001Adeline is a pace setter who consistently makes those around her better. We are incredibly proud of the leader she has become and look forward to her continued success both on stage and in the classroom. Go ahead, Alan. [applause] >> Please stand. >> She's an expert. >> Right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please be seated. [laughter] meeting us even. [clears throat] Sure. [laughter] Yep. Ready. >> One, two, three. [applause] All right, I'd like to bring up Oliver Medina. [applause] >> It is a pleasure to recognize Oliver this evening. Uh he truly represents the superstar student through his academic drive, creative talent, and school spirit.
002He created this shirt. It's the sixth grade shirt that they're wearing this evening. Um, and it was voted on and it's the one that won. Uh, he's a goal honor role and incentive award recipient who pushes himself beyond the standard curriculum. He's reading at a nth grade level and maintaining perfect fives average in math. Oliver is a sharp student who finishes his work with such efficiency that he often takes off on extra challenges and assignments and projects to keep his momentum going. His contributions to our campus are as diverse as they are impressive. I just spoke about he is a gifted artist um and he is dedicated mentor in Miss Kuahara's kindergarten class. We are also proud to celebrate his latest achievement, earning a spot on the school basketball team, who will hopefully win the
003school championship next month at the at the March Madness tournament. He I just found out too that he's a walking encyclopedia about baseball facts, so I encourage you to ask him something later on if you get a chance. Whether he's on the court or in the classroom or helping our youngest students, Oliver leads with integrity. perfect attendance, zero tardies, and a flawless record on his yellow card. He proves that true success comes from showing up, giving your best every single day. We are incredibly proud of Oliver and can't wait to see what he accomplishes next. Congratulations, Oliver. [applause] Hey guys, >> [laughter] >> Uhoh. EVERYBODY [laughter] >> [laughter] >> Oliver is gonna be a basketball player. [laughter] I do want to thank uh Mr. Mr. Ralph and Miss McGee for being here tonight who are
004the teachers um of these students. So, thank you so much for being here this evening as well. >> Thank you. >> Um I'd like to introduce our partner in education. Um it's uh Anthony Aila from Horus Ma'am. We are proud to highlight our partnership with Horus Man, a company that has long stood as a pillar of support for the education community. Founded by educators for educators, Horus man shares our deep commitment to the success and well-being of every student on our campus. This year, their partnership has been instrumental in our push for improved student attendance. Understanding that showing up is the first step towards academic excellence. Horus man has generously stepped up to provide incentives and resources that celebrate our students consistency and reliability. This year it's donuts. So, you know, the kids are really
005enjoying that. Their support allows us to recognize the hard work and our families and students, turning the goal of perfect and improved attendance into a celebrated campuswide achievement. We are grateful for Horus Man's belief in our mission and their tangible investment in our students futures. Through their collaboration, they help us ensure that every child is present, engaged, and ready to learn. And the sugar helps. [laughter] >> Thank you very much. Thank you so much. [applause] Thank you. All right, that will bring us to our student representative report. And we actually have a uh new representative coming to us from Arrow High School, Miss Adrina Suarez. So, if you would uh maybe introduce yourself to us and uh we can welcome you aboard. >> Hello everybody. This is my first meeting. So, here's a little bit
006about me. My name is Adrina Suarez. I am a senior at Arrow High School. I am a transfer student from Glendora Unified School District and I'm as well as a current member of our student leadership on campus. Um, I help plan schoolwide activities and events and basically voice for ARO student body. Um, as well as on the side, I babysit, I deliver for Uber Eats, all that. And as well as do my family and friends hair. And after graduation, I plan on going to Mount Sack um, college for running my own daycare someday. So, I'm really excited for that and mainly focusing on child development right now. So, thank you for having me at the first meeting. >> Excellent. Thank you so much for being [applause] >> if you'd like to go ahead and uh
007give your reports this evening. >> Yes. So for Cedar Grove um the LAO visual and vis and media arts we are pleased to announce the successful implementation of our new sitebased art program in partnership with Alo. [snorts] This program provides all students with 30 minute specialized lessons in visual and media arts beyond the technical skill acquis acquisition and creative production. The Alleo curriculum is intentionally designed for integrate social emotional learning, providing students with essential tools for self-expression and emotional regulation within the IND industrial day. Strategic community engagement. Our commitment to fostering a robust school culture has been evidenced by our recent series of family engagement nights by hosting targeted events focused on literacy, mathematics, and communicating building community building. We have provided a platform for families to engage with staff and curriculum in an informal
008collaborative setting. These events serve a dual purpose for both reinforcement academic standards through playing and strengthening the partnership between home and school that is vital to our school for our student success for Arrow High School. Our resource center at Arrow is real necessity that the student body didn't know that we needed. The school is so the center is stocked with clothes, food, baby items, hygiene products, shoes, and toys. The resource center is doing really well at supplying needed f needed items to students and their family. It is becoming a popular place where all students hang out. The adjacent wellness center is a favorite spot on campus. For lunchtime, we have designed um to encourage students to attend school consistently and to build on school communicate. School community are in place. Recently, students who are presented
009at school have been receiving a hot dog, circus themed lunch, eskezes, and taco plates. Students are motiv motivated by delicious food. ASB has also hosted funtime work lunchtime workshops including Valentine's love notes, gingerbread housem, and Halloween student contests or costume contest. Our students who received green report cards at tier one attendance as well as students who improved 10% in both areas at the end of first semester received a movie reward and all you can eat nacho stand and candy bars were included. Our school likes to regularly reward achieving students as well with as well as ASB planned events like this. Our art showcase the second annual sunflower showcase planning has started. The theme is color our world. Everyone, everyone's student will have at least one piece in the showcase. Their showcase will be on display
010during open house on Thursday, March 26th. Classes are working on their projects. Now, [snorts] as for Charter Oak High School, earlier this month, the eighth graders at Royal Oak Middle had the opportunity to attend Charter Oak High School. They learned about different different academic pathways, performing arts and ASB. Students were able to interact with high schoolers within these programs and learn about academics while taste testing dishes from culinary department. The annual remembrance walk was hosted where many students and members of the charter community came to walk in support of those who have been lost. The academic rally was hosted. IB hosted their annual recruit recruitment night for sophomores and freshmen to get a good look on how the program was designed. Wrestling member Zoe Lopez has qualified for CIF Southern Section Masters. Congratulations to her
011and all of the hard work and dedication to the program. Choir hosts their car Carnage Hall preview night to showcase their music being performed in New York. The City of Hope blood drive will be hosted on 25th, open to Charter Oak students and staff members. Dance is hosting their annual show from the 26th to the 28th. make sure to also show support for all of their hard work. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you very much for your report, Srina. And uh at this time, um we have any guests and honores that may have dinner plans perhaps. Uh you're more than welcome to continue and join us with our meeting. Um or if you would like to take your leave, you're welcome to do that as well. >> [clears throat] >> All right. Uh, with Mr.
012Rose's absence, uh, we will be forgoing the RO report this evening, which will bring us to our superintendent report. Dr. Thank you, Dr. Aguular. Uh, first of all, I'd like to welcome Adrina to the team. Adrina, a pleasure having you here. Thank you for representing Arrow High School. And if I may just add, uh, adults are also motivated by delicious food, too. So, um, thank you for bringing that to our attention. Uh, February is just an incredible month. Uh, a lot to celebrate. Uh, as we all know, February is Black History Month, and we just want to celebrate the contributions of black Americans, uh, to society, to history, to culture, uh, to v variety of different things as well. Uh, across our district, we celebrate a lot of different cultural as well as faith-based uh,
013celebrations this month. Uh, it's, uh, Lunar New Year we celebrated just recently, as well as the beginning of Lent and Ramadan. And so we acknowledge that across our district and our faith-based um students and just want to recognize that uh it's just really important month here in February. Uh collaboration is uh really um uh happening and thriving right now across our school district. Uh it's really neat seeing all of our elementary school teachers as grade level teams come together, really think together and collaborate. uh as well as our subject area teams, various groups working together, problem solving together and really thinking of new creative ideas to make sure our students are learning at high levels. Um as well um I shared last month about the importance of addressing our facility needs across our district. Uh
014that is one of our pillars for success and we have been starting our information sharing across our community and uh the committee will be receiving thisformational pamphlet about some of the facility needs we have here and perhaps what a local funding measure might be able to do to address some of those fundamental needs that we are seeing and experiencing at some of our school sites. So just wanted to make you aware of this. Uh it is outside for anybody interested in this flyer in the lobby as well. And lastly, I had the pleasure of joining uh President Aguilar this past Monday on President's Day with a roundt meeting with our local congressman uh that um represents this region, Gilsis Neros. And it was very informative uh very um thoughtful discussion and I think one of
015the points that we emphasize in AC across not just our district but across our region uh other school districts is just the importance of fully funding education for students. And one of the points that we really emphasize is that we are not seeing the promises the federal government has made particularly with our students with disabilities. And so this gap is having an impact as you all aware are aware in our district and across the region. And so uh uh Congressman Cisneros was very attentive to those needs. I think we can both agree that he was um really um uh advocating for seeing how we might be able to address that in in legislation. So um appreciated that time and that concludes my report. >> Great. Thank you Dr. Kim. Uh that will bring us to
016our presentations and our first presentation will be on our local control and accountability plan. Uh Dr. Kim, would you introduce our speaker? >> Yes. Uh I'm going to actually turn over to Dr. Mustafa to talk a little bit about um what this is and uh why we're presenting this. >> Perfect. Thank you, Dr. Kim. our local control and accountability plan mid-year review really provides an opportunity to assess our progress um of our uh programs and our effectiveness to ensure student resources or student uh improvement and our resources align with budget. Um I'm going to bring up or call up Dr. Ivan Iro, director of adult ed and CTE as well as Mrs. Camille Strika uh coordinator of curriculum instruction and innovation to go ahead and lead us uh through this presentation. >> [clears throat] >>
017Good evening, board president, Dr. Aguular, members of the board, Dr. Kim, and executive cabinet. Tonight, we are here to present the midyear review of our district's progress aligned to our LCAP goals and strategic priorities. This update reflects our ongoing commitment to student success, fiscal responsibility, and continuous improvement as we plan for the remainder of the school year. The purpose of the LCAP major review is to assess progress towards the goals outlined in the local control and account accountability plan. It allows districts to evaluate the effectiveness of implemented strategies, make necessary adjustments, and ensure resources are being used to support student success. Tonight, we will review the goals, budgets, and expenditures, and all the metrics of all four of our LCAP goals. Something to keep in mind as we move through this presentation is that our
018LCAP is a three-year plan and we are currently in year two of the plan. As this table reflects, the metrics we will be sharing with you is 2425 data from the California dashboard as well as internal data. The metrics are being compared to data from the previous year, the 2324. So, we're always one year behind. All expenditure information shown are from expenses which occurred between July 1st through December 31st, 2025. Goal one focuses on college and career readiness. At COUSD, we're committed to expanding college and career opportunities for all students by ensuring access to highquality teachers, standard aligned instructional materials, supportive learning environments, and a broad course of study. We're setting our students up for success both in the classroom and beyond. This slice provides a midyear progress update on LCAP goal one college and
019career readiness. At this point in the year, all action items have been implemented and are actively in progress with ongoing monitoring of outcomes and impact. Our work under this goal continues to focus on recruiting and retaining high-quality staff, maintaining safe, clean, and well equipped facilities, providing instructional materials and technology, supporting fast completion and post-secondary readiness readiness efforts. The district has budgeted approximately 36.4 million and as of December 31st expended approximately 17.8 million. funds will continue to be strategically allocated through the remainder of the year to ensure that we fully support priorities under goal one. Oh, >> I'm not sure why you can't see it all, but hopefully you can see everything in your in yours. So, we apologize for that. >> Do you want to pause and have me log on to it live? I
020don't know. Or just go with it because you have the print out. I can >> I can log into my Canva. >> Would you like us to pause just so everyone else can see it? >> I don't know. Thanks for your patience. >> Yeah, we had the right person in the room. [laughter] >> All right, moving uh continuing on. This slide uh highlights the metrics used to measure progress for goal one. Metrics are the specific data points or indicators we use to determine whether our actions are producing the intended outcomes for students. All metrics for goal one are completed. 100% of our students have access to standards aligned instructional materials, ensuring equitable access to core curriculum across all schools. 100% of teachers are appropriately assigned and fully credentialed, which is critical to maintaining instructional quality
021and comp and compliance. Our 2025 fit report confirms that facilities are in good repair, supporting safe and effective learning environments. And our fast completion rate is currently 72% reflecting a 13% increase, demonstrating strong progress in preparing students for post-secary opportunities. Goal two focuses on academic increasing academic achievement for all students including student subgroups through highquality culturally responsive instruction and aligned curriculum meeting the diverse needs of every learner. Action items in goal two include providing programs that increase college and career readiness, funding for our special education program, providing career technical education classes at secondary sites, and ongoing support for our English learners. All of these action items are currently in progress. Of $21 million budgeted, $6.5 million has been expended as of December 31st. You may notice the difference between the expenditure and budget. This is
022because funds have been encumbered for various contracted services and salaries that will not show as expenditures until the end of the school year. An example of this is our action item providing special education services. There is approximately 11 million tied to this item in the form of contracts and services which will be expended by June 30th. There are several metrics used to measure goal two attainment which are divided over the next two slides. Some highlights include a a 13% increase in our A throughG completion rates, a 3% increase in our AP and IB pass rates, a 1.7 increase in our high school graduation rate, and a 9% increase in English learner proficiency rates in addition to a 30% increase in progress for our long-term English learners, moving from red to blue on the dashboard. As
023you can see from the gains in many of these metrics, we need to applaud and celebrate the efforts of our high school teachers, administration, and support staff, including our language development assistance and English learner TOSSA for a job well done. This next slide shows additional metrics used to support goal two. We here we can see a 4% increase in CTE pathway completion, a 7% increase in CTE participation rates, and a 4% increase in our college and career indicator. Taking a deeper dive into the college and career indicator, students can meet this rigorous requirements through a combination of the following. Achieving proficiency levels on both English language arts and math CAP scores, passing AP and IB exams, earning college credits from dual enrollment or articulated courses, and receiving the state of biiteracy. I would now like
024to turn it over to Mrs. Camille Stoula to run through the remainder of the presentation with you. Okay, thank you, Dr. Iro. Okay, let's continue on to goal three, which is um basically supporting positive school climates um at all of our school sites. This includes supporting the social, emotional, and physical needs of our students and their families. This goal also focuses on addressing the safety needs at all campuses. Actions in goal three include outreach services, mental health services, seal curriculum, extracurricular programs, and visual and performing arts, as well as athletics for all students. All of these action items are currently in progress, and of the 4.3 million in funding attached to these items, 1.3 million has been expended as of December 31st. Expenditures planned in this category for the remainder of the school year include
025funding to support art and music purchases, including updated audiovisisual equipment, performance needs, supplies, instruments, and contracted services, which you just heard about um prior to our presentation, providing standardsbased art instruction at all sites. Next slide. Um, as you can see from this slide, most of our metrics tied to goal three are considered completed with the exception of our district surveys, which are in progress since these surveys are not given till later in the spring. Highlights in these metrics include a decrease in suspension rates, and also chronic absenteeism, a decrease in high school dropout rate, and maintaining a 93% attendance rate districtwide. Moving on to goal four, the equity multiplier. This provides additional funding to schools with the highest concentration of student need based on stability rates and socioeconomic disadvantaged population. At Charter Oak Unified, the
026Sunflower campus meets the state's eligibility criteria, reflecting both the level of need and the opportunity to provide those targeted supports. These additional resources allow us to implement focus strategies to improve outcomes, close achievement gaps, and better support our high need students. The goals listed on this slide are aligned with approving improving student achievement and graduation rates in addition to improving attendance and decreasing suspension rates. All action items are in progress and the allocated amount for the equity multiplier is just under 200,000 of which 9,000 has been spent. Additional expenditures are currently in progress to provide sustained student supports, targeted professional development for teachers and necessary technology updates. All metrics for goal 4 have been completed again with the exception of the parent climate survey which again will be conducted later in the spring. As you
027review the data for Sunflower Campus, it's important to note that student enrollment fluctuates with students frequently entering and exiting the program. This mobility creates challenges in measuring year-to-year progress as we are often unable to track outcomes for a consistent cohort of students. Despite this instability, the campus has placed a strong and intentional focus on increasing student engagement, recognizing it as a critical lever for improved outcomes. This targeted effort is reflected in the data. Both Arrow and Bridges have demonstrated a decrease in chronic absenteeism rates. suspension rates have declined and the college and career readiness indicator has been maintained. Together, these trends highlight that prioritizing student engagement is yielding measurable improvements even within the context of high student mobility. There's also been an emphasis on academic growth with the recent implementation of individualized learning plans for
028every student using diagnostic assessments to measure each students specific academic levels and needs. These diagnostics guide targeted interventions designed to address identified learning gaps. To ensure ongoing progress and accountability, each student is assigned a staff member who conducts a personal check-in every six weeks to review data, monitor growth, and adjust supports as needed. This structured, individualized approach will help to strengthen both academic achievement and student engagement. This concludes um our LCAP presentation. We'll now open it up for any questions you might have. >> Great. Thank you very much for the uh for the great work there, Dr. Iro, Miss Tricula. Do we have any questions from the board? Mr. Peterson >> complete the path to >> it can be two to three depending on the pathway. Uh some of our pathways are three years like
029our engineering is an intro concentrator completer and some are two uh like our business pathway is a two-year pathway or culinary is a two-year and in those cases it's just concentrator and completer but you are correct in order to be a completer you need to successfully pass both uh both courses and pass a capstone with a C or better to be counted. How many of those are >> um actually I believe if I'm not mistaken now with all of our pathways everything with the exception of our graphic arts is articulated. So that means that in each pathway we at least have one or more courses that are either articulated where they earn dual um they earn college credit um or are dual enrolled which is our sports medicine program. so that they're like, you know,
030basically a a Mount Sack student at the same time and earning college credit automatically without having to take a final exam. >> Miss McGuire, >> thank you for this presentation and I just wanted to bring up I remember having a really tough conversation last time when I said I felt like we can push ourselves a little more when it came to FAFSA completion and A3G completion. [snorts] Um, and [clears throat] sounds like I was right cuz you did it. Uh, and 72% is remarkable. 13% increase is remarkable. And our students, uh, they really step up when we kind of challenge them, right? And our teachers have done an excellent job in ensuring that we're able to get our kids there. So, I just want to say good job and congratulations to everyone involved. I'm very
031proud of of our staff and our students for being able to push themselves to to make this goal. And it and it's it works really well because the the CSU system, the Cal State system is now, you all know, uh uh doing some automatic enrollments for next year. If the students meet these requirements, they will be accepted uh automatically into a Cal State campus. So, this is really setting them up for success. Uh being able to hit those A throughG and also completing their FAFSAs um will will help really set them up for success. So, good job everyone. Yeah, I echo that. There's a lot of great um improvements in metrics across the board, which is fantastic. I had a question on our graduation rates at our uh Sunflower campus, Arrow High School Bridges. Um
032I know in the past I think we've also seen decreases there as well. Um a metric that's not indicated here, so what I want to ask about is does this also capture students that are moving from either Arrow or Bridges either back into Charter Oak or elsewhere? Um are those considered or included within these metrics? >> Um they should be counted at one or either school. So when we look at dropout rates, it's this uh the number of students that don't uh graduate from any of our programs. That's how they they um they identify them. Okay. >> And so that that when you look at that percentage, it's based on even if they transfer over, they should still count for one or the other. >> Okay. Um but yeah, it's the ones that don't complete
033any program altogether that will count as a >> so it's a true graduation rate that that >> percentility of the the students coming and going is greater than 25%. [clears throat] >> Yeah. It so but we do our best and um it's part of our Calpad's data in the end when they when they record the graduation rates at either one school or the other. Mhm. And then we're looking at percentages here, but to kind of put things a little bit in perspective, what kind of total numbers are we typically looking at in terms of seniors, for example, at Arrow High School, seniors in the Bridges program? >> Like how many seniors are >> total students? Yeah. >> Um that I honestly don't have the question in front of me, although we do have the expert
034in the room who's here who may have a better idea. [laughter] >> Um but we could get that for you. U unless Lisa, you happen to know off the top of your head in one Okay. >> Okay. >> Oh, we don't have the separation. >> 15 between all three sites. Right. So, obviously less >> 5 Z 5 >> between all three sites. Thank you. Yes. Um if you want a breakdown, we can definitely provide that for you. >> Right. So, less than 50 if we're looking at only two of the sites >> I think at the high school probably roughly about 300. I'm going to look at Joey about 300 graduating class um roughly around that number. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Right. So, in that case, a difference of five students if we're looking at
035all three sites would be the equivalent of a 10% decrease. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So, Okay. >> All right. Um and then maybe one last question. Um Dr. you referenced a little bit some of the differences in terms of the funding that is allocated and the expenditures to date for some of these uh goals. Um, what are kind of some other examples, I suppose, of of areas where there are monies that are budgeted, but they won't show up as expenditures until a certain point, you alluded to something like that. Are those specific types of contracts of services? >> Uh, the largest ones come from our our special education. Um, and they represent a large percentage of goal number two. If you look at 11 million considering there's like 21 in there. Um we do have
036some smaller that's why um Camille also mentioned in our um visual performing arts we have our prop 28 funds which there is a spending pan plan for. Um some of the other ones I'd have to get back to you in regards to specifics. Um I'm trying to think based on those goals. I know. So then the structure of those contracts is such that if a contract is entered into right which obviously we are we are receiving certain services through these contracts. So then it's it's dependent upon when that's kind of build for essentially correct and they are requesting those funds and then that will show up of course at that point as >> that is correct. Yeah, >> there's been more expended up to this current date we're on right now. So remember what we're
037only showing is up until December 2025. So there's been extra or other expenditures still. Okay, great. Any additional questions, Mr. Peterson? >> Correct. We're in year two. >> No, >> we definitely do. >> That's the idea and the hope. >> That's the goal of >> that is the overall goal. >> Um, you >> we're always working like a year behind, right? Like that's why that slide was kind of funky on the first slide. didn't show that table at first, but just trying to remind everybody that when we're we're talking about we're in the 2025 26 school year, but the data points that we have right now are from last school year. So, we're not even really even seeing the great work already being done this school year. >> Yeah. >> Which we'll report on next
038year. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> So, >> great. Thank you very much. Uh that will bring us to our next presentation, our audit report for fiscal year ending June 30th, 2025. Dr. Kim. >> All right, I'm going to turn it over to Miss Brford to introduce our guest and our required annual uh presentation of our audit report. >> Thank you, Dr. Kim. Good evening, board. I am pleased to introduce Monnique Manzo. Monique is with Christy White Associates, our audit firm, and Monique will be presenting a brief overview of the results of the financial audit for the 2425 fiscal year. Right. Goes to [clears throat] this. >> Thank you. >> All right. Good evening, board president, board members, superintendent, and cabinet. Um, thank you for having me here again. My name is Monique Madzel with Christy White.
039We're your audit firm. Um, so I'd like to start off with a little overview of the audit process and procedures and then conclude with our opinions over the district's financial statements, state compliance and federal compliance. So jumping into the fund audit process, um, we normally work in two phases. The interim phase occurs during the springtime and here we're really focus on internal control testing, state and federal compliance areas. With internal controls, we're testing the design and effectiveness over the district's um internal controls over financial processes. So, uh we do this by selecting a sample of cash receipts or collect the district's collections at different collection points including your school sites. Um we're looking at cash dispersements and we're also looking at payroll transactions. Um and it's not just payroll. HR is involved with that process
040as well. Next, we are looking at state compliance. So these are applicable areas that are outlined within the annual LEA state audit guide. So this is attendance and structural materials and structural minutes and your LCAP. So we're definitely making sure that you're meeting those um the the reporting requirements and um the midyear LCAP is actually new this year um and last year. Um and then with federal compliance, um because the district expended more than 750,000 in federal funding, the district was subject to a single audit. So this year we looked at I apologize last year 2425, we looked at your child nutrition program and followed the procedures outlined within the OM compliance supplement. At year end, we come back again and um this is during the fall and occurs after you all approve your unaudit
041unudited actuals and we're really focused on confirming those account balances. So, we're looking at, you know, ending balances for cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable, um your balance sheet items. We're also looking at additions to capital assets, any disposals, um any issuances of new debt, um as well as revenues and expenditures incurred during the year. Throughout the audit, the district and auditor us hold different responsibilities. So the district's manager management is required apologies um is responsible for the design and maintenance of in effective internal controls over those district financial processes. Um also the preparation of f of financial statements. These are your financial statements. Um as well as the preparation and managing of your interim budgets. Our responsibility is to provide an opinion or reasonable assurance that the district's financial statements are materially stated and we
042conduct our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the US and government auditing standards. This image here just summarizes audit requirements that I kind of already went over, but the annual audits are required by the state controllers's office which results in an independent audit report over the district district's financials. Um, and this also includes reports over I keep throwing out um, internal controls, federal, state compliance, and internal controls related to those programs. Um, on page 86 of the report itself, you'll find this summary of audit reports. I find that this is the go-to page within that audit report. Um, it summarizes audit opinions. um and it's a good indicator as to whether the district received any um findings or if there were any reportable findings. Um so jumping into the first opinion um
043that's related to the district's financial statements. I'm happy to share that we issued an unmod unmodified opinion and that's the best opinion the district can receive. No significant deficiencies or material weaknesses or non-compliance were noted during testing. Um same with federal and state awards. Um an unmodified opinion for both of those. No significant deficiencies or material weaknesses were identified. Again with federal awards we looked at the child nutrition program or cluster. Um with state awards we did report one finding. So jumping into that finding, you'll see that it was related to the school accountability report cards. Um so we are required to confirm different information reported within the SARKC um including facility conditions. Um so what we found here during testing, we select a sample of school sites. We look at the SARC and we
044compare facility conditions reported in the SARKC um to the most recently prepared facility inspection tool, otherwise known as the fit tool. Um what we found here is that there was a discrepancy noted for the interior C category um within that um facility condition part of the SARKC. Um so the FIT reported a fair rating whereas the SARKC reported good. Um so that really came down to it being a clerical error when reconciling the two documents and uh misreporting there. There is no question cost associated with this finding. It's more compliance um was it met or not. Our recommendation here is just to ensure that the facility and maintenance department is providing the most recently prepared fit to ED services who compiles the SARKC. um specific to 2425 um was a new accounting standard implementation Gazsby
045101. So with Gazsby 101, this really changed how eleas's report compensated absences. Um before 2425, eleas or districts were only required to report a vacation liability. So anything that was owed to an employee upon separation. However, with Gazsby 101, and again, this was effective 2425 year, it also added a portion of accumulated sick leave as of 6:30. [gasps] Um, so that that's what led to this one-time restatement to to your net position. Um, in addition to that, um, there was a full repayment of your COP as of 630. So, the the net of the two restatements, um, resulted in that decrease of 1 8 to your net position, beginning net position. Um, I just want to stress that this is a a one-time restatement and it's due to an accounting standard. It doesn't affect your
046cash balance or your budget. It's it's an estimate. Um, so that concludes my presentation over the district's financial audit. I just want to give a special thanks to Carrill, Nikki, their teams, um really every department of the district because I feel every department is involved in the audit as well as your school sites are selected. So I just want to thank all your staff really. Um and with that said, any questions? >> Great. Thank you very much for the presentation. Uh we have any questions from the board, >> Mrs. McGuire? Yeah. >> Um regarding the FIT report, how does this match up with LCAP? Is this a different reporting year? LCAP says good repair. Over here, uh, for the audit, it says fair for the fit report. >> It's a different year. >> Okay. [clears
047throat] Thank you. >> Also, kind of along those lines, um, and this may not be your particular area of expertise perhaps, so I'm aware of that. But using the facility inspection tool, differences between a designation of fair and good, do you happen to maybe have some um ideas or general ideas of what the difference is there? >> I just know that there's a detail page and the inspection is done. Um and it's really comes down to how many good check marks you receive and it's um based on percentages. Um that's all I know. >> Okay, that's fine. Yeah, we can uh we'll take a closer look at that on that particular report. Thank you. All right. Any additional questions? >> Okay. Thank you very much for your presentation. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh
048let's see here. At this time, that brings us to our public comment section. Uh do we have any add besides individuals that have submitted cards, do we have any additional members of the public that would like to submit cards or make comment? Okay. So, they can be direct in the back. Okay. Great. All right. We will go ahead and begin our comments. Our first comment comes from Val infante on the subject of budget cuts. Um, as a general reminder, as you approach, feel free to approach. Um, during this time, each speaker will have three minutes uh to speak and uh the board themselves are not able to make comment during public comment time. So please thank you. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Val. I'm a parent of two children who attend. My daughter
049who's in fourth grade and my son who is in first grade [clears throat] also on I also have had the privilege of attending all my school years here at charter. I'm here to voice my concern about the proposed budget cuts that directly impact our students. These cuts are not just numbers. They affect the safety, support, and success of our children. They affect how supported a child feels when they walk into a classroom each day. As parents, when we drop off our kids at school, we trust that they are safe. Campus safety personnel gives families that peace of mind, especially in the world that we live in today. That peace of mind allows us to focus on work on Thank you, Missante. [applause] >> We have next Rachel Martin. >> Hello. Um, thank you for having
050the public comment for having everyone able to come. Um, I wish I had something as awesomely prepared as that, but I don't. Um, I'm simply also referring to the budget cuts. I also read the email that came out in the newsletter um, earlier that talked about the budget cuts. Um, and I guess it's more of an open question that when these difficult conversations for budget cuts do happen, is are parents and families and community going to be involved in them? I know when sending out these newsletters and sending out those types of comments, they are very general, which is understandable and they're very supportive. We're going to do our best, but how involved do the other educational partners get to be in those discussions to see what type of solutions we can have to ensure
051that our students are able to continue to receive the support and everything they need. I know how important our LCAP goals are. are. I know how important all of that is, but it is also difficult to continue to reach those goals and to continue to have our students learning when we're losing staff and when we have these budget cuts. So, I hope in the future we are able to be a part of that conversation as well so we can have more details than just we have support coming and we have a plan coming because we do want to be a part of that conversation. See what we can do. It takes a village for our kids even with the school. It takes a village. Thank you. Thank you, M. [applause] Next, we have Mr. Portillo
052on distribution of money. >> I'm good at defer. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Next, we have, and I will do my best to read, I believe it's Tony Chavez. Thank you. Thank you. I'm here really as a concerned parent. I am concerned about these budget cuts that are coming. I don't know much about them, how much is going to be cut, but the fact that the shows the cuts being made are to campus safety first concerns me. At my son's elementary school, I have heard at least three messages from our principal where they had to call the police because someone in a car was attempting to or at the very least harassing some of the students and the idea that they're going to cut some of this safety. It was the safety personnel on
053campus that stopped it each time. So none of the kids were abducted, none of the kids were harmed, but it was the safety personnel that made the difference. So the idea of cutting safety concerns me intervention programs, the same thing. You know, you I hear um it's very important to you guys these graduation numbers and students getting into colleges. That's fantastic. However, at the elementary school level, I think it's incredibly important to have these intervention programs in place unchanged, in fact, improved upon because I think if you take those intervention programs, there's a lot of kids out there who have suffered a lot. I mean, for one, because of COVID, the shutdowns really affected them a lot. having to go to school on the computer at home when you're in elementary school. If you ask
054any of these parents, I'm sure they'll tell you that was I know you had no choice, but that was kind of impossible. There was really very little you can do to get success out of that. These kids need the one-on-one physical in-person interaction with especially with the interventionist. There's a lot of kids who for whatever the reason, learning disabilities, just lack of contact with, you know, the education system the way it is outside of the computer screen. They have difficulties. They're not on the same level as a lot of kids their age and they need help. So, the intervention programs, I I just can't imagine that they would be cutting or making any cuts to the intervention programs or safety because they seem kind of related. Kids need to feel safe and when you're going
055to school, you're going there to learn, not to worry about someone harassing me on the on from the other side of the fence. Um, classroom aids, I mean, obviously that's important, too. Teachers are dealing with large classroom sizes. there. You know, I think in my son's class there's about 33 students. Um, it may not sound like a lot. I know when I went to school, we had a lot of students. We had like close to 40 students in my class, but this was like in high school. In elementary school with their attention spans, for one teacher to deal with all those children, especially the ones who need help, it's difficult. So all of this I'm telling you because again I am a very concerned parent and I really hope that you know as a concerned
056parent I don't want to find out later that while these cuts may have been pushed through that the people in charge whoever they may be are still getting their bonuses and raises. That would bother me quite a bit. So, I really hope that's not the case and I really hope whoever it may be considers these changes and takes them very seriously. >> Thank you, Mr. THOMAS. [applause] >> That'll bring us to our action item portion of the evening. Our first action item is uh from business services, the acceptance of our audit report for fiscal year ending June 30th, 2025. Uh do we have a motion? >> Motion made by Mr. Peterson. Do we have a second? >> Second by Mrs. Magcguire. Uh any discussion or questions from the board. Seeing none, uh we'll go ahead
057and call for the vote. Um Missina, welcome again to our meeting. So, as a student rep, you also have the opportunity to participate in the voting for this as well. Um, so I'll go ahead and ask for your vote first and then we'll also continue around the table and we're just voting yes or no on accepting this audit report. Um, so Audrey, >> um, I say yes. >> Mr. Peterson, >> yes. >> Mrs. McGuire, >> yes. >> And I'm also a yes. We'll accept that. 30. [snorts] Our next item is under human resources which uh we only are able to allow board members to vote on these particular items. Uh do we have a motion to bring resolution 22526 elimination layoff of classified personnel to the floor? >> Motion by Mr. Peterson. Do we have
058a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Mrs. Magcguire. Um we'll begin with comments and questions. And I think um I kind of want to also begin a little bit by thanking for members of the public for being here this evening making public comment related to this particular topic. Um I think with some of the questions and whatnot, Dr. Kim, if you might be able to provide a little bit of context, a little bit of information on this particular item. >> Absolutely. Sure. Um this resolution is being brought to you guys and layoffs and elimination of positions occur when there's a due to lack of work or lack of funds. And in this case, it's truly because there's a lack of funds. Uh we've reminded this board in our presentation last month along with previous
059meetings that uh we're entering a time of really great fiscal uncertainty and when we adopted our budget back in July of last school year, June of last school year, excuse me, last calendar year, uh we needed to recognize that there were $3 million worth of reductions that this um that this board needed to make and we had to provide a fiscal stabilization plan. Now, what's really challenging is that the needs remain yet the money doesn't. And how we were provided that money from the state uh and federal government was through tremendous amounts of one-time temporary funds. And that occurred in a series of last five years. Um, as we all know, temporary funds are just that. Once it's expended, it's uh no longer there. And in this case, uh, the funds that were utilized, uh,
060were primarily, um, uh, focused around our elementary schools. And so, we had, uh, a great opportunity to create new positions over the last 5 years utilizing these temporary funds. And they serviced incredible needs and, uh, did remarkable work around it. Unfortunately, those funds have since expired. And so um also what's most unfortunate is that because we've allocated those needs addressed those needs at the elementary school unfortunately the reductions are occurring there. And so um what's not obviously going to be reflected on this resolution is is what we've been able to maintain. Uh and so uh taking feedback and a a really profound question that was asked uh from the audience uh was around feedback and how do we capture input and so what we wanted to do is be fair and capture various stakeholder feedback
061whether from our bargaining bargaining unit leadership, our school site principles as well as a focus group of parents that we conducted last school year. And instead of asking them pick and choose positions, what we asked them is identifying the greatest needs. And what we've heard clearly across the last year or so is that of various needs. And we have a lot of needs across our district. The needs have not changed. But what really emerged was needs around addressing the social, emotional, the mental health and wellness of our students along with their behavior supports. And so what we've been able to work through and maintain are our elementary school counselors which were also included and added uh during the time uh that we had these temporary funds. So again it's it's um unfortunate that we have
062to come to this position but um and you're absolutely right. I think needs don't just represent numbers but the cost of not doing this is is immense as well. And so, um, that's certainly some of the background in terms of the work that occurred last, uh, year, two years. >> Thank you, Dr. Kim. Um, questions and comments from the board, >> Mr. Peterson. >> Uh, really good question. I mean, specifically on the reductions that are before you in this action item, um, if I'm correct, I think they amount to close to $1.3 million in reductions. And I think um if being I'm going to turn it over to Krill because the cost is um associated with the totality of the reductions that we had to identify which was nearly $3 million over the next two
063years. But I'll turn over to Krill in terms of explaining the impact. >> Sure. So, if we don't approve these reductions and we miss the deadline that we all know is a legal deadline and we um submit a negative certification to the county and they concur with that negative certification, then the county will follow prescribed set of steps how they handle districts. And so, first they'll try to send us a fiscal agent that will help us to be able to identify what we need to do. But if we're unsuccessful with that step, then they will start the process of receiverhip, which means that they'll take over the district. Uh my services won't be needed as well as the superintendent and then the board becomes advisory only >> and for clarity that's in the context of
064making no reductions. >> Correct. And if we are showing that we can't meet our obligations for the three years, the budget year and the two out years >> and it [clears throat] shows definitely that we have a cash shortfall then yes they will assign us as on the receiverhip. If I may add to that, and I think you were alluding to this, um, uh, not making these specific reductions as it relates to personnel because there is a legal timeline that we have to provide requires us then to make and identify reductions outside of personnel. And in this case, it would come to the tune of $1.3 million. And so the great concern we have with regards to that is if it's not identified in personnel and as a reminder personnel um is about 80 to
06585% of our costs in our school district. Uh then would have to think about programming and what that looks like across our school district. And again, not to cast concerns or fears, but programming then gets into really the student experience and what that looks like in terms of potentially things like the um athletics and the arts and other types of student experiences. >> Go ahead, Mr. P. >> A lot of this is focused around intervention still. >> Absolutely. In in no way have we have we shared that interventions are going away. Right? What we have identified and communicated with every single one of our teachers is that we can't sustain interventions as they are working right now. Right? And interventions have been done incredibly by our intervention specialists. And I think this is an opportunity
066uh for the next several months for us to identify and develop a really creative and effective way that we can apply interventions starting the beginning of the school year to address the needs of our students. >> Mr. McGuire, >> um I first wanted to bring up um I received a few emails that said that the cuts feel inequitable. um and that they are largely hitting the elementary school. Um I wanted you to talk a little more about the investments that were made with the one-time funds. You kind of touched on it, but were those investments made equitably? [clears throat] >> Um short answer is no. We've primarily in terms of positions created uh predominantly created for servicing and supporting our elementary schools because and it was very purposeful uh and with great intent because uh
067the funds provided for us were specific to towards learning recovery and as we knew and recognized and heard from our stakeholders, we wanted to prioritize addressing the needs of the elementary kids knowing that if we address those needs and gaps early on perhaps we can avoid some of the challenges and academic and ch uh learning gaps as they metriculate to the secondary schools. So, predominantly at our elementary grades. >> And I know you weren't the superintendent at the time that uh we made these decisions, but did we do our best job at notifying the campuses that this was a temporary solution with temporary funds? [snorts] to the extent possible. I think in our communication across our stakeholder groups, I think people realize that we were working through uh one-time funds and temporary funds, I think
068in our due diligence and great efforts. We've worked really hard to see to what extent we can maintain as best as possible these positions. And so that was our responsibility. We wanted to see how can we work as leaders to try to maintain this. And I think as we started working through the budget and as we adopted the budget last school year, we realized we needed to make some tough decisions and this is really at that point where we're at in terms of how do we sustain this over time and we can come up with a way of doing so for now >> and uh for timeline for communications I've heard a few people say today you know how will the other stakeholders parents community members etc be notified Okay. Um, do we have a
069timeline of how we will get those communications out or how we'll continue to speak with parents? >> Absolutely. I think, um, one of the information items that we shared recently was about the the impending or proposed reductions that we're making, right? And so, um, I think if I'm a parent, I am a parent, as a parent, what I would be most interested in is how might our kids be serviced starting next school year, right? as a reminder, these services continue on for the remainder of the school year, right? And so I think our responsibility as leaders and working with our school sites and our principles, and I'm certain our our teachers are curious about this, is designing something that will address um those needs that our our kids may experience and and of course communicating
070that to our stakeholders. >> And when do we think we'll have a plan for how we will address uh these deficits like in the classroom and for the students? >> Uh good question. So, um, we're we're designing committee work, uh, up to this point. We've gathered some data. Um, FY, you want to talk a little bit about, um, some of that work? >> Sure. So, we actually, uh, sent out a survey to all of our elementary teachers last week, um, with the intent of forming a committee with both trying to set up a plan for interventions as well as behavior and safety at the campuses. um that survey closes next Friday and then we'll start the work of planning and organizing what those will look like for the upcoming school year. >> And my my
071last question slash comment is about uh the consequences of not taking action today. Um I've worked in communities where the school district has gone into receiverhip. Um and I don't think we discussed that this is not a shortterm thing, right? The average time of receiverhip is 10 years in California, which means the community will lose full control over the school district if we don't make these cuts. Is that correct? >> That is correct. And one of the examples is Englewood Unified and also um Pasadena was already advised and so this year they're making a huge amount of cuts, millions of dollars in cuts. >> And I also read Long Beach Unified is making cuts to [snorts] avoid receiverhip as well. >> That is correct. Okay, that's it. >> Thank you. I have some additional questions
072for clarity. So with this particular resolution, we have a certain number of positions under the classified designation um such as was mentioned we have instructional aids or proctors um to name a few. In terms of these reductions um a certain number are being reduced with this proposal. How many total positions in terms of for example proctors or instructional aids are there across the district? >> Was that a total number of that we have total or total that we're >> let's say for example >> to reduce >> um both actually right. So in terms of the number being reduced in the context of the total number across the district. So um instructional aids we have approximately 50 to 55 just depends on the needs of our students and the the way that the extra support is
073written to IPS. The 10 that we are proposing to reduce are in the general ed classrooms for those >> um proctors. We do have one um safety proctor at each of the elementary schools. So there's five of those. Um we have one u BIA behavior instructional aid at each of the elementary schools that services the school as a whole. Um so those are five positions as well. >> And so with the remaining positions minus proposed reductions. Um is there any level of flexibility with locality of those positions in terms of where they would be at sites or how they could service the different populations of students? >> Yeah. So this resolution has 22 positions on it and 20 of those positions we do have um the flexibility within the staffing to find homes for those
074individuals. So they will have positions in the district next year through attrition of other uh individuals who have either left this year through resignation or retirement. >> And so okay so I mean that speaks to an individual person having an opportunity of employment remain in terms of the position and the service that it provides to students. Is there flexibility for the district to be able to position those positions in sites where the need is? >> Correct. Instructional aids and um BAS are all um district employees. And so each summer we will go through a process of making sure that the the positions that are needed at each of the school sites are um we do have for lack of a better term like shuffling or reassignments making sure that um all the needs are made
075met that are for the students sakes. And then maybe Dr. Kim, if [clears throat] you could address a little bit, I think we you've kind of touched on this a couple times at this point, maybe um in terms of determining the list of proposed reductions. Um there were budget advisory committees held in order to really kind of focus in on what were what would be potentially on this list. Um, in terms of other areas that are considered or other positions that are considered or wherever that may be, right? Again, if it needs to be within personnel or even if it's out of personnel, was there also consideration at that time in terms of would we be able to maintain a version of those services with elimination of whatever positions were relevant to that? >> Um,
076I'm going to ask Dr. Mustafa talk a little bit about uh perhaps answer that question but talk about in within the context um of the budget work and advisory work that you guys led through. >> Sure. So Dr. Agular we actually started the work um last school year. Uh we convened a committee um with both associations district leadership site uh leadership as well called the big team meeting. Um, and we met several times throughout the course of last year, um, where we looked at the LCAP and our LCF, LCFF base funding because those go hand inand and how the monies are spent. Um, we did road shows last year. I had to say we went to every school site where we talked about the budget. Um, those were at happened at every school site last
077spring. Um, we met with our site principles, we met with students. Um this year we convened another committee called the budget advisory committee. Same both associations um sent representatives. We had district leadership, site leadership. Um where we uh evaluated um our restricted and unrestricted funds. So we looked at all the pots of monies. Um we looked at every position that was high brought in postcoid in great detail. Um and again we we talked to students this year as well. Um and so we we did just are finishing up our um site visits this year as well. We have one more site to go to, but we've gone to every site sharing the same information as well. >> If I can make sure we're answering the question um in terms of the context in the background,
078if I understood your question, it was around did we discuss possible um what it might look like or how differently might look like? What my question really is about is if we're looking at reductions in personnel, right, each member of the staff, each member of the faculty has a very specific role and provides a very specific service in their role. Um so in terms of trying to determine which would be areas where fiscally there could be reductions that would assist in making the budget solvent but also looking at the specific services of course tied to those positions and whether there were opportunities or strategies or capabilities of maintaining services even with an elimination or reduction of certain positions right I mean for example I guess certain positions I could imagine if those are reduced there's
079no way to replace whatever that service would be or modify that service. Um so to what degree is that kind of part of the discussion? To what degree is that involved in determining this? >> I see. I to an extent. Um I think certain committees we convened there was a very clear purpose. So we didn't want to say your purpose was to help us give input around uh potential for reductions uh along with on the side create some new ideas for how you might be able to address those uh um needs that may arise. But I think in other feedback and stakeholder group meetings, we did discuss around okay perhaps how do we maximize some some needs and what positions might be able to help address those needs in terms of um and I'll give
080the example right so the counselor position uh was a position that was identified that could I that could maximize various types of service based on the credentiing and the training the personnel involved. Again, we don't look at counselors saying, "You're going to solve all of our problems." But we most certainly said as a priority level, they perhaps have some training and background to address the needs that arose. >> And these reductions, many of them are obviously tied to the general fund. Are there other funds available in restricted funds in order to help modify or offset um any reduction in the service positions themselves? >> Absolutely. And that's that's part of our planning that we'd like to move forward with is to maximize these restricted funds that are tied to specific purposes, right? And so when
081we think about restricted funds, we think about um expanded learning opportunities and how might those funds be utilized to bridge uh some of the services we provide during the school day along with services that can be provided after school day. And there's a lot more flexibility utilizing those funds in addressing academic needs perhaps than behavioral andor mental health needs. >> In the process of making the budget um you know obviously we've seen Miss Brford and your team work diligently over several years at least that I've been involved um in in forming a budget that is conservative in its projections and I think that's been very wise and we've seen the benefits of that. Um and often times even we've found occasionally opportunities or not opportunities I should say but outcomes where um maybe expenditures were
082less than projected from a year ago or revenue was slightly higher than projected from a year ago. um in in those types of situations, right, when we can't we as best as we try to predict the future, right? Um in those situations when they occur, will the district be looking at any difference in end balance as an opportunity to either, you know, offset the services or add back or anything like that in terms of proposed reductions? Um, most definitely we always want to look at those outcomes, but if we're budgeting up front, it's hard to make a decision of what's going to happen in the end. Is the fallout going to be sufficient to cover the operations throughout the year? So, it's kind of difficult to be operating now, but thinking at the end that
083you'll be okay. And so, you can't build that budget with more hoping that something will fall out. And I think another thing that's really impacting districts is not just the loss of one-time funds, it's the declining ADA. And as much as we don't talk a lot about student attendance, that's really hurting districts right now because this year we're down over 100 students from last year. And that's truly hurting us. So we are losing funding every year as we decline. And so it's prudent for us to actually make reductions to match those loss in in revenues. So, that's a big piece of what's really hurting districts because some districts already made reductions for those one-time funds, but they finally have to make more reductions because of the loss in ADA. Mhm. And so if there are
084future changes in, for example, now unfortunately we don't have control over the state budget, but if there were changes to the state budget when budget revisions come down from Sacramento, um whether there be an increase in allocation per student ADA, whether there be uh increase in certain block grants are available, things like that. I mean, these are funds that obviously the district is going to want to be looking at in terms of how can we make sure we still continue to offer the same level of service or capture or return that. >> Correct. And that's a good question, but a lot of times we get more money, but it's it's onetime funds and it's it's built into a block grant, meaning it's not in our base funding. And our base funding, which is our LCFF,
085pretty much covers most of our operations. And so even though the state is doing better, and they say, "Oh, we're going to give you more money," it's given to us in a block grant. So it's not impacting our base funding, which is our per ADA funding. And so it's kind of difficult to have long-term um expenditures, ongoing expenditures with those block grants. Again, it's one time. The state is just trying to make it up to us saying, "Hey, we owe you some money, but it's not in our ongoing funding." >> Thank you. Additional comments or questions? Yeah, I think in a challenging situation as this, you know, and I I think we can all appreciate how challenging it really can be. Um, you know, I think it's difficult to make any kind of addition through
086subtraction, as the saying might go, right? If there's reductions of any kind anywhere, um, that's likely going to have a negative impact to some degree. And oftentimes as part of these conversations, it becomes what are ways to maintain as best as possible, modify as best as possible um through any action in a way to best maintain the services for the students that are receiving them because that's ultimately going to be our biggest um our most important stakeholders really. Um, [cough and clears throat] and I think at least speaking for myself, I would say and uh as a board member, I would hope that any decisions that we ever make are ones where any member of the community in the same position would want to make the same decision as well, the same outcome, right? And
087um I think you know over the years we've had opportunities to to bring services. We've had opportunities to increase things where possible to utilize resources as creatively as possible to improve and increase as many services as we can. And then sometimes when these types of decisions have to be made, unfortunately we're in that position on the opposite end, right? Where something has to be looked at, something has to be reduced, something has to be strategized, right? and really primarily your team, the executive cabinet of course responsible for determining what those possibilities would be and then ultimately our role in terms of approval. Um, with that I think do we have any comment McGuire? I just I wanted to say really quickly uh that over the past year we've had you know as a board uh
088uh and a cabinet a lot of conversations about cuts and reductions and you know we've we've cut all of the material expenses and everything that we possibly could and there's just not an easy way to get to $3 million. And that's unfortunately what we have to do is make $3 million in cuts over two years. >> And I think all that being said, regardless of um the action taken this evening, I think clearly there's a charge upon the district to prioritize the the provision of services, the provision of these important needs in whatever format is financially feasible and as effective as possible. Right? I think that's very clear. All right, with that, we're gonna go ahead and call for the vote. Uh, Mr. Peterson, >> yes. >> Miss Magguire, >> yes. >> I'm also a
089yes. We'll pass. The resolution will pass 30. That'll bring us to our consent calendar. Do we have items on the consent calendar to be pulled by any board members? Okay, seeing no items to be pulled, we'll go ahead and uh call for a motion to bring the consent calendar as is to be approved. >> All right, Mr. Peterson makes the motion. A second. >> Second. >> Mrs. Magcguire seconds. Uh we'll go ahead and call for the vote and you can join us on this as well. Miss Suarez. >> Yes. For Miss Suarez. Mr. Peterson. >> Yes. Mrs. Magcguire. >> Yes. >> And I am also a yes. That will pass 300 with the addition of our student board member in the affirmative. And with that, we are now at board comments. We'll go ahead and
090begin with Mr. Peterson. >> Thank you, sir. Yeah, making any cuts is no fun. We're very fortunate that the one-time funds that were brought in were used prudently to benefit our students, benefit the district, but unfortunately those dried up and we had to make some tough decisions. Not everyone's going to like it, but it's something that we have to do. With that being said, uh wish want to wish Zoe Lopez good luck from uh Charter Oak who's wrestling in the Masters tournament in Sonora at Sonora High School tomorrow. Uh going against some of the top competition in the state. Uh and I'm sure she's going to do well. Um the drama program is going strong. Sus was at the middle school put that on. very well received in high school's working on Spongebob. I'm already
091tired of hearing some of those songs being sang by my daughter in the hallways. Um, but it's uh we're on the closing part of the year already, which is surprising to me. Already heading into second semester. So, we just need to keep moving forward. Thanks for all the work everybody. Mr. McGuire. [clears throat] >> Um, yeah. So, when you run for office to be a school board trustee, these are the moments uh where leadership steps up, but it's not the moments that you actually run for, right? We run for the good times. We run for uh the times when budgets are great. Uh where we can celebrate our students and our teachers. Uh but but these times also come along with that, right? part of of leadership and what I think the community has um
092entrusted us with is the ability to protect our school district as much as we can. Um and like I said, I've worked in communities where school districts have been in receiverhip and it's not nice and it's very difficult to get out of uh and the community loses complete control of the district and the type of education that their students receive. So while these decisions are tough, they are necessary in order for us to maintain um the charter community that we have um and the education that we provide our students. Um so I did I did want to say that right um I think our students deserve the very best and sometimes to get to better times we we have to go through some some tough times and I think that's where we are. We've been
093talking about this for a long time. We knew the funds were one-time funds. we knew that they were going to end. Um, and we're just at that moment right now and that's really unfortunate. Um, I also wanted to congratulate Zoe. She is truly the definition of a girl power. Um, she is a champion. We hear about her year after year. I see her on social media. Um, I'm very proud of her. Uh, and I think that's something great that we offer at Charter Oak, right? We have a girl wrestler going to CIF and that's pretty dope. Um, and then I wanted to uh finish up by saying uh for several years since I've been on this board, I used Black History Month as an opportunity to teach everyone about Claudet Kovven. If anyone remembers me
094talking about her, she was a 15-year-old who really started off the Montgomery bus boycott. Uh, she had just learned about our Constitution of the United States. She got on her bus, they told her she needed to move to get up and she said, "No, I just learned about the Constitution. We had to read it and I have rights." Uh, of course, that didn't fair too well where she was in the South and the year that it was. Um, and so as a sassy teenager, she got kicked off the bus, but that launched the movement where we all learned about Rosa Parks doing the same thing a few months later. Um, but it was inspired by a young person, a teenager, Claudet Kovven, uh, who passed away in January. Um, but I wanted to make sure
095that as I do every year, I make sure I call her name out. Uh, because she is a person in black history that we rarely get to learn about in school uh because she was a sassy teenager. Uh, but our sassy teenagers also have displayed their rights uh this past uh month uh where they also stood up for the things that they believe in. And so I wanted to just make sure I shout them out and elevate them that you know kids have freedom of speech too, right? And I know there was a lot of mixed feelings in the community on whether kids should do things like that. But history has shown us that when real change happens in our country, it's because kids started it. Uh every movement that we have known about uh
096Vietnam, everything they were young people. Um so just like Claudet Coven, our young people also stand up. Uh we also lost another civil rights icon this week, uh Reverend Jesse Jackson. Um so I wanted to make sure I said that. Um, and then in closing, I I also just wanted to say again, our students are doing so well. The FAFSA and the A throughG rates um are very impressive. We've really pushed our students, our teachers have really done a great job in pushing them. Um, and I talk about college a lot because I know that right now, uh, when you hear about student debt and you hear about like, is it worth it to go to college? Uh even our own Bureau of Labor Statistics tells us that the the pathway to economic prosperity in
097our country right now is the college degree. Over a lifetime of earnings, uh a person with a bachelor's degree will make at least a million dollars more than a person without a bachelor's degree. And and that's just data and that's just fact. So, if we can prepare our students to at least have that on the table, they don't have to go immediately after high school, but if they meet those requirements when they graduate, we can set them up for their best course of success. And I think that as a district, uh, that's something that we should all be able to get behind. Um, I think that's it. Um, yeah, I I think this was a sucky uh decision we had to make today, and I don't I don't feel happy about it, but I know
098we needed to do it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Magcguire. Um, I'll briefly begin by again acknowledging some of the great work our students have been doing. I got a chance to catch Susical. It was awesome. We saw Adeline earlier today honored. That was great. She had a great part in that. Um, I don't remember the name of the character, but she was one of the little who's, right? And that was awesome. Um, looking forward to Spongebob. I am not tired of hearing the songs because I haven't heard a single song from Spongebob ever in my life. Well, the cartoon, yes, because I grew up at that time, but not the musical. So, I'm looking forward to to Spongebob the musical. Um, choir had their showcase this evening as Miss Suarez mentioned today. Um, and
099so, uh, I know obviously we didn't get a chance to to see that, but I know they will be performing many of those pieces in New York. So, hopefully we can all get some plane tickets over to New York, you know, that's if we if you're able. [snorts] Um, and then, uh, congratulating some of our sports teams. I know basketball, men's basketball had a great season. Uh, women's basketball as well. um you know made it into CIF, didn't have the outcome they wanted there, but uh but really hard fought. So, you know, congratulations to them. I got to to catch a couple of their games and they they played hard. They played really hard. Uh of course also Zoe Lopez, you guys already had all that. I'll just say yep, everything to there. Amen. And
100um and then, you know, I think with the budget challenges, you know, Dr. Kim, you mentioned a little bit earlier in terms of, you know, funding sources and and you mentioned that we were able to to meet with with Mr. Gil Cneros this past week and you know I think something that's really big that's you know not necessarily always talked about in general in public I think it's commonly talked about among school district cabinet members of course um is is the fact that we are largely underfunded in the areas of special education in money that is promised to us in by law from the federal government but not funded and not provided at the level that it was intended to be provided. And what happens is of course these are services that we are required
101to provide and we would want to provide of course and we do provide specifically to our special education population but in order to do so means we do have to dip into the general fund right an encroachment upon the general fund used for supporting all students because of the lack of specific funds dedicated to specific populations and that creates a massive challenge you know and it's not a trivial amount of money it's it's a very large amount of money it's it's enough money on a year-to-year basis that you know we wouldn't be having this meeting. Um, and so at least no, we'd have the meeting, but we wouldn't be having this item. Um, and so I think that's that's a really big challenge. And I think as a community, we need to continue to advocate
102for appropriate funding for education, which is something again that, you know, this body doesn't have direct control over. You know, we we get to be a part of deciding how funds are utilized, but the funds themselves are going to be determined at the state level, at the federal level. And I think a lot of that advocacy is extremely important. I know it's important to me. I'm glad we had the opportunity to meet with our representative Gilneros as part of that advocacy. And it doesn't stop there. You know, it continues beyond that. Um speaking to more representatives as best we can and and really trying to make the motion that, you know, as tough as it is to get there and we talk about struggles of various kinds, you know, but it's important to to do
103the work and uh and hopefully see see the benefits of that at some point down the road, no matter how far it might be. Um, with that, we're going to go ahead and adjourn our meeting this evening. We don't require any close session, and our future meeting will be on March 12th, 2026. Thank you.