so thank you. Um, any questions for police? Okay. Um, and I imagine we would be able to use this for other things when not in use. >> That's the advantage of having the flat floor. >> Yeah.

100>> Being able to have the retractable seats, but we had lots of meetings, didn't we? >> You know, ever since I was a freshman, we were we've been talking about a theater at Carpenter High School. And um, this is a great We were just having this discussion today. This is a great way uh just like our football team has a home at the stadium. Everyone has a home. This will be a home for a theater arts program. And by having something that they can see that is that we've taken pride to build for them. I think that will increase the number of students taking theater arts. At the same time, there's a great opportunity for us to use this when we have other events on campus when we have arts and lectures uh activities. There's

101a great place for us to have staff meetings, group meetings. So this is uh I am sure this is going to be uh become one of the jewels on campus. So >> something else there was a quick stand up. So I'm like there's there's something. There we go. >> And we would also use it for the music performances and the concerts. So it's not just for theater arts. It's for the whole performing arts department at the high school. And as Mr. Corno said he's been waiting since he's a freshman. Carpenteria has been waiting since this the school site was built. There was a theater in the original design in 1967 and it's come and gone and come and gone and come and gone and now we have a really really good option. So, I hope

102we can move forward with it. >> We need to hire a lease to do my presentation. I didn't need to be here. I see like an opportunity for like turning this into an art gallery for the art for the arts like whether it's photo photography or or classic arts. Um you know pushing the seats back and being able to set up stations all around as like an art gallery would be really neat. And then um as we get into a future agenda item, early college, uh the idea of having a like a formal lecture space um type of classroom would be really neat. And then using this space, we we would be able to I'm assum [Music] >> as well. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, okay. Okay. Any further discussion, comments, questions? Okay. Thank you,

103Joe. >> Thank you very much. >> A great job. >> Thank you. It was a fun project. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Didn't recognize Elise. It had been so long since I saw her last. >> Did you cut your hair? >> Okay. >> Possibly. Maybe since my >> All right. Thank you. >> Good night. Um we are going to now move on to board policies F. We will take public comment on F. Board policies at this time one through three. All righty. So this is the second reading of the district's AI policy. It's interesting and lofty uh but certainly void of clear examples for the nine different policy statements included. Um, so just as we did on the August board meeting, union leadership request that district officials here and now, um, as you are permitted,

104clarify your understanding of how these policies and these lofty policy points apply to the teaching and learning environment. Please provide employees, the faculty, and support staff that will live these policies in the community specific examples of what these statements would look like in practice. We're hoping you're prepared for that. What does this AI policy look like in the teaching and learning environment where the rubber meets the road? When we spoke to this policy on August 12th, Mr. Schaefer shared that board members cannot be experts at everything that comes before them. And Mr. Schaefer in the community can be confident that neither district employees nor their elected representatives expect that you possess expertise in the areas of district governance. And for the record, that was far from the union's uh request. Our request on August 12th

105would have required a much lower than expert level of understanding to clarify some of the most basic values of the policy. Union leadership was simply attempting to determine what that fancyful language in the board policy meant. Again, when the rubber hit the road, we gave board members and superintendent and the superintendent the credit for being at least marginally familiar with how these policies impact the teaching and learning environment. We had hoped that there was a middle ground somewhere between expertise and ignorance, especially for those board members who have occupied seats on the school board for well over 5, 10, 15 years. polyianish as it may appear. We will maintain the expectation that trustees can and will demonstrate some basic working knowledge of not only the policy um and the topics under review but how they

106apply to the teaching and learning environment before acting to approve these board policies. When examining the way the school board routinely unanimously improves agenda items without either without either significant inquiry, a dissenting voice or public discussion, there is much reason for concern. As we asked before, what kind of healthy organization, family, relationship, or business never disagrees? Uh, always reaching the same conclusion 100% of the time. We continue to have concerns about this with you all for 97 straight meetings. That is the school board's voting record and it is for lack of a better word cultish. Can you please provide some routine scenarios that these nine policy statements would address? And if so, we will concede the portion the remaining portion of our public comment so the community can hear your response. >> Okay. If you're

107going to conclude, go ahead. >> Are you going to speak? >> I I am, but I'm not going to take your time. So I want you to use your time. >> Wonderful. So you are prepared tonight. Thank you. >> Any further public comment on board policies 1 through three? Okay. Um so uh now is the time for questions from the board on board policies. Uh, sorry. I'm going to respond first because it was mostly the comments were mostly about AI. Um, oh, I need to I'm just going to start with the meat, but sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. F1, new board policy BP0441, artificial intelligence, second reading. The board has asked to approve the second reading and adopt new BP0441 artificial intelligence. The governing board recognizes the transformative potential of artificial intelligence to increase

108student student access to information, support teacher effectiveness, and facilitate the administration of student assessments, as well as the potential for AI to undermine student achievement, health, and well-being. Therefore, the board is committed to supporting the use of AI by students and staff in accordance with the principles stated in BP0441. Okay, questions from the board? Okay. May I get a motion to approve? >> I'll move to approve board policy 0441. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Discussion. >> So, um h how are we limiting AI at the schools? Our expectation is that um given the professional development that we have started with the secondary teachers, they're uh evaluating and assessing which tools AI tools that will be most effective in improving learning for students access to materials and increasing um students production of understanding the the content

109that they're teaching. So essentially this policy guides the decision making of the teacher leaders and the teachers at the school site. They need to determine what tools are going to be most effective but the policy guides them in making decisions about those tools and it has to be tools that are going to improve uh for teachers to improve their instruction. um for students more individualized instruction. For example, um the AI tutoring tools are really effective in a history class when some of your students at high school may be reading at a fourth or fifth grade level. Then you can individualize the content of the history at that reading level. That's what an AI tool is used for. But our teachers need to be familiar with those tools and that's why we provided professional development last

110year and we're continuing uh providing that professional development this year. Um >> so so we so that'll that'll um apply both to the student and their use of it in their coursework but also in the teachers because I know there's there's the ability to feed documents in and have them graded uh with with the artificial intelligence is that are we going to limit that as well? Well, at this point, we are asking teachers to work with their colleagues to make their own assessments about which tools are effective and how they're going to use those tools for teacher use. And then we're also asking them to make recommendations uh as to how they want students to be using AI and how they're going to evaluate the use of um students using AI in their uh written

111work. So, it's really teachers are making those determinations based on the professional development that we're providing. This the board policy is is kind of a um it's a guide in as they make their decisions. But the decisions need to be made at the classroom level with the teachers need to make those decisions, not us because they know what tools will be most effective in helping them. They teachers can identify what areas they need support in and that's what you look for in the use of a tool is how can you support me in trying to teach um you know social science or biology to a group of students on the whole spectrum of performance level. How how can I individualize this uh particular lesson for certain groups of students? where is the most effective use

112of an AI tool >> is and then excuse me and then also we are expecting teachers to help us identify the parameters of student use when and where students are going to use AI how are they going to use it how are they going to document that they use the AI tool for example um it's it's mostly in written responses you know in writing papers so we're going to u we expect that the teachers will develop a protocol for when you're asked to be um submit a written response and you're going to use an AI tool. How are you going to document that you use this tool and what are your different steps between the draft and the final pro the final product but that's really the what we're expecting the departments to do um

113with their colleagues and to bring those recommendations back to the um administration. >> Okay. Um >> very dynamic. >> Yeah. Um so so the teachers say hey I think I want to use this AI tool that AI tool are those tools then vetted to ensure that they are appropriate or safe or because there's I mean I know some are benign but some are not and so um are the are the AI tools that the the teachers or the departments identify as potentially for use are those then vetted um or does it look at that like for security reasons like are there any issues there of inappropriate content coming through things like that um do we have a list of uh AI tools that we don't allow use on our network anything like that um for

114safety and security for our students and for our staff? >> Um not yet. That's that's what we're beginning to do. That's what we're expecting the departments to make those recommendations and then and then we will be uh vetting the administration team will vet the tools with our technology specialist. >> And how long do we think that will take? >> Probably in the we're uh in the next two months. >> Okay. So um so going through this policy specifically and the different um principles that are in here. Um I know that coming up there is a professional development that um I believe administrators or maybe department heads are going to or have are about to >> administrators will be participating in the county. >> Yeah. The county office of education has um has an AI training

115coming up. And then there's also um an event at the end of this month that I believe uh the county office is putting on and it's available for public. It's going to be streamed at different sites. Um but it's it's geared towards families um and AI and it's called a conversation with families. It's put on by the county office of education. It's a free event. Um and so one of the things is community engagement. Um and as events like this come out, the district will put out a notice of this for just like on Parent Square that these types of events are happening. Um because it's important that parents have some understanding of AI and what's out there and um that they need to be aware of its use. Um and then to my point

116earlier, number six was secure and private. Um, we want to make sure that that whatever tools we're using are secure and private and aren't accessible externally. It's not like a Trojan horse essentially. Um, but I know there's a lot of concern from parents because we've heard a few different horror stories about chat GPT, right? Um, and so that's that was part of my question of are do we have a list of sites that that are not allowed on our network? Um, or we will not be asking our students to use or maybe even explicitly telling them not to use. I don't know how far that goes, but um, and then I appreciate that you brought up, you know, how students are going to site their work using AI as part of the ethical use and

117transparency. Um, just like you would site any other sources, you need to site whatever you were using that goes to that. Um, and then I also heard uh at a meeting I was at recently um, Orchet Union at one of their school sites, they're having a student AI summit um, to help educate their students on AI kind of in mass. They have small schools as well and so um they're able to do it at like an assembly level I believe is what they're going to do but they're they're holding what they're calling an AI summit. So I'm excited to see what they do and hear about it. Um and maybe that's something we can look at for our students to help educate and inform them on on appropriate use of AI. >> Yeah. >> Um

118any further questions, comments? Okay. Uh we have a first and a second on F1. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Moving on to F2. Board policy and administrative regulation 6141.2 recognition of religious beliefs and customs. First reading. The board has asked to approve the first reading of BPA 6141.2 recognition of religious religious beliefs and customs. The governing board recognizes that students education would be incomplete without an understanding of the role of religion in society. As appropriate for a particular course, teachers may objectively discuss the influences of various religions using religious works and symbols to illustrate their relationship with culture, literature, and the arts. The board expects that such instruction will identify principles common to all religions and foster respect for the diversity of religions and customs in the world and be consistent with the

119adopted instructional materials and state standards as applicable. Any questions from the board? Um question or I guess clarification. So this particular board policy and AR we already have and the one different because there's it's very it it there's not much different in this. I believe the difference is citing a recent Supreme Court decision allowing for um optouts for families. Is that correct? >> Yes. It's related to the July 2025 Supreme Court decision Mahoud versus Taylor. It's uh opt out for parents, opting out of instructional materials that are contrary to their significantly held religious beliefs. Okay. And so this is just citing that case as one of the reasons why they there could be an opt out. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um and that form is available at school sites or district office. >> It's on

120the district website. the form to opt out if that is what you choose. Okay. Thank you. Um may I get a motion to approve uh first reading BPR 6141.2 recognition of religious beliefs and customs. >> Move to approve. I'll second. >> Any discussion? Okay. All in favor? >> I. F3. Board policy and administrative regulation 6142.1 sexual health and HIV AIDS prevention instruction. First reading. We're being asked to approve this first reading of BPA 6142.1 sexual health and AIDS HIV HIV AIDS prevention instruction. The governing board desires to provide a wellplanned integrated sequence of medically accurate and inclusive instruction and comprehensive sexual health and human immuno deficiency virus prevention. The district shall respect the rights of parents and guardians to supervise their students education on these subjects and to impart values to their children regarding human

121sexuality. Um any questions from the board? Um I will raise the same question to this or clarification that this is um virtually the same policy as we previously had. The difference again is citing Mimmud v. Taylor affecting this policy. >> Yes. But I would like to point out that education code has always required uh the opportunity for parents to opt out of any materials or lessons during um sex education. And so we've always had the opt out opt out uh availability opt opt out option availability uh to parents. And that was that's also in our annual parent notification that they simply parents need uh simply to send an email to the teacher or the parent. And um they are also notified our sex let me start again. Our sex education courses are in um fifth

122grade uh sixth grade and 9th grade. And the teachers notify parents in advance of what the topics will be and what the materials are and the publisher and they're available for parents to uh review. And if parents uh decide that they prefer their students not to participate in the lessons, then they simply need to send an email to the teacher or the principal. and we honor the opt out and uh students engage in different act alternative activities during those lessons. So that's always been in place but the reason why this policy had to be updated is because of the reference to Mahoud versus Taylor. >> So there is I mean there's some changing of language but nothing um >> significant significant >> and you can opt out of specific lessons or do you have to

123opt out of the entire class? >> Um lessons. >> Okay. And that's always been the case. It's always been the case for um sex education >> for this, but now we're citing back to this per case law. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you for clarifying. >> Uh F3 BP6142.1 sexual health and AIDS HIV prevention instruction. Can I get a motion to approve? >> I'll move to approve. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I >> G Educational Services. Um, if you'd like to make public comment on G1 through 3, please step up to the podium at this time. All righty. Thank you. So, union leadership is pleased that some grade levels will have access to state adopted curriculum and textbooks in content areas where um required by the Williams settlement. That said,

124elected employee leadership is compelled to note that the issue of textbooks for students is far from resolved for the 2526 school year. Last spring, several teacher leaders requested the purchase of student textbooks for core content courses at the middle school, specifically science and history classes for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. And after several years of the superintendent dictating that CUSD would be paperless by 2022, we've not only fallen short of that rather absurdly futuristic objective, but the system has actually reversed course, moving back to more traditional methods of teaching and learning books, pens, pencils, and even paper. And it's been really wonderful to work with the kids in with those mediums. Um throughout the spring after student laptops and iPads once provided by the district were removed, teacher leaders at CMS advocated for the purchase

125of student textbooks. They were told by principal Persoon that student textbooks were no longer needed because students were no longer required to do homework. When teacher leaders disagreed and pressed for student access to textbooks by the start of the 2526 school year, they were told that textbooks would be available online. when teacher leaders reminded administration that online resources were no longer equally accessible to students primarily because CUSD had taken back students personal computers or I should say students laptop computers and were no longer permitted to use those laptops or smartphones uh or bring or bring their smartphones and their personal computers to school. Miss Pursoon declared that the matter was no longer up for discussion. As a result, students in several grade levels and content areas at CMS have begun the 2526 school year without

126equal access to current textbooks. Not only does this scenario undermine the teaching and learning process, it is in direct conflict with the LCAP goals published in February, which were revised and slid through the consent agenda this evening. The failure to provide textbooks to students is a clear violation of the Williams settlement. It opens the districts up to legal suits by those savvy enough to navigate the system, demand their rights, and ensure their children have access to the most basic materials and resources needed, textbooks. These concerns were again shared with principal pursuit at the last CMS staff meeting on September 2nd. She shrugged, directed employees to post the notice pertaining to CUSD's compliance, and refused to entertain the topic and concerns that CUS faculty brought to her in any meaningful manner. It is the district's responsibility

127to ensure students have equal access to content focused textbook materials at school and at home just as the Williams settlement requires. Read it. It's right there in front of you. Teacher leaders and their elected representatives implore district administration to rethink the efficacy and legality of the current approach where we remove personal computers from students and then fail to reinvest in the routine resources required for student learning. Thank you. Okay. Um, let's see here. G1 public hearing on the availability of textbooks and instructional materials for the 2025 2026 school year. Each year, the Carpa Unified School District must hold a public hearing on the availability of textbooks and instructional materials for the current year. President Zimon will open the hearing, accept public comments, and then close the hearing. I am now opening the hearing. because I

128always feel pressed when uh with the short three-minute time limit, I'm going to review some of what I just said to make sure that you have an opportunity to hear it. Of course, you could review the board meeting video as well. Um, last spring, several teacher leaders requested the purchase of student textbooks for core content courses at the middle school, specifically science and history classes at the sixth, 7th, and eighth grade levels. After several years of Superintendent Riby dictating that CSDBD would be paperless by 220, we clearly are not. Throughout the spring, after student laptops and iPads uh had that had once been provided by the district were removed, teacher leaders again advocated for the purchase of student textbooks. They were told principal by principal pursoon that student textbooks were no longer needed because students

129were no longer required to do homework, that it was inequitable for them to do homework. When teacher leaders disagreed and pressed for student access to textbooks by the start of the 2526 school year, they were told textbooks were available online. And when teacher leaders reminded administration that online resources were no longer equally accessible for students, Miss Persoon declared the matter was no longer up for discussion. As a result, students in several grade levels and content areas at the middle school have begun the 2526 school year without equal access to current textbooks. Not only does this scenario undermine the teaching and learning process, it is in direct contrast with the LCAP goals published in February by yourselves, which were then revised and slid through the consent agenda this evening. The failure to provide textbooks to students

130is a clear violation of the Williams settlement. It opens the district up to legal suits by those savvy enough to navigate the system, demand their rights, and ensure the children have access to the most basic materials and resources needed, equal access, textbooks. These concerns were again shared with principal Persoon at the last staff meeting on September 2nd and she shrugged and directed employees to post the notice pertaining to CUSD's compliance refusing to entertain the topic in any meaningful way. I remind you it is the district's responsibility to ensure students have equal access to content focused textbook materials at school and at home just as the Williams settlement requires. Teacher leaders and their elected representatives implore district administration to rethink the efficacy and the legality of the current approach where we remove personal computers, refuse them

131cell phones, which certainly most of us support, and then fail to reinvest in the routine resources required for student learning, which we don't support. You're opening yourselves up to yet another ridiculous expensive legal action and your friends down in LA will make another fortune off of us. Miss Riby, something needs to be done about this. We implore you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And the hearing is closed. G2 resolution 25939 resolution on sufficiency of textbooks or instructional materials. The board has asked to adopt resolution 25939 which states whether there are sufficient or insufficient textbooks and instructional materials available for every student in the district. This resolution is adopted annually. The resolution fir further determines as required by education code section 60119 which areas there are sufficient materials. May I get are there any

132questions? >> Well, I'm trying to understand the question here. So the question is because we're not giving homework, we're not sending textbooks home with the students and and therefore that's the complaint. But there are sufficient textbooks at school. >> At school there are sufficient textbooks in every classroom. There are over 400 computers and there are 400 students. So there is a computer for every student. The issue is not about the materials. The the issue is about homework and so there is um discussion about what type what amount of homework should be assigned. And currently the expectation is there's no homework that's assigned in a textbook. Has nothing to do with the textbook. It has to do with the fact that there is um differences in opinion on homework. >> Okay? >> So it's a homework

133issue. >> Every student has access to a textbook and a laptop at school while they are working on >> their materials. Materials >> and if there's an assignment that requires a textbook or a laptop then they are available for that student. Okay. Um, >> homework, but the issue is about homework. It's not about the textbooks or the laptops. >> Great. Thank you. Okay. And the textbooks that we have, some are physical, some are electronic. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, and so I'm I'm wondering, so hypothetical, student misses class for a few days, needs to be able to catch up. Are they able to bring a laptop and a textbook home? Yes. >> To catch up and study? >> Yes. >> Do they have access to that? >> Yes. >> If they are not able to

134be in class. >> Yes. >> Um and Okay. And so this law this specifically is for access at school. >> Yes. And at home if the assignments are related to if the assignment is in the textbook or you have to use the laptop then you need to provide that at home. >> But that's not what the assignments are. >> Okay? >> And that's where the uh conflict is. Okay. It's a homework issue, not a materials issue. >> Do a resolution. Uh, just to be fair, like I'm just not super like I'm just I'm struggling with it a little bit and not that that's going to be something that can be resolved right now. I'm just I'm I'm on the fence to be honest. Um, but I also understand what the the expectation of the teachers

135is that there isn't homework being sent home that requires the textbook >> or the computer. >> Correct. >> So, what type of homework is being sent home? >> A lot of a practice a practice of what you've already learned in the classroom. When they're in the classroom though, they're using the textbook and the laptop >> to learn the content and then you're practicing at home. So, specifically, it's reading and math problems. >> Okay. Okay. Um, do we have a motion for G2? >> I would uh move to approve resolution 25-939. I will second. >> Roll call. >> Uh, Eric >> I. >> Aaron. Hi, Jamie. >> I'm I >> I'm okay. G3 agreement between Carpenter Unified School District School District and Santa Barbara City College and Career Access Pathways SBCC CAP 2526. The board has

136asked to approve the agreement between CUSD and city Santa Barbara City College CCAP. CUSD has a strong partnership with Santa Barbara City College and for over 20 years together have provided students with the opportunity to participate in dual enrollment. In 2016, Assembly Bill 288 was enacted to add and added to California Ed Code section 760004, enabling the governing board of a community college district to enter a college and career access pathways CCAP partnership with the governing board of a school district. CCAP legislation seeks to expand the availability of early college credit locally and enables CUSD to limit SBCC classes at the high school to high school students. envision uh envisions a more inclusive version of dual enrollment beyond enrichment, expands the maximum number of SBCC units per term a high school student can enroll in

137from 11 to 15 and encourages student completion of degree certificate pathways while enrolled in high school. The CCAP agreement also creates a course sequence for early college program at Carpria High School. This new CCAP agreement addresses matters pertaining to student access, course development, and articulation. Uh, yep. Articulation, instructors, data sharing, facilities, and pathway development. And I believe we have principal Corno to speak to this. Good evening. Um, first of all, I want to know I want to tell you that this is one of the uh highlights of my career at Carpentry High School, establishing a early college program. Um, we've been waiting for the agreement to come to to expire, the one we had, and this is an opportunity for us to reshape it to address the needs of our students and the reality of

138what our students are facing when they're going to college, which is expensive. This is a way for them to earn literally an AA degree before they graduate from Carpentry High School. Currently at Carpentry High School, we have the following courses this year, which is personal development, which is a three-unit course, and that is for all 9th graders. Um, calculus is a 5-unit course for our uh 12th grade students. Pre-calculus is a six sixunit course for our 11th grade students. introductory uh to introduction to chemistry a 4-unit course uh is for our 11th grade students US history two US history courses um one from US history to 1877 and US history since 1865 each one of those is three units and then we also have a agriculture class soils uh and plant and nutrients in the

139three-unit course and that's for 10th and 11th graders all of our courses are taught by carpentry high school teachers. We only have one course which is our calculus class taught by a city college professor and that is co-taught with one of our high school teachers. Um we currently have 287 students, some of them may be duplicates, enrolled in the courses this school year. And as our superintendent mentioned earlier, the CCAP agreement that you're being asked to present, that you're being asked to approve this night, is to create a specific set of courses for students to pursue uh at Carpenter High School uh while they're here, while they're there are for four years. Besides offering dual enrollment courses, the students can take this CCAP agreement and it creates a course sequence that is defined as a

140pathway such as the culinary arts pathway which leads to a certificate which is part of our CT program, a general education pathway and a general education transfer pathway. Uh we currently have identified 25 courses in this agreement that our teachers can teach at Carpenter High School. And we've also um identified these 25 courses as part of our early college program uh leading to uh a great program for our students to take at Carpenter High School. A lot of these courses are being replaced. Uh we replaced AP courses uh by offering these courses. We also uh have identified teachers that potentially could teach some of these courses and we're working to attain grant money so that we can pay for them to take their u meet their minimum qualifications and earn a master's degree in a

141specific field. So that's something that we're doing. The idea is for once you approve thisou, if you do so tonight, we begin to work with Santa City College and create a a mapping system of when our students would take these courses, who would teach these courses, when will they be offered, such as summer uh or in the school year. Um, and you may note that we do have other CT programs that are not listed as part of the pathways with CCAP agreement from San Jose City College, and that's because they do not offer a program uh in engineering, manufacturing, agriculture, or robotics. The great thing that the law was changed about 2 years ago, which allows us to find a local community college that has those. So, we are going to begin the conversations with

142um Ventura Community College for those pathways. So this is a great opportunity for our students, great opportunity for everybody that uh wants to go to college uh and also earn a significant amount of credits so that they can go and um enroll at the community college or wherever they go as uh sophomores. The great thing about this that all the courses that we have selected are all transferable to the Cal State or the UC system. The great thing about dual enrollment classes is that the students does not have to pay for an AP test and one and hope that the college will take the credit. This is a guaranteed placement uh in college. So I know some of your students may have taken these courses at Carpentry High School and um we constantly get uh

143emails from students saying they took my chemistry class, they took my calculus class. Before it was I got a four in AP calculus but the college didn't take it. this is a way for them to do that. >> So >> great. I just um publicly I wanted to thank Herardo for his leadership >> and his perseverance. Uh Herardo and I have been talking about this for many many years uh to establish an early college opportunity at CHS. And without Herardo's leadership and developing partnerships and securing grants, it would never have happened. So again, Herardo, I really thank you. This is something that is going to be really important for our student body. It's going to transform students lives and I really appreciate your leadership on this project. Thank you so much. >> No, thank you.

144And and I also want to mention that the idea is to have our teachers teach the course during the daytime. And that is the reason we're working with local foundations for them to pay for the teachers to earn their uh master's degree so that they can stay in Carpentria and also teach the enrollment classes. A lot of the teachers specifically in high demand courses they once they are approved by City College, they can actually teach at City College because they've been approved to teach those courses. So >> that's amazing. Well, I know this is something that you've been working on for a long time and a vision you've had for for quite some time. I remember hearing you talk about it years ago and what you saw like possible. Um and and the the opportunity

145that came out this last summer where we can now use other community colleges outside of our immediate area really helps open those doors um for for for far more of our our students um who's who wouldn't be able to go through the pathway at City College. Um although they have an amazing set of pathways and opportunities. So, but I'm I'm I'm excited for our students, but I really am excited for what this does mean for our teachers and their advancement um and uh investment in them and advancement for them professionally. So, um it's it's really um a win-win I see I think in that sense. >> And again, you do have a list of courses that we've identified. All those courses can be taught by Carpenter High School teachers. >> Amazing. Any questions or comments?

146>> I think it's great. It's It's huge. >> Thank you. Yeah. Thank Thank you, Herardo. I I I you know, just just echoing what Diana said about this not being able to be done without your vision number one, but your leadership and and your your deter determination because I know you've been talking about this for a long time. Yes. and and um and just to see the growth in the in the dual enrollment program in the last four or five years is is great. And to see those students entering college as essentially as sophomores now and then, you know, hope, you know, it looks like they'll be able to enter as juniors essentially with a with a degree. Um that's that's tremendous and it's going to just increase the level of confidence they have in

147the ability, you know, for those that are first generation um collegians. It's going to enhance that that um that confidence that they can do that and encourage them to to continue their education. And so I think it's just a testament to you and but but the our our system in general >> and I really want to also acknowledge the teachers that have stepped up. I mean I I have a teacher Mr. Gomez who went back to school so that he can get a master's degree in chemistry just so that he can teach this class because he also didn't want to teach AP chemistry because it was you don't there's no guarantee that the colleges are going to take it. The other thing I want to mention is the fact that the number of students that

148are taking AP has not dropped actually has increased because we have normally we would have one or two sections of AP lit or AP uh language composition we now have uh four and that three courses. Um but also the students that would normally have not taken a dual enrollment class such as the fact prior to dual enrollment we had AP stats and AP calc you either had to take one or the other. So we would have 15 and 15. Now all 30 of them can take. So we have 47 students I believe in calculus. That is those are students that would normally have not been there. We have uh combined almost 80 students in our uh US history class. They would not have taken AP classes. AP is scary. Um and one of the things

149that we've done especially like for example pre-calculus which is the class for uh juniors it's a semester long course but we only enroll the students in the dual enrollment second semester and Mr. Smith frontloads the material first semester so that when they enroll in the dual enrollment class second semester they've already been exposed to it and Mr. Smith is working together with the city college professor and supporting the students, retaching, covering the lessons, and that's a win a win-win uh opportunity for our students. So, again, I I I really want to uh acknowledge the teachers that have stepped up because it is they have to do extra work sometimes and they uh city college does compensate for their time for doing this. Um but um it is a win-win for everybody. Yeah, I I think

150it it shows the enrollment in those courses. Um the numbers in those classes is significant. And I I just I recall over um graduation season this last June seeing videos of students walking across the stage getting handed two, three, four essentially diploma holders um because of what they had been able to do at their schools that already had programs like this in the future. >> Yeah. >> Very exciting. Very exciting. >> That's the plan. Thank you. And the agreement ends June 30th, 2030. >> 2030. Got it. >> 2030. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um so we are being asked to approve this agreement. Um may I get a motion? >> I will move uh to wholeheartedly um approve this agreement between uh C City College and CCAP. >> I'll second that. >> Any discussion? No.

151Okay. All in favor? >> I I H. If you'd like to make public comment on H, please step up to the podium at this time. Uh, thank you. I uh notice a uh legal fee for 20 21,495. uh the sex sex uh abuse case of the 70s. Uh pop question actually different questions on this uh [Music] yes uh escrow was closed on the uh bailor property January. Is it is it final? You got the money. Is it on the general fund? The reason I'm asking is that uh next month October 8th 9 10 uh there's a reason on hearing on the on the beach on on Baylor coastal commission. This is what the city said. The coastal commission is the last step. The final saying on Baylor and they're asking people because they have a

152new personnel at the coastal commission and they're asking people to send their concerns to sign up for comments on this hearing. So, is it just uh protocol or what I mean that's if you could clarify that because that I think it was a done deal. Maybe it is. I I I don't know. Why haven't this uh >> So, if I may, yes, that is not the sale of the Baylor property is not on the agenda tonight. >> Oh, well, I'm bringing this up. >> Well, I'm I'm just clarifying. >> Correct. Okay. >> It is not. So, we're not speaking to that because that's not in the scope of tonight's agenda. uh because once I I read this bill for uh 21,000 I had that question whether is it's for the settlement or is it for

153the uh the the the man who didn't settle? So that's the question that I have. >> Thank you. Any further public comment? Thank you >> on H. >> Okay. So, first, union leadership wants to thank those community members who provide grants and gifts to the CUSD without any unethical or unprofessional strings attached. There are many, and they are truly needed and appreciated. Regarding the district's warrants, this report confirms that the district is now paid over $750,000 since January to the single law firm Fagan Freriedman and Fulfrost LLP. This $750,000 is just a portion of the $3.5 million and growing in legal fees paid to the same firm, which has facilitated CUSD's unlawful attacks against elected employee union representatives, as well as efforts to undermine the collective bargaining process and the union's right to meet and

154recruit employee members to the union. On many occasions, the community and yourselves board members have been advised that 3Fl is the firm that Superintendent Riby brought with her to CUSD when she made a deal with Mr. Schaefer among others to have the union and its leadership removed from the district in three years. Well, Miss Riby, you are now in your seventh year with the CUSD and you have been as successful with that as your performance metrics in other areas. It's >> ninth year. >> Oh, ninth year. Ouch. It hurts. It flies, doesn't it? As the board considers the warrants and the related expenditures, employee leadership wonders if Miss Riby or her legal council shared any details about upcoming legal actions with 3F LLP, or are these bills associated with those associated with further defending the

155unlawful attacks that have already been determined by the courts, including multiple unfair labor practices related to continued retaliation and discrimination. Given the pending cost once again of defending the behaviors that have already been determined unlawful with 3LP, right, the district's behaviors, but the firm defended you. We hope that you have been made aware that hearing dates are set and you must still answer charges that sit before you in the state public employee relations board courts. Only this time, the previous decision clarifying CUSD's unlawful behavior will be where these hearings begin versus where they end. Have you been advised of that yet? Perhaps you can save the district another million by simply owning the accountability that you deserve, Miss Brigby, and some of you supported by admitting the retaliation and discrimination you engaged in upfront. Painful

156as it must be for district officials, the benefit to the district's reserves and the ability to direct tax dollars towards student learning is obvious. Or will you again throw critical resources at defending the indefensible, filling the bank account of Miss Rigy's favorite law firm and dragging on the accountability that the district very much deserves. You >> Thank you. H1 warrants. The board has asked to approve the warrants for the period of 8825 through 9425 in the amount of 1,130,878.884. Warrants are issued once a week on Thursdays. The report format shows check number, check date, payee, brief account description, payment comment, and check amount. Questions from the board on the warrants? May I go May I get a motion to approve? I'll move to approve. >> I'll second >> discussion. All in favor? I >> I

157H2 gifts, grants, donations. I'm going to go read through them all and then we will approve them as a whole. Uh 2A, a donation from the Lake family to CUSD Summerland Elementary School. We're being asked to accept this donation from the Lake family of a smart air blast mini purifier valued at $710 and replacement air filters to provide it to be provided annually beginning in 2627 valued at $150 each to the K1 classroom at Summerland Elementary. This gift is intended to support a healthy and comfortable learning environment for both students and staff. 2B donation from Michaela Fringe to Carpria High Schooler >> Fringer sorry apologies Michaela Fringer to Carpa High School Future Farmers of America. The board has asked to accept this donation from Michaela Fringer of $600 in memory of Art Fringer to CHS

158FFA club account 2C donation from Rotary Club of Carperia to Carpa Unified School District music programs. Uh we're being asked to accept this of several musical instruments valued at approximately $4,41.71 to support CUSD music program at CMS and elementary schools. 2D donation from Karen and David Wheeler to CUSD music program. The board has asked to accept the donation from Karen and David Wheeler of several music instruments valued at $910 to the Carpa Unified School District music program at Carpria Middle School. 2 E donation from Carpria Beautiful to Carpa Middle School. Uh this is a donation of a beautiful let's see of a new large rug valued at $350.95 for the entrance of the middle school. CUSD CMS greatly appreciates the ongoing volunteer efforts by Carpentry of Beautiful whose support with landscaping and other projects continues

159to enrich campus environment and culture at CMS. And F, we have a donation from Carpondria Education Foundation to Carpa Unified D School District for CEI field trips. We're being asked to accept this donation from CF of $30,000 to cover a portion of the Catalina Island Marine Institute school field trips. Um, any questions on 2 A through F? >> No questions. >> May I get a motion to approve 2 A through F? I'll move to approve uh A through F with gratitude. >> Can I get a second? >> Second >> and discussion. >> Just uh as always, thankful to all the generous families and organizations in Carperia. >> Absolutely. Um really appreciate the generosity of our community. Um, I really it's it's especially special whether I know the person or the reasons or not when you

160see a donation made in um in honor or memory of someone else uh who this club or sport or activity was meaningful. And so um thanks to those that continue to support in that way. >> Uh okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I >> I Okay. 202425 unudited actuals. The board is required to review and accept annually the 2425 unodudited actuals. The 2425 unodudited actuals are due to the Santa Barbara County Office of Education by September 15th. The report reflects the actual revenue and expenditures from July 1 through June 30th. Jason Calf, Assistant Superintendent Business Services, will provide a PowerPoint presentation. Well, uh, first of all, I'd like to thank the board the board for allowing me to give this presentation. Um, tonight we will be reviewing the 2425

161unodudited actuals. Um, just briefly, I'd like to go over how the general fund is composed. So, the general fund is the biggest fund we have and it has the most activity. However, inside the general fund, there are two different components. There is the unrestricted side of the general fund and that is where our reserve is housed and there's also another part called the restricted side of the general fund and it on the restricted side is where we house all of our restricted resources such as title one, title two, title three, uh prop 28 funds. Those are all restricted funds and those are all tracked on the restricted side of the general fund. And and the reason I bring that up is because for the first few slides here, we're we're just going to be reviewing

162the unrestricted side of the general fund. So with that, I'll go ahead and get started. So on this first slide here, um it's entitled change in unrestricted general fund revenue. Um you'll notice that in column A that's entitled estimated actuals. Now really what the estimated actuals are that's what the board saw in early June of 2025. So that's once again these are projections as to where we're going to end the year at June 30th 2025. So this entire column of estimated actuals are projections. The next column right next to it entitled unodudited actuals, that's where we actually ended up at June 30th, 2025 after the year- end close. So the first column is what our projections were for revenues and the second column is where we actually ended up. So for example, if we look

163down in the first um item there for state uh for revenues, we have state aidpropy taxes at estimated actuals, we are projecting that we we would have revenue of approximately 33,119,622. However, at June 30th after we closed the books, um we actually had revenue of 32,920,18. So our projections our projections were slightly different uh which we call a variance and and for this variance um we're seeing the variance of $199,000. So what this means is that in this column we received $199,000 less than what we are projecting at estimated actuals. Now if we're looking at $33 million a variance of almost 200,000 I'm rounding here. um really isn't that, you know, isn't really that significant considering the big picture. So, I just wanted to to touch on that. So, after state aid is federal revenue.

164Uh you'll notice that at unodudited actuals, we received $165 for um forest reserve revenue. So, once again, that's $165. That's not a huge number for other state revenues. uh the variance there between what we were projecting at estimated actuals and where we actually ended up was about $26,000. So once again, that's not a big number either. And the last revenue category right below that entitled local revenues is um we were estimating approximately $547,000 at estimated actuals at year at 6:30 after year in close we received $712,000. So the variance there was approximately $164,000. Now when you net all of those different revenue streams up, the total net revenue difference is about $7,800. So what this means is that from estimated actuals to unodited actuals, we actually received about $7,800 less than what we were projecting

165at estimated actuals. Now, in the in the box below it, what we have here is basically a a kind of more refined version of what those variances are made up of. So, for example, the first one we're looking at, LCFF/propy tax revenue decrease of $199,000. That's largely attributable to the education protection account, what we call EPA. And so, um, in there at estimated actuals, we we thought we were going to receive an additional $92,000, but it turns out we received that $92,000 in 2324. So, we're not going to get it again. And so, that's the reason that we're seeing a reduction there. And for property taxes, you'll notice that we didn't receive about $107,000 that we thought we were going to receive. Um, and once again, I think that was shared with the board. Um

166there was a slight difference between our P1 property taxes and P3. We we received slightly less than we thought we were going to receive and that's being reflected here as well. So when you add those two numbers up, that's $199,000 um reduction in LCFF/propy tax revenue that we see on the first line. Um forest revenue increase. Um, once again, this is a real it's a relatively small amount which we typically get after the year- end close. So, once again, that's $165 for the state aid increase. Um, that's largely due to kind of true-ups that happen at year end. So, the the first kind of true-up is uh the final lottery payment of $9,400. And once again, I'm kind of rounding here. Um, home to school transportation aortionment. Uh, we booked another $18,000 that that we

167weren't expecting. and a small decrease to our mandate block grant of $919,000. And once again, once you net all of those three, that brings us to that $26,950 number that we see to the right. And the last line entitled local revenue increase is largely due to kind of miscellaneous things such as stale dated checks, reimbursements, some interest payments, uh some minor rent revenue payments, excess stirs, a grant, and our annual Gazsby 31 fair market value adjustment. And so when we add those two um local revenue numbers together, that's how we come up with the $164,000. So once again, once we net all of those differences out, um we're we're slightly off by basically $7,800, which which you know, considering our budget as a whole is, you know, relatively a small number. So with that, I'll

168go ahead and switch to the next slide. Now, this slide here is entitled change in unrestricted general fund expenditures because once again, all we're focusing on here is the unrestricted side of the general fund. Um once again the the the first column we see we see there is entitled estimated actuals and all of the numbers that we see in this column here are projections. So when these numbers were done basically late May early June these were all projections of where our expenses would be come June 30th uh 2025. As I mentioned before, nobody has a crystal ball. So, we don't know exactly what our numbers will be, but we have to use the best information available to make those projections. And those are represented here in this column entitled estimated actuals. And once again, unodudited

169actuals is basically where we ended up at June 30th, 2025. So, for example, we'll just go over the first one, which is entitled certificated salaries. Um at estimated actuals we were projecting our ri our expenses in that expense category would come in at approximately 10.3 million. However at June 30th after year in close our expenses came in at approximately 10.2 million. So we have a variance there of approximately $82,000. And so I'll just go through one or two of these. Um the one right below it is entitled classified salaries at estimated actuals. We were we were projecting that our expenses in that category would be approximately 4.2 million but at June 30th our expenses came in actually 4.1 million. So there was a variance there of about 128,000. So in that column entitled variance is

170the difference between what our projections were and what our actual numbers were at June 30th. Now once again I do want to highlight that you know we have variances uh we had a variance last year. I would imagine that all public school districts have variances once again because we are all required to project revenues and expenditures and of course nobody has a crystal ball so nobody knows exactly what those numbers are going to be. So we are always going to see variances. That is just a function of school finance and the way that we have to do it. So if if we total up all the different variances, you'll see on the right hand side there, um the total expenses were about $71,000 less than we were projecting at estimated actuals. >> Jason, I think

171it would be important at this point to add that um that since last January, we were concerned about the budget. So that's why we reduced all our expenditures. That's why our variance is larger than typical. >> Yes. And Yes. Um, so that is one factor. Um, and I think an additional factor is we know that there's a board policy that tries to require a 10 a 10% reserve. And so we're trying to get the board well and the district as a whole to get up to that 10%. Because where we're at now is a little bit better than where we were last year at this point, but we're still by no means um near where we should be in my opinion. And and I'll kind of touch on that in a site or two. So,

172um, once again, if we're looking at the box right below those two charts, um, we have the changes in expenditures. So, the first line entitled final salary and benefit expenditures. That $380,000 is a total of the certificated salaries variance of 82,000, the classified salary variance of 128, and the benefits uh variance of 170. Um I I would like to highlight that the benefits variance includes both certificated and classified uh position. So that's why that number is bigger than the other two is because that category picks up both pockets both certificated and classified. So that's how we get to the $380,000 uh number you have there. Um right below that we have final materials and supplies expenditures ofundred and 20,000. So basically what that means is that we spent 100 or we we didn't spend 120,000

173that we had budgeted at estimated actuals. Um right below that we have final services contracts utilities capital outlay and that one's 97,000. And you'll see below that I haven't even broken down into further detail as to how that number is derived. So, first of all, we had a decrease in travel, conference, and communication, and miscellaneous expenses of about $10,000. We had a decrease in rents, leases, and repairs of about $22,000. Uh we had an increase in legal fees of about $52,000. Uh we had a decrease in contracts, and services of about $44,000. Uh decrease in insurance and utilities and leases of about $73,000. Um, and so once again, if we total all those together, that gets us to that $97,000 variance that we're seeing in that one expense category. Um, right right beneath right beneath

174that, we have the increase in capital outlay and debt expenditures and that's $333. Not a big number. And the last item there is that we have increased indirect to categoricals and cafeteria of approximately $102,000. And so once again, once we add up all of those numbers, all that adds up to the $71,000 um variance that we've noted up above. So with that, I'll switch to the next slide here. Um so once again we are still looking at the unrestricted side of the general fund and just on this slide here all where it says other uses all that we're basically focusing on is the contribution. Now there are a couple different programs and departments in the general fund that do not receive any funding or not enough funding to be self-supporting. So what has to happen

175is that the unrestricted side of the general fund has to basically give money to the restricted side to run those programs. And so that's what we're looking at here. So in the estimated actual column, we have other other uses which basically is a contribution. We were projecting that our contribution would be about $7.8 million at estimated actuals. um for unaudited actuals where we really ended up at June 30th, 2025, our contribution actually came in at about $7.3 million. So the variance there is that $511,000 number that you're seeing off to the right. And so broken down in further detail regarding what's inside that $511,000 is in the box at the bottom. So the first item is that there was a decrease in the RRMA and basically that's for uh restricted routine restrict restricted routine um

176maintenance account. So there was a decrease in the maintenance contribution of about $102,000 and there also was a decrease in the amount that we had to contribute to special education and a couple other smaller categoricals. And so when we add the 102 and the 409 together, that's how we get to the $511,000 uh reduction in the contribution to the restricted side. I'll flip to the next slide. So this slide here is entitled total unrestricted general fund. And basically it's the previous three slides we just looked at it, but it's all together. So we can see the entire unrestricted side of the general fund on one slide. In just focusing in the column entitled unodudited actuals, um you'll notice that the total revenues were $34.2 million. If we scroll down to the total expenses, uh that

177came in at about $26.3 million. And then below that, you'll see other uses, which we just talked about on the previous slide. That's $7.3 million. So, we saw an increase to the unrestricted side of the of the general fund balance of about 500,000. And then right below that, you'll see the adjusted beginning balance of $1.6 million. So, that is the under. So, that's the balance that we ended up with at, you know, for 2324. That's where we ended up. And so, at 2324, I think this $1.6 6 million came in at about 3.59% reserve. So what happens is that $1.6 million becomes our new beginning balance for 2425. So we start with $1.6 million. Uh we had an increase of about $500,000. So we add those two together and that brings our ending fund balance

178to that number you see right below it of approximately $2.1 million. So that's what our unrestricted ending fund balance is at 63025. But I also want to point out that inside that 2.1 million is the district's 3% required reserve. So inside that 2.1 million, you'll notice down below that of that 2.1 million, approximately 1.2 million of that is our required 3% reserve. And once again, I know I've mentioned this several times before, but for districts our size, we are required to have a 3% reserve. That is the number one um thing that the county office judges us by and also the state judges us by for fiscal stability. Now, >> I'm sorry. >> Yes, >> we're required to have a 3% reserve or a 3% reserve is the minimum we are required to have. >>

179Yes. So, required to have a minimum of 3%. because there's a difference. >> Yes. If if we drop below three, then theoretically we become qualified and there's a whole different set of rules we have to follow. There's increased county involvement and you know, so that's why we're trying as hard as we can to keep us above 3%. So yes, thank you very much for that point. Um, so our 3% reserve is about 1.2 2 million. And you'll notice below that there's a figure that's designated unappropriated fund balance, which is $868,000. That's the amount of money that we have above our 3% reserve. So now, even though we've made some headway and our reserve has slightly increased, um I I want to point out that most or the average school district has a reserve of 24%.

180So in a slide or two we'll see that ours ends up at about 5.1. So even though we've increased our reserve >> from to about 5.1% we are still well be well behind where the average school district is because the average school district has a reserve of >> average basic aid school district. >> Yeah has has a reserve of approximately 24%. So with that, I'll flip to the next slide. And this is where we can take a look at the general fund as a whole. Um on the first column there, you'll notice that's the unrestricted side of which you talked about. Uh right next to that is the restricted side and the column to the far right is the total general fund. So that's both columns combined. So um as I kind of just went

181over in the previous slide for our total revenues for the unrestricted side came in at about 34 million. We had revenues of our expenditures of about 26.3 million. We have our contribution of about 7.3 and we have uh increase in the fund balance of about 500,000. So we started with a beginning fund balance of about 1.6 six. And so for 63025, we're ending our um year coming in at about 2.1 million. And once again, below there, you'll see how that 2.1 million is composed. 1.2 of that is for the 3% reserve, and the $868,000 above that is for the amount above the 3% reserve. That takes us to 2.1 million. In the column right next to that is the restricted side. And so once again, this is where we house all of our restricted resources

182and restrict and restricted expenditures. So for 2425, our total revenues came in at about 7.5 million. Below that, we'll see that our total expenditures came in at about 14.6 million. And so this is where we're seeing the disparity between a couple programs that have expenditures but either don't receive any funding or don't receive enough to support it. So once again for the restricted side we have revenues of 7.5 million but we have expenditures of 14.6 million. So the way that difference is made up is right below that the $7.3 million. So once again, what that represents is there's $7.3 million coming out of the unrestricted side of the general fund that is being moved over to the restricted side of the general fund to cover those programs that either don't receive funding or don't receive

183enough funding to be self-supporting. >> And that's predominantly special education. >> Yes. Um, so with that, if we go further down, we'll notice that there was a slight increase on the restricted side, on the restricted side of about $223,000. And for the restricted side, we started the year with a balance of about 2.6 million. Um, we add the 223 to it. And our ending fund balance on the restricted side for 2425 is approximately that $2.8 8 million figure that you're seeing there. And then in total for the general fund, which is identified in the far right hand column, our total revenues for the entire general fund came in at about 41.8 million. Our expenditures came in at about 41 million. Um, so the excess of revenues over expenditures was about $724,000. But once again, I

184want to reiterate that 72 that 724 figure represents both the increase from the unrestricted and the restricted added together. And so we have our beginning fund balance of about $4.2 million and our ending fund balance of about 4.9. So for the entire general fund for the 2425 year, our ending fund balance came in at about $4.9 million. And so if you go further down, you'll notice that that $4.9 million is broken out into the different components. So in that $4.9 million is 2.8 million, which is the ending fund balance from the restricted side. Also, right below that is the 1.2 million, which is our 3% reserve. And below that is $868,000 which is the un which is the unappropriated balance which once again is the in the the difference from 1.2 million our 3% reserve

185to our unrestricted ending fund balance. Now for 2425 uh we ended the year with a 5.1% reserve um which is slightly better than last year. But once again I do want to you know re reiterate that $868,000 is like a very thin margin of air from our required 3% reserve to where we are currently at. Um because that is not much margin of air for anything sign for anything significant to happen. Um, once again, the average basic aid school district has reserve of approximately 24%. So if we, so if we were the average basic aid school district, instead of having a reserve ending fund balance of about 2.1 million, we'd be looking at a reserve of approximately between 9 and $10 million. So that's the difference between where we're currently at and where the average

186unified or the average basic aid district is at. And so I just want to highlight that because while we have made some headway, um we still in my opinion have a really small margin of error between where we're currently at and where our 3% bare minimum reserve is. So with that I will flip flip to the next slide here which is entitled unrestricted fund unodudited actuals and on this slide here we have a history I think it's the past six years of the unrestricted general funds ending fund balance. Now, I won't go over every year, but just to highlight for 2324, you'll notice that we ended that year with an ending fund balance of about 1.6 million. And this year, um, we're ending at about 2.1 million. So, we have increased slightly, but once again,

187um, we're still, in my opinion, well below where the average basic aid uh, school district is at. And for the next slide here, which I think is the last slide, it's entitled financial history of special education. And once again, here we have a history of the revenues and expenditures of special education for the past 5 years. And just to look at the far right hand side, which is where we ended up for 2425. So just for special education, we received approximately $2.5 million, but our expenses of our expenses for special education came in at approximately $8.1 million. So you notice that's a huge disparity between the revenues that we receive to run a program and the expenditures associated with that program. So what so what we have to do and what the what the unrestricted

188side of the general fund has to do is it has to do a contribution from the unrestricted side to the restricted side of the general fund to fund special education. And for 2425 uh the unrestricted side of the general fund had to make a contribution of approximately $5.8 8 million to continue running special education. Once again, because it does not receive sufficient funding to run special education, period. So, I think that concludes my presentation here and I'd like to open it up to the board to see if there are any questions. >> I just had one. Um, with all the discussion in the news about defunding Department of Education, um, have we seen any of that? It doesn't look like it from these numbers. Have we seen any slowdown in payments or reduction in federal?

189>> Um, for for a brief time there, there was talk of not giving out some allocations specifically to some title programs because those are federal programs. um that lasted a couple months and there then basically there was retraction that said well we're going to fund all the previous title programs so we can just pretend like you know nothing happened. So so to answer your question uh basically there's been no impact to our federal programs with regards to that. So, just because I harp on this frequently, um, our percentage of federal revenues for special education is only about 12% of what our costs are. I just want to that 921596 is in under restricted federal revenues on page six. Sorry. Page six, under restricted federal revenues 921,596 and our total revenues, well, that's not even our

190expenditures, but or revenues. It's it's 12% of our revenues, but it's 6% of our expenditures and we're supposed to be getting 40% from the federal government, which we know is never going to happen, especially not now. But um I just put that on the record every chance I get because I whenever I have the opportunity to um to to get some type of statement before any type of legislator, I always bring that up because it's incredibly important that they understand how underfunded special education is and the impact that that has on the rest of not that not those those need those funds need to get used there, but the impact that has by removing those funds from the rest of the general fund. So, um I'm just Yeah, 6% is about what we're at. >>

191Yes, 6% and for once again for 2425 the the unrestricted side of the general fund had had to contribute five $5.8 million to continue running special education >> because we did not receive sufficient funding to do so. Okay. Um, any questions or comments for Jason? >> Thank you. I appreciate you walking us through that and really breaking it down. Um, where things differed and the why. >> Thank you. [Music] >> Okay. Um, resolution. >> Excuse me. >> Oh, sorry. We're We have to Yep. There's action. Okay. Uh, so the board is required to review and accept the 2425 unodudited actuals. Um, may I get a motion to approve? >> Move to approve. >> I'll second >> discussion. Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Four. Resolution 25940 adopting the 2025 GAN limit. The board

192has asked to approve the resolution 25940. The 2025 GAN limit. The calculation determines the limit on spending required by the state constitution. The district's 2425 GAN limit is adjusted by an inflations factor and the percentage increase decrease in ADA in order to arrive at the 2425 GAN limit. A second calculation determines the revenue subject to the limit. Only state aid and property tax does not exceed the limit. A preliminary calculation is also done for 2526. The attached resolution allows the board to adopt the GAN limit for 2425 and 2526. Questions from the board. Okay. May I get a motion to approve resolution 25940 adopting the GAN limit? >> I'll move to approve. >> Second. >> Discussion. Okay. This is a roll call. >> Eric I. Aaron. >> Hi. >> Jamie. I >> I'm okay. Prop

19328 annual report. The board has asked to approve the 2425 Prop 28 annual report. Prop 28 provides annual funding for arts and music programs. This funding is ongoing and school districts have three years to spend each annual allocation. The Prop 28 funding is meant to supplement existing arts and music education. Funding cannot be used to replace existing arts and music expenditures. Essentially, this funding is meant to increase arts and music spending beyond what the districts were previously spending. Every year a Prop 28 annual report must be submitted to the California Department of Education and reported to the board. There are no fiscal implications here. Any questions from the board? >> No. Okay. U may I get a motion to approve the Prop 28 annual report? >> I'll move to approve Prop 28. >> I'll second

194>> and discussion. Okay. All in favor? >> I. Measure U. If you would like to make comment on I, Measure U, uh, specifically I1, please step up to the podium at this time. Okay. Not seeing comment. I1, notice of completion for Aliso and Canolino Elementary School portable removal. The board is asked to approve the completed contract for Aliso and Canolino Elementary School portable removal. On June 10, 2025, the board approved the guaranteed maximum price GMP with McGillary Construction in the amount of $322,379 pursuant to civil code section 9204. A notice of completion must be filed within 15 days after the completion of the work or improvement. The project has been inspected and the district is satisfied that all work has been completed per the contract documents to ensure the district has received all preliminary 20-day

195and stop payment notices per civil code sections 9300 to 9306. Retention will be held for no more than 30 days in accordance with public contract code section 7107. Retention will be released within 60 days pursuant to civil code. Questions from the board? No. Okay. May I get a motion to approve the completed contract? >> I'll move to approve. I'll second. >> Discussion. All in favor? >> I I >> J personnel, if you would like to comment on J1, please step up to the podium at this time. Okay. So, while job openings still exist, the entire month worth of personnel data in the report confirms that we have not hired a single new employee in the last month. But at the outset of the school year, we have received one retirement and at least 10 resignations.

196Of those resignations, seven were employed in the special education program. We hope district officials will make every effort to accurately understand the reasons we continue to lose talent from the district. We have been advised that time the timing of these late resignation notices may be associated with significant changes in how CUSD honors its healthc care commitment to employees. A stellar example of yet another self-inflicted administrative wound exacerbating the district's inability to both hire and maintain highly qualified work force a work a highly qualified workforce. The district has begun cancelling the health care policies of resigning employees even though they have already earned the full value of that health care premium when they completed their annual 2425 instructional contract. CUSD has done this several months before it was required and several months before the annual premium

197cycle was set to terminate at the end of September 2025. While the district's change in practice strips health care access from those who already earned the full value of their plans, the district did not provide prior notice either. nor did they notify resigning employees that the timelines for securing COBRA related coverage could time out on them. Those who resigned at the outset of the summer who had earned and were eligible to receive health care through September 2025 learned of this policy shift when they began receiving bills from medical providers notifying them that their medical debts were not covered by their previous healthcare plans. In summary, employees who shared their decision to resign before they were required in attempt to give the district time to prepare for the impact of their resignations were then utterly scorched

198by the district. So, it should be no surprise that those now considering resignation may be more carefully considering the timing of those resignation notifications going forward, even if that means resigning at the last possible second. Setting aside the significant ethical issues related to the district's new practice, the practice itself again serves as yet another self-inflicted wound which directly impacts the students in the teaching and learning environment because the district is unable to plan for the resignations. Whose idea was this, Miss Riby? Who cooked this one up? What kind of shortsighted myopic thinking lies behind it? >> Thank you. Roy Delgado carpentry resident. I have stated several times three, four since last year that uh even for one time I would like to see an agenda without any resignations and that's Right? You will never catch

199up hiring teachers because more people more teachers are leaving than the ones that you're hiring for what whatever reason that they have to leave. You should try to retrain them cuz they're living uh for something better. I'm couple of weeks ago or so I met a excellent special uh education teacher How could I have invited her to come to carp? No way. When for almost one year and 11 months, you delayed the salary increase. That That's not right. >> That's not right. should even be legal. So, uh you got to do something to uh improve to to balance that teachers that you're hiring and the and the teachers that are leaving for whatever reason. Otherwise you the ratio is always going to be unbalanced and that's not uh right and that's not fair for for

200students. Thank you. >> Okay. The board has asked to approve the following recommended personnel items. One retirement, 10 resignations, 34 co-curricular assignments, and 14 coaching assignments. Any questions from the board? May I get a motion to approve? >> I'll move to approve. I'll >> second. >> Discussion. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Future agenda items. Public comment. All righty. So, future agenda items, please place on the next board agenda an exploration of the district's continued practice of combining CUSD's administrative salary costs with the cost of district support staff who work directly with students. Once again, in the consent agenda, the district conflates the salary cost associated with, say, Superintendent Riby or Mr. Calf with the salary costs of our custodians and transportation workers and food service workers. While the district is more than comfortable

201pairing out the costs for district faculty, it hides our extraordinary administrative costs by mashing them together with the support staff who work directly with kids, titling the category classified. An examination of this practice is long overdue. We've asked before and we ask again, why hasn't a single board official demanded CUSD's administrative salary costs be transparently broken out and shared in the consent agenda instead of hinded hidden under the category classified? In fact, it would be just as easy because you have to have that number to then conflate it with the others. But it makes it more difficult for the public to recognize the painful fact that the current total costs associated with district support staff when compared to either CUSD's administrative salary costs or legal bills have never been so comparatively low, lower than those

202costs, lower than admin costs, lower than legal fees, the very people that work with the kids. Please also place on the next board agenda a thorough examination of the dramatically declining enrollment numbers for CUSD. This evening, the superintendent's report officially acknowledged that we lost another 103 students in just the last year. Aliso Catalino and family school, the schools most impacted by the gross programmatic and resource inequities created by the implementation of the DLI program have lost a total of 104 students in just the last year. We have picked up a few students, so that has made the number down to 103 for the total loss. You heard the superintendent's most positive spin. So, you know, saying, "Oh, well, you know what? 30 of those kids were intentionally removed from the district. Does that mean we

203should celebrate that the actual decline before removing students was only 70? Your spin did nothing, Miss Riby, to address the district's failure to maintain a robust educational environment instead and declining achievement data or reverse the race to the bottom that is driving families from the district at a time when there are more children in Carperia than the city has ever known. >> Meanwhile, district look at look at the map. Look at the information coming out of the c out of the city. It's there. It's right there for you. Meanwhile, district officials and Superintendent Riby refused to conduct any serious research into why so many families in the community that pay their taxes towards the district don't consider CUSD a viable option. Thank you. >> Okay. Okay. Future agenda items. We have the measure U project

204and budget update that we moved from today to a future Oh, no. That's yeah the measure U is that separate >> separate >> oh that's separate okay so um so measure U project budget update 2526 superintendent goals 2526 single school plans 2526 staffing report and we are adding the oh that's because it's the bond oversight committee report so bond oversight committee report we're adding on to there um okay um and then let's see here um Does anybody have anything to add to future agendas? Okay. Um, board calendar, is there anything we need to be aware of? Anything we're supposed to go to? No. Okay. Uh, board announcements. >> I'd like to mention that um, Carpentry Mountain Bike team is off to a rolling start. Um, Coach Samanovich, Ana Samanovich, is doing an excellent job of

205uh getting the kids on bikes. They're meeting twice a week. Um, it's a huge effort on her part and she's done great work um leading that charge and our first race is at the end of the month. So, we'll see how that goes. >> Very cool. She's a teacher at Summerland. >> She's the teacher at Summer. Yeah. Four five teacher. Yep. Yep. >> That's awesome. That's really exciting. Anybody else? Okay. So, um I'll just point out uh I attended a few different meetings. Um the econveyance meeting, it's a partnership um with the city to go over the issue of ebikes um and student safety as bikes in general, but ebikes especially and student safety. Um, some may have noticed by Canalino on Lynen Avenue there was electric signage that um I believe the sheriff's office

206in the city helped put up and I believe there was another one by the middle school um reminding people to slow down for students and also you need to be wearing your helmet. There was a series of um op-eds that were in Coastal View about bike safety from different community members um including myself. Um and there has been a lot of um different uh initiatives that coast I believe is that the >> move Santa Barbara >> all the different acronyms move Santa Barbara um has really been helping and being a great partner um and uh they'll be doing the helmets at um the school sites at some point during the year. Um, and so I believe we're meeting again I think this month. I'm not sure. Or it may have may have just happened and

207I missed it, but I think it's coming up. Just to kind of recap and get an idea of um compliance because there is uh that uh it's law that all all anybody under the age of 18 has to wear a helmet. Um and so there is going to be an effort later in the year from the sheriff of actually enforcing that. Um and so a lot of this pre kind of programming dialogue um is to get that message out to students and to f to parents um that your kids have to be wearing a helmet and it has to be buckled um at a bare minimum. Also, uh, under a certain age, it's there's certain ebikes that are illegal for anybody under 16 to be using. Um, and these are all things that will get

208enforced, um, as we get into the year a little later. Um, is what I'm hearing. And then I had the Santa Barbara County School Boards Association meeting. Um, and that's just an association uh hosted by the county office of education for uh representatives of the school boards of each of the districts in the county to meet and talk and go over whatever may be going on at their different school sites. Um and uh a few things that were discussed uh for some districts that have very new boards. Um a lot of professional development Brown Act government governance training. Um there's a new law that went into place this year that everybody has to go through an ethics training. We've all done it through CSBA. Um and uh and we got updates on like AI. Um,

209and that's where I found out about the event that the county office is having on Tuesday, September 30th, um, with Ken Shelton for families um, to learn about AI. Um, and then uh, just found out some interesting things that other schools are doing. um and uh really doubling down on PLC's which I know we do as well and the success that they're having um using those models. Um again I heard about that AI uh student summit in Orchit. I'm excited to hear more about that. Um and uh let's see here. Um yeah, and then National Night Out. I went to National Night Out at Lynen Field uh at the beginning of August, August 5th, um to represent the school district um along with other community organizations. So I was down there that night. Um handed

210out a lot of uh school calendars um a lot of pens, but also just um really great to talk with community members, um parents, staff. Um it was just it was a good night. And then we've had back to school nights coming along and so that's that seems to be going really well. So, okay. And >> first football home games this Friday. >> Oh yes, thank you. The first home football game is Friday. Really exciting. And Morp is Saturday. Um so big weekend for the high school. >> All right. And with that we are adjourned. [Music]