Board of Trustees Meeting - June 23, 2020

001[Music] you [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] good evening everyone the central Unified School District Board of Trustees for June 23rd 2020 is called to order at 6:04 our first order of business is attendance please let the record reflect that all board members are in attendance our next item is adoption of the agenda is there a motion to adopt the agenda I have a motion by trustee sing I have a second by trustee soless all in favor please say I or communicate your approval I thank you any oppose any extensions motion carries 70 our next item is item D comments from the public on close session items this is just a friendly reminder to our public that the

002this item is for comments on our close session items and not um regarding any other items on the agenda or any items that are not on the agenda um but related to our close session at this time are there any comments from the public related to our close session items president CIO at this point we don't have anyone in the queue for closed session uh comments okay thank you hearing no comments we will now adjourn into close session thank [Music] you [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] o [Music] you [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] you [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] yeah [Music] you [Music] you [Music] yeah [Music] oh [Music] yeah [Music] yeah [Music]

003you [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] yeah [Music] yeah [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] he [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] o [Music] you [Music] you [Music] you [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] now [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] and [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] the board reconvenes an open session at 7:05 actions to report from our closed session the certificated Personnel report um was approved a motion by trusty Paul a second by truste Atkins um with one no vote by trusty Cervantes so it was approved 610 our classified Personnel report um was approved by a vote of 70 by a motion by trusty Cervantes and a second by trusty Chan and with that we will continue with this agenda um our next item is Pledge of Allegiance uh vice

004president Jason Paul will you please us would you lead us in in our salute yes ready salute I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one na under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you and so at this time we will be taking a recess from our current board meeting to hold our special meeting and with that I will call the special meeting of the board of direct of Trustees for June 23rd 2020 to order at 7:07 please let the record reflect that all board members are in attendance our next item is adoption of the agenda is there a motion to adopt the agenda I have a motion by truste Chan is there a second I have a second by

005trusty soless all in favor please say I or communicate your support I any oppose I have one opposition by trusty Cox next we have comments from the public that was not an objection sorry oh I apologize so please let the record reflect that the agenda is adopted with the seven zero vote I apologize sometimes there is a delay uh our next item comment from the public at this time this would be the opportunity for any members of the public to speak on items not not on the agenda if you wish to discuss um and provide a comment on the itemized item you will be called during E1 Miss doy at this time do we have any members of the public wishing to speak under our current um comments from the public H at this point

006president CA we don't I don't know if we could give a 30 second since there's about a 30- second delay on the YouTube feed absolutely so once again we are in item D of our special meeting this is the opportunity for members of the public to provide any comment that is not on the agenda um okay it looks like we will be getting a call from and I can uh let you all know it's Jervis Cole apparent we will be getting that in momentarily and that is for for public comments not addressing the item agenda item hello this is Sonia Dy with Central unified uh are you calling in for the public comments that's not related to anything on the agenda at this point yes I am my name is JIS Cole okay I am

007calling on um the comments I Was Made online by um the member trustee area for Mr Richard okay um sir sir so that um that item has not yet started uh we are right now on the comments from the public uh so what you would have to do is um you would have to call the the line and um go to that agenda item E1 we are right now on you want to just have them hold on the on the line until we get to E1 if there are no other calls yes uh Miss K are you you okay with that that's fine okay all right uh Mr Cole can you uh hold for a moment please yes I can thank you all right I'll will put you on uh mute by okay if there

008are no other calls we will move on to item uh E1 discussion regarding Board of trustee members Facebook post and so the way that we will be handling this item we will first take all public comment we are in public comment uh to 90 seconds we do want to allow all of our uh members of the public who have called in to provide comment and again you will have 90 seconds uh to make your comment uh we will not be having discussion so if you do have questions please know that the board will not be responding to your questions at this time following the conclusion of a public comment we I will then present the item and then we will have a discussion as a board uh Miss doy if we can begin with our

009first public comment you're you're on mute Sonia all right Mr can you okay Mr Cole you can speak now you have 90 seconds okay my name is JIS Cole just calling on behalf of the Facebook post by member trust area 4 Mr rich Atkins um when you guys got started you played the national uh the Pledge of Allegiance and I just find it pretty ironic off um what he wrote uh on Facebook basically not seeing everyone as an equal and not looking at it as Justice for All um I'm requesting and I know a lot of people in the community would like to request a removal off the board and or a recall um my son went to centralize here centr tremendous school he was able to uh win a couple Valley championships in basketball

010and track uh was a TR was a honored student on academics and to have someone write publicly how he truly felt about a school that has a vast number of different ethnicities I find it absolutely appalling and it was pretty sad to even read it because I know how it makes people of color in minorities F so I know I speak for a lot of people in our community dealing with a pandemic the economy and uh the race unrest in our country um the last thing that I think we need is anyone in a place of power over kids um having the point of view that he has and then have um the goal to also say that publicly and I think people just set up at at this moment in time in our community

011when our leaders are not stepping up to support our kids but just rather give their opinion on who should and shouldn't be in the country and that's not the way that you handle anything when it comes to issues within our community our kids in our city and Mr Cole that concludes your 90 seconds thank you for your comment thank [Music] you we are uh there will be more calls coming in we have about 46 waiting so they will be coming in just give us a couple seconds as they're being transferred to me hello hi hi yes uh you are live with the board you have 90 seconds and please introduce us by your first and last name and your role in the community I didn't hear the last part my first and last my name

012is am Muhammed but what was the second part are you a parent or student or I'm a parent okay perfect thank you so go ahead yes please okay I guess you did you say I could speak now yes yes go ahead you will have 90 seconds okay thank you okay my name is am Muhammed like I said and I'm a parent I had grandchildren had gone to this school graduated and everything and I'm really surprised that a board member had the nerve to put uh such a comment on face on his Facebook page like it was really nothing I think he should be fired and I don't believe he is sorry what I believe is he's sorry he was exposed I have grandchildren that are in the school district and I this and if the

013head the head of the school is feeling this way how are the teachers and everything feeling it really makes me feel like I'm already feeling like the slavery time and for somebody to actually say that that we're at a school that's the head of where my grandchildren and are going it it just it's very painful it's very very painful for me when if he's feeling like that how are the teacher feeling that they have to see every day they deal with that's all I have to say when I'm looking at y'all faces okay I'm done thank you Miss Muhammad [Music] I know the next uh person we'll be hearing from is Leanne Tori Community member thank you sorry we're having a an issue here with the transfer waiting for the transfer of the call okay

014I'm sorry there's some problem with that person who's trying to call in so we're going to have to move to the next one give me one second here I apologize we're having some technical difficulties the next call should be coming in from a parent hello uh Jim Rodriguez uh you can start talking right now you have 90 seconds thank you hi um I wanted to direct my comments um to the board um I've lived in the central Unified School District for 15 years the first 11 were in District 4 and when my wife and I decided to purchase our first home we selected Central UniFi because of its fine School District as a parent and as a community me member I am very upset and outraged by the post that Mr Atkins placed on his

015Facebook account and it does not represent our diverse community that we live in and Mr Atkins has no business serving on the board any longer he does not have the community's trust and he has failed many many people the people he was elected to serve and I hope that this board takes into consideration the the seriousness of this because the community will look to this board of the way that you are handling it how you're going to manage how you're going to discipline um and so I ask you to uh either ask for Mr Atkins resignation force him to step down but he is not qualified to serve the fine people of central unified I give my time thank [Music] you hi you are live with the board uh can you give us your first

016and last name and your role in the community please yes my name is Tammy Watson all right you can start ma'am yes ma'am my name is Tammy Watson yeah can you make sure that you mute the sound on your computer I am a parent I have a few children in the area and is that better yes okay my name is Tammy Watson I have a few children in the area um maybe a couple of the board members remember me Mrs Davis Mrs Cox um hello hi you guys don't look so Blum is because to me this is an opportunity um you know for correction um as a gentleman before me said that this is an opportunity to you know we're looking at you guys to you know make some correct um we've been in this

017district for a long time we moved and then came eventually came back but we were kind of forced out due to racism and um it was blatant racism it needs to be a better complaint process it needs to be a better process to address these situations and to do the right thing about them that's the only way we're going to move forward um you know brushing it under the rug that become hey all these people are part of the problem you step in these positions and you know we trust you with these children um I send respectful kids there you know they didn't deserve what they went through but it was almost impossible to get a proper um you know um doe process you know and with the friends of a friend who are doing

018the investigating Etc that leaves no room for correction your 90 seconds are up if you hopefully this will be corrected properly thank you for your comment hello is this Christina Bates yes okay you can talk to the board you have 90 seconds now okay thank you hi um I'm Christina Bates I'm calling in as a um former Central graduate and parent and Community member um first of all I'd like to thank the board for their time tonight um I'm a mixed race mother of four children who resides in Mr Atkins District I have served on our PTA board volunteered countless hours in the classroom and served on the School site Council I voted for Mr Atkins before and I would vote for him again I appreciate all of the positive things he's done for our

019district and feel that those things carry more weight than one comment shared out of frustration do I think you could have shared this frustration differently sure do I think he is neg a negligent board member because of it absolutely not I know that I speak for more than just myself when I say Mr Atkins is the kind of guy who would give the shirt off his back if you needed it as long as a longstanding central parent and Community member he has been supporting our FFA andfor members long before he became a central trustee in 2014 my wish is that he will be able to continue making a positive impact on our area and our district at as a whole thank you for your time thank [Music] you hi is this Monique Mesa this is

020great you have 90 seconds with the board right now hi H I just want to be sure that everybody could hear me my name is Monique my children go to they're in central UniFi and I would like Mr Adon to be to resign he needs to resign his comments on Facebook were absolutely disgusting especially coming from a community that is so um Multicultural I am offended by being a um Mexican American and I he needs to resign now and that is all I have to say thank [Music] you next hello is this Sandra Flores yes it is okay you have 90 seconds with the board right now okay starting now yes all right this statement is in response to Richard Atkins Facebook comment his comment is a horrible display of white supremacy culture and privilege

021I am sick of hurtful ignorant statements like the one he posted so many of us are absolutely sick of it this kind of statement is not an isolated incident but rather part of the national experience by people of color throughout the country and in this school district as a community We Stand United in the conviction that together we can and must change this narrative there is a role for our school board members and superintendent to help us transform our despair confusion and rage caused by racism and instead demonstrate empathy connectedness and courage this change requires all of us to take concrete actions to end Injustice against communities of P race ISM and inequity impact everyone and every system implicit bias is real and in your case Mr Atkins we see your explicit bias leaders must

022have the courage to Le the dismantling of the pervasive and pernicious white supremacy culture that exists in this organization especially in our systems of Education leaders must also have the courage to hold each other accountable and I'm talking to you other school board members if we truly want to see this school district be a place where our students Thrive then we must commit to dismantling white supremacy culture and systemic racism thank you for your comment that concludes your 90 [Music] seconds hello hello is this uh is this um Miss aripo it's kette aripo okay you have 90 seconds with the board right now okay I am the aunt of two beautiful and black Central unified students I am angered by the racially insensitive comments made by trusty Atkins the black community had has experienced trauma

023for over the past 400 years we were taken against our will tortured abused raped treated like animals while being forced to build America for free after that we have been incarcerated at disproportionate rates lynched racially profiled segregated and still treated inhumanely we struggle fight and protest for people to see the value of Our Lives to stop being viewed as three fifths of a person and to stop being constantly gunned down like animals to have an elected official request that we go back to the country you or your ancestors came from is disgusting and unacceptable especially because there is a large population of the people truste Atkins is refering to that attend Central unified these students score touchdowns and win state championships these students are athletes and represent the school in different ways these students should

024not be targeted by someone who is supposed to advocate for them there's a petition calling for the immediate removal of truste Atkins with over 19,000 signatures and it is increasing by the minute his racist rhetoric is unacceptable and it is racially abusive to summarize my thoughts we don't want an apology we want a resignation board members you have the opportunity to confront blatant racism and declare that this Behavior will not be tolerated please advocate for your minority students and for all students thank you thank [Music] you h Hello Debbie Miss Miss Debbie Darden hello Miss Miss yes can you hear me yes can you please turn off the volume on the other side please can you hear me yes I can hear you uh could you make sure that the volume is off on your

025YouTube that you're watching please I'm watching but I got that on mute okay perfect so you have 90 seconds right now thank you my name is Debbie Darden I'm the chair for the golden Westside planning committee I come before you in regards to the racist Facebook posting by Central unified board member Mr Richard Atkins stating if you don't love the country you live in then go back to the country you or your ancestors came from this comment which speaks to those born and raised in this country and our ancestors who were uprooted from their Homeland unwillingly clearly demonstrates how far back Mr Atkins racism goes it is because of this and the non-discrimination and District programs located in front of the central Unified School District website that clearly highlights that all practices shall be free

026from unlawful discrimination including discrimination against an individual or group based on race color Etc we are demanding for Mr Atkins resignation Andor termination as a board member immediately from the central Unified School District central Unified School District and its board members decision in this matter will be held accountable to exercise their best practices according to their non-discrimination program wolfy Goldberg said it best on a view on June 15th when she stated the days of systemic racism are ending those walls are coming down and we're pulling them down thank you thank [Music] you hello Carlos oranda yes ma'am hi um you have 90 seconds with the board right now okay first I'd like to say thank all of you for your time and your service uh I am a McKinley tiger I am an alav eagle

027and I am in Central High School Grizzly um I also voted for Mr Atkins um I just a quick hello to Mrs doy please say all your husband your kids for me uh sneak that in um I want to say that at Central High School you know I learned some valuable lessons we had a racist incident um where some kids or we're not really I don't know if they recau anybody wrote ER rasist remark on one of our African-American teachers uh doors and uh it was amazing to me because you know what she did she did absolutely nothing she went to work she didn't want to be a victim she wasn't going to allow someone whose thoughts or words were going to affect her in her everyday life which they don't affect you in your

028everyday life I know Mr Richard Atkins personally he's a great man has a great family and has raised his family on great morals and great principles now what I'm upset about Mr Atkins is is he apologized for something that shouldn't be apologized for I mean I don't understand when in America we stopped having the ability to have a discussion when I'm I'm able to put something on on especially on my personal page I mean we're talking about an era now we're in social media I don't know how old all of you are I won't ask but you know when I grew up younger it didn't have a lot of social media so you know as I got older it came along so we're learning this is all being being learned we're all learning we're all

029getting education and I feel this is a fundamental attack on our Constitution and we don't Central UniFi is not a different country they're not a different entity they are part of this country and our moral stand if you don't like American values the talking point is where else are you going to go and for your com you're not that concludes your 90 seconds Sir if you can please I'm sorry are you speaking to me yes um that concludes your 990 seconds if you can please wrap your wrap up your comment okay I'm sorry I just want to say that I I think that you guys are doing a great job and I think that you guys shouldn't allow emotions to sway the the the rights of another individual regardless of it he wasn't in uniform

030he wasn't doing uh District duties he was having a discussion on his Facebook page and I don't know when that's not allowed if people don't like it they're able to say what they want to say like we're saying what we want to say now and it shouldn't be job it shouldn't be his character it shouldn't be any of those things thank you thank you for your comment hello uh Jennifer yeah hi you have 90 seconds right now with the board okay thank you hi my name is Jennifer fman and I am here to make public contest regarding Richard Ain Facebook post um telling someone to go back to your country or where you came from or where your ancestors came from it's a longstanding visually charged statement that was popularized under cool Clan it's frequently

031directed to minorities including but not limited to Mexican Americans people from Latin America Asian America and African-American the US federal government and the court system has gained the words go back to where you came from as discriminatory the words go back to your country where you where you came from when brought in front of the equal employment opportunities commission have been accepted as evidence in cases of workplace discrimination in cases won by the the bylaws of this specific board encompasses US federal government law statute State Department of Education all the way down to the local level Mr Atkins took an O prior to accepting this position on the board of su Bing upold the bylaws he is in definite violation of bylaw BB 9000 and BB 9271 just to begin with I find his words

032to be egregious and not in conert with the bylaw at this stage of authority a full grown man an individual can make these statements in the shadows and then glosses over the s to the public is not fit to remain on this board or in any capacity related to the education of children as this undermines their full capacity and right for a fair education and I respectfully request that he rign from his phys per AB 922 of your bylaw thank you thank you for your [Music] comment hello is this U Miss Machado hi this is Miss Machado okay uh you have 90 seconds with the board right now thank you um once again my name is Fu Machado I myself am an educator I'm a graduate of the University of St and California in La

033I have yet to reach my contact to bring more attention to this situation the reason I have not done that is because I'm coming to you as a parent um what I'm going to be brief into the point the uh expectations and guidelines that you set forth for our students are always upheld I know Mr Collegian was a principal when my children you know were attending PK Elementary um so I I understand how important um the you know behavior and attitudes are when we're promoting um you know our students to to abide by so with that said what are we going to do for someone that has power and leadership in our district um again I'm coming to you as a parent um and what I would like to you know leave on your table

034is that you all have power and you all have um a leadership in in the direction that you want this District to go um we're not in a in a time where this should still be happening um I'm getting very comfortable with my kids learning from home and I'm I'm beginning to think that maybe they should not attend Central UniFi maybe our students should not be attending Public Schools maybe our a student should be you know enrolled in um online courses so once again think about the funding that you guys can lose if this type of uh political uh you know ideas are pushed by one of your members um so again I just want you guys I'm setting that on the table before I move forward you know getting a hold of my contacts

035um I would I would love to see you guys um continue to move forward in creating a diverse um environment and safe environment for our students thank you thank you for your [Music] comment hello is this Misha balahadia yes it is hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now good evening I am Miss sh balahadia I am CEO and founder of Mighty Community advocacy and resident of Fresno California I'm here to advocate for Central unified students parents and staff affected by Richard Atkins racist and xenophobic remarks and beliefs my organization has begun movements to recall Mr Atkins his comments and performative apology prove he is not fit to decide on children's Futures we currently have a petition for recall H with more than the required minimum of 20 District residents signatures we plan

036on filing a motion uh for intent to recall within the next 72 hours unless Richard here would like to resign before then anyone with more examples of Mr Atkins hatred and bigotry please contact my agency at info at Mighty advocacy.org thank you thank [Music] you hello is this Monique Smith yes you have 90 seconds with the board right now okay thank you I wanted to discuss the recent Facebook post of the member trustee Richard Atkins I find it very disturbing that a man of such ill character would have anything to do with the decision making as it pertains to children and their education for him to make such an uneducated statement as it pertains to a demographic of people going back to where they quote unquote came from as a college professor myself let me

037educate you Mr Atkins we did not ask to be here we were brought here to this country and not by our own will or Accord in addition this country was not founded by your ancestors but stolen from indigenous idiots I'd like for you to point I'd like for you to point me in the direction where you can return stolen goods Mr Atkins and if you're so bothered by the black life movement you better be happy that the only thing we're fighting for is equality and not Revenge sir the Integrity in the future of this school district is based on the immediate termination of Mr Richard Atkins and your association with the races such as he should be SED immediately or he should be commanded to resign thank you for your comment hello do we have

038uh Joe Bellamy here you have 90 seconds with the board right now yes hi my name is joy bamy and I am a let me this down far about that I am in a parent of Central High School East a parent of an ex ordinary student and she is appall by what she SE on Facebook and we're we're just upset very upset and what we want to know is um first of all I know you can't answer any questions right now but can your face trying to tell us you care about this whole matter because I don't see it in your faces like another lady said earlier I don't see any empathy on any of your faces I'm I'm just hoping that you care and have some kind of concern about about what's going on

039right now because it's really really bad um another thing I want to say is that um Mr Aton um put in the PO that he is sick of this explicit you know I can't say the word because you said no profanity but he used profanity um us because we as a black community going forever what did he think of if he's sick of anything then feel to resign because whatever he got elected for I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with anything that he said in the gentleman that called early and talked about freedom of speech this is not freedom of speech okay that concludes your 90 seconds thank you for your [Music] comment hello do we have Marissa Sanchez yes hi hi you have 90 seconds with the board hi yes so I'm

040calling the demand that Richard Atkins to be terminated for the disgusting comments he made on his social media account that is all thank you thank [Music] you hello uh do we have Pat lure yes hi um it just turned down the volume on your side if you don't mind and then you've got 90 seconds with the board right now okay thank you you can speak now okay my name is Pat lore and I am a registered voter in area 4 of central Unified School District as a parent educator myself and Community member I am outreached and infuriated by the comments made by Richard Atkins a member of this board Mr Atkins ched up his comments as being quote unquote insensitive when in truth they were racist and a reflection of his character and values I

041want to address you Mr Atkins that words matter they matter to the 16,000 students of this District 57% of who are Latino % who are Asian and 9% who are africanamerican let me remind you that you serve and work for these students and their families your comments tell students from these summer iic groups that they do not belong that they do not matter and that they do not contribute to this country and you should be ashamed of yourself your inflammatory comments are a reflection of your values that clearly do not reflect inclusion and diversity as a board member who participates in making educational decisions your intolerant views that you boldly expressed on social media calls for your immediate resignation I am asking that the board remove you from this position because clearly our students deserve

042a better leader and role model thank you thank [Music] you hello is this Johnny baltier yes it is hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now okay thank you gonna begin yes my name is Johnny baltier I'm the past president of or Association of Mexican-American educators of freso and then the state a president past president of that we just awarded $199,000 of scholarships so 19 students got a $1,000 scholarships from the presal chapter two students were from we from sorry Central Unified School District we would like to continue to award scholarships to Latino students Central unified but we are concerned very concerned about the statements the board member said of central unified we must be about motivating inspiring challenging encouraging academic Excellence for all students in Cal unified and then we leaders board

043members Educators we must be about three things according to Amy Unity equity and diversity thank you we appreciate you weay we hope you make the best decision thank you thank [Music] you hello is this Amber Williams yes it is hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now all right so I have just a quick I just want to know what is um what do you all plan on doing about the post that Richard made on Facebook because a student that went to you guys' school made a post like that they would be failed or they would be suspended and I don't feel like it's right for someone with such high authority to make any any disrespectful post about a a racial group if he feels like we should go back to our own

044country or the country that our ancestors came from that maybe he shouldn't be around anyone that he feels should go back to a different country thank you for your [Music] comment we do have another call just there's a about a 5 Seconds delay it's going to be Shay Williams hi Shay yeah Shay Williams you are on with the board right now you have 90 seconds hi every hi everyone hi can you hear me yes we can hear you uh could you please turn the turn the volume down on your other side if you're listening to the board meeting thank you I gotta okay um well let me start um I I am the person that shares the the original Facebook post I'm also the person that's done the interview on the news so you already

045know how I feel about that so I'm going to touch on some other things um first off I've been in the Central District since 1986 um three generations of my family have graduated have gone and graduated from Central High School we have been through it all we have been through the racism we've been it's gotten better um we've had you know tremendously happy times and we've come so farun so to then be brought back to this at this moment it brings up years and years and years of memories and things that I thought we had overcome so this is just completely disappointing um Mr Atkins coming across your message this past weekend um I was shocked and I could not believe that someone at this day age with the amount of power you hold over

046raising our children would then come with something like this this gives us no trust um your response your apology first off you apologize for making the common hurting people you did not apologize or how you felt with making that comment so the way the things you said you meant your response when the public came to you in which I have proof of was that you are sasio Indian and you belong here meaning we don't that is a Miss Williams that concludes your 90 seconds if you can please wrap up your comment thank you thank [Music] you hello is this uh Bria tuer yes hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now my name is Bria Cooper I'm an incoming senior at Central High East Campus I've been a lifelong student of central Unified

047School District the part of my district that I had always taken pride in was our diversity that as a minority students I could attend a school that sees me and respects me and does everything in their power to ensure the success of other minority students like myself before the egregious and hateful comments made by Central board trustee Richard Atkins I could believe the such a unified school district back their motto of every student every classroom every day board member Richard Atkins is not only representative of trusty area 4 but a representative of the district as a whole his speech should not have any place in our district and his comments do not in any way reflect your un your Unity of purpose statement it is imperative that he assigns effective immediately if he does not

048set down it sends a message that his words will be tolerated in our community and I am sure that is not what Cal unified wants to teach every student every classroom every day if he does not resign the board must take action into their own hand we the students are waiting to hear from you and as Leaders we expect you to set the standard that will be all thank [Music] you hello is this Emily Campbell yes hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now thank you good evening my name my name is Emily Campbell and I'm a parent in central unified I'm grateful to have the opportunity to give feedback on an issue as important as this one Richard Atkins comments were astoundingly disappointing to me as a parent in this District my

049children share classrooms with students who speak multiple languages practice different faiths and come from different backgrounds their lives are richer because of it Mr Akin comment in my view undermined so many things that are good about Central based on the social media responses I've seen from the district my biggest concern is that the district will see this as just an immediate conflict to work through and that once we take care of this issue we won't have to talk about race or inequality anymore Mr Akin's comments are a symptom not the disease in itself racism and bias are embedded in our history they affect so many aspects of life it's naive to think they're not affecting our children in our Public Schools we need to talk about it and we need to ask hard questions about

050what efforts we're making I look forward to seeing what actions the district is taking to promote Equity thank you again thank [Music] you hello Michael Bryant yeah hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now hello my name is Michael Bryant I'm calling in as a parent and and direct uh response to Richard Atkins area for posting on Facebook um his post is in clear violation of the district's policy on non-discrimination and it looks like also hate material and as a parent I want to know why you actually wrote it because at this point what you wrote you cannot be trusted anymore for the best interest of the school district or the community at large your apology that you wrote look like something from one of the K or kins that have been clearly

051broadcast Nationwide for trying to weaponize the police against black people the only thing that I can think of at this moment for why you would write something like that is for the current climate of the black lives matter maybe you just have a white nationalist mentality and as such you should not be part of the school board to conclude there's only one resolution ution from Mr Atkins and that is an immediate resignation from the board no recalls no voting out just resign you're honorable man at this point Thank you thank [Music] you now the next one will be diaka uh adus a Community member that will be coming in momentarily and as we wait for the next call we do have numerous callers still waiting on the line however we do have um additional business

052that we will need to conduct not only in this meeting but our next meeting and so we will allow for a total of 60 Minutes for public comment and so we will take um the next callers and we will could we um I'd like to motion that we hear all um people willing to speak at the community I'd like to make a motion and a vote for the board if we can continue that beyond the Minutes I want to hear the community and I think that shutting it off early is unjust thank you for your motion I will second that all in favor okay thank you any oppose any extensions motion carries we will continue the public comment until we finish with all of our calls thank you okay and uh I've got is it

053diaka I just say correct hi uh you have 90 seconds with the board right now okay um good evening board members um I am a Community member and I just wanted to um ask for a recall petition to be initiated um towards one of the board members um Mr Atkins Mr Richard Atkins um I'm sure you've been all made aware of the statement that he made publicly um in a post stating if you don't love the country that you're in you need to go back to the country that you or your ancestors came from and that he's sick of this and then he used expective that I will not say because I've been made aware that there are minors and students um in within airshot um so with that said um with the bad and

054negative light that um Mr Atkins has put on the um the central Unified School District I would ask that um he resign um from his position on the board or for us to have some kind of um petition that will be initiated because I'm sure with the national attention that we have um now on his comments that um it will surely be signed in um hopefully passed uh soon um and just that um this will continue to distract from what the board is in place for until Mr Atkins is gone um we will not make light of this type of mindset in this community um and his public Behavior the central unified um School District should not stand behind Mr or it will be deemed as backing and supportive of such VI views um thank

055you thank [Music] you hello is this Rashad miles yes hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now hi I'm a parent of uh students at at at Central Unified School District uh who are a part of the community I also coach in the community of central Unified School District I am a home homeowner in this community I am very applaud that Richard Atkin a board member who represents Central Unified School District would say such harsh words as what he said and posted Richard ains thought it he typed it and he posted it for the public to see Richard Atkins honestly felt this way like the good book says whatever is in a man will eventually come out Richard A's evil ways and his thoughts came out and it hurt the community and it

056hurt Central Unified School District so at this point we TI ask asking we want him to step down immediately from his position Richard Atkins is a reflection of central Unified School District at all times and a reflection of this community because he is a part of this community and when I see other board members especially Mr Alvarado who's doing an excellent job in Costco in the post office in my community he's a representation of my community so Mr Atkins needs to step down if he has any feelings for this community and we're calling him to step down now thank you thank you Mr Atkins president cillo lost the faith in the trust in this community I resign effective immediately I wish the best for this community in the district and I am deeply deeply deeply

057sorry for any pain and sorrow I have caused with nothing else said Mr Alvarado Mrs cillo you will have a written statement from me tomorrow on my resignation and I will turn in everything that I have of the district once again to the members of this community I'm sorry thank you trusty Atkins for your resignation and we will continue with our public comment I will be leaving the meeting hello uh Crystal cab Cabrera yes I'm here hi um you are on with the board right now you have seconds hi I was calling to demand that Mr Atkins resigned but I also have some other concerns about the district I'm a parent I have two young children in your district and I don't think that just Mr aton's resigning is going to resolve the problem I'm

058disappointed in the board's response thus far I want to know what the board is going to do about this problem his comment is indicative of a problem that exists in our district my kids go to pul elementary school and every time time they bring up any kind of issue having to do with ethnicity racism diversity their teachers brush aside the comments as if they're afraid to speak on those issues and that's something that my family my kids my my husband has to endure and has had to endure for a long time and I think that that's something that should be talked about and needs to be talked about in our schools I want the board to still address this issue just because Mr Atkins resigned does not mean that the issue is gone and I

059want to know when the board is going to come back with something that they're going to do something meaningful some kind of diversity training some kind of sensitivity training for the teachers and for the staff of the schools I yield my time to my husband the lady who answered the phone initially said that he would be given an additional 90 seconds to speak because he would also like to speak as a concerned parent of our children hi my name is Gabriel swades and I I want to quote Martin Luther King Jor there Comes A Time with scientist betrayal when George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin there were three other police officers that were standing or kneeling right beside him doing absolutely nothing about it and I heard a statement from Mr Alvarado of Miss

060Kio which pretty much separated them from the incident but did not speak of any action at all so right now my feeling is that the board and the superintendent your silence is betrayal I do not have a reassurance of any action I've been told to go back to Mexico when I was protesting for women's rights when I was protesting against family separation when I was protesting for black lives matter so this is an attitude that I run into quite regularly if I don't like the way that things are going like police brutality and family separations and I need to leave that is extremely racist so with that said my students go to poke Elementary which is named after the eighth most racist president of our history he was a slave owner who was against abolishing

061slavery and he stole parts of Mexico from the United States so if if not you who and if not now when is a famous statement by Emma Watson in the speech to the United Nations speaking on women's rights so if it's not you who's going to do something about it then who and if you're not going to do something now then win and with that said I'm disappointed in your silence and I'm disappoint pointed in you're not dating anything about an action thank you for your [Music] comment hello is this Dennis Randall hi can you please turn down the volume on your um on your YouTube please absolutely we were just listening okay okay you have 90 seconds right now with the board thank you my name is Dennis Randle I am the vice president

062five s attorney at love life chapter here in Fresno I've had two children who graduated from Central unified and my youngest is a student in the district article one section 28 C of the California Constitution provides that all public school students have the inable right to attend campuses which are safe secure and peaceful Atkins you have disrupted the Peace of our community your conduct on Facebook was not only appalling but giving your position of service within our school district which is extremely concerning knowing our current and ongoing climate of racial Injustice and systemic oppression your obvious bias C to question you're just an ability to render decisions on behalf of the community at large in question what is to say that when a student is up for exposure for writing something racist and SCH back

063you don't to oh he comes from a good family I know them he shouldn't face exposion for a prank but when a person of color is up for an administrative position with experience and qualification they're up against a member of the majority how do we know that Ain of mind isn't already made up in other words Ain end up has shown that you are not F from the office and you are not sorry for what you said you are sorry that your views have been made public I know we can't change your views and as I recently heard I do commend you on your resignation are you my time thank [Music] you hi Kristen green uh yes hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now thank you um good evening board my name

064is Kristen green and I'm a parent within the central Unified School District as well as an educator in our community I have called in this evening because I am extremely Disturbed and disheartened by truste Atkins comments that were made on June 20th though in his apology Mr Atkins claims these statements were made out of frustration um they were mistakes these types of statements do not simp appear out of thin air instead they are born from a place of ingrained bias and privilege and this kind of bias and belief system has no place in our district which is overflowing with minority students our students are already faced with overwhelming systematic racism and obstacles every day they need genuine adults who lead with empathy compassion and love surrounding them and fighting for a better future for all

065you do not simply tell someone to leave a country they were born in because because they are bravely choosing to fight systematic oppression if that fight is beyond what you understand you need to make the decision as an adult to have a growth mindset and learn from what is taking place in our country right now we teach our children that you continue to fight in order to make this country our country better for all and because it seems Mr Atkins does not understand and even opposes that fight he is not the right person to represent our district and hold this valuable position um and he needs to step down thank you for your [Music] comment hello is this a puua four yes hi uh you have 90 seconds with the board right now thank you

066my name is pul lore and I'm a Community member I have family that attends Central UniFi I find it very disappointing that truste Atkins even if it was his inclination to resign today would not sit to hear from the public he put his viewpoints whether they be personal professional on social media and it's a reflection of his values and what he believes which is obviously hatred and racism and for him to take the chicken route by resigning and getting off this um YouTube so that we can address him and say what we need to say I think is very chicken of Mr Atkins I am here today because I need to stand up for my children and all the children of central unifying like the other speaker Gabriel said I among American and I have

067heard over and over go back to your country if you don't like things here go back to your country first I am a United States citizen and even if I were not a United States citizen those remarks are racist derogatory and should have never been put in put out whether in writing or early um I'm glad that he stepped down it was his opportunity to show the children that his remarks are not going to be tolerated and I just want to say thank you I believe it's to trusty Cooks who um ask for a public comment section to continue I think that it's important to be heard and I hope that you guys will use this as a tool to talk to the children thank you thank you for your comment hello is this Al

068Rodriguez it sure is hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now hi my name is El Rodriguez and I'm a Community member my children attended uh Central Unified Schools and uh we are proud parents of graduates of central UniFi uh like everyone I was very saddened to read Mr Atkins words and realized upon reading them that they are a they were a personal expression of a personal opinion however in that posting that he made it was on a Facebook page where he had a pin was wearing a pin in the photo that contained the Seal of central UniFi so it did in fact represent Central UniFi uh in making those comments so I had originally called to ask that the board censor Mr Atkins so I'm a little taking back and still trying

069to process his resignation hopefully it was a sincere um collection of his heart and his conscience that caused him to do that but I do want to thank uh trusty Singh and trusty Cox for being the two of you that responded to my email in this regard um and I I do as an educator I am aware of programs of uh racial equity and racial Justice that can be implemented in schools and I really would like to suggest at this point that we look into for our Educators from Administration through uh the teachers through support staff that we look into uh administering these programs and and meeting the moment for our country is at a crossroads right now and some of us are meeting it in a positive way and others are falling apart as

070Mr Atkins did and thank you for the time thank [Music] you hello is this shaliz Mitchell yes it is hi you have 990 seconds with the board right now thank you I am an alumni I'm a Grizzly um back in the 80s and not too much has changed with Central it was very racist when I attended there were 25 of us in the entire school and nine of them were in my graduating class we had nues placed on our lockers we recall the nword teachers did nothing Atkins is is just one of many that's the problem there's a lot of him that work for Central School District they just have remained silent but Trump has made it easy for all the races to come out of the closet he's gotten caught in what he has

071said and now he wants to get off resign not to hear what we have to say I wish I could go back to my ancestors land where there were queens and kings and diamonds and gold and riches to have to be over here in this mess when an officer would place his knee on someone's neck for nine minutes this is the country that we live in this is the school that our children are going to with people such as him that work there I have a niece that attend Central she's been on the honor Ro since the sixth grade she's a junior now 4.0 so yes black lives matter and black lives are intelligent and yes I appreciate you Cox for giving us this time but as they have stated before body language says a

072lot and a lot of you that are on there I don't know what to say but things have got to change 2020 I was there in 1985 and racism still goes on at Central Unified School District thank you thank you thank you for your [Music] comment hello is this Sophia Jimenez yes hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now hi my name is Sophie is I am a Central High alumni of the class of 2018 I have one comment to make regarding racism within the school district I have been made aware by fellow alumni that there have been Confederate flags seen at Central West and this is completely unacceptable acts of racism should never be tolerated within Central UniFi I agree with the previous statements of other community members that more statements should

073have been made by other board members in regards to Mr Atkins post of blatant racism thank you and I yield my time thank [Music] you hello is this Tony Martinez yes it is hi you have 90 seconds with the board hi um I'm Tony Martinez a Community member um I was tyly um impaled and and um offended with Mr adin's on Facebook post um I am a college student right now so I was just really disappointed um I did call about you know his res resignation and just all that he did the Z himself but I also just kind of just question about what you all will do in the future regarding this issue because you know he wasn't like he was just part of the problem and like what would be done to you

074know help a better I mean fix the problem of racism within the school district thank you thank [Music] you is this uh Elena Vincent yes hi you have 90 seconds with the board thank you my name is Elena Vincent I am a longtime resident of central unified the 2010 Central alumna a homeowner a teacher parent of a future Central unified student and a proud daughter of two Mexican immigrants I had initially called asking for Richard Atkins resignation from the school board but considering the current events um instead now what I'm asking for is for us to have these uncomfortable conversations in the classroom in our schools with our staff with our community this is really I think a teachable moment I think that our community really could use our us as educators um to bring

075these uncomfortable conversations into our classrooms especially um I think that we really need to discuss how racism how ethnicity how culture and diversity how all of that really impacts our world and our students I think that we as Educators have a perfect opportunity to do so and I would just request that the board support those efforts um for us to do that in the classroom and in our community as well thank you so much thank you [Music] okay we have right now uh hello this Kiana Lopez no Jesus oh Jesus I'm sorry Jesus Flores all right could you please uh you have 90 seconds right now with the board okay thank you um so I wanted to start by saying um I speak as a proud alumni Central Unified School District proud alumni Fresno State

076and a very proud son of an immigrant um I currently work in the mental health setting um when you have students who have behavioral issues trauma attachment disorders depression um who already do not get the support at home they result to the leaders of our district uh we had a board member again let me emphasize we had a board member and may have more um who appear to discriminate against us us as minorities who make up more than half of this District in Latino specifically uh this District has over 10,000 students um we have over 1,500 black and African communities um over 2,300 Asian and continuing with uh indian-american and Filipino descent um so I would have liked to have uh told this gentleman to go back to the era of hate and educate himself

077on the respect and values of everyone as the vision of this District States um every student is prepared for success in college career and Community every student not excluding anyone based on their race or gender um I'm proud that this gentleman went ahead and resigned on his own um I know I have eight seconds left and I would like to let the board know that I think that every board member moving forward should be going through an extensive training of FAL humility um to get a better understanding that this uh complication does not happen again um again uh culture and humility training would be very Ben official moving forward thank you thank [Music] you hello this is Tiana Lopez yes hi you have 90 seconds with the board hello trusty my name is Tiana Lopez

078and I am a Community member in central alumna I have young family members who are students in the district and I'm speaking with their interest in my heart A diversity in central unified is what makes it special many of you on the board are people of color and I'm sure have also experience racism in your own lives in light of comment made by Mr Adin I believe it would be a great option for the board to consider implementing ethnic studies courses in our schools this will provide students the opportunity to learn an honest history of Native Americans Latinos blacks and asian-americans in the United States students can gain an understanding and respect for one another which is desperately needed at this point in our country let students have the opportunity to connect their education with

079reality and encourage positive formation of self-identity thank you I yeld my time thank [Music] you hello is uh this Nicole Thomas hello hi is this Nicole Thomas yes it is all you have 90 seconds with the board right now yes I'm calling as a concerned member of the community regarding one of your member trustees Richard Atkins and his racist post and I would like to know if you are going to terminate him or if you condone this kind of racist bit off does that conclude your comment at this time the board is not engaging engaging in any discussion um or responding to any of the co questions posed by the public oh you don't hear about racism okay okay know this Miss Thomas for clarification the board will engage in discussion following the conclusion of

080the public comment not [Music] this hello is this Diana gardo yeah okay you have 90 seconds with the board hello my name is Diana and a Community member I was calling in regards to the res of member rich I I feel on the call to to allow theity to speak up hiding from the community is just another way to show that everyone C uni School distri students but that is not true this just because me effort students and make come forward with concerns multiple of your for former students have said that when telling Administration about staff and students they are told the same story we will do something and nothing ever happen how is that possible how that a girl that graduated in 2008 and a girl who graduate in 2017 are the victims of

081the same teacher because you sit there and you allow to keep their jobs when in the place student safety at risk you sit there and you never do anything you tell you over and over again about concerns and do nothing if you want us to believe in this district and you the school board will have to take actions against other staff I we you're tired of the same story story from this District we are no longer allowing you to push things under the rug thank you I heal the rest of my time thank [Music] you hello is this Karen Schmidt yes this is hi thank you so much yes you have 90 seconds with the board right now hi my name name is Karen Schmidt and I'm a lifelong Fresno resident former teacher uh in

082various other schools um I'm a parent of three Central five children uh two of which have graduated to go on to excellent careers in healthcare and Community work uh my youngest is graduating this year and I've tried my best to challenge the privilege afforded to me being white I've tried to teach the same to my own children but me realizing my privilege didn't happen overnight because of a university requirement I took ethnic studies classes that opened my eyes to a history that we don't learn about in high school the privilege I have had in being white um I tried to raise my children to be supportive and empathetic to the experiences of their peers whether they're black latino M Punjabi uh Richard Atkins really has let his white privilege show his apology is not enough

083his resignation is not enough and just does not and will not correct his thought and feelings I wonder how many more board members principles administrat staff and teachers feel this same way but kept it a secret Like Richard Atkins did in a moment when the entire world uh is reflecting on racial Injustice this is a moment for school districts to make their black students immigrant students and students of color feel safer and a board member reveal the racism that is embedded in our school districts um bring the races to the forward teach our teachers principes administrators and board members about ethnic studies and if you need help contact local organizations that do this work um it should not be kept a secret from the rest of the parents and students in the school district as

084to why Richard Atkins resigned this should be a conversation that continues and to Richard Atkins unless you belong to the yit nation the native indigenous residents of this land it makes no sense for you to ask someone else to leave this country you twoo are the child of immigrants maybe just an immigrant of that concludes your 90 seconds if you can please wrap up your comment so much thank you hello is this Martin rusky hi yes it is hi you have 90 seconds with the board hello Mr Atkins public statement and let's be clear it's a public statement it's not a Facebook post the statement if you don't love this country you live in then go back to the country you or your ancestors came from holds deep hateful rhetoric that America is all too

085familiar with while I support free speech I do not support hypocrisy this school district both diversity and inclusion yet has a representative body that publicly States otherwise this district has policies that are in place that would hold students who use similar hate speech accountable for their public statements when they in fact pose a threat to public safety which is exactly what this statement does this statement put all Central unified students in danger ha sees absolutely no color it doesn't care if you're black or white brown or or or green or red it literally only sees I and me you them us we versus Etc if it affects me it also affects you I think the true challenge that Central Unified School District has and what you guys are going to face is what are you

086going to do about the students and the staff who truly believe and agree with Mr Atkins that if you don't love this country then you seriously need to go back to wherever the hell you came from what that concludes your 90 seconds if you can please wrap up your statement that's all that I have to say thank you thank [Music] you hello is this uh is this Alexander Harbor yes this is yeah you have 90 seconds to speak with the board and make sure that your volume is turned down on your side for the board meeting thank you [Music] okay okay so um I'm a Community member in area 2 and I am also a former classified employee of central unified I was initially going to call um to ask for member Atkins to resign

087but I'll also use this as an opportunity to remind you all that as board members you have the privilege to vote and set policy that determines an effective and safe learning environment for all students in the district in this moment you all have the opportunity to show our community Through practice and policy that Central does not stand for racism and that as a whole will be actively anti-racist Central needs to be a place that shows their students and families that they are not only celebrated but welcomed regardless of B socioeconomic status gender or sexual orientation thank you thank [Music] you hello is this Robert picket yes you have 90 seconds with the board right now yes I just wanted to call at C Unified School District know that I'm very disappointed uh by the racism

088that's still going on to thisday and I think that y'all need some cultur diversity in the board y need color up there so and even training diversity training so I recommend you go look up or Google African African-American woman by Gabriel conro so you can get some diversity training done by her because she's very great and she's making moves in the community that's right so if you can get someone African-American on the board I'll appreciate it and it'll be probably some diversity up there I see that you got a Indian guy up there I wonder how he feel when he was 911 he wasn't feeling too comfortable he shouldn't be feeling comfortable up there right now he should be very Furious about what's going on but that's all I have to say we need diversity

089we need color up on the board and that's it thank [Music] you hello is this Monique Panther yes this is she hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now thank you as a former member the student of the community I find the comment that was very very hurtful for Mr Atkins on behalf of my family I just want to let Mr Atkins know that we do forgive him but we will never forget thank you guys for your time thank [Music] you hello Faith Lewis yeah hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now thank you so I moved here from Sacramento two years ago having never set foot in Fresno day in my life so I didn't know which district I wanted my daughter to attend well luckily I chose Central over

090the rest and I was excited about that so I seen the comment it was shared with me by one of the parents of my daughter's basketball team and I have to say yes I was thoroughly disgusted by the comments especially in this climate but I for me was more disgusted by the copy and paste response that was released by the the school district themselves um for me when we send our kids to you you guys expect us to hold our kids accountable when they come home and they're in trouble we have to punish them accordingly and send them back to now show a nicer way of of being on your campus in order to Exist by your rules I don't know what you guys would have done had he not resigned on this live stream

091but I'm I'm really scared to think that it would have been nothing considering what was releas as a statement and for the people who are saying you know this is his private Facebook Chat there are certain positions where certain comments and um responses are table talk not public for conversations and this was one of them I completely disagree I'm completely disgusted and yes I was excited for my daughter to attend out of the other districts and I actually work for one of the other districts and I still wanted my daughter to be a part of Central and I'm kind of lost for words I don't know how I feel at this moment I do appreciate the time especially not cutting our our time down to 60 seconds and um at this moment I would just

092say thank you that's it thank [Music] you hello is this Kong Man Lee Yes okay you have 90 seconds with the board right nowo my my name is Kong I a board member of the Nami Club at Central High School and I am also a member of the young student council member of ela Soria from uh district one and I just wanted to say that these incidences that we have been experiencing these phenomenon of racism has been going on for centuries and the case of Richard Atkins with his comments towards how people should leave their country that they dislike or that they do not love and that he is tired of this I'm sorry for my profanity but that those are his comments that we must take time to actually go and see the history

093of many other ethnic groups aside from One Singular white ethnic group if many of you have taken the time to actually look into the history books that we as students have received there has been nothing but white people all over these history books and it shows how little that many other ethnic groups have done there is no representation Within These history books that we have received and this is why racism has been created through many of us and through many many other people and we must understand that social scientists and neurologists have proven that racism is not something that you are born with is it is something that's created and I believe truly that the education system has created racism for centuries and as one caller has said that even in the 80s she had

094experienced racism and to this day we are still experiencing this phenomenon and this is because the education system is not educating our students of all of these phenomenons of discrimination of racism of the KKK of neo-nazis of all these domestic terrorist groups this concludes your 90 seconds if you can please wrap up your comment and I I just want to say that we must educate the people so that these phenomenon will no longer continue and so long as we choose to be pacifists and ignore these vital things we will continue to fight this phenomenon Until the End of Time thank you for your comment my [Music] time hi is this Jimmy white this is she okay we have you on with the board you have 90 seconds um I appreciate the 90 seconds I just

095wanted to say it's almost comical that the recording I've been listening to for over an hour as I wait on the line wants me to yield to politically correct language because of minors but this elected official is not held to the same or even a higher standard we hold our students to a no tolerance for racism hate and bigotry to name a few but we as a collective are allowing a person of influence to sit and represent our community and I repeat that our community on a board for people of diverse background I cannot comfortably sit and explain this ridiculous to my Ridiculousness to my children but what I can explain to them is that their actions have a consequence whether positive or negative and hope that an Institute such as Central Unified School District

096where my students have been attending uplift the same morals and expectations we cannot tolerate this bigotry period period I know that the superintendent and the president of the board released a statement earlier saying oh you know during these times no it's not during these times I'm going to say it's at any time that we don't accept this bigotry I will Pro protest the stupidity at all costs or I will transfer my children out of this District period respect our children and the people that you govern like these are you're an elected official like we elected you to represent the masses and you have not done such so I hope that the board the people in this this area do the right thing and and make sure that we recall or this this gentleman um step

097down thank you for your comment thank [Music] you hello is this uh Jenny gtii yes it is hi you have 90 seconds with the board okay I'm just gonna say I wrote just a few things that I want to forget number one I want uh Richard Atkins had every right in the world to say what he said especially on his home uh Facebook he didn't say anything wrong that is not racist he did not mention anything about race um and I saw on there that he even apologized and that wasn't enough for that woman so I don't know what I don't even think he should have apologized but he was good enough to do that and that wasn't accepted and that's terrible because he didn't even need to do that he didn't say anything wrong

098and our parents there at working at the district for many years they get away with everything I mean I've seen it so many times our district is not I feel they're really on the wrong road they're just allow so much to go just so much I've talked to so many teachers that have left and retired and they feel exactly the same way they don't back up the employees with these parents that come in and rage and cause problems and you know it's terrible it's really gotten out of control so I want them to work on it I retired and I thank God for that but these other people that are left there I feel so sorry for them and I feel sorry for Rich action that C cannot have freedom of speech it's gone it's

099out of control just out of control and my one thing I never will forget I have a little girl about seven years old from men years SP to me and said that she was being bullied and I asked little girl well can you tell me what she looks like so that I can because she didn't know her name can you tell me what she looks like she goes and she got this look on her face like she was scared to death she goes I can't that would be racist and I said what honey that is not racist what I don't know where she was hearing things like that but it's it's just too far you know it's gone overboard people can't even act normal anymore this concludes your 90 seconds if you can please wrap

100up your comment thank you okay that's fine but is it this man isn't going to be held accountable is he he's gonna be they're gonna be fine with him aren't they I'm sorry I'm not sure who you're referring to this man he did nothing wrong if our district doesn't back him up it was a waste of me being an employee here there all those years because that is wrong and you know it and I know it thank you for your comment yes thank [Music] you hi uh Courtney Griffin yeah hi we have you right uh here with the board you have 90 seconds thank you um I'm glad glad to see that Mr Atkins uh decided to step down um but for clarification I am a graduate of Central High School I was uh raised

101in the central Unified School District uh started out in the second grade in regards to his post you know I'd like to say I'm I'm sick as well I'm sick of watching unarmed black men being murdered on camera by uh White police police officers I'm sick of having to explain to my 12y old twins and my 14y old daughter that become fearful every time they see a cop car or hear a siren that you know there are good cops and you know they're they're here to serve us and you should not be afraid I'm sick of folks that share Mr Atkins view being in positions of influence in the field of Education you never know how that mindset will sway a decision uh to to advance a student to give a student an opportunity um

102just in any number of ways um as a caller earlier said you know I'm disappointed I when I was at Central I was one of about 30 black students in the entire school um we obviously we're low in numbers and there was no staff representation but I it seems to me that there AR aren't a lot of things that have changed since 1985 when I graduated so um I don't have a lot of answers but I have some suggestions I would say number one uh maybe Central UniFi can concentrate on recruitment of black employees specifically teachers uh maybe recruitment of black administrators sir this concludes your 90 seconds if you can please wrap up your comment um lastly I think that maybe they could concentrate on recruiting blacks for the board representation will always benefit

103those in need thank you thank [Music] you hi uh Nikki Garcia Nicole Garcia hi we have you on if you could turn the volume down on your board uh the meeting on your side please and you've got 90 seconds with the board right now thank you I appreciate you guys extending the public comment um I waited a long time on hold and something happened with the system and I had to get back in the queue so I really appreciate being able to speak to you all um I'm appalled that uh board member ainson would just resign and Scoot out of the meeting instead of hearing all of us um we have had to listen to the media and all of the other public comments today and um it was his decision to leave I understand

104and uh I don't I just think that he should have stayed and listened to everyone's concerns even if it was a bit redundant um I do believe everybody has the right to freedom of speech and that doesn't mean that you get to say whatever you want to I understand it was his own private Facebook account however um even in the business that I work in I'm not allowed to say where I work for unless after every post I put in my this is my own opinion and does not reflect the values of my company um it was a careless moment um I understand that he is uh sorry for what he said and he has chosen to resign and that takes the situation out of everybody's hands I guess I am disappointed that of these

10519,000 signatures that were acquired for his resignation that we only have about 97 people online right now watching so I hope that the board continues to have the discussion for equality uh of everybody and that um anybody who uh wants to attend those meetings we'll do so and we'll continue to have a conversation I appreciate the board's time and I hope you all have a good evening thank you for your [Music] comment hi Gail KS hello am on yes you are on with the board right now you have 90 seconds thank you Mr Atkin you are a representative of of your community you are held to a held of higher stand your words are supposed to be above reproach as much as your actions no matter the form if you felt the way you do

106about people of color then why are you in a position that represent those of color children are committing suicide daily because they do not feel secure in themselves and the main reason is because they feel like they don't fit in yet you represent of CH you're representative children and feel that when people are of color complain about how their conditions of treatment is appalling you st they should go back where they came from where should they go this is this is a country where these people were brought were born as a result of their ancestors being brought by force they were snatched abducted and kidnapped from various states of Africa where they were traded for spices and trick of shining objects from all over Africa since you feel these people need to go back where

107they came from which state should they return to you are part of a systematic Neal disparity a welfare and mental health of our children I believe you are not a representative of the school district or that are are those that reside in and attend the central Unified School District and you should step down that's all I have to say thank you thank [Music] you hello I Dr Darren Miller hi good evening everyone um Dr Darren Miller tonight I address you as the chair of the Black American political Association of California the fral chapter and I'd like to say that we that bayac unequivocally denounces all forms of discrimination bigotry racism and white supremacy I'd like to thank truste ains for doing the right thing and resigning but I'd also like to um inform the six

108remaining board members that your hard work is just beginning I've been listening for over two hours to a community that is grieving and in need of healing and they're going to expect that the six remaining board members of serving in central unified provide that platform for that healing to take place i' encourage you to reach out to organizations such as bayac am who was on the call tonight Jakarta movement um to encourage to enlist their assistance in in developing the healing process is going to best serve the community of central UniFi obviously by tonight's comment Central unified population the community there is very awake and resp respond appropriately to whatever needs to happen whether it be now and in the future so I encourage you to look forward and to include as many people as

109you go forward in this process thank you for the time thank [Music] you hello is this Petra Guzman my name is Jasmin Johnson oh okay I apologize I had you in the queue uh please uh you can let the board know uh your comments you have 90 seconds right now all right thank you my name is Jasmin Johnson and I am part of this community and have three young ones that are part of central Unified School District at least three that are part of my blood I actually have more when we think of the community as a whole because all the kids lies and concerns do matter to me and I am happy that Mr Aton stepped down however we have to understand understand that the problem Still Remains we have to understand that there's

110still remaining board members and there are still staff that remains and so this issue is still loud we are thankful that we are given this opportunity to speak but we need to more than anything we need to make sure that we're being heard I really want to just say to you board members and leave you with this understand that as a board member you have the responsibility to set Direction establish an effective and efficient structure Provide support ensure accountability and provide Community leadership as advocates for children the school district and public schools everything does flow from the head down so it does matter what happens at the top we have to understand where we are accept it and then make the changes necessary but we first have to admit that there is a problem and

111there there is clearly a problem so I just again thank you for this opportunity and just hope that each one of you really take take heed and understand the importance you truly are affecting the future by your actions so thank you again and have a nice thank [Music] you hello is this Petra gzo yeah hi you have 90 seconds with us board right now hi good evening my name is Patrick Swan Mill class of 2011 um alumni Central unified um East Campus my reason for calling was in regard to Mr Atkins post um thank you for resigning it was necessary um you know Central Unified School District is mainly made up of minorities and people of color when I went to school there racism was rampant my main question um uh is why did Mr

112Atkins feel so comfortable posting these statements so publicly um you know how how was he able to hold these beliefs while on the board for the last six years and honestly what impact did he have on other teachers and staff members throughout the school district you know it's it's it's shaken me to my core to hear the statement from somebody who is in a position of power who is in a position of authority who people listen to you know as the entire world is reflecting on Race racial Injustice um I asked that we begin these difficult conversations in the classroom and We Begin by educating our teachers and our faculty um thank you thank [Music] you hello is this Sienna Martinez yes hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now okay hi this

113is Sienna Martinez um I'm a member of the fesno community um and this is a call to action for every member of this board by standing by by standing by Mr Atkins after his hateful racist and Xena phobic comments you are just as complicit in this act it is no longer about what Mr Atkins has done for these students in the past because all of that was nullified once he made his racist racist comments revealing his true feelings and intentions Mr Atkins had no business serving this beautiful and diverse Community this board these students and if any member of this board even remotely shares his opin opinions please have some dignity and join him in his resignation to every other member of this board I challenge you to make a public statement stating your intolerance

114for Mr aton's Behavior it is not too late to condemn these acts of racism silence is betrayal silence is tolerance thank you for your [Music] comment hello is this Robert Alvarez yes this is Robert Alvarez hi you have 90 seconds with the board okay you can begin okay uh hello my name is Robert alare I was in the graduation class in 2017 it caused me great pain that Mr aing is a representation of that of the bad that is found essential people are saying how this is his right as an American to say whatever he wants but when it is racist and ignorant and hurtful to the people he is supposed to represent that's when there should be consequences and I'm glad he resigned I would hope that moving on Central will not allow ignorant

115people like him to continue to prosper in this community and let their bias affect this community thank you I yield the rest of my time thank [Music] you Hello Alex Martin yeah hi you have 90 seconds with the board thank you good evening my name is Alex M I coached the Central High mock trial team for three years it was some of the best three years of my life we had some of the best students who were very diverse but they weren't just diverse in race and culture they were diverse in ideology I know it's important that we get across to the board and to the community the statements that were made by Mr Atkins but the reality is that the students already know they get it we used to talk all the time about

116diversity and issues because we were forming future Advocates and Future Leaders it's sad that Mr Atkins resigned he didn't stick around to learn what upset these students the community the parents I hope the board can take up where Mr Atkins left off and use this as a teaching moment to help those that are hurt by this i y my time thank [Music] you hello Tanaya Maxwell yeah hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now hi um again my name is May am M and I am addressing the trustee Atkins issue I do want to commend the board members for giving us um your undivided attentions um you're not off shopping or anything like that but actually listening to us and I'm glad that uh Mr Atkin resigned and the fact that he left

117the meeting you know it just reminds me of what others cannot do he didn't like what he was hearing and so he had the opportunity to log off and what we need to do is have voices for those children even um adults or teachers that are working within the district that do not have a voice and they can't log off because um that's their color you know we can't change our color we can't change our race we can't just log off from all of the comments that we get walking down the street and being called the nword or being treated differently another issue I have is why he's saying he's tired but we are tired of having to make noise sign petitions protests just to be heard just to have a voice and talk against

118something that should be policy this is something that needs to be acted on swiftly what his comment was that we should go back to our country or where we came from that is not something that is misunderstood we've heard it and it's usually connected to a racist VI that concludes your 90 seconds if you can please wrap up your comment thank you thank you um basically I believe it should be in policy to where we should act twistter to where we don't have to hold all of these meetings and everything it's within the policy and that people of authority should not be held at a different standard the teachers the administration the trustees if they are saying racist views they should Le the consequences thank you thank you for your comment hello is this Liz

119espanosa yes hello hi you have 90 seconds with the board okay great hello thank you all for your time although Mr Atkins resigned it is appalling for his current absence in this meeting he should have taken the time to listen and hear our concerns as I'm speaking to the public I appreciate everyone's collaboration to make this happen this is a start please be cent of the school dep prison Pipeline and how the comment send from a racist perspective we should all ask ourselves who are those leading and educating our children as a new generation we need our voices heard we do not stand for racism discrimination and a school district that does not speak against it my mother completed her education with Central unified and experienced racism for being a first generation Mexican-American keep in

120mind this is in the 90s moving forward these questions are not directed to anyone in this board meeting um what are the disciplinary actions should this happen again and toward Mr Atkins as a community and School District what are some ways you will become allies to influence change diversity inclusivity and representation we must do better thank you for your time thank [Music] you hello is this a council member Soria yes this hello if uh if you can just turn down the volume on your side and then you can have 90 seconds with the board right now perfect thank you good evening board president and members saral Doria councilwoman for district one um as a council member that represents C the central area and someone that has always supported and invested in this District um during

121my tenure as a council representative first I do want to express how disappointed and hurt that I am about the comments that were made by Mr Atkins as a daughter of immigrants I was personally offended and I join our community who's already hurting because of the systematic racism that continues to per perpetuate inequality in our community but tonight I will say that I'm very proud of central of the Central Community including one of my young council members kongman Lee who spoke um and hold Mr and held Mr Atkins accountable um I want to say let this be a lesson yes we are all entitled under the Constitution to freely express ourselves but we are not shielded from criticism and from being held accountable I am glad that Mr Atkins did resign but now this is

122this moment we need to make sure that this community can heal and use this opportunity to learn and look for ways to improve the student outcomes of disadvantaged students and find solutions to the racial inequities that still exist in our education system I stand ready to do whatever I can as a partner to help and support you guys through this moment um I will let you guys I will tell you guys that this is a time to be bold and Innovative and so I want to thank you for allowing me to speak I yield U my time board president thank you thank you [Music] hello yes hi is this L Gutierrez yes it is hi you have 90 seconds with the board right now thank you um good evening board members um I am a

123parent of four children in central unified and I'm calling in regards to Mr Atkin's remarks on his Facebook page I was um first of all I want to thank Mr Sol and Mr spine for replying to my email and for you extending the time to hear the public comment um I want to say that um my initial reaction is I was outraged by his comments and then I was overwhelmed with sadness um I want your previous callers have all said basically what I had to say but one thing that I want to urge all of you is know that you are elected to your chair you are elected by us and if we see there's an injustice we will call you on it and it's not because we don't like you personally if we don't

124like what you have to represent you are representing us as a public figure and we accept just the best from all of you so please keep that in mind if you ever desire to post anything that you may think is inappropriate I give my time thank you for your [Music] comment hello is this Gan ver and J PR bird yes hi you have 90 seconds uh well 90 seconds for uh denie and then 90 seconds for Jess cre thank you hi um first I would like to thank you all for your time my name is G Burke I am going into my sophomore year at Central East I am part of the shss club and the ivy league program at Central and every day in class we are taught to watch what we post on

125social media and on June 20th Mr Atkins was put under Fire the same thing and I find it ironic I'm asking the board to uphold the same standards for staff as they a for students I am a first generation Punjabi American and I've lived in Fresno my whole life racism is a reoccurring problem in the USA and in our communities with our district being so diverse more action is needed so our students feel more included our history books need to be updated I want to learn more about diversity and not just about White History Mr Atkins comment made me feel attacked for wanting change where change is clearly needed I don't want people like that to have power over my future or education I want to see more Action Against Racism and I want a

126more diverse curriculum in my my classes thank you for your time and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak about these issues thank you hi this is H Jess PR uh Bert V's mother um first most I would like to thank M Miss Cox and subsequently the rest of the board for the extension to hear us all thank you um I'm glad that Mr Atkins decided to resign how however I'm not sure if he truly uh was enlightened um to the racism that breeds within him I will never know but we forgive but we will not forget um I am also disappointed in the board's action or actually the lack of action I um you are elected officials uh we expect more from you um even your even your personal beliefs are held

127to a higher standards um because you're representing us all number three I would like to speak directly to uh Mr Atkins and the likes um when you make a comment leave this country country and go back to where you come from uh inli that you feel entitled to and ownership of this land Which is far from the truth all of us built this country together if my daughter brings up issues of the problems that still exist in our country where where should she go to by telling her to go to India would be like orphaning her um this is her land and just as his and number four I challenge the boort um to weave actually a beautiful quilt and not a malol pot that Mr Atkins and the light anticipate or expects us to

128um and that's all I have to say thank you thank [Music] you hello this is Katrina rubido yes hi you have 90 seconds with the board hi my name is Katrina rubido and I'd like to thank you for extending time so it made it possible for me to actually get in there were so many ahead of me um while I was on the call uh Mr Atkins had already resigned and so I primarily had my comment set for him um so it's changed a little bit I have been a member of the central unified Comm uh Community for the last 20 years I am a parent I have raised two kids through the elementary middle school and high school and I have a second grader right now I am a voting member in the area

129as well as a teacher in central UniFi when the comments were made one of the first things that I thought of one of the first things that I thought of was every single face sitting in my classroom I was heartbroken one reason being is that I work every single day to ensure that my students trust me and I earned that trust from them because when they look into my face they may not see something from familiar and I want to make sure that we as a district react to this in a way that we understand that this has caused hurt in our students it's caused hurt in our parents and Community but it's also caused hurt in our own faculty and I've had conversations with my own peers regarding the frustration of what is representing

130us right now it is my belief that the people remaining on the board do not agree with what was posted and I know that that was what was released and I want as we start to think into the future how are we as a community going to show that we need to be more than not racist we need to be anti-racist and I want us to incorporate that into our classrooms into our everyday and see your faces in our classrooms on a regular basis so that they also know that that that you have their back as well I do love working in this District I love my students all 435 students that I have taught since I became a teacher have a very special place in my heart and I hope that when you guys

131have your conversations of how you are going to approach this that you consider every one of those students every one of their faces from all their diverse backgrounds as well thank you for your comment that concludes your 90 seconds if you can please wrap up your comment um as well as all of our employees um and I do know we have a a diverse board and so I know that some of you might have also been uh affected by the comments as well so I appreciate you guys uh hearing us and and doing something about this thank you thank [Music] you hi Gina Garrett yeah hi you are on with the board right now you have 90 seconds great um first I would like to say um for Mr Atkins um uh for his apology

132um to the public and to the diverse student of central Unified School District I feel that if he is sincere about his apology that he can put some action behind that there are several groups and organizations that uh he could probably speak with or talked to to say that you know his actions uh behind his apology are definitely sincere so words alone are sometimes can be deceptive because it's just a sad to get out of a situation but I feel if it's truly in his heart he'll be able to put some action behind that and maybe get with some of the uh parents or diverse groups or organizations in the community to help um to help uh put some action behind his work secondly um I think that there's you know some a lot of

133people get into this black and white this RAC issue I think there just like we tell our kids there good and bad everybody and just stay away from the bad people and if M Mr Atkins is sincere in his heart and you know he really feels uh sympathy I mean not sympathy but uh if he really feels conviction uh behind his statement I think he needs to step up and put action behind it um there's a diverse group of students that he serves and if Central Unified School District is there for the sheer success of all of those students to become productive citizens I think it's very important for me to have uh grandchildren a child who's in the the a junior at Central UniFi and two graduates from Central UniFi School District I used

134to work for the district um you know there's issues there's always going to be issues but you can definitely try to discuss and resolve things and so it's not about like the previous lady says people are getting away with things and he was right in what he said it's time to stand up and say what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong and what he did was wrong this concludes your 90 seconds if you can please wrap up your comment okay if he can just like I said put some action behind his word and his apology and I think that that would you know really uh put what's truly in his heart if he's truly sorry then it would show the type of person he really is thank you thank [Music] you hello uh

135is this uh Malachi Suarez yeah hi so we have Malachi Suarez and Phoenix Suarez yes okay you each have 90 seconds starting now okay hi my name is Malachi I would like to address my problems with the central unified school district one of my problems was that um when I tried to sit down for the flag salute a sub kept harassing me and she what she exactly said was Malachi Malachi get up get up we're not gonna do this without you Malachi get up and then I and then I had to basically yell for her to stop uh saying that and then I one of my problems is the school that I go to his name James K pulk Elementary he I hate the name of it because James K pulk was a slave was

136a slave owner and he and he was very racist and he went against the movement it makes me it makes me feel right when I think about this the the school district is very racist and we need to put a change to that my BR now my now I want my brother to talk thank you hi this is Phoenix Suarez I just want to talk so one day we I want to address my wait what do I say wait yes we are here h i I want to address my story to the central to the central my tool District you can speak now okay one day we were at school there was a sub I was sitting down and she kept telling me to get up but then one of my friends he told me

137that I just don't want to sh up and she said okay so how I feel is that that needs to change another time the the the te the sub teacher was reading a book about Donald Trump then and then and she wanted to class to learn about him then and then I told her that that I that I don't like Donald Trump he's a racist he's greedy and then she and then she said we're not talking about that right now no that needs to change thank you both for your [Music] comments hello hello is this Dylan saory that's me hi Dylan you have 90 seconds with the board right now thank you good evening trustees and staff uh my name is Dylan Savory I'm the executive director of the Fresno Madera terer Kings County Central

138labor Council we are an advocacy Organization for labor unions and their members uh I'm proud uh to join the chorus of community organizations and leaders that have um applauded the resignation of trusty Atkins and strongly with all of our being denounce his comments in any form of racism whether it be on social media or in person we uh as white male Americans like myself and trusty Atkins must come to the realization that our our ancestors were the original ille illegal immigrants our ancestors brought African slaves here and we committed genocide on the Native Americans and we stole the Western half of the United States from Mexico I'm willing to admit that and I'm asking other uh white male Americans to admit that and come to the realization that now is the time for Unity labor

139unions are typically recognized for fighting for economic justice but I want to commit to you all that the labor movement of going forward of the future is one that fights for racial social environmental and economic Justice we are all in this together uh I I remain committed to being a partner to all of you as to how we accomplish those things together and I look forward to working with you on all all of those accomplishments in the future thank you for all the time you taken tonight take care thank [Music] you hello is this leam Cory yeah okay you have 90 seconds with the board right now thank you uh could you uh make sure you turn down the volume on your side of the board meeting and then you can start speaking okay hi

140I'm me Tor you still talking yes yes go ahead hi I'm meor and thank you for your time I've lived in the district for 50 years I've known Mr Atkin for 40 plus years I have four byci of grandchildren m in Mr action District I'll continue to support Mr Atkin and the positive contribution that he has I'm I'm happy we'll continue to make our district especially our 4 and SSA members have have great they have greatly benefited from his countless hours of volunteer whether leading or mentoring the members or helping them pundra Mr Atkin has poured his heart into this community and this I'm sorry that people were not able to look past the moment of frustration and support his positive contribution he brings for the community thank you does that conclude our our callers

141for public comment yes right now we thought there was one more but it looks like they hung up so at this point we do not have any more calls thank you and so that conclud includes our public comment we will now um hold discussion uh by the board first I want to begin by just addressing one of the concerns that we heard um all throughout uh today's uh comments but also by emails and calls that were made um to each of us board members and and that is that the board uh nor the district have the authority or ability um to have fired uh trusty Atkins I understand as we all heard he has resign resigned from his post um but I do just want share that I um was deeply offended and appalled by

142his comment uh for me I didn't attend Central unified I attended a different District but I was in fourth grade the first time that I was told by a teacher to go back to the country I came from because I engag in a conversation with a classmate in Spanish and so for me it was a very offensive comment um and now it's time for us as a board uh to to Really reflect and determine where do we go from here uh I would suggest uh that that we bring forward a resolution that uh denounces the common Faith made by trusty Atkins that are not a reflection of the board or of our district and that we um affirm our commitment to ensure that our students feel welcome as well as our staff um and that

143we will not tolerate um any racial comments uh or comments that have a racial connotation and so with that I would like to open the floor um for any board members who wish to speak trusty solace oh let's see a few things and this is some of the things that I've heard I want to relay to the public out there uh the reason I was sitting down here and I'm sure other board members were sitting down was to give the public their opportunity to speak um unfortunately or fortunately the Democratic process uh we as a board did not have the authority to fire any board member uh the public has that Authority and there's several ways they can do that um with that it needs to be said it needs to be said loud and

144clear that I personally do not agree with the statements that were made I do not think they reflect Central unified or they do not reflect and respect the guiding principles of C unified I would support uh or chair's uh motion but I would also uh like to put an addition to that that we do support Mr Z Akin's decision to resign I feel that it is appropriate due to the situation I'd like to have that in the motion um moving forward to the children in our district you are important and and we do appreciate you here we want the best for you and I can assure you that we're doing everything within our powers to do that but unfortunately we can see something is wrong we're trying to change it with the limited Authority that

145we have but there are some things that are out of the jurisdiction of the school board that being said we need to look at setting a good example I would also suggest to the uh chair that the board in our next coming trainings put an item in there where the whole board receives diversity training that way we can set the tone for the staff trainings it's one thing to request staff to go to a training if the board's not going themselves there's some reflection on that um as well as I heard some things about teachers the te teaching staff of central unified in my opinion are some of the best teachers out there part of or job is to hold the staff accountable we will do that but also I feel it's important that we

146do have a motion take place that each individual board member can vote on it that we can take a stand that what was said was totally inappropriate and it has no place in our community thank you thank you trusty Solace and I do just want to clarify that for the purposes of today's meeting um we are just engaging in discussion and so it's based on on our directives to provide to Administration and to myself to return to another board meeting or our next agend I meeting um and present a resolution that is consistent with our discussion today any other board members wishing to speak trusty I I do believe though we have to make a motion for that to happen correct we would be able to act on on the consensus of the board to

147provide Direction well at this time I'm willing to float that motion if there's a second out there to direct staff to write up a resolution and bring it to us at our next scheduled meeting thank you trusty soles trusty Cox you're on mute trusty Cox excuse me I'm sorry let you it um I think it needs to be direction to staff to bring back a resolution so that we can um um jointly agree um on the language and the direction that we wish to direct but um we don't really have an item on here for a motion today so we just would be given direction to staff to come back that is correct yes and so that would be the only concern trusty soless that in compliance with uh the item that has been agendized

148for today's special meeting uh we wouldn't have the ability to be in compliance uh by making a motion so the directions based on our discussion and the guidance that we provide to Administration and to myself would be to bring back a resolution um consistent with the guidance here okay if they're going to bring it back to the next schedule meeting that's fine or if you want to call a special meeting to do that my concern is time is urgent here we need to go ahead and make a stand for this board that against this type of action this type of behavior in our community yes absolutely thank you truste cantes first and foremost obviously this um whole topic is hits a nerve um I'm a firstborn American of two Mexican immigrants illegal immigrants and I've

149uh faced a lot of this um a a lot of what people have spoke about uh for the vast majority of the last um duration of the meeting but with that being said I've used it to make myself stronger and to work harder and to be better so sometimes when we're faced with this type of adversity we have two options we can cave to it or we can Excel from it and I've taught my own children to utilize it as a tool not as a copout but as a tool to work harder and to be better and I'm also very proud of our community and its ability to speak up so articulately and so passionately and um they're extremely well spoken and they're extremely well-versed and they too represented many shades of color within our

150district and I'm proud of them for speaking up um I too want to to denounce his actions I do appreciate and have served my country in arms to preserve the right to the First Amendment but because you have the right of the First Amendment doesn't mean that you're exempt from repercussions to what you have said or what you have done and tonight was a great example of that uh Mr Atkins made a very poor decision and he has Reed the benefits of the actions and again that doesn't take the First Amendment away from everybody or anybody because anybody on this panel can exercise that right but just know that we are held accountable at a higher level and therefore there are repercussions to our actions the kids of this district is the only reason why

151serve this is a true public servant position there's next to nothing in terms of pay we are not full-time employees we dedicate a lot of our time energy effort and love for the betterment of the students of our district regardless of color and the reality is that in a lot of areas we are failing our students of color and when I spoke up against that sometime a while back I got accused of being racist and that's unjust but I stuck it stuck with it I stuck with it because I figured I was here for a Divine Purpose and that Divine Purpose was to make our district better for our kids because healthy neighborhoods are self-sustainable they support themselves and we have to continue to affect every neighborhood Hood in our community and make it a

152better place I hope I was able to conjugate my words in a in a fashion that were they were effective but again I I U being a person of color in a first born American of course I was offended by the comments but I've heard them many times before so anyone that was challenged by these comments use that pain use that anger use that sadness her motivation to stand for more to do more and to be better and be champions in your community and take other people with you so we can raise the water level of all our communities so that it's a better place and it's a privilege to serve you but it's also very challenging thank you thank you trusty servantes trusty Cox thank you um I just want to say that um

153I am not a person of color I am a caucasion but this hurt me greatly um it's not part of my principle um my ancestors were immigrants they were Irish immigrants they were discriminated when they came across too and so it it's something that we all all understand and are deep in our families and we don't take lightly um the conversations of going home so it hurt me it saddened me um it saddened me that Central is brought into a negative light but I do want to say this is a great opportunity for us all the board members um to learn and grow and I think this is a chance for Central to to grow and glow so I think we move forward we do it um educationwise conversation um inviting more um conversation between

154our our groups our students um I I just think it gives us an opportunity so I'm saddened that this happened and I'm saddened because I know Mr Atkins has done a great contribution to Central unified and he made a really egregious mistake and as elected officials we we don't just speak for ourselves whenever we speak especially on social media that's public media and we are speaking and it's harmful those if we don't think really deeply so I'm I'm just adding that he made that mistake thank you thank you trusty Cox any other board member trusty Chan um uh thank you president Kaa for giving me an opportunity to talk um a bit to the public uh a bit to my fellow board members a bit to our Central Community as a whole you know I

155mean my I've had a kind of a swell of emotions just even even um listening to the deep deep pain in our community members of had I know president K you shared you know in fourth grade that you remember first hearing that comment I mean I still get it my parents still get it it's it's um you know I mean I was you know even one of uh I think it was um I was taking notes it was uh uh it was actually Mr picket who who you know called me out a little bit saying you know remember what it was like after 911 I remember what it was like before 911 I remember what it was like after 911 I remember what it's like today there is a Wind of Change that's happening across

156our country and it is a moment of Reckoning and we can embrace it we can seize it you know um Miss Campbell shared that this is this was not the disease this a symptom of something of something larger um uh Mr Harbor and uh Miss Miss ru and I really appreciate what they were saying they were building on um ibam kend ibram X kend's work of not just for us to have diversity training training but rather how to to be anti-racist and and and that's sort of an distinction and um I've been blown away from uh comments from from staff from from students you know uh G uh glor sharing you know bringing about questions of curriculum Malachi sharing you know um that history about about his own his own school um Bria Cooper and

157and so many others um we have we have an opportunity you know uh I heard often times and and many people uh especially Central alumni sharing that you know um as a minority as a minority we're in a different period there really isn't a minority anymore you you know I mean um it's it's uh you know we have an opportunity to embrace this uh Dr Miller who spoke earlier has a proud L shared with me a number of times that actually Central um unified has the largest African-American population than anywhere else actually in in in the uh surrounding area throughout the sanwen valley um or rather Southern s sanwen Valley so this is really an opportunity for for us to grow to to to reflect to um really start a new period for us here

158in central so um you know we're under greater scrutiny than than ever before but that calls for greater account ability and and greater responsibility so I I really appreciate the The public's comments and hearing from from the school board and and um even even you know Mr Atkins made an egregious mistake um and and and you know the public was definitely held him accountable but I would be remissed to not say that he has also expressed to me like he has shared with me his Humanity as well and and that's something which I'd be remissed to not not to at least acknowledge uh as well but he made an egregious mistake and and and just like all of us the the public the public holds us accountable thank you trusty Chan any other comments superintendent

159Alvarado yeah thanks um president koreo members of the board and and also our community out there you know I just want to say to our community to our staff and to our students uh we know that you're hurting um and uh and rightly so um you know when the first call came in on Saturday um I think we spent the majority of that evening Saturday and pretty much all day on Sunday on Father's Day and and the emails and the calls haven't stopped coming in from not only uh the Central Community but also the valley the community throughout the Central Valley and even beyond the state of California um you know there was a question earlier about you know what what are we doing as a district and what are we going to do to

160address these issues you know I thought we were ahead of the curve quite frankly um back in uh June of last year we actually had a discussion and we act we we talked about addressing some cultural diversity training and also addressing issues of equity and and racism uh here in central UniFi because we do we do understand that we have work to do um and and there's there's a lot of work to do quite frankly and so one of the goals that we establish as part of the superintendent goals and I and I actually pulled the goals out and I'm going to read it to you is that by June 2020 the superintendent will Implement a multi-year professional learning series not a just a oneshot deal but a multi-year professional learning series focused on culturally

161relevant and responsive leadership and teaching in order to address the increasing cultural diversity and issues of equity in central unified that is verb btim as it was written in the superintendent goals and uh this evening in closed session we were going to give an update on that and where we were at um and quite frankly in January of this year we kicked off that training uh we invited Dr CH akua uh to the district office we trained our administrators and then we had roughly 80 to 100 teachers that that joined us on the second day of that training all volunteered all volunteered to to attend that training um and then we were going to kick that off and in uh I mean uh continue it in April and covid actually um derailed that for us

162so we're committed to continuing that and that is a multi-year professionally learn professional learning series and that's because we identified this as an issue not just recently after what happened here over the weekend but this was over the first year that I was here in communication with our district and and and our board and and then and then finalizing that going into the 1920 school year um so um you know we are here we're going to get through this together as a community we're going to be here to support you to all of our children out there we love every single one of you every one of you uh we get into this field because we love kids all of us as Educators as teachers as board members and that will never go away okay

163like many of the stories you hear today my grandparents came here and they were immigrants from Mexico my grandparents didn't even speak English as I was growing up all the way until passing my mom and dad were married my mom was 14 my dad was just barely 16 with no high school and my mom with just a very little middle school education and I too uh I was told several times to go back to your country uh but you know the one thing that my dad always said is that you may not be the sharpest kid but you you'll be you'll definitely outwork any kid that ever that ever comes across across uh any of the uh the challenges that you that you go you come up against um little did you know I'd have

164a little bit of intelligence too but um you know we're going to get through that um we're here to support you we're here to support our community we know that you're hurting as I stated earlier um and we know it's going to take time to heal from this but but we will and we will become we will be better uh at the end thank you superintendent Alvarado so with that are there any other um recommendations anything else that we'd like to include in a resolution it does sound that there is support uh to bring forward a resolution uh announcing uh trusty atkins' comment accepting his resignation um and reaffirming our commitment to our guiding principles um and to participating in diversity and anti-racism training is there anything else that we'd want to address and I

165will work with Administration to bring that forward hearing nothing further um the second thing that I'd like to address with respect to the um proposed resolution would be uh whether we want to call a special meeting um come next week our next regularly scheduled meeting is July 14th um however as trusty soless mentioned and I agree with we do need to add uh we need we do need to act quickly um to reaffirm our commitment to our community and to try and begin that healing process I would suggest uh perhaps uh next Tuesday or if Monday is convenient but if everyone can take a look at their calendars there is support um to hold a special meeting uh to bring this resolution forward and that would be June 29th or June 30th unless there's a

166more convenient date that uh another Tristy would like to propose I'm CH president could you repeat those dates again absolutely that was June 29th or June 30th okay and of course I welcome The Proposal of additional dates if those are not convenient for the board I'm available for either thank you trusty Cox I prefer the Tuesday okay I I'll try to make it work on Al we have a police commission a Reform Commission meeting on Mondays so I'll I'll send you over our times and so would Tuesday work best for you Tristy Chan uh initially I was going out of uh going on a on a trip to visit somebody in the hospital but let me let me see if I can move things around okay thank you trusty Paul trusty cantes is there a

167does Tuesday one of the two days worked for me I'm sorry I thought you heard I did not I apologize so Tuesday June 30th that's great is there any opposition to having that begin at 7 or would we like to begin at 6 or 6:30 that works for me okay uh trusty Chan holding the meeting any earlier would that assist with your um calendar at all is there a preference between six or seven can I let you know within probably just a few hours after after this meeting when we see if absolutely so we will tentatively um hold a special meeting June 30th and we will properly notice that and so we will also follow up with with the entire board um and uh Administration and I will work together to bring forward a resolution

168uh that encompasses our conversations today is there anything further on on this item hearing no further comments we we now move um on on the agenda adjournment is there a motion to adjourn the special meeting no I have a motion by trusty cantes the second by trusty sollace all in favor please say I or communicate your support great this meeting is adjourned at 9:42 we will now return to our regularly scheduled meeting and we will begin um before I I call Item H do we need to take a one or two minute break does anyone need to okay why don't we go ahead and take a minute minute and a half um and then we will return uh to our regularly scheduled June meeting thank you [Music] everyone [Music] he [Music] you [Music] you [Music]

169you [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] you [Music] you [Music] you [Music] thank you everyone we reconvene to our regularly scheduled June 23rd 2020 board meeting uh before we move on to our next agenda items which would be age presentation and reports I do want to entertain a motion to move items L1 L4 I'm sorry to continue items L1 L3 L4 L6 L7 and information items M1 through M2 and M4 through M7 to our uh special meeting to be held June 30th is there a second I have a second by trusty soless all in favor please say or communicate your support thank you any oppose any exensions motion carries 60 uh we will now return to our agenda um item H presentations and reports H1 foundation for Central Schools no you have the floor thank you

170chusty president um G um good evening everyone thank you for allowing me to come and um present I can't believe it's been three months already since I last spoke to you all um so I'm very happy to um to say we did a great pivot during covid-19 and shelter in place and successfully held the uh Janessa Ramirez scholarship Awards um virtually so thank you all for participating for sharing um the information it was a great success um to say the least six Scholars um Central unified seniors were awarded some were you know the first to attend college and their families very moving stories which were documented um by kc24 our media partner um they did a fabulous job utilizing Zoom as we all are using tonight and creating very moving stories to share with the

171public um so all six of those stories were shared on our Facebook and also also um kyy24 along with their sister station cbs47 as well as their website your central val.com all those stories if you miss them are available on um the foundation website um and they're all uh available to view to share and they're still on our Facebook as well additionally um we were able to offer a dinner although we didn't um sit down and enjoy that meal together we were able to um still accommodate a a wonderful meal um and we even had our sponsors provide dinner to our Scholars and their uh immediate families as well so we delivered um a numerous amount of plates 191 to be exact normally we would entertain about 250 plates so that is really amazing there

172um additionally I'd like to um report um in our last um in the last update that uh superintendent alvado gave we were at about $31,500 and some change and um I recently reported we were at $33,000 and um now uh after we've contacted a few more um sponsors and a couple of checks have come in we are expecting to actually exceed $35,000 for this year so I'm very happy to say that um the pivot was successful and and um with that yes with that um it just shows that the community really showed up and um you know education is priority during this time and and our students are are not forgotten and um we'll continue on with the tradition um and we're still accepting donations for the Janessa scholarship fund so um if anyone would

173like to still send a check we are always accepting that um additionally um we are now getting ready for the 20 um 2021 uh school year um so our classroom grants and our um new teacher grants those are going to be circulating soon as well um normally uh the foundation also host a welcome back breakfast obviously that will also look a little different so um looking ahead into the future um I am just coming up with options for plan A's and plan B's um keeping in mind you know of covid-19 and just being prepared and I think that's really um you know the the topic of our discussions right now with our um Foundation board um and in addition um to that during the welcome back we like to educate our teachers and staff about

174employee contribution since that is a huge part of um donations that the foundation depends on um so we're looking at new options of connecting with our teachers um with the Janessa Ramirez um event we were really able to have a voice on social media um which wasn't um specifically there in the past so I'd like to see that continue to build our brand and make sure that um the community and Central unified um staff and teachers know exactly what the foundation is there for and what um events and and types of Grants like the classroom grants that will be available um uh that that the foundation funds um and again um the classroom grants will be available the applications will be available here um hopefully by the end of July um and just a a

175a quick recap of you know kind of what that is um last year we awarded uh six classroom grants that total um $722 and these are grants that are awarded to teachers for special projects to help Elevate um teaching in the classroom so it's very Innovative and it gives our teachers an opportunity to give us a proposal um we select a committee and then um those that are selected receive the funds um to fulfill this project so there's some very exciting um opportunities there for our classrooms um and teachers um and then again looking ahead um 3 months out um when I come back to visit you we already be talking about the state of the district so again um you know having a plan A and A Plan B in mind for a shelter

176in place and then um also coats for kids so you'll we'll be thinking about coats by then as well so um maintaining that communication and making sure that our teachers and staff um know what the foundation is for um and hopes in continuing to look for new board members and continuing on um editing those bylaws as we move on for the next few months thank you Miss DOI we appreciate your report and your accom accomplishments thus far thank you very much thanks Serena thank you our next item employee Association highlights I do know we have Representatives um from Cent representative from unified Teachers Association and from California School Employees Association and I will just wait for them to join um and when the representative for Cuda is ready you have the floor our next item

177employee Association highlights I do know we have Representatives if you can lower Teachers Association and from California School Employees associ thank you very much the floor is your the representative for Cuda is ready you have the floor apolog next item employee Association Teachers Association and Miss Martinez can you mute uh your YouTube channel connection or any other connection you may have going next item employee Association yeah I'm trying to do that I'm Association if you want to go Martinez can you mute your yes Miss Martinez we will have um Phil speak and then we'll return to you thank you uh representative from California School Employees Association hi good evening everybody I just um a different note I just like to wish U everybody Ty ready hello I haven't talked to you guys in a minute

178uh hopefully you guys can hear me um yes we can okay on a different note um I just want to let you guys know that our um uh Central Unified School District uh Child Nutrition employees um we have uh csca has given them an award for uh unsung heroes for all their actions and everything that they have done um hopefully when we're able to meet again and everybody come I can introduce you to all of them and a give them that give them that award in front of you guys so that you guys can meet them um also on another note um as we start to return back to school um CCA is ready to go and uh ready to make it happen so on like I said on a different note that's where we're

179at and um thank you for your time thank you we return to miss Martine hopefully you can hear me now yes we can no thank you I apologize for that okay so um good evening board trustees and superintendents um first of all thank you it's it's a long night and I appreciate your dedication and your Devotion to our community thank you very much um tonight I just have a statement to read Central UniFi Teachers Association is deeply saddened by the comments made by Mr Atkins on his personal Facebook page in no way do these comments reflect the diligent the devoted and diverse Educators in central unified as Educators we encourage our students to be inclusive of our diversity and care for the well-being of our entire community we encourage all parents staff and students to

180be heard and stand against these types of divisive comments we appreciate that Mr Atkins listened to the will of the people but we agree with the community there is more work that needs to be done to heal our community and earn back their trust Central unified teachers associations supports diversity equality and respects all oppressed groups we look forward to the special June 30th meeting and I thank you for for your time good good night thank you Miss Martinez thank you president Korea moving to our next item uh superintendent and board community communication superintendent alvado I'll y yield my time for the sake of the uh the agenda thank you are there any board members wishing to speak at this time hearing none we will move on uh item J comments from the public are there

181any members of the public wishing to address the board on any items not on the agenda president CIO at this time we do not have anyone in the queue thank you very much we will move on to our consent agenda what are the wishes of the board on this item is there a motion to approve I have a motion by trustee sing and I have a motion by truste sess all in favor please say I or communicate your support any oppose any extensions motion carries 60 the next item we will hear is item L2 two hold public hearing adopt the 2020 2021 proposed budget and approve resolution 20- 21-02 identifying the need for Budget reductions Mr mlan thank you president CIO um so tonight we bring to the board the adopted budget uh we have

182uh noticed for the public hearing and uh the budget has been available since June 18th um as the board probably knows uh the budget was prepared based on the governor's May revision and and shortly after it was posted like many other districts um the budget uh between the legislature and the governor took place uh subsequent to the preparation of the budget as we uh thought might happen and so accordingly uh we do have the adopted budget tonight knowing that we will have a revision to the budget coming within 45 days days would recommend that we bring that back on July 28th that would give us sufficient time to um explain the the uh the changes um I did provide the board with a presentation on the on the U budget I won't be labor that

183if the board has any questions I can entertain those but I can tell you that in the the budget deal that was made which is still to be voted on uh which is supposed to take place this Friday um the the the uh the solution was to uh eliminate the cuts the the 10% cuts that we talked about at previous meetings uh not to add the COA back the 2.3% COA but just to keep the budget Revenue at the same level as it was in this uh last fiscal year um and in exchange the deferrals that we talked about in previous meetings would be increased um pending federal funds coming in that would potentially offset those deferrals and bring those Downs if those do come to pass so with that um I'll entertain any questions

184we also have uh in addition to the um before we get to questions in addition to the um voting on the budget uh we have included a resolution this is something that the uh County Office had suggested because of the magnitude of the cuts and and I know the board the previous meeting expressed a commitment to fiscal accountability and responsibility to make whatever Cuts may be needed uh in this upcoming year and and we have a process for doing that going forward um that we are in better shape with this new budget resolution than we would have been under the governor's version however additional reductions are going to be needed and we are going to need to have that continued discussion and work through with our stakeholders as as superintendent Alvarado has mentioned so with

185that I I'll be happy to answer any questions before we take any questions from the board and address the additional items um we do need to hold a public hearing for this item so I will do that first so at this time I will open the public hearing for um we don't actually okay I have a motion by trusty Cox is there a second to open the public hearing I have a second by trusty sollace all in favor please communicate your support any oppose any exensions motion carries we will now hold a public hearing are there any members of the public wishing to address the board during this public hearing you want to wait about 30 seconds president crio sure okay I don't see anyone in the queue for any agenda item at this point

186thank you very much uh with that is there a motion to close the public hearing I have a motion by trusty cantes I have a second by trusty Solace all in favor please say a communicate your support thank you any objections any abstentions motion carries we now close our public hearing so at this time um it is 10:13 can I have a motion to continue our board our board meeting past 10:30 I have a mo motion by truste Cox is there a second I have a second by trusty Chan all in favor please say I or communicate your support all any oppose any extensions motion carries thank you and so are there any questions from the board regarding the the budget at this time okay uh hearing no questions are there it um Mr mlan

187for the proposed budget and the resolution can we vote on those at the same time or do we need separate I believe you can them together okay are there any questions question or comments regarding the resolution from any member of the board seeing and hearing none is there a motion to approve the proposed budget and the resolution to approve I have a a motion by trusty cantes I have a second by trusty Cox all in favor please say I or communicate your support any oppose any extensions motion carries 60 we we now move on to item L5 holds public hearing and Adoption of resolution number 19 20- 57 statutory school fees level one developer fees Mr mlan thank you president CIO so tonight again we have a public hearing on this item which is the

188adoption of resolution 19257 for the statutory fees these are what we call the level one developer fees remember the the district uh levies both level one and level two fees so this is the level one only and we plan to bring the level two fees back at a later date uh the level one fees are are because we have level two fees level one fees are charged on Commercial uh permits U and the rate is increasing um from three $3.79 um currently to uh $48 on the on the residential rate rate which again doesn't really apply because we charge level two but on the level one fees for commercial it's going up to 66 cents per square foot so um like to hold the public hearing and then we can entertain any questions thank you

189Mr mlan um while uh holding a public hearing doesn't require a motion we did do that for the last one so I will ask at this time for a motion thank you trusty soless is there a second I have a second by trusty cantes all in favor please say I or communicate your support any oppose any obss okay we now open the public hearing um for this item are there any members of the public wishing to address the board on this item and we will allow 30 seconds to pass before closing this public hearing at this time I don't see anyone in the queue thank you Miss doy at this time do we have a motion to close the public hearing I have a motion by trusty Solace is there a second if we didn't

190motion to open why are we motioning to close it we did I did I did ask for a motion okay I thought you said it wasn't required it wasn't but we did for the previous public hearing so in an effort to be consistent um so I do have a motion by trusty Solace is there a second I have a second by trusty cantes all in favor please say I any oppose any exensions our public hearing is now closed um are there any questions uh or comments regarding the resolution hearing trusty soless is that a motion no that was a question uh to staff uh did you meet with the developers and did you have any meetings and what was the outcome Mr mlan you're on mute give me one second yeah we we did have

191a previous meeting um after the the first information meeting that we had a month or two ago uh since that time we did send this out um to developers uh and noticed it in the paper um the level one again is a statutory rate so there's not as much um interest in the level one fees as there are in level two but we did we did communicate that out to developers thank you you're welcome any other questions or comments trusty Paul so they their statutory right but we have the option of of staying where we are or increasing to the maximum allow by the statute correct for you're on mute there we go uh could you say that question again please okay so they're these are statutory rates we have the ability as a district

192to increase to the statutory amounts or not to correct uh correct you take action or not take action right thank you any other questions hearing nothing further is there a motion to approve the resolution thank you trusty soless is there a second second thank you trusty cantes all in favor please say I or communicate your support I okay any oppose any extensions the resolution passes for two with two no votes by trusty Paul and trusty Cox we had no extensions uh our next item M3 just give me one second to get to that item receive information regarding resolution number ordering an election to authorize the issuance of school bonds establishing specifications of the election order and requiring consolidation with other elections occurring on November 3D 2020 Mr mlan thank you president Creo so we talked

193with the board at the last meeting about the possibility of bringing a bond U back in November and wanted to uh bring forward the resolution for information and for discussion tonight so returning again tonight is is Mark frell with Dell Scott and Company and um we can uh have him just kind of walk us through the resolution and and talk about uh what's there and any changes so Mark if You' like to go ahead great uh thank you Steve good evening trustees um so the resolution that you have before you tonight is very similar to the resolution from uh the March Bond measure um the kind of you know dates uh Etc have all been updated um the biggest change uh to the the resolution is the language in the 75w valot question um we

194work with staff and and played around with that language a little bit uh you can find that it's on first scene on appendix a on page A1 which is about the uh sixth page of the resolution and uh it begins to provide quality schools including a new Elementary School Comprehensive High School improve student safety SL school security renovate existing classrooms and schools upgrade technology infrastructure and create local construction jobs uh and then the language is very close to what was on uh the March ballot measure and then a few little changes um the second to last sentence or line um where we say raising 6.8 million annually to pay bonds through maturity and then we end with all funds benefiting uh Central Schools and I think we said all funds benefiting uh all money spent

195on local projects in the last the last measure in March um the project list has not been changed um the dollar amounts have not been changed tax rates have not been changed so really uh just a little bit of tweaking to that 75w uh statement and then also adding a whereas um related to the creation of local construction jobs um just in the fact that you know as you know these Bond programs uh do provide uh construction jobs in the community and so uh given kind of the uh importance of of you know at least some local stimulus to the economy given uh what we're seeing with the the recession that we're in as a response to or as a result of covid-19 I thought it good to highlight the the fact that this will

196provide kind of ongoing construction jobs within the community um happy to answer any questions if there's comments on the bond language uh we do have time to make edits to the resolution uh uh we need to file the resolution with the county elections office by August 7th uh so we do have some time uh to make some edits to this before bringing it back to the board for final approval thank you are there any comments or questions from the board trusty Cox and then trusty Paul Mr frell um so the elections we knew it was going to be kind of um different because the whole format of our elections in California was different or at least in Fresno County I should say so what it's going to be different if we take this out in

197November um I think you shared with us that you're anticipating in terms of right just what is going to make a difference in the vote is it you know are we planning a different type of campaign are we planning on different voters showing up um what what is what is your game plan sure well I think first and foremost you are going to have a different voter show up in November than you had show up in March I think um we saw that uh back in 2008 when the District last put a bond on the primary uh ballot and ended up getting very almost similar at least percentage wise 54.8% uh support in November excuse me in June of 08 and then significant support in the November 08 election and so I mean you're going

198to have a younger voter base a more liberal voter base typically uh voters that are supportive of school bond measures those voters did not vote in March and they will very likely be voting in November given that it's a presidential election uh given everything else going on with national politics and local politics I would expect um and that it would be a you know very high voter turnout election consistent with some of your other recent presidential elections so that will be very favorable uh to uh the bond measure placing the bond measure on the ballot in terms of campaign um you know the the uh a community would form a local you know citizens Campaign Committee uh that would be funded by uh donations and so ultimately kind of that campaign uh and the decisions

199there would be driven by the committee um I would think a campaign this November given what we're kind of going through with um you know social distancing uh is likely to be a much more kind of online uh focused uh campaign uh things using um social media email kind of direct messaging potentially phone calls I think doing things face to face is probably going to be very difficult in this environment um so I think a more digital strategy is probably uh going to be likely with with the measure okay so um I I'm just I'm real concerned Mark we went out to the voters they said no um it's putting in a situation to have to ask again and I realized in 2008 I was there um the bond um campaigns from 2008 in the

200earlier which I think it was in June at the time not March um was much different than the one that we ran in November um different type of campaign completely um I think that the um classification of the campaign in June was called um Stealth In other words let's just pass it and don't get anybody upset about it didn't work for us so in November we did a real effort to make sure we educated people what those campaigns were going to um The Campaign are passing the bond was going to benefit the district um one of the things I'm concerned and we talked about this months ago in the language for this one um if you take a look at the amount of money that we're asking for the bond it barely covers or even

201if it covers the high school um but yet we're promising about 15 or other sites of improvements and so I really want to make sure if we're going to go into this campaign we can delve down into very nuts and bolts about what we're asking the community to increase their taxes um people are hurting for money right now I I think we're in a worse situation than we're in March I don't think it's just a matter of who shows up at the voters I think those that show up now are going to be NOS versus May last time or didn't show up and counting on the younger voters to show up I mean they were counting on them to show up in March and it was crickets they didn't come so just a hope that

202the young voters GNA be what's goingon to put us over I'm not sure so I trying to get you to assur us what what's going to be different other than just well we think more people are GNA show up because I'm not sure that's it we got to get yes votes not just people all right well I do think I do think it is not just young voters I mean again we talked about the declined to State voters that didn't vote in March and potentially some of the reasons that they didn't vote in March the fact that they didn't have a a presidential candidate at the top of their ballot um so you know those voters came in at a 15% turnout rate uh there's no reason to think they would not come in at

203a much higher you know more like 50 even 60% rates which are more consistent with your overall voter turnout and presidential elections um that said I agree I don't think you just rely on the higher voter turnout you will have more time to organize a campaign uh for the November election you know given the timing of the March uh election and kind of uh you know the holidays and trying to get things organized uh and really a shorter period of time and having a much smaller window to really communicate with voters kind of in the you know really January to uh you know really early February you really had about 30 days before people actually had their ballots and were able to vote uh so with the the November election cycle uh having the bond

204uh resolution approved by the board potentially uh in early to mid July you will have more time to get the campaign up and running get volunteers for the campaign and do the fundraising for the campaign uh so I think that was one of the challenges in March was having kind of a compressed window in which to put The Campaign Committee together and then actually get out and uh communicate with with the voters so I do think I do think you need to do an Outreach campaign to the voters again I think it's going to be a little bit more challenging and that it's you know things like door Todo uh Town Hall meetings probably aren't you know going to work and those are probably some of the things that were used in November of 2008

205so it's going to have to be a little bit more uh digital um you know even Zoom meetings like we do for board meetings things like that with a campaign to try to get out get out to to voters and if we need to adjust the bond language to make it more clear what is being funded what is not that is definitely something we can we can look at well in in 2008 the campaign that changed was we do what really works in central we knocked on doors and I don't see that happening this time in the covid um atmosphere I don't think we're going to get volunteers knocking on doors um we literally went door too to make sure they understood what that campaign was about um I especially during a presidential election our

206campaign um p pamplets get lost in the other 30 or 40 that arrive in the mailbox so we've always found what works is getting there on door too so I I'm very I'm just going to go on record I'm very very concerned we're not going to reach our numbers in November and um I'm not even sure you know we're you know if we were to pass the bond if it's going to be um enough money to finish what we're what we we intend to finish Mr yeah I just wanted to mention also that um the voters approved the authorization of the bond so once the bonds are authorized the district has discretion as to when to issue those they could be issued the year following the election they could be issued two years out it

207would be you know we we can um we can look at that from different angles um the other thing to consider is the cost of not bringing forward a bond and and what the alternative is I think I think that was brought up last last month and um as you know we've done cops in the past uh in L of bonds at times and cops end up with a um cost to the general fund which is is in this budget environment that we're in right now is is really not desirable but it is an option um but it the bonds would be preferable from that standpoint of view in terms of uh funding these these projects that we have committed to the commitment of the high school to complete uh to have a comprehensive high

208school that was was talked about with um the community in the past as well as the next school and as well as the the modernization projects as well down the road so I just wanted to to add that to the conversation Steve how much how much are we short if we don't if we don't pass the bond in November to complete the high school well the this coming Bond the one that we ran in March and and if we ran in in November would be for the for the Final Phase um so we would um you know approximately probably $80 million would be for that Final Phase which would include the visual and performings um Performing Arts Center that we talked about and the Aquatic Center and and finishing out anything else that that wasn't

209covered in the in the first phase so in the last the last time I'm sorry just one last question I'm done the the last time we talked about too if there was like we had to get really Crea the last time when the um bonds failed in 2008 and we built Tilly backwards um just want to know if anybody's taking a look at that um is there a potential that we can get somewhere on the development but um without if if the case the the bond fails are we where's our plan B I think the plan B would be the cops and and we we've looked at that too in terms of cost um part part of not passing a bond too um with with the growth that is expected over time in the district

210that you potentially could be uh building more Portables uh and then you end up you know paying the cost for Portables and then if you later replace those permanent buildings like a Tilly then you know if you do that the next Elementary School you're going to have the same issue where you're you're paying more in the long run by by doing that because you're you're adding Portables as well as having to replace those it's very expensive yeah we we do end up paying more than long run but we actually can house students so what what's what's the CP cost on an $80 million C on an annual basis you have that Mark sure we ran it was a little bit less than that we we were assuming about you needed 70 million uh net to

211to complete the projects and we kind of wrap that around the existing cops that the district has the district makes payments of about $3 million per fiscal year currently and so um it would basically add another $3 million on top of that you get about a $6 million a year annual payment uh and then once the prior cops would get paid off uh then the the new cop would would go from three million to six million so You' kind of keep a $6 million flat payment going out about 25 years thank you trusty Paul I believe you had some questions or comments yeah Mark I wouldn't want your job this is I mean it's untried you're I mean that's that's a difficult job so I I get that um but there there will be organized

212opposition we know that um and I I'm truly concerned about the covid-19 implications to voter turnout and I think it's going to affect more than we probably all want to uh admit so anyway just just some things that we're seeing generally you may want to consider if you have already yeah I mean I think the one thing that'll be a little bit different and you know that also was you know it already really been put into play in Fresno was the all mail Ballot or The ability for all voters to cast her ballot VIA mail um and that's what we're really probably looking at here in November is primarily a mailin ballot um so that definitely could have some impact on on voter turnout um potentially both ways in terms of you know some people

213not filling out mail and ballots because they're not used to it uh or you know potentially even some voters being more comfortable with the fact that they don't have to go into a a voting Center uh because of covid-19 so um you know definitely understand that could be an issue I think uh any part of uh of kind of a campaign strategy a certain amount of just kind of get out the vote effort would be needed um and that actually is kind can be a nonpartisan activity and so that's actually even something that the district could help support in terms of you know really just reminding voters it's election day here's how you vote you know the mechanics of how you vote not what to vote yes and no on um and so there are

214some some things that that even the district can do from that perspective just again to kind of educate voters that uh it's is going to be a little bit of a different uh different uh ballot than they're used to if you know they've only voted in presidential elections um this is going to be a different a different way for them to vote this goor round so I think that's definitely something that would have to be part of that strategy um with the bond on the ballot thank you any other questions or comments hearing nothing further this item is currently for information only and we'll return for to our July 28th meeting corre okay um thank you Mr Ferell for your patience and um for your presentation thank you you're welcome good evening thanks Mark thanks

215moving on on our agenda Advanced planning superintendent Alvada yes president CIO the 12-month calendar is attached uh if the board has any questions they can contact our office regarding that item thank you additional information and closing comments by the Board of Trustees is there any board member wishing to speak at this time moving on to the next item our next board meeting will be a special meeting for June 30th um and then we have also added on the calendar a July 14th meeting um and I know that currently this agenda states that our next board meeting is Tuesday July 23rd but I just want to correct that it'll be June 30th um we do not need to adjourn into close session and so our final item is adjournment what are the wishes of the board

216on this item I have a motion to adjourn by trusty Solace I have a second by trusty Chan all in favor please say I or communicate your support any oppose any exensions motion carries thank you everyone and have a wonderful night nice [Music] for [Music] you [Music]