001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Hello, good evening. Um I'm sorry. We are um headed into closed session. Um I wanted to call this meeting to order first though. Um so we'll be headed into closed session and then I will report any action that's been taken afterwards. Thank you. >> Mhm. >> Good evening. Thank you everybody for coming. Um We are going to call the regular board meeting to order. This meeting is recorded and live streamed. Uh for the last hour we were in closed session, but no action was taken. At this time I'd like everybody to stand for the flag salute. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, at
002this time I'd um like to ask Greg to introduce the student reports. All right, we have Principal John Gunderson here from Chico Junior. Take it away. Thank you. Uh first off, I just want to take a moment to thank all of you for everything you do. You have an extremely difficult job and we appreciate all the work that you do to support our schools. I also want to recognize all of you for supporting us administrators and our schools, our staff, and our students. We really appreciate y'all and everything you do. I know it ain't an easy job. I'm here tonight to talk about a really cool program that we have at our school that I'm extremely proud of. Um and I'm just the lucky guy that happens to work at the school that works with
003the individual who did all this cool stuff. Um we were able to bring Mr. Wes Bill over to our school and in the few years that he's been in our school he's revolutionized our iTech program, uh brought in a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of grant stuff, and we are doing amazing work. So, I'd like to introduce him and uh he'll introduce a couple of our students from our iTech 1 class and then we have iTech 3, which is our advanced iTech class, and they'll kind of showcase what they're doing in some of their classes. So, uh Mr. Bill, if you'd like to come on up here, please, sir. And you want to introduce the kids and bring them Yeah. Thank you. Hey, first of all, I'd like to say thank you to the district.
004Um we couldn't do what we're doing without your support, and it's been really good for the students. It's really going to help them proceed on throughout their whole careers as long as they're doing in this type of field. Um I'd also like to thank Mr. Gunderson. He's been a huge supporter of our program. Uh outstanding. Thank you. And um I would like to thank the parents for bringing their students here today. So, without further ado, I'd like to bring them up. I would like to bring up uh Mr. Everett Ott first. Come on up, Everett. He's going to speak to our iTech 1 iTech 2 program, and then I got Ike in the back here. He's going to come up right after him and continue on. Hi. First, I'd like to say thank you for
005you guys for supporting my iTech 1 program. It's It's been really fun all semester. Hi. As you guys already know, I'm Everett Ott. I've been in the iTech 1 last semester and I'm in the iTech 2 this semester. It's been really, really fun, and we've gone over a couple things in all these classes. First of all, in iTech 1, we did overall safety skills and all of the things around these machines just make sure we stay safe through all these things. Then we practiced all the tools and all the machines in the in the classroom and make sure they all like we could all function with them safely and let them do their job to their full extent. For like the main outlines of what we did, we practiced like basic more basic woodworking in
006iTech one. Like we made like a key rack to hang a bunch of keys for your cars on. It's actually really nice. And then we made like a fully functioning pen out of wood and we turned those on like lays with turning knives. It's actually really really fun to do. And we made functioning like coasters for like drinks on in the house. It's actually really nice to do cuz we learned like being able to glue up everything and then putting it together and how like finish like what finishes you use and like how that affects what you do with the actual like program and stuff. Very nice. And then we did cutting boards and cutting boards was definitely the funnest thing all year. It was I really actually enjoyed it. I made two cutting boards.
007And they're all they're all special thing called end grain where it makes them like the end of their board so that they last twice as long. I made this one in the class. And then I also made this one in the class. It was actually It was very very fun. And then I moved on to ITEC two this semester. And then first thing we did is we started we go Mr. Bell goes "So you guys are going to be doing SolidWorks for a while while now." And I was like, "Okay." And then so SolidWorks is basically a 3D editing platform where you can make literally anything to any size and shape and then you can hook it up to like 3D printers that will make it exactly how you put it. It's very very nice
008to do. And so we first we made uh we started by making like a cheese block and then cutting a bunch of different holes in it. And then we started making more advanced stuff like these. This is a ring toss game fully made in SolidWorks. We actually made it before and then we built it out in the shop. You can fully like you can play ring toss and everything on it. I'm not going to play cuz I'm terrible at it but it's okay. And then we're We're we're only halfway through. Like we're going to be doing an advanced candy dispenser later on in here, where you can like press a button and it'll open up some doors and some candy will come through and you're like I'm going to be eating a lot of candy.
009And we're only We're only about half of the way through with this semester, so I'm looking to make a lot more like very interesting stuff in this class. That's about it for me. Did anybody have any questions? Well, okay. I got to go to the next guy. And uh now I'll introduce Ike Hislop from our iTech 3 class. Uh I'm Ike Hislop. Uh I'm representing our iTech 3 program at Chico Junior. And I'm just going to go over the basics of what we've done so far this year. Uh I'm going to go off the slideshow. These are the cutting boards that Everett was talking about. So, we started off the year with um small engine diagnosis. So, basically we'd get like things like mowers and like two horsepower engines, and we'd bring them in the
010shop and they weren't running. And we'd basically diagnose what was the problem with them and then we fixed them up. And that was a lot of fun. We actually got to mow some grass and it's uh it's somewhere in the slideshow if I can find it. There's a picture of the engine. And then this is a video of my friend Weston mowing the grass. Yeah, that's very entertaining. Um we then moved on to um working with bicycles. So, my bike, my personal bike, had an issue with it. So, we brought it into the shop and Mr. Bill made a lesson off of it and we fixed it up and I was actually really I really appreciate that cuz now I can ride it. Um and in that unit we we learned how to write estimates
011as like if a repair shop out in the world would um write estimates for your cars. And then um moving off from that, after the bike unit, we started um sweating pipes together, which is copper pipes and those are the kind of plumbing that are in your house and all that stuff. There's a video of it up there. Yeah, that's probably enough because it's leaking onto the ground. Uh-huh. Then from that um we moved on to um laser engraving mainly, as you can see up there, where we take our laser machine and we basically make a Google slideshow with the image that we want to laser onto it. And then we the the laser is like to the end of the computer's brain, it's like a printer. Um so, you just print it onto it.
012Oh, And um and you can print like whatever you want. You can laser whatever you want. So, that's that's like a logo onto a cup there and um going to need those ones. We lasered some cups up for you guys. Um it has the Chico Junior logo on it and uh the uh see Chico Unified School District logo on it. How's that? >> Uh then we moved on to our 3D modeling unit, which is um if I can find the slide. There's a video here. Again, very entertaining. Um So, we use SolidWorks just like Everett, but we would design like door hinges and metal fittings and stuff like that. And Mr. Bill would basically give us like a sheet of paper and it and it had a bunch of metal fittings on it and he
013said and he give gives us the dimensions and he says, "Okay, you got to build this like within this amount of time." And then we'd build it. And then we could 3D print stuff like this. It's a little boat with our 3D printers. We have two of them. Yep. Um then we we started using the PlasmaCAM carve out cribbage boards. Mhm. That was really fun. And then we finally started our welding unit. And Mr. Bill required us to pass a welding test, welding safety test, and we had to um pass with a 100% or else we weren't weren't allowed to weld. And it was very fun. We learned how to MIG weld, um arc weld, and gas weld. And me personally, gas welding is my favorite. Um and we welded a bunch of hearts like
014that together and stuff. And then we would did more advanced sculpturing. Like that's a pig. Um and that's basically what we've done all year. I really like this ITEC 3 program. I'm really glad that we we had the opportunity to pursue more advanced um ITEC programs such as this. And I really appreciate Mr. Bill cuz he's my favorite teacher I've ever had. Yeah. All right. Thank you guys. That was awesome. Good job on the presentations. Um now we are moving on to the Superintendent's Awards for our school site. So, I'll start with our classified individual. Um so she's amazing. She does all the extra stuff. Like there always these people at schools that you don't have to like ask to do extra things. They just magically are already there or even better in her case
015she creates new things that help out our kids and just kind of does them. Um she tutors kids after school to help them out. She helps in our summer school program. Um she probably gets tired of me asking her to get a teaching license so that she becomes a teacher because she's just an amazing educator. Um she does so much on our school and the most I think the greatest characteristic of this individual is that the kids absolutely love this woman. Um she cares about them deeply. They know that and they respond to her in a way that other they don't respond to other people. Um she's extremely talented and we are very very lucky to have Mercy Reese at our school. Thank you. >> Okay, on to our certificated individual. Um So, I'm pretty
016lucky I get a chance to go speak at Chico State to kids who want to become educators and inevitably one of the questions I always get from the students is what are the characteristics that make up the best teachers? And that's a and that's an interesting question. I think it's a phenomenal question that they ask and my answer is always that the greatest teachers I've been around and I had had two characteristics. They were all warm and intelligent. Right? So, they were people that were accessible like they've never met a stranger cuz they're really accessible to everybody. They are smart meaning that and they're intelligent. They know what to say and when to say those things. And recently after moving to Chico Junior High, when I have these conversations, I'm able to say, "If you
017want to see what this looks like, I have a lady that really embodies that every single day when she comes to work. You should come to my school and see what that's like." Um she is one of the best educators I've ever been around. Um this is my 23rd year in education and she is phenomenal. She is able to connect with kids through her English class. Um she also runs an IRI class, which is an intervention for kids that are struggling, I guess, with their relationship with school and its importance and she does an amazing job of getting those kids to believe in school, believe in themselves, and have some confidence and show some success. Um she's a leader on our campus. She is somebody that always is like a voice of reason that can
018bring the team together. Uh Chico Junior High School is a great school because we have people like her working there. Um she's a tremendous educator and like I said, one of the best I've ever been around. And uh our school is amazing because she works there. And so I'd like to introduce Maya Price. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, at this time I'd like to ask Kelly to come on up. Hi everybody. Hello CSEA school board and district employees. I'm Kelly Serls, CSEA Chapter 110 President. We are so grateful for the great partnership Chico Unified and CSEA Chico 110 have. There are CSEA chapters all over the state who do not have that type of relationship and that is what makes our relationship unique and special. Thank you guys. This last year uh
019we partnered with CSEA CUSD to participate in the state's CSAP, Classified School Employee Summer Assistant Program. This was a great opportunity for classified employees and we are proud to present that we have 244 employees participate in the program this year. We want to give a huge shout out to Wilmarie Hartman and the payroll team. While this program added more to our payroll team, they took this project on and we appreciate all the hard work they put in to making this program successful. This month, member of the month is so special to me and we are so honored to celebrate Wendy Billingsley. Office manager from John McManus. Wendy is the person any new elementary office manager goes to for help and we are so blessed to have her. Wendy was nominated by Elizabeth Dean who said
020Wendy is an exceptional and outstanding employee. She goes above and beyond every day to help students, staff and families thrive at McManus. Wendy always treats everyone with kindness and takes the time to make sure every need is taken care of in the office and throughout our school. Wendy truly is the glue that holds Will McManus together. I'm extremely lucky to have her as my co-worker and friend. Wendy said she started working for Chico Unified in 1999 and she has worked at Citrus, Chapman and McManus Elementary. Wendy said there are so many reasons why I love my job. I work with the most amazing people who care so much about our students success and have become family to me. I love getting to know our students and their individual personalities. Many come back to visit and
021I love that they share what they've been up to and that I'm able to watch them grow into young adults. I've now been with the district long enough that I have previous students coming into enroll their own children into kindergarten. Kim Hernandez said that Wendy works hard to serve her students, families and staff. She gives 100% of her time all the time and never turns anyone away who needs help. She truly loves her job and it shows. Will Melinda McCauley said there's a reason everyone comes to Wendy. She always has the answers, care about solutions and never makes anyone feel like their question is too small. Her dedication goes beyond job descriptions. She knows every system, every person and every detail and she uses that knowledge to serve others. Wendy is the most selfless, caring
022and dedicated individual. She's the heartbeat of McManus and I can't begin to imagine what we'd do without her. I want to share Chris's thoughts. Is Chris here? Chris, I'm sorry, you made me cry when I read it. Chris Weaver said that with so many said with so many ways to describe Wendy, I honestly don't know where to begin. McManus is so incredibly fortunate to have her. She is truly second to none. Every single day she gives her whole heart to our 458 students, their families and our amazing staff. Office manager might be her official title, but it doesn't even come close to capturing what she actually does. Wendy is the glue that holds us all together. She's the calm voice in the middle of chaos, the one who figures everything out. The first smile people
023see when they walk in and the steady presence we all rely on. Quite simply, Will McManus runs better because of her. On a personal note, Wendy has become my rock. She has supported me through thick and thin as I can continue to grow as a principal. She checks in on me, making sure I'm taking care of myself, lifts me up with her constant encouragement and always has my back. That kind of unwavering support means the absolute world to me. Wendy, Chico Unified is so blessed to have you. And I am so grateful for you. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you very much. So, we do have one more announcement and for that I'm going to ask Erica Sheridan to come on up. Please, right over there. So, uh we got some news
024this week about uh uh, Chico High School. We're pretty proud of it. So, why don't you Why don't you just tell us what's going on at Chico High School and what happened this week? Well, I got an email yesterday from Superintendent Thurmond. He and I are, you know, tight. Um, and he let me know that we received the California Distinguished School Award for this year. That's pretty awesome. So, we're pretty excited. Chico High, with all the criteria, came out on top with a California Distinguished School. It's It's quite an honor. Congratulations to you and your staff. Unbelievable. Really well done. That is great news. Thank you. Um, at this time, are there any board members that have announcements regarding upcoming events? All right. Okay, we're going to be moving on to items from the floor.
025Um, so, right now, um, items are from the floor for speakers who wish to address the board regarding a topic that's not currently on the agenda. Um, at this time, we're going to go ahead and take public comment from, um, speakers who wish to address the board, uh, for topics that are not on the agenda. Just as a reminder, speakers will have 3 minutes to address the board. A buzzer will sound when 30 seconds of speaking time remains. Um, as a board, we can listen to the public comment, but we're not able to respond to any speakers. So, at this time, um, we have three different speakers. So, um, I'd like to invite Elaine Ward up. At the September Special Board of Education Workshop, in discussing Chromebook usage, President Conkin stated, "I still see great
026potential for misuse." And President Conkin, you were right. A week and a half ago, one of my children was sent an unsolicited sexually explicit image via their personal email by another peer. This peer was able to take the picture with their school-issued Chromebook, upload it to their school email, and send it to my child. Luckily, I was able to intercept the photo before my child was able to see it, but one question remains that perplexes myself, this peer's parent, my friend that helped me navigate through the shock of the situation, and my child's school assistant principal. How did this happen? How did Securly not stop this? In September, Mr. Vincent said repeatedly that Securly is in place to keep kids safe, a secure, safe environment. Clearly, Securly was not as safe as parents were made
027to believe. I recently spoke with Mr. Caldera, who informed me that recent technological advances have allowed for Securly to identify inappropriate pictures, and Mr. Vincent is working to have the update in effect within the week. According to the Children's Internet Protection Act, schools and libraries are required to adopt and implement an internet safety policy addressing, quote, the safety and security of minors when using electronic mail, chat rooms, and other forms of direct electronic communication. So, I ask, if we knew that Securly was lacking, how did Chico Unified not have an extra layer of protection in place? How is Chico Unified addressing the safety and security of students when using electronic mail? By simply blocking those outside of Chico Unified from emailing students, that was not enough. Did you know that high school students can email
028elementary students? I spoke with Ms. Keen this morning, who told me that the issue had been fixed, but I assure you it has not, as my daughter is able to email an elementary student to test this additional safety concern I felt existed. I guarantee if parents of elementary-age students knew this, they would 100% lose their minds. Ms. Keene assured me that she will look into this and make sure restrictions are put in place. We would be foolish to assume my child was the first in the district to receive a sexually explicit image. Who's to say this hasn't happened previously to another student and they didn't know what to do or who to tell. After having conversations with Mr. Calderon and Ms. King, I would like to believe Chico Unified will handle the situation appropriately, but
029the question is still unanswered. How did we find ourselves in this situation to begin with? How come safety and security protocols were not put in place when we knew security was lacking? Also, if Chico Unified is going to continue to literally place the worldwide web in the hands of our students, we need to do better. We need to educate our students about healthy internet usage and how to use it responsibly. Thank you. Thank you. Um at this time, I'd like to invite Aurora Regino. Hi, my name is Aurora Regino. I have a lawsuit against Chico Unified School District pending the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals over Chico Unified School District's parental secrecy policy. This is a policy that requires Chico Unified School District schools to socially transition students who ask to be transitioned without telling
030their parents. I am here today to ask the board to revote to remove the parental secrecy policy at Chico Unified School District. I stood here before you about 3 years ago asking the same thing. You voted to keep the policy. Now we have a new ruling from the Supreme Court in the Mirabelli case backing parental rights. In that case, the Supreme Court said that parental secrecy policies like the one at Chico Unified School District are likely unconstitutional. It is clear that the Supreme Court is standing behind parents and their right to direct the upbringing of their children. I see some new faces here since I was here last and I hope you will reconsider and vote on this issue to show our parents and community that you stand behind parents. For those of you that
031don't know me, my oldest daughter was in fifth grade when one of your school's socially transitioned her without telling me. She was going through a difficult time in her life and the social transition made things worse. To this day, I am still shocked that the school did this without telling me. I am not afraid to make a stand and I will not go away. What happened to my daughter and our family was wrong. I will not scream, yell, or put others down, but be assured, I will not stop until I know this will not happen to another child or family. This policy is an overreach and dangerous. Once I filed my case against Chico Unified School District and it went public, I had dozens of parents reach out to me telling me stories of similar
032situations. I asked 3 years ago and I'm asking again for this school district to get on the right side of this issue. You have wasted enough of our tax dollars fighting me in court on this case. Please end this. Parents must be allowed to have a say whether their children are socially transitioned at school. It is true that some parents might be abusive, but there are already safety policies in place for abusive families. The fact that some parents might be abusive is not a good enough reason to keep all parents in the dark. This is a time when a child will need their parents the most, even if it may be hard for a child to communicate their feelings at this time with their family. You should be facilitating a way to help bring them
033together, not creating a wedge between them. Keeping this secret is so damaging to a child. It was especially in my case. In my opinion and many others, the secrecy policy is absurd. The people of this community and nation are tired of the craziness. I will ask again, please show us parents of Chico that you stand behind us, not against against us, and revote to remove the parental secrecy policy. Thank you. Nathaniel uh Becker Hello, I'm Nathaniel Becker. I am an active student at Chico High School and I happen to be the president of our robotics club. Um we brought some of our work here today in case any of you guys take interest and would like to take a look later, but I figured I should start by explaining what we do as a club.
034As a club, we get to meet and do what many schools, including ours and others all across the country, um get to spend an entire class on, which is to build a robot, program a robot, and send this robot with some students to competitions in order to compare it to other people's and gain from other people's insights and otherwise um test our ideas and see how they come to fruition. Um We have been performing very well as a club team this year and um we made it to the Northern California Championships and qualified individually from there to the World Championships down in Missouri, which is something that no team from Chico High has ever made it close to doing before. Um admin at our school, I hear, I'm not involved in these conversations, but I
035hear has been asking our um IT department to do more and um really give people more opportunities. However, when we as a team filed to have a field trip to a to be able to go to this trip in Missouri um to compete at the global championships we were shut down because we were told that it was not an appropriate notice beforehand. We did not have the 2-month notice that our school uh desires. This has a number of effects on our ability to go to this competition. It means that um classwork that would be due during this time that we would be gone does not have to be pushed back and teachers can push it up or change deadlines however they feel fit, whether that be changing it at all or not. Um it means
036that our absences will not be excused unless our parents talk to the administration to be able to take care of it. It means that all of the organization with all of the travel, all of the registration, and finding people like supervisors and chaperones falls upon the students and not upon the school. And it means that funding and parent support are also in question for a number of our members. And it is looking like many of them will not be able to go because um our our school said no to this. Um we heard that this meeting was happening and took the initiative to show up and check the agenda and filed to be able to talk before you guys today. Um if there is a chance that you guys can do anything, we would be
037we would happily accept it. I don't know quite how the functions of this work. But if it happens that we um cannot benefit from this, then we simply ask that you guys would consider doing something so that situations like this would not happen again and that students would be able to have the opportunities that they qualified for. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. Okay. Is there anyone else um that would like to speak? We have time remaining. So, if anyone has any Okay. Good evening. My name is Rob Berry and uh I was with Regina and a room full of other parents 3 years ago when we discussed the parent secrecy policy. At that time, I told you that it was not only scientifically and biologically wrong, it was morally wrong. And that
038it was legally ill that it was legally wrong. And now we have a Supreme Court confirming that. Also, around the country, lawsuits are starting to come in and judgments are being made. So, I hope that the Chico Unified School District is not the last school district in California to drop this insane policy. Thank you very much. Thank you. Sir, did you I I think I saw another hand. Was there another hand? Okay. Come on up. Sorry, not a sir. Ma'am. I might look like a sir with this haircut, but it's okay. Hi. Um I was also 3 years ago here. I was one of the parents who was staying here until 1:00 in the morning uh and uh sadly listening to the decision of this board to have a parental secrecy policy. It was a
039devastating evening for me and for many other parents in the Chico Unified School District. So, I'm here to follow up on the email I sent on March 6th regarding the Chico Unified policies related to gender identity and parental notification. So, in light of the recent uh US Supreme Court decision in Mirabelli versus Bonta, which blocked policies requiring a school to conceal a child's gender transition from parents. I respectfully request that the Chico Unified School Board review its current policies, specifically the 5145.3 non-discrimination, harassment, and any related guidance guidance. I ask a trustee, any of you, to request that this item be placed on the next board agenda so the district can ensure it its policies comply with constitutional parent the rights under the 14th Amendment and the evolving legal landscape and consider eliminating any policies
040or practices that allow information regarding a child's social transition at school to be withheld from parents. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other members from the public like to speak? Different different topic. I'm Carl Ochsner. I'm with the Chico Sunrise Rotary Literacy Committee. I'm also with the Industry for Education. I'm on the board with the newly formed Industry for Education Group. Um we've been involved with the Rotary Club in in other ways for the past three or four years in trying to address the summertime lead reading loss in kids. As you know, um kids that don't read during the summertime are at risk of of falling as much as two months behind their peers. Kids that continue to read in the summertime um generally um continue to keep pace with their peers or even
041advance. And this is a social equity issue. It's a social justice issue because uh it tends to split along class. Parents that can take their kids out into the world, uh go to museums, tour the national parks, historical sites, and so forth. That tends to promote continued literacy. And a lot of kids in our area are going to spend all summer long sitting in an air-conditioned apartment looking at a screen. And we've been very concerned about that. So, through the Boys and Girls Club and through other organizations, we have volunteered and put forth money to sponsor summer reading programs. Now, here's the problem. The kids that step forward on a voluntary basis to participate in the summer reading program are the kids that probably least need it. We're delighted to help them in every way
042that we can and and including the tutoring and providing reading materials and so forth. But, the kids that really need to be mandated to participate in a summer reading catch-up program. And I'm particularly concerned about second-and-third graders who are more than a year behind grade level. Those kids are really at risk. So, I realize it's too late for this summer. It might even be too late for next summer. But, for crying out loud, could at least Chico Unified School District once in a while have on the agenda that we're going to discuss what, if anything, we can do to uh remediate that uh that severe problem. I'm sure you see the same statistics I do. And and if you see that as many as 55 or 56% of our students are not reading at grade
043level, that's a real tragedy for fourth graders. So, anyway, my time is up. Thank you very much. Were there any other speakers at this time? Okay. Thank you. Um we're going to be moving on to the consent calendar. Um are there any members of the board that have any questions for clarification? Would anyone like to pull a consent item for further discussion? Okay. Uh is there a motion at this time to approve the consent calendar? I'll motion to approve. Okay. Okay, we have a uh motion by um member Olsen and a second by member Robinson. Uh any discussion? Okay, let's go ahead and um do a roll call vote. We'll start with you, Eileen. Robinson, I. Lando, I. Conkin, I. Olsen, I. Okay. So, uh that will uh passes with a vote of four to
044zero. Um keep let's move on. Okay, um let's see here. Right now, we're going to be moving on um to our discussion action calendar. Um at this time, we're going to be uh discussing a charter charter review committee recommendation uh for Blue Oak Charter School. Um Heather Cifuentes is going to be speaking tonight on that. Good evening, everyone. Tonight, we are on the third stage of our petition renewal for Blue Oak. So, just to give a little reminder, they started the process on January 21st and presented the petition to the board. Our meeting on February 18th was the public hearing where we opened for discussion and comment. And now, at this point in time, the Ed Services team has taken the time to review the entire petition and look to ensure that everything that would
045be required for authorization is up to speed. Um in looking at all parts of the the petition, we can confirm that they've met all of the requirements that are necessary to move forward. Um in addition, I had the opportunity in between the February meeting and tonight to visit Blue Oak and and walk the campus and see the staff and the students and the program in action, which is always much better than reading the petition, no offense, but to see it living and breathing and it it was a wonderful experience. So, this evening we also have their new executive Tim Jury here. If there's any further questions for them. Does the board have any questions for Tim? Okay. Other than just welcome to the new director. Any public comment? So, this is a discussion or also
046an action item. Um do we have a board member who'd like to make a motion regarding this this item? Sure. I will move approval of the recommendation. I'll go ahead and second it. Okay. Uh we have a motion um by Tom Lando and a second by Vice President Gil Olson. Uh any discussion at this time? Okay, we were unanimous last time. Um so, let's all vote together. Um all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? All right, that passes. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Hey, Tom, your uh was your mic a little wonky just then? Is it working right? Think so. Okay. All right, just keep rolling. Keep rolling. >> So, the next one is also here this evening in the third step. So, we have Wildflower with us this evening. The same
047process has happened for them. They presented their petition in January. We had the public hearing for them in February and at this point in time we're looking for the um move forward with their petition. Uh we have reviewed their entire petition as the Ed Services team and can confirm that they've met all of the requirements as well. Um and I also had the opportunity to meet with Tom on the Wildflower campus and see the buzz of all all the things that were brought up there, which again is an amazing experience and the love for the school is evident when you walk in as well. Um and again, we have Director Tom Hicks with us this evening as well. Thank you. So, I do have one question of clarification. Both of these um authorizations are for
048uh full 5 years, right? 5 years, yeah. >> Any other questions? On the board? Any public comment? All right, it is also an action item. Do Do have um a board member who'd like to make a motion? Yeah, I'd like to move authorization of the charter renewal for Wildflower. All right. A second? I'll second it. All right. Um so, um member Orlando uh made a motion. Member Conkin made a second. Any board discussion? Can we all vote together again then? Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Does opposed? All right, this passes. Thank you. Yeah, thanks for being here, you guys. >> Yeah. Okay. You again. Information um parent and family engagement policy um again it's going to be presented by Heather Sifuentes. So, this is a really neat part of our
049process each year. This is a policy that really serves as a road map for our families. We look at it in our school site councils, on our English Learner Advisory Committees on the site level, and then at our district English um Learner Advisory meetings as well. And it's a great opportunity for us to have conversations ongoing throughout the year as to what we can do better to engage our families in purposeful engagement with our site. So, beyond yes, we have carnivals and PTO experiences and school site councils. We've had some really good input on what we could do better with our invitations, with our timing of meetings, ensuring that we continue to provide um child's care for them. And so, this comes forward each year and it is also part of our federal program monitoring
050this this time around. All right, so this is um just information, but does the board have any questions at this time? Any public comment? I I Go ahead. I just have a a question, Heather. Um who put the format for this report together for us to receive? Cuz I wanted to compliment um how good it weaves itself through what it's requiring, what it's doing, and what the result is. So, if any of us had anything to do with it, by us I mean Chico Unified staff, Um >> my compliments. That Absolutely. And I would give that to Tina Keen in her old role as the main federal program monitoring queen, but it also came with the what we learned. And so, making sure that all of that information is in one place and it's easy
051to to move through all the requirements. It was very well done, and when I finished, I went, "Oh, I learned something." And and felt very good about the reports on what this program is doing to do exactly what it says it's supposed to do. So, thank you. All right. Um so, that was um informational only, so now no action is needed. Um at this time, we're going to be moving along to um item 9A for informational also. Uh we're going to be talking about the student LCAP meeting update for the school year presented by Heather and Pedro. Thank goodness I'm not just me. So. Um this is a wonderful part of the position that we hold, um, getting the opportunity to meet with students. We do it three times during the year, and it's really
052important for us to gather their input. They are the people we are serving every day, and they are insightful, creative, and incredibly engaged in these conversations. So, um, this is the history. We've been doing it since the March of 2024. And the elementary EL Cap meeting was held January 20th. We had 12 students. It was Parkview, Shasta, Hooker Oak, and Chapman this time around. We broke them from bringing all 12 together this year to four at a time, and it's really increased the engagement in getting a chance to hear their voices multiple times. They, uh, gave a lot of feedback about academics, and there's a continuous theme with their joy and support that they feel ongoing from their teachers. They know that they have somebody there that's willing to support them when they're struggling or
053stuck on a problem. They feel incredibly supported in achieving goals, and then they had some great recommendations of continuing to ensure that we're creating safe and respectful students and adults within those classrooms. And that if they are breaking rules that we continue to enforce consequences and have ongoing steps if need be. In terms of their social emotional learning, there is the utmost positivity towards our counseling teams and wellness centers. They are helpful as being a space that's available for students to just take a break if need be and need a little space or mediate problems between friends. They continue to um, share how supported and welcoming their staff is from their entry in the office, around campus, with yard duties, in the cafeteria, with our nutrition services, librarian, so the whole spectrum of a school
054day, they're feeling supported and and respected by the adults on campus. Some of the recommendations they gave this time around were to spend some more time within our PBS and focus in on gossiping and how we can attack that, as well as good sportsmanship and being a good friend. They also made a recommendation that we could utilize some older students kind of as ambassadors to support younger students out on the playgrounds or when they're having challenges. And then in regards to behavior and safety, again, they feel very supported by staff, that they're addressed kindly, they're given reminders when they're starting to creep away from some of the expected behaviors on campus. They didn't feel that bullying was a a big problem, it was more along those lines of gossiping and just kind of not being
055kind. They feel that they're learning tools to help resolve problems amongst themselves as well, so not always having to go to an adult, but what they're gathering from those lessons are helping to keep things safe. They would again, another theme that's happened earlier in the fall, they would prefer more supervision at recess, especially on fields and basketball courts, so that they could be running games appropriately with I think you know, NBA style refereeing. And then again, the the the the want to have stricter rules enforced and and an increase in consequences for students who continue to make similar mistakes. And then we did ask a question on artificial intelligence just to to dabble with how are they feeling in this world that they're exploring. So, they they shared that at school they know they some
056of the AI is used to help to write scripts for assemblies and and give them some some chances to perform. Uh but they really see it right now as a tool to find information. Their recommendations as we kind of explore this is that we provide our students with lessons so they understand what isn't okay and what is not okay in that world and then guidance on how to use it successfully. All right. So, we went and spoke and we used too many people cuz I did not attend. But I sure get to present about that and it is my old school. So, 22 students at Chico Junior were part of the student LCAP meeting. And of course the first thing that we talk about is the academics. Students shared that they really love teachers being
057very clear and precise with their directions. And here's the key part about it is teachers provide a reasonable amount of homework and help students feel successful. And I was like, "Hmm, so what does a reasonable amount mean? Like it is a one homework assignment per day or two?" So, just the fact that the kids were sharing that, that's really positive. Uh particularly over the summer time, sorry, the spring time once athletics is hitting pretty hard. Teachers using gauging strategies and do not lecture for long periods of time. That definitely reflects with the way our school district has been I'm going to use the word hammering with teaching strategies across the old grade levels and particularly tier one engagement strategies. So, the fact that students are starting to pick up on that, that is huge. That
058means that we're being successful with that. Academic success, of course, is another uh class uh that students were very thankful that they had. And of course, all students were saying, "Please give us more hands-on learning." Um and of course, if you think about uh junior high students and um what their um attention span is, they really do need hands-on learning. Sitting for 50 minutes is very difficult. Social-emotional learning, this is what's going well. They really talked up their counselors. Um I I really want to stress bullet number two. Counselors are good at checking in with students, even if students do not initiate the check-in. If you recall, last year, students were saying, "Hey, we would like it if counselors just checked in on us without us having to go and ask them for help or
059ask for anything of them." So, they heard. They listened. And so, this is a change. And I just want to bring that up to you. And the fact is, our counselors make all students feel important. Uh behavior and safety, students feel safe on campus. Um students do not feel that there are safety concerns. They just feel that students make poor decisions. Um so, uh I I echo that. So, Staff are present interviewing promptly when issues rise, and student privacy is respected when something happens. Uh so, that is very key. I do want to stress that the last the these three bullets right there were shared with the Chico Junior Admin. Very important feedback, I felt. The students wanted additional safety drills. They also wanted to make sure that it was explained to every how important
060it was that students knew what to do during emergencies. And they also wanted explained to the students the seriousness of every single drill. So, um and of course our administrators took heed and are taking this into account. Here's the part where I was blown away because if you look at some of these responses, I feel they're very mature. And they're very intellectual. Um, if we look at the the response and how they're thinking and processing what AI is all about, I mean, they're using it at home on their devices to do their homework in their subject area. Studying for tests and reviewing content and then reteaching lesson that is personalized for the student. Um, if you've had any experience with that, it is pretty impressive what students can do um on that aspect of it.
061Uh, and then viewing a step-by-step explanations to solve problems. Um, I'm going to a little jump ahead, but you'll see that this will echo the high school responses. Some of the recommendations from them are uh they wanted for us to provide students up with information on how AI is used. And then of course inform students about social concerns regarding chatbots uh and the potential to replace human interaction. That's kind of very interesting. Uh, that chatbot piece did not come up at the high school level. But it exists. It's out there. Uh, additional recommendations. Teach that AI should be a tool, not a replacement for learning. Emphasize using AI as a last resort when they are stuck. You know, forcing the students to make sure that they think about everything, all the process that your teacher
062has taught you before you go to AI. Provide a clear use of procedures and review them each semester. And then host engaging assemblies focused on responsible AI use and good practices. All right, our high school um Thank you all uh to our board members that were there for uh the Friday meeting at Chico High, of course, on January 23rd. I felt it was very, very uh productive and we got a lot of important feedback. They shared in terms of what's going well. Uh teachers are engaging with hands-on class projects, so you start to see some of the same things from junior high. Teachers are respectful, meet students where they are where they're at. Teachers separate independent work time and instruction time with appropriate amounts of of each. And then they are allowed to work with
063groups um and they felt that teachers give a good balance of spoon-feeding and letting students learn on their own. So, that was like, all right, good. Um teachers having uh students act out in lectures, for example, the French Revolution is engaging, fun, and helps students understand the material. So, there's that one. And then teachers create connections with real life to help students retain material. So, I believe at the high school level you got to be able to do this cuz if you don't, you're going to lose them really quick. Some of the recommendations, they still ask for additional hands-on activities and engagement strategies. And just as a reminder, we are a block schedule at the high school level, 90 minutes, so we got to consider this because this is coming from our students. Less homework
064and less time on the Chromebook. Teachers take the time to understand how each student student learns best. I felt that was a uh very key. Um particularly, I remember during that that uh meeting, there was a young lady that shared if every if every teacher could learn how every student learn best, just how amazing would it be if that every individual could learn and grow at their own pace and and understand things at their own pace. And then immediately someone chimed in, "Well, AI can do that." Which was We'll go to that here next soon after. Teachers roam around the classroom to check in one-on-one with students. So, that was a recommendation. Regardless of social emotional learning, you're going to see our counselors and our wellness centers are still a topic that they're doing a
065great job out there. The recommendations, they want classroom breaks with a short walk for fresh air. One tardy should not be a detention. And then a cafeteria is closing too soon. And even with the role of Sorry, the no reason they're being denied lunch. I do want to share that Erica shared Erica shared Garden, principal at Chico Chico High School, she already knew that this was going on, meaning that the lunch line in the Lincoln Center was pretty impacted. So, she worked with Vince and they added an additional line in the commons to help out students. So, that has been resolved. Behavior and safety, what's going well? The wellness center, once again. And then students know how to make an appointment with their counselor. They also, once again, you see more drills. Increase campus security
066by checking gates to ensure that they are all locked. And they asked for additional campus supervisors. Very interestingly enough, they asked for additional campus supervisors near bathrooms. Artificial intelligence. This is how they're using it. Language translation with friends and family. Uh simplifies lengthy content for uh expedited understanding. So, the students basically are able to take the huge lesson that is that a teacher may provide them. They put in the AI. They ask them to break it down, and it summarizes for them in a way that's um uh geared or um meant for that student. It takes a picture of an object, for example, a bike, and the AI will tell you about it. Students say it is a tool, um and uh helpful steps uh of a problem when they need more understanding. And that
067was uh that comment was made with regards to math. Here's some recommendations from them. They thought a universal AI district policy would be very helpful because there's lots of differences among teachers on how they use AI within the classroom. Some teachers say students will receive an F if they use it. Uh some say, "Hey, you know what? It is a tool." And then you have some other teachers that say, "Hey, listen, when you get a job, you're going to be using it. And uh uh so you have to learn how to use it." So, all that is going on, and so it does create confusion with our students. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions? No question. I was glad that there was already a resolution about the cafeteria issue. So, thank you for that.
068Yeah, I I don't have a question, just a comment that once again, our students are so expressing themselves in understanding what's going on uh with them and with their schooling process. And uh thank you to the administrators that coordinate those input sessions. One thing I was kind of surprised um by was the comments regarding the the drills. And um just some of the confusion and maybe the anxiety that those bring. So, I feel like that's a fairly there's a fairly easy solution to that. So, I'm just hoping we could implement some some extra drills into the the um schedule so that they can feel more comfortable with those. Seems pretty easy like an easy solution. It's it's I'm going to say the drills but more importantly or to add to it is the importance of
069Mhm. and how seriously it should be taken. The more you practice them, the better you'll get at them. You took the words out of my mouth. Thank you for that. Yes. So, I'm just going to say I agree. Any other comments, questions? Okay. Um from the community? Yeah. All right. Carl again. I'm just wondering yeah, the students were impressive and I'm assuming that was a random sample of students drawn anonymously, not selected. Not necessarily random. They see them out in the the the campus and they ask them to join. Okay. And the other question is are um is the use of handheld digital devices ubiquitous throughout all the grades? In other words, is are there any restrictions? I'm just surprised why elementary school kids would have anything to do with artificial intelligence at school. Are
070they I That is all happening at home. It's not happening at school. It's happening on their own devices. Good question. All right. This was um informational only, so um no need to take any action at this time. Um at this time uh we're moving on to 9A5. Uh this is public hearing discuss discussion action um talking about the extended school year um presented presented by Jennifer Skolnick. Good evening. As you know, we come before you every spring time to talk about extended year. Every summer we offer an extended year program for our students who have um specialized needs in academics to ensure that they don't regress so much that they are spending a bulk of their following school year making up for those lost skills. This summer we are going to offer a little bit
071of a modified program. So, we're here to talk um an open public hearing for a waiver for extended school year for our preschool, high school, and adult programs. Those programs will run 3 weeks, but longer days. So, the amount of time that students will spend in extended summer program will be the same, just more condensed version. Our elementary campuses, however, are going to run in conjunction with our elementary summer program that is um run by our after school programs, and that will be a full day, and it will be the entire 4 weeks, and it will be optional for our students um who are eligible for extended school year. So, parents will have the ability to um keep their students in program until 4:30 or pick up at 1:00. It's up to them. Um they'll
072have access to all of the summer activities, all of the fun things that happen. It'll be full inclusion for our elementary kids. And that's simply because we run that after-school program for our elementary year our elementary students. So, we're just blending that. So, here tonight to ask you for that waiver of days from the 20 days that's prescribed in law down to the shortened days, but they're longer um for the hours to match. Does the board have any questions? I have a question. I have I have a question. >> Sure. For um the elementary is going to be um will will there be an ed specialist assigned to those students to work with those students as they're also mainstreaming? Is that what it would look like? >> Yes. So, what we're going to do is
073we're going to have um our education specialists available from 8:00 to 1:00. And then and all of the support staff. And then from 1:00 to 4:30 the support staff will remain available and the students will be fully included and part of the program. Um so, they'll get their instruction and their work on their goals and objectives. And then be part of all of the fun activities. So, the the response from parents when we've been sending those invites out has just been so wonderful. Very, very grateful and ex- parents excited about what's happening. All right. At this time we're going to open the public hearing in regards to this. Um are there any public comment? All right. We can close the public hearing. Um is there a board member that would like to make a motion
074regarding this agenda item? I would love to make a motion to approve. I'll second that motion. Mhm. All right. Uh Vice President Olson made the motion um to approve the extended school year. And um member Robinson seconded. Is there any discussion at this time? All right, let's go ahead and vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed? All right, this passes with a vote of 4 to 0. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we are moving along um to business services 9B. This is also um a discussion action item. We're going to be um talking about the lease leaseback agreement um amendment number one Pleasant Valley High School building D fire rebuild and Julie Kissel be will be presenting tonight. Hi, good evening. Thank you for having us here tonight. Um
075in case you haven't met Maria Campos, she's here with me tonight. Um Maria is the uh facilities planner and construction supervisor for the district and she has spearheaded the effort in um bidding this project and getting the price that is before you this evening. So as you know um we unfortunately lost that building at Pleasant Valley High School due to fire and we have been working very hard to figure out how we're going to rebuild that building. Um this board allowed us to enter into a lease lease back agreement uh through a rigorous selection process. United Building Contractors was selected. And they have been working really hard with the architects and engineers uh to help with the development of the plans, which has now been approved by the state architect. And they have provided a
076guaranteed project cost that we're evaluating with you this evening. The construction um guaranteed project cost for United Building Contractors is 5,163,845 dollars. Overall, the total project cost for the rebuild will be, you know, 6.4 million including the cost of all the engineers and the testing and everything that needs to occur. Uh we are very hopeful that if we get started on this work, which we plan to start spring break week, we're ripping the roof off of the top of the building. That's going to be very dusty and dirty and noisy uh while the students are not on campus and we can get to work diligently on rebuilding it with the hope if everything goes well, it could be up and running for the spring semester of 2027. So, tonight we're asking you to approve the
077guaranteed project cost for United Building Contractors and allow us to amend their contract to start construction. Does the board have any questions? So, both the demolition and the rebuild came out of uh payment from insurance, right? Yes, that's correct. Perfect. Any public comment? All right. Do we have a motion at this time? Yeah, I'll move approval. And I'll second that motion. Okay. We have a motion by member Lando and a second by member Robinson. Any further discussion? Just want to thank Ms. Kissel her staff for their hustle in getting this building back up as quickly as possible. It wasn't in our facilities master plan for obvious reason and it's been a lot of extra work for you guys and I appreciate it. Thank you. Getting it done so quickly. Ditto. What he said. Thank you.
078All right, let's go ahead and vote. Um all those in favor uh signify by saying aye. Aye. >> Aye. Opposed? All right. It passes. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we're moving on to 9B2, also discussion action. Um this is regarding auditing services for the fiscal year. Presented um by Mrs. Bromley. Hello. Good evening, board. Um before you tonight, we're presenting our recommendation for Chico Unified's external auditing services. Uh the contract will be for fiscal years 25-26 and the two out years. So, our most recent contract for financial auditing services ended with the 24-25 fiscal year. While we're not required to follow the request for proposal pop process or RFP because of the amount it doesn't exceed the bid limit threshold, for best practice, we decided to go out through the process. We followed RFP. Um
079I contacted 10 different audit firms throughout California. We received four proposals. Um and after viewing all of the proposals, looking through them in totality, we are recommending to move forward with a local Chico firm, uh, Horton McNulty and Sayturn, HMNS. Um, they've also been our audit firm for the last 6 years, so we already know how they function. They've been doing a great job working with us over the last 6 years and have done our bond audit, financial audit, and state facilities audits. Any questions? I don't need I personally just a comment. Thank you for the explanation as to why we're not going with just the lowest, but there are other factors that make it more attractive. Thank you. Any public comment? Okay, this is also action. Um, so is there a board member that
080has a motion at this time? I'll motion to approve. Okay, Vice President, um, has made a motion and member Robinson, um, has made a second. Any discussion? All right, let's go ahead and vote, um, together again. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed? All right, this passes four to zero. Thank you. All right, moving along 9 B 3 discussion action also. Um, this is regarding the, um, second interim budget. Um, Hi. >> Hi. Um, Jacqueline Shurice and I are here to present second interim budget tonight. Um, if you recall, we were in here in we were here in December to talk about first interim budget. Um, second interim is just our most recent update, so I'm just going to be focusing on the changes that have occurred since then. Okay, the major
081assumptions we used when building the budget were the local control funding formula revenues based on the state adopted budget with a COLA of 2.3. That has not changed. We're still projecting that the ADA, average daily attendance, will be paid based on prior year. However, this number actually increased by 36 ADA since first interim, and that was due to a prior period correction that was identified in the audit. So, that's good news. Unduplicated students free reduced meal eligible English learners and foster youth, the three-year average is 57.31%. That has not changed. And for second interim, position control is locked in as of February 1st. So, a little bit more updated since that December figure. Okay, this slide shows our actual versus funded average daily attendance. We can use the higher of prior or current year ADA.
082And so, I mentioned in the previous slide, we are still projecting that we'll be using prior year average daily attendance. But like I said, that number actually increased. So, we will see the effect of that on current year revenues. And this slide shows our unduplicated pupil percentage as a three-year average. The 55% number is that magic number that we look to because that's the cutoff where we begin to receive additional supplemental and concentration dollars. Our Ed Services team has done some real work in identifying the students in those three categories. So, we're now hovering around 58-59% on a current year basis. And these numbers have not changed since first interim. Okay. So, taking the information Marie just presented to you, uh we estimated the new revenue and expenditure amounts for our current budget. Um the
083change in revenue was approximately 600,000 um and most of that was in local control funding formula, as Marie mentioned, because of ADA increases uh increased that budget. So, that bottom line number, the change in fund balance now is we're estimating it to be an increase of about uh $500,000. Oh. I pushed the wrong button. Sorry. Don't push that button. Okay. So, uh pie chart for unrestricted revenue. Um as you can see, the biggest pie slice is our local control funding formula, which is largely largely driven by our ADA or average daily attendance and unduplicated that Marie presented in the first couple of slides. Um so, that 94% is approximately 153 million. And then this shows the unrestricted expenditures and we also include the special ed contribution. Uh the reason we do that is because those
084green pie slices make up what we consider our staffing that we pay for out of the general fund. Our our special ed budget is largely staffing and so we include that contribution that comes from the general fund on unrestricted side into the restricted program. So, our total between those four green pie slices is approximately 89% of our budget. So, we're in the people business, so this is about on track with previous years. And then this category is our transfers in. So, we have our redevelopment agency pass-through that's used for our routine restricted maintenance account, otherwise known as maintenance operations. So, that we're estimating to be about 4.3 million. The developer fee admin support is about 28,000 and that's 3% of the fees that we estimate we're going to collect this year. And then moving down
085to the contributions to restricted programs, our special ed we're estimating at about 27 million to be the contribution between unrestricted and restricted, which represents about 60% of our total special ed program. And then the routine restricted restricted maintenance account or a maintenance and operations, we're required by Ed Code to contribute 3% of our total general fund expenditures, so we're estimating that to be about 6.7 million. And then we have small contributions into the Prop 28 Arts and Music program. That's for elementary teachers that are above and beyond the allocation we're getting in that grant. And then also a small contribution into the PG&E electric vehicle bus infrastructure. That's to build new we have new chargers that we're building for our electric buses and PG&E is giving us a reimbursement, but it's only partial, so we're
086contributing some funds from the general fund. Thank you. Are there any questions? I'll go one more. I'm going to jump over for a couple slides really quickly. Can you hear me? Um so one of the other things that's really important is to always kind of look to the future. So I know for a lot of us right now we're certainly in the current year, but we're already planning for next year. So in front of you is our unrestricted multi-year projection. So like Shri said, the very first column there is where we're at as of today, which is a increase in fund balance of about 500,000. So when we look forward to the two out years 26-27 and 27-28 based on the information we know right now, it's essentially break even next year in 26-27 and
087then a small decrease in 27-28. So to get to these numbers, these are kind of the the assumptions. So I'm not going to read all of them, but I do want to highlight a couple things. Um, we are a district that is declining in enrollment. We're in our second year of decline, and as we look at our cohorts going forward, that is continuing. So, we're looking at a decrease of about 131 kids um next year, and then about 160 after that. Um, we do right now have cola estimates for next year. There's still two more data points um that we'll need for the 2026-2027 year, um which we'll get in May to know exactly what that cola will be for next year. Right now, it's 2.41%. Um, we always do take into account savings for
088staff. We realize that our very seasoned tenured staff cost more than typically than when we hire newer staff. So, we do take that into account. Um, we do have an expansion of two additional special ed classes next year. I believe both will be at the junior high. Um, and then we also have the commitment to move the elementary counselors um from a grant fund um over to district LCAP, and you heard this evening with our Ed Services team how important those counselors are. Um, so they'll now be in district LCAP. The other piece is cash. Um, you always have to have cash in the bank to pay the bills, right? So, very similar pattern year over year. Um, obviously November is always our low month. December, we get property taxes. That spikes it back up.
089Um, you'll notice the red dotted line um which is the projection for the current year. June dips a little bit. So, one of the um budget savings, if you will, that the governor pushed through was instead of paying our junior payment in June, we'll just pay it in July. Just pay a week later. Um, so we do expect that coming in in early July, um but no concerns related to making payroll in any way. So, we are self-certifying a positive second interim budget. We like to be in that that green green range. That means we will we will be able to meet our obligations both in the current year and the two out years. So, where do we go from here? Um, right now we're looking at enrollment um that's projected for next year, and
090we're adjusting staff accordingly. Um, our educational services team is getting feedback from community meetings. We're looking at our LCAP goals and what those priorities are. Um, as well as from a fiscal perspective, waiting for the governor's budget revision in May. He'll have more information related to the subcommittee meetings with the legislature on what are the priorities, as well as he will have all the tax revenue that comes in in April. So, um, we will use that to come back in June. The three of us will be come back in June, give you a last-minute update of the current year budget, as well as what we are projecting or estimating for 2026-2027. Any questions? Any public comment? All right. Would anyone like to make a motion at this time? I was looking for, um, our motion
091is to accept the report, correct, rather than approve it. So, I move to accept the report. Do we have a second? Okay. We have a motion, uh, by member Robinson and a second by member Leando. Is there any discussion at this time? And the fact that there's nothing surprising means we owe you some thanks. So, thank you. All right, let's go ahead and vote. Um, all those in favor, signify by saying I. I. Opposed? All right, this passes 4 to 0. Thank you, board. Okay. >> We're going to be moving on to our human resources um part of the evening 9 C1. This is also discussion action regarding resolution 1716-26 elimination of vacant classified positions due to lack of work or lack of funds presented by Megan Allen. Thank you. Um I'm here for these
092two resolutions. Um basically they're vacant positions and this is position control cleanup. So there's no way in these positions. We're cleaning up so that we can see where we're at on vacancies and being full fully you know staffed. So that's why I'm here. Any questions? Public comment? Okay, I'm back to questions. I just saw something that I didn't ask a question about. Why do we have three vacant custodial positions if we haven't lost buildings or spaces to clean? So what we what we tend to do is we adjust as needed. So we had hired some and then they removed but while they were being removed we hired new positions and we hired them. So we're like exchanging the ones that we hired for for the ones that are being replaced if that makes any sense.
093So new people we knew So it's not three less people. No, it's not. So people were were in it. We knew they were leaving. New position hire before they go, and then we replace those positions. >> Okay, now I get it. >> There you go. All right. Are we going to be voting on these separately? Do we need to do that separately? Okay. So, is there a motion regarding uh resolution 17 16 20 Madam President, I move approval of resolution 1716-26. All right, is there a second? I'll second that. Okay, we have a motion by member Robinson and a second by member Lando. Um let's go ahead and um well, do we have any discussion? All right, let's go ahead and vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed? All right, this
094passes. Along the same lines, resolution 1717-26. It's just separate because it's a uh different representation group, so this is a CSEA position. Um so, we separate them out and we no longer have a transportation supervisor. Any questions? Yeah, we no longer have a transportation supervisor because we have a transportation manager. Is that what it is now? That is correct. >> Okay, thank you. Public comment? Can I just say something? Yes. I think this is all like an effort to just clean up the old stuff so that we don't have pages and pages and pages. Yeah, so I I just like to say that I thank you and I appreciate all the work you're doing. Thank you. All right. Um would any aboard member like to a motion at this time? Sure, I will move to
095adopt resolution 1717-26. All right, I'll second that. So, motion by member Lando, second by um Conkin. Any discussion? All right, okay, let's go ahead and vote. All those in favor um signify by saying I. I. Opposed? All right, this passes. Thank you. Thank you. Moving along um to 9C3, also discussion action um Chico Unified Teachers Association Chico Unified School District Negotiation Openers um for the school year, presented by John Shepherd. Thank you, President Conkin. So, on behalf of the Chico Unified School District and uh Charlie's here to answer any questions that you may have about this item. Uh we just like to express our appreciation for the collaborative collaborative and cooperative relationship that we have with CUTA. Uh we've been uh implementing the interest-based bargaining process for a number of years now, and as a
096result of that, for us, everything's open, and we have conversations about anything that we feel like we need to address, mainly because of that collaboration and um that cooperation. So, with that, uh we've jointly agreed to not open any specific article for the uh '26-'27 bargaining year. It's just this is just a um request to recognize um our decision. I I just wanted to add um thank you, John, that when I look in the news and see uh Twin Rivers and Natomas entering multi-day strikes, um I feel really grateful to have a team with the district to work with to um get things done and benefit teachers and students. So, thanks. Thank you. If I um just cuz we are entering we've talked about declining enrollment even if it's smaller at this point and we're
097going to come into a couple lean years in the next couple years and it's really really important that we have this relationship with our union members on in all of our unions where we can really talk about what's best for the students and the district and our employees all at the same time. Um so I really hope that we all keep that in mind. As we move forward that we have to really honor the fact this relationship has gotten us through some tough times and hopefully will continue to do so as those tough times are going to come back cuz they always do. So, thank you to both of you for making this work the way it has so far. All of you. I'm so sorry. There's more than two of you. Any public comment?
098All right. Is there a member that would like to make a motion at this time? I'll motion to approve. Seconded. All right. We have a motion by Vice President Olsen, second by member Lando. Any further discussion? All right. I think we're ready to vote. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? All right. This passes four to zero. Okay, we're moving along. 9C4 also discussion action. We'll be talking about funding source for elementary counselors resulting in status change. Also again presented by John Shepherd. Great. Thank you. Thank you, President Calkins. So, this board voted a year ago to shift the secondary counselors from probationary zero status to a permanency track status which is really important for the solidarity of that of that of that unit. And knowing as as Ms. Krueger indicated before
099that we had a whole another half of people in that situation, our elementary counselors. This is our opportunity to shift the probationary status for those elementary counselors as well from um categorical funds that were provided to us um right around the pandemic era uh now to our to our local control funding formula and LCAP and we're really excited to be able to shift um on paper it just looks like probationary status, right? Doesn't seem like that big of a deal. But for these folks, that means that we are we are showing them that we value what they do for our kids. Any questions? Yeah, please. In short, um are we doing anything differently in terms of are we missing out on any opportunities? I mean, we're shifting these into the our permanent budget. Does that
100What kind of impact does that have on other options we might have or um I guess I'm saying is we've already talked about declining enrollment. I know we planned to do this. Um are there any downsides? Well, there's one pot of money, right? I think that's kind of where you're going with this. There's always going to be one pot of money. Um it really comes down to prioritization and where we are with trying to address the needs of our students. And we are feeling now, as you saw earlier in the budget presentation, that prioritizing staff and ensuring that those staff are going to be supported is a priority. Um we can get into the weeds of very specific dollar amounts and what how that could impact, you know, the general fund, but um we um
101both the unit and and uh Chico Unified have decided that this is a priority for us. And like I said, there's one bucket of money and we always have to prioritize. And as far as we know, it's long-term sustainable. My my fear is always we bring some new people in, you know, permanently and then >> Yeah. income goes down and we have to cut somebody somewhere else, you know, when things get tough. Yeah. And I will say that as the board has discussed this and made made the recommendation and the approval um to move the counselors into more permanent funding, um that has been on my multi-year projection um since that decision was made. So, because we knew that was happening, we can plan for it accordingly. So, every budget that has come forward in
102front of the board has had that already already placed into the budget knowing that that impact um so we can see what that impact is, right? That's the advantage of looking at that multi-year tool is to say, when the board made this decision, here's the financial impact. Um and as you you can see, we're essentially break even next year um with the assumptions that we know right now. So, I'm not I'm not concerned financially about moving them to a permanent funding stream. Thank you. Any public comment? Um I think that we heard earlier from student feedback how important that the counselors are in school levels. I know especially at the elementary level, um there's a lot of big emotions that come up that counselors are addressing on a daily basis. I think it's great that
103the district is showing um that it's important to move this group of employees into more permanent um probationary from probationary to a permanent >> Yeah, permanent track. Yep. >> permanent track. Um I I think that that um shows great um belief in what the counselors are doing and providing for our kids and our kids are obviously benefiting directly from these connections and interactions that they're making with these counselors. Um on a personal note, I do know some of these counselors uh personally and I I'm just thrilled to be able to know that these counselors are going to be taken care of and that it's a long-term track that it's not something that we're losing funding for. Um so I just applaud the effort to move forward with this. Thank you. Really good point. All right.
104Would anyone like to make a motion at this time? I I will move um that we um make changes to fund um from a um basically from a Is it probationary or what is the Yeah, that So there's three three types of probationary. Prob zero just means that they're categorically funded, which doesn't um maintain certainty of the funding source, shifting it to a permanency. So just be shifting to a permanency uh track. Okay. I move that we shift to the permanent track. Yep. I I will second that um wholeheartedly. Great decision. Okay, we have um motion um by President Conklin and second by Vice President um Olsen. Any discussion? All right, let's vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> I. Opposed? All right, this passes. All right, we have another opportunity
105um for um to discuss items from the floor. So are there any additional items from the floor that would would anyone would like to speak about at this time? All right, seeing none. Uh we're going to be moving on um we um typically you this opportunity um where board members can request to agendize items. No requests were submitted at this time. I do just want to mention just for the public record. I I think we've received a lot of input within the last week and comments and so the process that we have to request to agendize items, it has to be done in a manner that it's submitted a week or so ahead of time. So, I just want to comment that a lot of these emails and comments that were made tonight are going
106to be taken into consideration by the board members. So, expect that you'll see some some future requests to agendize items. But none at this time. All right, moving along to adjournment. Is there motion to adjourn this meeting? So moved. A second? All right, I'll second. All right, motion by member Landa, second by vice president Olsen. All those in favor? I. Opposed? All right, we adjourn this meeting.