001[Music] Hey, [Music] hey, [Music] hey. Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] down. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Crazy. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Got you. [Music] Guide [Music] him. [Music] Where are you? [Music] How are you? [Music] Guide [Music] die. [Music] I'd like to start the meeting to order. Uh, roll call. >> President, Mr. Nyola, >> here. >> Vice President, Mrs. Yokayyama Bui. Clerk, Mrs. Mendoza, >> present. >> Board member, Mrs. McCaten. Board member Mr. Nishi. Board member Dr. Rios. Board member Mrs. U. At this time, we will be we will have our Brown Act prior preliminary uh procedure training at the district conference room from 5 to 6 p.m. provided by Mr. James
002Baka, managing partner of Atkins, Anderson, Lyola, Rudd, and Romo. We will we will then move directly into close session. Uh report out from close session items. This evening, we will be discussing the items in close session. Uh public employee discipline dismissal release evaluation two matters. Uh midyear superintendency evaluation update government code section 54957 conference with labor negotiator updates on negotiations with ABCFP ASME AF SCME and CSEA government code section 54957.6 conference with real property negotiator one matter lot on southside of ARA Boulevard code 54956.8 8 existing litigation. The board will be going into close session pursuing the government code section 54956.9D1 to discuss one matter, but has determined that specifically identifying the matter would jeopardize its ability to conclude existing settlement negotiations to its advantage. Public comments on closed section item. Are there any public
003comments? >> There are none, Mr. President. >> Thank you. Uh move to Brown Act training and close session. May I have a motion? >> So mo second. Mendoza. >> All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. 4 Z. >> Board is now back in open session. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey. [Music] Thank you. [Music] D. [Music] The [Music] Do you feel [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] down to the [Music] for heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Ah, ah. [Music] Ah, hey a a a [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] I feel like [Music] Down a happy a a a [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music]
004Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Oh yeah. [Music] Hey [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] All right. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Go down. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] D. [Music] D down. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] D. Nah. [Music] down. [Music] Hey [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] What I do? [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat.
005[Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey, [Music] Ah, hey. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Where are you? [Music] Guide [Music] you. [Music] Come on. [Music] Come on. [Music] God. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] Doo [Music] doo doo doo doo. [Music] behind me. [Music] Do you feel [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Data. [Music] Bernina. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] ah hey a Uh-uh. [Music] Ah. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat.
006Hey, Heat. [Music] a [Music] a [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] a [Music] a [Music] Hey a [Music] down a a [Music] Hey a [Music] a [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] What? [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] P. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Board is now back in open session. Uh, can I get a motion to open session? >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Thank you. Uh, can I also get a motion to excuse board member Nishi due to a personal matter? >> A motion. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Uh, please silence your cell phones. If anybody is in need of translation, there is uh translation services at
007in the back of the room. Please raise your hand. Uh tonight in close session, uh the board discussed a public employee discipline dismissal release evaluation. We have two matters. Midyear superintendent evaluation update, government code section 54957, conference with labor negotiator, updates on negotiator with ABCFT, AFSME, and CSEA, government code 54957.6. Six conference with real property negotiator one matters southside of Alandre Boulevard government code section 54956.8 and the existing litigation in close session pursuant to government code section 54956.9D1 the board discussed one matter but has determined this the spec that specifically identifying the matter would jeopardize its ability to conclude existing settlement negotiations to its advantage. I have Ferguson to lead us in the pledge of >> allegiance. All right. Okay. Tonight, Ferguson will be uh the pledge of allegiance will be led by Ferguson in
008both English and Spanish who are accompanied by their principal, Mr. Alejandra Gutierrez, assistant principal, Miss Jenny Gonzalez, and mental health professional Esmeralda Garcia. Thank you, Ferguson. Good evening, distinguished board members. Good evening, president of the board, Mr. Francisco Noyola, vice president of the board, Tatiana Yukcomay Buouie, clerk of the board, Mrs. Leticia Mendoza, board member, Mrs. Gene McAden, board member, Mr. Ernie Nishi, board member Dr. Olga Rios, board member, Mrs. Suyu, superintendent of ABC, Dr. Gina Zetlo. I am Kaylee Martinez and we are part of the sixth grade leadership club. With me is Isabella Rocha and she will be leading us in the pledges in Spanish. Please stand and join us as we lead the flag salute. Put 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. Ferguson is an AVID and the N910 Spanish dual language immersion program. Both programs have a focus on school climate and culture. As part of the sixth grade leadership club, we are responsible for creating many of the schoolwide inclusive activities and we are here to share several of the events that took place during this past year as well as upcoming events. We would like to start by giving you a gift. This is a bookmark that Michael Rivas, a student in second grade, drew and won first place in the kindergarten through 2 grade category for the Hawaiian Gardens Library bookmark competition. His bookmark will now be competing with all of
010the LA County Library winners within the same category. We have three clubs at Ferguson. The clubs are the leadership club, the effort club, and the women's and men's leagues. The leadership club consists of members who were nominated by current and previous teachers because of their academic participation, good attendance, and positive behavior. The second club is the effort club. The purpose of the effort club is to reward students who have been doing well in class. Some examples of doing well in class are putting your best effort into completing your assignments and being an overall great scholar. The third club is the women's and men's league. The women's and men's league focuses on personal growth and how to deal with different situations as a teenager. The league shows how to interact during social social situations and how
011to problem solve. Good evening members of the board. My name is Alina Hernandez and I will be sharing about the responsibilities the sixth grade leadership club members have and the skills we gain in leadership. Leadership helps with public speaking, confidence building, writing, strategic planning, organization, creativity, and more. Leadership club students represent the school. You have to be responsible and be a peaceuilder. You also have to maintain good grades and go to all leadership meetings which helps growth in writing. Helps develop better vocabulary and social skills. With leadership comes big responsibilities such as writing announcements in biiteracy and delivering them to the whole school. Leadership makes sure to be inclusive. Thank you for listening to my presentation and supporting programs that help us grow. Good evening. My name is Isabella Rocha and I am proud to
012share how our school celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and Unity Day. In September, we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. The ring of teachers made large posters of the c of countries like Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Students were invited to wear traditional clothing, allowing us to honor our families and share our unique cultures with the school community. This event was important for our school because each of us represented our country and our family. In October, we had Unity Day. On Unity Day, the leadership club read an announcement about what's all about and what we can do to promote it. Unity Day is about showing kindness and respect to all our friends at school and and saying no to bullying. On that day, we make new friends, invite them to play and have lunch
013with us. We're not kind on that day, but every day on Unity Day, we drew a chalk in the black top and wore orange. We wrote notes for everyone to see. For example, be kind. You can do it. You are amazing. Never give up. And many other positive messages. Thank you for listening. Have a good day. Mexico, Columbia, Nicaragua, Brazil, Honduras, in October. Gracias. Gracias. Good evening board members. My name is Helen Lopez and I am proud to present on red riven week which is in October and I'm also going to be talking about winter around the world which is in December. For red ribbon week, we had various activities that the leadership club had planned and prepared for the students. For the activities we did were pome days, tween dress up, crazy hair day,
014student teacher accent, and dressing up for Halloween. For Halloween, we also had a parade where the classes lined up around the basketball court grade by grade. And the oldest students gave the youngest students positive feedback on the costumes. The purpose of these activities is to keep us away from drugs. For December 12th, we held a winter around the world event. Winter Around the World is for students and parents to come after school and participate in different educational station. This station food and offer and offers cultural activities such as a piñata for le foras, a dre for hanuka, a fruit kebab for kwanza and a Christmas beed reached craft. This event was important because it turned our school into a place where different cultures are celebrated and shared. Thank you for your time and for supporting
015our efforts to keep our school healthy and connected. Halloween. Good evening. I pia. At our school, we have ongoing mental health awareness themes and the heroes challenge that promotes attendance. I would like to share about the work we do for mental health awareness. My school has events to bring awareness to mental health such as anxiety and grief awareness and more. These events are important because it shows all Ferguson students that they are seen and heard through all their issues and that there can be several people going through this as well. We do activities and have announcements that bring attention to mental health. We also have an ongoing heroes challenge where we have to spell heroes and can add a letter to a chart every time we have a day where everyone is in class. If
016our class spells heroes, we earn a small snack. An event we have coming up is kindness week. The leadership club has been planning for kindness week. Some of the activities we have been planning to do is a playd date with the younger kids where we play games and make new friends, a picnic lunch to enjoy lunch on the field, spreading kindness with chalk by writing kind phrases, working together by passing a hula hoop in a schoolwide circle, and free dress day where we show kindness to others by giving everyone compliments. Thank you for listening to our presentation and for learning about everything we are doing at our school. We are very proud of the activities we finished so far and are excited about the ones we have planned for the future. We hope you enjoyed
017hearing about what makes Ferguson such a great place to learn. [Applause] >> Do I have any board comments? Uh board member McCaten >> Ferguson Skull. Thank you so much for your presentation. There is so much going on at your school. Um wow. Um the clubs, the special days, the mental health awareness, um working on attendance and the dual language is extremely extremely um just like so much going on. Um thank you for your presentation. Uh and also thank you for the bookmark. Thank you, board member McCann. Board member Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, thank you for being here. Um, and doing your presentation in English and Spanish because those are the two languages that you're learning at your school. I feel bad now like I should have printed these out in Spanish, too.
018>> So, I could have them in Spanish. But, um, these are hot off the press. They say 2026. So, how many students are here today? Six. So, one, two, three, four, five, six. So, can you come up and get your stickers? You can only get these stickers here at the board. Um they say student leader. So that's exactly what you are. You can pass them out. Um Okay. Cut the Yeah. Cut them out one at a time and then you can pass them on me. Huh. Um so you have a heroes chart. Do you write the word hero or are you writing like Wonder Woman, Superman, or is it just hero? Just Okay. Because um I teach first grade and my classroom is Wonder Woman. Like I have all superheroes but my my favorite one
019is Wonder Woman. So, I'm glad you guys are superheroes, too. Your shirts, what does it say? It says, "Can you read it out loud?" >> Yeah. Read it into the microphone. >> So, I'm bilingual. What is your super superpower? Right. >> So, that that is your superpower. Thank you so much. Much gracias. Thank you, Mr. [Applause] Thank you, Clerk Mendoza. Board member Dr. Rios. >> Thank you. Um, I also want to say gracias. I think it's it's almost like an honor to hear a presentation done in both languages and to celebrate the bilingualism that really does um wonders for our like right now in your education and will likely do wonders for you in in your careers. Um I don't know that I've ever done the pledge of allegiance in Spanish. So that was a
020new experience. Thank you for that. Um thank you for highlighting the t-shirt because I did notice that. That's pretty cool. And I I know that a while back we all participated in a mural that that it's like that looks familiar um that Mr. Nishi had had a lot to do with. Uh I also want to acknowledge and celebrate your leadership. Um speaking in public is tough and all of you did such a wonderful job. So good job for that. Um and the last thing is the bookmark. Um I'm an avid reader and usually I'm reading multiple books at once. So this is going to come in handy. Now, are you did he are you the author of this bookmark? Wow. We want to wish you good luck. I you I heard you somebody said that
021he's going to compete at what is it in county level. Okay. Well, we're going to be rooting for you and and really hope you you do a wonderful job. Um I grew up in Hawaiian Gardens. I grew up a couple of blocks by Ferguson. My mom still lives there. Um, and so I can't wait to see, you know, there's so much potential in our students in all of our cities. Um, but I look forward to to seeing you um, be a success and making our district and our cities proud. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member Rios, board member Nishi. >> Thank you, Mr. President. >> Yes. So, look at these six students here. These are our future leaders. actually they're leaders today and right now, right? They're going to stand up to difficult issues.
022They're going to confront many things in our our future. And I'm confident with with the great education that we're getting and through ABC that this is going to happen and and they are going to have great futures. I have a one minor question. Do you still have the poetry thing? The >> open mic poetry because I remember going to that. That was kind of fun. Uh we've haven't had it in the past. Uh this year we don't have it programmed just yet, but I'm sure we'll have a special program as such. >> All right. Thank you. Thank and also I love folks. I will actually use this. >> Thank you board member Nishi board member miss you. >> Oh okay. Thank you president. Um well much graciases. Who is the teacher heading the bilingual program?
023Where's the teacher? Come forward. Please come forward. Oh my goodness. You did such a wonderful job. Yeah. Thank you so much. And I just want to applaud the the the value of being able to speak both languages fluently at your age. I think elementary is when that's the best time to learn the language and I could tell that all of you guys your English and Spanish were very fluent, right? So that's going to be a huge asset for your life where whatever career you pursue and most importantly a person who speaks more than two languages and who come who understand the culture also respect other culture and other languages too because there's no one language and one culture that's superior than over another. It's all equal, but it just gives us and give your you
024guys the the the wide perspective to to understand and respect other culture and language. So, kudos and keep up the good work. Thank you to our teacher and your the teacher's name is >> Janet Laria. Let's give her a hand. Yeah, we're doing a good job. Thank you board member u vice president Aana Yokoyamabui. >> Thank you Mr. President and thank you Ferguson students. I also very much enjoyed um your speeches both in English um but especially in Spanish. I could feel the sense of pride you have in what you've learned um what you bring to us from your school. Uh my my particular favorite was the winter around the world um that you talked about. I heard about all the different cultures and it's the love, respect, and appreciation we have for each other
025and our cultures, which I find our schools are doing such a great job of ensuring that our students do that. Um, we all look different and and that's wonderful and that's okay. So, thank you for for mentioning that and for honoring that. Um, I'm so pleased to get a bookmark. I would like to also offer you um bookmarks. They are from our board meeting. Thank you for participating. I have six here. Sure if one of you wants to come up and you can pass them out to your friends. Yes. Thank you student leaders and I hope you all continue to grow and continue reading. Thank you. >> Thank you Vice President Yokoyama Buouie. Um I would also like to thank you guys for for being here. Starting with Michael. Thank you so much for the
026bookmark. Felicidales. Best of luck on the county competition. We're sure you're going to win this and take it all home. Um, but Ferguson, you guys are always busy. You guys always have events and thank you guys for welcoming us and allowing us to participate. The community is always welcome at Ferguson to learn more about your bilingual program, the special events you guys have. Um, I want to thank you guys for being here tonight, but I also want to thank the parents of these amazing students. If they're here, can you please stand up and be recognized? Thank you. We know this is a partnership um with the district and the parents. So, we really appreciate you guys entrusting us. Uh bilingual being bilingual is a superpower. So, I want to remind you guys that to always
027be proud that you guys speak Spanish. So, it is a superpower and never forget that. So, thank you guys. Thank you guys for being here tonight. [Applause] All right. Thank you, Ferguson. Moving into presentation, Spotlight on Teaching and Learning. We will now have a presentation for Black History Month. Dr. Castro. Good evening, board president Noyola. This evening, we are honored to recognize Black History Month, a time to reflect on the rich history, contributions, and resilience of black individuals and communities, and to reaffirm our commitment to access and opportunities for all of our students. I'm pleased to invite our equity officer, Miss Mariss Harris, to share how this work is reflected across our ABC Unified Schools and how we will continue to advance belonging and excellence throughout our district. Good evening, board president Noyola, Vice President
028Yokyamaboui, Clerk Mendoza, distinguished board members, superintendent Dr. Eat low cabinet and community members. I want to first um start off tonight with a quote from Malcolm X that states education is the passport to the future for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. So, I'm honored to present on Black History Month, and this year's theme is um a century of Black History commemorations. And it's celebrating 100 years of Black History. And as we begin to discuss or go into Black History, I think it's important that we look at how ABC is celebrating um Black History Month. And so I want to first begin by acknowledging AP African-American studies that's being offered at Gar High School this year. Um as well as highlighting our Black Student Alliance, BSA, which is a group of our
029African-American counselors who works with our Black Student Union and our young black scholars at the high school level. Um and lastly, our Black Family Circle Parent Advisory Committee, which is a group of um parents who are highly committed and dedicated to working with our students in the district in order to empower the voices of students, parents, and our staff members. Um, so we meet quarterly and we were glad to um recognize uh or to welcome board member um McCaten and uh board member Nishi at our black uh family circle community uh quarterly meeting last week. So thank you all for coming to that. Um these are just a few of the titles for our black family circle community member uh meetings. So first we highlighted our six-year academic plan. Last week, we had a presentation
030from uh one of our MHPS at Aloha Elementary School, Everett Bernett, who discussed the importance of mental health in the black community. And we have a black educators event next month for Black History Month. And we'll end the year in May celebrating our young black scholars. In addition to the work that our BSA counselors do with um our black student union and our young black scholars monthly, we're actually in the process of working with our counselors to take the BSU students and our young black scholar students on a field trip to the NACA college fair. So, that'll take place Tuesday, February 10th, and we're excited to allow them an opportunity to get a chance to see some uh different colleges and see what college fits best. So, that'll take place February 10th at the Pasadena
031Convention Center. We're excited for that. In addition, here are some of the or these are we just want to acknowledge the counselors, the adviserss at the high school. So, at GAR, we have Mrs. Maddox Mjavar who is over the young buck scholars at Artisia we have Mrs. Godz at Cerritos we have Mr. Martin and at Whitney we have Mrs. Morrison. And again, they meet with our young black scholars and our student uh black student union every um week. And this um going into a little bit more with our black family circle, our parent advisory committee. This is a flyer highlighting our general body meetings. Um so we've had two so far. The first meeting again was on our six-year academic plan and mental health in the black community. So, we have two more events remaining.
032Again, looking at highlighting the um black staff in ABC and celebrating them and our black students for the end of the school year on black excellence. These are just a few of the goals um from our black family circle. So, again, looking to educate and inform the parents on the district resources, policies, and progress, encourage and support parents to engage with educators and administrators and positive partnership. Um, we really highlight that partnership between the schools and the parents, supporting culturally proficient and instructional development and the use of culturally inclusive curriculum. Um, as well as empowering our black and African-American children and families by providing them the knowledge and skills necessary to advocate for high quality educational experiences. So, as we go into the data, it's important to highlight our chronic absenteeism. And as you can
033see, it's definitely trending in the right direction. Um unlike our other data where we are looking for higher numbers with chronic absenteeism, we're looking for that decrease. And um again, as you can see, we went from 20.9% to now 17.5%. So definitely trending in the right direction. Um next, our AP course enrollment rate. So we are again trending in the right direction. We went from 28.05% 05% of our African-American students being enrolled in AP classes to now 30.23%. We can say that that could be a contributing factor to our AP African-American studies that's now being offered at GAR, which is a great opportunity for our students. Uh, moving right along, our graduation rate. So, again, trending upward, we had a over 3% gain from last year of our African-American students graduating at 93.40%. 40% to
034last year 96.60%. So, we're definitely excited to see that trending upward with our graduation rate. Here, I wanted to um highlight or take a look at our California parent data and our California healthy um kids survey. So, if we're looking at school encouraging um our parents to be active partners, this is an area that we plan on focusing in encouraging a little bit more. We did have some data from our empathy interviews last year. So, that's what we're using the feedback from that to uh move forward and to support those specific areas. So in addition to encouraging school to be an active partner, we we looked at school promoting respect of cultural beliefs and practices. So compared to all parents at 44 point or 44% who strongly agreed, uh 44% of our African-American parents also
035felt that the school encouraged them to be active partners. Um 39% however um of our African-American parents, only 39% felt that school promoted respect of cultural beliefs and practices. So again, taking the data and the information that we received from our empathy interviews last year, we plan to use that information to help us in the future. Looking at our California Healthy Kids survey, um school connectedness and caring adults at school were two of the focuses that we wanted to highlight. So 75% of all students felt strongly agree and agree that they were connected to school while only 56.75% of our African-American students felt connected to school and um only 62% of our African-American students felt that there was a caring adult at school. So we really want to look at that and highlight that as
036an area of opportunity for us to grow. Um and lastly, of course, um we think that it's important to provide our schools with resources. So, we've curated some, um resources that will be going out to all of the schools by the end of this week. Um elementary resources as well as secondary resources, videos, books, activities. again uh giving teachers an opportunity to look through the resources and if there's anything that they would like to uh use to share with their students to encourage um the learning of celebrating and honoring our African-American leaders um throughout beyond. >> Um so again, those were elementary resources. This um is a digital library with an amount of different black stories um and authors highlighting the rich history of our African-Americans and secondary resources both videos um and lessons. Thank
037you. [Applause] >> Do I have any board comments or questions? Board member Nishi. Thank you. This is a great presentation. I like the the the metrics, the counting. What are what are we getting? We're getting better chronic absenteeism. We're getting better or actually not better, but you know, uh in the right direction and closing that gap. I like the fact that we're doing better with AP. We're >> you're actually doing even better than the standard students in uh graduation rate, which is amazing. There is no gap actually. So, that's that's those are all good things. Um so I don't want to dwell on any negatives. This is all very positive. But what are we going to do about uh what specific tactic do you use to address the chronic absenteeism to uh to close that
038particular gap because it's pretty substantial almost 8% difference but now it's only 5%. So that's that's better. But how are how are you actually achieving that? And the second question would be related to looks like they're not connected in the 11th grade. And so, uh, what are strategies? I'm sure you have some great strategies, um, to actually increase that or make that a better, uh, number for our kids to feel good about our schools. >> So, those are two questions. >> Yes, >> I'll I'll take part of that question if you don't mind, Mr. Nishi. So, part of it for attendance, we work closely with child welfare and attendance. Um, Miss Harris works closely with the team and as you know, we have our start process, our meetings process. We train our assistant principles and
039our counseling staff how to work with our families and really consider some of the situations that might be happening for families as as to why attendance might be an issue and address those specifically with some of our families um in regards to um the numbers in 11th grade and I'll even speak to some of the empathy interviews because I I was able to conduct those with families. You know, at the high school level as kids become more independent, right? uh there's there's a little bit of a loss of connection for parents about what's happening at school sites and so we're looking at ways that like how do we connect parents back together at a school site when we're trying to give the students some independence that's why we are trying to enhance our offerings for
040college and career supports experiences for students and for parents. Um and then another thing that we are honestly thinking about um and one of the strategies we did last year was there's a number of uh at the high school level there's a a large amount of staff particularly walk-on staff so coaches additional staff that's not necessarily our everyday teachers and so we did provide a training last year and support for some of our walk-on coaches and that's something we're looking to continue to do and enhance is what are some strategies that they may need to uh refine in order to be more inclusive of our various ethnicities and communities in sports. >> Okay. But a follow on question to regarding the uh absenteeism which is improving. What unique thing are you doing to specifically address
041that particular population? I what you gave me was some good general information that would be be applicable to everybody and everybody should have lower uh chronic absentes. I'm not saying that that's not the case, but what is the specific technique or way that you're achieving these results and what do you have planned for the future to make it even better? >> So, I think that that question really depends upon the different communities that we work with. One of the key things though in working with our uh members of our black family circle is um the key for that they've expressed because they the that's the reason we have this advisory group was for them to tell us like what do you need from us to make the situation better. And um one of the key
042things that they have shared with us is for our black families. They want to feel like they're in community, right? That they have connection. And sometimes at some of our school sites when we don't have large uh percentages of uh black families, they feel isolated. So how do we create a sense of community so that they feel more connected not only to that school site but to our district on a whole? And so that's really the importance of our black family circle is them advising us. And so that's part of the process that we've been using. And so that's the specific strategy that they talked about was we want parents to see like that's why they wanted to celebrate our black educators because they want parents to see look at we we have all these
043great educators in our system that you can connect with. You may not see other people in the community necessarily that look like you but you have we have educators staff members that are here to help that you can connect with if you're having issues particularly around attendance. So, those are some of the strategies specifically that we've learned from our black family circle that they continue to work with us and advise us with and that we're looking to expand and and implement some structures with. >> Thank you, board member Nishi, board member Dr. Rios. >> Thank you. I always appreciate us celebrating the diversity in our district. Um, so I want to acknowledge the highlights. I especially appreciate the fact that we did ask for data um because we wanted to not only celebrate the fact
044that we have um such great things to celebrate within the African-American culture, but we want to know how are we as a district um doing with our students and are they achieving success. So I am happy to celebrate the rates of chronic aspentism, graduation rates and AP courses and I appreciate the fact that you you talked about the challenges. Um I administer the healthy kid survey and so I know that these questions get asked to students and the fact that our 11th grade students are telling us that you know only 47% agree or strongly agree with the school connectedness. I think it backs it it ties directly to the cultural proficiency instructional practices. um our students would improve in their attendance if they had and I'm not saying this is happening but it's the state
045is telling us we need to work on this um and providing environments where our students feel welcomed um they feel celebrated they are acknowledged they're seen and yes being seen in books goes a long way um but I think that board member Nishi highlighted the fact that we got a lot of work to do because that will impact everything else that will impact our again everything that we already celebrate but can absolutely improve. Um so like he mentioned you know to our superintendent to our um assistant supervet services like what specific strategies are we going to implement that are specific that will deliver better results? Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Rios or member Mendoza. >> Thank you Mr. President. So, I'm I'm going to echo what my colleague said. I think um I think
046we're we're this board is strongly looking at data now and so we're looking to see results. So, we have the 2024 25. So, I'm going to look to see next year like how our percentages are going up because we are doing a good job, but we're missing out on some students, right? Um, I really like the college fair. Um, is that just for high school students? >> Yes. >> How can we make that so we And I know it's all logistics, but so maybe I heard uh Dr. Castro say that our students want to feel part of the district community. How do we make that an event where we have students from elementary, middle, and high school so that they can come together and they can see each other? How do we have events in
047our district where we can bring our students together? um some kind of a conference, something that they're invited to where they feel like I I I seem I'm being seen. Um and I I like that we're having all these committees, but the reality is that we have some students that don't feel connected. So, we need action. And so, if you can provide us with I think we're all ask we're all asking like what what are the next steps? So if maybe if you could provide the board what we're going to do from now until the next survey where we can say we did A, B, and C and we got these results. So we can >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you board member Mendoza. Board member Yu. >> Thank you
048President Nyola. Thank you Miss Marley uh Harris for this wonderful presentation. And the question I had was you know uh the college fair sounds like a wonderful opportunity for the kids to have vision and that they can engage and uh talk to the counselors of different schools. So I think that's that's this is such a great opportunity for the students and I hope many students will register to attend. Uh is this only open for the students in the black student alliance? >> Yes. So currently this is an opportunity that we're allowing for our black student union and young black scholars to attend. >> Okay. So only >> just as a field trip for those students. Yes. >> So where are you uh living leaving? Where's the location that they're you going to be at? >>
049We're still working out the logistics between all four of the high schools based off of the numbers of students who are attending. Then we'll provide our location for the bus pickup. >> Okay. Got it. Thank you very much. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you board member. You board member McCann. Thank you, Miss Harris, and Dr. Castro for the presentation. Um, I have a couple questions. So, when you have the black student unions and the uh young black scholars on each campus, congratulations on that. I think we're that's definitely going in the right direction, but does it mean that they have to have like a certain GPA in order to qualify for that? >> No, all students are welcome to attend. The meetings are typically during lunchtime. >> Okay, great. And then I also felt like I
050just want to give you compliment on the black family circle. Um I felt like the parents that were there were just like um they really wanted to be there. They really wanted to listen. Um Everett did a great job of of presenting specifically to the back black population um and and really talking um to the problems that they face in mental health. So um really appreciated that activity and I'm just really glad to see everything that you're doing. >> Thank you board member McCann. Vice President Yokoyama Buouie. >> Thank you Mrs. Harris. Um, I did want to share and comment. I was able to attend the end of year black excellence celebration last year and I think that's a wonderful event and it's um something that I felt was very family oriented. The families of
051those who were graduating from their respective schools were able to attend. Perhaps this is something we can ask the schools to invite some of their students, maybe those who may feel may want to see more inclusivity, more engagement and so they could see people in their community, students in their community who are achieving and they will then follow in those footsteps. So that was something I know I know the space may not accommodate everyone but I want to be able to show that we do have you know very much success stories in in our um district and we want to make sure that our students see that um even if it's only a couple years away they'll be there they'll be there next. So um definitely a great event and I'm looking forward to attend
052it again this year. Thank you. >> Thank you Vice President Yokamabui. Uh I just want to echo my colleagues here. Um, these are great numbers. We are moving in the right direction. I specifically also want to highlight and pause and just look at the graduation rate for last year for our black students. They've outperformed the rest of the school population. That's amazing. Uh, I also wanted to highlight that um the percentage of students that find the caring adult is actually higher for sixth and nth graders to the general population. So, I think that's a testament to club adviser like Mr. Martin who I had the pleasure with meeting this this year. um they go above and beyond for their students and you know ABC we we are all about diversity and representation. We have a
053lot of great educators and staff that represent our students. So that's that's thank you for sharing that and thank you for being here tonight. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> We will now have a presentation for artificial intelligence. Dr. Castro. >> Yes, thank you. As part of our LCAP goal one and three, we are back again with the next of our series of our LCAP ABC stories. As uh Mr. Lawrence, our director, likes to say, it's the world premiere of our LCAP goal one and three focused on artificial intelligence. As a district, we're committed to building some future ready systems that strengthen teaching and learning and student access to innovation. This short video is going to highlight how ABC is thoughtfully exploring artificial intelligence as a tool to support educators, enhance student learning, and ensure responsible,
054equitable use across our district. Our director of technology, Mike Lawrence, and our teacher on special assignment with a focus on AI, Chad Lanes, are available after for any comments or questions. So, without further ado, here's our world premiere on artificial intelligence. Over [Music] the course of this school year, we'll be exploring the many ways in which ABC's LCAP positively supports students. Through goals 1 and three of the ABCUSD LCAP, we're leveraging AI to enhance teaching and learning, where every action, resource, and relationship helps students thrive. At ABC Unified, we apply an HI plus AI approach, keeping human intelligence as the compass to ensure AI augments relationships and accessibility, preparing our students for the AI enhanced future by developing critical thinking skills. Through our local control and accountability plan, we have provided safe AI platforms for
055student and staff use alongside resources, professional learning, and ethical guidance. When Generative AI first launched, ABC Unified chose a proactive path. Rather than blocking or denying access, we brought teachers, students, and administrators together to discuss how to ethically utilize these platforms to accelerate student learning. Our goal was and is to use this powerful tool to leverage sound pedagogy and practice, never to replace it. By integrating our human intelligence to ask the right questions, improve our prompts, and vet out responses, we empower teachers to decide exactly how and when AI should be used. But what about cheating? I know you're thinking it. And of course, cheating has been around long, long before AI. In addressing concerns around academic integrity and AI at ABC, we have intentionally steered away from a culture of suspicion, choosing instead to
056start a conversation, not an accusation. The teacher is and will always be the leader in the classroom and the best judge of student work. And we view AI usage as an opportunity to foster transparency and digital citizenship. We prioritize teacher autonomy in setting clear expectations and invite them to demonstrate this transparency using our AI badging system whenever they can model ethical and appropriate use of AI. Will students make poor decisions? Sure. But it's a part of the learning process. If a student uses AI tools inappropriately or without consent, it results in a restorative conversation, helping them learn to navigate these tools with honesty and integrity. >> Students have been engaging with AI across ABC Unified. At Whitney High School, we have an AI pathway in which students explore AI algorithms, LLMs, and much more. Across
057our middle and high schools, ABC offers many programming and entrepreneurship courses covering AI concepts. In addition, CTE exploration courses at Wittman, Ferguson, and several other elementary schools offer direct interaction with AI concepts. Beyond this, students interact with AI across Snorkel, Adobe Express, Canva, and Gemini, and grades 7 through 12 only. We developed our AI guidance by actively seeking the opinions and feedback of all voices, publishing our guidance policy and personally addressing every inquiry, every challenge, every accolade. We also establish AI roundt discussions open to the community partners throughout ABC to share to listen and most importantly for us to adapt. This feedback loop remains a permanent fixture of our district with roundt events scheduled quarterly to ensure that we continue to learn together. We understand that by leading in a transparent manner, we are developing
058the trust necessary to continually improve our guidance. >> Visit abcusd. us/lcap to see how ABC is raising up students and unlocking their future. [Applause] So, I do want to note the actual video that's posted will not cut off Chad Lane's forehead >> or Mike's hair. I promise. Uh, sorry. Something happened when we presented it from presentation mode up there that it kind of moved the screen. So, we do have the the original video that will be posted. We'll fully uh represent our our teacher and our director. >> Do I have any board comments or questions? >> Okay. Board member Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for the presentation because I I teach first grade, so I don't really get into AI with my students, but I personally use it. Um, I think it's
059a great tool and I love that you said it's not an accusation, it's a conversation. And I think if we we start introducing that to our students and letting them know that this is a tool for you to use, right, it's it's we like everything else on the internet, we need to be safe and we teach our students to be safe. Um, but I think I like that our district started way ahead before any other districts because this is the way everyone's going. um kids are going to be using it and I think we as a district are being proactive in in showing our students how to use it safely and appropriately. So, thank you for that. Yeah, I did notice the cut off but I thought maybe you know when it got but it
060was a great a great video and I know we're going to be posting it. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, because I think you guys do an amazing job with the videos too. I love seeing them. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you, Clerk Mendoza. Board member Nishi. Thank you, Mr. President. Yeah, I know you have a full head because you're right there, right in front of us. That's great. Um, so it's great that we're going through AI and you know, somebody told me that uh an incredible percentage of people will have jobs that are all AI related and so that's where the jobs are going to be and my my daughter has a job and she's like, I think my job's going to be replaced someday. I better
061find some new skills and I need to adapt. And so having Whitney at the forefront of that, it's amazing. I know it's tough, but uh it would be nice if we could also have Gar or Artisa. I know it's a very difficult thing to find people and I bet you they're they're top dollar people, but um to the extent that we can try to extend it out to other schools, maybe we could use um um I know that some districts use uh video or internet teaching for like a Korean language. uh they do they do a Korean ethnic studies and they don't have enough in one place but they do it for the whole uh district using uh um uh online schools. So that might be a way to leverage out the the little staff
062that we have in that. Thank you for all your work. >> Thank you board member Nishi board member you >> Thank you president. Well it's good to see you guys in person. >> Yes. >> Yeah. It's a it's an honor to to face you face to face famous people on the screen. Um well I think we are so blessed that we are ahead of the game. I mean it's in the school. AI is real. It's the future and I mean the whole world is in the middle of AI war. Who's going to get it first? So I think that um for our children it's critical. You know I mean everybody use chat GPT we all use Google now we all use chat GPT but if our children can have access uh trained and many of
063them will land on a job that's in AI that will be such a great opportunity for our kids so as our board member Nishi mentioned I think it would be great to have this program uh Dr. pursue in other schools too in other schools too. so that other you know high school especially high school students you know I mean earlier the better right middle school expose them you just never know some of the hidden uh gems they are sparked and they discover wow this is something that's very interesting I can use the computer uh and online not only to play game and and chat and do social media but I can do something you know uh uh something that's valuable you know so who knows yeah we may have one of our ABC students uh
064land in one of the you know tech companies or find one. So God bless you for this. >> Thank you board member U. I just want to also echo you guys are doing an amazing job in artificial intelligence. You guys are leading the way for ABC and also the school districts around us. Um, a question I have is what are some things that you guys see in the future or in the short future how AI will be transforming how we how we educate our kids, whether it be more focus on assessment rather than homework. >> Well, let me jump in first. Uh, I do want to share that every high school in the district utilizes AI in the classroom. We were just highlighting the fact that Whitney has an AI pathway through the CTE program.
065So, I don't want to short change our other fabulous high schools in the district. Uh to your question, I would say in the near term, I'm seeing agentic AI, which is the idea where you would essentially create an agent to go out and find solutions for you and bring them back to you rather than being tied to the machine itself and prompting each step of the way. You could set an AI agent to go out and act as you and say, you know, book a hotel reservation or a dinner reservation and come back to you with those things. Those tools are already out there, but they're just getting more and more sophisticated. And sometimes it's another it's an AI working with another AI with another AI to give you an answer and some resources. So
066we're seeing that already on the short term already in some places. Uh but I'll hand off to Mr. Lane to see if there's other ideas. >> Oh, there's lots of ideas. Uh but I'm going to pivot from that and talk about the strength of ABC and that's our teachers. So when we talk about the future, it's still teacherbased. So we still want to teach our kids how to read, write, think, speak. then we look to leverage that technology. So you'll see changes but I really believe and it's what I go out and expouse espouse that's why I have him here wherever I go that we want to have that approach we want hi first human intelligence first and then we leverage the AI see how we can make it more accessible more differentiated more interesting
067more engaging for students so I do see that it gets better all the time, but it always starts with the teacher. >> Thank you. Any other comments, questions? No. Or member Macan? Um I'm not quite sure who's responsible but I Mike I think it might be you for putting together the conference for um Saturday and I'm so looking forward to all the different sessions that are that are being offered and a lot of them are AI. >> Yes 17 out of 24 sessions are AI related or AI adjacent. It'll be at Gar High School. Thank you. I'm looking forward to seeing you there as well as I think uh vice president to Yokoyama Buouie. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Lane. Thank you, Mr. Lawrence. We are now move to [Applause] >>
068Can I please have a motion to approve the agenda for the regular meeting of January 20, 2026? >> Tatiana motions. >> Second, Mendoza. Sorry. >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. 70. Approval of minutes. May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of December 9th, 2025? >> Move approval. >> Aiana second. >> All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. 110. Uh, middle school activity reports. Carmenita Middle School leadership students will present a report on school activities, including athletic, academic, and extracurricular activities. Uh, Miss Penelopey and Elijah [Applause] Good evening, Mr. Noyola, president of the board of education. Mrs. Yoki Yamaboui, vice president, Mrs. Mendoza, clerk of the board, Mrs. McChatten, Mr. Nishi, Mrs. Dr. Rios, Mrs. U, distinguished members of
069the board, and Dr. Zilo, our superintendent. My name is Elijah Francis. >> My name is Penelopey Solena. >> And I am the ASB historian >> and the ASB president >> of Carmenita Middle School. We appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight regarding the wonderful activities and achievements at our school. >> At Carmenita, we start every day with a warm welcome. Our web and ASP students take turns greeting their peers at the gates. And I have the privilege of hosting our Friday announcements along with our amazing principal, Dr. Chang. We recap our week and kick off the weekend with a Friday song in the morning. We've also launched a new tradition celebrating every 25 days of school. From our store into the future college theme on day 25 to our Disney theme day 75, these
070milestones keep our spirits high. This Carmenita spirit has really paid off. We are proud to report that Carmenita has won the Septe September and December attendance challenges with over 98% of our students in class and ready to learn. Our cougar identity is built on being ready, respectful, and responsible. Students earn paw prints for these behaviors, which are put into a raffle and allow them to earn prizes at our bi-weekly cod events. Beyond the quad, we are fostering a culture of deep learning. Our distinguished scholars program allows students to explore the subjects they love and learn beyond the classroom, providing enrichment for those passionate about going deeper into their studies. Our AVID students are also looking toward the future. They had the opportunity to visit Cal State LA this past fall to envision their path to
071a higher education and next month they will be visiting UCLA. [Music] Our Cougars are excelling everywhere in the arts. Our advanced band performed at Disneyland in December and our jazz band played for the district holiday lunchon. On the court, we are currently undefeated in boys volleyball and basketball following stellar seasons by a girls soccer and volleyball teams. We are also thrilled to debut our first ever cheer team led by our SIA Miss China, which has brought a new level of excitement to our games. We are even making headlines. Our community garden was recently featured on CNN World News. This year, our garden doubled in size thanks to generous donations that allowed us to build even more garden beds for our students to enjoy. We believe in giving back. Our recent food drive and Toys for
072Tots collection provided meals and gifts to families in need. We've also innovated our social events. Our fidathon raised over 55,000 and our haunted all maze doubled in size this year. Our seventh graders also enjoyed a unique tradition this fall, a field trip to Medieval Times where they had an amazing time watching the tournament and experiencing history come to life. Finally, we have a busy January ahead. Following our beautiful winter dance that was hosted by ASB and PTSA, we are preparing for our 100th day of school, our care assembly on January 27th, and kindness week. We are combining kindness week with culture month starting January 26th to celebrate our diversity and ensure every single student at Carmenita feels seen and valued. >> Thank you for your time in supporting the green and gold spirit of Carmenita
073Middle School. [Applause] for um board member U. >> Thank you, President Niella. Well, I think this is very special because I think this is our very first meeting with a middle school student rep, right? And you guys were both awesome. I mean, you guys did such a great job. Let's they did it. So, you you guys have your principal here. >> Oh, can she come up? Where's the principal? Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on up. >> Yeah. Can you call the whole team? Yeah. The whole team. Carmenita team. Yay. >> Wow. Yeah. I'm so excited. I mean, two I mean the middle, this is the first board meeting with middle school students and they both did just a fantastic job with the presentation, delivering the message and announcement and the level of confidence.
074I I'm just like so blown away just like good job you guys just keep it up. I'm so excited for you. Thank you principal. >> Thank you board member. You clerk Mendoza. >> Thank you Mr. Mendoza. I was just smiling because we've been asking for the middle schools to come and present because we get to see our elementary students and then we don't get to see them until they get to high school. So seeing the in between, it's it's it's just happy to see you guys being here and sharing everything that you do. Um I hope this is a new thing that we're doing that they're going to continue to come. Our middle schools are going to continue to come and share. Um you guys are doing amazing things at Carmenita. I actually went to
075go visit your school. Um I love visiting there. I love to hear that your attendance is up. How do you like doing those 25 every 25 days? >> Is it fun? >> Yeah, it's fun. I know. um not so much for teachers because I know I'm a first grade teacher. When they have those spirit days, they come in and but we work with it, but the kids are there. We have you there and um we get to teach you every single day. Um I love hearing about all the stuff that's going on with your athletics. Um you raised over $55,000 for your fidathon. Wow, that's pretty amazing. >> Um that to me tells me that your whole entire school community is committed to your school. So, thank you for that. So, thank you again and
076I look forward to hearing you guys again this year or hopefully next year. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Uh, thank you, Clerk Mendoza. Do I have any other board comments? Nope. Um, thank you guys for being here. You guys are the first middle school to present. So, congratulations. >> Yes. I would also like to recognize uh the parents. So, I know they're grown up, but they're not that grown up. Can I have the parents stand up please and be recognized? >> Thank you Carmenita for for sharing the amazing things happening at on your campus. Congratulations on being undefeated. Congratulations on the amazing extracurricular the programs and the community you guys have built. So you guys are leaving a legacy. So thank you guys for being here tonight. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. [Applause] We will
077now have our student board representatives from Gar High School. >> I think they brought their fan club. >> All right. Good evening, President Noyola, Vice President Buie, Clerk of Board of Education, Mrs. Mendoza, Superintendent Dr. Zitlo, distinguished cabinet members, Mrs. Manhattan, Mr. Nishi, Dr. Rios, Mrs. U, and dear members of the community. My name is Amoa Arunar, >> and my name is Venenzo Manini. We are the commissioners of academics at Richard Gar High School and we are so honored to be presenting our board report filled with our school's highlights for the first semester and future initiatives. >> We kicked off this year strong with a welcoming first day guiding students to their classes. Very importantly, the school year commemorates the 60th anniversary of GAR. Thus, a majority of our activities focused on celebrating past traditions
078and tying in with new and improved ones. Helping represent these new traditions with a fresh start, the school was given a fresh coat of paint to kick off Gar High School's next 60 years. Moving on to our activities. One of our main events as ASB is homecoming. It was themed road to Rome to tie back to our roots as gladiators. The event kicked off with a tailgate where we welcome students and our alumni. Our alumni turnout was so impressive, bringing former students such as Jim Zorn, a 1971 alumni and former NFL player and head coach. We are so thankful to have in attendance key community members, including our own school board members and city councils of Artisia and Cerritos. ASB's yearly trip to Palmar Conference Center on September 4th to September 7th provided space to
079plan out this event, resulting in hundreds of attendees due to the great success from months of advanced planning. The corresponding rally provided great advertisement and instilled collaboration through themed rally games at Lake Sparta. >> Our second rally of the year was our winter rally, which was an incredible success and one of our best yet. Uniquely, the rally was performed in the dark with the theme being let it glow. Proper precautions were taken, of course, creating a safe environment even in the dark. >> Guard currently has 32 clubs on campus. All are either cultural, serviceoriented, hobby-based, academic, or STEM focused. This year, we added the National Honor Society and the Auto Club. The clubs were given the chance to showcase their qualities to parents and students during events such as back to school night in the
080upcoming open house. Now moving on to our academics. Gar was named the AP honor roll silver school. Our PSAT occurred in October. The SAT testing was hosted for the first time at GAR with our next date on March 14th. We are continuing to pass out our scholar of the quarter awards quarterly. We appreciate the district's support to enrich our CTE programs. Our video game design class is being upgraded and redesigned to meet the needs of the evolution of esports. While the aviation pathway has added flight simulations, providing students with the opportunities to apply their piloting skills. For our diversity, we focused on maximizing schoolwide participation with our kindness week. This past fall, every classroom received posters with handwritten positive affirmations meant for every student in the school. Next week we will continue with our spring
081kindness week where we have various daily themes and events. Students have been encouraged to participate in lunch rally activities like creating a hand print unity poster to hang up. This will grow school spirit. We also promoted red ribbon week with daily outfit challenges to encourage drug prevention awareness. Moving on to our athletics. Our fall sports had a great successful season in football and flag football where both teams qualified for CIF as did girls golf with Jody Santos qualifying for individuals. Our volleyball for league champions and cross country for league champions. Seven Gar baseball players have signed letters of intent to play at the division one level. Jake Orique signed to Oregon. Nathan Gonorena signed to Sea Sun. Jorge Valdez signed to Sea Sun. Andres Gonzalez and Bryce Morrison signed to USC along with Anthony Ward
082to Hope University and Alexander Brown to the University of Pikeville in Kentucky. Our winter sports are underway. So please do join us in our sports for basketball, soccer, and wrestling matches. >> This year, the Gar matching Gladiators closed out the 2025 season with our most competitively successful results in program history. Gar earned the title of WBA class 4A champion, winning high effect, high music, high visual, and high color guard. After advancing to the WBA combined 4A/5A grand championships, we brought home the bronze medal with a score of 93.025, making guard the first 4A band in WBA history to place in the top three at grand championships. >> And finally, we want to touch upon future initiatives and events. We're looking forward to our open house on January 27th. Our Voice United conference focusing on youth
083advocacy on January 31st focusing on that with the district. Kindness week next week. Fun Fridays occurring every Friday every week. Our CTE showcase on February 4th. Our Filo Fest for Barcado Club to promote Filipino culture, dance, and food. And finally, prom on March 14th. Thank you so much. Any board comments? >> Board member Dr. Rios. >> So, I've had very few uh several proud moments. I think my proudest was when I was first elected and then reelected. And my second proud moment was when I became president of the board and we had Mariachi in the audience. But I don't think anything beats having my son in in the audience. Super proud, super excited. Guard does amazing things and I think that highlighting the um accomplishments of the sports pro programs um brings a lot of
084pride to us, right? Uh I was there when um the students signed their college commitment letters and I mean for an athlete I think that's a true testament to the support that they receive right not just from the families but from the school and so I want to um give a shout out to uh the principal who is here Dr. more to his coach, Coach Perez and his staff and to the players. You know, I can't speak to the other sports. I can speak to baseball, but these guys give it their heart. And um you know this weekend they played at USC. So they they get to have these amazing experiences because of the support that they receive from all of us from the board to to their staff to their teachers who put up
085with them missing class sometimes because they have to go to tournaments. Um like it really does take an effort of all. And so I just really want to um to commend them to commend our district for being so supportive and and it brings me so much pride to see that they accomplished so much. Thank you for sharing that. >> Board Clerk Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I I'm I'm sitting here. I'm listening and I'm I'm I'm visioning those Ferguson kids that came here today that one day they're going to be at guard doing all of this. And it's just it's so nice to see our elementary, our middle, and our high school. And to see all the activities that are going on and to see that each school site is building community. I mean,
086you had a a former NFL player, a head coach, like, wow, how awesome is that? Um, kindness week, and you have handwritten notes. Like, that's belonging, right? Kids feel like, oh, I got a handwritten note. Somebody actually took the time to write this note. It wasn't typed out on the computer. Somebody took the time to write that. All of the athletics, like uh Dr. Rios was saying, band everything that's going on, and it and I know that this happens at all our high schools. And I just want to say thank you to the students, to the to the staff, and to the parents parents because this is all of us working together so that you the students are successful. So everything that we do here on the board, this is our goal is for you
087to be successful. So thank you. And and I know that as soon as you leave, like the audience is going to be they're all going right because it's all Gar students. Yeah. >> Right. and and that that that right there shows the commitment, the support that you guys give one another at Gar High School. So, thank you so much. Congratulations on on all your accolades. [Applause] >> Thank you, Clerk Mendoza. Board member Nishi. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Yes, I'll be quick. Um, so it's an amazing thing to have ground school. I mean, that costs thousands of dollars. I had to to do that and paid it separately and here you have it at a high school that's that's or actually not you have aviation school which is just an amazing thing to have and
088the signing the whole some of you all of us were here but the whole place was full of of parents all proud of their of their kids and their achievements and that's something that can be brought to other schools I think because I've not seen it at a lot of other schools maybe uh a little bit at Artisia but I mean if we were able to lodge the achievements of everyone that were was able to achieve not just I mean academics is super important but also also the sports that uh that are the reason we do a lot of things that in our lives so um so it's a great thing that you guys have to to bring to everybody so thank you thank you only thing is USC I don't know thank you board
089member Nishi board member Mcken >> um thank you so much for um all the students and staff being here tonight. Really appreciate that. And to our two speakers who told us so much about all the events, the academics, the sports, the band, the pathways, the clubs. Um just so nice to hear about what's happening at all the wonderful things that are happening at GAR. And um can you introduce us to the gentlemen behind you or can they introduce themselves? Are they all baseball players? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Um hi everybody. Oh. Hi everybody. My name is Andres Gonzalez. I'm a senior at GAR and I'm going to UFC [Music] with my mom. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Alexander Brown Johnson. I am a 2026 as well and I'm committed to the University
090of Pikeville. [Applause] >> Um hello everybody. I'm Jorge Waldes. I'm committed to Cal Northridge and I'm a senior. Hello everyone. My name is Nate Guangana. I am a senior at Gar High School and I'll be going to Cal State Northridge. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Anthony Ward. I'm a senior at Gar High School and I'm committed to Hope University. [Applause] >> Congratulations gentlemen and good luck next year at college. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member McCann. Board member, you. >> Yes. Thank you, President. So, I was going to mention this on the second page. Um, wow, this is really impressive and congratulations. So, division one baseball signings. Does this mean that the players signed to play baseball at those schools? Wow. Gar High School baseball is this strong. That is impressive. Wow.
091Wow. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure your parents are proud of you guys. How hard you worked. I mean, it pays off, right? Yeah. And the school's proud of you and you guys are uh leaving a legacy and and I'm sure the coaches, they work so hard, too. Yeah. So, kudos. Thank you. Congratulations once again. Yeah, >> be being a former gladiator myself, you know, makes me super proud to to be here as the president speaking leadership to future leadership, you guys are doing an amazing job. Baseball has always been, you know, our our hidden jewel at GAR. They they've always worked together. They are a team. They they wear the same uniform. They they go out, they help each other. They're a brotherhood. So, congratulations to you guys. Uh, ASB, thank you guys for staying
092out. Thank you for your presentation. Uh, you guys are the future leaders of not just GAR, but this community here. You guys will be representing us in the future. I'm sure of it. So, congratulations for everything you do. And thank you for being here tonight. Have a safe drive. And if there's any parents, can you please stand to be recognized? >> No. >> Oh. Oh, there you go. All right, you guys have a wonderful night. Thank you, Gar. [Applause] Okay. Uh we will now move into uh the board president's report. Um starting back in December 10th, I was able to attend the district lunchon. So, I want to thank our staff here for recognizing our district staff. They do a lot behind the scenes to make sure that our schools are being supported, that our
093teachers are getting the support they need in the classroom, that they're able to focus on educating future leaders. So, I want to thank everybody that works here at the district office that you guys do amazing work. Um, so appreciate that. December 18th, I was able to attend the Cerritos Fall Advisory Council at Cerritos High School. This is where uh school counselors meet with students, meet with district staff to talk about the needs of the school. And I'm very appreciative that the student voices were being echoed and highlighted. Uh we had representatives from 9th grade and 11th grade >> and it was very great to see that we were taking notes and acknowledging that what their contributions to the school are going to be changing and shaping the future of education. Um, I was able to
094call a meeting with our local collaborators and education with the city of Hawaiian Gardens and Cerritos College to talk about educational attainment in Hawaiian Gardens. I want to thank Dr. Fiero, uh, board trustee Mariana Rios for being there and of course uh, city council in Hawaiian Gardens for being coming together to have this conversation of what we want to do in the next 5 years when it comes to education. Uh, January 13th, I was able to attend the Hawaiian Garden STEM night. I want to thank Whitney High School for coming out and helping getting our kids exposed to different opportunities in the STEM world. Uh, not just here at ABC, but also in the in the educ. I was also visiting Ferguson Elementary that morning. I got to visit every single classroom, learn how they're
095implementing the bilingual program and how they're supporting students and how Ferguson Elementary is actually on the cutting edge of bilingual education. They are helping develop the curriculum at the state level. So, we have amazing educators. We have amazing amazing bilingual coaches. Um, so Ferguson is is going to be it was seen tonight the work that they do. Uh, and finally, I was also able to attend the JV Artisia High School flag football banquet. I want to thank the city of Hawaiian Gardens for hosting them and giving them, you know, a family a nice dinner and recognizing their efforts. on Monday uh this past Monday actually yesterday I was able to attend with uh majority of the board our Martin Luther King celebration for the city of Cerritos. The city of Cerritos is actually one of
096the few cities that actually has a celebration recognizing the contributions that Dr. Martin Luther King has given to our country. So I want to thank them for inviting us highlighting our students raising voices in the community and just unifying everybody. So that is my board report. Um I will now move to the superintendent report. Dr. Thank you. Well, good evening everyone. Um, it's just great to be back from our winter break. My hope is that whatever time you did have during that break, families were able to reconnect, appreciate one another, and maybe rest if possible. Um, things are challenging and so anytime we can slow and gather with our family is really important. Um, as we continue in this next part of the school year, I'm continuing my visit of schools. I love going into
097every classroom, seeing what students are actually doing that day. And sometimes the teachers get frustrated because I walk in and it's test time and they're taking a test, but that's part of the process. And so, I appreciate getting to see what our students are doing. Um, using our four pillars, particularly looking at engagement. what are we asking our students to do as they are learning? And so it's been wonderful to do that. Um we also are working um currently in our district office with our principles to understand where our students are um with their midyear reports, how they're doing on benchmark tests um in preparation for closing the school year and taking their CASP tests at the end of the year. And so learning about what our students are doing, where adjustments are being made
098at school sites, and how our teachers and staff are working together to make sure every kid learns and progresses this year. Um, we are also continuing to meet with our extended cabinet that includes all of our principles from schools that would be impacted from the restructuring and reconfiguration that is um being prepared to take place. Um we have also started gathering um hosting the gatherings for our staff and family to talk through just the changes that are coming and how we can work together and u make sure we're going through a process together so that as we experience change in August we are ready to do that together and to include one another and to appreciate um the different experiences we are all having with that Um, just as a reminder, our school district will
099continue to follow the law and ensure that all students, regardless of background, beliefs, immigration status, are able to be at school every day and are provided the best possible education in a safe environment. Um, we continue to provide supports. If you as a family are in need of any kind of support, whether it's from that perspective of of maybe an experience you're having or you're in need of food or support or shelter, please reach out to your school principal, your school office, and we will connect you with our ABC community center. We want to make sure students come to school every day and have the things they need to learn. And um we don't want anything to get in the way of that. And with that, that's my report. >> Thank you, Dr. Zilo. Employee
100representative reports, ABCFD president Raar. Anything? Thank you. >> Public comments. 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 called in sequence during the public comment section or prior to the 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 5 minutes or less. Those who have a group concern are encouraged to select a spokesperson to address the board. Should there be more than 15 speakers for non-aggendaized items, individual speakers shall be allowed three minutes to address the board. In order to ensure that non-English speakers receive the same opportunity to address the
101board, 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 adjust address agenda items. Should there be more than six speakers for agendaized items, individual speakers shall be allotted three minutes to address the board on the item. Adverse remarks about a person's race, ancestry, ethnic
102group identification, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, mental or physical 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 presented through the proper administrative channels set forth in bylaw 9323. We do have one speaker, but Dr. Zilo, do you want to introduce our new system? >> So, we've been working on a system where we can better help our community who comes to speak understand how much time they have. And so um at the podium there is a a screen and so when we start the time it will countdown for them and help them to stay on track and so we're
103hoping that it it helps everyone they can see and we're simplifying the process we hope. >> Thank you Dr. Zilio. So our first speaker is Mrs. Carla Santa Cruz. So you are going to be our first person to use our new system. >> Yes. We're going to learn this together. >> So, do you start it? >> I think I do. >> Are you ready? >> Yes. >> Go. >> Thank you. I get to inaugurate. This is great. Happy New Year and congratulations, President Noyola, and new board members. And thank you, immediate past president, board president Nishi, for all your service and especially re day of remembrance. I'm sorry I couldn't be here last year or last it was last year for the celebration, but I wanted to come back. You've seen me before, you'll see
104me again. As promised, I'll be here to support. I'm Carla Santa Cruz, formerly a Rera, retired ABC biiteracy and ECE specialist, but now I'm a community member still active and grandparent of two now two NEMIS bilingual um students. As promised last year, I will continue to support our biiteracy bilingual programs and I will look to you to do the same, especially during the transitions and you know, as we go uh through the future. You know, I like to share resources and so I'm going to continue to do that. Thank you for highlighting our Ferguson bilingual biiteracy experts, our students with superpowers. as highlighted with our former Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona. I miss him so much. I taught at Ferguson 18 years and pledged allegiance every day in Spanish. Thank you for highlighting Black History
105Month as well as all the other special months where we highlight our students and affirm their their backgrounds and their families. I especially appreciate when we do it beyond the month so that students feel seen and appreciated as well as their families every day and in every class. I really like the idea of including the younger students uh with a like uh conferences as you mentioned so that students can be able to see their peers uh throughout the ages as uh leaders and mentors. I also appreciate the LCAP reviews and the highlights and the spotlights. So, this is my one thing that I wanted to add. You may have already seen this and I did mention last year, I believe that I appre I participated in a review with Californians together on LCAPS. It was
106part of a project that's been done annually for the past several years. This was on the 2427 LCAPS with uh as a project uh combined with Californians together and the center for equity for English learners from Lyola Marry Mount University. So I will email you the abstract and the document as a resource as we continue to work through our LCAP uh spotlights. And of course, I'm always going to be looking at our English learners and multilingual learners. Let's have a good year. Thank you. >> Can I get some feedback? How how was it with the new system? >> Did you even look at it? >> I did look at it, but I forgot to look at it, you know, during the middle. But I have um testified many times and given testimony for the state
107board of education and uh in Sacramento and now they have a call-in system. But they give you one minute and when they give you one minute they say time and then they cut you off and so I appreciate this to have a warning. >> Okay. So it was a good system. >> I think it's a good system. It's nice and big. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. We have no more speakers, Mr. President. >> Thank you, Clerk Mendoza. >> We will now move into the consent calendar. May I have a motion to approve the consent calendar? >> Second. >> Is there anyone who wishes to remove any item to be considered separately? Seeing none, please note that during the student board of representative committee, uh, preferential yes votes were cast for consent items 1.1
108C, 3.1 C, 3.2 C, 3.3 C, 3.4 C, 3.5 C, 3.6 C, 3.7 C, 3.8 C, 3.12 C, 3.15 C. Without any additional comments, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. Motion passes 70. We will now have a timed item following the consent. May I have a motion to accept the district annual audit report and measure BB general obligation bond audit report from CWDL for the year ending June 30th, 2025. >> Tatiana motions. >> Mr. W. >> Thank you, President Nyola. Good evening, board members. Uh tonight um as required by law and also in the bore policy we have our external independent auditors uh Mr. Joe Tarantino. He is a partner senior manager with the firm CWDL. Uh they are like I said independent and external auditor. They are here to provide the
109board with um their report on both the district financials uh as well as the measure BB program um again as also required by uh proposition 39. So um uh that you will hear directly from him and he will be available to answer questions for the board. So without with that I will turn over to Mr. Tarantino. Thank you, Mr. Nuin. Happy new year, everybody. Good evening, Mr. President, uh, Noyola, members of the board, superintendent Dr. Zitlo, cabinet members, um, my name is Joe Tarantino, senior manager with CWDL. Um, it's an honor to be here tonight to present the annual audit report and measure BB bond report for ABC Unified for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. Before we jump into the presentation, I would like to recognize and commend deputy uh superintendent of business
110services, Mr. Nuin, his director of fiscal services, Miss Aola Aoya, and the rest of the ABC Unified team and site administration for their preparation and dedication in providing the requested items uh to complete the audit in a timely manner. Overall, it was a very positive experience and collab very positive and collaborative experience and speaks volume to the district's management leadership team. On today's agenda, we'll be reviewing and discussing the audit timeline, audit scope, some key highlights, services and deliverables, and summary of audit results for the district and measure BB. [Music] The audit is broken down into four main phases. Starting off with pre- audit and planning, we work with management to coordinate the audit approach and ensure clear communication and expectations. This includes holding interest meetings, establish dates of fieldwork and confirming the scope and
111requirements. The interim fieldwork uh section is during the uh we assess and document internal controls and determine their effectiveness and define identify any potential deficiencies. In addition, we perform various state compliance testing s such as site attendance ASB and verification of an instructional um instructional time and teacher certifications. The year-end phase includes a detailed examination of the financial statements balances as of June 30th including reconciliation procedures and substantive testing. We evaluate estimates, perform cutoff procedures and review key disclosures to ensure accuracy and compliance with applicable accounting standards. Following the conclusion of the fieldwork, we finalized the audit reports which are provided to you tonight. [Music] This slide summarizes a comprehensive scope of the audit, highlighting the standards, regulations, and compliance requirements that guide our work. It outlines our responsibility to perform a full financial and
112compliance audit in accordance with GAP Gazsby government auditing standards. An examination of the financial records in accordance with California education code. Ensure the district is adhering to applicable state compliance audit procedures. Federal compliance testing in accordance with uniform guidance. Our examination also in includes um an ex exclusive audit of the financial and performance reports for the district's bond program as well. Now let's turn uh let's turn our gears to some key highlights of the audit report. Uh just briefly kind of go going over them um high level. The governmentwide statements meaning all funds and resources of the district. The ending net position decreased by 31.8 million to a total of 63.3 million. Statement of activities illustrates the revenues were about 386.5 million while expenses were about uh 396.1 million. 77% of the expenses were for
113instruction instruction related services and pupil services. Capital assets increased by 36.5 million to 291.6 million as a result of continue investment of ongoing construction in school renovations and modernization. The district's long-term liabilities consisting of general obligation bonds, compensated absences, net pension uh liability, and net op liability. the district's overall long-term liabilities increased by a net of 55 million due to the issuance of series C um in the amount of 64.5 million. So for the services uh and deliverables within the audit report, you'll find four deliverable reports within that that the auditors are responsible for. First is the opinion over the district's financial statements referred to as the independent auditor's report noted on pages one through three. Here we express an unmodified opinion on the district's financial statements. It's the highest and best level of assurance
114an auditor can express an issue. We note that the district's financial position and respective financial statements are fairly stated and are materially accurate. There were no audit entries made to the district's unodudited actuals other than the Gazsby 31 fair market value adjustment for cash held in county treasury which varies from year to year. So it's often assessed and booked by auditors as needed. Here we also note that the management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the district's financial statements including the design and implementation of internal controls to ensure the financial statements are free from material misstatement whether arising uh from error or fraud. The next three um deliverables can be found in the other independent auditors report section starting on page 75. So the second deliverable is an assessment of the district's
115internal controls over financial reporting and compliance on page 92 and 93. The intent of this report is to communicate the results of our evaluation of the district's internal controls over financial reporting as well as any significant compliance issues identified during the audit of the financial statements. Essentially, it provides insight into the reliability of the district's financial reporting process and whether the district is adhering to relevant laws and regulations. The third deliverable that we issue an opinion on is over federal programs and compliance required by uniform guidance on pages 94 through 96. The purpose of this report is to assess whether the district has complied with specific compliance requirements associated with federal programs. Since the district expended more than $750,000 in fiscal year 2425, it was subject to a yellowbook single audit of federal awards. Finally,
116the last opinion is the opinion on the district's compliance of state programs as described in the guide for annual audits of K through2 LEAS on pages 97 through 100 in accordance with education audit appeals panel also known as EE where are required to evaluate review and perform compliance testing of certain state programs. A listing of these programs can be found on pages 98 and 99 of that report. Moving on to the summary of audit results. Um this slide is showing on the left an excerpt of page 101 summary of audit results which indicates an unmodified opinion related to the financial statements, federal awards and state awards. We noted no areas of non-compliance or deficiencies in internal controls over financial re over the financial statements and federal awards. The federal programs selected for testing covered migrant
117ed cluster and the head start cluster. However, we did note one state compliance finding that we'll go into a little bit more detail on the next slide. So the only finding that we noted during the audit was related to immunizations. Here at Palm Elementary, we noted that one P TK or uh one pupil in TKK uh was missing uh some immunizations. It is required uh during enrollment or prior to admission that uh the students receive two doses of the vicella and the measles vaccine. The pupil that we noted in our testing only had one of each. So the fiscal impact related to this finding uh resulted in 54 days of attendance that cannot be claimed uh which equates to.36 um ADA uh equivalent to about $4,700. Moving on to the summary of the measure BB
118financial and performance audit results. Uh we indicate here unmodified opinions related to measure BB financial statements. We note no areas of non-compliance or deficiencies in internal controls over uh measure BB financial statements. Again, very good and positive things. On pages 17 through 21 of that report is the performance audit section which gives an opinion of the district's compliance with performance requirements as referred to in the proposition 39 ballot and outlined in article 13A section 1 of the California constitution. The report includes the purpose of measure BB issuances, the audit objectives, scope, and procedures performed, and our conclusion. The performance report notes that we tested 18.2 million out of the 33.1 million of expenditures, representing about 55% of the population. The results of our test indicated in all significant respects that ABC unified has properly accounted
119for the expenditures held in measure BBGO bonds and such expenditures were made for authorized bond projects. With that, I would like to open up uh for any questions the board may have. >> Board member Macan. So, from what I can see, the report is very good, except for the immunization that wasn't caught. Um, and so I guess it just means that we need to be more careful um when we're enrolling students in our schools to make sure they have those immunizations. Correct. >> Yes. Um, the controls of the district, again, very positive uh very knowledgeable district uh personnel and site personnel. Um I think with this particular example, um there was a process in place, but I don't think there was any followup. Um the student was identified, but the site failed to perform follow-ups
120with the particular family in question, >> but the report looks pretty good except for that that one issue. Okay, thank you. >> And it's an improvement over last year. There were a few findings from last year that have been resolved. So again, Mr. Newin and his team are doing great results over here. Thank you, board member McCann. Board member Dr. Rios. >> Thank you. In an effort to understand our financials a little bit better, I don't know if this is a question for auditor Fuan. Um, can you help me understand the diff not necessarily the difference like I noticed that there's in our fund balance there's restricted and committed. Like if I wanted to look a little bit further about what that means, um, where do I go to find that? And then how do
121you as an auditor ensure that you know these funds that were committed in fact are spent in the way that we said we were going to spend them? >> Yes. So in the audit report there is a section in the notes of the financial statements and the notes to the financial statements uh provide a little bit more clarity on the district's balances and accounting policies. Let me go ahead and find the particular page 42. So on page 40 there is a chart that represents the fund balance on what's non-spendable, restricted and committed. Uh when we audit these balances, not only do we um work with the district and um obtaining their unodudited actuals which would have been reported to the state, but we also look at board policies um as well as any type of
122other commitments that the board or that the district has in terms of documentation for the restricted items. A lot of that stuff is uh the categorical restricted items. um uh balances that are being held um rest in restricted resources. So, it's pretty easy to obtain a listing of those items. And then I think there's additional language in the report on page 32 towards the um um second half of it. It defines each of the classification. I hope that helps. >> I'll add it to my reading. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member Rios. Clerk Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I just It's a lot of information. I'm glad you're doing it instead of me. So, um, it was one student at Palms. Just one. >> Correct. >> So, we've gone to Palms. This question
123is maybe for staff. We have already spoken to Palm and put practices in to make sure that we are following up and and just not just Palms but all of our schools. >> That is correct. Yes. >> Okay. The other one was the underfunded ADA of 4,697. Um it says that we tried to revise it but we're not able to. They go doesn't allow us to do it. in the future are we going to be able to get? It doesn't sound like a lot, but when we're in the situation that we're in, I think every every penny counts. >> Yes. Unfortunately, because of the lack of the second dose of immunization, the question cost in question, um the $4,686, uh we would have to um not be able to claim that those days. Uh those
12488 days, um unfortunately, we won't be able to claim that. Okay. >> So, uh, therefore, out of, you know, the 350 million or so district budget, $4,686 are not claimable because of this finding. >> Okay. So, we're just going to make sure that those practices are in place at our school sites. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. And then the last one, it says, um, we recommend that the LEA update their policies and procedures to align with ELOP guidance. I think we've we've done that. Okay. So, then my questions are done. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you, Clerk Mendoza. Board member, you >> Thank you, President. Um, thank you for your presentation. Crunching a lot of numbers. >> I'm glad you're doing it and not us and Twant. Um, for the
125measure BB bond, just for the public to hear once again, this information will be available. >> Yes, it will be posted or it has been posted on the district website. >> Okay. So, yeah. and um the district's performance on the measure BB bond uh projects and just overall everything is pretty much we're doing good. >> Yes. And part of our procedures not only including expenditure testing but we also look at procurement and um change order testing which is often a an area for improvement um in in a lot of school districts. Um but in ABC we found that uh you had a very knowledgeable director of purchasing who knows a lot about uh the change order process uh bidding um Cupco rules and regulations and so forth. >> Okay. Yes. >> Well, that's really good
126to hear. Thank you so much for that. And the second question is um regarding I don't know if this is something I can ask you but since we're dealing with the financials I know that last year when uh President Ernie was the president we received a letter from LEO regarding our budget. How are we doing with that and this year? >> That's a great question. Um my role as an auditor, we don't we're not required to audit the budget. >> Um so we just report the numbers. We don't really assess them for reasonableness or correctness. So that I'm going to have to probably refer to management to kind of talk more about the budget. >> Thank you. U pres member U. Um when the board uh adopted the budget for the 2526 year um in
127that budget adoption uh there was $5.7 million in reduction >> that the board approved uh that has satisfied the u the request from uh the Los Angeles County Office of Education uh have requested that uh the district put forward a budget stabilization plan. So um in discussing with the county, we have satisfied that request uh assuming there's no further uh deficit spending by the district. Meaning that if we were to uh stay uh within our budget and control our spending then uh um then we have satisfied that concern. Like I said, uh that is assuming that the district is um being very very conscientious and frugal in our spending and watch every dollar that we spent. >> Thank you. Thank you, Tuan. That's that's good to hear. Thank you. That is all. And maybe to
128piggyback off one more thing, we do apply some limited procedures in terms of the uh fiscal stabilization um ensuring that the district meets the minimum reserve required by the state. Um I think a district of this size is two or 3% 3%. Um as well as that they're able to meet not only current year um expenditures but we assess if we think they have the ability to meet next year's expenditures as well which we thought was uh relevant and sufficient. >> That's right. Yeah. And we've been hearing that. So currently we have >> Do we have 3%. >> Yes, ma'am. We do. >> Okay. That's good to hear. So we're in good shoes. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member. Um, Mr. Tarantino, thank you so much for being here tonight. You know, giving us
129that great A. Mr. Tuan, Mr. Win, thank you so much for all the hard work your team does. Uh, you know, it shows that every dollar we spend is going to its intended purpose. And, you know, this is a good sign for ABC that we're we're getting back on track with our fiscal. >> Mr. President, if I may, I um would like to, and I don't have a chance to do this a lot, but recognize uh the accounting department uh under um Miss Monica Aurora here. Uh >> they do all the work. >> Uh so year closing is is is is challenging. uh with the new system from the county add another layer to it with um you know uh staffing control meaning that I try not to hire as for as long as I
130can. Um so they they work uh very hard and I appreciate and I want to publicly thank uh Monica and and her department. >> Thank you guys. Thank you Monica. All right, moving into information item. Whitney High School configuration. Mr. Win. Thank you, President Nyola. So, um as the board recall, we have um board approved uh the uh restructure and reconfiguration of our schools. And with that, um there was a preparation for the transition of sixth grade to middle schools, uh including Whitney High Schools, and uh present to the board the different options the board uh have for for Whitney High Schools. And as you know uh Whitney High School is as other than the number one high school in California uh you know it's currently have um our structure is that grade 7 to
13112 students are invited to to um participate or apply for uh under more policy and and and and attend and on average about 170 students per grade level uh for a total of about 1,030 students uh that we currently have at Whitney high schools. So with the transitions uh of the sixth grades into middle schools um you know the board have options with regard to Whitney and as outlined on page beginning on page 135 in the report uh the different options that that that you have. Uh and I will briefly go over the options um and um of course uh that will be followed with public comments and and board discussions. So, um, option A is to add grade six to, uh, Whitney High School, just like, um, we adding sixth grades to, um, the
132middle schools, right? I'm sorry, I misspoke. Option A is to add the sixth grade to the middle schools and keep Whitney exactly the same status quo. Um meaning that Whitney or there will be no change for Whitney. They remain 7 to 12 sixth graders who attend middle school and apply into to Whitney High School just just because so that is the least uh disruptive option. Uh meaning that there will be no change to the Whitney process. So that is option A. Um, option B would be um adding six grades to Whitney and make it Whitney um 6 to 12. So now we adding um a grade level similar to uh the middle school. We adding sixth grade to to Whitney High School, make them 6 to 12 and and and provide one more grade level
133up 165 students to Whitney. um high school. So with this option clearly when you add uh you know that many students to the schools you have to look at capacities in term of the physical classrooms that they currently do not have. So we would have to look at additional classrooms five or six classrooms potentially lockers for the sixth graders and restrooms. Uh so those facilities um that have to be considered should the board uh um consider option B which is adding six race to Whitney High School. The third option was um mentioned in a report by the consultant back in June I believe May June by school works is um uh separating Whitney into a Whitney high school and a Whitney middle school increase um students both within the district resident students and outside of
134the district. Uh so basically you would have the current Whitney will become N 9 to 12 where the Whitney High School of about 250 students each um and about 200 of those uh 1,000 students will come from outside the district um as ally on page 135 and and that um you will convert either a school an elementary school into a Whitney Middle School and you add six right there and you add additional students from residents and and and permit. So, um there will be two they'll be on two separate campus, Whitney Middle School and Whitney High School. This will bring in an additional hopefully um 275 students uh from outside the district. uh in this option uh the Whitney the current Whitney facility would be able to accommodate Whitney High School but then you would
135need to consider converting an an elementary school into a Whitney Middle School and there's cost associating with with that. Uh so but if this um were to come to fruition, if we were to get the additional 275 uh students, right, there's cost with that. There's staffing costs uh with that, but the the net sa I want to say saving, but the net positive uh from the additional revenues because of the additional students um ongoing is about $2 million. Uh after all the costs associating with staffing and and and and everything. Uh now, not to mention the one-time cost been very, you know, a middle school, an elementary school into a middle school. Again, the same issue uh with lockers with with, you know, making sure that the classrooms are suitable for middle schools and with
136all the additional facilities needed uh for a middle school. So, that would be option C. um page one um 36 in your report um pretty much provide a compare comp comparison between the different options and the pro and the cons if you will uh so uh for for the board. So so with that I would um that was my report on on the Whitney configuration uh for the board to consider and I would um it back to Mr. President. >> Thank you Mr. W. We will now have public comments. >> Thank you, Mr. President. We do have two speakers. Our first speaker is Mr. Rick Torres. And Mr. Torres, I'm just going to remind you we have a new system. So, the timer is going to be on the podium. So, I'm going to go
137ahead and press start. Are you ready? >> Yep. Not used to having five minutes. So, >> I know. Okay. Here we go. >> Yep. >> Good evening, board members. My name is Rick Torres. I'm a Whitney High alumni, a proud parent of two Whitney 7th graders, and a proud spouse of a current Whitney faculty member. I appreciate you guys setting aside uh time to discuss the proposed changes to Whitney High School. Uh when weighing the difficult decisions that were in front of the board last year, board member Anishi multiple times stated that all decisions could be reversed. Uh we're being now presented with three options and I believe there should be a fourth option which is to walk back the decision to convert junior highs into middle schools. Uh we're aware of the serious financial
138challenges that the district is facing and we should focus on decisions that provide financial benefits to all. we should not be making significant um changes just because the advisory board made suggestions. The consolidation provides no fiscal benefits uh that and now we're being presented with three options that uh increase unnecessary spending. Option one would send students to three different schools in three years with no benefit. Option two is far from ideal as it uh proposes that we spend $4.5 million um when we just finished voting to close four schools. And option three is the worst of all because it robs the younger students from all the advantages of sharing an amazing campus with the older high school students who do help guide them. And it comes at an a very large uh price tag of
139$12 million. Uh option three also puts our students at a disadvantage uh while using them just to raise revenue for the district. Uh why have we not gotten feedback from teachers and administration for proposed changes? Uh they are an untapped resource who should have a seat at the table. all of this meeting uh and if this meeting is an attempt uh to get feedback from stakeholders, I would say it's inadequate. It's inconvenient at best uh for people to attend the meetings and it's inequitable for many people who have other obligations like child care and work in the evenings. Uh I should actually be at home right now helping my daughter prepare her for her math test tomorrow. Um but I know from experience these meetings do go very long and I did want to make
140sure to have my voice heard. Um, if these changes are being made to help also eliminate combo classes, let's discuss options that do not disrupt all of the sixth graders, teachers, and administrations. Uh, if these changes are being made due to concerns of maintaining enough students in each junior high, then we're putting a band-aid on a massive open wound. We've all seen the enrollment numbers for each grade, and this is not going to fix the junior high number problem. It's only going to date delay the inevitable for a couple years. So, let's not waste critical dollars and resources on non-solutions. Let's discuss uh beneficial actions. Thank you. >> Our next speaker is Mr. Andy say Thank you, Mr. S. Are you ready? We're going to press the the timer. Okay, begin. >> Hello, my name
141is Andy Sheay. Um, I am an alumnest of both Leo Elementary and Whitney High School and I am a current ABC parent and I also work for the district as uh a day-to-day and long-term substitute teacher. Uh but today I'm here representing uh the Whitney Foundation. I serve as co-chair of the Whitney Foundation and uh our foundation is the umbrella organization for all of our uh PTSA and parent groups and also um our 8,000 alumni and alumni association. So the foundation uh surveyed our current families And we also surveyed alumni and uh we want to uh present to you uh because you're you're meeting today. We want to present to you the preliminary sample of the results that we have so far. We as of 5:00 pm today we have 124 responses from current families
142and uh 70 responses from alumni. And uh we will continue to uh update the figures as we uh receive more responses. Um this paper is uh a summary of the uh charts showing the major choices that people had when it comes to what their values and priorities are. Uh we have also collected almost 1,000 pieces of testimony, people sharing their personal experiences about what uh a difference Whitney High School has made in their lives. And uh we cannot print all of those out for you today, but we will make those uh we'll make a digest of those summarizing the major categories of responses available to the board both on our website and we will send it to you electronically after the meeting. Um I think uh just to summarize the the major points um first
143of all if you asked our our families and alumni they would say the overwhelming majority would not have moved uh sixth grade into middle school. Um but uh if you do have to do that for demographic reasons and financial reasons, they would say uh that we we prefer the Whitney be included in that instead of being separated out and having uh students have to uh change to three different schools in three years. Uh the second thing is that uh when it comes to the trend of Whitney has a fixed enrollment but the district's enrollment is declining every year uh the effect of that is that Whitney every year becomes a larger and larger proportion of the district's students and um our current families and our alumni are concerned that uh that will lower the selectivity
144of Whitney High School and um dismantle or destroy the very thing that makes Whitney such a strong attraction to the district in the first place. Um, when it comes to whether or not to separate uh Whitney Middle School from Whitney High School, uh, the overwhelming majority, uh, 56% of current families and 62% of alumni would like for the middle school and the high school students to stay together. Even if you had to move them to a separate campus like say sour down the street, they would like students to have the option of taking classes at both campuses and uh continuing that relationship with the teachers at both campuses. Um and as far as out of district students, uh that's a very controversial topic. On the one hand, we have people saying that uh well, we
145will welcome students if they are held to the same standards. Uh but um on the other hand, we're afraid that bringing out of district families will change Whitney's culture and add to the competitiveness and the pressure. And finally, um we did not see your agenda until the end of Friday, the close of business Friday. And then we are also hearing about the possibility that instead of going to Sters uh that maybe FedEd Middle School could be repurposed to be Whitney Middle School. And so we feel that um these items have not been clearly communicated with the families and uh that's why at this time we don't feel prepared to give a more informed feedback to the board. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Sheay. Mr. President, we have one more speaker. Uh, Mrs. Carla Santa
146Cruz. Good evening again. Um, I already said good evening and so I'll take my five minutes. Although I really don't uh need that time because I'm not prepared for a formal presentation like I was in the past knowing ahead of time of what the different options were that you were going to be considering. I did look u at the agenda today and I looked at the PowerPoint so that I could see the the figures but I'm just shocked and surprised and dismayed that there are not more people giving input because this is such a very huge topic. I can't imagine that the families and the teachers and the students don't have more to say. But nevertheless, without looking at the other uh configurations that we've talked about in the past, I see that the item
147has to do with Whitney specifically. And so I just have a few comments. I think that staying with option A, leaving Whitney the way that it is, provides Whitney families to be happy and no cost to the district. Uh, no further cost. When I look at option B, I see portables coming in. I see a lot of expense when we've just gone through this very painful process talking about closing schools. And I don't feel that that's um an option that the community would support, but I think you need to hear more from the community. I'm giving my personal opinion. I do oppose 6 through 12 being at the same campus. I already mentioned the the cost, but from as a teacher and as a parent, I think about the pressures that the students already feel
148when they're going to be invited as sixth graders versus going to seventh graders. There's so many Whitney preparationmies. I can't imagine the pressure on the students. That would be huge. Going back to option A, I understand that there would be movement that would be interrupting the students that they would have to go uh to sixth grade at a different school. But I'm sure that there are at least 10 families in the district that would go for that because Whitney is highly desired by some families. And option C, when I looked at the chart, I see that only 10 district students from each grade would be invited to go to Whitney. That just seems so minimal with all the cost that's going to in be incurred to go with option C. Um, I do understand the
149fact that we do want to have more students come into our district. So I do understand the concept of opening it up throughout the district and I think that that's another issue for others to uh discuss. When I worked with the magnet schools, I know how difficult it was to be able to advertise to bring in students from outside of the district. But I'm going to repeat that I oppose closing sters who already bring students from outside of the district. There's already a high level of competition of students and families that want the program as it stands. And after you voted to close the schools, then you voted to provide funds for advertising and the freeway signs and things that I had even suggested. So, I feel like it's a little bit backwards to look
150at dismantling some things, uh, increasing cost, not really getting the full benefit, and not honoring the students that we already have. I've repeated myself. I acknowledge that, but I don't see anybody else here. So, I'm speaking on behalf of my personal opinion, but I don't think I'm the only one in the district. Thank you. Thank you. I believe we have one more speaker, Mr. President. Our next speaker is Mr. Rael. And are you ready? It's It's brand new. >> So, no sign anymore? >> No. No more. No more. >> That was part of the fun of being in the audience, just so you know. >> Mr. It was cuz then you knew there was tension in the air. >> Okay, I'm going to go ahead and start it. >> Good evening. I'm Ray Gar, president
151of the ABC Federation of Teachers. Um, >> you said take my time. >> Well, a a lot of districts do uh six to eight middle schools. So, you know, I don't understand the the fear of that. We were called middle schools back in the 90s and uh there was a decision not to fully implement that but we've been middle schools in name for a long time. So you know we've been thinking about this for 30 years. Uh it's proven that it works. Uh our sixth grade students are probably more advanced than uh they were 30 years ago. and it's probably more appropriate for them to be in a different setting. I do um agree with one of the earlier speakers that said uh you know the idea of having having another school where they they
152still have contact with the same group of kids uh as a as a Whitney middle school and that they still interact with the same teachers. I'm sure they'll be crossover. um you know that that's something that could bring extra revenue to this district. Uh to be brut you know you ask what do the teachers think about this? The teachers at this point realize that we are staffed too thin in many many schools. Um you know clearly the committee could have closed another four schools just to be brutally honest. uh we are in a budget tight situation because we have done the right thing and we spent money in the classrooms with p on personnel uh and we've stretched that as far as we could as a district and we have good results. I mean, you
153look at all the other academics at other schools in other districts. We're still one of the top districts in I'd say the state of California, Cal, probably in the country because of the things we do. We do it for students. But there becomes a breaking point. you know, uh we have great health benefits here, but there's discussion about how do you maintain those when you're spending so much on um personnel and it the time has come for us to have discussions about staffing accordingly. We have classrooms that are light and it's great that we have had the opportunity to have small classrooms to get students through the pandemic and to get them going again. But financially, as a district, if we're going to recruit and retain good teachers, we need to make some hard decisions
154about closing schools, opening opportunities for more people to come into this district. $2 million is nothing, you know, extra just because we open up opportunities at Whitney. $2 million is a lot of money that could go uh a long way to help out our school district to pay for other things. The longer we wait, the longer we languish, uh the more damage to um holding on to those good teachers, good classified workers, good administrators, good cabinet members, uh they will go away. So, you need to make some decisions. I understand that, you know, we there's um you know, there's a lot of pride in what Whitney has been, but as the district morphs, Whitney's going to have to morph, too. They are a shining star. Why not spread that shining star? Make it bigger. If
155if it's such an attraction, and it is attraction for people to bring their kids into this district, then let's make it bigger, a bigger attraction. Perhaps it'll increase enrollment in those other schools as they start to think about how they can bring their kids into this district. And there would be, I'm sure, a slotted number of uh, you know, a certain percentage of those people would actually uh, have their kids in the school. There'd be protected protection from for those that are residents. That that'll all be worked out. Let's not be afraid of outside influences or, you know, the boogeyman. Let's let's focus on kids. focus on being fiscally smart and looking at ABC morphing over the next few years. Thank you. >> Thank you. Did we have any more speakers? Okay, one more speaker,
156Mr. President. Jonathan, can you say your last name for me? >> Uh, Shay. >> Jonathan Shay. Thank you so much. Um, remember that the five minutes are on the iPad. >> Yes. Um, hello uh, school board. Uh, I am doing this on a whim. I decided to do this about 30 seconds ago. However, um I uh need to stress the importance of this because uh I graduated from Whitney High School last year. Uh I um have been particularly affected by the unique student culture that Whitney has to offer. Uh largely due to uh the fact that it is a 7 through 12 school. Um and I think those in the ability for middle schoolers and high schoolers to interact with each other is incredibly important. Um, I'm already collecting testimony from current uh and former
157middle schoolers from Whitney uh because they have all been uh very positively affected by being able to interact with um older students uh at least like in a mentor and traininee capacity uh or at least that's the dynamic that they have going on. And I think this uh h having like more uh you know unique students at least being able to mix together like that uh it allows for a certain atmosphere that is um I I would say unique in the sense that uh everybody is is not focused on each other's differences. I come uh I am not from Cerritos. I come from uh I came from a district where I was pretty much the only Asian person in my grade uh perhaps the entire school. So when I first came to Whitney, I was
158very surprised by uh you know how well everybody was able to work with each other even though there there is a gigantic melting pot and um that's something that I think needs to be preserved because uh now obviously uh here in Critos every everybody um there are a lot of people who look like me but um I also noticed that Whitney at Whitney there everybody is able to, you know, be them, uh, be themselves. Uh, they're able to, uh, younger students are able to confide in older students freely. They're, uh, I don't think there's any bullying issue as far as I've seen. And I think that's wonderful that younger students are able to grow up in that kind of atmosphere because, um, I didn't exactly have that. So I I w I wish for everybody
159else to have that kind of experience. Um thank you. I think we have one more. >> Mr. Kevin Yu. >> Hi. >> Thank you. Do I need to push anything? >> No, I'm going to do it for you. >> Okay, thank you. I won't take the full five minutes, but thank you so much. Uh, my name is Kevin U. Uh, I am a Whitney alumni, class of 1996. I have kids at Le and I also have a seventh grader at Whitney this year. Um, I was not planning on speaking. Um, I'm also part of the Whitney Foundation. I work with Andy. I wasn't planning on speaking tonight, but I wanted to directly respond to the idea that some of us are fe fearful of the boogeyman. Uh, that is not the case. I could not
160emphasize that anymore. I don't think anybody at Whitney is afraid of, you know, outsiders, quote unquote. I mean, everybody, everybody here lives within a 5 mile radius inside the district or outside. So, this idea that people are different and we would be afraid of opening up admissions to outsiders is crazy. Um, what I wanted to focus on is my feedback as a parent and as an alumni. Um, Whitney is part of the ABC family. We're one big school district. If the school district moves to six through 8 for middle school, my personal belief is Whitney should do the same. We're no different. We're no we're no we're not special. We're part of the same district. Why should we be different? But my personal opinion also is um like Mr. Torres said, we should not do
161that. We should go we should stay with seven through eight. But if the, you know, the board decides that financially it only makes sense to ch to change to six through eight, my personal belief is Whitney should follow. Why should we be any different? We're one family. Okay, so that out of the way, the uh the current exercise, I think, is focused on financial stability, right? The school district needs to be financially stable. Uh which is why we're closing schools and we're talking about reconfiguration. If I look at option A, B, and C, focusing on option C, there's a huge upfront cost. I think it's $12 million. And the uh net revenue coming in is $2 million. So that's, you know, off the top of your head, that's a six to sevenyear payback period. It's
162a big upfront investment and an unknown payback, right? Um that also if we look at our survey that Andy distributed that elicit that portion of opening up the school district to outside students elicits the most controversy. So there's a huge financial cost up front, an unknown payback period and a huge amount of controversy that you have to deal with up front. So if I look at that, I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I'm not in your shoes. Uh, option B, if the district goes to six to eight, option B doesn't seem so bad to me. Adding one year to Whitney, um, you know, I'm a Le parent. The traffic at Le is crazy in the morning. The traffic at Whitney is nowhere near as bad as Le. There's a lot more space. There
163is a lot more um, capacity to absorb another 170 students. There's plenty of space to add portable classrooms. Um, and that seems to me a reasonable phase one, let's say, if the school district goes 6 to 8. You know, obviously doing nothing is our preference. We all like what we already know. Nobody likes change. But if the school district has to move forward and has to go 6 through 8, moving sixth grade to Whitney, in my personal opinion, makes the most sense from an equity perspective because it gives the students few the fewest transitions. And it also makes the most financial sense to the district. And nothing precludes the board in the future from deciding to also then split the campus in two and invite another 300 students from out of district. Nothing says you
164can't do that at a later later phase, but I don't understand personally looking at the numbers why it makes sense to spend $12 million to do that right now given that the net payback is only $2 million per year. And you know, six and seven years is a very long time. Plus, it adds the most controversy to any of the proposals given the feedback we've gotten from 190 different families um in the last I think what three days um that we've had the survey out. So, in in conclusion, if the board decides to move 6 through 8, as a parent, as an alumni, I would support Whitney conforming with the district, the rest of the district. We're already different in having a different admissions process. I don't feel that we should be so different to
165also have different grade levels. It doesn't feel right. We should be part of the same family. Um, so that's my feedback. My apologies. I did use the full five minutes. Thank you so much. >> We have no more speakers. Mr. President, >> thank you, Clerk Mendoza. Uh board discussion. Uh board member Dr. Rios. >> Thank you. Yeah, I struggled to kind of understand what the proposals were and um just to voice my own personal opinion. Um of course, you know, a would be no change, which of course everybody's comfortable with and you know that would have been the option that probably all of us would have been most comfortable with. you know, we had to sit through forums where we had 500 people come out and say, "Please don't close our schools." Um, change is
166hard. Change is difficult. We're at a point where we have to do things differently. So, um, that being said, um, my opinion on option B, I don't like it. I don't think that adding sixth grade to a campus with 12th graders, I I don't know how I can support that. Um I do appreciate that sixth grade is a completely different curriculum and for that reason I am in support of well not in support but you know a lot of times we have to give be willing to compromise moving them to a middle school campus with seventh and eighth. Um but yeah option B for me is not not a very good one. Um option C to me is the option that presents opportunity. Um, we would allow or expand Whitney. Uh, I like the idea
167of a 678. I do support it on a separate campus. It it allows us to do something that we've been talking about, which is rebranding um a a possibility for one of our our middle schools. Um, you mentioned Whitney and I mean it's one of the top high schools in the country and so that's going to follow that is going to follow those students wherever they go. Um, bringing in 275 students to me is is is ideal. Um, I I want more information of thus $12 million because if we're bringing in more students like and we're just moving them from one campus to a campus that already exists, I I want detailed information about what these $12 million cost. To me, it seems I'm very curious about that. Um, as well as the $2 million
168like is that the ADA that we would get from those 275 students? Like I definitely need more information. I I do again support the idea of C. Um and I'm going to be honest that I I take offense sometimes to the fact that when we talk about change at Whitney um there is this fear that seems to surface that that somehow change means less and you know it kind of reminds me of when this board went from all to by area. There was this incredible fear that, you know, here was ABC, this amazing district that all of a sudden was going to bring in board members from different areas and somehow that was going to lessen the status of ABC and here we are. I think if anything, we've elevated the status of of ABC
169with our diversity. So, I think rebranding um considering change um is a good thing. There is brilliance and you know Whitney's known for the top students in in our district. They exist in all of our schools. You know, I think our elementaryaries kind of um don't like that they get put at Whitney because they like, you know, them to see they they would like to keep that I say I'm going to use the word brilliance at their school. Um but at the same time there it's nice to have a place where that sense of academic commitment and you know gets celebrated and and gets to be shared with students. But again um just kind of want to highlight that that change does not mean less. It it actually usually adds to the greatness. Thank you.
170>> Thank you board member Rios. Board member Nishi. I didn't think I'd be second, but um so I'm thinking that uh I I agree with Dr. Rios that change is ine inevitable. We we have got to address the the biggest most draw that we have in our district which is is Whitney. But just because it changes to and be more inclusive of other u more people doesn't mean it becomes less strong. It maybe becomes stronger. Right now, my daughter went to Whitney and there's only like three language classes you can take. Chinese, Spanish, and Japanese. Not like uh a fullervice high school like Critos where you can take Korean, Tagalog, uh I don't know, French, I don't know. But I mean, there's a lot more choices. And I just remember that she had these uh
171um choices that math if you if you're not doing great at this level, then there aren't a heck of a lot of choices. You are kind of stuck or you're going to get out of the school. One or the other. The lack of students can be a strength, but it's also um a weakness. I think that, you know, sometimes you we need to have some economies of scale to to enable us to, you know, integrate more people to come in. I I don't think Whitney is about just selectivity. It's about transporting our advantages to the other parts of the district, right? It's not just about this school is a bunch of uh one specific service that we're going to provide to one group, but the advantages of Whitney should go over to uh Betty. It
172should go over to the other schools that we have out there and have these kids like for example Troy. I remember they have the one group where they are tested in and you have the other students that are part of the same campus and I think it elevates the whole campus that you have the selected group and and a general group that that's there. I don't think it hurts anything. So um based upon my daughter's experience, not my experience. Um I she also didn't you know when she has her friends she integrates with the friends that are her cohort or their age cohort. She doesn't go to like um the 12th graders if she was in seventh grade. I I don't know that that interaction I mean sure it's there but some and some of
173the teacher interactions are going to be there and are important but also being able to be with your grade level is sometimes advantageous and and I think is is part of it. So uh option A is obviously the the easiest option. Um, everybody would be okay with that, but I don't think it recognizes that we have a great thing. Doc, uh, uh, board member Mendoza had an idea. Why don't we use it to, uh, bring in kids to our elementary schools? And so, if we're going to allow out of district kids, not in excess of the ratio, but maybe in the same ratio that other kids would have to to be competitive in our schools. So, I think it's good to have growth. I have a question about this potential net revenue of $2 million
174annually, though. Um, because I'm just trying to do the math here. Uh, 175 275 kids. What how much did you uh calculate based upon the kids, our ADA? >> Thank you for the question. So, I'll address both the 12 million and >> and I should have asked in advance, but yeah. Um so no this and and and and and really thank you for for giving me a chance to clarify the numbers. Um so let's address the uh the ongoing additional potential revenue first. Right. >> So if you're bringing in 275 students uh from outside that you don't have right now uh with about 15,000 per student depends on what number you want to use. That will bring in about $4.1 million in topline revenues. Right? So there's cost with it with 275 students. Let's say
17510 teachers can be a little bit less but let's just use 27.5 uh 10 teachers. So that's 1.5 million in cost right and then you add extra support about another half a million that's 2 million in cost. >> Okay so that's that's very simple. I I I did it in a spreadsheet. I just don't have it in here, but as you can see, right, 275 time 15,000, that's your revenue. This is your cost. The direct cost would be the teacher cost, right? And then there's you can add in maybe you need addition half a million for additional support. You may not uh >> but teachers are 85% of the cost, >> correct? >> That's the big big one. >> So, so usually, so the ratio is that. So, so you would that's 2 million. So,
176I hope that that answered the question, right? >> It does answer the question. Thank you. So the 12 million, thank you for the question. Uh because if you were to move the middle school into a school that's been renovate already, it won't be that much. So we are hypothetically and this is hypothetically if we were to move Whitney Middle School under option C to sour just again hypothetically. I want to make sure it just we have not renovated ours. So there's it would have to be renovated if it were to stay open, right? There's $6 million in measure BB funds set aside to renovate Star Wars. We spent some of that, but there should be about five five a.5 million left that would have been normally renovate anyway. So the true increase in cost of
177converting an elementary school again like sours had it been renovated into middle school adding lockers and another grade level would be about four 4 and a.5 million just like the other option. So, so you know in this case we we want to be um conservative and at 6 million that's how you get the 12 million but the true facility cost would be 6 million very similar uh a little bit more than the option B but but the reason is 12 because you are moving into a school that has not been renovated under measure BB had that school been again I'm going to use an example of a school has been renovated like Brack it will not be that because the classrooms have been renovated. So that is um the timing of it just happened to
178work out that you're moving into a school that have unused measure BB fund designated for that school that would have been renovated anyway should the board not to consolidate the school. >> So so so that that's that's >> so is it 12 or six? It's 12 but but it's just the true cost would be the additional six >> actually six. >> Yes. >> Is six. >> Yeah. So that um >> it yeah it kind of challenging to to try to explain it in in here but if we so that's why I say thank you for the question is give me a chance to explain it. It's easier for me to explain it than some sometime. >> So um >> that helps you. Yeah. So, I mean, I'm looking at that going, >> "Yeah, >> well,
179two million, if 2 million is a real number, because I was wondering if that was a real number because $4 million and half of it is profit. That's pretty amazing." And I I hate to say it like profit, but I mean, that's what it is. Um, you pay back a 30-year asset in one, two, three, three years. That's that never happens. That almost never happens. That's like adding a whole that's adding a whole building almost right to to the to the district and um paying it off in three years. I can't pay off my house in three years. Um All right. Thank you. Thank you. I think >> option three is here's another question. So what if we have an existing middle school? Does it dummers change significantly? So if you have an existing middle
180school that's been renovated already, which all of our middle school have. Yeah. The additional cost would be adding sixth grade to that just like what we were addressing at the middle school lockers. Uh because all of our middle school have the capacity. So you don't need additional classroom. But it just the lockers is the issue for sixth grade to middle school. Depends on how you know on the instructional side are we going to do PE at at the middle school whether they need to change out their clothes or not. Uh so the program side will uh drive the facility needs and the facility will support the the instructional side just like our school >> but you'd have to have a school that would fit the existing students and the 600 new students at at middle
181school. >> Correct. >> That's uh could be a lot of kids. >> Correct. So, uh, like I said, our current all our current middle schools with with the reconfiguration that moving the sixth rate to them all have capacity. So, you don't need additional classroom, but you would need, you know, auxiliary facility like like lockers. >> So, it wouldn't be 12 million bucks >> for for >> if we move to a middle school, >> correct? It would be less. >> How much less do you think? Like half >> it would be under option B like four and a half million. But yeah, because if you move to the school that's renovate already, you just need auxiliary and maybe potentially additional um classroom. But again, all of our middle school because of the sixth grade moving to
182them will will not be able to accommodate another 600 student. None of our middle school will. >> Okay. None of our middle schools would accommodate another 600 kids. >> Correct. That would make them 1,200. Yeah. >> Okay. All right. So then that's not feasible. >> Correct. Not at a middle school. >> Not at a middle school. Okay. All right. Thank you for making that clear. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you board member Nishi. Board member you. >> Thank you President Nyola. Um so the main purpose and the goal of um this whole movement is to address the declining enrollment. I'm sorry, my I have a little bit of asthma because of the weather. So, we want to address the declining enrollment and the the the deficit, right? So, that's why I mean no change
183and that would be comfortable for everybody. So, you know, this is uncomfortable for everybody. It's not an easy decision and that's why uh you know the declining enrollment started like 10 years ago not just like few years ago but it's 10 years ago and it's not just our district but entire California many factors I won't go into that and uh it was very necessary to come to certain decision before we started using the BB bond um BB bond money because uh you're all stakeholders and um using the BB bond money to renovate schools that can potentially be consolidated is not the wise thing to do. So that's why we are where we're at. But I appreciate the comments tonight from some of the Whitney Foundation members. That was that's very critical. And I understand that
184uh the seventh grade to 12th grade There's a very special element I understand. I've been hearing it from many people and your personal experience, the mentoring and just the relationships that you form and you learn and the challenges and so forth, right? And uh we want to keep that as much as possible. And I know that uh someone you know mentioned about um if the two campuses are in prox proximity is close enough you know something like that can be sustained. And so we're still in the discussion stage and we've come to this creative um plan and we can continue to roll out but with option A B C I won't go into too much detail but yeah the option A to go from one school to another school that's that just doesn't make sense
185right and then for option uh B that you know to add the modular that is just not really a long term. So I would have to support the option C because this makes most sense um in terms of long term because our district is also in competition with other districts like I get flyers from Buena Park uh you know different district because everybody is now competing and we're just at that point where we want to uh promote our magnet program like tonight's uh Gar High School baseball team. I didn't know baseball team was so strong to to get recruited and sign off with the you know universities. That's big deal. That's going to attract some of these um baseball players because you have to start really young and Gar High School will attract some parents
186to come to our school. So for that reason, uh, we want to strengthen Whitney and we want to strengthen the rest of the district. And so it's not just one school, but we we're all one unified district. That is the beauty of our district because we we can collaborate. There's a lot we can do. We can roll out many magnet programs and so forth. So that and another um one very important factor is that with all the the IT and AI uh technology advancing and the future uh many jobs will be in that field. uh strengthening math and having a math pathway that stands out from other district is very important and many parents are very savvy. They talk to each other and um there's so many online programs like Stanford have an online program
187is K through 12. So if we have students and parents who's willing to go that extra mile and there are students who are gifted and a seventh grader can start with geometry or or eighth grade you're already taking algebra 2. There's no middle school that offer those uh pathway but if a middle school Whitney allows that kind of pathway and we make it happen so that the students and parents have choices and we attract you know gifted students and parents and the students are already finished with calculus BC by 10th grade they're taking college alge uh calculus by 11th grade and this is happening in the Asian countries already so we want to be at that level too, but you can't really do offer those classes with 100 uh currently we have a 175 U
18810th graders, 175 11th graders with that class size. I want to ask Dr. Castro, there is a limit of how many AP classes, AP math and science classes that a school can offer. And this option C will allow uh our district to be creative and um you know strengthen Whitney so that that can be attractive you know and students from neighboring district parents they're searching for high schools and they test out we'll attract we're going to attract best of the best and of course we can argue that we want to give more space for our students inside the district which I'm not against but we don't want to do too much because then how about other high schools? We have to have a balance. So that's uh my uh thoughts and Dr. um Castro, can
189you comment on kind of with the class size and the classes that we can offer? What's the relationship? >> Yeah, certainly obviously a smaller school site with less enrollment, it is difficult to diversify the offerings um because there's not enough students to then go into the various pathways. So we are limited by the number of students at a particular school. >> Um and also we are looking towards a math adoption soon adjusting math pathways. So the timeline for that kind of coincides with some of these changes and so it would be ideal for all that to kind of come together at the same time. So in terms of timeline to making some of these changes, all of this could coincide to support expanding pathway options and to support um the implementation of sixth grade at
190our middle schools and at Thank you very much. >> Thank you, board member. You board clerk Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I appreciate all the public comments on thisformational item because there's some things that I didn't think about. Um, one of the things that I didn't think about is our traffic flow. Um, our elementary schools, if you've been around during the morning or the afternoon, you you you know what it's like. So, that was something I hadn't thought about. Um, and and I do appreciate that. You know, we are changing. We are evolving as a district. Um, my biggest concern is expenses. So, I'm looking at 12 million. We're just we just closed we're closing two schools this year. Is there some way I'm looking at option B and maybe uh Mr. Nwin,
191you can help me with this. I'm looking at option B where Whitney stays six uh sixth grade to to 12th grade. Um and I'm looking over here where it says there's going to be 165 students coming into Whitney. As it reads right now, these 165 students would be ABC students only just the way we have the policy right now. >> That is correct. >> Could we have an option where of those 165 students, we open that up to out of district students so that we're still we're not spending all of the money, but we're still getting some revenue from students coming in at sixth grade. Can I have that as an option in our next agenda item? >> Yes, ma'am. The board may have. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Depends on
192the numbers we can have. >> Can you do multiple like if we have 30 students from out of the district? Just because I think if we can come to a compromise where um we know we need to change, we need to do something different, but we're not spending all of this >> $12 million. We're spending five maybe five million, but we're still getting revenue from students who are out of the district. And I think that's a great way to um promote ourselves and say, "Hey, you come to our elementary schools, you can also go to Whitney also." Um so if you could provide that information, >> thank you so much. That's it, Mr. President. >> Thank you, Clerk Mendoza. Board member McCann. >> Um yes, I have a question. Uh Twan, um looking at option
193C, um going from it taking an elementary school and making it a middle school. Um and you mentioned major one of the major costs is having lockers. Um is is it really that expensive? Is that a is that a major cost? >> It's a cost, but it's not a major cost like I have said. Um um part of the reason is because um that elementary school has not been renovated. So we would normally under measure BB about $6 million anyway at at the the the school that the example that was given is Stars. Again, I would just I was using that as an example. Not not um so so the additional cost like I said is about56 million locker is one of them but just bringing them uh bringing a facility they they they configure
194differently middle school and elementary school. So we have to have to make sure they have you know if there's need for uh science or uh you know different labs not the the bulk of the cost would be renovating the existing classroom and adding you know additional classroom to make to make it become an you know a middle school similar or comparable to the other middle schools that we have. As I was going to say, as far as the lockers, I don't even think that they're a major issue. I don't even think schools want lockers anymore. And I mean, there's just so much on the internet already that, you know, why would you need to spend the money on the lockers? But now you're explaining that it's it's not just lockers. There's a lot of other
195things like >> it's the renovation of the classroom itself is vocal cost. >> And I want to make sure I understand I clarify this. So there's lockers. I'm talking about locker for physical education and that facility. Not not the lockers >> for the textbooks. I believe we don't use lockers for the textbook at the middle school anymore. Depends on the school, but I I I believe I don't believe we I think we start moving away from that. So, some some some schools do and somes don't, but depends on the school. But I'm sorry. Uh I want to make sure I clarify that it's more for physical educations and changing and and and the PE lockers. >> Thank you. Thank you for clarifying that >> and I thank you >> board member Nishi. >> I'll be
196really quick. So respectfully I like the idea of spending less money because money is uh very in short supply. But option C actually has a possible payback in literally 3 years because we already spending. It's not $12 million. It's the $6 million in addition that we would have and then every year we would have $2 million more in revenue to pay for other things that we would potentially need. So, um that's that's a good idea. I I understand the $4.5 million, but I don't know that we could fit everyone onto just one campus with the idea of accepting additional middle school students out of district kids. I I don't know that it would cost just $4.5 million. It might cost more because we'd have to build build we would actually have to build more, right?
197So it it depends if if the what I'm hearing from um board clerk Mando is that instead of taking 165 students if we were to move do 612 at Whitney and that 165 not come from resident students but a combination of residents and outside student it's still 165 because you're not increasing otherwise you have to increase at every level right once you they move across move down the the grade you would have to increase uh at every and make it a lot larger then then you would need more classrooms obviously but >> it sounds like less less residents though >> I don't know that the residents would like that right >> yeah the the residents would hate that option >> to have less residents get a chance to go to Whitney Middle School that would
198be um well I mean the Whitney alumni are really important but I think that is one issue where the residents all of them will be upset if we have less residents. So respectfully, do you do you still want is that what you intend >> to have in terms of option B to have less residents? >> What member Nishi will >> I just wanted to ask though. >> Thank you because I I think option C is the way. >> Thank you. Nishi board member Nishi, are you finished? Um, board vice president Yogamab Buoui, >> thank you. Um, thank you very much for the report. Um, I I appreciate also this being anformational item. Um, I've appreciated hearing from the public and from my fellow board members. This um reconfiguration I believe as you indicated was proposed
199or was um mentioned by the consultant you know a few months ago and um I recall um many Whitney alumni, Whitney students, Whitney teachers, Whitney um community members not wanting to see the school separated. Uh uh while I tend to agree that the sixth through 12 model and I believe we brought this up before I might have state stated I myself with a fifth grader feel slightly uncomfortable with a sixth through eth move. Um uh I I understand that that unlike or or unlike a lot of districts where this happens. So So I understand that that while while we may be uncomfortable and and not feel like certain things are are what we would do um our world right now in our district is not perfect and we do have to make changes that um
200we we we have already uh voted on. Now, with that said, um I'm not agreeable to option A. I am headed in the direction of option B and I do like the creativity of um board member Mendoza's consideration only because um and and I couldn't I couldn't quite figure out why option C um aside from me understanding the six the 7 through 12 immunity um is very strong at Whitney. there's a unite a united group and I don't know how they do it but they all I guess like-minded people they they tend to just meld well together. Um, so I'm not entirely concerned about the 6 through 12 model on one campus, but there was um some concern about the financial upfront costs and with us doing what we've done recently in order to save
201money, putting money up front when Whitney has succeeded for half a century, top of the state, doing everything they do. our kids keep on improving us across the district, but but at Whitney particular because that's where we're talking about continue to impress us every year and to reconfigure figure and move to option C. We don't know if that will change the model that we have that other districts have modeled their schools after. So I'm not at this time and that's why I appreciate this as anformational item. I'm not at this time entirely convinced that option C is the right option for Whitney. Um it's a very special program again in place for I I guess what since 1976. So I I'm I don't want to use the word afraid because you know I think we're
202all afraid of certain things. I I'm just not entirely convinced right now for option C. So, with that said, option B feels safe. I don't like the the expense. I would like to consider having some way we could get some income with an option B model, but I also know that school is very tiny. Was tiny when I went there and it's still small. So, um, so those are my thoughts. >> Thank you, Vice President Yokyama Buoui. Board Clerk Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to respond to board member Nishi. So, if I'm looking at option C and we say grade six permit students, there's 25 students coming in if we were to do option C. So, we're still going to have students coming from outside of the district. I'm just asking
203if 165 students and it doesn't have to be 25. If Mr. New can provide us with uh revenue options for 10 students, for 20 students, um I think Whitney is an amazing school and I think any students there, they would embrace them. I think we're still going to follow the same policy where they have to um test in. We're going to make sure that they are a this is the right school for them. Um I think making assumptions that our Whitney um family is going to be upset. Um I I look at them different from hearing from our our family. I um family our public comments. I think um this this district is about diversity. It's about inclusion. So, I I'd like to see the the positive and I I agree that spending $12 million
204when we're closing two schools, I just for me, I can't go that far. If there's a way to meet in the middle, that would be a great option. And I think if NUN provides that information for us, um it's an information item. We're going to have this discussion again. I'm absolutely sure that next meeting when this comes up as agendaized, we're going to have more public comments where we could get more information from from our community. Um, but I I I don't I I don't want to put Whitney's um community our just to say like they're going to be upset with us. I mean, I think the understanding is that our district is changing. We have to make decisions. Um, I think everyone was campaigning on that when we were closing schools. We have to
205do this. We have to do this. So now it's come to Whitney's turn and I think it was a great example of like they're part of our community. They're part of our district. Let's ask them to to go on this new uh journey with us where we have to make some changes. Um so thank you Mr. President. >> Thank you Clerk Mendoza. Uh board member Dr. Rios. >> I just want to add to the requests that um were made earlier like I heard it wouldn't work at Sters, it wouldn't work at Fetty. So, some potential scenarios of where would it work at because I mean those are the only two schools I thought. Um, so this $12 million cost like give us some hypotheticals please. >> Thank you. Board member Rios, board member Macan. >>
206Um, I'm concerned about option B and the space available at Whitney. Um few years ago I subbed there and I honestly don't know where the six additional modular classrooms would go. I just I it seems like it would be very crowded. Can you um can you provide us maybe next time with a map of how that would look? Thank you. >> Thank you. Board member Macan board member you. Uh question. Modular classrooms would be um bungalows, right? Um aren't they kind of temporary? >> The module classroom can be permanent. We just built um module classroom at COS High School. Those science the new science classrooms >> and and they they will last 40 years. >> Okay. Okay. And another uh factor is um and you mentioned about the facility because the bond money was is
207you know allocated to the infrastructure. So um investing in a building that can looks good, stable and last long time. And if we can roll out this plan using the bond money, so we'd end up using equal or less than option B. That's just a fact, right? Yeah. Just wanted to point that out. And then I think the proximity is important for two schools to keep the the the dynamic continue the dynamic between the two schools. Yeah. Thank you, board member. You uh seeing no other board discussion, uh I would just like to thank the board for having this having this conversation and it sounds like we are all in agreeance that we're looking for change. Um so a lot of us have given our direction to staff to come back with options, come back
208with some proposals so we can move forward with the community to try to make this decision. So with that being said, I think we have our our work moving forward. Thank you. >> Can I have a motion to extend the meeting to 12? >> Tatiana moves. >> All those in favor, please say I. I. >> I. >> Motion passes 70. Um action items. May I have a motion to approve community member and student appoint uh student appointments to board advisory committee? >> Mendoza. Second. Mendoza. >> Cler Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. So today I bring forward to you um Dr. Veronica Bloomfield to be appointed to the diversity, unity, and equity as my appointee. Um you actually met her at the last um uh board meeting. She was part of the Artisia Historical um
209society and so um she has graciously agreed and so I just to give you some more information about her. She is actually um Dr. Bloomfield, I didn't know that she has a PhD in education. She has her mers of um arts in cultural studies. She is a former uh coordinator of equity at Lynwin uh Unified School District. She is a former uh teacher, former literacy specialist with LEO and she's currently an educational consultant um with the Lighthouse Educational Consulting Group. Um some of the organizations that she's part of is you heard her, the Artisia Historical Society, Friends of the Artisia Library. She's part of AER, which is the American Education Research Association. Um she's also a member and the chair of the arts committee um for the Artisia Cerrito's women's club. She's been a guest
210speaker. Um she also a part of promoting books and reading and if you want to take a look at it that that is the website is ww.isbookmatters.com. So, I ask that you all please give her a yes vote because I think um I've had a little bit of trouble getting people to my committees, but I think in my mind I'm waiting for the right one. And so, I think uh Dr. Bloomfield would be a great asset to um the diversity, unity, and equity committee. >> Thank you, Board Clerk Mendoza. Are there any public comments? >> There are none, Mr. President. >> Thank you. Are there any board discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes 70. Congratulations, Dr. Bloomfield. >> Thank you. >> Item 13A. May I have
211a motion to adopt resolution 2514 acknowledging January 13, 2026 as Korean-American Day in recognition of many contributions made by Korean-Americans. >> So move Sue second. >> Dr. Zilo. >> Thank you. Um this evening um we're going to share with you some of the resources and items that we um shared with our schools um for their celebration of Korean-American Day. Um last week I got to I was at a school and they were having a wonderful time at recess learning and um understanding a culture different than their own. And so with us is Miss Mariss Harris to share a little bit about that and then I thought we could read the resolution together. Good evening again. Um yes, so I um am happy to present to you all about Korean-American Day and um I was also
212I had the distinct pleasure of hearing from Dr. Ha who shared some of her favorite food and snacks with us last week. Um, so we got to try a little bit of the kimbop, which I personally thought was um, delicious, as well as some of the turtle chips that she shared with us. Um, and also something that was referred to as medicine rice, but it didn't taste like medicine. Yak, which was um, a yummy dessert. So, um I'm happy to just kind of speak with you all today about Korean-American Day, which is um honored and celebrated every January 13th. Um and as you all already mentioned, um which commemorates and recognizes the first arrival of the Korean immigrants to the US in 1903. Um, and if we take a look at the timeline, so looking
213back at 1903, which was the immigration wave, to 1952 where the act was passed, 1992, looking at the first Korean-American congressman, and then 2005 where comm uh Korean-American Day was established by George W. Bush. It shows um the progression and the timeline. So luckily we're able to honor, recognize, and celebrate KoreanAmerican Day um today. And we took a look into um the Korean-American students that helped to make up ABC. So um looking at all of our students within ABC, our Korean-American students make up 5.5% um of those students. And of course, it's important that we share out resources, both elementary and secondary resources, just to provide our teachers with some additional information to um looking at food, the art, the culture, different lessons to share. And we sent those out last week as well um
214so that our teachers had these resources to share with their students. We got some great feedback from some of the admin team thanking us for the resources and some of their teachers were able to share the stories and the videos um with their students on that day. So we thought that that was amazing an opportunity for us to celebrate again the contributions of our Korean-Americans. Um and so that sorry um along with the video resources we've also curated some lessons so divided into different age groups um and looking at the different lesson topics the resources really dug deep into some of the contributions from uh KoreanAmericans and again the this the feedback was great um where the teachers were able to actually use these resources in the classrooms and found the resources very helpful and
215that is all. Thank you so much. Thank you. So I was thinking we could um just begin and go through and read. Um Miss Hugh, would you like to start and maybe you read the first two for us and then read two and then we can kind of go down the row with one I think from there. >> Okay. Whereas on January 13, 1903, the history of Korean Korean immigration to America began when 102 courageous Korean adults and children landed in the state of Hawaii after venturing across the vast Pacific Ocean aboard the SS Gay leak. And whereas the hopes of these Korean immigrants for America, the land of opportunity were quickly hindered by social, economic, and language barriers of unforeseen magnitude. And whereas these Korean immigrants did not falter in their pursuit of the
216American dream, through perseverance and sacrifice, they established a new home in a new land and educated their children. And whereas between 1904 and 1907, approximately 1,000 Korean-Americans entered the United States mainland from the state of Hawaii through San Francisco, where the first Korean-American political organizations and Korean language publications were established. And >> whereas while the first Korean immigrants to the United States fought in sacrifice to establish themselves, their children grew up to be patriotic citizens, many of whom went on to serve in the armed forces of the United States during World War II and to make other important contributions to mainstream American society. And whereas the 1965 amendment to the Federal Immigration and Nationality Act, public law 89236 opened doors for a new wave of Korean immigrants to enter the United States. Since its enactment,
217Korean-Americans have become one of the fastest growing groups of Asian-Americans in the United States. In 1960, approximately 25,000 people of Korean ancestry lived in the United States. But by 1970, that number had increased to 69,130. By the 1980, the number of people of Korean ancestry living in the United States had increased over five-fold to 354,593. And by 1990, the number more than doubled, increasing to 798,849. In 2010, it is was estimated that 1,76,822 people with Korean ancestry lived in the United States, representing more than a 67fold increase since 1960. And >> whereas with diligence, fortitude, and an enduring belief in the American dream, Korean immigrants have helped to turn emergent areas within the state of California into thriving communities while raising their children to be productive Koreanameans. And whereas Korean-Americans have become an integral part
218of mainstream American society and have made important contributions as Californians in the fields of finance, technology, law, medicine, education, sports, media, the arts, the military, and government as well as other areas. And whereas as the KoreanAmerican community prepares for a new era and creates new history, Korean-Americans instill in younger generations an appreciation for the courage and values of their forefathers a deep sense of their roots and pride in their own cultural heritage so that they may better better contribute to a great state of California which is rich with ethnic cultural diversity and cuisine. And whereas in the ABC Unified School District, 5.5% of the student population identify as Korean-Americans. And whereas the board of education is is requested to adopt resolution 25-14 acknowledging January 13, 2027 as KoreanAmerican Day in recognition of the many contributions
219made by Korean-Americans. approved and adopted this 20th day of January, 2026 by the board of education of the ABC Unified School District. >> All those in favor, >> please say I. >> Motion passes 70. Item 1.48. May I have a motion to adopt resolution 25-15 acknowledging the month of January 2026, full board recognition month? >> Aiana moves. >> Second. Mendoza. >> Dr. Zilo. Thank you. Um, in honor of schoolboard recognition month, I will read our resolution um, in regard to the service and uh, just support that a school board provides for a school district. So, it says whereas an excellent public school system is vital to the quality of life for all California citizens and communities and whereas our board of education continues to ensure our children's academic, social, emotional, physical, and mental health needs
220are met. And whereas our board of education continues to advocate to best serve the children in our community each and every day. And whereas our board of education is committed to children and believe that all children can be successful learners and that the best education is tailored to the individual needs of the child. And whereas our board of education works closely with parents, educational professionals, and other community members to create the healthiest environments possible where all students can thrive. And whereas our board of education is responsible for building and maintaining the structures that provide a solid foundation for our school system. And whereas our board of education is a strong advocate for public education and is responsible for communicating the needs of the school district to the public and the public's expectations to the district.
221And whereas the mission of public schools is to meet the diverse educational needs of all children and to empower them to become competent, productive contributors to a democratic society and an everchanging world is more poignant than ever before. Therefore, I Dr. Dr. Gina Zitlo do hereby declare my appreciation to the members of the board of education and proclaim on the 20th day of January 2006 as school board recognition month in California, Los Angeles County, Cerritos and ABC Unified. And I urge all community members to join me in recognizing the dedication and hard work of our board of education members and in working with them to create an education system that meets the needs of our children. >> Thank you, Dr. Zilo. Is there any public comments? >> There are none, Mr. President. >> Thank you.
222All those in favor, please say I. >> I. I have a comment. >> I had a comment, Mr. President. >> It's okay. Um, I just wanted to I just wanted to say thank you to all my colleagues. Um, coming back on the board, it's um it's it's sometimes it's a it's a it's a job that sometimes we don't get appreciated. maybe, you know, not the thank yous, but um I know the work that we do here is for our students. So, I want to thank you for always working together no matter what the circumstances are. And just know that I appreciate my my my fellow board members. Thank you. >> Thank you, Clerk Mendoza. Item 1.5A. May I have a motion to adopt resolution 25-16 acknowledging February 2026 as Black History Month by honoring and
223deepening our knowledge of history and contributions of black Americans and people of African descent. >> Tatiana emotions. >> Dr. Zilo. >> Thank you. So, in preparation for Black History Month, um we're having our resolution and everything prepared ahead because our meeting won't hit at the front of the month. Um but if we could um read the resolution and maybe everyone just take two lines. Can we start with you Miss Patton? Um whereas America whereas Africans were forcibly brought to American shores to be enslaved as early as the 17th century and whereas black Americans have subsequently faced systemic injustices of lynch mobs, segregation, racist attacks, discrimination such as redlinining and denial of basic fundamental rights. And whereas in spite of these injustices, many of which continue to exist today, black Americans have made significant contributions to
224the economic, educational, political, artistic, literary, scientific, and technological advancements of the United States. And whereas National African-American History Month, also known as Black History Month, had its origins in 1915 when historian and author Dr. Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of the Negro Life and History. And whereas Black History Month in February celebrates the contributions that Black Americans have made to American history in their struggles for freedom and equality and deepens our understanding of our nation's history. And whereas presidents board, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden, and Trump have issued presidential messages and pro proclamations recognizing the significance of National AfricanAmerican History Month by urging all Americans to recognize the important contributions made by African-Americans to American life and culture. And >> whereas the United States Congress has similarly passed laws and
225adopted resolutions since 1986 to recognize the significance and contributions made by black Americans. And whereas the Library of Congress, National Archives and Record Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smith, Miss Smithian Institution of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of African-Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society. And >> whereas Black History Month is a time for us to continue our collective journey of honoring and deepening our knowledge of the history and contributions of black Americans and people of African descent that have been marginalized from mainstream curricula and discussions because of our country's legacy of slavery and institutional and structural racism. And whereas the ABC Unified School District is committed to valuing diversity and believes deeply that equity,
226respect, and justice are central to the character character of who we are, to the health of our democracy, and to the well-being of our world. And >> whereas at ABC Unified School District, it is our hope that during this month of recognition and celebration of black Americans and their contributions made to this country that we will help to disrupt manifestations of antilackness sentiments in our communities and in our schools. And now therefore be it resolved that the board of education of the ABC Unified School District celebrates Black History Month in the month of February 2026 passed and adopted this 20th day of January 2026 by the board of education of the ABC Unified School District. >> Thank you. Are there any public comments? >> There are none, Mr. President. >> Are there any board discussion?
227Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. I I >> motion passes 70 R 6. May I have a motion to approve the request to submit an application to establish registered pre-apprenticeship through the state of California's Department of Industrial Relations Division of Apprenticeship Standards for implementation of ABC unified school district beginning 2026 2027 school year. >> Second Tatiana >> Dr. Castro. >> Thank you President Nyola. Again, this is an application for us to establish these path, these options for our students. It's exciting that the state of California is recognizing not only the importance of college and career experiences within the school, but also experiences where they can actually uh have internships or pre-apprenticeships with some of our valued community members. So, we are applying for a grant to help us with this. >> Thank
228you, Dr. Castro. There any public comments? >> There are none, Mr. President. Is there any board discussion? Seeing none, uh please note that during the student board representative committee meeting, a preferential yes vote was cast for this item without any additional comments. If there is no other discussion, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes 6. Item 3.17A. May I have a motion to approve request to enter into a linkage agreement with Southern California Sheet Metal Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee JATC to establish a formal registered California pre-apprenticeship program for the 2026 2027 school year >> Mendoza >> Dr. Castro. >> Again, this continues our efforts to expand our resources for our students. With this, they, as you can see from the item, they have access to industry standard training and
229curriculum, priority registration for up to 10 students in the apprenticeship program, access to industry awareness workshops, and access to hands-on training in a simulated lab experience. >> Thank you, Dr. Castro. Any public comments? >> There are none, Mr. President. >> Board member, you. Yes. Um this apprentice ship is look when where does it take place? Location. >> There are variety of locations. Some of these will actually occur after school because we will be offering them on site especially if they have simulated lab experiences. >> I see. Wow. This this is good news. I'm so glad to see this. I'd love to visit one of them. Couple of them. Yes. >> Any other board discussion? Seeing none, please note that during the student board representative committee, a preferential yes vote was cast for this item without
230any additional comment. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. 6. >> Item 3.18a. May I have a motion to approve request to enter a memorandum of understanding with National Education Opportunity Network NEON for the 2026 2027 school year. >> Second Mendoza. >> Dr. Castro. >> Uh I'd like to introduce this really exciting program in being part of this national education opportunity network. Our students at Artisia and Gar High School will have access to college courses from universities that include Stanford, Howard, Georgetown, Harvard, Dartmouth, just to name a few. So these would be virtual online courses taught by these college professors and on their transcript they would receive a transcript from these schools with those dual enrollment courses. We of course looking to offer courses that we typically would not offer
231in ABC. Um they include some of our AI. I know earlier someone spoke about expanding AI. There are AI offerings through this because of course our universities are more advanced than us in terms of up-to-date information regarding some of those AI offerings and as well as some of our other typical offerings as well. Um so this is really exciting for us and I appreciate your support with this action item. >> Thank you Dr. Castro. Any public comments? >> Oh, I'm sorry. There are none, Mr. President. >> Thank you, Cler. >> It's getting late. >> I understand. Uh, any board discussion? >> Board member McCann. >> Yeah. Um, just a question. Okay. So, it's $30,000 appro approximate cost. Um, does it will it cost the students anything? >> No. No. It's completely free to our students.
232So that's the even more exciting part. >> You >> thank you board member McCann. Uh at a future time would it be possible to have these 60 courses available? And I've noticing that we will be beginning in the 2025 2026 school year. Is that something we'll be beginning in the future semesters? >> Uh we're looking to actually start within summer school programming if possible. Uh we would try to offer in the spring a limited amount of courses but I think in order to make sure this is successful in our recruitment efforts most likely summer would be the projected. >> Thank you Dr. Cast. >> If there's no other board discussion I have uh all those in favor please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes 6. Item 3.19A. May I have a motion to approve
233request to enter a memorandum of understanding with the vital link education business consortium to collaborate on the planning, coordination, and execution of the 2026 ABCUSD science, technology, engineering, and mathematics STEMfest, a one-day event to be held on March 21st, 2026 with morning and afternoon groups for up to 500 students in grades fourth through 9th at Certo's High School. Becky Mendoza, >> Dr. Castro, >> thank you again. As we continue to evolve and improve our programs, this is an opportunity for to expand experiences for STEM for our students. Um, evolving our STEM Olympics into STEMfest for, as you can see, up to 500 students, which is an extension, a larger group of students. We want to make sure that we meet our goals for LCAP goal 1.6 six by doing this item and expanding the opportunities
234for all of our students, particularly our homeless English learners and low-income students in the >> Thank you, Dr. Castro. Any public comments? >> There are none, Mr. President. >> Any board discussion? >> She answered my question. >> Perfect. >> Thank you. Um, if there's none, please note that during the student board representative committee, a preferential yes vote was cast for this item without any additional comments. If none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. 6. >> Item 3.28. Okay. May I have a motion to approve request to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters and the ABC Unified School District to establish a former registered California pre-apprenticeship through a linkage agreement for the 2025 2027 school years. >> So moved >> second maten
235>> Dr. Castro >> again in line with some of our other items. This again provides a pre-apprenticeship programs particularly for those that are tangar high school in our stage and event technology programs. >> Thank you Dr. Castro. Any public comments? >> There are none. Mr. President, >> board member. You >> I was just going to say Dr. Castro, I'm just shocked because like I've been crying out about like internships and uh apprenticeship and just opportunity for our students and here here it is is just all rolled out tonight and I mean this is a good news for our students really. This just gives the kids opportunity because not everybody have to go into college. You know, some of the kids get a job for a few years and then you can go to college. But
236what an opportunity. Thank you so much. You made my evening. >> Thank you, board member. You board member clerk Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to echo my my colleague here that yes, uh staff has been very busy. Um but these are the ones we like to approve because it's all for our students, right? I just want to point out the the impact is none. Zero. I like that kind. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Cler Mendoza. If no other board discussion, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. 6. Item 3.21A. May I have a motion to approve request to add the following new professional internship courses series to expand the workbased learning opportunities for both career technical education CTE and non-CTE ABCUSD high school
237students for the 2026 2027 school year professional internship CTE design visual and media arts professional internship CTE production and managerial arts professional internship CT performing arts professional internship CTE education professional internship CT engineering technology professional Profal internship CT patient care professional internship CT software and systems development professional internship CT system diagnosis and service and repair CT theater production and performance CT sports broadcasting career technical work experience and educational and general work experience education >> so move second Mendoza >> Dr. Castro. >> Well, again, this is culminating of our efforts to continue that pre-apprenticeship uh pathway for our students. You can see all the different CTE courses and pathway sectors that we're trying to impact. These would be a combination of internships with um simulated work experience and exposure to industries that students can then actually
238try to get paid experiences later on in the future. >> Thank you, Dr. Castro. Any public comment? >> There are none, Mr. President. >> Any board discussion? >> Uh seeing none, I just also want to echo my my colleagues here that I'm very excited to see that we are creating the pathway for careers right after high school and also college. Um it's important that we provide these opportunities to our to our students because it is very competitive to find the job and these pathways are going to get them the next step into that opportunity and these internships are are a great great thing. Thank you. >> I just wanted to make one comment for you. >> You know, when companies um hire, they don't just hire because you have a degree, but like having real
239experiences. >> Uh sometimes that's you you land on a job better. So I think that this is just a you know the our students are super lucky and very blessed. Yeah. For the opportunity. Thank you. >> Thank you board member. You and I concur. All those in favor please say I. >> I. Motion passes 6. Item 3.22A. May I have a motion to approve request for a new course title dual enrollment Spanish 2011 and adoption of textbook explor exploration intermedi uh second edition and mine tab digital extension. >> So Mendoza >> second maten >> Dr. Castro >> as part of our early college program at both Artisia High School and Gar High School. Our students who take Spanish 111 and Spanish 12 at Fetty and Ross middle schools need the next series of courses in
240order to continue their immersion in the dual languages, Spanish and English. And so we're offering this new course, Spanish 2011, as a college level course to help students continue and expand that dual immersion offerings we've been so steadily growing in our district. >> Thank you, Dr. Castro. Any public comments? >> There are none, Mr. President. >> Thank you, Board Clerk Mendola. Uh, please note that during the student board representative committee, a preferential yes vote was cast for this item without any additional comments. Uh, is there any board discussion? Oh, board member. >> That's me. That was me. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. President. Dr. Kestre, this will um continue the uh dual immersion program from kindergarten all the way through 9th grade. And then after ninth grade, those students can take AP Spanish. Correct. >>
241Yes. >> Oh, I'm happy. Thank you. Um because um we saw our students from Ferguson like their Spanish was beautiful. And so for them to be able to continue this um we know their chance their chances at academic success are just going to you know quadruple and um their success even after they they they graduate and go on to college or career. Um, we know that dual language um is a is a it's an asset to them. There I go. Okay. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you, Clerk Mendoza. Uh, I concur also being bilingual is a superpower like we mentioned earlier today. And on the topic of internships and CT pathways, being bilingual is also an asset in the job market. So being able to speak another language is a great opportunity to
242not just work here but work abroad too. So if no other public comments, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes 6. Item 3.23A. May I have a motion to approve request to contract with basic life support express CPR BLS to provide CPR classes to students enrolled at ABC adult school medical assistant pharmacy technician program for the 2025 2026 school year. Second Mendoza, >> Dr. Castro. >> Again, this is an essential part of the adult school classes particular for those two pathways and uh annually we review uh our CP our CPR consultants and are bringing you forward this one for this year to provide offerings to our students. >> Thank you, Dr. Castro. Any public comments? >> There are none, Mr. President. >> Thank you, Board Clerk Mendoza. >> Thank you,
243Mr. Um, just a a question for staff. Is there a way that we can support our students with the the cost? Is there any anything out there? >> I'll provide you more information once I touch bases with the adult school. I know that they do provide some scholarships opportunities. Um, so I can inquire further and then provide you on our weekly update the specifics around that. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you, board clerk Mendoza. Uh, board member Dr. Rios. >> Thank you, Mr. President, um I know that last time we had an individual be come to our board meeting and um the family expressed gratitude because their family member had been saved because of CPR and I remember asking that maybe we provide CPR courses. Um I was glad to see this on
244the agenda although later I you know when I read about it it's for the students who are enrolled in the adult school. How are there any plans or efforts to bring a course like this? You know, not about our emergency is going to happen, but you know, too often they do. And I just want to know that >> we do provide opportunities throughout the year for staff to be CPR uh trained and certified. >> I would be interested in a refresher course. I know that was back in the day. >> We can get you the information on the next training session. That'd be fantastic. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member Rios. Any other board discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes 6. Item 4.6A. May I
245have a motion to approve bid award ABC 1686 wide area network one services to Spectrum Business DBA Charter Communications, Inc. as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder for initial term of three years with options to renew annually for up to two additional years. >> So moveton second >> Mr. W. >> Thank you President Nyola. Um the district um went out to bid for internet connection uh for the next three years. We received two bid as you can see here. We are recommending the board award the contract to spectrum business as the lowest responsible bidder. um the 90% of of internet connections um are reimbursed by between the -ate program which is 80% and the teleconnect program which is the state program. So the district's only paying for 10% of the cost. So u the total
246cost is about 57,000 per year and we are paying 10 10% of that for internet connection for the entire district. >> Thank you Mr. Luin. Any public comments? >> There are none Mr. President. >> Any board discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. 5 Z. Um item 4.7A. May I have a motion to accept gift report 25-05 totaling in 54,24522. >> A motions. >> Becky Mendoza. >> Mr. Win. >> Thank you. President Nyola our gift report monthly gift report as reported this month we received donation from um community groups and parents um in total of $54,24522. >> Thank you Mr. W. Any public comment >> there are none >> any board discussion board member Mendoza. >> Thank you. I just want to always say thank you to
247our communities because they they really donate a lot of not just uh financial support but I know they donate u volunteer their time. So again just a big huge uh gracias. Thank you to those of them who are supporting our schools. >> Thank you Clerk Mendoza. Absolutely. Our parents and community support our students. Uh not only do they help volunteer for the events but they also help pay for the events many times. So thank you to them. All those in favor please say I. >> I. Motion passes 5-0. Item 4.9A. May I have a motion to approve contract with UKG to provide an electronic timekeeping and attendance processing system with options to renew annually for an additional 5 years? >> A motion. >> Second. Mendoza. >> Mr. W. >> Thank you, President Oyola. um in
248connection with the uh movement the movement the the migration uh of our HRS and our payroll system uh to the new best system with Leel. Uh we are um recommending the board to approve an electronic timekeeping and attendance uh processing system moving from the current paper time cards and time sheets that we are um having to electronic. Uh so um this is highly recommended by the county uh in a move to of course you know to the digital age with everything is electronic uh improve efficiencies uh so that employees don't have to drive to two different campuses to get their time card uh or time sheet especially when you subbing you know sign off. So um this this system we we we received two bits. Uh we interview them and we are recommending UKG. Uh
249this is uh they have the most comprehensive suite of of of of offering um most um we want to say user friendly but we'll we'll figure it out and and this system is being used by u several districts uh locally including the county of Los Angeles themselves. So LEO is using the system. So we are recommending to the board uh to approve this new electronic timekeeping and attendance reprocessing system uh to move us into the not the 20th century the 21st century the to 2026. So we are moving from the paper system and uh this again won't be implemented until we we are implementing it now but it will be effective in October 2026. >> Thank you Mr. Win. Any public comments? >> There are none. Mr. President, >> board member Rios, >> I am
250so happy that this is happening. I know that they I've had people that have told me about the ancient system that we use here. So, I I'm sure that there are going to be some growing pains, but I'm really really happy to see that we are, you know, it taking advantage of the technology that is out there that is going to hopefully save save time and um streamline processes and just be better overall. So, thank you. >> Thank you, board member Rios. Board Clerk Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I I just got to say it's about time. I know when I was on the board before we talked about this. Um we we did this at my district many many years ago, but I know that there's there's this time um the turnover when
251we're doing this. Um are we doing it now or October? You said October. Okay. Um will there be support for our staff because there's there's going to be some human error. It's it's inevitable, right? It happened to us, too. Um, I just want to make sure that our staff is supported because um, for me when it comes to our paycheck, when it comes to money, that's I mean that's important that they get paid on time and they get paid what's due to them. So, will we have extra staff available to support them with that if they need that? >> Yes, there will be training with the implementation of this. We began this process three years ago uh with uh we are in wave six or seven with Leico because we went other district to go
252first to to work out the king. So converting um an HRS and a payroll system is um is complicated and and like you said it it will there will be u frustrations and errors and but we are working doing our best to train our staff to ensure that you know the the conversion uh will be least disruptive to our employees. Uh you know at the end of the day you know they want to make sure they get a paycheck on time and accurate. But that's our goal. And >> there's a system in We will have a system in place should they need to come in and get an immediate paycheck. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Clerk Mendoza. Any other public I mean board discussion? Seeing none, all those in
253favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. 5-0. Information items. Quarterly William Settlement Compliance Report for October through December 2025. Dr. Zulu, >> thank you. Um, in this uh quarter we did have one complaint. It was in regard to um understanding the emergency gates with the crash bars and so we were able to clarify that information for the family. Um the gate itself is properly installed with the crash bar per law and so we were able to resolve the complaint. But we did have one. >> Thank you. Um information item 1.8 I result of site visits review and uniform complaint data for the 2025 2026 first quarter. Dr. Zilo. >> Thank you. In regard to our school facilities and the visitation of our sites, um we had no complaints in terms of instructional materials.
254Um the uh grading of the the excuse me, not the grading, they give it a grade, but their evaluation of the facility was good and we didn't have any issues with teacher vacancy or misassignment. >> Thank you. Uh board members reports. Do I have any board members reports? >> They're really super fast. >> Um okay. Um I did go to the district Christmas lunchon here. It was super nice. Um and I attended Christmas performances at Neimus and Burbank. Um I also went to the Portuguese Hall um where there was a band presentation from Gar Ross and then the feeder elementary schools. Um in the last week I attended Hispanic latino family circle and also the black family circle and the Martin Luther King ceremony at the Performing Arts Center. Thank you. Thank you, board member
255McCann. Board member Rios, >> thank you. Uh, I also just want to highlight the fact that we did celebrate um Dr. Martin Luther King's day yesterday and I did attend the Cerritos um event. Shout out to Cerritos and Mayor Yokoyama for hosting such a wonderful event, bringing people together to celebrate his legacy. And so I just wanted to to read a little something and that is that as we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. uh we reflect on his enduring legacy of equality, service and hope. Dr. King's dream lives on through our collective efforts to build communities where every voice is valued, every person is respected and opportunity knows no boundaries. Thank you. >> Thank you. Board member Rios, Board Clerk Mendoza. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to welcome everyone back. Um, I
256hope everyone had a nice uh winter vacation and had some time to relax. Um, ABC Unified gets two weeks, LA Unified gets three weeks. Um, so but I use that I use that one week to come and visit school. So during that one week, I got to visit Ted Sloff, Carmenita Ross, Whitney, um, Cerritos High School, and I I I didn't want to interrupt instruction because I know how hard it is coming back from vacation and getting back into routines and classroom management. So, I kind of walked around um, facilities and knowing that we're going to have open house coming up, I kind of saw some areas that some of our sites needed support with. So, I did send that over to the superintendent and Mr. and they've been very supportive in helping our schools.
257Um because I've I've learned that we see with our eyes first and so I'm hoping that our parents when they come in they see the the wonderful facilities that we have. Um I didn't do too much. Um it's I just went back this is my first one of my second week back. Um and it's tiring. it it's uh it's like the first week of school again because you are teaching routines, classroom management um and the second semester is always the not hectic I want to say it has a lot to do in the second semester because um we're kind of wrapping up our year not wrapping it up but we're we're going to start doing testing benchmarks um you know state testing so uh I just want to wish all of our staff you know
258coming fact that, you know, you are supported, you are heard. Um um two things that I get I did attend is a Hispanic Latino family circle with my my colleagues and it was um nice to hear about um mental health for our our students and our our families. I also got to attend the Norwok Chamber um multi- chamber mixer over in Norwok. So, we got to um you know, get to know other um organizations that hopefully can support our district. That's I always go out there like that. And then one thing I did want to um mention is that um during my break, I spoke to the superintendent and when I was on the board before, I used to do a young Latinas empowerment conference. Um, back back a couple years ago, I used to
259do five districts, but because the way things are um in our communities, um I decided to focus just on our district so we can control um the facility and transportation. So, um I got approval. Yay. Um and so it's going to be at the end of March um during um women's history month and it's going to be hosted at GAR and we're going to be inviting about masos like about a hundred girls. And I told staff that I wanted to focus on our foster youth, our um you know, underserved um students, our informal leaders to come and spend a couple hours with me and other um Latinas to kind of just um um empower them and give them, you know, let them know that whatever choices they make, whether it be college or career, that
260they can be successful, that there's resources out there, there's people to support them and mentor them. And so I'm also going to be looking to my colleagues to um support me also. Um we'll get the flyer out so you guys have all that information. Um and I just wanted to recognize our board um today. We did a lot of work today u for our students and we also recognize a lot of our students and even if the pie even if they were only 5% of our student population that we we as a board recognize that we have so much diversity and that we acknowledge that and I think we all do a really great job of making sure that those students um are seen and they're heard. So I want to thank you and also
261for our our recognition as a school board. Um, so that concludes my my board report, Mr. President. >> Thank you, Clerk Mendoza. Board member, uh, Vice President Yokoyama Buouie. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, feels strange to be talking about holiday because we're already in January, but um, I was able to attend a number of holiday events um, in the district, the ABC District Holiday Lunchon featuring the Carmonita Jazz Band, which was exciting because they just performed at Disneyland. what and Leo Elementary's winter showcase I attended um along with Dr. Lozano ABC migrant ed holiday event which I heard was I I I went towards the end but I heard was just a very packed very well attended event. So thank you so much for doing that for all our children um in the community.
262Aloha Elementary's holiday performance also very well attended. Orz Elementary the most fun sing along holiday show. So you could actually they gave you the the words and you could sing along and that was the first one I've been to and I'm kind of thinking they all need to be that way now because I mean sometimes you just want to sing body songs. I went to a merry musical mission performed by Burbank Elementary. I saw uh Miss McChatten there and uh oh I recently attended my first head start policy committee meeting. But I do want to thank um the committee members, the uh parents in attendance, those who do extra work and go to Lakeome meetings. Thank you so much for that work. Um I attended the Hispanic Latino family circle meeting focused on mental health.
263Very important. I do want to encourage a lot of um more of our families to attend those events because you can learn so much. Oh, la before I forget, I also attended the Gonzalez Elementary Grizzly Holiday Market, which is holiday market, which was um kind of like an entrepreneurial event for the students. So, they could come and the families could come and sell their items, but also there were cultural events going on such as Dvali performances. So, that was very cool. And most recently, I attended the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ceremony um at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. The first time that ceremony was held at CCPA and it was again very well attended. Um I think now that we know it's going to be at CCPA, hopefully it's there next year,
264way more people will come and they recognize students are in our district and it was very special. So um if you were able to attend, thank you so much. Um that's all for me. Thank you everyone. Thank you, Vice President Yokoyamai. Board member, you >> Yeah, thank you. Um, yes, for Christmas, I attended uh Wittman and Serto's elementary school and they performed in the NPR and uh they were just so adorable. I'm such a grandma now. Just kids are so adorable. Um, I wanted to recognize just Martin Luther King and and his life and his legacy. I watched a documentary because I love watching historical real documentary and his, you know, speech, his presence and how he led and there was that one clip. It was like news clip original and he was saying how
265the protest was going to be peaceful and because he led such a peaceful protest he made such an impact and what that movement it's not just Martin Luther King but that whole era of many people who laid down their life I mean they gave up they gave their lives and that makes a big difference for people like me, Korean-American, who immigrated to this country because like they paved the road for us and for our freedom and equality and just uh thank you for recognizing the Korean-American day because uh you know Koreans they went through so much. I mean historically they lost their country. They had civil war and the country was like uh the poorest in the world number third third poorest country in the world around the time when they had the Korean war
266that was like in the 1950s like 70 years ago. But today, who doesn't know the K-pop? Who doesn't know that that demon hunter, right? Up, up, up, right? I mean, the food, Kay food. We've come a long way, you know? So really um really thankful for recognizing and but I do want to give credit to our forefathers such as Martin Luther King, such as our Korean first wave of immigrants who came with nothing but they um collected money to help independent fighters back in Korea. and you know the freedom that I have today I have to say thank you to all the forefathers. Thank you. That is all. >> Thank you board member U. Uh moving into announcements. Next regular board meeting Tuesday February 17, 2026 7 p.m. District office boardroom committee meetings. Uh, strategic
267planning board advisory committee, Tuesday, January 27th, 2026, 5:30 p.m. District Office Board Room. Legislative Policy Board Advisory Committee, Wednesday, January 28th, 2026, 6:30 p.m. District Conference Room. Finance and Audit Board Advisory Committee. Thursday, January 29th, 2026, 6 p.m. District Conference Room. Naming a facility at Whitney High School Board Ad Hoc Committee. Wednesday, February 11th, 2026, 5:30 p.m. District Conference Room. Diversity, unity, and equity. Due board advisory committee Thursday February 26 2026 5:30 p.m. District office boardroom uh some dates to remember legal holiday president's day is February 16th 2026 public comments for clerk Mendoza >> there and none Mr. President. >> Thank you. I would uh may I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So move Tatiana. >> Second. >> All those in favor please say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. 6 >> 18. [Music]
268Hey, [Music] hey. Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music]