001Hey. Yeah. Hey. Hey. And I feel And I want you. Heat. Heat. Down. Yeah. Clear. Let it go. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Hey, Heat. Hallelujah. Hello. Heat. Hello. Hallelujah. Hello. Yeah, around. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Hey, Heat. session items. This evening we will be discussing the following closed the following items in closed session. Public employee discipline dismissal release evaluation 8 matters government code section 54957 conference with labor negotiator update on negotiations with ABCFT AFS CME and CSA government code section 54957.6 Six existing litigation. The board will be going into close session pursuant to government code section 54956.9D1 to discuss seven matters, but has determined that specifically identifying identifying the matter would jeopardize its ability
002to conclude existing settlement negotiation to its advantage. Los Angeles Superior Court case numbers 22 NWCV SDCV1 9569 22 NWCV 00504 23 NWCV 22 STCV1 9567 22 NWCV 00505 22 NWC CV 00507 special education settlement agreements O AH20511 O AH20602 student ID number 471976 Government code section 54956.9 anticipated litigation one matter Conference with legal counsel significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9 D2, E1. Student discipline deliberation on student expulsion case number 2526-2 pursuant to education code section 48918C1. Are there any public comments on the closed session items? >> There are none, madame vice president. >> May uh move to close session. May I have a vote? May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I. Motion passes. 5-0. Heat. Heat. Hello. Hey, hey, hey.
003Heat. Heat. Nat a n a n Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Hey, thank you. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. the cloud. Data. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey. Hey guys. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. N. I see you around. down. Yeah. Heat. Heat. N. Heat up here. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Donnie Hal. Hey, hey. Heat. Heat. P. around. Yeah, Hey D. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Wow. Hey, hey, hey. Hello. Hey. Don't be Heat. Heat. Hey, it's okay. Heat. Hey, Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey,
004hey. Hey, hey, hey. That's Hey, hey. Heat. Heat. D. Hey. Hey. D. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Diddy. Heat. Hallelujah. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Are you out? Yeah. Hey. Hey. I love you. Hey, hey, hey. Oat. Heat. Heat. N. Oh my heart. Let it go. I feel wow. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Halleluat. Hey. Hello. Hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hello, P. around. Hallelujah. That's a The board is now back in open session. May I have a motion? >> Second, Tatiana. All in favor, please say I. I. Motion passes. 70. Um, can everybody please silence your cell phone? And if anybody is in need of translation services, you can uh get someone in the back and help you. See? Uh, close session report out.
005Tonight's close session board to discuss public employees discipline dismissal, release, and evaluation. Eight matters. Government code section 54957. Conference with labor negotiator. Updates on negotiations with ABCFT, AF, SCME, and CSEA government code section 54957.6 existing litigation. The board met in close session pursuant to government code section 54956.9D1 to discuss seven matters, but has determined that specifically identifying the matter would jeopardize its ability to conclude existing settlement negotiations to its advantage. Los Angeles Superior Court case numbers number 22 NWCV 00502 number 22 STCV1 9569 number 22 NWCV 00504 number 23 NWCV01964 number 22 STCV1 number 22 NWCV 00505 and number 22 NWC V007 Seven. Special education settlement agreements. In closed session, the board discussed and approved special education settlement agreement in the amount of 70,000, attorney fees of 15,000, compensatory education of 55,000 for O a
006case number 2025110426 uh by a vote of 70, government code section 54956.9. Also in close session, the board discussed and approved a special education settlement agreement in the amount of $27,182.75 with an attorney fees of $8,700, reimbursement for educational expenses of 5,3575 and compensatory education of 13,25 for OAH case number 202620937 by a vote of 720 government code section 54956.9. Also in close session, the board discussed and approved special education settlement agreement in the amount of $4,24.50 for attorney's fees for student ID number 471-976 by a vote of 70. Government code section 54956.9. uh anticipated litigation one matter conference with legal counsel significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9D D2E1 uh student discipline. Uh can I now have a may I have a motion and a second based upon the board's review
007and close session on the findings of the fact recommendations submitted to the administrative hearing panel. The board accepts the recommendation of the administrative hearing panel to expel student expulsion number 2526-2 based on violations of education code section 48900 A1 and 49 uh 4890082. The board adopts the plan of rehab. Okay. Sorry. And I have a motion and a second. >> Uh Tatiana moves second. >> Okay. U because the vote was not unanimous, we will do a roll call vote. Uh okay. The board adopts the plan of rehabilitation recommendation by the panel and the board sets the regular board meeting of December 15, 2026 as a date of which the board will review the students readmission. Uh can I have a roll call vote please? >> Mrs. McCaten, >> yes. >> Mr. Nishi, >> abstain. >>
008Dr. Rios, >> yes. >> Mrs. Yu, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mendoza, >> yes. >> Mrs. Yokayyama, >> yes. >> Mr. Noa. >> Yes. Motion passes 6. Uh tonight the pledge of allegiance will be led by Huarez Elementary who are accompanied by the principal Mr. PA White, Dr. Oliver Wang, and assistant principal, Miss Tiffany Rollers, mental health professional, Miss Johnson Holmes, and teacher, Miss Tommy Ishibashi. Good evening, distinguished board members and cabinet. Good evening, president of the board, Mr. Niola, vice president, Mrs. Yokoyama Buouie, clerk, Mrs. Mendoza, and board members, Mrs. McAden, Mr. Nishi, Dr. Rios, Mrs. U, and Superintendent Dr. Zitlo. Hello, my name is Hannah Basilio. Please stand and join us for the pledge of allegiance. Place your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United
009States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Please be seated. Good evening. My name is Camille Taylor. At Wares, we are proud to be an AVID school. AVID helps us stay organized, take focus notes, ask the thoughtful qu questions, and prepare for college and future careers. At our school, we use strategies like Kosa's level of inquiry, which help us move from simple questions to deeper thinking and understanding. We also use think inc pair share where we take time to think, write our ideas and talk with a partner and then we share with the class. These strategies help us become more confident learners, better communicators and stronger critical thinkers. Good evening, my name is Italo. At wars, we are proud
010of our engineering program. Each class visits our engineering lab once a week for 45 minutes with our teacher, Miss Madrono. During this time, we learned the engineering design process which helps us brainstorm, plan, test, and improve our ideas. This we use this process in hands-on projects like building paper roller coasters, designing a miniature city, using mic and using micro bits to practice cold coding and bring our ideas to life. During family science night, families were able to visit our engineering lab and see these projects in action. Action. Good evening. My name is Khalis Desar. At Warriors Academy, we are proud to celebrate the diversity of our students and families throughout the year. We recognize and honor Hispanic Heritage Month, Filipino American Heritage Month, Black History Month, Women's History Month, and AsianAmerican and Pacific Islander Heritage
011Month. During these months, we participate in activities that help us learn about different cultures, histories, and contributions. These experiences help us better understand one another and build a stronger, more respectful school community. These celebrations are important because they help every student feel seen, valued, and connected to our school. Good evening. My name is Alani Kia. Some of the most meaningful activities we've had this year include Family Literacy Night, Winter Showcase, Red Ribbon Week, Read Across America Week, and Family Science Night. These events bring our school community together and make learning fun beyond a regular school day. We are also excited about the upcoming events and invite you to join us if your if your schedule allows. Family wellness night and movie night on May 1st. This event is planned is being planned by Miss Tiffany
012who is our mental health professional. It will be Pokémon themed and focused on social emotional learning in a fun and engaging way. Lunch on the lawn on May 6th. A chance for families to come on campus and have lunch with us. Wares Legacy Celebration on May 22nd, a special event where we will honor our school, our memories, and everything Wares means to us. Sixth grade promotion on May 26 when our sixth graders are recognized for completing their elementary school journey. These events help us stay connected and celebrate our growth. As we look ahead, even though we know our school is closing, the spirit of Wars will stay with us and keep us connected. The friendships we built, the lessons we've learned, and the pride we feel will carry on wherever we go. Because once an
013engineer, always an engineer. Thank you for sharing your time with us and listening to our presentation. At this time, I would like to introduce our staff joining us. Our principal, Mr. White, our assistant principal, Dr. Wang, our mental professional, Miss Tiffany, our teacher, Mrs. Holmes, and our intervention specialist, Mrs. Ishubashi. Uh thank you Huarez. Is there any board comments? Uh board member Nishi. >> Yes, thank you Mr. President. So do you have any uh uh people that act as crazy mad scientists on any particular day? Oh. Oh, I don't know. They might be in this room. Um, so what I love is that it was a family science night and it was packed as it possibly could be. It is an amazing event where it's not just the kids coming to the thing where you
014know that's that's the main thing, but it's the family that you have here. You have family uh family wellness night. You have all these family events that uh that we know it's not just the student, it's the entire community that that's behind you. And uh um I know that you guys will do really well. and um fight through all the good things that you will see with your families. So, thank you. >> Thank you, board member Nishi, board member Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you so much for coming and sharing um all the grateful events that you guys are doing. I love the design. >> Okay, my microphone's broken. Sorry. I love the designs. Did you guys design the flyers? >> Okay. Okay. I was going to say it's really good. It was
015really good. But um I know I know one of you mentioned that even though the school is closing, you mentioned the spirit of Huades and I have to tell you that that lives on no matter what because a couple weeks ago I was at Stater Brothers and I ran into uh a lady and she kind of looked at me and she said, "Do I know you?" And I said, "Okay, well you probably know me because I'm a schoolboard member because that's how everyone recognizes us." And she stopped me and we started talking. Her name is Dolores and she is now an attorney. But she told me a story. She uh was a student and she was at the ribbon cutting when Huades opened. And so I said, "Give me your information because I sent it
016to the superintendent and I want her to be there and I don't know if we're going to have some some kind of celebration or something that she can be involved with because she told me that she still remembers all of her school years at Huades." And so that spirit of Huades lives on with you no matter where you are, no matter how old you are. So thank you again. I I have stickers for you. How many of you are there? So you can come and get your stickers. Two, three, four, five. Just >> stickers. >> Here you go. Just don't put them on any school materials. You'll get in trouble. Don't put them on your laptops, your Chromebooks. Okay? So you can tear them off and give them give them to each one of you.
017Okay? You guys did an amazing job. I look forward I I I do want to attend and so I I will be there. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you, board member Mendoza, board member McCann. >> Uh War students and staff, thank you so much for your pres presentation and talking about all the things happening at your school. Um I attended your STEM night and your art night and they were both wonderful, so well attended by the community. Um I look forward to coming to your wellness night the first part of May. I will yes I will be there again. Um and also for um your wares legacy night. Um Warz holds a very special place in my heart since my daughter taught there. So um lots of memories about Wares. Thank
018you. >> Thank you board member Macan. Vice President Yokyama Buouie. >> Thank you Mr. President. Wow, you guys did such a great job. Um the one of the last speakers said, "Pride um we will carry the pride we feel um with us along the way." And that's really touching because even if you're a sixth grader, even if you're a student who's moving on to a new school, um you'll always be an engineer. You'll always have those memories. One of my favorite memories at Wararez, um, you know, I've done I've been invited to career day, um, your art night, but one of my favorite memories was the the Christmas carol singalong. Um, the holiday singalong was one of the funnest holiday things I've ever done. Um, I've never been to a school before where you invited
019the audience to sing and you guys had so much fun on stage and it really like helped all of us have a better time. So, thank you so much for coming today. Congratulations. You all did an excellent job and thank you so much for the administration and teachers for being here. >> Thank you, Vice President. Uh, any other board comments? I just also want to thank you for being here tonight, um, are your parents here tonight? If so, can you stand up? Yay. I just want to thank the parents for for trusting us with your kids and for always having their best interest at heart. Um, thank you for being here, Mr. White and staff. Um, I was able to visit Huarez last week and we got to talk about like, you know, although Huarez
020is closing, the students are taking a piece with them and and that piece was given to them by the principal, the teachers, the community at Huarez. So, they're taking a big piece of them, but I want to thank the the staff that really worked hard these past couple years um to make Huarez such a great place and and create a lot of great memories for these for these kids. So, thank you guys for being here tonight. We look forward to attending some of these amazing events and celebrating with you guys. Have a good night. Uh presentations recognition. We will now have the recognition of the California Highway Patrol Santa Fe Springs award for Miss Jill Gera, ABCUSD Transportation. >> Thank you. We'd like to have um our transportation supervisor, Mr. Luis Rivera and uh Miss
021Ga, if you would join him. We want to recognize you. Um not only is our board president going to recognize you, but also with us this evening is Mr. Joe Pac um representing Assemblywoman Sharon Quicks Silva's office the 67th district. So >> Mr. Rivera, >> you want to come up? All right. Well, I was asked to briefly explain uh what this award is about. Um so, in the state of California, uh first my name is Luis Rivera. Thank you guys for having us. Board member trust and board of trustees. Thank you guys. Um in the state of California, the California Highway Patrol is uh overlooks and has a jurisdiction over all school bus drivers in the state. So, they requested a list uh from our nearby school districts uh with at least three nominees uh
022which met the following criteria. I'll briefly explain. Criteria number one has been in the school bus a certified school bus driver in the industry for at least 10 years. Another one has not had an at fault accident for a minimum of 5 years and has done or gone above and beyond bravery or skill or judgment that has prevented loss or injury. Now our driver here, Miss Jill Marie Ggera has been serving ABC Unified School District for 27 years. has not had has not had a school bus accident for 27 years and is an example and a leader when it comes to our transportation department to all her fellow co-workers and uh as far as what she does every day. Come in, put in work, drive safely, get there on time, and take care of business.
023So, it is an honor to have the CHP not only uh give recognition to what she does every day, but also to represent ABC Unified School District. So, thank you guys. >> So, we can have Mr. Joe PAC come up if you want to say something. Joe, we'll have you come on to the stage and we'll do a picture with the board after Mr. Pac speaks. On behalf of the assemblyman, Sheron Cook Silva, I just like to congratulate Jill for being uh recognized by CHP. Okay, I know she left, but does anybody have a board comments? See if she can come back. Yeah, we just want to congratulate 27 years, no accidents. You know, student safety is is top-notch. It's importance for us and that starts in the morning. That goes throughout the whole day.
024So, getting kids safely to school is, you know, the first step of every student's day. So, I want to congratulate uh Miss Guera for for that dedication from ABC and from the board and everybody here. So, can we can give her a round of applause? See if she can still hear us. Thank you. Uh we will now have a recognition for the 2026 California Distinguished School, Cerritos High School and Whitney High School. Dr. Zeta, >> thank you. We're going to start this evening um by recognizing, we're just going alphabetical, Cerritos High School for being named a California Distinguished School for 2026. Um, if we could have our staff and people from Cerritos come on in so we can congratulate you. I thought we could start with a few words from Dr. Weise and then we'll
025hear um from Mr. Pac and do some pictures. Good evening, President Naola, members of the board, our superintendent, Dr. Zitlo, and to our distinguished cabinet. We at Certos High School are so very proud to be acknowledged by California for being a distinguished school, not only for academics, but really because of all the other things that we have done for students, closing the achievement gap. So I cannot express how excited I am to be a member of this team because our focus really is creating a place where all Dons belong. So with that, we are excited to be a school that is closing the gap for all the kids at our schoolside and really making a difference for our community. Thank you for this acknowledgement tonight. Thank you. I lost Mr. Pac. if you want to
026say a few words. >> As all of you know, my boss, Assemblyman Sheron Silva is a third year educator. Yeah. So, uh it gives me an order honor to recognize the serious high school as a 2026 California Distinguished School. And on behalf of the 67 Assembly District, I commend you for your commitment and dedication to providing students with an exceptional education. Congratulations on being recognized as one of the California's distinguished school. April 21st, 2026, Sharon Cova. If I might add, it is incredible to work with this group of people that are standing behind me. Their innovation, their love and respect and hard work for students really make a difference at CTO High School. I'm really proud to be the team leader here, but more importantly, just proud to be amongst these people. So, please, my
027team that's here with us tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Weiss. Before we take our photo, do we have any board comments? Board member Nishi. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, so this is my school. No, I'm just kidding. Uh, no, it's it's a district school. I get it. I get it. I get it. Uh, but you know, when you do what you love, you you you em you become successful. You have to become successful. And people around you also emulate and want to do well because you love what you're doing. And so you have found the place that I think that you love and uh it shows in the results. So thank you. Congratulations. You're going to take CTOS to the best it can be and and that's because of this team
028here, the the parents, but also leadership. So thank you >> board member. You >> Thank you, President. Well, congratulations uh to all of you and the entire school and uh mentioning about closing the gap. That's just very very impressive and keep up the good work. I have one question. Uh by the way, three of my girls graduated from Crito's High School and the youngest one is graduating from college this year. Thank God. Done. I have a question. What is the um can you give a little description on the California High School first place international thespian state festival winner? >> Oh, is that okay? I'm just moving ahead. Thank you. Congratulations, >> board member Mendoza. >> Is it working? No. Thank you, Mr. President. Okay, Ernie, that may be your your school, but that's my principal.
029>> Ah, >> that's my principal. Congratulations, Dons. This is not an easy award. It takes a lot of work. Um, but I think you have a great team behind you. Not only a great team, but you have great students. I think all our students are showing progress and I think it shows with with this award and I as as we heard our board member, you're going to get another award later on. So, um, Dons, you you're doing an amazing job. Thank you, Mr. President. Board member Rios. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I just want to um highlight Dr. Weiss's comments and and referencing the achievement gap because ultimately that is, you know, a metric that is not just used by students and our families and our community, but by the state. And so, congratulations
030to all of the people that made it happen. Um, yeah, really proud. Thank you. Thank you board member Dr. Rios board member McCann. >> Congratulations on your award and Dr. Weise I know the kind of person you are because you were at guard to start with and you truly inspire people. Um I talk about how you ran your school site council meetings and um it's amazing to me how you like got parents so so involved and I know that that's how you are with your staff. So continue to inspire people. When I saw Willy Wonka on your campus, that really tells me the kind of person you are. So, congratulations to all of you. >> Thank you, board member Mcken. Vice President Yokyama Buouie. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Congratulations, Cerritos. Um, I'm looking up
031there and I see so many leaders who um obviously don't only care about their Cerritos kids, but I see you at open houses. I see you at various other school and district events supporting all our kids and ensuring that we um you have a presence there. So, thank you so much for everything you do for for Cerritos for our community. Um I also wanted to highlight uh Willy Wonka. That was probably one of my favorite shows this year. I also have family at Cerritos. I've had cousins who attended Critos. It's a very well-loved school. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Vice President. Uh, I just want to echo my colleagues and congratulate you guys. Uh, Cerrito's High School has has always been a place that loves their students, that cares about their students, and closing
032the achievement gap isn't just about getting kids to tutoring, about making kids do their homework and studying, but it's also about supporting their needs emotionally, physically, making sure they feel safe. And I know everybody here works very, very hard to make that happen. But not just people here, but the people in the classrooms, the people who drive the buses, the people who feed those kids. It's a team like you always mentioned and thank you for for being that leader at Certo's High School. We expect many many more achievements and we know you can meet that meet that expectation. So, thank you. And we're going to take a picture. pepper. So, our second California Distinguished School this evening is Whitney High School. And so we'd like to call up Dr. Tuesday Stuffers and her team to
033come forward and say a few words about this honor. Good evening, board president, board members, Dr. Zitlo, superintendent's cabinet. Um, give me a minute. I just landed at Long Beach Airport. I was at the axe alleged action making sure that we have districts have money um to run even though you know the state's cutting down on our budgets. I was advocating for schools. Um this is a very exciting moment for us for Whitney. This will be I consider myself a Whitney sophomore. As we know Whitney goes 7th to 12th. This is my fourth year. This will be our second California Distinguished um award during my time at Whitney. But this one is extra special. Um, typically our California Distinguished, it comes for high achieving, but this one is so special because we received it for
034closing the achievement gap. Um, my team has worked very hard to implement programs for students so that they are successful at Whitney, they feel seen at Whitney, and they feel included all of the time. I want to acknowledge the work of my counseling team, my MHP, my administrators. It has taken the entire team to make sure that we have closed the achievement gap for all students at Whitney. The special thing about Whitney, and I think sometimes it is forgotten, we represent the entire district. We have students from the entire district. And so it is always important that we make students feel included because we are the representatives of ABC in its entirety. And so I am very proud to stand here before you not to um receive the California Distinguished for High Achieving but for
035closing the achievement gap for our students. Thank you so much. Yes, we will now have Joe PAC present. >> Congratulations. >> We're all friends. >> To the point. Thank you. We will now have board comments. Uh board member Dr. Rios. Well, I'm also very proud and I I especially appreciate uh both schools highlighting the achievement gap and we know what that means, but I I'd like to have our superintendent or our assistant superintendent, please for the public um elaborate a little bit and explain what why that is so important and what is the achievement gap that we talk about. >> Please. Thank you. Um closing the achievement gap. specific award looks at the percentage of UDP students, meaning the percentages of of low-income, foster, homeless youth, and even English learners at the schools and looks
036at like schools throughout California to see if the rate of acceleration that these two schools have been doing to academically close that gap between the performance of these students and the performance of overall students is higher than uh surrounding schools, like I said, like schools. And so it is confirmed through this award that uh Serita High School Whitney High School are accelerating the rate of closing that gap for those groups of students. >> Thank you board member Dr. Rios board member Yu. >> Thank you President Nyola and Dr. Stuffers. >> Yes. >> Thank you for representing us. Where did you come from? >> Uh Sacramento. >> Wow. >> I met with three senators today. >> Wow. Great job. Great job. Thank you for your work. >> Thank you. >> Uh thank you for mentioning that
037uh Whitney represents the entire district >> and we are ranked number one. Whitney is number one ranked in California for many many many years and that's what uh many families are drawn to this district. Um we are in competition with Oxford and Troy. But one thing that really makes us stand out is uh filling the uh the achievement gap and that I know uh the district you know starting with Dr. Valencia, Dr. Castro and the entire district have been working very hard to support the students from the entire district to close the achievement gap and kudos to all of you. I applaud everyone who's been doing this and I know that many of our board members have been really advocating for many years and here we are. We are receiving an award for this very
038thing you know the the closing the achievement gap. So thank you for mentioning that and uh thank you to all the counselors and the mental health professionals for really um working with the students from the entire district. So keep up the good work. Thank you. >> Thank you, uh, board member Mishi. >> Thank you. Uh, I still think this is my school, but that's because my daughter went, uh, it is for the whole district. And, you know, just, uh, Whitney is number one, and that's a great, great, great honor. But it's not the end result. It is it's not the end that you're focusing on. what you're focusing on is is rising the boats, making sure that everyone is able to succ said, see, because if you have one, you know, I think there's a
039a saying, if you lost a sheep, you're going to look for that sheep all day long because that sheep is very important, right? Um, and that's what you're doing here. There's no kid that gets lost. You're fighting for each one. You fight for all of our schools in Sacramento. You fight for your school and our all of our schools in terms of certain things that we can do better. It's a great school, so it's really hard to do better, but you're finding ways of doing that by advocating in ways that we can achieve. And so I I appreciate your reasonable, steadfast, strong leadership with uh direct laser eye on on what you want to achieve and uh um and essentially having the motivation with all of your staff with you to do that. You know,
040that's what a leader is. They are able to empower everyone to do that. And uh um and so I thank you for for doing that. I appreciate it. >> Thank you, board member Nishi. Board member Mendoza. >> I got a new mic. >> Thank you so much. Thank you for um going up to Sacramento and for advocating for us. And then welcome back home. >> Thank you. >> Um just again echoing my board members is congratulations. Um it takes a team to do this to get this award. Um, but it also takes our students to really believe in what they're doing and really putting that effort in. So, I want to do we have any of our students here? No, they're all at home working. >> They're studying. >> That's why that's why we got
041this award. >> AP season is upon us. >> They're so dedicated. But if you're watching, congratulations. And then I just want to echo I know I know that we're in we're in competition with other schools. We don't mention their names. I don't. But I want to say when you get this kind of award, you're kind of in competition with yourself now because you're up here and you want to maintain up there. And so I think you guys do an exceptional job of making sure that um student of achievement is at the forefront and that you have a great team behind you. So thank you so much. Congratulations, Felicidades. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you board member Mendoza Vice President Yokoyama Buouie. >> Congratulations Whitney and Dr. Sters. when I see you, I just I
042just think Whitney like you just are such a great representative of our school and um thank you for going up to Sacramento. We are just we're always thinking about ways we can uh hopefully incentivize to get more funding for our schools and having the principal of the number one school in California is the way to get that because you are bringing success to our students from our entire community. And if you could please share briefly because I think one of our first conversations you shared with me the summer bridge program which I was not familiar with and um just share briefly how how it helps our students um to win awards just like this. Um so we actually uh the originator of our summer program, Miss Williams, um we saw that a number of our
043students, so we know we have students from the north end, from the south end, um the north end students have a little bit more access. So we were working on trying to even the playing field. And so our summer program, it's a summer bridge. We invite students particularly uh from the south end of our district because they don't have as much access as other students. We provide them with a math and English class and then also a fun class to make it a fun experience. During that time, they're able to get to know Miss Williams, the school, myself, uh Miss Nishimura, a teacher. Um they get to know the lay of the land and acclimate to Whitney. So on day one, they know Whitney probably better than most of the other students that may have
044grown up, you know, dropping by or having summer sessions over at Whitney. Um during the school year, we also monitor those students, um making sure their grades are okay. Miss Williams meets with them regularly. Um we monitor their progress. Um, and we have seen an increase in great improvement and and clearly the state likes what we're doing. Um, so that's how we worked with achieving and closing that gap for those students. >> Thank you so much. And thank you for being welcoming again to our entire community and ensuring that kids who want to go there can go there. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Thank you, Vice President. I just want to echo and congratulate you guys. You guys do a lot for our kids and not just like you mentioned for entire district creating inclusive
045and safe community campus. So thank you guys. Keep up the great work and always finding ways to improve. >> Thank you. >> Can I take a photo now? >> Yes. And just last words, I'd like to again thank the teachers, the staff, and my amazing team. Um because without them, we would not be here. So thank you so much. We will now have a recognition for the 2026 California Green Ribbon School, Bragg Elementary. >> Thank you. Um I'd like to introduce um principal Dr. Hilda Flores to come up and share a little bit about the award and then we will have um a recognition by Joe PAC and our board. Dr. Flores, >> thank you so much. And I'd like to introduce my team here with me this evening. We have fifth grade teacher, Miss
046Crystal Padisil. We have our mental health professional, Christina Peda, and our assistant principal, Natalie Ornellis. And I just like to start by thanking them for joining me this evening and being a bit of my backup girls as I share a little bit about the amazing achievement that Bragg was recognized this year. I want to give you a little bit of information. The Grid and Ribbon Schools Award is part of our California Department of Education recognition system and we are one of 26 schools that were honored statewide this year for our achievement. And I'm going to look at my notes so that I can provide you a very accurate representation of what this award is for. Now, we are honored for our exceptional achievement in sustainability along the three core pillars that are reducing environmental impact
047and cost, improved health and wellness for students and staff, and effective environmental and sustainability. The gold level is the second highest award available to schools, and we are excited about what we've done to have measurable results in each of these areas. Now, I would be remiss if I did not recognize a different Flores who has graced the halls at Bragg Elementary. She has since retired and unfortunately could not join us this evening because she's living a different kind of life now. But she was truly the driving force that began the success at Bragg Elementary School. and without her presence on campus, none of what we are going to be describing tonight would have been achieved. Um, her legacy is felt throughout the campus and it's not infrequent that I see high school students that want
048to share with me the impact that she had on their lives. She was truly a force to be reckoned with. Now, I want to share with you a little bit about what has happened at Bragg and how we were able to create these results. We received a 75% uh or above result on our ribbon application which is a monumental writing task that asks you not only to reflect on your teaching practices, how you arrange your curriculum, but also how you are managing and using our natural resources. So even though it's a school-based award, it really is an effort of our business department staff to help us gather data regarding our usage of energy and how we are reducing our impact. to say a little bit about that. We have reduced our trash debris by 90%
049through our trash free lunch program, which is a studentrun um effort that allows our students to sort their trash and be really economical in those efforts, focusing on what can be reduced, what can be reused, and what can be sent to refues through SB1383, organic waste reduction. We also have a 73% reduction in energy use. And that's probably part effort, but it's partly thanks to our board of education and your wonderful implementation of solar panels that have really reduced that impact. And it's through the work of looking that up and quantifying our use over time that we were able to describe that effort. And we know that that is something that is important to our organization to maintain that focus on uh environmentalism. Last year, 31% of our students were members of the green team
050and they had an opportunity to engage in real world civic actions. Our school was featured on CNN and KCAL with the support of our amazing Mr. Smith helping to highlight our program and making sure people know how well we were doing. Um, I'd like to then recognize the rest of the staff at Bragg Elementary School. This is only possible because they have come together and welcomed different ways of doing our work and opened their eyes to our students and the possibility. So that's really what makes Bragg special and why we were honored with this award this year. Thank you so much. We appreciate the opportunity to share a little bit about Bragg Elementary. >> Thank you. Um we'll have Joe Pac share from Assembly Member Cirva's office. Uh on behalf of the assembly manila, I'd
051like to present California assembly certificate of recognition presented to Mary Bra Elementary School in honor of 2026 California Green Ribbon School. On behalf of the 67 Assembly District, I commend you for your recognition as the Green Ribbon School providing effective environmental education, reducing environmental impact and cost, improving health and wellness. Congratulations, Breockets, for earning gold level. April 21st, 2026. Assembly member Sharon Cook Silva. Congratulations, Dr. Flores. Thank you. We want to have board comments. Board member McCann, >> Dr. Flores, and the Bragg staff, congratulations on your award. I'm going to have to have your kids come to my house because I don't know how you do that 90% reduced trash. I have a hard enough time with the three trash cans, but I'm I'm gonna adopt one of your kids. But congratulations on your award
052and all your hard work. >> I'll put that request in the newsletter. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, Vice President Yokoyama Buouie, >> congratulations to brag. Um, what I will say is I know Mrs. Flores has retired, but um, you know, we have her to thank for implementing this program here and bringing such recognition to Bragg. I do believe it's also like you mentioned it's the testament to the teachers who are still here staff students for continuing the program because of course if if the one person driving it has left what happens next Brad could have easily said okay let's just move on and we'll just go back to how we do things you know normally but you you didn't you kept on going and you kept on implementing those practices and we have another
053recognition so kudos to to you all. This again, we're in competition with ourselves and we're going to keep it going. And who knows, maybe we'll be um on a different TV station next time. So, thank you so much for your work. Everyone at RA, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, >> board member Nishi. >> I'll be quick. Um so, yes, I was going to say that continuing legacy even after she's gone is just an amazing thing. And just the thing about the kids that are leading the efforts that are able to do this, they they're making the change in the real world now. They're not waiting until their 1920s says, "Oh, my life starts then." No, life starts now. They can make a difference now. And they can probably teach my daughter how to
054turn off the light. Yeah. Uh but uh uh thank you for continuing that legacy. That's that's an important thing and even making it stronger. >> Thank you, board member Nishi. I just want to echo what everybody mentioned. Uh Bragg is a great school and being environmentally conscious is very important. Uh you're creating leaders not just for to lead people but to lead our environment because many times people don't speak up for the environment. So you're creating students that are going to be conscientious and be impactful and be empathetic to not just their fellow students but also to what's going on around them. So thank you for for instilling that in our students. And we will take a picture. And for our final recognition for the night, Critos High School first place international thespian state festival
055winners, Dr. Lilo. >> Thank you. We'll start this evening by having uh Mr. John Zamora, their teacher, come and share a little bit about the process and we'll introduce the students um and share about what they went in and then we'll get all the things before we get the picture. Mr. Zamora, >> thank you uh President uh President Bor Niola uh board members ABC Superintendent Dr. Zitlo and cabinet. Uh thank you so much for having us. Um it's an honor to represent Certo's High School. Our principal Dr. We our Cerritos team and our CTE coordinator, Dr. uh I'm sorry, Dr. um our CTE coordinator, Edwin Vasquez. Uh my name is uh John Zamora. I'm the theater teacher and director at Critos High School. During the week of March 14th, 15th, and 16th, our theater program
056attended the International Thespian Society State Festival where 26 of our students advanced to finals. 27 of uh of the uh 26, six of the students won first place um and two one-third 14 additional students uh finished in the top 10 and advanced to the international state finals. The international thespian society is the largest society in the world for theater. Um it spans all over the world and so at the state festival um there are schools from Northern California all the way down to San Diego that come to compete at the state festival. Um we started rehearsing in November. That's when we started picking our pieces and started rehearsing and slowly kind of developing with my music director and um and my students. Um we there then at from there they went through a rigorous rounds
057of performances where they would submit videos um about and whether or not they got would get passed on or not. Um students from all over California stretching from Northern California, San Diego attended the festival. Um where close to 2500 students attended. Um and here we have um first place for costume design and construction, Marissa Martinez. First place for scene performance, uh, Xavier Moreno, Luke Mele, and and Naomi Buna. Uh, first place for musical theater duet was Shane Gentry and Jamaia Vilson. uh not here, but we won uh third place and also meddled um in duet performance with Hannah Ainger and um Benjamin Crawford. Um needless to say, I'm very proud of my students. Um this was a very big year for us. This is the most that we've ever taken home at a state festival.
058Um so it was a quite a big feat for us. Um I want to thank the board and superintendent um the cabinet, Dr. Weiss, Evan Vasquez, the CTE team, um our Cerritos High School team, and for all their support in this adventure. So, thank you. >> Thank you. We'll have Mr. Pack share a few words and then we'll hear comments from the board before we get certificates to students and take pictures. >> I just brought six, but I count seven students. I don't know what happened. If I miss somebody, It's a pretty one. >> It's very pretty one. Yeah. >> Uh board comments. Uh board member you. over here. >> I also I also wanted to add um the reason why they're dressed so dapper uh um we we we open our production tomorrow of
059curtains. Um so we're in rehearsal right now uh for that. So we left after running act one to come uh to the to the meeting today. So um >> photo of our of our poster Okay. >> Thank you. >> Um Mr. Zamora, how long have you been uh you know guy uh doing this um production? Yeah. Teaching this. >> So this is I I I've been at Serrios High School for 15 years and I um I've been teaching drama for 10 >> of the the 15. Um and uh we started going to the state festival three years ago. >> Wow. >> Um so three years ago is when we started. So, every year we've kind of been improving it a little bit. >> Can we hear from a couple students? How many hours do you
060guys put in and uh you know, how passionate are you? >> How is it? >> Um, it's kind of hard to say how many hours we put into each show, but roughly each night when it comes to like tech, we normally have anywhere from like 8 to 10 hour rehearsals. So, and that spans over a course of a week, including shows. So, it definitely takes a lot of effort to put these shows together, especially with our director helping us out. >> I like to hear. Do you guys enjoy it? >> Yes. >> Great response. >> I'm so sorry. Um um to answer both of your questions, um it's really hard to count how many hours we spend on theater. Um we're all in uh theater classes, so it's part of our periods. And then we
061also spend time outside of school to work on it. And then we also spend after school working on theater as well. And I'd say we're all very passionate about it and to continue on with passion. Since I am a senior, I am planning to continue to do theater even past high school. And um yeah, passion isn't even like a a strong enough word to describe how much I love theater. >> It's just so evident in your faces and it's just glowing. And I hope that you guys can uh encourage your other, you know, underclassmen to join, you know, because I mean the extracurricular activity is just so important for all of our mental health and be connected with other human being. You guys all have to work together, right? Thank you, Mr. Zamora, and congratulations
062on this award. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member. You, board member Dr. Rios, >> just a quick um congratulations as well. We know that the arts really play a vital role in a well-rounded education and so it's wonderful. I kept wondering like who is that group there? Because yeah, you have an incredible presence. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you for being here. Um, and we know that the arts really provides an excellent platform for developing those. You know, we talk about lifelong skills. So, yeah, I I think I will absolutely put this on my calendar. Look forward to seeing your production. Thank you so much for being here and congrats. >> Thank you, board member Rios, board member Nishi. Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be quick, too. Um, I know these g these guys when they
063were real little kids. Oh my gosh, I can't believe how they've changed and grown and and become really great people. Mr. Zamora, thank you. You know, one constant I've always heard is over the years like what is the constant here? And it's Mr. Zamora who's really brought out the best the best that they can be. And that's that's what you want in a good teacher. You have to have administration supporting you. You have to have a great teacher and the basic bare, how do you say the the growth, the seeds that will actually grow into the the Emmy award winners, the Tony Award winners, and I'm going to need your autograph and I'm going to be able to sell it for millions of dollars later on uh when you guys win the Oscar, right? So,
064I the sky's is the limit. I know that those dreams are true. They can happen. You know it all it when you love school when you love what when you find what you love to do you become successful. Thank you for bringing that out in them. I appreciate that. His award already came. >> Thank you board member Nishi. Board member Mandodo. >> Thank you Mr. President. I'm just sitting here in awe of you guys because I I have a question. Do you guys sew your costumes? Do you buy them? How do you do? Um, I have been given the lucky opportunity this year to become a student costume designer for a lot of our shows. So, for our fall show, Into the Woods, I spent hours making three costumes. One of them which was worn
065by Jamaia over here. And one of them won the first place award. I spent weeks, weekends, all my free time went to making those costumes. And I am so lucky that I got to do that because it's truly what I am passionate about. And I always try try to assist with other productions. Even if I don't make all the costumes, I always try to put my best foot forward and help those where they need it. So, I've been lucky enough to be given that opportunity. >> Wow. >> Well, congratulations again. I have no doubt that all of you are going to go on and do amazing things. And I think we're going to ask that you come back and come back to our district and and give back to our students who may have a
066future. in theater because you guys look like you love what you do. And I just have to say that tonight has been an amazing night. I know we've spent most of our time recognizing students, but that's that's what we do. I know it's been a long kind of an hour and a half, but this is the fun part is to see you as students growing and enjoying what you do. And I think uh our board members said it um the best is that you're able to do this because you have amazing teachers supporting you. you have an amazing uh leadership team and and and principal and that's why uh Cerrito's High School and all of our other high schools are thriving. So, congratulations. Enjoy. Sorry we took your your your practice away from you today.
067Congratulations. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you, board member Mendoza, Vice President Yokoyama Buouie. >> Congratulations, Cerritos High School. Um, I've had the honor of watching many of your shows and seeing many of you on stage and the talent is just it it's so spectacular. It's the stage presence. It's the composure. And I will say um I think it's Miss Marissa, you're also an actor as well as being a costume designer. So, thank you for providing all the talents you can to the theater group. Um, I also want to thank Crito's High School and I believe Gar High School has also had younger non- high school students in their kids uh in their performances. So, they'll have kids join. Elementary school, you guys had elf. Last year, you invited some younger kids. I know Gar
068has said the same thing. So, thank you to our teachers for including the younger generation because guess what? It's going to put that seed in their mind that they can do great things just like their high school mentors. Um, I would also like to uh highlight uh Mr. Zamora special recognition because you allow our young theater kids. I have a theater kid who performs at Critos High School maybe like twice a year and thank you for welcoming our elementary school students not only not only Ail Elementary, you have Whitman, you have Sters there. Thank you for opening up your doors so that all our kids in our district can explore their talents and shine on stage. It's such a confidence builder and like like um Mr. Maya said, it's not it's not it's more than
069a passion, right? It's just like it's unexplainable, but um theater. So, thank you guys. Thank you so much. Continue doing great things. >> When is the production? Oh yes. Can you share your production? >> Your your next performance. >> Okay. Um um do you want to know the dates? Okay. Okay. So, uh tomorrow we we will be opening our show and we will be going on until Saturday uh at 7 p.m. They're all at 7 p.m. Um would you like to know the synopsis? Okay. Um, so basically, um, this is a murder mystery musical where a >> it's a mur it's curtain. It's curtains the musical. It's a murder mystery show and it is kind of awesome. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Uh, thank you for being here tonight. Thank you for holding your practice
070and coming here to celebrate with us. You guys work really, really hard. You guys support each other. You guys are already role models for our theater kids coming up uh from middle school and elementary. Mr. Zamora, I always hear about Mr. Zamora from all the drama teachers throughout our district. Like you are the you are the standard here at ABC. So So thank you for for continuing to shape these kids. And you're right, it's more than a passion. It's a calling. I would say you guys have been called to perform and tell stories. So hopefully you guys get to tell your stories in the future and we get to see that. So, thank you guys. And we'll take a picture now. So, one more year. I'll be there on Saturday. >> Can you bring it
071to me tomorrow? >> Oh, sure. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Okay, that's a fun one. >> All right, thank you. We will now have our introduction of the Head Start Parent Policy Committee, Dr. Castro. >> Thank you. Good evening, Board President Oyola, Vice President Yokoyama Buouie, Clerk Mendoza, members of the board, our superintendent, and my colleagues in our ABC community. On behalf of the ABC Child Development Department, I'm excited to highlight Head Start and introduce the Head Start policy committee to the board. Before we do that, I'd like to recognize our amazing child development administrators who are instrumental in leading our various programs that not only include Head Start, but also include State Preschool, Infant Center, and the ABC Excels program. With us this evening is our administrator, Dr. Rebecca Lynch, supervisor of special programs and
072child development. Under her leadership, our child development programs continue to thrive and grow each day. We also want to recognize Dr. Christine Balwena and Miss Vanessa San Martin who is the coordinator of child development programs and Head Start director um who could not be with us this evening. And I now I will turn it over to turn over the mic to Dr. Rebecca Lynch and she will introduce the Head Start executive policy committee members composed of current Head Start parents. >> Thank you. Good evening, President Nyola, esteemed board of education, superintendent Dr. Zitlo, cabinet, and community members. I appreciate this opportunity to showcase our Head Start program this evening. Our ABC Head Start program serves 176 students aged 3 to four years old on seven campuses across the district. Aloha, Carver, Hawaiian, Kennedy, Melbourne, Neimis,
073and Willow. Our primary focus lies in early education, fostering school readiness among our students. Moreover, we prioritize family well-being by offering a range of services encompassing nutrition, dental, mental, and overall physical health, as well as resources for students with disabilities. We actively engage families in setting and achieving goals, providing comprehensive support to help them realize their aspirations. Tonight, I have the honor of recognizing the work of our Head Start staff and introducing parents serving as the executive policy committee board members. The committee serves as a vital policy group representing the various Head Start school sites, actively contributing to the collaborative decision-making process and playing a crucial role in the strategic planning of Head Start program activities. Special thanks to Vice President Mrs. Yokyama Buouie for being the policy committee board leaison. Allow me to introduce
074our executive PC board members. PC Sergeant- of Arms Cynthia Vayal Dolid, current parent of Hawaii at Hawaiian Head Start. PC Secretary Stephanie Jimenez, current parent at Kennedy Head Start. PC member Lena Grimaldo, a secondyear parent who has served both years and is one of our LEO delegates. Also present tonight is Noammy Garcia Hernandez, our family support worker and the coordinator of our PC. Miss Cynthia will be sharing a few words highlighting her experience with Head Start and some of the responsibilities of her policy committee office. Good evening. I'm here to acknowledge and express my gratitude for the assistance for the existence of the Head Start program. My son and I I are thankful that we are that we ended up in such a good hands and by that I refer to the incredible team that
075includes includes um sorry Vanessa Martin Sandra and Alejandra as well as of course two of the best teachers I have ever met Mrs. Martinez and Miss Ana from HA um Hawaiian Elementary who are deeply devot devoted and passionate about their work. My son Aaron and I I'm sorry. My son is a My son Erin is a child with special needs and I can tell you that since he started at Head Start, he has improved um tremendously in different areas. I have nowhere to express my gratitude to all the support, effort and dedication not only toward my son but toward all the children's. Thank you. >> Thank you. And we open it up to questions. >> Board Vice President Yokyamabui. Um so recently as you all know thank you Mr. President. Recently as you all know
076I took over as board leaison. So I've had the privilege of attending um about four meetings now with these wonderful um parents who are there who are committed and I shouldn't say that all they're all parents because some are family members um aunts uh fathers. So um they all come to contribute and um express their feelings and what's what's going well with the program and what they would like to improve. Most importantly, what I found very surprising um and I was not aware of prior to my involvement with Head Start is um there's a m encouraged volunteer hours for all the parents which helps us offset a lot of the costs that we have towards LEO. So, thank you all for really believing in the program. It's because of you that the kids are growing.
077We do have great support there. Obviously, we have their teachers, we have our guidance, we have our administration, but um we all believe this that the families really, really, really help the kids shine and grow. So, um I'm so thankful to be a part of the group. I'm so thankful to learn more about this program and the tremendous ways we're helping our kids. Thank you all. >> Thank you, Vice President. board member Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I I when I saw this on the agenda, I was like, "Oh, this is my jam." Because I I'm a kindergarten teacher at heart. And I got to I was I had the privilege of being on the on the committee. It's one of my favorite ones because not only are we u providing services for our
078students, but also for our parents. So, they're learning, you're learning, um you have activities and it's it's it's literally the name is a head it's head start. you're giving them a head start before they enter into kindergarten and it makes such a big difference. I um when I talk kindergarten I could see right away which kids went to head start, which ones went to preschool, which ones went to daycare because they have those skills, those foundational skills and not like reading or writing, but the the socialization they had oral language um sharing, right? Sharing independence. So, I think this is a great opportunity if parents, you know, have the opportunity to to be in these programs, they can. And I I was just going to ask that same question. And so, you you kind of
079answered my question, how what what is Melbourne doing that we can do at our other schools? What is Melbourne doing? Because they're doing an awesome job. And I know each school is different. Every site is different. But one of the things that I used to do was I when I was on the committee is I would look at the activities and I would take them back to my classroom because they're so cute. Thank you. Thank you for for volunteering and doing this because you you do this out of the goodness of your heart for your for your child. Thank you for being a part of this committee. Much gracias. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you, board member Mendoza. Uh I also want to congratulate you guys and for stepping up to this role. this
080is a a great first step for this partnership that we will have at ABC. You know, Head Start, being a product of Head Start myself, it it did give me a great opportunity to, you know, get a little preview of what kindergarten pre preK, I don't remember what I learned, but I remember I had a good time. Uh, but it is u being also on the committee, you do get an abundance of resources. You have that engagement with parents. You do get to be in the classroom with your kid. And that's something that we can continue to model. you guys will take these lessons and go into elementary being leaders uh for other parents and being role models for them. So, thank you guys for being here. Uh congratulations and and we're we're in this
081together. Thank you. >> We will now have a uh spotlight on teaching and learning uh for LCAP goal three advancing college and career through AVID. Dr. Castro. >> Thank you, President Nyola. I am back again with another world premiere of our LCAF stories. Um, this one is really personal to me. I was just thinking about this, so I'm going to age myself. Um, I was an assistant principal at Haskell Middle School under um our principal, Dr. Susan Hixon. Some of you may remember that name. And she came to me and she said, "I want to start AVID at Haskell." and her and I worked together with the district at the time to start the very first AVID class in all of ABC. And now you're going to get to see how much it's expanded and
082how much it's grown under the support of uh our director Dr. Evelyn Ha under special programs. So it's a little personal moment for me. It also ages me of the 26 years I've been in the district. So, um, but it's exciting to see the growth of ensuring our students can attain college and career readiness and how we can work together to create more opportunities for our students. So, here we go. Over the course of this school year, we'll be exploring the many ways in which ABC's LCAP positively supports students. Goal three of the ABCUSD LCAP is focused on college and career readiness and features an action on AVID advancement via individual determination, a system that helps to close opportunity gaps by preparing all students for college and career readiness. ABC Unified School District is proud
083to offer the AVID college and career readiness system at four high schools, all five middle schools, and eight elementary schools. AVID is definitely much more than a program. It is a system for all grades TK through 12 that equips students with rigorous academic preparedness, opportunity knowledge for college and career, and the skills necessary to develop strong student agency. In our secondary schools, the AVID elective builds the academic and life skills students need to succeed in every class and beyond. Students develop skills in organization, time management, critical thinking, inquiry, and collaboration. A key component of the program is the weekly tutorial where students work in small groups with trained college and peer tutors to break down challenging concepts, explain their thinking, and problem solve together. The activities that I enjoyed the most were the tutorials and
084the agenda tech checks because it helped me keep um track with my classes and like the assignments that I had to do. And this also helped me cuz I'm in a lot of accelerated classes. So, it helps me um figure out questions I have a lot of pro uh trouble with and it helps me get get stuff done. >> AVID classes also use the Wicker instructional framework, writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading across all subject areas. Through collaborative study groups, Socratic seminars, philosophical chairs, and other inquirybased learning structures, students deepen their understanding while actively engaging with content. These researchbased strategies empower students to take ownership of their learning. AVID is a lot more than just an elective class. Uh joining the AVID program is a unique opportunity for students to gain support in the form
085of relationships to build academic and social skills that will help them achieve success in the future. Whether that's college goals, career goals. Um, AVID really is a pathway for students to find success and reach those opportunities that are available to them. >> Beginning in the 2026 27 school year, AVID elective classes at our high schools will also offer dual enrollment opportunities, allowing students to earn college credits while still in high school. An exciting new benefit for AVID students. In elementary schools, AVID is implemented as a schoolwide model in which Wicker strategies are embedded across all grade levels and content areas. Beginning with our youngest learners in TK and kindergarten, students develop foundational skills in organization, collaboration, and engagement that support long-term academic success. As students progress through the grades, they continue to apply wicker strategies
086with increasing depth and rigor, strengthening their ability to think critically, work collaboratively, and take ownership of their learning. >> They've just been a lot more confident in being able to speak up, collaborate more often, uh use each other, feed off of each other to use academic words and vocabulary in school, which we know students love to talk, but AVID has really helped with their word choice and staying on topic with different subjects. AVID students in all levels also explore college and career pathways through activities and field trips. Middle and high school students receive support with academic planning and gain guidance with college and future readiness including applications, goal setting and post-secary planning. >> It is important to go to a college or have a future goal because if you have a future goal, you would
087dedicate yourself and try your hardest to complete it no matter what. And also it is important to go to college because you will get a better education. >> AVID also invests in building the capacity and collective efficacy of our educators, insisting on rigor, breaking down barriers, aligning practices, and advocating for every student through ongoing professional learning. Avid educators continually strengthen their instruction so students are better prepared for success. Personally, um, it helped me become a better student because I've been able to be more outgoing with myself and be able to talk and take take lead when needed. So, I would say seventh grade me like looking back, I don't think I would have ever done something like like doing this now, I would be too shy to do anything at all. AVID supports students at
088every stage of their educational journey, building the skills, confidence, and mindset needed for success in school and beyond. Through AVID, ABC Unified is transforming the trajectory of students lives, preparing them for college, careers, and a future where possibilities are truly limitless. Visit abcusd. us/lcap to see how ABC is raising up students and unlocking their future. So, as you can see, some tremendous work, tremendous work by our school staff. I'm going to ask Dr. Evelyn Hut to come up to the mic. Action five in our LCAP talks about our district staff collaborating with school sites to expand AVID offerings and professional learning. And so, she's going to introduce some amazing educators that have gone above and beyond to receive some special certifications. And she's also going to talk about a special student that we have with
089us today. So, good evening board. Um, I just want to go ahead and continue the video because some of these new updates were not um in we didn't find out in time to include them in the video, but that young lady at the very end, she is actually in the audience. And so, um, you know, what she said in the video was, you know, she was just way too shy to do this. So we are incredibly proud to celebrate the fact that she out of 800 student applicants across the nation. She is one of 20 students who was selected to be a national avid student speaker this summer at summer institute. So Rilene Mattis if I can have her stand up. So I just want to say that Railene now you know she just did
090a video she will be speaking to approximately 5,000 educators in Dallas this June. So, we are super excited for her. We are very proud of you, Railene. And I also want to just acknowledge the guard team who's here. We have Dr. Keys as well as our assistant principal, Mrs. Marberry, and Miss Rojas. And I do want to celebrate also um Railen's family. So, if I can have them stand up as well. Very proud family. So, this is truly a once in a-lifetime opportunity for Railen. So, um, AVID has a glam squad that is actually going to be working with Railene to get her ready, um, as she speaks in front of those 5,000 educators. And I believe the guard team will be there to support and be her cheering squad. So, we are really excited
091for her. Um, the other part that I wanted to acknowledge tonight that we weren't able to capture in the video is that we have nine wonderful educators. They are our classroom teachers from our elementary and middle school. They have spent a very rigorous journey this year engaged in the AVID certified educator program that has been funded by the LCAP. So I do want to acknowledge because just I believe last week they finished their capstone project but this was a really rigorous journey where they um learned about just uh foundations of instruction for AVID. It really helped to transform their classroom instructional practices um where they really lean into rigor. How do they really impact student achievement? And so I just want to call them out by name and if you can just go ahead and
092stand up. We have Taylor Connor, kindergarten teacher from Aloha. Angela Castelli, second grade teacher from Willow. Lilia Esnyra, sixth grade teacher from Willow. We have Jennifer Holmes, third grade teacher from Wetes. We have Laura Arvzu, fourth grade teacher from Palms. Katherine Darby, sixth grade teacher from Palms, and Thomas Phelps, our Ros Middle School teacher. And I just have to put a plug in for him. He does AVID in PE as well. So, I know he hates kind of us saying that, but that is a tremendous feat to actually implement AVID strategies in AP class. So, I want to give them kudos. We have two other teachers who couldn't be here today, Courtney Ramos as well as Eduardo Fernandez, but we want to celebrate their big achievement because this really does build capacity for us in
093our district because they are true superstars and models of what good teaching solid first best instruction is for the rest of our teachers in our district. So, thank you our ACE AVID educators. And we also have Amber Prietto. She's our program specialist who's also there. So, congratulations again to Railene and the Guard team as well as our AVID certified educators. Thank you. >> Are there any board comments or questions? Board member U. >> Um, Dr. Castro or Dr. Ha, can you for the public kind of give a brief description of which students join AVID? So typically in the AVID elective class in secondary um we do have it's it's originally for first generation college students. So students who may not have access and opportunity but what we have found is that AVID is good for
094all students. And so that's a great question because we actually have a school here in the audience who has been implementing AVID schoolwide and Artisia High School has been doing this for the past two years in terms of schoolwide strategies for success. And so while the elective class at our secondary level is specific for students who need maybe some extra additional support um we do have schoolwide practices at the elementary level. It is schoolwide. So it is for all students. So you have uh you give the this aid will give extra support to the students who are like uh you know parents are immigrants, they're immigrants, so they're a little behind because they're English learners. >> So typically it doesn't have to just be English learners, but it would be a great um elective class
095at the secondary level because um Abbott is really trying to close those opportunity gaps. So maybe they might not have as much access to college applications or just financial aid information, but that is specifically what the AVID elective class is for, >> right? You know, when you have parents who are immigrants, and I know this, I came when I was in third grade. I mean, your parents are working all the time. So, you're just lost by yourself, lost alone. But like looking at our district, I think our district provide a lot of uh support for English learners just the language, you know, learning program and this AVID program. It does provide such support for the students. So I just want to say kudos and good job. Keep up the good work. >> Thank you, >>
096board member Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I I was actually there when Railen got the the video call, right? Uh, Miss Morris invited me and I kind of didn't know what I was there for. I'm like I saw the girls. I'm like, "Are they gonna do a speech? What am I hearing?" They're like, "Just hang on." And then and then she got the the video call and um it comes with some some money, right? How much? $500. I was like, "Wow." Um, I just want to say I'm proud of you because I know that speaking um in public is not natural. You know, some people can do it, but some people get nervous. when I first came on the board, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm I'm used to speaking to kindergarteners. How
097am I going to do this?" Um, but I think the more you do it, the easier it gets. And um, I think you're a role model for for the rest of our students who kind of struggle with with speaking. Um, and I wish you the best. Thank you for inviting me. Thank you for Miss Morris for inviting me. Didn't know what I was there for, but I know you did that video that they that day, too. And and just speaking about AVID, um I think AVID is a program that provides strategies for all students, not just immigrants, not just, you know, Spanish speaking, but it's a it's good teaching strategies for students. It's giving them um opportunities to have good work study habits. Um and it's for everybody. It's it's not just for a certain
098subgroup of students. My question is if there's a school who would like to become AVID and I I know I know there's a cost to it. I know we have to train our staff. How does a school go about it and who pays for it? >> Well, usually that conversation happens with us at the district office. They'll uh either the principal will approach us or we approach the school depending on um you know some of the it is a commitment, right? It means that the staff needs to be trained. They have to commit every year. There's a certification process. It's not your typical professional learning because you really do have to follow through with the strategies. Usually get visits from AVID itself to see that you're actually implementing them. And so Dr. How usually works
099with the principal with the teachers. We have to identify a coordinator for the school site to make sure that those components and that is part of the support that you see in the LCAP. So when you see the line item for the LCAP, which is specifically action five, the dollar allocation from that is based upon the number of schools that we currently have and the supports that they're going to need to continue the program as well as projecting additional schools because every year we want to try to add additional schools to expand that so eventually we can become a district-wide AVID program. >> That that's what I that's where I was going to. I would love to see our district be an AVID district because I think it's it's as as a teacher and and
100and I work at a school site, we don't have AVID because financially we can't we can't do it. The commitment we can't do it. But I love that kids don't have to learn strategies every single year from a different teacher. I love that when they go from kindergarten to first grade, they know what to do. >> They know that the strategy that they're going to use, they know how to organize their their their their classwork. And so I would love for all of our students to do that because we know that students we tend to think that students stay in one school but they they go from different schools. They might go to a different middle school, different high school because we have schools of choice. But having that that knowledge that they can take
101with them no matter where they're going. I think that's that's that's that's great work. And I want to thank the schools who have made the commitment to be avid schools because it's something that we have to continuously do every single year as teachers to train every year because every year you have a new set of students, right? They may come in with that knowledge and we get students from out of the district that we need to train. So, thank you to those schools who have and hopefully that we have more schools who will jump on board and become avid. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you, board member Mendoza, board member McCann. >> Um, I'd like to thank Dr. Castro, Dr. Ha and um April for implementing this program uh K12 and ABC um for
102um the teachers that got introduced that got the certification. I'm sure that um it was over and above your regular school day and took a lot of commitment to get that, but thank you so much. Thank you Artisia students who um showed up tonight and were in the program this year. Um when you watch that video, you see the students that are so engaged and so organized from the time they're tiny all the way up. And um as Lady said, um it is a program for every single student. So um thank you so much for implementing an ABC. >> Thank you. >> Board member Dr. Rios. Thank you. And can you please remind me what AVID stands for? That's an acronym, but I couldn't remember the first part of that. >> Advancement via individual determination.
103So, it really is about building student agency. >> Um so that they're they own their success. >> Yes. And um yes, shout I'm glad we're highlighting that program. Um shout out to Principal Garcia who's in the audience. I saw him and his staff. Um because we know that Otisa High School is a school where every student does apply to go to college, right? And even though we like to say college is not for everyone, that's on students and their families to decide. That's not on us. So our job is to prepare them should they choose to go that route. And AVID is a program that specifically not just gives students the skills and the strategies to be successful in a college classroom, but I think more importantly or most importantly is that that motivation and
104that belief that college is for them for every single one of them should they choose it. And um that they can be successful and um so I love AVID. I didn't participate in the AVID but it was a program much like it. And so again, you know, I I love to to highlight the fact that a college education changes not just a student's life and a family's life, but community and society in general. So love this program and like board member Mendoza said, would love to see it expanded. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member Rios. Uh I want to thank you for sharing what AVID does for our students and our schools. I want to thank our teachers for stepping up and getting certified and doing the trainings and continuing to share those skills
105and tools. And of course, our students here that take these tools and skills and apply them to not just their education here, but these are skills and tools that they're going to need in college and life. And they're going to be much more better because they have how to take notes, how to stay organized, how to communicate, how to problem solve because of the teachers that instill these skills in them. So, thank you guys for sharing that. Uh, and I really appreciate sharing sharing uh, what AVID does for ABC and hope we can expand it as well. >> Thank you. >> Uh, moving into approve the agenda. May I have a motion to approve the agenda for the regular meeting of April 21st, 2026? >> Tatiana motions. >> Second, Mendoza. >> All in favor, please
106say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. 70. Approval of minutes. May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of March 10, 2026? >> Move approval of March 10th, 2026 meeting. >> Second, Tatiana. >> All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes 70. Uh, middle school activity report. Ross Middle School leadership students will present a report on school activities, including academics, athletics, and extracurricular activities. Ross Middle School Good evening board president, Mr. Nyola, vice president Miss Yokoyama Bowie, clerk, Miss Mendoza, and board members, Miss H Miss McAden, Mr. Nishi, Dr. Rios, Miss Yu, and superintendent Dr. Zitlo. I'm Zena Rubio. I'm the ASP president at Ross Middle School. >> I'm Rya, the vice president. and I'm Haley Allercon, the secretary. >> One of our goals this school year
107has been to make sure all students get involved and feel included on campus. >> We started off the school year with the club rush. We currently have 12 active clubs at our school which include Marian Biology, Ultimate Frisbee Club, and TGSF. Our Dungeons and Dragons club has been particularly popular this year with over 52 students consistently meeting twice a week to learn and play together. In addition to our clubs, we created Falcon teams for the first time this year. Each student and staff on campus is on one of our four Falcon teams. This allows us to celebrate the fact that we are all Falcons, but add in some friendly competition. Our first team day of the year was a field day in which teams got active and competed in various field challenges. It was a
108great way to say hi after summer and get to know some new people. Before Christmas, we did another team day challenge which involved an escape room in which teams and the classrooms were racing against the clock and each other to solve p to solve puzzles and complete challenges. Our school values are demonstrated through soore which stand for step up, own it, aim high and respect. Students can earn digital sore points for demonstrating these values. And we open a sore store twice a quarter, allowing students to use their sore points to purchase things from small toys to free dance tickets to having our principal carry their backpack from class to class for the day. >> One of ASB's responsibilities at Ross Middle School is organizing our flight program. We sign up the whole school classes. Wait,
109we sign up the whole school for classes each lasting four sessions. Students get to choose from all sorts of fun classes like intro to drumming, Lego building, Italian, gardening, golf basics, and capture the flag. During that time, we also have academic support classes where we can get help with math or English, state standards where we need it. Right now, the whole school is using the time and flight to do test prep to make sure we all know what our scores are and all the strategies needed to do well on state testing. We also have several spirit weeks throughout the year. We've done some that focus on mental health awareness like start with hello week, say something week, and kindness week with activities to promote inclusion of being an upstander. ASP works very closely with our
110mental health team and it's been a great partnership to boost our overall campus culture. Our school has provided students reassurance fair part parent workshops, handle activities, and foster teacher engagements by getting teachers to pledge to be trusted adults. Our favorite spirit day was get to know your classmate day. Everyone on campus got a playing card and had to find someone with the exact same card and get to know something about them. >> We've also had cultural spirit weeks like for black history month and our dual emergence Spanish class is always updating their bulletin board in the main hallway to celebrate various celebrations such as putting out allas for the day of the dead. ASB has partnered with AVID who hosts regular lunchtime activities. They've helped promote our academic and collegegoing culture in a fun way
111with activities like binder races and college trivia games. >> KROS is our school broadcast team who puts out the weekly announcements. Several of their stu students produced videos that were featured in the middle school film festival last week. Additionally, ASB has partnered closely with our PTSA who have worked with us to put on several family events this year, including movie night, bingo night, loan night, and we have a pancake breakfast coming up on Saturday, May 2nd. You're all invited if you want to come be part of our fun. One of the best things about our campus is the staff staff involvement and teacher support. For example, this Thursday we're putting on our first ever mass singer event featuring our teachers as mass singers. Don't forget our sports. Our student athletes have been showing up and
112working hard in every season. We're currently looking forward to winning our third and consecutive championship at the m at the track meet the the middle school track meet. Finally, our abandoned color guard consists of 110 dedicated students who not only sweep competitions but also proudly represent Ross and ABC across Southern California, including performances at Disneyland. Our color guard provides students with a creative outlet to dance and express themselves through thematic performances. Meanwhile, our drum line, now in its second year, is already making history as defending champions. They're ABC's only middle school drum line and one of just 20 in all of California. Our goal this year was to get all students involved on campus. We've been fairly successful. In addition to clubs and sports, 84% of our students have attended a voluntary school event this
113year, and we were able to engage 100% of students through our team days and flight. We look forward to continuing to build a culture in which every Falcon has a place to belong. >> Thank you so much for your time and support. >> Go Falcons. >> Board member Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Okay, Mr. Nishi, this is my school. >> I just want to say I I'm so I'm so excited to hear all the things that are happening over at Ross, but I I want to hear more about the principal carrying backpacks. Can you tell me how do I get the principal to carry my backpack? >> Um, you get the principal to carry your backpack by earning sore point sore points. And if you have the certain amount of soy sore points, you
114can purchase it off the sore store that we have. And then she carries our backpack for the day. >> How many points do you need? >> How many books? >> Oh, 65. >> Oh, that's a that's a lot. And do do you have to wear heavy backpacks or are they kind of light? Do they put like all their books? >> It's a specific student. I think he puts bricks in there every single time. And then another one I want to hear about is how you guys team up with one of the with one of the staff members and you guys have challenges. Um we we collaborate with like the by doing like team days >> and um we like get everybody on our Falcon team and like we do a like it's like yeah I
115think Ryan's best describing it. Um, so basically we have four Falcon teams like we separate them like dividing them in the whole entire school where we have like our field days are like where we have activities like like games and challenges that the team has to do in order to win. But for like winning like they get like last time they won they had a ice cream party and Yeah, that sounds like fun. Okay, I have something for you. I I used to only give it to the elementary schools but would you guys like some stickers? You just you just can't put them like on, you know, laptops or books. You can tear them up. Thank you guys. Thank you guys for coming and thank you so much for staying. I know it's it's been
116a long meeting, so thank you for staying and being patient. Um we appreciate that you guys come and share. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you, board member Mendoza, board member Nishi. >> I think they kind of adopted me in this one. Uh because I remember that principal used to walk around the schools and if the kids didn't uh pass her up or something like that, then they had to do something else. I don't know. And it's it's not easy to run past this walking principal because she's pretty fast. Probably uses it as a workout, right? Instead of a gym. Yeah, I'm thinking. Um, and you guys have DN D. You are any of you guys members of the DN D thing? >> Oh, we have our >> Do you got your DN? I can't
117believe like I remember when I was in school that was like the the devil's game or something like that. It was It was Do you guys use dice? I I'll pitch in for him because he doesn't have a mic, but he actually got a grant from our ed foundation to get all of the things the kids need to be able to participate, to learn to paint their own characters, all of it. If you go and visit, >> they will show you all of their things that they are making and doing. But our ed foundation provided the grant for that. >> So, what's great about that is it's not just a visual thing. you visualize in your brain the story that you're creating as you go along. There's no specific script except the rules of logic
118and and whatever. So I u I just remember when I was a kid that was kind of a thing. Do you guys still do the the JPL thing or Okay. because I remember they al also had that and you guys had like these watches for um I I don't know for for um pedometers or some sort of uh exercise thing. >> Uh they're called heart rate monitors. >> Okay. Yeah. I Anyway, they were kind of cool. >> They they have they're doing a lot of good stuff. They they just mentioned just this is just the tip of the iceberg. So if you got if kids want to go to Ross, yeah, this is the place to go, too. >> All right, that's that's been my comments. Thank you, board member Nishi, board member. You >>
119Thank you, President Nyola. I wanted I just noticed um the vice president, Ryan, >> uh you memorized the whole script. >> I was very impressed. I I was I was watching. Wow. And I I noticed that your school, you guys all really prepared, you know, I could tell the the principal and the staff and the rest of, you know, the president and the secretary, you guys all really prepared well. you did a fantastic job. But Ryan particularly, how did you memorize everything? >> Well, um me and my family in the front, we always practice like the lines together and then I practice in front of my uh ASB classmates and yeah, >> fantastic. Uh you're very gifted. You're going to go a long ways with speech and you know, influencing, you know, best of luck
120to you and your family. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you board member you vice president Yokoyama Buouie. >> Thank you. Great job Ross ASB and um along with with you all doing so great in your presentation. I was impressed by Ryan factchecking um board member Nishi on on that uh that vocab word. So thank you for that. Um, I would like to thank Miss Silva for touring uh allowing me to visit the school yesterday. I I always forget who's going to be at our our meeting. So, I'm so glad that it was you all because I feel like I got a really um like like we all said, this is just a very little bit of all you're doing at Ross. Um there's so many activities for every kid. Theater is something
121that Yeah, theater is coming up for you guys as well. um arts and crafts or ceramics was something that I saw there. I also want to highlight uh Mr. Phelps. I didn't recognize you actually because you were in you were in your spirit gear yesterday, but thank you for again your work along with your fellow CTE certified uh avid certified teachers. Thank you for doing that work. Um I also got to see the band in action. Uh Mr. Lopez is not here, but I would I would have posted a video on my Instagram, but I was not allowed to because he said it is top secret. But let me tell you, it was very good from what I saw. >> Um, I'm incredibly excited. One in 20 drumline teams, middle school, only middle school team,
122correct, in California. So, I mean, we are just doing great, great things at Ross. You all should be very, very proud of your school. I'm so excited to continue to highlight your school whatever way we can here at the district. Thank you all for the work you're doing. >> Oh, I can't forget Friday is what what what is Friday? What's the spirit day after Friday? >> Adam Sandler day. I mean, how fun is that? Thank you. >> Thank you, Vice President Yokamabui. Uh thank you, Ross Middle School, for being here tonight. Thank you for for staying with us so late. Uh is your family here in the audience? Can you please stand up to be recognized? Thanking you guys for allowing your students to be here. >> Thank you. We really appreciate your students and
123the leadership that they have here at Ross. Uh thank you for sharing all the amazing things at Ross Middle School. I got to visit and Ross Middle School is really preparing these kids for high school. They have the most electives. They have a lot of great teachers that are getting them uh connected with AVID through clubs and special activities and the community and their new e- gaming center that will be coming soon. So, thank you guys for sharing that. Uh have a great night and uh get home safely. We will now hear from our student board representative of Artisia High School. Good evening, board president, Mr. Nyola, vice president, Miss Yokoyamai, clerk of the board, Miss Mendoza, board members, Miss McCannan, um, Miss Yu, Dr. Rios, and Mr. Nishi, superintendent, Dr. Zitlo and esteemed cabinet
124members. I am Jacqueline Archeta, student board representative from Artisia High School and this is my partner Carlos Guzman. We are proud to represent the students of Artisia High School this evening while we we present the spring 2026 school report with the focus being on college preparations, award ceremonies, and spring semester schoolwide events. >> So, we want to thank and recognize our ASB and Renaissance groups that are here today. We really appreciate you being here. Thank you so much. Uh on January 30th, Artisia's Renaissance program awarded their spring Renaissance cards, which are given to students with a 3.0 GPA or higher or who received a 0.5 GPA improvement from the previous semester. And these students are given monthly incentives, raffle prizes, and home room rallies. And almost 700 students uh at Artisia High School received a
125Renaissance card this semester. In February, we had a Valentine spirit week from February 10th through the 13th where students participated in theme days such as lovesick and love is their superpower. At the end of February, we also held our academic pep rally uh to celebrate this year's seniors who passed their cast test. And to motivate our students that will be taking these tests this year, the academic prep rally was a success. We had churros and ice cream vendors, raisin canes, photo booths, fun games, and amazing jumpers. >> Now, in regards to winter sports news, the Pioneers wrapped up an exciting winter season. Uh, boys soccer made it to the second round and girls soccer qualified for the semi-finals of the CIF Southern Section Championships. So, great job. Uh, another season to recognize was with Artisia's
126boys and girls wrestling. Artisia came home with eight individual league titles and 18 qualifiers for the CIF championships in wrestling. That's great. Yeah. Of those 18 qualifiers, Artisia had three ladies qualify for the state masters meet. So that's big. Uh Artisia Cheer also competed in nationals in Las Vegas in February to mark the end of a great competition season for the cheer squad. In March, Renaissance hosted a March Madness home room rally for Renaissance car holders to play and enjoy games in the quad. Also, Artisia had their spring sports rally that was Spongebob themed. There were performances from ACT, color guard, drum lane, and cheer. The rally also concluded with a uh had a sports game, teachers game, class game, and all spring varsity sports teams were introduced. The rally concluded with an awesome performance
127by a student rock band that this year was their first year. Um and they played a cover of the song Margarine um where the whole school was rocking. Uh on Friday, April 17th, the Artisia Pioneer CIF girls volleyball championship received their championship rings in a ceremony in the quad during lunch. The team was paraded through the halls of campus accompanied by the band and cheerleaders to recognize their achievement. The championship banner was revealed and will be placed in the gym for generations to come. Parents, families, and friends attended to witness history. The entire school community helped to celebrate and honor the first ever CIF championship in girls of volleyball for Articia High School. So, great job. Yeah. This upcoming Saturday, April 25th, the junior class is hosting prom at Springfield Mansion in Fullerton. Our prom
128theme is Gatsby Gala based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Our juniors and seniors are going to be able to enjoy a night filled with games, caricature artists, photographers, and a dance floor. On May 1st, Renaissance will host the academic achievement awards ceremony. Seniors will receive their cap and gowns for graduation and will wear them throughout the award ceremony. This year we will honor over 250 students on their academic achievements in their various subjects. We will be entertained by performances from our very own Artisia High School band gem line and more. Later in May, our student union will host an I am going to college dinner for our seniors. We will have over 130 students recognized for pursuing their education in the upcoming school year. Renaissance is also hosting uh staff appreciation week where
129students will vote for various awards for our outstanding teachers such as most spirited and best gamer hardest class. Uh that following Wednesday, our senior counselor, Miss M Ortiz, will be hosting senior awards night on May 13th to honor and recognize our seniors for their achievements and scholarships earned. >> Spring sports are off to an amazing start. Both baseball and softball are in position to make a deep run in the playoffs starting May 14th. Swimming and track and field are also in great shape to send deep run in the playoffs starting May for uh in the CIF Southern Section Championships in early May as well. Make sure you follow along for updates about CIF championship playoffs in the upcoming weeks. Lastly, in sports news, this season will mark the end of the 605 league that we
130have been found a founding member of for the last eight years. Artisia along with Cerrito's Gar and Whitney will all be moving into the new Suburban Valley Conference. A conference with 20 schools and each sports league will be divided to ensure competitive equity in league play and have all sports more competitive in the playoffs. We are excited to see what the new future of sports will look like in a new Giant conference this upcoming fall. Our senior class is looking forward to attending Grad Bash at Universal Studios Hollywood on May 21st. Artisia High School will host their graduation ceremony on May 29th at 7:30 p.m. for the graduating class of 2026. The future of Artisa's leadership class will continue to push forward with more exciting events in the upcoming school years. We look forward to
131reporting more about our successes and and improvements at Artisia High School. Thank you for your time. Are there any questions? >> Yes, there are. Uh board member Rios. Well, I am so happy that we saved the best for last because Artisia is my school board. Ernie, I'm always so proud um of the fact that you know whenever we are talking about Artisia High School, we not just have the student representatives, but we have your entire admin staff who are still in the back hanging in there. And today I want to acknowledge that we have the student body. These are is this is your Renaissance group or your tell us who who's in the audience today with you. >> So yeah, we have both are renaissance. If you're in Renaissance, raise your hand. >> Yeah, represent
132and raise your hand if you're a part of ASB. >> So yeah, >> a true testament to to to a lot of what happens. And so thank you for sharing again. super proud of all that you shared, your accomplishments in not just academics, but in sports and of course the culture and climate which goes a long way um in students really having a positive experience at their school. And I am super excited that today um I got the invitation for the I'm going to college and that the word dinner was added back on. Yay. Thank you, board member Rios. Are there any other board comments? Board member Mendoza, >> thank you. I just want to say congratulations. You guys are doing amazing work and thank you for staying. Once you leave, it's going to be
133empty. But I just have to say I I'm just I know it's been a long meeting, but recognizing our students and the work that you guys do, the amazing progress that you're doing at our in our district, and you guys have an amazing team, that's what we're here for. I mean, we we do all the other stuff, but but the joy that we have is seeing you guys, you know, achieve awards, um go out and and get these uh amazing recognition. That's that's what we do. That's that's why we're here. So, thank you to your team. Thank you for staying. You guys are always like the last ones here and you're celebrating each other. I think like Dr. Rio said, like you guys, you guys are awesome. I think that's why she she owns you
134guys. She's like, "That's my school." But thank you guys. Thank you guys for always being here. I have stickers. You want stickers? >> Thank Thank you. Port member Mendoza. Vice President Yoki Yamaboui, >> great job on your presentation. We again, we only get a very small amount. Like as much as you read, that's still just like just the highlight of all the things incredible things you all are doing at your school. Um, once again, I'm I I'm also excited to attend the senior awards night. I attended last year and you have you all are a very talented budge and it's across the boards. It's sports, it's academics, it's everything. So, thank you for being here. And again, thank you for staying till the end. All I see is a sea of red. So, you all
135are doing good. And yeah, well, and black, but I don't see the black. The black is behind the red. But thank you all. Congratulations. >> Thank you, Vice President, board member McCann. Great presentation and I'm impressed with your 700 students that have a 3.0 or above GPA. That's great. Um I'm looking forward to attending your academic achievement awards ceremony. Um lots of things going on at Artisia High School. Thank you. >> Board member you. >> Thank you president. I was just going to say that tonight, I don't know what it is, but all these student representatives were just eloquent speakers and your articulation, your presentation, you guys were just really excellent. I was very impressed. Yeah, I mean that's a gift. So, keep that up for your future. And um Artisia High School always has
136the best crowd. >> I mean, they stay till the end. There's got to be something secret from Principal Sergio. What is it? What is it that you bring your whole team and there's a spirit? And I have to say this. I'm gonna say this. Articia, he's my school, too. >> No, I mean, we're one district, so you know, we represent the entire uh district. So, thank you for staying really. Thank you board member you board member Nishi. >> I'll be really quick. Um so do you still have a theater program? Because I remember going to the theater program and that was amazing thing that you guys had some you guys had a theater and the band and that was kind of unique. I've not seen that before. Um but also I think what this is
137about is the reason we see all this red here is because of love, right? There's a person there who really everybody here loves their school. the principal loves his job. He loves the the the results that he gets and that shows through. Again, that that's what uh this is all about. So, thank you for everything, all the time that you're spending here way late at night, but also I know this is just one of the many many many nights that you spend working on this uh great school. So, thank you. >> Thank you, board member Nishi. Thank you guys for for being here tonight. I I already know you guys are involved in so many things. I see jazz band. I see marching bands on your guys' Leathermans. So, I know everybody at Artisia High
138School does so much to stay involved and that means teachers are staying late. Uh admin is working double time to try to make sure they're supporting every kid and all their their goals and passions. Uh is there any parents here tonight of these students? >> One. Yeah, of course. Can you please stand to be recognized? >> Thank you guys for being here. Parent involvement is still very much important at at the high school level. You know, you guys are still our kids. Uh RTJ is everybody's school. So, thank you guys for being here. Thank the parents. Thank the teachers, the staff, the admin, and thank you guys for for being leaders. and thank your ASB team for for supporting you guys and being such such great stewards of Artisia High School. We're looking forward to
139what you guys have in the future. Thank you. >> Thank you. We will now have uh my board report. Um I will go through the dates. Um starting back in March, March 13th, uh we had the state of the district. So I want to thank our ABC foundation for putting that together at CPE and of course thank the city of Cerritos for hosting that. Um it was a great turnout. It was the largest state of the district. I want to thank Dr. Zilo for giving an amazing presentation. Uh March 16th, uh we met with the city of Artisia with Dr. Zilo, myself and the mayor Trevino and their city manager. Uh we discussed consolidation uh we discussed uh the 7-Eleven committee and a lot of updates. They shared um their partnership and and open door
140policy with us. So I want to thank the city of Artisia. Um March 24th uh we had a meeting with Cerritos, the city of Cerritos, mayor Yokoyama and their city manager. I want to thank Miss Gene Mcaten uh and the rest of our board, Vice President Yokyama Buouie and Mr. Nishi. It was a full room and we discussed uh everything happening at the district. Uh the city of Cerritos uh offer their support when it comes to traffic uh drop off and any other ways that they can support our kids. They're always a great partner. Uh March 25th, I attended the Hawaiian Garden City Council to give them an update around their local schools and at the district. Uh March 26, I attended Ferguson's open house. Uh March 27th, Palmus Career Day uh with Vice President
141Yokoyama Buouie. I want to thank Lakewood Mayor Cassandra Chase for being there talking about what it means to be city council member, her story, and a little bit details about herself. So, I want to thank them. And at Palms, March 30th was a district jazz band. They were amazing performances from middle school all the way through high school. We have very, very talented kids here at ABC. And we have very talented drama teachers, uh, band instructors, and just overall, everybody supports these kids, and they're extremely talented. March 31st, our Willy Wonka uh life program. They had an amazing performance from elementary to to high school where kids did an amazing job and it was such a great great performance. So, I want to thank Certo's High School for hosting that. It was the first ever
142performance through the life program. So, that was amazing. And later on that evening, I attended Hawaiian Elementary's open house. Uh April 1st, Melbourne's open house. I want to thank um the principal Santos for showing me around the classroom, seeing some of their upgrades happening through Measure BB and the future projects to come. April 2nd, uh I got to see the Hawaiian Elementary track team practice. And then after that, I attended the Artisia High School track meet for the 605 league uh tournament where Cerritos, Whitney were competing with Oxford and some of our other schools in the area. uh and Cerritos and Artisia did very very well taking first in many races. Uh April 8th was the mayor transition for the city of Cerritos. I want to thank my colleagues who attended. It was a great
143event to congratulate Mayor Yokoyama and his amazing year. Uh so of course city of Certos is always a partner in educational achievement and student success. Uh April 14th, uh I attended Melbourne's uh day preview day where they invited they invited the Aloha students to come take a look at Melbourne, the students that will be attending Melbourne in the future. I want to thank Melbourne, their MHPs, the principal Santos for for creating a full day experience where they got to preview what it means to be a Mustang and of course what what they will bring themselves from Aloha. So that was a great great day with Melbourne. Uh April 15th, uh we had a meeting with Norwok. I want to thank uh board member McCann for joining us. We met with Mayor Perez and city manager
144Gomez where they talked about um supporting us. Although the city of Norwok is not in our school district, uh we have about 1300 students from this part. >> Oh, sorry. Okay. Uh we serve Yes, correct. We serve a part of it. uh we still serve uh over 1,300 students from the city of Norwok and they are very very open to supporting us and giving us that opportunity to collaborate and working with them to continue this this partnership. Uh April 16th I attended Aloha open house where the entire community came out. I think every parent and every student was at that open house. Um they were getting as much time as they can on that campus. I want to thank Principal Robinson for for supporting every kid and through this through this transition. I I know
145there's a lot more that we have to to overcome, but the students are are open. They're accepting and they're they're going to uh leave a legacy at Aloha. Uh April 17th, I attended Neimus in the morning, uh Ross Middle School in the afternoon, and Huarez in the later afternoon. Uh, I want to thank all the principles for giving me the time for squeezing me into their very busy schedules, showing me around their classrooms. Um, I got to see uh, Roberto from Neimus. He is the tortoise. uh at Ross Middle School, I got to see their Dungeons and Dragons classrooms, their their pedometer or heart rate monitors, sorry, uh in action and how they use Avid Strategies NP and how they're using these these lessons to take home and teach their parents. So, that was actually
146a very very impressive lesson. And at Huarez, I got to visit every classroom and see all their how they how they implement engineering, KOSA, AVID, and all their daily activities. And last but not least, I was able to attend this Saturday the Hawaiian Garden City Parade where uh the board, Dr. Zlo, our principles walked or got to be in a float and many many of our schools including all our schools in Hawaiian Gardens, Artisia High School, Elliot Whitman uh Betty uh got to participate in the parade. So the entire community came out and that was my highlight and that is my board report. We now have superintendent report. >> Thank you. Mr. Noa makes it so I don't have to tell you all those things because we were right there together and that was awesome.
147Um I think right now for many of our families um just to be aware our schools are really gearing up so our students can do their best with their testing. Um not all of the children test but um many of the elementary grades beginning at third grade on up and then in the high school it's at 11th grade. And so just encourage you to make sure they're getting to bed at night and sleeping and that they are eating something in the morning if they tell you they don't like what's in the cafeteria. But we do have free breakfast, free lunch every day. So, um, making sure they're ready for their day. Um, I'm very excited that I was able to finish my visits to all of the schools this year. Um, it's always a great
148time to get into every classroom, see what our students are learning, how they're being engaged. Um, I think for me, I just want to give a special thanks to the principles, the teachers, the staff, the students. They're always so welcoming. They always are willing to share what they're doing. If you walk into a TK class and they are doing centers, a child will walk up, take your hand, and say, "Come do this." They just will. Um, and so it's it's always um a wonderful time for me to really see what it's like to be a child in our school. And so I'm thankful for just being welcomed by our staff that way and our students. Um, as we gear up to the end of the year, there's a lot of things happening. Um, this week
149has a lot of open houses. Last week had a lot of open houses. Some big events coming up that I'm always excited about. This Saturday is the elementary school track meet at Artisia High School 8 am. Um we have area concerts um coming soon. So for the Artisia High School area that'll be on the 29th which is a Wednesday night at 6:30 at Artisia High School. For the Gar area concert it will be on Wednesday, May 6th at 6:30 p.m. in the Gar High School gym. And then the Cerritos area concert will be on May 13th at 6:30 p.m. at Cerritos High School. And those are always great spaces to see our students from the youngest playing an instrument to our high school kids graduating doing amazing things. Um it's super fun. And then of
150course my other highlight is I like to bookend that with the middle school track meet that's coming in May. Saturday is the finals on May 16th. So, I always like to be there and see them when they're doing things that maybe allow them to wiggle a little bit, a little bit more than being in class. Um, with all of that said, I I want to continue to recognize that we are living in really difficult times and um it's difficult in our communities sometimes. It's difficult in our state, in our nation, in our world. And so if you are having challenges, you need support, please reach out to your school. We have our community center. We have resources available. Um if your child's struggling, um sometimes children hear things on the news and they have no
151idea what it means, but it makes them afraid, please let us know. We have mental health professionals that can support. If you as a family need support, um we have care solace services that can help connect you to support. And so my goal and job is to make sure that our families and kids know that if you need something, we will work to help you. And our job is to follow the law and make sure everyone can come to school every day and have their breakfast and lunch and learn and be safe. And so I want to thank our teachers and staff and community for making that happen every single day. Um we can't change everything that happens, but we can respond to each other well. And so if you need support, please let us
152know. And that is my report. >> Thank you. Superintendent Titolo, employee representative groups. I do not see Ray in the audience. Uh public comments. Board clerk Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Persons wishing to address the board should fill out a card located on the table by the door and submit the completed card to the secretary. Speakers will be card in called in sequence during the public comment section or prior to board discussion on an agenda item. The board shall provide one hour for speakers to address non-aggendaized items. Each speaker is limited to one presentation of five minutes or less. Those who have a group concern are encouraged to select a PO spokesperson to address the board. Should there be more than 15 speakers for non-aggendaized items, individual speakers shall be allowed three minutes to
153address the board in order to ensure that non-English speakers receive the same opportunity to address the board. Any non-English speaker who utilizes a translator shall be provided twice the allotted time to speak. Please remember that the board is unable to directly respond to comments made during the public comment section. In addition, the district does not verify the accuracy of the statements made during public comments. Persons wishing to address the board on a specific agenda item at the time the item is under discussion are limited to five minutes each and will be called to speak following the staff comments and prior to the board's discussion and taking action. The board shall provide 30 minutes for speakers to address agenda items. Should there be more than six speakers for agenda's items, individual speakers shall be allowed three
154minutes to address the board on the item. Adverse remarks about a person's race, ancestry, ethnic group identification, religion, color, national origin, sex, sex orientation, gender, mental or physical disability, or age may not be made. Please avoid remarks or charges which reflect upon the character, motives, qualifications, or ability of any school district employee regardless if the identification is by name, position, or other reference. Such comments may be uh presented through the proper administrative channel set forth in bylaw 9323. We have no speakers. >> Thank you board click Mendoza. Uh moving into the consent calendar. May I have a motion to approve the consent calendar? >> Tatiana emotions. >> Thank you. Is there anyone who wishes to remove an item to be considered separately? Uh board member Nishi. >> Yes. I'd like uh item number 2.2 and
1553.8 uh for questions. Okay, you can go ahead with your questions. >> I have some. >> Okay, board member McCann. >> Um again, 2.2 C, 3.8 C, 3.9 C, and 3.10 C. >> Okay. So, I'll ask questions on 2.2C regarding uh the substitutes. So I see we're increasing the contract by uh almost uh 30% roughly. But as I vaguely remember uh the teachers that are paid in the substitute at through these programs are not paid as quite as much as the teacher the substitutes that go directly to the district. Are there some efforts that we can just actually because they get about $200 if they come directly to us but if they go through these services they get a lot less. So is there um I'm just hoping that we can encourage them to go
156directly to us rather than going through these services. >> So uh these these services here are for our agencies u mostly uh for our special special education um para educators and so um right now we just we don't have enough uh substitutes to cover what we need in in our classrooms and so that's why you see the significant increase. >> So I understand that. So, I'm hoping that um we can hire directly if at all possible because the subsidies get more money that way. >> We do regularly do that. However, um >> I'm just hoping that we do >> once they work with an agency, we are not able to hire them. >> Understood. So, once they're captured by them, that's it. But, um there is a I mean, all it takes is a CBST
157and a BA to to get to be a substitute. The >> Yeah, these are for pair educators. >> Okay. All right. All right. And then the second question regarding I'm just hoping that we can encourage them to go directly to us regarding uh tutor zone uh 3.8. So this is a almost a doubling of the contract. Not quite. Um what I need to see is is tutor zone at all of our schools? They're not at all of our schools, but if you notice, the funding source is adjusted because we're working with tutor zone to support our expanded learning opportunities program, which is our ABC excels. So that at school sites where we are not able to have some of our teachers stay after school. Um at most school sites, we are able to get a
158one or two, but we have more students that we want to service and provide homework help and supports. And um our big initiative with tutor zone has been math supports and that will continue to be that. We also use it as an opportunity to do attendance recovery for a district. So we do recover some of the funds by using attendance recovery. And so that's what the uh why we're expanding. >> This is great. Uh it's doubling though. And so I wanted to like I'd like to be able to see on here that uh tutor zone is tutoring specific kids, right? And so if those kids are increasing in scores, I would love to see if we had a metric to show, aha, tutor zone is so effective. Our scores with tutor zone has gone up
159like 5%, 2% by whatever metric that we want to put. So that way I can say, oh yeah, we should double this contract because we're getting results. We're getting something that we can't get from teachers. We're getting something that teachers are um are doing something different. So, they have different challenges, but uh um I would just like to have a metric, a number to say yes, we need to double this contract because the scores that we've gotten for the first $330,000 is a lot better. So, if if we could track them and maybe you're not tracking them now, but if we track them for the future, that would be great. >> We are tracking them. I can provide you that information in board updates. We have seen growth with a good percentage of our students.
160A point of clarification though, this is not to replace any teachers. This is to enhance and add to that. >> Usually tutor zone is complemented by a teacher supervisor who uh kind of guides what the programming should look like. And again, we put this contract, but it doesn't mean we fill the contract all the way because it depends on, you know, this is projecting for next year. And so we are making sure that we have enough tutors in our contract to be able to supplement when we don't have enough teachers uh who who would like to see after school to support the teachers. So it may be less than this um but I do have that data and I can provide that to you. >> And so that's that's why I want to so we're
161we're increasing it by substantial amount and there's going to be people who were cutting on the other end of our budget, right? And so I I have to show for myself like if it was in the report saying oh tutor zones increased our our math by whatever percentage numbers that would really help in terms of justifying the increase and I know they don't replace our teachers so that's you can't replace teachers but if we could prove that by doubling this we expect scores to go higher That would be make it a lot more comfortable for me to say when a voter comes to me and says, "Hey, what are we doing? Why are we cutting these people, but we're expanding these people?" >> I want to be able to say because, >> right, but this
162is not replace. So again, it's not people are going to make that reassociation. They're going to say, "Hey, you you got rid of XYZ person >> and I have to justify it." >> Yeah. We can't use these funds for regular employee pay. These funds are designated for these types of things where we're providing tutoring and support for kids. >> But we have to be effective with these correct. So if you have these numbers for the public to see, not just for me as a board member to see, >> but for the public to see, ah yes, this is an effective use of >> $200,000. I'll be like, this is great. >> Another point, uh, Mr. Nishi, which thank you. I appreciate the comment and we'll make sure to add more data. Um is that the
163part of the reason why we have to increase the contract is we've had such a surge in ABC excels. So in other words, our enrollment went up in our after school programming. So we had less students before earlier in the year and now we have more students. Therefore, we have to hire more people to cover the the supports of those students that have now increased. So that's part of the explanation as well is an increase in enrollment in our afterchool program because you know it's a free program for some for our UDP students and uh students and families are seeing that there's a lot of supports things like tutor zone included in uh making sure that those families stay in our after school programs till six. >> Okay, great. So, if you put that in
164here and it's I'm sure it's in here somewhere, but um the increased number of students requires us to do this that way. I can again same thing. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> I'm going to make this really quick because I know everybody's tired. Okay. Um back to 2.2. Um Dr. Frasier, um are we are we short of subs? U is just you mentioned special ed, but is that subs in all areas? Um, I don't believe that we're short on teacher subs. Um, I think this is specific to to PAR educators. I think that's where we're having the most need in terms of of lack of substitutes. >> So, so it's classified. >> Correct. >> Okay. Because I know you have been extremely busy placing teachers at new schools this spring, right? Um,
165and um, and if we need to hire more subs to make the district run more smoothly, I encourage that. This agency does cover certificated substitutes as well, but that's not what we're using it for. Okay. Primarily. >> Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Um on 3.8C, which again is the um tutor zone, uh congratulations on having more students being involved. Can you give me um how many students are actually getting getting tutored round figure or get back to me with that? >> No, I have some information to provide. I mean, in our um ABC Excel program, we're getting pretty close to the 5,000 student mark. So, that's a a huge number. Um we've been tracking data on specific students that are participating in tutoring because remember some students are with their teachers. It just depends on the
166school site and what the needs are. And so, the u amount of students is approximately 1500 students that we've been tracking data from the beginning of the year that stayed consistent with the tutoring program. >> So, I'd love to see like um Mr. afternoon, she said a little bit of data on that and how they're doing. And then on 3.9C, um the contract with Katherine Casey Spangler, um I' I've listened to her before um and um on the science of reading. I really like her. Um just how many teachers are going to be receiving training pro? Give me one second. I have the number. I'm just flipping to my page. Um this proposal is going to cover grades uh kindergarten through one cease coaches and interventionists. That's year three for that. So that's eight full
167structured literacy coaches for grades K1 and two. So that's approximately about 200 teachers. And that's um title two funding. So it's um professional development, correct? >> Yes. >> Okay. And then finally on the UCLA um the 3.10 um that's for the 2627 school year. And again I don't have an idea how much it's costing. I know that it's very much needed because you are implementing a new math um adoption. >> So um our our adoption is actually going to occur in the 2728 year. This is in preparation because we don't want teachers or receiving new materials without understanding the new frameworks. Uh UCLA Center XMath project is well known for their high quality professional learning for their alignment to the frameworks and the supports for this textbook adoption. And so you can see we've done
168extensive work to make sure that all of our teachers are covered with framework as well as our site administrators and our directors as well because we want everybody on the same page. you know, math is one of those key subject areas that is access to college and career. Uh, but that could also blockade it for students if they're not successful. So, we want to make sure that with this new adoption. Next year is going to be a year where we do some pilots with the new we we're going to at the end of this year we're going to go down to our two finalists and then next year we're going to be piloting and adopting. So, you'll be receiving that information in the middle of next year about which books will be finally chosen. And
169so UCLA center is going to help us prepare our teachers to get ready for that adoption. >> So then is it all uh all primary teach or not primary all elementary teachers and then middle and high school math teachers? >> Yes, for the trainings um unfortunately the high school math adoption is not as strong as the K8. So, high school is going to be trained, but the math adoption of the actual books probably won't happen until the following year because the publishers are not ready for it. >> Vice President Yokama. >> Um, Dr. Castro, I do have an additional question on 3.8C regarding tutor zone. Um, this indicates an amendment of contract. I thought it was for the school year 2025 2026, but I think you mentioned that it would be for the upcoming school
170year. >> No, that's a correction on my part. I misspoke on that. That's why I said it's actually about the increase in enrollment of students because that's what happened. We went into this year projecting a certain amount, but then we because we had an increase in enrollment, that's why we need to make an amendment to the contract. And I just want to clarify the ABC Excels is for the after school kiddos that need maybe additional um hours to stay at school, right? >> Um after school ABCLS is for all students. Uh it's free for our UDP students. Um so any students can access it. It's for uh free for any students who are English learners, low-income, foster, or homeless youth. But we have a four fee for other students who want to stay after school.
171So, it's been expanding and growing year-over-year as uh families are starting to realize the high quality of after school program instead of having to pay for other sites to take care of their uh students. And so, that's why we have more services with tutoring. >> Is this different from the outside um after school partners we use such as AYA or um there there was another one I think YMCA that we utilized before. Is that different or is Excels like purely hired by ABC? >> Excels is a combination of that. So remember that ABC Excels is the big blanket for all of our afterchool programs. We partner with for example like you mentioned AYA so that they can help us coordinate all the components required by the state of California which includes enrichment, physical activity, nutrition
172as well as academics. So they do a large part portion of this already, but just like we add additional enrichments like we've added speech and debate, we've added cooking, we've added other things, other uh consultants to come in to support what AYA already offers. That's what we're doing here with tutoring. We are adding this in. And I think like at past meetings or or reviews, we have expressed that we do want to offer those opportunities to to students who would want it but either don't have the ability to access it. Could you also in your update provide the schools that we where we currently use utilize tutor zone? >> Sure. Um because I do know at some schools the teachers are they do have the capacity to be able to help after school. But um
173if we could um at least have a list of the schools where we're needing that additional help. And just to follow up, we do ask the teachers, right? We do ask the teachers at the site, >> hey, can you help? And and that's just not there, >> right? You know, obviously we do it for hourly pay, additional pay, but some of our teachers, they also have their own children, other activities. They may be involved in other things. um or maybe they can do it, but they can only support certain days a week. So, we work with our teachers. We try to be flexible with their schedules and add this as a supplement to that. >> Okay. And and as you indicated before, this is this budget is only for uh ELO. So, we could not
174potentially use it for anything else outside of the Excels program. >> It has to be for activities that are happening during the afterchool program only. >> Thank you. Thank you, Vice President. Board member Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I think I was just gonna echo my my uh colleagues here that I think um uh just making sure we we let our teachers know that there's an opportunity for them to earn supplemental income. >> Um >> I Yeah, I think because I I know we would have some concerns like why isn't this money going towards our our staff? I I understand. I'm a teacher. I'm tired at the end of the day. But sometimes there are some teachers who might be at the end of their career and they want to get that that supplemental
175to bump up their their retirement income or you're a new teacher who's you know wants to get in uh some additional funding. So I think um maybe just a partnership with our schools to let you know let teachers know because sometimes we don't know or sometimes we forget that that opportunity is there. So I I I echo my colleagues. Thank you Mr. President. >> Thank you board member Mendoza. board member. You >> Thank you, President. Um, so, you know, for the before and after school program. So, the $500,000 roughly, that's uh for the tutor zone serving 5,000 students >> approximately. Yeah. >> So, that's like only $100 per per head student. >> It's a $100 per hour per class. So, it depends how many classes we implement. students. That's what's that note under cost $100
176per hour per class. I mean overall I think I mean it's good that we are using the fund to provide uh before and after school tutoring and helping with homework and so forth but I'm just wondering if um especially for math you know there are programs like uh Kuman and ENOP and just those are like private programs that have been successful and if you kind of survey the high school students who are very strong in math yeah Many of them went through those programs and I wonder if we can kind of look into this program might be might cost a little more but they do have a system that uh maybe we can pilot one elementary school. >> So to your uh request we have piloted and we have worked with other tutoring programs. I
177think one of the challenges we have with many of the other tutoring programs, they require a minimum of four hours >> and so that's and so the contract would be much higher. One of the reasons why we continue to work with tutor zone is a lot of flexibility. >> Sometimes at one school we only need an hour at other schools we need two. So we've looked at local agencies including some local companies within Cerritos that we've that the board has recommended. We looked at uh larger companies and so part of the challenge is they also have to pay their employees and make it worth for their employees to come to our campus. Tutor Zone seems to make it worse work. They're a local company and so they've been working with us for a long time
178and they are much more flexible in that you know that they will be flexible with our schedules and with the number of hours that we're asking. So that's one of the biggest factors is we have a large program so they have to have enough staff. We want to make sure they're well-trained people and we also want to make sure that they're flexible with the hours because I've worked with companies that require four hours and that would mean we'd be dipping into our school day funds, right? Because there's no way we're going to do four hours after school tough. >> Thank you, board member. Uh would board member Nishi or Macan like to consider these items separately or vote to them vote for them all together? I'd like to return it to the consent calendar. Thank
179you. My questions have been answered. >> Okay. >> Uh please note that during the student board representative committee uh preferential yes vote were was cast for consent items 3.1 C 3.2 C 3.3 C 3.4 C 3.6 C 3.8 C without any additional comments. Uh if all those in favor please say I. >> I. Any nays? >> Motion passes 70. Action items. Um, may I have a motion to approve revised board policy exhibit 5145.6 parental notifications? >> Tatiana emotions. >> Dr. Frasier. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, tonight we're bringing forward board policy 5145.6, uh, uh, parental notifications. Um, these are our our annual notifications that go out to parents, uh, to inform them of all things. Um and some of you that are parents are on the board understand um you know whether it's internet
180usage policies um rules and regulations that we that we have set forth with our schools. And so uh we were just updating this based on the latest um CSB sample policy. >> Um I do not see any public comments. So we will move into board discussion. U board member Nishi. >> Thank you. Mr. President, uh, page 99, one, two, three, four, five, fifth one down. I just want to confirm chief administrative officer has, uh, never gotten a request for, uh, anybody that qualifies under that particular section. We've never gotten a request for something like that where you would have to provide a notice 14 days and it's unlikely that you ever will. Yeah, this this provision is here in case it is someone's parent. Um but typically we've not had a parent if they fell
181in that category try to volunteer. >> Thank you. Hopefully we never need to use that one. >> Seeing no other board discussion. Uh may all in favor please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes 70. >> Action item 2.4A. May I have a motion to approve resolution 25-26 proclamation May 7th, 2026 as day of the employee to honor all ABC Unified School District employees. >> So moved. >> Second, Tatiana. >> Dr. Frasier. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh tonight we are bringing forward um and adopting resolutions uh 2526 uh day of the employee. Uh we just want to take this opportunity to thank all of our employees here um at ABC Unified School District. I mean, it seems like sometimes when things get rough, um our employees just really dig in um and do amazing
182things for our kids and and our communities. And so we really appreciate them and and look forward to putting this forward for you guys tonight. >> Any public comments? >> There are none, Mr. President. >> Any board discussion? Seeing none, I would like to ask the board if we could read uh two lines from the resolution. >> Board member McCart again or am I okay? Day of the employee. Whereas May 7th, 2026 has been designated as ABC Unified School District Day of the Employee. And whereas Day of the Employee is defined to include all teachers, classified support staff, certificated and classified administrators, and confidential employees. And >> whereas the state of California has designated May 1st, 2026 as school principal day. And whereas the state of California has designated May 1st, 2026 as school lunch
183hero day. And >> whereas the state of California has designated May 5th, 2026 as day of the teacher. And whereas the state of California has designated May 6, 2026 as school nurses nurse day. And whereas the state of California has designated May 17 through the 23rd, 2026 as week of the classified employee. And whereas the purpose of these special days is to recognize all employees throughout the state for their dedication to the education of students. And >> whereas all members of the district demonstrate a spirit of excellence, pride through their actions and productivity. And whereas the board of education is proud of the professional teaching staff that maintains effective school and programs within a collaborative planning of curriculum staff development for the purpose of instructional improvement in the ABC Unified School District. And where as
184school principles are educational visionaries, instructional leaders, assessment experts, adept communicators, budget analysts, faculty, our facility managers, and special programs administrators entrusted with our most valuable resources, our students. And >> whereas school nurses contribute every day to the health and learning of our students. And whereas classified employees work cooperatively with teachers and other certificated personnel to create and maintain an atmosphere conducive to learning. And whereas other certificated and classified administrators provide leadership and support for the educational program. And whereas confidential employees perform and assist in the performance of many critical functions. And >> whereas all employees in ABC deserve recognition for the skills and knowledge they bring to the students in the district. And whereas the board of education recognizes and appreciates the value of all employees. Therefore, be it resolved that May 7, 2026 be
185proclaimed day of the employee in the ABC Unified School District and be Go ahead. >> Oh, no. Go ahead. >> Be it further res >> Sorry. I'm sorry. >> 22. >> Be it further resolved that the schools and district departments implement appropriate activities to recognize all their employees on this day approved and adopted this 21st day of April, 2026 by the board of education of the ABC Unified School District. >> Thank you. Uh can I have a all in favor please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes 70. Uh action item 3.13A. May I have a motion to approve request to contract with Unbound Ed Learning, Inc. to provide six virtual curriculum adoption support sessions tailored to design a math curriculum adoption pilot process beginning April 23rd through June 30th, 2026. >> So move second.
186Tatiana >> Dr. Castro, >> thank you. You saw earlier in the consent item, we're working with UCLA to train all of our teachers. This particular IDM unbounded learning is about the pilot program that I alluded to that we're going to conduct in the fall of 2026. This is to make sure that we have a complete and thorough process with our pilot program as you know uh we take our math adoption u very seriously as all of our textbooks adoption. Uh we have not done a pilot uh for textbooks in a very long time in ABC unified. We have not adopted a math textbook since 2013. So that's why we want to make sure we're uh doing all of our due diligence to ensure this is an accurate process with specialists in the field who handle
187these type of situations uh regularly across the state of California. >> Thank you Dr. Casser. Are there any public comments? >> There are none. Mr. President, >> is there any board discussion? Seeing none, all in favor please say I. I. >> Motion passes 70. And can I have a motion to extend the meeting? Midnight. >> I I would like to go longer because we always feel like we're being rushed to meet the deadline. So, can we can we say midnight and then if not we don't have to go that long? >> Yeah, midnight's fine. >> So, moved. >> Hopefully not. >> Second. Tatiana. >> All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> The meeting has been extended to 12 a.m. Action item 3.14A. Hey, may I have a motion to approve request to enter
188to healthcare support staff extership training agreement with CVS Pharmacy Inc. to provide pharmacy technician extership opportunities to career and technical education CT high school students beginning in the summer of 2026. >> So move second. Tatiana >> Dr. Castro. >> Again, as you know, we are uh trying to expand Cte internship opportunities for our students and this is just another effort to expand that for um approximately 20 120 hours of experience for 20 Artisia High School students. >> Thank you, Dr. Castro. Any public comments? >> There are none, Mr. President. >> Any board discussion? Seeing none, uh, please note that during the student board representative committee, a preferential yes vote was cast for action item 3.14A without any additional comments. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. 70. >> Action item 3.15A.
189I have a motion to approve result request to submit an application with the California Department of Education for middle school foundation academics planning grant due April 28th, 2026. Tatiana motions. >> Dr. Castro, >> thank you. As you know, we are doing everything possible to continue to bring revenue into our district. So, this is going to help bring in up to approximately 25,000 to support college and career programming for our middle school students. >> Thank you. Any public comments? >> There are none, Mr. President. >> Any board discussion? >> Seeing none, all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. 70. Uh action item 3.16A. May I have a motion to approve request to submit an application to the California Department of Education for learning communities for school success program for the 2026 2027
190school year? >> Approval. McCaten. >> Second. Tatiana. >> Dr. Castro. >> Thank you again. This is another effort to increase revenue up to $865,000 to support LCAP goal 2 student connectedness. This is specifically strategically aligned to help uh support chronic absenteeism, attendance as well as alternatives to suspension and ensuring that our students receive uh behavior interventions before any kind of disciplinary action is taken. >> Thank you. Any public comments >> there? No, Mr. President, >> for discussion board member Nishi, >> really quick. So, do we have a like a grants coordinator that uh looks through all these and does that? Yes. >> Me and my team. >> Oh, okay. That's you. >> We don't we don't have like an actual position. Um it's just depends on who has the information. Myself, we look through, you
191know, all the proposals that come out from the state. Uh a big thank you to uh RCT coordinator Edwin Vasquez who's also he's uh because he works a lot with grants, he's also in the know and so he sends a lot of those our way and helps to support these. >> Okay. because I vaguely remember I thought in the past we had some position like that but maybe it just got folded into something else. Anyway, that's good. Thank you. >> Thank you board member Nishi board member Dr. Rios. >> Yeah, along the same lines, a lot of these issues are problems of people and so I like to see this money being used or invested in people to solve them. We continuously hear about behavior being an issue for our teachers. So it may be
192in the form of people supporting training and uh just support um yeah very excited to see this. Thank you. >> Thank you board member Dr. Rios. Any other board discussion? >> Seeing none. All in favor please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes 70. >> Action item 3.17A. May I have a motion to approve request to accept grant funding from Los Angeles County Office of Education support by the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Fund for charitable contributions to expand health and wellness initiatives in ABC Unified School Districts through June 2027. >> So moveen second Tatiana >> Dr. Castro >> thank you this is an exciting opportunity often we talk about the connectedness for our students. This is connectedness for both certificated and classified staff. Uh this initiative is focused on providing wellness spaces, activities and a
193culture of ga gratitude among our staff across campuses. Uh we will be working with a legal coordinator to design activities such as uh paint and tea nights um or different activities like such as that to make sure that our staff wellness is also promoted uh across our different school sites. >> Thank you Dr. Castro. Any public comment >> there? Now, Mr. President, >> any board discussion? Board member Rios. >> Something else that we keep hearing about um in our schools or among our staff is the need for um taking care of the adults. So, I'm very excited to see this. Uh I think wellness spaces will go a long way. And you know, we know that when we have regulated and adults that, you know, are in a good mental state and well-being, feel appreciated,
194feel taken care of, then they go on and do um their job accordingly. So, so very happy to see this. And is can can you talk about how the partnership with Kaiser do they fund this or how does it work? >> Yes, they fund it. They also provide a lot of the workshops. You know, Kaiser is known for doing a lot of preventative wellness workshops. So, they they will be offering their expertise and their staff to come in and do workshops. There's a selection that we get to choose from. That's in addition to the 8,000. So, we don't need to pay anything for that. That's part of uh just participating with them. And then they will look at the requirements to apply to become an America's Healthiest School Awardee. And Kaiser will work with us
195because they're very interested in making sure that we increase the wellness of our community. And so they'll work with us at looking at those requirements to see how we can work with schools to possibly achieve that award in the near future. >> Now, are these services in person or they're virtual? >> In person. >> Oh, fantastic. >> Thank you, board member Rios, board member Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to thank staff for the last two action items in this one, bringing in revenue. I know a lot of times we, you know, we have a cost, so it's nice to see the the district receiving some some revenue. So, thank you for doing the work. And I know it's continuous work, right? Because you have to, you know, show that we're using
196the the funds appropriately. So, thank you for that. >> Thank you, board member Mendoza. And does this initiative uh extend to board members? >> We will invite you to one of our events. >> Thank you. Yes. And I just want to echo what Dr. Rio said. Selfcare is very important. Um the same thing that the challenges that our our families and students are facing do not also affect our our staff. So, we want to make sure that we're supporting them. um in every way possible. So, thank you. Um with that, all in favor, please say I. >> Motion passes 70. >> Action item 4.5A. May I have a motion to accept gift report 25-08 totaling 54,970.33 Mendoza second maten? >> Mr. Win, thank you so much. We are um recommending the board to accept the
197gift report with gratitude in the amount of $54,970 uh for the month of um for this last month that show the support from the community to support us and we want to thank them. >> Thank you, Mr. Win. Any public comments >> there? None, Mr. President. >> Any board discussion? Board member Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. And I just want to thank staff for always put putting this as an action item because I want to make sure that we recognize our community that is donating to our schools to help support student learning. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you, board member Mendoza. Any other board discussion? Seeing none, please note that during the student board representative committee meeting, a preferential yes vote was cast for action item 4.5A without any additional comment. All in
198favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> Motion passes. 70. Action item 4.6A. May I have a motion to approve bid ABC 1690 Willow Elementary modernization to Archical Design Build Inc. as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. >> Move approval. McCaten second. Mendoza >> Mr. W. >> Thank you Bo President Nyola. We are excited to bring forward to the boards the next group um of elementary schools uh that uh will be going for modernization. Um this is the second to the last group. So there'll be four or five in here. So we went out to bid for Willow Elementary School and we are excited to have 10 biders and usually you know if you have up to five you celebrating. So which means very competitive which mean the market out there is that there's a
199lot of uh contractors are interesting in working with us and with that we are uh uh recommending Archicle to be uh the lowest responsive and the responsible bidder. As you can see there, uh it's very competitive, right? They came in at 4.6 million 44,616,700, which is about 1.3 million uh from the highest bid as you can see there. So, uh we excited and uh we are recommending the board to approve uh this um bid award. They will begin um immediately uh when school's over, which is I believe on June 1st. So they work through the summer and by the end of uh next school year it will be done. >> Thank you Mr. W. Any public comments? >> There are none. Mr. President, >> any board discussion? Board member Nishi. >> Thank you. Uh one
200question um have we worked with Archugo design before? >> Thank you. That's a good question. We have not. >> Okay. And the second thing is I'd like to see a before and after like with the scope of work, you know, like um this is the library, this is the the covers, these are all these things and like before this is what it looked like because we did that before, right? We had the these schools that looked oh my gosh. >> Yeah. >> And then I want to see like and this is where your taxpayer turned into after. >> So that just >> So thank you for that. We were smiling because we were we planning to bring a measure BBB update to the board in June. So you will see that update with all the
201projects been done what's left to be done. Uh what's uh is our recommendation for the unused funds of the schools being consolidated and with that you would see will be a lot of pictures of the before and after by school. >> We could even like have it in front of the school so people would theoretically know. >> We can do that too >> because they do that for like the highway projects, right? >> Yes. funded by measure JJ or whatever it is. Just a thought. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Thank you, board member Nishi. Seeing no other board discussion, all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. 70. >> Uh, may I have a motion to approve bid award ABC 1694 roofing at Melbourne Elementary to Chapman Coast Roof
202Co. Inc. as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. >> Second, >> Mr. Win. Thank you, President Yola. This is actually a defer maintenance project. We finished modernizing uh Melbourne. So, after that, we are going into and and um replace the roof that need to be done. Uh this does not come out of measure BB, but actually the district deferment and program. So, we are recommending the board again, we received eight biders, very competitive, uh to award to Chapman uh coast as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. Thank you, Mr. Win. Any public comments? >> There are none. Mr. President, >> for discussion board member Nishi, >> thank you. Uh, also really good RFP because obviously uh the bids are very close within 10% almost. Awesome. Good job. Um, on the deferred maintenance fund, we're spending
203$2 million here. What is our total deferred maintenance fund? So, how much do we have left? the defer maintenance budget annually we are spending about two to five millions to maintain um our schools with that the fund balance for that deferred maintenance is around $12 million >> okay so um so if we spend this 2 million we have 10 million left >> okay >> it's just for this one project it's 2 million in total we spent roughly about 5 million per year >> we spend five million per year >> yes on average >> okay so then we spend this then we have three million left >> right but annually we do make contribution into that program so it's not like you you spend it down and then that's it annually we do uh transfer money
204from the general fund into the deferment to support so so the theory the hope is that it keep ongoing it's ongoing defer maintenance >> no I I get that like we we spend about $5 million every year >> as the time go right or no >> on average some year we spent less some year we spent more years more, some years less, but in in tough times it's probably less and probably a little >> correct. >> But out of the five, so we've spent two of the five, but we have 3 million kind of sort of >> correct >> for this fiscal year, however you want to measure it. >> That's correct. >> Have to spend. >> Yes, that's correct. >> That's not a lot out of a $300 million budget. >> Correct. >> Thank
205you. Thank you, board member Nishi. Board member Mendoza. Thank you, Mr. President. If if a community member came and asked why we can't use measure BB funds and why we're using deferred maintenance fund, what do we tell them? >> That's a good question. That was actually a commitment uh back when the voters approved measure BB. Uh the intent is that measure BB funds support by the voters will be used to modernize and upgrade our schools. Right. the defer maintenance items, the items that the district should have done anyway with without measure BB, we are responsible for that like the upkeeping, the maintaining of it, the painting, the asphalt, uh the so the regular deferment items will be coming out of the district budget and not out of measure BB because once we spend down all
206the measure BB funds, then it's beyond the districts to maintain those programs. I mean maintain all of our schools. Um and and the hope is that uh you know it should be in the condition that that that we that that that we be proud of that can support our instructional programs. >> Thank you board member Mendoza. Seeing no other board discussion, may I have all in favor please say I. I. I. >> Motion passes 70. Oh 6. >> Action item 4.8. 8 uh 4.8A. May I have a motion to approve bid ABC 1695 to Critos Elementary School modernization to Nazarian Group as lowest responsive and responsible bidder? >> Promo Mendoza >> Maten >> Mr. W again. Thank you, President Yola. Um we get four biders for this, but if you can see here um the
207the it's separate by about 1%. >> Yeah. >> Right. uh from the so lowest to the second lowest. So um the our measurement would be this is a good bid. It's very competitive mean that the biders who attend the job walk understand the scope and and uh put in their bid and it's very competitive. If you look at a $4.6 million project almost it's about 40,000 apart. So that's based on my math about 1%. >> Thank you Mr. Win. Any public comments? >> There are none Mr. President. >> Any board discussion? Seeing none, all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. 110. Action item 4.9A. May I have a motion to approve bid award ABC 1696 Kennedy Elementary School Modernization to New Dynasty Construction Co. as lowest responsive and responsible bidder. >>
208Second, >> Mr. W. Thank you, President. Again, um, Aarian was the lowest bidder for the Cerritos project that you just approved, $ 4.8, but they are the second lowest to this project, and it's separate by about $1,800. If you can see, they when they look at this, like, oh my god, I would have kept that job if I lower it by about $2,000. So, this is very competitive. We're very excited when we see um, you know, the numbers that come in this way. Uh, so no new dynasty. And uh unfortunately it was not the lowest bidder for the serious project, but they are the lowest bidder for the Kennedy project. And they beat out the the the next one by about $1,800 out of a $4.6 million project. So this is like less than.1 of
2091%. So we excited and we are recommending the board to approve New Dynasty as the lowest responsive and the responsible bidder uh for Kennedy Elementary School modernization project. Thank you, Mr. W. Any public comment >> there? None, Mr. President. >> Any board discussion? Seeing none, all in favor, please say, "I." >> I. >> Motion passes. 70. >> Action item 4.10a. May I have a motion to approve bid award ABC 1697 to Burbank Elementary School modernization to New Dynasty Construction Co. uh as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. >> Again, very similar to Kennedy. The recommendation is to Burbank to Sorry. >> Huh? >> We need a motion >> and a second. So, >> Mendoza second. >> I went way too fast. >> Mr. Win, >> it's not midnight yet. >> We still hours away from
210midnight, so I'll slow down. >> All right. Um, again, um, we are recommending New Dynasty as the lowest responsive and respon. We excited because if you look at the numbers, they come in very close to one another and and which prove uh that you know these um contractors seriously look at the the scope of of the job and and and sharpen the pencil and and submit the bits that they know that um you know they can make it work for them and also uh it's also good for the district. Uh we are recommending the board to approve the to award the contract to modernize Burbank Elementary to New Dynasty Construction. >> Thank you, Mr. Win. Any public comment >> there? None, Mr. President. >> Board discussion board member Nishi. >> Thank you. So really quick,
211looks like New Dynasty won both. Are these both uh these projects going to be concurrent at the same time? >> Correct. >> So New Dynasty is going to have the staffing to do uh Kennedy and they're going to be able to do staffing for Burbank. the company. >> Yeah. So, so they have to be able to support that. I'm, you know, uh, and we we asked that because they, if you look at, um, 4.8A, they also put in a bit for Cerritos. They didn't win that one. So, they do have the capacity. >> They won. >> Um, it's actually better for them because when they got two job, it's more it cost effective, >> right? >> And then that's why they can do that. So in term of staffing uh they have to be able
212to perform because if they don't we can go after the performance bonds and and they would be on the hook for for to do it within the timeline. So the answer is yes they do have the capacity. >> So they do have capacity uh because they wouldn't have gotten a bond anyway. Correct. They and the b the bidder bond will cover both of them because probably the same company. >> Correct. It would be the same shirt. So they have some um they'll have some economies of scale hopefully >> for sure with the two. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other board discussion? Seeing none. All in favor please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes 70. Action item 4.11a. May I have a motion to approve bid award ABC1698 to Carver Elementary School site
213work to spec construction co. As lowest responsive and responsible bidder. Z Mendoza, >> Mr. Win, >> thank you so much. Uh, we finished modernizing Carver Elementary. So, this is the next phase is when we start doing um what's required by DSA, which is the ADA pathway uh access uh for the schools to ensure that um you know we're in compliance with DSA requirement. So the bid is to spec construction uh for 529,000 to do earth work to do concrete uh and asphalt paving to ensure that there's wheelchair access uh at Carver. >> Thank you, Mr. W. Any public comments? >> There are none, Mr. President. >> Or discussion or member Nishi. >> Sorry. Um the lowest bid here is 529. Do we require a performance bond on that low amount? Yes. Anything over 15,000. >>
214Anything over 15,000. >> Correct. >> Okay. And that's the law. So, >> yes. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other board discussion? Seeing none, all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes 70. Information items 1.2I, quarterly William settlement compliance report for January through March 2026. Dr. Zitlo. >> Thank you. Our third quarter reporting um showed that we had no complaints filed with any schools in the district during this quarter um in any of the areas. Thank you, Dr. Leelo. Uh information item 4.12 I 7-Eleven committee updates. Mr. W. >> Thank you, President Nola. At the last meeting, the board formed the 7-Eleven committee. Uh we are um from from uh since the last meeting um based on the direction of the board we advertise um Mr. Smith did a
215good job of inviting all parents staff and we advertise in a local paper basically inviting all community members who is if they interested in serving on this committee they would submit an application and it's available online. you can just click on the link and you can just send it in either through um online or or through to through to through the regular mail. Uh today as of tonight we have received uh 25 applications already. So there's strong interest from the community willing to serve and help out the district. Um the deadlines is April 30th. So um if if anyone is interested in serving, this is not an advertisement. Please go on the district website and submit an application. If board members know anyone that willing to serve, please encourage them to uh to turn in
216an application. So from the application pool, we will um vet uh each application to ensure that they meet uh all the requirements and at the next meeting we will bring forward to you a comprehensive list with the backup of all applicants and from that pool the board will appoint them to serve on the committee. So that is our recommended process. the board may choose to follow that or the board may choose to um have a separate process in appointing members to that committee. >> Thank you, Mr. Win. Okay. Any board comments or questions? >> Member Mac. >> Oh, thank you. um when they apply are they applying for a specific representative? >> Yes, they have to mark one or more category. So a member can be qualified for more than one category and they they
217will mark all that. >> Yes. And we will show that to the board like member A can have be a parent also an administrator also representing the social economic and ethnic group. So you could be qualified more than one category and and we will list all that. >> You're welcome. >> Board member Dr. Rio. >> Yeah, I would really like to see uh diversity on this community. Um people from across the district and we know that there are some areas that maybe technology is not as accessible. So I don't know if efforts have been made to reach out to some of our schools and maybe talk to the PTAs or their school site councils so that principles can you know a lot of our parents sometimes take that or really respond to being invited to
218apply on a person level >> we will do that >> suggestion. >> Sure. >> Thank you board member Dr. Rios board member Mendoza. Thank you, Mr. President. So, just clarification, we're getting applications. Next board meeting, we're going to do the selection as a board. Do we each get to pick one or two or so? Uh the the the members of the committees uh have to be at a minimum seven. But so, because there's seven category, so clearly it's one from each category uh up to 11. So, in certain category, you can have more than one. So no less than seven and no more than 11. So that's your that's your numbers, right? No no less than seven members and no less than no more than 11. Okay. >> Right. So yes, you would each the
219hope is that you would re u review the applications and then make recommendation and then the board vote on each of the recommendation. >> Thank you. And among uh the board you can you can have it by category or more than one however but from that pool the board will nominate and recommend and the board will vote one by one. >> Okay thank you. >> See no other discussion we move on to board members reports. Do I have any board member reports? Board member man. Okay. I've been to a lot of things, but it is late. And I'm going to just highlight two. So, um, last week I got to, um, visit the maintenance department and, um, got to, um, the highlight of that was there is a building there that was a theater, um,
220that was in Artisia someplace and my mother and father-in-law were very much involved with drama and so I have a feeling that they actually acted in that theater. but I need to know more about the history. So, um it's it's interesting um that it got moved from some other location in Artisia. Um and um it was really nice to see all the different aspects of the maintenance department, the the buses, all the facilities. Um I learned a lot that day. Uh and then the second highlight was on Monday at 8 o'clock, I went to the adult school and um spent a couple hours there and just seeing all the classes that they offer all the way from glass to ESL to um the GED. I mean just all the things that they offer there is
221just amazing. So those are my two highlights. >> Thank you board member McCann. Uh board member Rios. >> Thank you Ernie. Board member Nishi. Um okay so I want to highlight two events that I attended. One was the reception for outgoing Frank uh Yokoyama. It was an honor to work with him. I've always appreciated how much of an ally he is to our district and is always ready to support our schools and our students. Um so I thank him again for a a great year as mayor. Um the second thing is the parade for gardens. It was one of my favorite events ever. We even got to be on a float. Um but the reason I enjoyed is because it brings the community out and you and you saw kids, you saw families, multi-generations coming
222out to celebrate and um I know that a lot of them were our students. So, thank you to the city of Hawaiian Gardens for putting on such an event. Uh, the last thing that I want to highlight is the LAXA meeting, the LA County School Trustee Association. I'm the representative and I attended the meeting yesterday and it was very informative. Want to highlight one of the presentations which was on the campaign that CSBA is putting out which is SOS for student achievement. We keep talking about uh the achievement gap. it was highlighted in two of our in two of our districts. We can't do this. There there is a way for you know zip code or the soio economic um background of a child to not determine their academic success. And so um you know
223they highlighted this idea that you know kids get one chance at school and that we as a state um as a school district as board members have to really deliver on uh on the idea that we are going to provide a quality education and and have that proven with positive outcomes. Um, I invite all of you to uh attend the next LAXA event or one of the meetings where they're going to elect uh new officers which is going to be on May 18th. It will be at LEO. Um, there usually is a reception. So maybe we can let's send out the the the newsletter again. I know we probably all get it, but it does highlight the details. And I will end with that. Thank you. Thank you, board me. Uh, Vice President Yokoyama Buouie.
224>> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, since we're all whittling down, I'll I'll um mention my highlights. Uh, this past month, the Leo Elementary Arts Program presented Finding Nemo at the Cerritos High School Brewer Theater. It was um, in my memory, the first musical where they actually utilize puppets. So, um, and I'm not talking about like hand puppets, but they were actual legitimate puppets where they have a pole and we had to, um, we rented those and it was it was a cost paid for by our LEAP program, but um, the kids had so much fun. They only had the puppets for about one week before uh, performing the show. So, it was quite the challenge, but but they rose to it. And um, congrats to uh, Mr. Patrick Sales again on a wonderful performance. Um,
225I attended uh March's uh March, the month of March black family circle where they shared um um success stories from their academic improvements this past year. Uh again, uh Willy Wonka with some of my board members uh presented by the Cerrito's high school life program. Um I was so inspired by that because the kids were just uh singing like no one was watching just like we all should. we should just live life and be happy and and that's what all the kids were doing and I was so honored to be there. Um I had the privilege to visit the Kennedy Elementary Head Start classroom before one of my Head Start meetings. So I do want to thank um I believe um the director before she she left, she was able to send me and take
226me around the classrooms. They're doing so much good work there. I do want to really focus on improving our our TK classrooms and our younger classrooms and making them more engaging for our students. Um just like uh some of the model classrooms I believe they visited on the field trip. Um ABC film festival at Harkkins Theater, which was uh very exciting. The kids are so talented. Hopefully next year we'll get way way way more attendance. Double uh well I guess we got double from last year. So maybe next year we'll get double from this year because it was at Harkkins. We sold out. Everyone was filling the theaters. It was a great show of of what our community is made of. And I do want to also thank uh Miss Liz Sue because she's always
227helping me coordinate and I'll send her things and my schedule always changes but she's always willing to help me. So I was able to visit Fetty Academy and see the great work done by Principal Vier, Mrs. MSUS to see their new e- gaming lab. um the work they're doing. I was able to visit Melbourne Elementary School and check out the modernization that's been completed with Mrs. Santos. And they do also have a book club there um hosted by their library uh librarian. So that was very cool. And yeah, lastly, as I indicated before, I did visit Ross Middle School, which was really fun, and I'm just so excited for all the new things they have going on at that school. Thank you. >> Thank you, Vice President. Board member Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President.
228I think this is the first board meeting meeting in a long time that we actually have time to do board members report. So, I was actually on vacation for two weeks because LAUSD gets the week before Easter and ABC Unifi gets the week after Easter. So, I spent two weeks kind of catching up and recuperating so I can start the spring semester. Um, but some activities that I did attend was I I had my own conference, the Young Latinas Empowerment Conference over at Gar High School and I think it was a really good time because we had it on the Thursday after the Monday where we had some activity at Gar. And so I got a chance to talk to our at Promise young ladies, 11 through eight girls from um all of our high
229schools. Um, and I want to thank uh President Nyola for showing up and I want to thank Dr. Castro for showing up. And I especially want to thank some of our staff who came and during lunchtime um they actually served the girls and they were they were so gracious because I asked them to wear pink ties and pink aprons and you guys are such good sports for doing that and the girls really enjoyed that. So thank you to our staff members who came out and did that. We had um uh Dr. Keys, we had Mr. Dwin, we had Dr. Fraser, we had Scott, we had um Dr. Lo, we had uh Kester Song on his birthday. So, just thank you so much for for supporting the girls. Um, and I want to give a big
230shout out to Miss Morris because she um really did uh just the prep work to get that that that um theater ready. And it was such a great um um space for girls to I hope they felt comfortable, you know, listening to my story and just um listening to my friends who came and my daughter who is a civil engineer. she was volunttoled to be on my panel. >> Um but I I'm I'm hoping they got a lot out of that. So, thank thank you everybody. Thank you to our district for for really supporting that. Um I did attend some events in the last couple weeks. Um Dr. Keys had a parent meeting over at Gar High School and I did attend that and it was great for parents to have a um a space
231to kind of ask questions and just, you know, um have their concerns heard. So, I hope that Dr. Keys will continue that. He said he would. I also went over Cerrito's College Foundation had a wine tasting fundraiser over at Mr. Rosewoods. It was the first time that they were holding that and I was happy to attend because all of that money that is raised is going to go back to the foundation to support students. And of course, we know that our students here at ABC Unified work really close with Cerrito's College. So, next year if you guys are invited, please go. Oh, Genie's not here. There's the restroom. Um, it was it was really nice. Really nice. I also attended um an event actually yesterday with the Artisia Chamber of Commerce um and the Artisia
232Mayor Renee Trevvinho. He was actually doing a grand opening of his business. So, it's great to see the community coming together to support him. And then I just want to say to our staff, spring is always always always the busiest time in our school calendar. We have state testing, Dr. Dilo said we have state testing that's coming up that really um not puts the pressure but kind of is a culmination of all of our teaching in the classroom and so I know we we really want our students to do good and I know our staff is really trying to support that. Um, but we have I know I've gotten like a pile of invitations for all of our activities because it's kind of the end of the school year culminating getting all of that that
233wrapped up and and and I just I just have to say after today's meeting how incredibly proud I am of our students, how they're excelling, how everything that we do as a board to support our schools. You can see the results today. Um, and I and I hope to see that continue. And I like to see the progression of our elementary, our middle, and our high school. I think that's great for our public to to see. So, I want to wish everyone good luck in state testing if we don't see you before that. And just just tell our staff that, you know, we we've got this. We we work really hard throughout the school year to do this. And thank just we just did a resolution to acknowledge all of our staff and I hope
234we hear in the next coming weeks all the good things that they're they're doing. I did leave you a bag from my conference. You got a cute little bag. Um, we had some some support from the carpenters who gave us some swag. So, it's in there, too. And so, um, I apologize. It was such a busy time that I forgot to you. I'm sorry. Next year I'll do a better job. Thank you, Mr. President. That concludes my board report. >> Thank you, board member Mendoza. Board member Nishi. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be quick. Uh, family science night at wires was great. It's fun. Uh, STEM Olympics. So, that one one was one where people were like, "Oh, we're going to make a big change. It's going to be ter." It was a great
235event. I got to play with the little play. I got to experiment with the little um drone thing. So, that was kind of fun. Wonka was just a makes you smile. Just that's that's all it is. It just makes you This is why we're here. Um, just the relationship between all the students that support each other uh abled and disabled. just just amazing. TEDex obviously thinking outside the box, the teachers and students and the things that we can think of. Whitman had the first Asian festival which was kind of amazing. Um they wanted me to sit there all night. Unfortunately, I couldn't do that. Um because they were looking for the one Japanese person, right? But um so I didn't get to do that. Nemo I got to see a board member Tatiana Buouie, but
236she I didn't really get to see her. She was busy running around getting all the the it was a great cast, great uh just amazing show. So I could I would totally pay a lot of money to go see that show. Uh T with the trustee. I had to do that, you know, just to get back in touch. You know, most you have ways of getting a hold of people and I need to talk to people, you know, one-on-one free with the with the trustee. Film festival is great. I've seen it when it began, right? It was just like almost nothing and it was all students work about sleeping and homework. But now it's about all different amazing products and and it's and that's just a function of all of our schools now have these
237TV studios which are through the bond and uh just amazing things that we're able to do not just think with these little things. Got to visit with Dr. and Gar and see the amazing work that uh Halo Turf did for our our kids. We have probably the best freshman uh field ever. So that was and that guy is actually the great grand Hank Greenberg Hall of Famer was one of his great grand kind of cool and hopefully he continues to help us out with other things but it's just uh thank you to the community for for doing that work. Thank you to Juan and his staff for working through all the details on on the vacation. I know I've said thank you before on that, but these are things that uh make me enjoy this
238job so we can get these things done for the kids. That's it. That's my report. >> Thank you board member Nishi. Board member you >> will be shorter. Um the foundation the ABC foundation which is made up of all volunteers um they they hosted the uh state of the district and of course Dr. Zitlo did a wonderful job presentation and uh you know they've always raised money and give it to our schools and our students. So really appreciate that and it was a full house. Uh it was held at uh AB uh CPE Cto Park East. You know, the venue was uh probably didn't cost that much. The food was good and you know, they just raised a lot of money, you know, and uh it was just a really really um fun event. Very
239um you know, meaningful. And uh my highlight is uh going to attending ABC um I mean uh Siros Elementary School. Theos Elementary School open house where uh principal uh Pratt was just uh he's like a energizer. He just went around giving high five to all the kids. He seemed like he knew he know all the kids and fixing um billboards or fixing furniture here and there and just he showed me around. I mean he was the school was just so vibrant. I mean the volunteer parents were just amazing. the the book sale book sale. Um they had it in one of the room. It was packed. Uh their their registration is almost at it's already maxed out. Yeah. So, you know, so that was that's a good news. That's a good news. So, it was
240fun. That's cool. And I I just remember the two students from Mr. Zoro's class actually sang at the ABC Foundation, right? So I remember that. Okay, that is all. >> Thank you. Board member U. Uh announcements. Regular next regular board meeting Tuesday, May 5th, 2026 to 7 p.m. District office boardroom committee meetings. uh local control accountability plan, parent advisory committee in lie of strategic planning board advisory committee meeting at the diversity and the diversity union equity board advisory committee meeting Wednesday, April 22nd uh 2026 5:30 p.m. at Artisia High School Fine Arts Center. Finance and Audit Board Advisory Committee, Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 at 6 p.m. District conference room. Legislative Policy Board Advisory Committee, Wednesday, April 29th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. District Conference Room. Citizen Oversight Committee, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 6 p.m. District conference
241room. Uh, second public comment. >> There, Mr. President. >> Thank you. Uh, for the adjournment, I would like to pass it to board member Nishi. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I'd like to close this meeting and honor Bo Kimchi, who passed on Friday at 86 ending at 63 marriage. uh she'd be a footnote in history. She was the daughter of uh person whose uh father was a vice president of the congress, the first Korean Congress, also ambassador to the UN to the United States. So, but that was her father. Um but who was she? So, you know how I say we stand on shoulders, we stand on the shoulders of her previous board. I stand on her shoulders. The reason I'm able to be here because of her. You see here at the meeting,
242it's just a fraction of what we do. We go to meetings, we study, we listen, we work, we talk to people. That all takes time. And during that time, I have a little daughter and she's making sure that my daughter is taken care of. She has lunch, dinner, transportation. You know how everybody says they're Uber driver? I wasn't the Uber driver. That was her. She did all that. She made all the decisions. My fridge was always full. Whenever we go someplace, that was her her I never bought clothes. I never bought clothes or the 30 years of my marriage. I never bought any clothes because she did everything. Um so when I say I stand on people's shoulders, I stood on her shoulder. Um, so there is no me without her. So I closed the
243meeting with her because she is part of ABC cuz I'm not here. I can't be here if it wasn't for her. Um, so I'm thinking that she's watching over us. That's it. So I ask that we close in her honor because she's a very important person. >> I would like to make that motion. >> All right. Second. >> All in favor, please say I. >> Motion passes 70. >> Meeting ends at 11:02. Thank you everybody. Oh my god. of all the money that I spent. I spent it in good company. And of all the unless it was to none but me and all of me I can't recall. So fill to me the parting glass. Good night and joy be with you. to spend and to sit a while. There is a fairly heart Rosy
244cheeks and rosy lips alone she my heart tharting glass and be with you Oh,