001e e e let's give it I'm sorry Dr Lee to interrupt you for a second time I didn't want her to do it three times so give us a minute you can hear her you just messing with her D I know you're just messing with her aren't you Eugene are you on there Eugene I thought I heard Eugene's voice you should have waited till she was halfway through it I'm not that mean Mrs Anderson how come we can hear each other but other people can't hear us that doesn't make sense to me so we're broadcasting the zoom so what we're on and then he's taking that signal and sending it out oh okay give Kelly give us like five more minutes I'm sorry he's read the the link is changing on the website so people
002can access it through the website so my apologies again Tech awesome but Del thank you for interrupting Dr Lee because I was thinking we're gonna make a third [Laughter] time e e okay everyone I think I think we're back I I will uh Kelly just so you are all aware the we updated on the website unfortunately the date is the wrong on the for the stream but it's the right feed so um if people just click on that they'll they'll be able to access it no problem they have to refresh though so I'm sorry so how are we getting that word out to people is it on the website or I mean they can't hear us it's on the it's on the website so as soon as they they just have to hit the stream
003they just hit refresh and then it will come back up we're emailing the people that have emailed us okay and so we'll that stream will be back there as long as we're streaming here too we're recording yes okay good so we're on right now Kelly just saywhere should we wait a few more minutes to let people get back on I would can't can't hurt and for those of you who may be jumping back onto the call we apologize for the technical difficulties this was something completely out of our control there was an accident um in the area where the meeting is being live streamed so uh they lost power and therefore lost the the live stream the the zoom part of it the zoom portion is working um but the live stream which is the
004zoom call is being live streamed out through our website and that part of it got dropped off because of Transformer had blown out so we apologize uh we're going to pause and just wait and make sure that people have an opportunity to get back on uh and uh go ahead and just sit tight and we will get back going in a few minutes the text messages I've gotten say there is not a link online anymore if you refresh the page Vanessa I'm texting people back too if they refresh the page on the website it unfortunately it says the wrong date but if you click the stream it takes it to the YouTube channel and then it fires up okay I just got few text is working now okay so people are saying it's back up
005for and again just for those of you who might be just now jumping back onto the zoom uh not the zoom call but the live stream just so you know we lost power where the uh meeting was being live streamed due to a vehicle accident so one of the Transformers was blown something completely out of our control but we're pausing everything just so everyone can have an opportunity to get back online so you don't miss any of this riveting conversation we don't want you to you know Miss out so we are U pausing for just a few moments and just go ahead and sit tight we will get resume back in a few moments and Kelly it looks like we're back live people are saying they're good to go so I've got wonderful multiple texts
006from okay so Del re and Dr Lee great wonderful you guys are back and um sadly we're going to ask Dr Lee to for the third time start her board report again so if you could please provide us that wonderful report again so that everyone hears it all thank you awesome thank you for the opportunity um I just want to begin by saying to all who are celebrating a very happy Lunar New Year this is the year of the ox and may we renew our commitments to the hard work it will take and the new ways we can all work together to Foster greater racial equity in our community I really believe that every action counts I want to open my report by stating that I've been delighted to learn in these past months how
007we as a board are committed to continuous Improvement in all sectors of our Learning Community from The Boardroom to the school cafeterias and as an individual board member I hope to model the professional development and growth that we want to see reflected in the practices of our certificated and classified staff as such I want to thank President Kelly and superintendent Lair for the opportunity to attend the California school board association's new board member Workshop which was held on February 2nd through 3rd it was amazing to learn more about the work that lies ahead and I look forward to our governing board also engaging in workshops that will help us to strengthen our governance team as we move into our new roles and responsibilities in the coming months teaching and learning through a pandemic is No
008Easy Task and now it's so very important to keep an eye on our individual and Collective Humanity I want to commend our Learning Community for the work they are doing to keep our students connected as we navigate this crisis together to all of the teachers and staff that shared with me information about what you were doing to recognize the contributions of black people to our nation's history starting in January when we typically commemorate the work of Dr Martin Luther King Jr in the civil rights movement and moving on into black history month which is this month the month of February from Dudley I want to thank Mrs Campos in the first grade team and Mrs Dean in the second grade team from North Country I want to thank Mrs Rich wine and the third grade
009team and from Spinelli I want to thank Mrs Biddle and the first grade team thank you for sharing your student activities and learning with me I appreciate the confirmation that it's never too early or too too late to learn about the sacrifices and contributions that African-Americans have made to make this nation great middle and high schools I know you're out there I welcome you to hit me up and let me know what's up out there as we all celebrate black history in our district this month I've learned some of the many ways that teaching and learning during this Global pandemic has been taking place in our district through modalities that are safe and responsible for students teachers and staff thank you for tapping into this Noble idea that physical distancing does not equal or have
010to equal social distancing instead physical distancing just requires us to become more creative about the ways we connect with the people that we care about Innovation and triumphing over adversity with Excellence is what we do as Americans thank you for keeping our students connected to the Social and emotional supports that are available and that have actually expanded significantly in our district during this time thanks to the work of all the members of our Learning Community finally for those who would like to connect with me please plan to attend my dropin office hours on first Mondays 4: to 5:00 P pm on Zoom or to catch up and or just drop in and share things with me I'm also looking forward to our listening and learning session on February 23rd from 4:30 to 6 p.m. where
011I look forward to learning more about your perspectives around the state of social emotional and culturally competent competent teaching in our district all parents Guardians caretakers teachers staff and administrators are most welcome to attend you can find the details for my office hours and the link to register for the February 23rd listening and learning session on our board member website so wrapping up for the third time stay safe stay connected and be well and that concludes my February 2021 report Madam president thank you so much Dr Lee so moving on to Del re Pope Mrs Pope oops I do not have a board report today Miss Kelly thank you no way that's so unusual okay great uh Mr Bruno I also don't have a board report and honestly that would be a tough act to
012follow so all right Mr Lear and uh I I just briefly I just want to Echo and I guess I do have to follow that which is unfortunate but um I do want to Echo the the thank you to staff and the community these have been difficult and trying times on on all of us and I appreciate the effort and a conversation we've had to try to do what's best for for our students and staff and communi as we move forward so thank you all for that uh another piece just to inform the board is this week as you know Tuesday uh Educators people working in education are available a now to receive the vaccine uh for those in our educational Community here in Center Unified we are sending stuff out as soon as we
013get it uh there's about 25,000 other Educators in our community that are also fighting for those slots with limited availability um hopeful that we did get and I'll give kudos to a teacher at Center High School who shared a link with me where she was able to get uh a vaccination we were able to get that out rapidly to people and I heard people have sent messages back already saying they're they've got an appointment scheduled so to me that's a real positive to help us continue to get back to to a safe uh environment um and with that I just want to thank everyone and um that's all I have thank you Mr Lear so um I have a very short report I just want to um Echo Dr Lee's uh comments about well uh
014Happy New Year for the Lunar New Year that's exciting um um and Happy Valentine's even though it's pasted and um Welcome to our new employees Laurel I'm sorry Lucia lonero uh and Jessica samki and Janelle Newman and Michelle Michael no I'm sorry Janelle's a resignation new employees nope we have a retirement Kathy magnani congratulations Kathy good luck your uh in your retirement and then we have two promotions Norris Drummond and Rosanne ma Fields so congratulations to all of you welcome to the new employees um I will have more extensive comments when we get to the agenda item on um reopening so I will defer the rest of my report to that period of time so thank you everybody all right back to the agenda uh all right the next item is item number 14 the
015consent agenda do we have a motion to approve the agenda all motion do we have a second to approve the consent agenda second second go ahead okay do we need uh do we need individual votes or can we do General consent do roll call since we're over Zoom I just think it's more okay Mrs Anderson hi M Dr Lee I Mrs Pope hi Mr Bruno hi and the chair votes I the consent agenda is passed all right moving along business items we have three business items tonight the first one is the csba delegate Assembly Election sub region 6B do we have a motion let me just make make a note here the board as a whole may vote for up to five candidates um there are only three candidates on the Slate and the board
016May cast no more than one vote for any one candidate so if we wish to vote for one or all of those candidates for the delegate assembly csba uh then please make a motion I make a motion that we cast one vote for Kelly kelles do we have a second no second I'll second okay uh Mrs Anderson I oh first of all any discussion just we've had um we've had other board members that that run for this position and and it is an expense to the district because we have to pay for your trips back and forth to the National meetings but in the long run it's worth it I think it brings some experience and knowledge back to the district of what's happening with csba um that person didn't really enjoy it that much
017but I think you're probably in a place where you would so I would I'm just looking to glean glean as much information as I can and and you know be able to bring that back to us so and I I mean Scott and Del you guys both know this I try to get my cost to a minimal U poor Carol she's like but I want to put you at the height I'm like no put me at the you know YMC or something I don't care just as long as I can walk to the conference please you know so I I really do try hard to keep minim you'll be going to those meetings alone and you know prot you so you need to go to a safe place I agree with her there in the
018value value Val the value spent is is brought back in full the experience that that you'll bring back Miss Kelly will be fantastic so to me it is money well spent just one point of order there are four people that are running for the five spots it might make your motion more efficient is there any other people on that slate that this board would like to vote for when we turn it in we cast the votes for the four or whatever you select instead of doing four different motions if you only want to vote for Kelly off that slate because that's the only one you know then that's fine but just wanted to clarify if you want to to Mark more than one individual as a vote please that makes it more powerful if you
019do it that way you mean just voting for one or voting for all of them voting for one okay just that's my opinion okay so we have a motion did we get a second on that yeah Mr Bruno seconded and Mrs Anderson you voted I Dr Lee I and Mrs Pope hi Mr Bruno hi and the chair will abstain from voting for herself yeah I I saw that on the a in the agenda and I saw that there were five vacancies and three candidates and I was like well maybe there's four I only saw three but I was like oh honey I guess I'm going to to be a delegate so there we go little did I know that no one wanted the job all right item number B business item number B covid-19 status
020in our region and transitioning to plan two so this is an action item if we choose to make a motion um so the board will discuss the current status of covid-19 in our region and its potential impact on our transition to our plan to hybrid model um and I would like to open this up uh can we have a motion to bring this to the floor so moved Mr Bruno thank you and a second I'll second oh okay Dr Lee second it all right so um I want to start this out by just um saying first of all thank you so much to the parents who have written to us about reopening I know there's a lot of information I mean there's just so much going on there's a lot of information there's a lot
021of confusion because there's guidance coming from you know 12 different locations we have to follow it all we have to read it all we have to understand it all it's not easy so kudos to our superintendent Lear and all of his staff for really dissecting all of this information I got a little bit of a taste of it this weekend and I swear my eyes were crosseyed uh after about four five six hours of reading I couldn't take anymore but um there's a lot of guidance out there and um thus far we've followed all of it not only have we followed all of it but we' have done so much work in preparing to reopen um between infrastructure HVAC um new schedules training for distance learning um setting it up so that we can do
022handwashing building that into the schedule uh adding nursing staff setting new cleaning protocols uh ordering PPE training people on the proper use of PPE um prioritizing schools that have um serve populations at risk for learning loss prioritizing imperson structure for students with disabilities creating cohorts and pods screen test screening testing for our staff I mean right now we on a a a prevention screening every two months um and I mean the the list just goes on and on and on all the things that we have done and we have been very diligent about getting everything done in advance so that we are ready to open when we can safely open now there's some confusion because we did approve January 6th as the reopening date however that was contingent Upon Us remaining in the red tier
023so because we very shortly after that vote went straight into the purple tier and then actually went further into the state home order we have not had the opportunity to reopen uh until at all so I mean it's just not been an option for us to reopen legally or feasibly so now we are at this level of less than 25 cases per 100,000 our case rate is under 25 per 100,000 so that puts us at a new level where we are able to apply for a waiver the concern right now with the waivers and Mr Lear I'm going to expect you to back me up and correct me if I misstate anything but the concern with the waivers right now is that there's new guidance from cdph that came out on January 14th that guidance
024recommends a cad a testing Cadence of at once per week for all student all staff and offering it to all students once per week so although it is voluntary for students to take it I'm sure that some will and with all of the staff and however many students that will choose to be um tested it the cost of that is enormous now the funding that is supposed to go with that has not been approved it's not been um and the funding that they put in place that's under review for approval is insufficient to support $150 per test once per week for every staff and every student who wishes to be tested so without that U requirement of course we would be able to reopen um but we have verified Mr Lear directly spoke with the
025um the uh Health officer at Sacramento County and confirmed that we are required to do that testing so I don't know um if other districts have some magical stash of cash I don't know but um the if they're doing the testing it it is cost prohibitive we do expect that there will be new guidance coming out from CDC and from cdph very soon or not cdph but from the state um and we're hoping that there's new uh funding attached with that School Board Association has sent a letter uh in in coll oration with several other educational organizations they've sent a letter to the legislature asking for some specific things that we would need that are not included in the guidance that is being discussed right now some of those things include things like um you
026know consultation with our uh uh labor groups um sorry I I just drew a blank and um funding of course to support tracing and testing and and and other things that we would need in order to be able to open now that is all assuming that we are in the purple tier which we are we're currently in the purple tier we anticipate being in the purple tier for probably a little bit longer but once we reach the red tier then we will be able to look at that two weeks in the same rules that applied back in July and when we voted on this back in the fall will apply unless they come out with new guidance which they have not yet um that would change that so if we reach the red tier which
027would require the work of the entire Community then we would after two weeks be able to reopen and so that's we're ready for that we've done all of the the preparation we've done all of the the reports and all of the guidelines and all of the infrastructure we've done everything that we need to do we're just waiting until we have that opportunity to actually be able to open legally and feasibly so um believe me we we believe the same that that everyone out there does that it can't come soon enough for us to safely reopen we all want our kids back in school it is it is not that we're trying to prevent you from bringing your kids to school we just we're just trying to make sure that everyone stays safe so this great
028news that we're we're now going to be able to get vaccines so that's going to bring you know the the numbers for the community down which is going to work us towards that red tier and once we reach the red tier we are ready to um you know pull the we're ready to go so we are I I mean I can't speak for the rest of the board on how they would vote when it comes time to for the reopening but you know we're the board the district is ready so I just wanted to make sure that there was some clarity around you know what we've done and why we've done it and where we're at as far as being prepared to reopen and with that said does anyone else have any comments or discussion
029um maybe Mr lir could go over the home part as well as the school part how they've worked that out for those who don't want to come to school thank you so there as we move into plan T which with plan T plan two which is in our our Playbook does provide an option families would have the option to remain in distance learning um while those that chose to come back uh could could come into that hybrid in that plan two model um is that what you're referring to yeah um the the other piece is we've continued to see it trending we've updated all of our documents also included in the board packet is our CSP which is another new requirement uh schools that had opened previously fall under the old old rules we haven't
030open so we're under new rules um we do anticipate that I think there's going to be some changing CDC came out with some new guidance Friday evening afternoon um but I think that the thing to Echo what what you said um trusty Kelly is we are ready to go I think what what we have is we have agreements with our our bargaining units uh realistic we we're there with our csps and our checklist it's a required document to post we need to talk with our labor groups we need to talk with our um uh parent or Community groups those are all scheduled that we would be able to share those documents which is a condition of those so uh we are we are good to go um at that point so I don't know trusty
031Anderson if there's anything else that you were asking or if that covered it thank you anyone else have comments I do um I've received a lot of feedback from the community on this issue um so I just kind of want to share with the board and with the public the kinds of things that I've been hearing um I've heard from some who support um delaying reopening uh some parents who feel it's still not safe uh I heard from uh teachers saying questioning how effective teachers will be um trying to do both inperson and distance learning at the same time and questioning how much socialization the students can actually have while adhering to the guidelines um I've heard concerns from teachers about uh sub availability um about whether or not it's fair to reopen some grades
032and not others being that we are a unified district um saying that it feels like this is um rushed in other districts that are opening and closing and having to quarantine and everything and also pointing out that we are having our board meeting on zoom and we're discussing reopening schools I've also heard um from teachers who have said that um students need to experience a classroom especially like kindergarten students who may never have actually set foot in the classroom yet may not have experience with a book yet um I've heard a lot from teachers and I'm sorry from parents saying that they they're seeing a lack of Engagement from their children um they're kind of just tuning out the distance learning just is not working that they're concerned about the lack of socialization that they're
033seeing mental health issues that this Situation's been difficult for Teacher students and parents alike and getting comments about how children are suffering and how their academic performances dropping um and very powerfully we even had a student contact us talking about how this situation is affecting students socially emotionally mentally and physically um the vast majority of what I'm hearing from community members is that they want us to open as soon as possible um I'm not sure all of them understand that while we are in the purple tier we do not have a legal path for reopening uh grades 7 through 12 there's just no legal option available to us for that um can we hear what logistical issues there would be if we wanted to reopen grades k6 while still in the purple tier yeah so
034and Mr Jordan you can jump in on this as well but logistically the Collective bargain agreements we have would need to be reopened currently they have agreement for two weeks in red the other would be the testing Cadence we did and actually miss Mason and myself were on with the the Doctor Who would approve it and there was the testing Cadence requirement which I I'm reading documents we're still trying to get that clear but since she actually was the one who would sign off that's a big logistical thing for us to try and test even half of our our our district uh find financially forget the financial piece for a minute just the logistics of doing it um there is also uh other than those two big ones Mr Jordan are there other ones that
035you could see right now that that we had fac with a k6 option no I think you hit the nail and the head there the testing Cadence is the biggest speed bump obstacle for sure and I'm not even talking about the money part but the the logistics of getting it done on a weekly and bi-weekly basis we we've met Mr lar and I have both met with with numerous uh testing companies who were selling the test the county trying to figure all these these uh issues out logistically and from what I understand you said that the districts that had previously opened aren't subject to that same requirement so some districts open when they were in the red tier and it's my understanding that they're they're following the the guidance at that time we had some
036that opened under the waiver in the past um and they were following that waiver uh information as well so everything I've read it does fall into since they open they opened under those conditions and they're allowed to remain open under those conditions there was some new things they had to to publish um csps and the prevention plans and things like that but they don't have to do the same testing Cadence that we would have to do that is my understanding okay sorry and just to note that when the vote came up to whether or not to reopen we were looking at facing coming up to Thanksgiving break Christmas break New Year's and so that's why we selected the January 6th date so that there wouldn't be that break in back and forth and back and
037forth um and that's turned out to you know prevent us from being able to reopen because we immediately fell into the purple tier and honestly with the fact that we are in the purple tier means that you know the community is not a safe environment for reopening schools the CDC in their recent guidance that came out just last week I believe made several um references to the the need to have Community risk mitigation so not just the school district but the community needs to be following all of the risk protocols so here just let me just read a couple of their references School administrators working with local public health officials should assess the level of risk in the community since the risk of introduction of a case in the school setting is dependent on the
038level of community transmission alternative alternatively alternately sorry if Community transmission is high the school and Community mitigation strategies are implemented and strictly followed as recommended then the risk of transmission in a school will decrease so it's not just the school following mitigation strategies but the school and the community we have no control over the community and so at this point we're ready but the community is not the community needs to be in the red tier before we can open so well and also when we were talking about this with the kids if the kids came to school with a run nose we would have to send them home and they would have to be tested before they could come back to school and it was we were looking at a situation where if a teacher
039went out the whole class would have to be quarantined because there weren't enough substitutes to come in and take over and some classes were in other districts that didn't go back they were sent out on quarantine immediately they didn't have teachers out there to take over so I think a Statewide issue we are ready to go Pardon The Substitute situation is a Statewide issue there are not enough substitutes right to back fild the classes if anyone you know if one student or one person in a cohort is has symptoms the entire class including the teacher has to be quarantined and then we need a substitute if that person is six you know so um they would need a substitute that could distance teach I'm assuming I I don't know how it works I honestly don't
040but I know that anytime you know a teacher is out we have to have a substitute so well and just to clarify there would be contact tracing that would be done depending on the cohort so it could be the whole class it could be part of the class it depends based on the contact tracing where we do have through Personnel they were trained through John's H John's Hopkins for contact tracing um so I don't want the wrong thing there also could be a time where a teacher who we have had who has been feeling not well who can teach distance learning so it's a really unique situation um one of the things that I think would be very beneficial for for uh staff and the community is is an outline of the plan I know
041it's really difficult in our environment to pick a date and say this is the date we're going to come back but I think if staff can walk away knowing and communicating with our families if if we're going to go red tier two weeks in red tier then we can start sharing that with our families obviously like we did back in January things radically radically Chang or back in November radically changed I think that's an important thing because I think unfortunately it seems like as if we're we're not prepared now if we're not if the board is not willing to come back at that red tier at the twoe mark it would be nice to know what that direction is so we can communicate that with our community and our staff because they need to start
042preparing um physically Sometimes some teachers have been working from home um and they're going to need to come back and work and get their rooms geared back up so there's just a lot of process that we can't control yet until we have uh at least a timeline yeah yeah for as soon as possible yeah does anyone else on the board have any comments about reopening D Dr Lee do we Carol do we have any public comments can go ahead and hear those at this time yes I do have some P public comments to read thank you okay so this one is from a center cougar parent it says esteemed board members I am the parent of two Center High School students I WR write this as a mother Community member social worker veteran and taxpayer
043but I also write this as a voice for the many other parents and students in our community I am writing to advocate for schools to open as soon as humanly possible as a mental health professional I have had my finger on the pulse of our community for the last year and the situation is dire the Acuity of our kids mental health is worsening due to Growing impacts of Trauma from the last year we also know that school is essential and remote School leads to learning loss which is magnified for lowincome students students of color and those with learning differences to be clear in our family we value Educators and education passionate driven empathic teachers are the real rock stars and Game Changers they change lives teachers with a true calling are similar to a doctor
044or nurse in the ER a crisis worker Soldier farmer or any of our essential workers always subject to inherent risks while performing a great Duty in the noble profession they have chosen education symbolizes knowledge empowerment and economic Justice I am truly an ally we know school is safe the CDC continues to make this clear we know from the many open schools right here in neighboring communities and across the nation that have been open for months school is not a driver of community spread and staff and students are not at higher risk of being infected at school with safety precautions in place meaning masks and reason able distancing at least 3 feet or more and not major HVAC and building improvements these measures that have already been in place work and speaking with other districts and
045principles they are not having outbreaks therefore minimizing need for testing which is also an an enormous cost and logistical effort only to detect extremely low positive positivity rates lower than in the community in instances where there may close a certain where they may close a certain classroom temporarily they report we already know how to do distance learning and it's temporary and okay parents and students are tremendously upset and refuse to let this continue we must get good teachers back in the classroom with students the alternative is many Bright Young students Scholars athletes leaders and innovators are being denied their right to education equality and might not make it others have and will transfer out to get opportunities available to them in other districts this Exodus is already evident private and Charter Schools open for the
046school year are seeing enrollment rise and the disparity is pugn repugnant Center is a great School in a district with a long history a wonderful mix of diversity grit intelligence and character with that said I would like to close with some questions and solutions but not without saying thank you to all of you who are working so hard for the students we are depending on you and also acknowledge we are awaiting top down guidance much of what you have been doing this year is behind the scenes for a lot of us but it has been critical for our our kids this certainly deserves recognition this board and administrators have been responsive welcoming and receptive since I initially reached out I feel hopeful we share a common mission to reopen as soon as possible to mitigate
047further harmful impacts to student student welfare and equal access to education Solutions slash questions what are the barriers to reopening for those students who choose that option and are they mandates implied recommended could the district delay implementation on some aspects what are some possible strategies to overcome them are they truly insurmountable if things change and new guidance is published are you willing to open is there an option for those students not thriving to come on campus with AIDS or staff to support while they distance learn with their teacher the center know which students are thriving maintaining suffering can Sports and clubs be promoted more in in order to increase awareness and attendance since they are allowed these could be helpful protective factors for students and signed respectfully Center cougar parent the next one I have
048is from Nicole she says you need to open schools this year is ruining kids lives the next one is from Misty Walker what is the status of returning to in person learning are you concerned about our kids getting behind compared to other students who are in person in nearby districts and from Kenya it says stop the political nonsense open these schools put our kids first from Misty Walker will the kids be going to school through summer will there be any extra schooling offered for the kids who are behind due to the distance learning shortcom uh from Joan Lofton I'm making a strong request to work as hard as possible to open the center high school soon my two students need to go back to school this year she must graduate and enjoy the remainder of
049her senior year from Monica please allow us the choice to return our children to inperson learning it is now allowed in Sacramento County this is occurring in n starting next week the students just across the street from us in in other analou schools are already in modified day and this is greatly impacting our children when they see their friends in school just today analou high had a spirit day and our kids were crushed that they did not get to participate our kids come out of their room frustrated that they have been sitting at a computer for three hours and now have three more hours of asynchronous work this is not working anymore the fact that high schoolers can work and their work permits have gotten extended hours yet they can't sit in a classroom is
050completely backwards our high schoolers have gone from setting their sights on Ivy League schools to not being sure if they even want to go to college now please give us the choice and allow those who want to remain at home that option as well thank you from Chandra are there any exceptions for getting kids with special needs back on campus from Amber seals how will the $5 million the district has not yet received be used from Katherine Wilson Davis uh and I believe this uh some of these that I'm now reading uh they didn't know that we had gone back uh live and I did email them I just watched the board meeting and I feel there wasn't a direct answer given for the opening up of the schools we need dates you are holding
051family hostage and making it difficult for us to earn a living and provide in these desperate times I moved next door to North Country Elementary so my grandson could be close to his school we are grandparents raising our grandson and we need answers uh from Michael parlati open the schools you have slacked off enough you're doing an absolute disservice to this community how dare you take our taxpayers money for doing basically nothing you guys are robbing this community pathetic human beings you all are shame on you for making excuses stealing and being able to sleep at night um estabon Rodriguez says what's best for our kids is to open the schools why are we waiting to open the schools kids that live on the other side of analou are going to school and just started
052going four hours yesterday would a protest from the parents help open the school sooner from Amber seals is testing the only obstacle to applying for the waiver and reopening in the purple tier from Alicia Rodriguez kids need to go back to school it is not healthy for their mental health to be home for almost a year 95% of my kids friends have been in school since October here in Antelope they live less than a half mile away and started going four hours yesterday my kids are questioning why they can't go back yet can you explain why these schools are making it happen and Center has not what's the difference besides being in a different County less than half a mile away from from Misty Walker where would funding need to come from to support the
053weekly testing Federal level state level from Alicia the state did say that the majority of the state should be in a red tier by next week does that help from Daniel Turk please point out exactly in the cdph report where it states teachers must be tested there is no Magic Pot of money other districts have my understanding from reading that report is that testing may be used along with other abatement and prevention options as part of a reopening plan but I can't find it as a requirement anywhere uh this one is from Don pul hi my name is Don Don pul I attend Center High I don't think it's fair that we are not in school I'm struggling time it's not about seeing friends it's about me I mean us getting a better education everyone
054is suffering I feel if Dry Creek can open why can't us please board members allow us to go back to school and it looks like I have a couple more that have come [Music] in oh uh this one is from estabon Rodriguez half of our antalope community is going to school all ready so how is our community not safe or ready and from Armani Moses thank you to all district members but I'm a student at Wilson SE rils we need to go to school I'm learning anything I'm less interested please allow centerusd to open back up and from Monica if teachers are vaccinated they don't need to test every week and that is all I have at this time Mr laar what is the program with the high school or Junior High and high school
055and then going back uh the junior high and high school going back that in the there is no for 712 the guidance does not allow in purple tier for them to go back uh there are cohorts that we're working uh there are certain groups of populations that are allowed to come in as cohorts specialed homeless uh Foster Youth and in El the state has provided Provisions for small cohorts of that to return we do have some of those in in um in the works are happening um we're looking at ramping some of those up we have done it with volunteers uh teachers and stuff and staff members and we're looking at increasing that so I'm not sure if that's what you mean the the cohort do they prohibit the high schoolers from coming back in
056in the purple tier yes the guidance says that they can 712 cannot come back as a collective group what about the red tier uh red tier K12 tk12 can return with the 2k2 okay so we're talking two weeks after we're allowed in the red tier or we go red correct correct and actually the guidance has changed even on that our Collective bargain agreement says two weeks but now the state has said uh 5 days after uh you enter red would be allowable so you're actually looking for guidance on how to proceed yes what what we would appreciate is is I know we can't because we can't tell the Matrix I know right now the state level went for 18.7 it seems like it's dropping about five to six uh case rate per week it seems
057it was dropping a lot faster earlier um we did we I don't know if the board could could anticipate a date because I think that would be pretty hard but if we can get direction that we can communicate with our families to say when we're in there two weeks in red we open that we we're we're good to go we can communicate that we can communicate along the progress this the state or our county is making towards that so at least people have an idea of where we're heading uh versus not knowing and I know that has has caused some confusion and concern and families because they don't they don't know I agree and staff and staff not not just families do but everyone and maybe belong with that same communication you list out everything
058we have done to protect their child while in school yeah yeah and we will Contin continue to communicate we have our Playbook and then each School site has their own and I'm calling it Playbook they have their own more specific details of how uh students would would be received and and the different strategies they'd be used um but in the absence of a of a quote structure to return it seems as if we don't have a plan and and we do have a plan we're just waiting for that guidance to say here it is here's the plan we would even communicate with that plan here's a link so people can follow with the state to see how we're we're progressing um I will say the state's metrics is about a week behind the counties and
059the county numbers are even lower so it's still trending towards the red I would love to make a prediction but my predictions lately have been way off um so I will refuse to make a prediction but it does seem like it's definitely trending in that manner and so we could see it sooner than later um superintendent have a couple questions based off the public comments yes um first of all regarding reopening um the Center High School and Wilson C rils which some people ask for we have no legal way to do that until we're in the red correct correct in the purple tier there is not a not a path that that has been um put out now I do want to qualify or quantify everything we say right now is the governor and the
060legislature are working on new guidance as well so all of this that we're laying out could change the big Hot Topic seems to be vaccination um do teachers need to be vaccinated or not uh or educational staff not just teachers so I just want to clarify that it may not be just you know things could change tomorrow sorry I just have to give that disclaimer okay yeah and everything here is based off what the rules are today because we don't know what the future holds correct um so somebody mentioned Nas's reopening do you know how they're managing to do that with the testing requirement I do not I do know that they I I don't know I know that there was I saw a news article on it that they were gonna open the 23d
061and then later I'd heard it might be a little later I I don't have the specific details I could certainly explore with them to see what they're doing if that's the will of the board um I would like to find out some more information on that I'll I'll try to do some research on my end but um I am curious about that I thought that was a good point um and one of the parents was um questioning if the testing is actually a requirement or if there are other ways to do that can we get clarification on that yeah so so we had not had clarification that actually miss Mason and myself were in a meeting and it was stated by our Public Health director that that to sign off on a k6 waiver they
062would want that testing Cadence uh that's outlined in the cdph guidance currently and it if did that and had that testing cadence once we got back to the red tier would we be able to discontinue the testing the Cadence would would switch the Cadence requirement would would switch I know in the purple tier that the standard was that that they would want to follow the Cadence uh the assumption would be we could get a little less we've already got some surveillance testing for staff um we also are working on some rapid testing that we could do for response testing on site um and again it's all voluntary as well okay and then to address a couple of other uh things that were brought up oh um somebody asked about clubs and teams and if there's
063any way to bring those back on campus so uh CIF has allowed for certain seasons of sports we have had some conditioning because they've allowed it um and I appreciate the what the staff they followed some pretty rigorous uh rules I guess or procedures to to have uh those students come back season are starting to open I believe cross country and golf are the two that we if I can remember correctly are are ex allowed to open now since the rules for CIF have changed we've had to kind of our league had to get disbanded so we're actually with our teams looking to do that uh the High School Mr um Ferguson and Mr jelli I know are are trying to get word out to the the kids that could participate I know today I
064was stretching my legs and they were out there were some kids out on the the track or the the there okay and then as far as the question are we concerned about students falling behind um I I can speak only truly for myself but from what I've seen from everyone on this call the answer is a clear yes um as far as whether or not a protest would help I I just want to say we're already hearing you you have a right if you want to organize a protest to be heard but I'm telling you that we're already hearing what you have to say and we are working to get this District reopened as soon as possible as safely as possible and as efficiently as possible it's just trying to figure out how best to
065do that so you know I don't think a protest would help speed that along but you know again that's that is a right that people have but I I want to let people know you are being heard you know I I've been listening to every comment that has come our way I'm taking it to heart and you know we are trying to do the best we can for the students in the community Steve that reminds me um of the summer program Mr lir could you mention that yeah I know learning loss we've already started some uh stuff with the high school right now at Center High School uh for intercession to try and help help students but this summer we're already looking at offering a much more robust summer type program uh distance and in
066person if if allowable we're hoping that we can offer that at every School site for those that want to participate going forward we would also look at extending days I know um there's other options of intercession type things and that's a lot of what the dollars will be used for to help offset that because we have our agreements with our our labor groups allows for a certain amount of work days to bring those individuals back to perform work we have to compensate them they they won't work for free um so a lot of the dollars would be used to accommodate that learning loss over a a pretty long time period um and more information our our struggle right now with the the summer program is we're hopeful that that we'll be able to do some
067of it in person and not have to do it all remotely for those that want to come in um and some of it may not be just academic but also just how to get along against we have some little guys who've never been in been in seats before um and and so how do we interact you know on that level too so that is definitely in the works and more more info will be be coming on that I'm sorry for the interruption Steve that was important thank you that that's actually something I didn't jot down in my notes but I had meant to ask about and the other thing is um you said that the requirements changed to we could reopen five days into the red um what would it take if we wanted to
068switch from two weeks in to five days in we would need to open reopen our labor agreements and then re go back to the table with um our bargaining groups to to see if we could change it for those five days and how much time would would that process typically take it it I I would hate to guess it could be an hour it could be a month um I I would hate to to speculate on that it I don't have an answer because if I said it's an hour it's going to take a month if I said it's a month take an hour well feasibly an hour an hour is not possible I mean I know no I know I'm I'm giving I mean you could negotiate tomorrow and it could take an hour
069and you do anou but then it still has to go to board for approval still has to go to membership for approval so I mean realistically speaking two weeks would be probably the minimum that it could feasibly be done um and that is everybody you know agreeing well on 100% of the point so um but we know they want to wait for testing anyway or for not testing but for vacc yeah vaccines so um another question I have we currently meet once a month as a board typically and with changing requirements and everything that kind of leaves a point where if things change there's a long there could be a long delay before we can react to it what could we do is you know if the the rules change to meet earlier with the
070uh majority of the board we can schedule a meeting and notice it and I believe in 72 hours we could schedule a meeting okay and it just needs to be properly posted so if if you guys give us Direction something changes we could call a a meeting the main thing would be your availability uh to to to have a quorum um and then so I need three of you yeah and in addition to that we could we could give guidance tonight that would preempt us needing to meet again so um I mean yes if there were major changes once that guidance finally comes out of the legislature if there's major changes that we need to meet about then like Mr Le said we could schedule a meeting but I'm you know hopefully will be able
071to leave here this evening with providing some you know concrete guidance that won't require us to meet again um if and when we reach the red tier so that I mean that's what I'm hoping for and and you know Mr Bruno you beat me to the punch I really just wanted to say to all the parents out there that we hear you we we don't just hear you we are with you we are 100% with you with wanting to get the kids back in school um obviously we want to do it as safely as possible and in order to do that we have to follow the guidelines um you know there could be an argument that we should have reopened in the fall even though Thanksgiving break was come looming ahead um but at this
072point it's pointless to say what we should have could have would have done because we didn't and we had good reasons for not doing it and now we are prevented from doing so so I I just wish I could give you the answer you want to hear I really do I feel for everybody out there with kids that are home and depressing depressed and people that can't go to work and I I just feel badly for all of you and we are working as hard as we can to make that make this happen as quickly as possible so I just wanted to say we hear you we hear you truste Kelly this is Carol yes uh I have a few more comments that came in right after I finished would I be able to read
073those I see no problem we have not made any motion or action on the item so it's still open for discussion okay this is from Marissa Cado it is my opinion that the state county and school districts are failing our children by not opening the classrooms to at least the elementary school students I have a kindergarten fifth grader and sophomore and my husband and I both work full time outside of the home my husband who is our primary wage earner took a huge pay cut in March so we cannot afford to pay for child care but make too much for assistance to help pay for it my kindergartner who also has an IEP is expected to know how to tell time to log into meetings and read instructions and stay on task with the help
074of his siblings who have their own classes and education to focus on Co is not going away anytime soon and we need to start finding ways to adapt because we are losing precious time to educate these kids from Lindsay Turner dear board members the health and safety of the children in our community should be number one priority we have all been experiencing a new way of life with the covid-19 we we have been quarantined to our homes had to wear masks outside physically distance ourselves from loved ones and friends and some of us have not been able to work or go to school now that some now that some parts of our lives are making their way back to a new normal we would like for schools to reopen if other schools five minutes down
075the road can open why can't cusd if my four-year-old son can attend in-person preschool at a cusd school School currently and follows the rules set in place by his teacher without catching Co I do not see why there should be any issues for the rest of the grades with our children's overall health and wellness being the priority here what about the kids who are suffering from depression what of those who are abused usually the teachers are the ones to question what's going on at home what of those that are starved whose parents are too prow to bring their child for the free lunch or Food Locker what of those that are alone unsupervised because their parent can't afford daycare but must work outside of the home where is the voice for these children keeping the
076school closed is doing more harm than good if you ask my opinion the teachers that do not feel safe to return to in-person learning should be given the option to of returning to class or hitting that unemployment line so that those that are willing to return can do so I'm sure there is a lot of teachers that are looking for a full-time position as for the parents who don't want their children back there is homeschool for a reason my daughter who is normally an A's and B's student last semester had D's and Fs that is unacceptable then in class the other day I hear the teacher telling the students what you get for a grade now affects what classes you get in high school knowing darn well that most of the students are are failing
077including those that normally wouldn't so those that were not given the opportunity to excel because distance learning is a horrible long-term solution now have to be punished as a district you can do better I am at a point where I will unenroll my children give my money and tax dollars to another District if that continues from Latoya Jenkins cases is dropping let's bring TK through six back can we offer more support and sports conditioning programs for 7 through 12 just so the kids can be more active also can we offer more mental health counseling resources for the kids from Chandra communication has 100% been the number one problem increased communication would be much appreciated from Alise ha as a high student I would like to thank you guys for putting our safety and the safety
078of our families first most of us are in agreement that we are willing to shoulder the burden of being away from school as long as we our families our classmates and our teachers are safe once it is safe we look forward to seeing everyone again and are eagerly waiting for the community to contribute with our efforts to be safe again thank you all [Music] from Latoya Jenkins can we bring a conditioning programs to the elementary schools my nonprofit organization can run the programs and the last one I have says from Chandra students who are struggling now are not going to want to spend their summer on a computer especially after a year of doing this and that's all I have so I would propose Mr Lair to advise this is my opinion to advise staff
079to continue with the two weeks once we get into the red tier we could reopen schools for a motion that's okay is that is that a motion Mrs Pop um yes that would be a motion do we have a second second and I'm sorry Mr L you had some comments no I just want to clar clarify what I heard her Miss Miss pope say so the idea was we would start two weeks into the red would be the date we would move to plan two in our hybrid model okay I just want to make sure I see some nodding so I'm I think you're on the same page good thank you yeah I think that we'll be we'll be in the red tier soon let's let's all hope that we are going to be in
080the red tier soon we already have the bargaining agreement in place I think reopening the bargaining agreement could end up causing further delays um and and would only save us six days so well not six days it would be what nine days so um I mean nine days is a lot I know but I think that since we already have it in place we should just thank goodness that we have the bargaining agreements already set we've got all of our plans we're waiting for approval on our plans our CSP um we're looking forward to the the new guidance from the legislature there's just you know everything is lined up to go we just have to um reach that red tier and we will be ready to pull the trigger so um we have a motion
081and a second is there any further discussion no this includes high school kids right yes it it would be all the schools correct it it would be tk12 two weeks into the red we would we would bring them back sounds awesome Carol could you read the motion again please I don't have that exact wording I was going to get it off the recording later okay I'm sorry for putting you on the spot like that um Del could you just repeat it I'm sorry yes President Kelly I would motion once the once the state or sack county is in the red tier to open schools two weeks after great and we have two in plan two I just want to clarify it's it's a h would return in the hybrid model which is H to yeah
082and that option would give parents the option to keep their kids in remote learning if they choose or return them to in-person class wonderful thank you for that clarification yes thank you any further discussion and we'll have a roll call vote Mrs Anderson I miss Dr Lee I Mrs Pope I Mr Bruno I and the chair votes I thank you again to everybody who's commented on this and Mr Jordan hi hi what can I help you with sir my apologies On a related issue it came up a few times uh about some of our students are struggling mental healthwise we do recognize that I just want to remind anyone who's out there um if that is an issue with your student please contact your site administrator and our counselors that um we do have some
083resources available as a Cabinet we recognize it's an issue too and part of that we've been talking about the co money what's going to be used for uh we approved this morning to bring on another full-time mental health counselor uh for the next year to to help out with those exact needs so families please reach out to your your site admin we do have some resources available on site and through our Family Resource Center sorry to interrupt thank you oh no thank you Mr Jordan I'm glad you mentioned that okay um moving along to business item number c which is the district calendar for the school year 2023 to 24 this calendar for the 20 2324 was created consistent with prior years including preserving the following priorities maintaining a 10-month work year for 10-month employees
084maintaining the district's October break which everybody loves apparently uh providing a relatively even split between the first and second semesters while also providing for first semester finals before winter break do we have a motion a motion Miss Kelly to approve the recommend that calendar yes ma'am correct and a second um I'm motioning to bring it to the floor ma'am oh motion to bring it to the floor and do we have a second a second do we have discussion yes please um it's my discussion um I would like to state or ask is it possible once October break comes around if we could follow the learning law and have S some kind of like an intervention program for the students that wish to attend so so with that so and I I know you know this
085this calendar probably brings the October break to your mind this is 23 24 but all of our C calendars do have the October break one of the things we would would work on and work toward would be not only maximizing summer but also maximizing after school before school programs and I think your recommendation here uh October that would be something else to look at too that we could try to bring some some kids back that would want to come back to get some extra support um I know other districts have even done it over the winter break where they've brought staff in so that that's a great suggestion thank you and the the funding for that would come from the covid funding that we're waiting the essr too right so there's multiple poxs there's the
086SSR one the essr 2 and then there's some governor's initials in addition to those but those two the latest one is the sr2 we're waiting on uh it's coming we think sometime after March that we might actually see the money and that was what was approved back in December by uh the federal government wonderful any further discussion on this item so the chair would entertain a motion to approve if somebody would like to so move do we have a second I'll second moved by Mrs uh trusty Anderson and seconded by truste Pope and roll call vote for approval of the district calendar for the school year 20232 24 Mrs Anderson I Dr Lee hi Mrs Pope hi Mr Bruno hi and the chair votes I moving on to item number 16 Advanced planning future meeting
087dates the regular meeting Wednesday March 17th 2021 at 6: PM as at ryles middle school or at be held by Zoom if necessary and do we have any suggested agenda [Music] items hearing none we'll move on to continuation of closed session the board does not need to continue meeting in closed session do we have a motion to adjourn I motion so moved by trusty Bruno and seconded by Mrs trusty Anderson and the meeting is ajed good night everybody good night thank thank you guys and thank you to Eugene for getting