Chico Unified School District Board of Education Meeting

001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Good evening. Um, we are um, opening this now. We're heading into closed session. Um, at this time, is there any public comment? All right. Seeing none, we'll head into closed session. Thank you. >> Mhm. >> We've been in closed session. Um during closed session we did vote on um three cases. Um I'm going to go ahead and read those out. Uh case number 2026020683. Um the board voted with a vote of five to zero to ratify that settlement. We also voted on case number 20260200005. Board also voted five to zero to ratify that settlement. Lastly, um we voted on case number 2026-01-0648. The board also voted five to zero to ratify that settlement. Okay. All right, at this time um I'd like to ask you to um rise for the flag

002salute. 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. >> All right, Greg. >> Yes, we have uh some fabulous people from Park View here today to give us a little uh presentation and some uh some good times. So, take it away. >> There we go. Good evening uh school board members and our honored guests. Uh my name is Stephanie Kniff. I'm the principal at Park View Elementary School, and I am here tonight to do the student presentations and hand out the superintendent awards. Um so, I bet you're intrigued by what is standing right next to me. Um so, at this point I'm going to invite our robotics club to

003come up, and I will introduce them, and they can can you all about Sparky, our school animatronic. So, please come up, Ms. Lamb, Dylan Burton, McKenzie Ratola, Eliza Jane Lamb, and Ms. Sanchez. >> Hi school board members and audience. My name is Sparky. I'm a robot that's coded by fourth and fifth graders at Park View. Here are two of my coders right here. Do you want to introduce yourself? >> Sure. My name is McKenzie and I'm in fifth grade at Park View. >> My name is Dylan and I'm also in fifth grade at Park View. Sparky, what does your name stand for? >> My name is an acronym which stands for Specialized Programmable Animatronics and Robotics Kit for Education. I was created by Garner Holt who is the creator of hundreds of animatronic figures for

004Disney parks all over the world. Have you guys ever been to Disneyland? >> I've been to Disneyland. My favorite ride is Guardians of the Galaxy. >> I have been to Disneyland as well. My favorite ride is Indiana Jones. Sparky, have you been to Disneyland? >> Oh, yes. Have you ever been to the Tiki Room at Disney? >> Oh, yeah. That place is really cool. >> I have been there, too. >> The birds are original robotics made by Garner Holt. Now, I live at Park View in Ms. Lamb's room, which has been my home for the last 3 years. You guys have been coding me for all 3 years, right? >> Yes, Sparky. We have been helping you make you come alive since you got to Park View. Want to tell them some of the things

005we do in robotics? Sure. The students write the scripts, design the costume and decorations, and code every movement I make. For instance, watch my left arm move right now. Every eye movement, twist, and lighting choice, like the changing lights right now, is purposefully programmed. Dylan is actually speaking for me right now. >> Yep, that's me. Sparky, can you tell them about some of the things we have dressed you up as? >> Oh, yeah. The Spark of Genius usually dresses me up for holidays and events. I have been a ghost at the Harvest Festival, Darth Vader for May the 4th, Albert Einstein for our STEM night, a little girl singing about snowflakes for winter, and so many more. >> That's right. We've had so much fun transforming you into different characters. Sparky, what has been your

006favorite character? >> I think I really like who I am today. Thank you for listening. I hope we've been able to teach you about our great robotics club at Parkview. >> Bye, Sparky. See you back at Parkview. >> Bye, everyone. >> [applause] >> Do you guys have any questions for our robotics club? >> No. >> So, that's okay. >> I I do. So, is the club an after school or in in school event? >> Yeah, it's an after school event. Um we meet once a week for this robotics club, and like it said, they come up with the scripts. Um we'll put music behind it. They do the set design, costume design. Um they design like the banners to go down here, and um it's really fun cuz it's super creative and student-led. >> And

007where does Sparky usually spend her time? >> Sparky lives in the corner of my classroom and then once a week comes out and gets coated and dressed up and then it usually takes us about three meetings to turn it into something and then you know, we plan out what where we want it to go. So a lot of times it will go out to our our all school sing or be in front of the office welcoming people. At our STEM night it was in front of the cafeteria as parents and families came in and um at that point it was Albert Einstein passing out information about where they could go for STEM night. It's very fun. >> And these two students that came tonight have served on the robotics club for the past three years.

008So they are original members. This is their fifth year or their third year in fifth grade. >> Yes. >> Okay, thank you. >> Thank you guys. >> Amazing work. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Okay, at this time I am going to present our classified members a superintendent's award. So I'm going to ask Miss Lindsey to come up here. Okay, it is my pleasure to recognize an incredible member of our Park View team, Lindsey Nelson or as everybody else knows her, Miss Lindsey. Miss Lindsey has served as an instructional paraprofessional for the past 11 years at Park View and 18 years total. Uh two of which I've gotten the privilege of getting to know her and witnessing her incredible work ethic. Uh Lindsey is often the first person that I see in the morning smiling and

009greeting me at the gate. Uh, she shows up every day with enthusiasm, grit, and just the right amount of sense of humor to get us all through the day. >> [snorts] >> And while she shares her light-hearted energy with all of us adults, um, she has more of a calm and steady presence with the students that she supports. One of the things that I admire most about Ms. Lindsey is how easy it is to almost miss just how much she is doing. When I walk into classrooms, sometimes I miss her because she is often right there beside a student quietly anticipating what they need, offering just the right amount of support with a [snorts] within a quiet earshot so as not to draw attention to the student. She works so seamlessly that you might not

010even realize the level of impact that she is having. Lindsey, [snorts] you are like an instructional air traffic controller, calmly guiding things behind the scenes so everything runs safely and smoothly without anyone even ever noticing. And I was going to bring the air traffic controller things, but I didn't know where to find those. Uh, and when she's not working directly with students, Lindsey sometimes finds the time or somehow finds the time and always finds the time to [snorts] take care of the rest of us, too. She can be found tidying and decorating in the staff lounge to bring a little holiday cheer or tackling the never-ending collection of abandoned sweatshirts in the lost and found giving them a second life on hangers. >> [snorts] >> Lindsey is not just a support for our students, she

011is a support for our entire staff. She brings a can-do attitude to everything that she does and I can always count on her quick wit to make me smile, especially on the days when I might need it the most. Lindsey, I am honored to stand here tonight and give you the recognition you so deeply deserve. Thank you for everything that you do. You make the hard days easier and the good days even better for all of us. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Next up, I'm going to ask Kelly Skala to come to the stage. >> [applause] >> So, the Superintendent's Award is one of the highest honors that we can give and tonight I am honored to present it to Kelly Skala. When I think about Kelly, what stands out most isn't just what

012she does, it's who she is. But that being said, Kelly really does a lot. She has been a dedicated fourth grade teacher at Parkview for over 14 years and in more recent years has stepped into, you ready for them? The roles of Title 1 Coordinator, MTSS Representative, ELD and CASP Coordinator, Teacher in Charge, ASB Coordinator, supports our wellness team, and organizes meaningful experiences like Parkview in the Park where she works with community partners like uh the US Forest Service, the Chico Area Flyfisher, the Audubon Society, and organizes like over 26 different stations that 400 of our students go through in a day in Lower Park. So, Kelly does massive things for our school, but what defines Kelly is not on the list of the things that she does. Kelly is steady and patient. She is

013thoughtful in a way that makes people feel seen and heard. And in a a profession that often feels fast-paced and overwhelming, she brings a sense of calm and clarity that grounds us all. She listens [snorts] before she speaks. And when she does speak, her words carry purpose. People trust her, and not just because of her knowledge, which is vast, but because of her heart. She is also, without question, one of the most organized people that I have ever met. And I feel like I'm really organized. So, [snorts] that's saying something. Her mind is like a perfectly labeled, color-coded filing system, with purple folders, of course, where nothing is ever lost, and everything is exactly where it needs to be right when it is needed. Kelsey Kelsey, sorry. Public speaking is not my favorite. Kelly also

014shows up for the students in a way that is real. So, there's been many times where I've seen junior high and high school students come back on campus just to say hello. I'm getting teary, sorry. She shows up for staff as a trusted colleague and a steady presence. She's someone that you can go to when you need clarity, perspective, or just someone to think things through with. It [snorts] wouldn't be out of the norm to see a line outside of Kelly's office to ask her a question, as she is a trusted source for many of us. And [snorts] on a personal note, as a teacher in charge, Kelly is someone that I trust completely. When she is leading, I know our school is in thoughtful, capable hands. Kelly, what makes you exceptional is not just

015what you do, it's who you are. You lead with grace, humility, and a quiet strength that has shaped the school in ways that will last far beyond any one year. It is an honor to work alongside you, and tonight it is an honor to recognize you. >> [applause] [applause] >> All right. Okay, at this time I'd like to invite um Kelly Sierral up um to the podium to announce the CSEA member to member staff recognition for April. >> Good evening, everyone. Hello CUSD school board and district employees. I am Kelly Sierral, CSEA Chapter 110 Chapter President. Thank you all that you do for classified employees. We are so grateful for the great partnership we have with Chico Unified. We are excited to announce the CSEA CUSD retirement social scheduled for May 27th from 4:30 to

0166:00 p.m. at Farmer's Brewing. This is the second year we have partnered with Chico Unified and we are so grateful to celebrate our retirees and you are all invited to come that night celebrate with us. This month's member of the month is Eric Lowe. Eric was nominated by Dennis Below who said, "Eric has great leadership skills and motivate others to help." Eric said he has worked at Chico Unified for the last 8 years. He started as a senior HVAC tech and has since transitioned to the position as safety systems technician where he looks after the district's low voltage infrastructure in infrastructure. >> [clears throat] >> That is basically the bells, the alarms, the fire alarm systems, the main things that keep the cameras that keep our schools functioning and safe. So, beyond the technical side,

017he truly values being part of the Chico Unified community knowing that his work helps keep our schools safe and running smoothly for the students and staff makes every day rewarding. He always enjoys a good joke. So, if you see him at your site, please feel free to share your best with him. Eric German said, "Eric consistently demonstrates what it means to be a dedicated and valuable member member of our school community. He is incredibly hard working, always willing to step in whenever needed, and approaches each day with a positive attitude. Eric is eager to learn new skills and continuously looks for ways to improve both himself and the environment around him. Most importantly, he puts the needs of students first in everything he does ensuring they feel supported, safe, and cared for. His commitment to

018maintaining a safe campus is evident in his daily work as he prioritize school safety and takes pride in creating a secure and welcoming environment for all. We are grateful for Eric's contributions and proud to have him as part of our team. Congratulations Eric on this well-deserved recognition. Eric, from me, Chico Unified is so blessed to have you. Thank you for all that you do. >> Thank you. >> [applause and cheering] [laughter] >> Thank you so much. All right, at this time we're going to be moving on to to items from the floor. This is agenda item number seven. Items from the floor are for speakers who wish to address the board regarding a topic that is not currently on the agenda. At this time we're going to take public comment from speakers who wish to

019address the board for topics not on the agenda. As a reminder, speakers will have 3 minutes to address the board. A buzzer will sound when 30 seconds of speaking I time remains. The board can listen to public comment. However, we're not able to respond to any speaker. We have already We already have received two comments or two uh speakers who would wish to speak at this time. So, at this time I'm going to call forward a student Valeria Torres Godinez. >> [applause] >> Hi. Um my name is Valeria Torres. It's good to meet you guys. Um mhm My name is Valeria Torres. I am a student at Pleasant Valley High School. It hurts that I have to be back here again. Um I have seen parents coming up to speak and wanting to remove um

020parent secrecy policy. This is wrong and dangerous in so many ways. For those who don't know what this policy is, it means staff cannot disclose a student's transgender or gender non-conforming status to parents or others without the student's consent. The Supreme Court temporarily blocked a state law prohibiting schools from informing parents when students change their identity at their identity or name at school. At age 12, kids can consent to mental health treatment. Minors can also consent to care such as birth control and abortion without parent consent. So, please keep that in mind. If you guys approve this change, it will end badly. If this gets approved, trans kids won't feel safe at home anymore. Trans kids will be at risk of suicide, abuse, mistreated, not supported at home. As someone who tried taking their own

021life last school year, I don't want to see kids struggle with mental health because of this. And I don't want them to end up in the path that I thought was okay. It's not. They will have fear going home and getting treated horribly for who they are. We don't want to lose more children to suicide. A lot of my friends who are transgender have expressed their worries of what will happen if this get approved. Things like getting disowned, abuse, or treated horribly. At school, they feel safe because they're called by their preferred names, pronouns, and gender. I don't care what those parents think. We want our kids to be safe at school, comfortable, and not scared to go to school. Kids go to school to escape home. Not every kid's home is a safe place.

022It's crazy to hear the argument that the fact some parents might be abusive is not a good enough reason. Not only is that rude, it's disrespectful towards domestic violence and abuse victims. We already see the hate crimes that gay and transgender people face face on and off campus. You guys say that your job is to protect your students. I want to see you guys by doing that by not approving this policy. I'm using my voice to speak up for the kids that cannot speak up. I'm using my voice to speak up once again. Because transgender kids who aren't out can't speak up. I'm using my voice to help those kids out. To all the transgender kids out there, just know you're not alone. You're loved and don't let this get to you and you're you're

023seen. I see you and it will be okay. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Okay, at this time um we don't have a name that was submitted um but it's somebody regarding the Hooker Oak Elementary School recess. Okay. >> Good evening. I guess I didn't put my name on there. So, my name's Jessica Kerns. Um I'm the parent of one first grade student at Hooker Oak Elementary. Um the week of March 23rd, 2026, um Hooker Oak emailed its usual weekly newsletter to families. Oh, sorry. The week of March 23rd, Hooker Oak Is that better? Okay. I've never done this before. So, Hooker Oak emailed its usual weekly newsletter to families. And this particular newsletter included a revised snack policy asking parents to pack their students snack separate from their lunch boxes

024because some students have not had enough time to eat their snack and play at recess if they have to go retrieve their snack from their lunch box. So, I'm sharing this portion of the newsletter to highlight the lack of balance between indoor and outdoor time at school, not only at Hooker Oak, but likely all Chico Unified elementary campuses. I personally find it alarming that students are given so little outdoor time at recess that their snacks have to be packed in a special way in order to save a couple of minutes. I urge the board to take this imbalance into consideration with regard to its revised policy on technology use in the classroom. Um I know from my experience that there is ample unnecessary Chromebook use in my child's day at Hooker Oak, including the use

025of Chromebook apps in music class, videos for entertainment in fine arts, and the gamified learning apps she uses every day at school. The time spent on any and hopefully all of these screen-based activities could be redirected toward time outdoors, one thing we know children actually need and benefit from in both the short-term and the long-term. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Um we do have more time remaining. Is there anyone else who would like to speak um on items from the floor? Okay. Go on. I see you, too. So, we'll have you speak next, okay? Thank >> So, in March I came before you guys and informed you of a situation that happened with my student, um one of my students being sent a sexually explicit image um over via the um Chromebook through

026a student's email. Since then, I have met with John Vincent, Pedro and Tina um to discuss the matter. Something that is concerning is that 7 months ago, Securly actually implemented a um detection for sexually explicit images, but we didn't know about it. That's a huge problem. We also didn't know that Securly couldn't block sexually explicit images. That's a problem. When the Children's Internet Protection Act came out in 2000, shortly thereafter, a couple of years later, Chico Unified put together stakeholders and talked about things that they wanted um the our security systems to be able to block pornography, nudity, um school cheating, hate, discrimination, things like that. That was the early 2000s, nearly 20 over actually over 20 years ago. Technology has changed in a very big way. I feel, and I did share it with

027the three individuals that I met, I feel Chico Unified needs to put together another stakeholders committee. Parents, staff, citizens of Chico to be on top of the ever-developing technology that is happening. It's happening at such a fast pace, it's hard for us to keep up with. Yes, Securly has something in place now to prevent these type of images being sent over the internet. But what kind of changes is AI going to bring? We constantly see development technology. Technology isn't a bad thing. I support the growth and development of it, but we have to be ahead of it. We have to be forward-thinking to prevent these bigger issues from happening. Again, I would strongly suggest we bring another stakeholders committee together to talk about how we want to be proactive when these situations happen versus reactive.

028Because if we are position of reacting, we're behind. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anyone uh >> Sorry, I don't know how this works. What am I supposed to do? >> Uh I'm sorry. >> I don't know how this works. What am I supposed to do? >> Just move it a little closer. Yeah, make sure you just project loudly. Just so it's live-streamed, so everybody can hear. And thank you. >> And just introduce yourself and let it rip. >> Looks like your mic is off. Can you push the button that says push? There you go. >> I can push a button. Um my name's Wassinger. I'm here speaking tonight on the same issue that Val talked about. Um so I've prepared. Um You say that you're here to support us, but what about when

029your laws would harmfully contradict each other? As of now, teachers are mandated reporters, meaning they're required to report if a student is in danger to themselves or others, including self-harm and suicide. This is written protecting us and our safety. This proposal will do the opposite. Furthermore, when decisions are being made about our identities and safety, we lose all autonomy. California Teachers Association President David Goldberg stated, "Our union will always stand up to protect the rights and safety of our students." End quote. This policy directly contradicts this stated mission. The students choosing to keep their identities private from their parents have a reason. Enforcing teachers to out students our safety with the mandated reporting policy advocates for is being put at risk. A study by the Trevor Project cites a 72% increase in rates of suicide

030attempts by transgender and gender non-conforming teens after legislator legislature negatively targeting them has passed. This means the students who are already at a statistically higher likelihood to attempt suicide are now even more at risk. Coming out involves considered conscious choices which aren't taken lightly. To come out is to reveal one's true self. This is a highly vulnerable and potentially dangerous situation. We are forced to consider the implications of telling anyone around us, but even more impactfully so our parents. As teenagers, we are forced to be under their roof literally and metaphorically. Additionally, as literal children, we crave their support and acceptance. Many of us know from the point of realizing our own queerness that if our parents were to be told, we would no longer have them in our lives. Alternatively, if this policy if

031this policy is implemented and students know their safety will be risked if they are outed, they may likely choose instead to stay closeted. Forcing teachers to out students drives a wedge between those who are supposed to support us academically and when we are struggling. School is designed to be a safer place to designed to be the safest place possible with an optimal learning environment. Speaking from my personal experiments experience, the name and pronouns I use are dependent on my level of trust in the teacher and their respect for my identity. This does not mean I'm choosing when to be gender non-conforming. I'm simply choosing who gets to know this personal information about me. The teachers whom I have asked to use a different name and pronouns than would be assumed from my transcripts are those

032who I have who have shown they are willing to make an effort to support students regardless of identity. To me, this makes them worthy of my trust. When enforcing teachers to out students, this trust is being violated. Without trust, queer teens cannot feel the support they may be lacking at home. The National Library of Medicine cites a 44% increase in suicide rates of teenagers without at least one accepting adult in their lives. In taking away a student's ability to trust teachers, you are taking away acceptance from the students who need it most. Ultimately, the energy that would be used to endanger the already at risk teens could instead be used to ensure their safety. Trans students are not trans because they were convinced to be. Instead, they are trans in spite of attempts at convincing

033them they are wrong. The cards are already stacked against us. Why push the deck further? Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Is there anyone else from the floor that Okay. >> Hey. I'm Casey Hanson. I'm actually a PV English teacher across the street. I just want to say I'm just I'm so proud of these kids for being here and just like speaking their peace. Um also proud GSA advisor and English teacher of all of them. And I think you have two more coming up to to talk. Um and I think I'm speaking on what they are they are too. And I think rather than sharing statistics that show how detrimental it is to out someone who's not ready to be out. Um I just kind of wanted to share my experience with these wonderful

034humans. Um so I I am the pride club advisor and every single week I get these kids that show up and they're just so authentically themselves and they're so unafraid to be themselves cuz we've created this space of well, non-judgement. And we really do pride ourselves on really trying to like build up their confidence rather than tear it down. However, I still have these students in club that have asked not to be in the yearbook photo. Not because they don't like the club, but because they are terrified of their parents either finding out that they go by a different name or that they're in the club in general. Um I have students where I'm like, "Dude, you did so good today. Can I Can I call home?" And they're like, "Yes. Can you please use

035my dead name so I actually don't get kicked out of that childhood home?" And I'm just thinking about them, you know, and they walk through these front doors when they get back from school and they have to put on this facade to make other people feel safe. And then they're really kind of stripping their own identity in doing so. And I just think as educators or as even just decent human beings, we should not be able to out somebody else, let alone our students. You know, it it should be on the individual and on them in a space where they feel confident and comfortable. And if they don't feel confident or comfortable, then they should not come out. And I think it's a little counterproductive, ridiculous, that you know, we're kind of focusing on these

036issues rather than trying to build a better space on campus to help protect and better support these students. It's It's genuinely kind of alarming how many of students that I have who are just targeted on a day-to-day basis and that are just kind of faced with harassment and bullying. And I think rather than trying to strip the rights away from this already marginalized community who has had so many rights already stripped away. I think the conversation should shift on what we can do on not only as like on our campus, but as a district or as a community to help maybe implement like anti-bullying campaigns or just or things on campus that will help them feel better protected and seen. And I think the last thing that I just want to say is I'm just

037such a proud teacher over here. Again, I'm just I'm really proud of all of you for coming up here. So, thank you for listening. And I think you have two more. So, we appreciate your time. >> [applause] >> Thank you. All right, come on up. Hi there. Thank you so much. >> [clears throat] >> My name is Josie Cain. I am a teacher at Pleasant Valley High School and I'm also a mom to two kids who attend Chico Unified Schools. I am here today to speak about an issue that will impact one of our most vulnerable communities, transgender youth. Um I feel I have a unique perspective because I am both an educator and the mother of a trans child. Um when my mother when my daughter came out as trans, even though I considered

038myself open-minded, I initially struggled with biases. Ultimately, I chose to put aside my fears and trust her. Today, she lives her truth and she's the bravest person I know. Kids say terrible things to her at school. And yet, her being able to show up as the one young woman she is is a greater relief than pretending to be the boy that she isn't. After she came out as trans, I knew I needed to do something for my school community. I knew that there were kids just like my daughter at PV, but that didn't have the same support at home that my daughter does. I've had the opportunity to connect with the kids through being a part of our pride club on campus. They ask for hugs. They share their feelings. I mostly listen. Some people

039in the community like to throw around words like indoctrination, which is truly the most absurd thing. I have never, nor will I ever try to convince someone to be anything other than who they are. Some kids are still in the process of figuring out their identity. They may be unsure. They may be afraid to share anything with their parents because they know their parents are going to be angry and upset. I simply honor who they are and try to show up as a loving and supportive presence on campus. According to the National School Climate Survey, 71% of trans and gender expansive students felt unsafe at school at some point due to their LGBTQ+ identity. If I can offer space to these students to be who they are, I'm compelled to do so. My fear is

040this. >> [snorts] >> As a mandated reporter that I will be required to inform the parents of students who have come out as transgender non-binary. This is alarming on so many levels. As a mandated reporter, my role is to ensure the welfare of the child. But if I am required to break confidentiality and out a student, I could well very well be endangering their safety physically and emotionally. I [snorts] realize that the board is in an incredibly difficult position. But please think of the kids before making any decisions. We are living in unprecedented times which call for unprecedented courage and leadership. Be the leaders we need you to be. Thank you so much for your time. >> [applause] >> Thank you. All right. Was there somebody else who wanted to? Okay, come on up. >>

041Uh hi, my name is Caitlin Sheridan and I go to PV High School. And honestly, I've spent many days trying to write a really good and professional speech for you with a ton of statistics and logic, but it just didn't ever feel right because literally nothing about this is right and I can stand here all I want and lecture you on how 70% of transgender students have unsafe homes. And I mean a whole packet of information that I could share, but honestly, I don't want to stand up here for 3 minutes and talk about that. Um because especially after what, four of those speeches, if you don't see how big an issue this is, then there is a much deeper problem that I can't fix in 2 minutes and 19 seconds. So, I'm just going

042to try to put it into perspective instead. Um because I know you all have the best interest of our students at heart. That's why you're on the board. But, removing the Parent Secrecy Act would not reflect that, and schools are meant to protect and support their children. That is the number one job of a school. And they're a child's safe place, no matter what happens outside of those gates. Because as much as we like to live in the fairy tale that everyone has a safe home life, it's just simply not true. And it's let alone not safe to be at home sometimes, but definitely not safe to come out as gender non-conforming. So, some of these kids are at serious risk for this policy, and could be abused or even kicked out or disowned. And

043many are sent away to conversion therapy. I won't even begin to touch on the methods because I'm sure many of you are familiar with it and the horrors that come out of those camps. Um but just so you know, those who undergo any form of conversion therapy are twice as likely to commit suicide compared to those who haven't. And just for reference, the suicidal suicidal ideation rate for teens is already about 40% and as someone who has personally experienced that, that really hits home. So, I want you to really take that into account. Um and after the recent acts of the Supreme Court, conversion therapy is more of a risk than ever with many attempting to legalize it in all 50 states recently. Protecting students doesn't always mean full transparency. I know you may think

044this could improve lives, but it will ruin and even end many and destroy the carefully built trust that schools have with their students. Do you want to protect us? Listen to what we are saying. None of us want this and it isn't fair to take these major decisions of privacy out of our hands. It is our choice. This is America for God's sake. We have literally in the Constitution a right for our own voice and our own choice and autonomy. You're here to build us up and to be our best selves. And while trans and non-binary students may not make up a large portion of the overall population, they're still here and scared for their lives because of the possibility of being outed. Protect our privacy and safety. Don't tear it down. Focus on protecting

045and supporting us and this this does the opposite. Do not be the reason children fear school and do not be why students get hurt or worse to die. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. >> Okay, sit down. Okay. My name is Jade. I'm a master's in social work student at Chico State. I'm actually here because of Valeria's post on Facebook. I felt really compelled to come and advocate which is something our program teaches us to do. I'm actually non-binary. I'm not out to my parents. I don't feel safe telling them and had they been told when I was a child, my home would not have been safe. School was really my only safe place and even there, you know, I experienced bullying but I was at least able to be my authentic self there.

046I think they've all brought up really amazing points about the suicide rates and as someone going into the mental health field, that is why I showed up today. With everything that's going on in the world politically, trans people are villainized, gender non-conforming people are villainized, queer people are villainized, we're made out to be predators and we just want to exist. We don't want to be harmed, we don't want to be harassed, we don't want to bother people in the bathroom. We just want to right to exist. And I truly see no good that this could come from. As someone working in the mental health field, we have to allow minor consent, which as Valeria was saying is 12 or older. And that means that if they tell me anything, I can't tell their parents because

047they still have a right to their own privacy. They're an adult, not an adult, but they have their own privacy protections unless it is that mandated reporting. So I just think it's really important that we prioritize the safety of these children because it's really only going to cause harm. This doesn't affect kids who aren't in a marginalized community and if we take their chance away from coming out to their parents, that's another moment that we've stolen from them. Even if it ends well, we have robbed them of that chance. And I think it's really it's just sad because a lot of kids at a younger age too, they're still figuring things out. I'm still figuring things out as an adult. And so if we push them into a decision that they're not ready to make

048yet, that they don't feel comfortable to make yet, and then it ends with abuse, that nothing good can come from that. And if we want them to have that genuine moment with their family where they do get that support when they come out in a safe space, but unfortunately that doesn't always happen. And I think it's really important to know that they're always hearing things in the world about how terrible of people they are right now and that's just not the case. And if we take a minute to realize why so many gender non-conforming and trans students have mental health issues, it's not because of the gender dysphoria, it's actually because of the abuse and the harassment that they experience on a daily basis. And in the DSM-5 and ICD-10 code and American Psychological Association,

049gender identity is not a mental health disorder. Gender dysphoria is a component of that, but it does not mean that it's something that needs to be pathologized, but unfortunately a lot of people do that. Um pretty much that's all I have to say, but I really just hope you guys take that into consideration. >> [applause] >> Thank you. >> Hello, my name's Mikaela. I'm a mom of two. Um, my profession is health care. And I was invited by Val, and I think it's very important to speak on the everybody that just spoke on their behalf. As a parent >> [clears throat] >> Um, so good evening. Thank you um to the board for being here. I recognize it's not an easy position to be in. I'm here tonight in support of the students and in

050support of the school upholding the policy. When a parent enrolls their child in public school, they're trusting that school provide a safe and supportive environment. For some students, school's the only place where they feel safe enough to be themselves. It's concerning to see efforts to remove that support. The reality is if a child doesn't feel comfortable sharing something with their parents, that doesn't start at the school. It reflects a deeper breakdown in communication at home. It is the responsibility of parents to build that trust and maintain open communication. Schools are not replacing parents. They are providing a necessary support system for students who may be struggling internally and don't feel safe speaking up. There is real data behind why this matters. Transgender youth are significantly more at risk. Studies show they are over four times

051more likely to attempt suicide than their peers. What makes the difference is support. Youth who have supported environments, whether that's at home or at school, have significantly lower suicide rates. So when we talk about removing support at school, we're not just talking about policy. We're talking about taking away one of the few safe spaces some of these kids have. Every voice deserves to be heard, including parents who have concerns, but I think it's important to ask, if you are against this policy, what is the alternative? Because removing support without offering a solution doesn't protect students. It leaves them more vulnerable. We owe them better than that. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Oh, yeah. No problem. All right. Do we have >> Um I also have this um students in the humanities uh wrote

052notes, and I would really love to give this to you guys. If there's any way I could >> Sure. Thank you. Is there anyone else from the floor that would like to speak at this time? We have a a little bit of time remaining. All right. Thank you guys everyone for coming out tonight. Uh we are going to be moving on to our consent calendar. Um are there any questions this evening about the consent calendar? >> It's not about consent, but I did have um in the announcement section, which was number six, >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> No, um I would like to um just say that it was such a pleasure. Gail and I went to PV, and we listened to AP research projects, and it was incredible. Um I just thought I'm not

053going to get to read student names, but um there were just some in This is what our kids are doing. Um or what the kids that in the Here's a question. What is the correlation between California sea lions and the Chinook salmon population spawning in the Feather River after traveling through the San Francisco Bay over the course of 25 years? Um, how can I design a fall winter haute couture runway collection of 20 looks for the New York Fashion Week only using models that range from heights 5'4 to 5'7? Um, it just went on and on. There were There was a Foley catheter design. And I I left going, wow, these kids are going to invent things. It's like they I It was It was mind-blowing what what they were doing. And um, the young

054woman who uh talked about a new uh uh design for the Foley catheter and trying to eradicate a biofilm. Uh, she the teacher asked her, "What do you have a a walk a walk out um, you know, song?" And she says, "You know, for coming in or for leaving?" And he goes, "I don't know, for coming in." And she said, "Yeah, Thunderstruck." And I thought I thought that's perfect because after her presentation, I was thunderstruck. >> [laughter] >> It was amazing. >> I I will add to that too. I'm I'm sure Tom will as well, but it was when Tom said, "Hey Gail, you should go listen to them." And I thought, I don't know if I'm smart enough to listen to them. >> [laughter] >> The things that they researched and followed through on

055through, you know, phone calls and emails and frustrations with their with their project, um, it was spectacular. I can't wait to do it again. >> Yeah, I won't belabor the point too much, but I got to sit on the panel with Mr. Kerris who, you know, does a lot of statistics for the for for the district and yet one of the um um things we listen one of the presentations that we listened to was about um or I'm going to read a numerical integration approximation methods for sinusoidal functions of AC voltage. And I was like Okay, I you you beat me. I can't do that. Um you know, it was they really it's so great to see the things that these juniors and seniors are becoming and who they're going to be and how they're

056going to affect the world. It's really um it's fascinating and really kind of breathes a lot of life into what we do. So yes, this is the end point we're trying to get you guys to where you can go out and actually make it, you know, even as a senior in high school, make a change in the world and do something nobody's ever done. Um it's really fascinating. >> Yeah, and it made me feel like anybody who is worried about um the direction of our district, um I felt very confident that we're doing we're making great steps in the right direction. So it was awesome. Thank you for inviting us. Thank you and I apologize for skipping over announcements. Um did anyone have any other announcements? Okay. Okay, let's jump up um to consent calendar.

057>> I'm so sorry. Can I make a quick announcement just cuz it was in our email, but I want to announce it to everybody that um once again, it's becoming almost wrote, the House of Blue um won the state championship again for their uh digital media production class. Um which is amazing for again a small market like Chico to field program that routinely uh beats out the state in something like uh movie making in cinematography and digital media. That's really So huge congratulations to them. >> Awesome. Oh, you're fine. Um okay. Do we have any questions about the consent calendar? Would anyone like to pull a consent item for discussion? Okay. Do we have a motion at this time to approve the consent calendar? >> Sure, I will move approval of the consent calendar. >>

058I'll second. >> Okay, we have a motion by um member Lando, second by Vice President Olsen. Let's go ahead and do a um individual roll call vote. We'll start with you, Mrs. Robinson, if that's okay. >> Robinson, I. Lando, I. >> Conklin, I. >> Olsen, I. >> Hayes, I. >> All right, um that passes with a vote of five to zero. Okay, awesome. Moving along, um one moment here. Okay. Um the next item is um our discussion action calendar, educational services. Um this evening we'll be discussing um the 26 27 annual Chromebook replacement purchase. Um Mr. Vincent. >> Good evening, board. So, tonight we bring to you our annual Chromebook replacement uh purchase. Uh we do this every year. It helps us to re-get the machines that are broken and the ones that are getting

059tired and have bad batteries to be able to replace those with new machines so that our students and our staff have reliable machines to use throughout the year. So, we're bringing this forward to you asking that you would to um give consent to this to move forward with this contract. There were three bidders. Uh this was the lowest responsible bid. It was about $100,000 less than the next bid. Any questions? >> Yes, so I uh had asked this question and and you had written me, but just so um the public knows, um one of my questions was, do we have enough Chromebook carts um at our elementary because uh board policy has changed in that uh we're not going to be sending Chromebooks home with our elementary stu- students and um but that doesn't mean

060that Chromebooks won't be available on site. And so um instead of Chromebooks going leaving the premises, they'll be on on site. And so I had asked that question about uh Chromebook carts for recharging and whatnot and if our elementary school sites have enough of those. >> So originally there were carts for all classrooms in the district. Um so the majority do now. I've asked our computer techs to go around and do a an audit of all the classrooms at the elementary level to see if there are any classrooms that are missing any carts that would need them. And then we can work with teachers to see what their desire would be to what kind of cart to put in the room. >> I also had another question. I'm hoping that perhaps um we'll see a

061decline in need for replacing so many Chromebooks um with having our elementary ki- kids not taking them back and forth back and forth back and forth um and that perhaps uh I know that this Chromebook purchase was a part of the LCAP of last year that was approved um uh and if parents are concerned about um technology and its use in the district, I'm going to encourage them to go to LCAP meetings. Um they're um posted. I I know that um Ms. Keen could probably speak to that. >> They can also write in or call, schedule a time to talk, anything like that as well. Our majority of our season of LCAP meetings is over. We've got DELAC tomorrow night, our District English Language Advisory Council tomorrow. But we're starting into the writing piece of

062it now with all of the input received from the year as it it's due to you in June. So we spend the bulk of May and June writing it. But people certainly can write in, they can call, we'll have we're happy to call anybody back. >> Yes. Um so in June that's when there is a there's a time when the public gets to have public comment on what's written, correct? >> There is, yeah. Specifically in between the public hearing and the final approval, which is a week. I do encourage people if they're at all wanting to let us know, please let us know early. We have an obligation to get that LCAP into the pardon to the state for approval by July 1st. So we want to make sure everything in there is correct with

063plenty of time to make any anything we need to do for the board to approve. So just keeping that in mind, that time frame's tight. >> Yeah, thank you. I really do encourage parents to give input. The district does I think a great job of talking to students and and of course staff. It's important to get staff input as well. Um but I really do hope that maybe we can see a decrease in the amount of Chromebooks that we need to be replacing because it's not inconsequential. It's you know, a million dollars is it's a lot of money and so perhaps I'm hoping that with the new board policy that perhaps we can we won't need to replace 3,300 of them. Maybe we'll replace 2,000 or something or that would that we would see a

064decrease in the need. So. >> I agree. I'm hoping to see a a decrease in damage as well. >> Thank you. Are there any other questions? Public comment at this time? Okay, this is an action item. Is there a board member that would like to make a motion this time? Okay, I will um motion approval of the annual Chromebook replacement purchase. >> I'll second that. >> Okay. It's a motion by President Conklin, a second by member Lando. Let's go ahead and vote all together if that's okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed? All right, this passes. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thanks, John. Okay, we're going to be moving on to business services. The next item is also discussion action. This is regarding our school wellness policy board

065policy 5030 presented by um Vince this evening. >> Good evening. How are you? How's everybody? >> Good. >> I am excited to ask for your approval for the wellness policy this evening. I don't have anything new to report on it, which is a good thing. We did a lot a lot of hard work in on the last time that we did it and worked with a really great really great bunch of people that helped us kind of narrow things down to things that we could actually do. And so I think when we looked at it again this time nothing's really changed in our in the dynamics of the wellness policy. And so we had Heather and Pedro, they went and met with their teachers. They met with their principals and those folks and and got

066the information out to them. And so we really have nothing back to report on it. It's the same wellness policy that we had the last time. >> All right. >> Questions? >> Does the board have any questions? >> I just have a comment. I think I sat in on one of these sessions near the end. Um and I learned a lot that you're responsible for a lot that you really you know, um for lack of better way to say it, you you don't really have a lot of control, right? Because your umbrella is huge, right? So um and then everybody else that went, I just really appreciate the efforts um going to the sites, you know, getting the information and bringing it back and everybody working together to really look at the language. So >>

067And a lot of that came from the last group that we met with. They really kind of put it into perspective for us. I mean, it allowed us just to kind of evolve what we were doing and come up with a a good a good a good wellness policy. >> Yeah, it it was not something that was done overnight. It was done over a lengthy period of time with lots of input and insight. So thank you for all your hard work. >> Yeah, I'll thank them. They did they did all the outside work. That was a it was a huge huge huge team team effort. Any other questions? >> Been there, done that. >> There you have it, right? >> All right, any um comment from the public? All right, do we have a member

068who'd like to make a motion regarding this agenda item? >> I motion to approve. >> I'll second that motion. >> Okay, we have a motion by um Vice President Olsen and a second by member Robinson. Let's go ahead and vote all together. All those in favor, say aye. >> Aye. Opposed? All right, thank you. This passes. >> Thank you. And now you get me again. So, uh you had an opportunity to take a look at the uh bid bid packet that we sent out and um we ended up getting a lot of great responses back. Um I want to say we had the opportunity not to go out to bid and it's kind of in the last few years or since COVID it's kind of been do we do it or do we not do

069it? Do the prices continue to go up? Do they not? We worked really, really hard with our vendors, especially local vendors like Danielson's um and we relied on their expertise to kind of help us like, yes, you guys should go out to bid. It's a good time for us to go out to bid. I'm super glad that we did. Um all things considered the same, we do the same amount of meals as next year as we do this year. Um we're going to save about $803,000 just by going out to bid. Um I can't say enough about how much Alejandro, our our warehouse manager for food, has done such an amazing job just working with the vendors and working on where can I get the best prices and where can I make sure that they

070have that volume that we need. We don't ever need two boxes of something, we need four pallets of those things. And Alejandro's done an amazing job. Our inventory's at the lowest I've ever seen them. We don't run out of product at the school sites. Um so, yeah, I'm I'm super excited. Um really quick, in 2024-25 the cost of a meal was $2.45. Um I thought them that it was going to go up this year. Um luckily, Alejandro's been amazing and and saved us an awful lot of money cuz we started being proactive early in the year. Um the price came down to $2.38 a meal and with all the projections, if we do indeed save $803,000, um, the cost of a meal come back down to about $1.97. Um, that'll put our food cost back

071where they were before COVID. So, um, that's super awesome. Um, never thought we were going to get back there, but we're we're slowly creeping back down and and um, we'll finally get back into putting money back in the bank. >> More of a comment, but I don't know how you did that. From somebody who grocery shops and compares prices from this year to last year, it seems like a pure miracle, really. >> Well, it is, but if you look at it like a couple of the things like milk was our one of our big savings. We saved like $161,000 on milk. Um, and then it also gets shipped straight to the school site. So, now it's one company does two things, produce and milk for us. So, a lot of savings down at the district

072office, less paperwork, um, less paperwork for the for the site managers to take care of and check all the things off. So, it comes in one delivery. So, a lot of a lot of benefits and positives that they're going to come from it. >> And I just want to pipe in that Vincent his team have done an amazing job with keeping food costs down when we know, as we all see, that they're not down. Um, and Alejandro in the warehouse for sure, um, making sure that we're rotating inventory, we're using, um, the oldest inventory and that we're always serving the freshest products to our kids. So, it's a big feat to go out forbid. I know when he said he was going to do it, I was a little leery. Um, but he texted me

073the night he put all the calculations together and was like, "Hey, we're going to save money. This is a really good thing." So, I just want to, uh, double shout out to Vincent his team for for putting this together. >> Amen. >> Yeah, Alejandro and his team, they they check in product, they send product back that's not acceptable. Um, it's a hard thing to do sometimes for them to stop what they're doing and go check in the products, but, um, we send back an awful lot of products and they get a little bit irritated that we do. So, we start to see better products as they come through. Mostly produce is what I'm talking about, but um he's he and he and his drivers have done an amazing job of like, "Nope, we're not taking

074that. That's not coming off of my truck." So, they take it super seriously and and want the best for for the sites that they they deliver to. So, I'm I'm super proud to be a part of it and I'm happy that we went out to bid. >> [laughter] >> So, any questions? Other questions? >> Questions? Public comment? >> Good job. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you very >> Thank you. >> Yeah, awesome. Public comment? All right, this is action, so we'll need a a motion by a board member. >> I move to approve. >> I'll second that motion. And I mentioned that that we did we get a lot of input >> [clears throat] >> since from the students at our uh El Cap students input meetings, so you're you're getting feedback at

075that level. >> Yeah, that's awesome. And we do hear back from a uh we kind of trickles down here. We hear about it. >> All right, we had a motion um by member Hayes and a second by Robinson. Let's go ahead and vote together. All those in favor, signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed? All right, this passes 5 to 0. >> Thank you. All right, um moving along to 9B3, discussion action. Um we'll be hearing tonight from um Julie Kessler about the demographic analysis. >> Hi, good evening. Um thank you for this opportunity. Um every year at round this time, um February or March, we bring forward our demographic study um that has been um created by King Consulting. Um this document has been provided to everyone for their review and we do

076have Rob here tonight to give just a general overview um of the of the study. This study is very very important tool for our district to utilize to look into the future. What what are the trends? Where are our our facilities being used? Where are our needs coming up? Um and we use this as a tool to help us be prepared, you know, for what changes are coming in the future. Um you all know that making changes to facilities can take 3 to 5 years. So we really have to use this document to forecast um you know, what what are we looking forward to. Um so without further ado, I will let Rob come up and give you the summary of the study and we are asking for uh adoption of the study afterwards. Thank

077you. >> Hey, thank you, Julie and good evening. It's always a pleasure to be back in Chico and I get to be here while the sun is out for the first time in a few years. So thank you for bumping me up to April from February. Uh so as Julie said, there's a lot of information in the report. I'm not going to go over all of it here tonight. We're going to keep it pretty high level and quick, but of course I'll be happy to answer any detailed questions that you have after it's over and I know And thank you. There we go. Knew it was here somewhere. So uh we'll go ahead and just dive into it and very high level uh we are I as recently as a couple of years ago, I

078was still saying that we're seeing some growth trends still manifesting and we have finally unfortunately turned the corner and the wider demographic issues that are affecting almost every school district in the state are manifesting more here. And the big thing really is local birth rates. The foundation of any school district's enrollment remains the families who already live here continuing to have children who in a few years enroll in Chico Unified Schools. You still have uh overall positive net growth, i.e. you take all the kids you had from the year before, K through 11, they come back as first through 12th, you have more of them than you did the year before. Some of that is driven by residential development, which the city of Chico is maintaining at a very consistent pace over the last several

079years. And we'll just identify uh one thing is that transitional kindergarten, despite this being the first year of that universal implementation where all four-year-olds are eligible, remains an opportunity where there more of those kids that you know you're going to have as kindergarteners. Not all of them are enrolling in TK, of course it's not compulsory, but there is an opportunity perhaps for some bottom line growth of just more of those students who you already have and who you are going to get also coming to you at that time. So, that said, we'll go into some trends. Again, you had that what turned out to be your peak enrollment as of now in recent history in 2019-20. Were it not for the COVID-19 pandemic, you probably would have peaked higher cuz you resumed that growth trend

080from that reset baseline right after, but you have now had two consecutive years of overall bottom line decreasing enrollment. And just a little visualization, again, the aberration that was the COVID-19 year, but now uh seeing that taking down again. And the engine that really drives this, as I said, is who do you have that you know will matriculate, will leave the district? Because again, you I mean, it's great just no one gets to graduate this year, you all stay enrolled for a special grade 13. That would boost your enrollment, probably not going to go over well with the community. The idea is that these kids do age out of the district. And you see on the darker colored bottom line there, those are your actual kindergarten classes. So, keeping in mind uh you know, down

081below 750 this year that when I show you the births in a few slides, keep that uh the 2025 kindergarten in mind. This is particularly low, but you can really see how uh you know, compared to a decade ago when around 900 over 900 was the norm and now really dipping substantial you know, well below 800 in a lot of years. That said, the total height of that line in the current year when you factor in the transitional kindergarten is the most you've ever had collectively of all of these youngest learners. So, again, that I know Julie and her team have been working on the facilities uh needs that have come with knowing that was going to be coming. Just a quick look, we always do this catalog of again, since Chico was nice enough

082to have this very steady amount of development, just keeping an eye on how many kids you're actually getting out of the new homes. Uh last year we had really seen a dip particularly in the single family detached housing not generating as many students. That seems to have rebounded now. Whether that's a case of some of those homes that we looked at last year maybe had a three or four-year-old and now you have that kid enrolled when you didn't have them last year or just more of the families moving into brand new homes that we're looking at for the first time have kids, but you're kind of back up to those historical ranges that we're accustomed to seeing. Still a little bit lower than some of what they were in your peak years, but definitely that

083at least is a good sign that to the extent that the city continues to have development, which again, big chart, big map, there is you know, not all of these are going to be built over the next few years. Some of these are very long term, but uh city is very confident in maintaining the approximate pace of development from the last several years and that means we know a nice steady increase in new families and students moving in. Uh, just that annual reminder this remains this is just for the elementary schools but one of the more useful kind of one-stop shops that we can give you in terms of answering a lot of questions. You can just look down the rows to see how many students live in each of your attendance boundaries or that's

084looking down the columns. You can look across the rows to see which schools they're actually enrolled in. Uh, just like the old AAA mileage maps you have the bold numbers going down the diagonal which is the intersection of students who are just going to the school whose boundary they live in which is the most common but in a district that offers a lot of choice as this one does just about not quite every but just about every combination of a student living in one part of the district and going to school at a given school is happening for at least some family. And then of course you have your two uh, choice schools that also uh, you know, just add to the movement around but this can answer a lot of questions. There's a lot

085more detail in the full report but we'll dive in now to the enrollment projections and I think this is really the big one that explains what's changed over the last few years and what's going on. The green box approximately represents who you have enrolled K through 12 right now and you can see looking back towards the back end uh, cohorts that started off in you know, with birth years of your local population between 1,100 and 1,200 are still enrolled in your system and over the next few years are going to be matriculating out and coming up for the next 5 years uh, topping 1,000 births is notable and that's happening less and less but you can see at the very right edge of that green box, that's that particularly you had that below 750 kindergarteners,

086that was also pulling from the lowest year of birth that you have on record in the 21st century. So, you've seen that. It's not going to be that bad again, most likely. But, still compared to who you have in fourth and fifth grade right now set to leave elementary school, particularly compared to who you have in high school right now, there just aren't as many kids waiting in the wings to fill all those places as those kids move out. Uh one thing that is good news, uh you can see kind of pre-COVID, we're looking at the ratio on that blue line on top. If we know how many births there were, how reliably does that tell us how many kindergarteners you're going to get out of those? Uh seeing that ratio kind of up in

087the high 70s, around 80%, suddenly dipping, no surprise in COVID-19, and what really happened there is in that 2020 to 2021 period, it's more that a lot of kids who had been born in, you know, 2017, 2018, 2019, and were going to, you know, reach that kindergarten age in the few years after COVID, had actually moved maybe in 2020 or 2021, but we see the sudden dip and then maintaining low in uh ratios shooting back up a little this year. I think you are going to get closer to that 80% capture rate again, just because now we're only talking about, as of next year, kids who were born after COVID coming into kindergarten age. So, that little trough you had is going to be in your rearview mirror, but you're getting a slightly bigger piece

088of a much smaller pie, and so that still means fewer kindergarteners coming in. The bottom line, of course, you've had expansion of eligibility for transitional kindergarten. That's going to level out now that this was the first year that all 4-year-olds were eligible, and so anyone who, again wants to come to you for TK was able to. But, as you can see, there's still a big gap between those two ratios. So, again, there's uh potentially room to make up. Again, that existing net growth a little bit tempered the last couple of years, but still undeniably positive. Uh still getting, you know, 1.4 1.6% net growth in terms of again those K-11s, they all come back the next year, and you've got again um more of them than left the school year with. And a lot of

089that growth still occurs between 8th and 9th grade before you. You do pick up between your charter schools and private schools a lot of those who want to come to you for high school, but you do tend to have positive growth across most of your grades. And all of this boils down to here's that projection. Uh and really just a gradual taking back, and again, just like I said a few years ago, one thing we wanted to watch was birth rates changing. In this case, that wound up happening and pulling you down from the rosier years of projections when your births were higher. But now that we're we've really seen again that new normal of hovering around a thousand instead of 1,100 has normalized. Uh but if that changes again, if anything with pace of

090development changes, some of those out years could look different. But this is based on what we know right now, our best indication of what we think your next 7 years will look like, again, for years 6 and 7, we're talking kids that haven't even been born yet. So, a lot can change. But even with that said, you're just really taking around that, you know, 5 years out, getting down to uh the lowest point that you had in the dark blue line of your recent past. So, it's more that you've hit that peak and are coming gradually back down, and it's really just now seeing uh and not long after this, assuming that those birth rates hold up, is when you would start seeing that stabilization, as well. When you suddenly have uh with the development,

091with the positive growth balancing out just only a slighter difference as more of those 1,200 birth cohorts age out. So, that is again just a big wall of numbers. The main thing to really watch, as I had mentioned, is your current fourth and fifth grade, which number close to 900 students each. Those are really that It's that kind of basic physics of kind of the uh you know, the bucket up on the high shelf has more potential energy kind of thing. Uh that's where you have just an undeniable those two student uh cohorts in the next 2 years are going to move into middle school. E- uh you have one more relatively higher kindergarten cohort coming in next year, we think, based on births. After that, you're looking at something in the high 700s-ish for

092most years, based on who we know has been born. But, once you get those two cohorts that are kind of close to 900 out at the elementary schools, you're already close to that equilibrium level. And then it's just across middle school and high school seeing some more gradual declines coming down as you just keep uh filtering out some of those larger student cohorts with some smaller ones coming in. Uh again, largely due to some of the work you've been doing through your bond program, there's a whole lot less red on this than there was. Some of that is also due to uh kind of a change in the prognostication with the future enrollment. And a lot of these, it's not that you are drastically over. It's uh unfortunately kind of a binary thing. If our

093projection shows you're a couple of kids over what the your FMP says is the ideal capacity, we're flagging it here, but for the most part, you have a whole lot less than you had a few years ago. And then we always just like to The other thing we do for you at King is keep track of your state facility funding opportunities and just that reminder that to date you have received almost $130 million from this program to again stretch those local dollars, keep those bonds accomplishing more. You have another 3.7 million that is already in line that you should be getting in the next year or so to bump you up to 133. And then looking at that uh modernization eligibility again as we find the right projects to match with this eligibility, you've got

094another 67 million in state funding that we can apply for now with another about 25 million that will come available uh at Chico High and Bidwell in the next couple of years. Again, it's been 25 years since the last time you took some of that mod money. Uh new construction eligibility looks very healthy right now. This does get updated every year, but again, you're in a very good place to to the extent that you want to tap into that have a good chance of being able to do so. So, whirlwind of information, but happy to answer questions on anything that you want to know more about and thank you. >> [snorts] >> Well, thank you. Can you use your microphone, please? >> Enough? Thank you. Um is is that better? Okay, thank you. Um one

095of the things that um we became aware of from your input was the impact of our economy. >> Mhm. >> And my speaking of economy means everything right now cuz the economy is meaning many different things. Um and that affected the birth rate as people waited to have kids until they knew whether or not they could afford them. Are you seeing anything that's reportable? At this point in what our national and worldwide economy is um taking a bit of a hit. Um are there any signals that you would want to report to us that concern you? >> No, I [clears throat] mean obviously going into some deep waters here. But I I would say a lot of what you are describing remain the predominant trends and that's not California or even the United States. That

096really is a lot of worldwide issues. Uh certainly with you know, a lot of people are just really able to better control and choose not to have kids and that it's certainly economic constraints factor into a lot of it. We already heard just in the last item. I grocery shop too and you know, it's have distant I occasionally find an old paper bag in the garage and pull a receipt out from 5 years ago and just look at the prices and just marvel. And so you know, I I absolutely get that a lot of people say maybe maybe now is not the right time and in a couple of years it'll make more sense and inevitably that for some of those people that that perfect time never comes. And so yeah, I I unfortunately I

097don't see some of that changing significantly. >> Uh another issue our um city of Chico has things sitting aside waiting for um putting put into the the building process. Permitting is happening but actually putting the project up. Um seems like the last 2 years has slowed. Is that my imagination or >> I I actually had an email from your city community development director with the total number of permits and I would say I was just looking at it before the meeting just almost like I knew this question might or something similar to it. So, I was just refreshing myself, but uh including everything uh your single-family homes, multi-family homes, and ADUs. Uh I think the last couple of years have actually been slightly higher than the few years before that, but you're really looking at

098pretty consistently of of kind of 5, 6, 700 uh new homes being introduced by the city each year for the quite a few years running back now. >> Okay. That's That's encouraging. I know that that's been one of you know, one of the things everybody that's involved with city government as well as school district have been um a bit hesitant about moving forward with some things because of the implication of whether or not those homes that are being permitted can actually be shovels in the ground. Thank you. >> Welcome. >> I was I'm referring to the student generation rate slide slide and um I was It was interesting looking at the affordable um housing. How it was the only area where there was a negative student generation rate. And you know, when I think about

099affordable housing, I would think that young families would be you know, uh that that's where anyway, I don't know that it's a question per se, but I just wondered if you had any like thoughts about this particular slide as far as those student generation rates. >> No, and I that it is interesting that that's the only type of housing that had a lower rate than when we looked at it last year, but even given that, it is still more than twice as high as any other type of housing. So, the extent to which there is below market or affordable rate housing being built is going to attract more younger families with school age kids than anything else. But yes, we will certainly keep an eye on that because what that maybe anecdotally tells me is

100that of some of the newest affordable housing that was built not not as much of it is going to the young families. And so, we'll see if this was again last year was kind of a one-off blip in terms of everything across the board not having as many kids in it when we looked at it. And so, we'll see the next time we're back what's happening with your dedicated affordable housing. But again, even with that little dip this year, it still remains the most dependable sort of housing to bring younger families into your district. >> The other question the other comment is it seemed to me like and and again, I I look at this and I go, well, maybe I'm just not understanding, but it seemed like these differences, these positive differences of you

101know, 32.4% or 24.7% that those are pretty big differences, pretty substantial. So, I it puzzled me how we're seeing the student generation rate go up, but overall enrollment go down. And I wondered if you could explain that. >> Of course. And and that really is what you're really seeing there is the rebound back to The only reason you're having 32% growth is the when you dip down to for example in the single family detached down to 219 last year, that was the real elaboration where we said we had better really keep an eye on this. And uh cuz you also had something like 30-something percent decrease that year. So, it's more this was your return back to your I would say normal range of what we would see. It >> Kind of a big looks

102like >> It just looks like a big increase, but that was only because you you you you had you had fallen down so far you had this room to have this big increase returning back to your normal levels. >> I see. >> So, that's >> That makes sense. >> That's really what you're seeing there. Yeah, so if I actually that might do that next time I present this if instead of just showing the previous year and the current year we kind of let's let's go back and look at a few years so you can really kind of see the range >> Yeah. >> that we've looked at for you. Yeah, so we we just happened to catch that that's almost yeah, pretty much the definition of an outlier and so I'm glad you asked that

103so in case anyone else had seen it and wondered I we got to explain that. So, thank you. >> Thank you. And I also want to say that even though I haven't been here in front of you often, um I too found this fascinating. I I watched online and I always enjoyed your presentations so found it very fascinating. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Any other questions? Public comment? All right. Okay. This is um discussion action. Um so, at this time um is there a board member that has a motion associated with this agenda item? >> Sure. I will move that we adopt the demographic analysis for 25-26. >> I'll second that. >> All right, we have a motion. >> motion. >> By member Lando and a second by member Robinson. Let's go ahead and vote

104at this time. Unless there's any discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed? All right, this passes. >> Thanks. >> I want to thank you all for coming. Thanks Rob, drive safely. And we really value our partnership with King Consulting on um helping us to uh project our future with our facilities. And they've been working with this data for almost 20 years for the district. But just as importantly helping us with the state funding. Um we've had incredible success with leveraging our bond dollars and being able to get more and more for our kids. So we're excited about that. Uh the next item um is a resolution. You've seen these before. This is standard operating procedure for every project that we embark on. We um exempt ourselves from the city of Chico

105uh zoning ordinances. And this project we're exempting ourselves for the Blue Oak Charter School project. >> Are there any questions? Public comment? Is there a motion? >> I motion approval of resolution number 1722-26. >> I'll second We have a motion by um member Hayes, second by um President Conkin. Let's go ahead and vote it together again. All those in favor, say aye. >> Aye. >> Opposed? All right, this passes. Thank you. >> So, the next item is um the Chico High roofing project. Uh back in February, the board um voted to allow a portion of bond dollars to be allocated to this uh important uh safety project for roofing at Chico High School. The administrative building, the covered walk between the administrative building and the library, the science building, and the IT building out in

106the back. They've um for many years had um significant leaking, and it's just come to a um a turning point where this really needed to happen, and we appreciate you allocating the money. We put the project out for bid. Um it bid on April 8th, and um we had three responsive bidders. Rua and San Mechanical is the lowest responsive bidder at 898,520. And that is to perform the labor to install the roofing materials. You'll see in the budget outlined uh soft cost budget is 883,000 and change, and that is um to buy the materials, because the district is using a cooperative purchasing agreement. We can get a better deal on those materials uh for Rua to install. Um we We some money in the contingency in case we happen to find any dry rot or

107anything when we ripped those roofs off. Hopefully that contingency will be enough money. Uh that's a lot of square footage that we're we're tearing off. Um but tonight we're here to get your approval for the district to enter a contract with Rua and Send Mechanical for the Chico High Roofing project. >> I so move. Oh. I just I have Oh, I was just going to ask if we have any questions. I It is a little chilly up here. Any public comment? Tisha? >> [snorts] >> I so move. >> [laughter] >> Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> Oh oh oh >> Just let Mr. Liendo. >> Okay, I'll take it. >> We have a motion. An enthusiastic motion by member Hayes and a second by member Liendo. Any discussion? >> Just I think

108something you're saying, I'm really excited this is this is happening. It's been needed to happen for a while, so >> Yeah. >> glad we're going to get it >> More than a while. Yes, we got thank you notes from Chico High teachers. >> All right. Let's vote. All those in favor signify by saying aye. >> Aye. >> Opposed? All right, this passes. Moving along, I think you have another one, right? >> Right. The last one for me uh tonight is the bid approval for the Citrus Elementary School Modernization and New Construction project. Uh it went out for bid on April 7th and we had four responsive bidders. The lowest responsive bidder was $12 million 150,000 dollars for United Building Contractors. Um which was a really good price. We're very happy with that. It's under our

109budget um quite substantially. Um so tonight we're asking you to approve the bid and allow us to enter contract with United Building Contractors for the Citrus project. Do we have any questions? So since it's under budget, I know there are there there were some things that um aren't going to be touched it wasn't uh scheduled to be touched at at um Citrus and part of it is it can't be there's a weird thing about it being such an old school that you know, if it goes over a certain amount I know I I what's the percentage that there's like a golden percentage that we can't >> Right. There are several uh engineering bulletins um through the Division of the State Architect uh that won't allow you to renovate a building of that age um if

110the costs outweigh the replacement value, right? So we have strict limitations on the modernization of the older building to make sure we stay within those guidelines. Um since we do have some extra money, we will have to do improvements outside of our DSA project. Yes, but we do have some things in the plan um especially the library classroom building, the older fourth and fifth grade. Um maybe some new flooring and lighting uh in there. >> Nice. I'm excited. >> Are there any other questions? Any public comment? All right, do we have a motion? >> I'm I move [clears throat] approval of the low bid by United Building Contractors. >> I I second. >> All right, we have a motion by member Robinson and a second by member Hayes. Any discussion? All right, let's go ahead

111and vote all together. All those in favor, say I. >> I. >> Opposed? All right, this passes. Thank you so much, Julie. >> Thank you all. Have a good night. >> Yeah, I'm just so thrilled that we're able to do for Citrus, one of our charming older schools, what we are able to do. It's It's just it warms my heart. >> Thank you. >> All right. We are moving on. Um Let's see, to Human Resources, and this um is going to be discussion action. Also, um resolution number 1720 -26. Um tonight uh will be presented by Mike Allen and John Shepherd. >> Thank you. So, um you know, I've been in my post for about 3 years now. I just want to say um the classified employees I I see do a tremendous job. They

112do a absolutely tremendous job. Sometimes behind the scenes, sometimes right in front of the scenes. Um their leadership at with CSCA, the unrepresented groups, the the classified management, they really really truly work super diligently and hard to make sure that our kids have what they need. And so, um this resolution here is to appreciate their endeavors and the work that they do for our district. And so, um the resolution 1720-26 is um a resolution for us to recognize classified employees week. Do you like me to read it? >> [laughter] >> Okay. All right. It is my pleasure. The week of May 18th through the 22nd, 2026 is hereby designated as classified employee appreciation week. Whereas the education of our youth is essential to the future of our community, state, country, and world. And whereas classified

113employees are the backbone of our public education system. And whereas classified employees work directly with students, educators, parents, volunteers, business partners, and community members. And whereas classified employees support the smooth operation of offices, the safety and maintenance of buildings and property, and the safe transportation, healthy nutrition, and direct instruction of students. And whereas our community depends and trusts classified employees to serve serve students. And whereas classified employees, with their their their diverse talents and true dedication, nurture students throughout the school years. Therefore, be it resolved that Chico Unified School District Board of Trust Trustees claims May 18th through the 22nd, 2026 be the classified employees appreciation week. And be it further resolved that Chico Unified Board of Trustees strongly encourage all members of our community to join in this obs- observance, recognizing the dedication and

114hard work of these individuals. Thank you. >> I just want to say we've been able to collaborate and Chico Unified and CSEA is going to do a job shadowing that week as well as part of classified week. So we'll be sharing with you guys opportunities that you can sign up and join a classified member. So it's a great program we did 3 years ago and it was very successful. So um and there will be a hosted um evening that night at Nash's where everybody who was job shadowed and job shadowed will can come and collaborate together on what they learned. So I'm hoping you all can come join us that week as well. It's a great celebration we want to do about classified employees. >> Thank you so much. Do we have any questions? >>

115No, but I I I will just say I know that Gail I'm sure feels this way too. I my paraeducators were absolutely wonderful wonderful supports in my classroom and then we had amazing campus supervisors and just CSEA CSEA uh I I'm certainly happy to sign off on this resolution. >> Uh could I ask a question Kelly? Um you said that there was job shadowing opportunity. How do we sign up? >> Uh um Mr. Allen he he'll be sharing that with you guys on how you it'll be a Google spreadsheet that we'll have out there and you'll be even given the opportunity if you want to come shadow a classified employee. >> Thank you. >> Do we have any public comment? All right. Is there a board member that would like to make a motion? >>

116I move approval of the um resolution regarding classified employee appreciation week. >> I will second. >> All right, we have a motion by member um Robinson, second by Vice President Olsen. Let's go ahead and vote if we don't have any further discussion. All right. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed? Awesome. This passes. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um we already did that one, correct? I'm sorry. Mr. Shepherd, yeah. >> Yeah, I'm ready. >> Okay. I I looked at you and I wasn't quite sure if you were ready. >> I'm ready. So, I kind of want to do a you know, email replace all um that Mike said that'd be cheating though about the certificated side of things just because there's just so much passion.

117We heard a lot of humanity earlier in the conversation about the certificated teach teacher from Parkview and if we as we read these resolutions, those are the kinds of people we need to keep in mind as you know, cuz these these documents are are important um and it's great to be able to place a face with with what we're talking about here. Um I also want Kelly to notice Kelly Searle that we made sure classified went first this year because we're going to try to alternate who goes first. Little things, yeah. And Charlie wanted to make sure everybody knew he's not missing this in any with any disrespect and um in mind it's that he's going to join us on the 22nd and he has only so many Wednesday nights away from his little kids

118that he can afford. So, uh he wanted to know that we sincerely appreciate the that they appreciate the recognition. Would any board member like to read this? This might be something we've never done before, but I don't have I don't have Mike Allen's voice. >> I don't either, but I'd be happy to read it. >> wonderful if you did. Thank you. >> Is that okay with you guys? All right, thank you so much. Plus, and I I get to editorialize now. Um I got to spend last week going to PV and Marsh and Citrus, and I'm well, I saw a lot of classified stuff, but I also got to step into classrooms and watch the magic happen, and it really It's been It's been so excited to see how different the instruction is at each

119site, but how passionate every single one of those teachers is, and how good they are at their jobs, and it was a great a great segue into this for me, thinking really about, you know, why we do what we do, and where the magic actually happens. Given all that, um the Chico Unified School District Board of Education for Teachers and Certificated Staff Appreciation. Whereas, a strong, effective system of free public school education for all children and youth is essential to our democratic system of government. And whereas, the United States has made considerable progress in the social, technological, and scientific fields due to our system of free and universal public education. And And whereas, much of this progress can be attributed to the qualified and dedicated teachers and certificated staff entrusted with the educational development of

120our children to their full potential. And whereas, teachers and certificated staff should be accorded high public esteem, reflecting the value the community places on public education. And whereas, the Chico Unified School District is keenly aware of the importance and impact of teachers and all certificated staff on children. And whereas, it is appropriate that teachers and certificated staff be recognized for their dedication and commitment to educating students. Therefore, be it resolved that May 4th through 8th, 2026, be proclaimed Teacher and Certificated Staff appreciation week in the Chico Unified School District and urge all citizens to pay tribute to our public school teachers and staff. Furthermore, the teachers and staff in the Chico Unified School District should be thanked every day for their dedication, professionalism, and for the service they provide to our students. >> Thank you.

121>> President Conkin, can I just add that with these two weeks of appreciation, um having a week in between, uh Chico Unified traditionally will celebrate all staff with some treats on the Wednesday in between. So, we'll be sending out um nutrition services and and uh our many, many people are involved in in celebrating all the staff. So, we we pick the middle week and send some treats out to staff. >> Awesome. Do we have any questions? All right, any public comment? >> Not a public comment, but I do think that in America we forget how incredibly lucky we are that that system of free and universal public education, um how incredibly important that is. And I I love that that's a part of this resolution. Thank you. Yeah. >> [snorts] >> All right. >> President

122Conkin, >> Yes. >> I I >> [clears throat] >> I'd like to say something on behalf of all of our staff, both classified and certificated. I was very lucky in my years with Chico Unified. I was I was a classified employee, but I got to work with and support the certificated employees. And I so appreciated everyone. I'm There just wasn't anything lacking in the kind of support if you were a classified employee or certificated employee. The groups worked always with the kids in mind. What What an amazing group of people and I'm I'm very thankful to have not only been one but worked with all of them, too. >> I definitely love that. Definitely takes a a village, right? To make the magic happen. All right. Um at this time, is there um a board

123member that would like to make a motion regarding this agenda item? >> I motion approval. >> I'll second. >> All right. We have a motion um by member Hayes and a second by Vice President Olson. Uh we can go ahead if we don't have any dis- further discussion. We can go ahead and vote. All those in favor, say I. >> I. >> Opposed? All right. That passes unanimously. Okay. We are moving along. Um the next is um item number 9D um one. This is a discussion action item resolution number 1719-26 uh regarding resolution on board compensation um for missed meeting um submitted by um Clerk Hayes. Do you want me to Did you want to discuss it? Or Hayes or >> No need? Okay. I think we're all familiar with the item. Okay. Um does

124anyone have any questions for clarification purposes? Any public comment? All right. At this time um I actually um uh will make a motion um uh that we approve resolution number 17-19-26. >> I'll second that motion. >> All right. >> And and I salute member Hayes for what she did during the missing of that meeting. We all are aware and my hat's off to you, madam. >> All right. Is there any discussion at this time? Okay, let's go ahead and vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Abstaining? >> Abstain. Okay. We have four um in favor, zero opposed and one abstain vote, one abstention. That passes. Thank you. You're welcome. Uh lastly uh we have a um no members that have requested to agendize items. Um so we're moving along to our

125final final item on the agenda and that's um adjournment. Is there a motion to adjourn this meeting? >> I I move Thank you, President Clark. I move we um adjourn. >> I second. >> Okay, we have a motion by member Robinson, a second by Vice President Olsen. Would we like to discuss it or are we ready to vote? >> [laughter] >> Do we have to do a roll call though since we the last one was >> We had a pretty good All right, let's just go ahead and vote together. All those in favor say I. Opposed? All right, this meeting is officially adjourned.