001[Music] Heat. Heat. Hey, [Music] hey, hey. Yeah. [Music] Are you [Music] Ooh. Ah. [Music] Yeah. [Music] Heat. [Music] Down. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Data do [Music] nothing. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] do. Yeah. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Do you feel [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Ah, [Music] hey. [Music] Hey. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey hey [Music] a [Music] lot. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Heat.
002Heat. N. [Music] Thank you. [Music] Heat up [Music] here. [Music] Call this meeting to order. Need a motion. >> Second. All in favor, Natalie. >> Roll call. >> Oh, you seem far away there. >> Yes. >> I don't think this is working. Sorry. President, Mr. Nishi, >> I am here. >> Vice President, Mr. Nyola. >> Clerk, Miss Yokoyama, >> present. >> Board member, Miss Mcken, >> present. >> Board member, Miss Present. >> Board member Dr. Rios >> board member Mrs. U >> here. >> Thank you. >> Think we need to have the sound modulated here. Right. >> All right. >> That was loud. >> Um >> I find >> clerk Buoie, can you do the pledge of allegiance for us? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
003for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Good afternoon. Uh, well, it feels weird. I'm facing this way, but the audience is that way. Um, but I wanted to start. Uh, I know this is a little bit out of the news cycle, but um, I want to have a prayer, a prayer for the families who've lost their most precious in the shooting in that state. And um, but I don't want to just call for a prayer. I want to call for something more than that. I want to cite from a wise man James and he wrote many years ago. What does it profit if someone says that he has faith but he is does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is destitute and
004one of you says depart in peace, be warmed and filled but you do not give him the things which are needed. What does it profit? Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. We need prayer. That's true. But we also need courage for action. Maybe it's counseling. Maybe that's the action that's taken. Maybe we find ways to reduce the tools of mass killing to persons who are in pain and suffering. Maybe that's the action. But we need to take action. And hope is not a strategy that addresses the pain that these families are facing. So I'm not going to ask for a moment of silence because that happens too often and we just say we've done our job. I'm saying I want a moment of silence and a promise followed by action.
005I believe that faith and trust and love are key. If we love our children, we love our families, we will act to prevent harm from happening to them again in the future. So, my request, and I've seen this at places, is for you to hug your loved ones. Even the ones that you kind of like, hug them. Um, show your love, whether it's a hug or buying a cup of coffee or something, but after that, please take action. whatever that is. I want to commend this board for being very active in everything that you've been part of the community, going out there to all the back to school nights, being part of the witnessing of these events that we have here. It's very important because it's part of what makes us uh relevant to the
006public. School board members are largely volunteers. We have professional lives and we go out and you know sometimes we get asked about school issues and we don't have the power to change a grade. We don't have the power to get you into a school and we decide just policy right and we know how policy affects students and that is what is important about what we do here today. Today's a little bit different format. Instead of uh the regular format we have, we're going to have the public ask questions for about 15 minutes. If we can answer the question as part of the presentation, we'll let you know right away that we can answer that question as part of the presentation. If it's not covered by the presentation, we'll let you know that as well. And
007uh if we can answer that question, we'll answer it. And if we have to get back to you with a more in-depth answer, we will do that as well. uh it will be part of our FAQs later on because I think that sometimes the questions that are asked here are the questions that people have on on TV and they're wondering what is the answer to that question. So we will put that on our FAQs after the specific questions. So the question is for you to ask real questions not to give speeches. We will have a uh presentation and then we'll have public comments. Public comments is a place where you can not just ask questions but give me us your opinions. We will consider those opinions. Um and then we will uh have our own
008discussion as to what our plans are. Um tonight there's no action item. The only action that we can take tonight to put an item on our agenda. If there's no motion then there's no action. Very simple. Um so with that I'd like to give it to the superintendent. >> Thank you. So this evening we were going to start with questions that board members may have, our public may have. Um you are welcome to line up and ask your question at the podium or if you prefer um we have these little question cards. Maybe you just want to put your question in the box um to be part of the FAQs, but the idea was to solicit the questions that really should be part of an FAQ in the big picture of what the data and
009what we're looking at. So, at this point, we'll open the mic for anyone who would have questions. U maybe it's a question you're hoping will be answered tonight. um and we will chart those and some of them may be answered in the presentation and others may be um require more information and we would answer that in an FAQ. So I I now open the floor. Um you can see Mr. Smith if anyone has questions they'd like to ask. break the ice. And this is this is the question time. >> Hello, my name is Robin Rico. I'm a parent Ferguson. You probably all recognize me by now. Um, God, I feel totally unprepared for these questions. And I sat with Francisco, who's not here, and I we talked about all my questions. So when considering closing
010schools, are we looking at how like transportation with parents? Most parents in Cerritos have access to cars and can drive their kids back and forth to school where Ferguson parents were heavily walking community. So there's a 23 minute mile or 20 minute walk to Hawaiian Elementary. One of our parents did that. Um, another thing was, have we looked at possibly consolidating like the schoolboard offices? We can put those on a campus or even if not this this building, but what about consolidating Tracy into another um high school or the um adult education? We have two buildings there that could get moved onto school campuses and we have lots of bungalows. They're taxpayer properties so they should be used by the community instead of just sitting there not doing anything. So maybe just being a little
011bit more creative with how we purpose what we have. Um I might have more questions later. >> Well stay you can stay up there. No, you don't. >> Okay. >> You're welcome. >> So, let's go to the first question. Uh, transportation. Is that going to be part of the presentation or is that part of a a subsequent uh answer that we provide? >> That would be a subsequent answer. >> Okay. Good. And the school, that's the first time I've heard of that one. So, that's a good question. >> That will be something that we answer later on. >> Yeah. Okay, great. >> Um, >> and what was the third question that she had? >> The question was about consolidating Tracy or the adult schools. Um, part of that might be answered tonight and part of
012that would be answered at a subsequent in the FAQ. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And then in terms of district office space, um, I think the question is more are there other things we could consider. >> Okay. So, I don't know if it'll be answered per se, but we can respond in the FAQ. >> I'm kind of curious as to whether she means that the district office would move to uh school that >> Okay, that was the idea. >> So, can I make a comment on that? No. Okay. >> Okay. I think there was a school that school district in Huntington Beach that did that motion view did that. All right. Any other questions? Otherwise, it's going to be pretty short. >> Please, I'm on. >> Okay. Okay, my name is Sandy Meronz and uh
013my question is um as part of the process um for pending school closures or consolidations, do school board members plan on going to each site to speak with staff um regarding the uh you know just giving them information, getting their questions uh getting an uplose assessment of how they're feeling and where they're at. Giving giving it a personal spin rather than just data. So that's my question. Will that be part of the process? >> That's a great question. As part of the process. Okay. Hi, Katherine Pascal. Um, when looking at the numbers in the presentation, um, I see a big gap between the TK numbers and the kindergarten numbers. And so I know enrollment is a problem, but what are we doing to accommodate adding additional spaces? Because TK classrooms do take up additional space.
014They need additional facilities. they need special training so that we can grow our numbers there. It looks like we have room to about to grow by about 400 TKers if we should have the same number of TK and kinders right now. Um so is that something we can work on as we are looking at ways to grow enrollment? >> Thank you. I don't know if we'll answer that tonight but we can answer that in the FAQ. So the question is regarding space for TK and Kinder. >> Hello. Um thank you uh the board uh president Nishi for having this study session. I think this is what um parents at Sters and many other um parents really wanted. So we really appreciate um the time and effort that you're taking for doing this. Um, one of
015the questions we had is that one of our parents in the Sters um um the Sters group um she is a uh an administrator actually for a charter school and she um sent I think the board and if and I'm not sure exactly who on the board got an email or if she sent it all but she provided some novel ideas um in terms of ways that the district can raise money. Um and I know you know there are a lot of things that we can present that would be great be wonderful that may be whatifs right but um my question is how because in the last um board meeting that when we were all here some of something that we heard a lot of was let's think of novel ideas let's think of new
016things let's think out of the box um as we pro provided things that are out of the box how much change is the district willing to look at those proposals um And this is not, you know, this is not a knock on the board at all. I mean, I'm I'm pragmatic. I know there's only so much the board can do. There's only so many realistic things the district can do, right? Because there's a lot of um there's just a lot of moving things. It's very hard to be to to make changes immediately. But what kind of changes are you open to actually um um making in terms of what kind of um suggestions um can you accommodate or you're willing to look into? because again any proposal that requires money in terms of looking at
017new things cuz I think there has been some great ideas that um our parents have proposed but again we don't know if the board in the district is open to that um whether that's even realistic or it's just not something that you know you've looked into in the past and said this is even a non-starter or it's just something you're you're not looking into. And again this is not a knock on the board or or or the district. This is just something we want to know if we can present stuff and the stuff that we presented if um the board can take a look at that. Um that's it. Thank you. >> Wait, what what specific question? >> Like I'm like what specific >> Oh, so one thing that she um that she presented apologies
018if it wasn't sent to you. One was a So she's in a charter school, right? And I'm not an education I'm not an educator administrator or education attorney. So, apologies if I'm butchering what she's saying, but basically one of the things that she has recommended was um in the summer what she worked for Anaheim teaching summer school. And so, what it happened was offering some sort of virtual academy. Um as we have learned doing our research, a lot of the districts, not just ABC, but other districts um are losing a lot of children from uh to um homeschooling. So, I know that's, you know, sort of a difficulty and I know it kind of goes against what the it's kind of inconsistent with, you know, with with the district, right? Because you want in you
019want kids sitting in person. Um, but what she had proposed was that we would grow the virtual academy that was provided during COVID, but that, you know, expand that so that there could be a sec, you know, a secondary track um and that could generate um an additional income. Again, this is these are not my ideas, so I'm probably not doing it any justice. Um, so I'll ask her again to send it, but if she, you know, provided several um ideas just, you know, different ways for the district to um the district to um raise funds and raise money. Um so I I'll have her send it again. So apologies if you were not one of the people who received it. So that's it. >> Not other not everybody here got to to hear that,
020particularly the public as well. >> Oh, okay. Okay. So well, yes. So So again, I'll again that was not my idea, my idea. So I certainly not giving it any justice but I think there was you know certain um because she is u an administrator for a charter school. So there's a lot of um research and thought that she put into it in terms of what has charter schools have done that maybe the district can do in terms of um creating sort of like a virtual um you know a virtual academy or something that you know does not necessarily that instead of losing students to homeschool and to other charter schools maybe provide some sort of um access for them to still they're still in the district. Um, and that may generate fund. I think
021another proposal she did was a virtual academy during the summer like a summer school and that and I think she worked with Anaheim the Anaheim school district with that and I think and you know in her words that generated a lot of money again I'm not doing it any justice. Um, and I'll ask her to circulate it and you know if she wants to then send it in the public. So yeah, thank you. >> Okay. I I think we actually had a virtual academy previously. Yes, a >> after co I think we had a a >> yeah we had a virtual academy postco >> and the >> enrollment declined in that okay but they're thinking about summer school virtual academy so that might be okay I didn't see the email so Okay, >> good evening.
022I'm Carla Santa Cruz of community member and retired ABC. Uh, I have some questions, but I just wanted to mention I know hope is not a strategy, but I hoped for a study session and here we are. Thank you. Um, so my questions begin following up. Are you considering the previous suggestions that have been provided from public input at the previous uh opportunity in June? So that's my >> Can you be specific though so we can answer the question? Well, I know that I wrote in a fivepage or six page list of suggestions and I heard that there were many others and then I looked back at the notes from the minutes and it did list specific things from different community members. So, uh later on when it's my turn to give input again, I
023want to know do I need to try to repeat everything in a minute or uh will that already be on the table? So basically that's the first question. >> I'm not sure if that will be answered or not. You'll have to see if anything. >> Fair enough. I just wanted to ask. Okay. Um my second question is I know that there's been outside written input from a former superintendent that uh sent was sent to you today and I wanted to know if you received it or if that will be uh considered. I know it went to the administrators and the board uh from Mr. Rinaldo Santa Cruz. >> Yes, >> I can say I did. >> I don't know if we'll answer all of his questions or not. >> You know, I just wanted to
024put it on the table since it's a study session just because this is an opportunity to provide input. So, I wanted to check on that. And then uh also in your discussion will you consider school consolidation for the 68 configuration separately or will this be part of uh the presentation? All of the information will be presented. Okay. What the board chooses to consider would be put on an agenda item. >> So I can't answer that. >> Thank you. >> And and I haven't seen the presentation yet myself. So >> okay, >> that's why I can't answer the question. >> And then also uh a as you're considering are you I I saw the data from the last presentation and regarding the data uh are you considering the additional 170 um district out of district permits
025that are 20 more than last year to St. additional interdist permits as consideration when you're looking at making any changes that may impact our schools. >> So again, we'll talk through the data, but the board has to decide on direction. >> Okay. >> So we share information, but they discuss and make decisions about where they want to go. >> Fair enough. Thank you. >> Is it in the presentation though? Okay. All right. >> Hi, I'm Sandy Lawless, a resident of ABC Unified and also a previous employee. And my question goes along with the homeschooling. Do we have any idea how many students are actually homeschooled before we pursue that um type of venue? I don't believe that would be part of tonight's presentation, but we can make that part of FAQs. >> Okay. So, do
026you know the is is that something that you can access even? I don't know. >> It it would might be very difficult. >> Okay. >> We'd have to go through county and the state. >> Do we have a rough idea as to do ratios? Maybe. No, we'd have to go through how would we get the data? >> I want to ask because I'm trying to study. >> So, um, we know we have a group of homeschooling parents that work with our adult school. We would start there to see what their connections are, but we would really have to hope that homeschoolers have connected into state approved programs so that we could track addresses in some way. It would it would be a little bit complicated, but we'd have to look to see is there a
027market. Um, did >> the number in the thousands? >> Oh, no. >> In the half a thousands. Okay. Beyond that, we don't know. Sorry. Sometimes >> Go ahead. >> That seems like a lot of kids could get lost in the loophole if there's no way to track our residents. >> I don't think she said they can't track. I think she says it's going to have a challenge. There's not one place there to find it. >> Awesome. Okay. So, I was looking at the busing report and is there a way that we can get like numbers on how many kids actually utilize the busing system because it seems that um like to go to Whitney High School, there's 13 stops. And I'm super grateful we finally have a stop for Artisia High School. That was super
028needed and I think it's been well utilized thus far. But um that might be a good place to like limit extra spending. Um and since we talked about charter schools, has anybody considered bringing a charter school into the community? Apparently they really like are sought after. People love them. I don't I'd prefer to just keep our school, but it could be an option. And um the other thing I was questioning was has anyone considered the social emotional impact for moving our sixth graders into middle school? They're the kids who were in kinder and first grade for COVID. So they already struggle with that. So it switching that just concerns me that they're going to have another gh here we go because the staffing is going to change. you know, all of those kind of things.
029And is there a report that shows converting Star Wars into a middle school is even cost effective? >> Okay, so let's start with the first question. Busing, can we get the busing data? >> Um, we'll see data, but um and we can explain the process I think tonight. >> We we have busing numbers. >> Yes. >> Okay. We might not have in this report, but we have busing numbers. >> Correct. >> Okay. Charter school. I wasn't clear as to what that really meant, but >> um that's a we'll have to respond to that in the FAQ. >> Yeah. I don't understand how that would help because that would take away from our uh enrollment, not add to our enrollment, right? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Like how would we even do a chart? We wouldn't do
030the charter. Somebody else would do the charter. >> That Well, there's competition for ourselves. >> Yeah. At this point, we can respond to that that >> Okay. All right. Sorry. >> That's okay. >> And socioeconomic support for sixth graders, >> social emotional support. Um, we we can talk about that a little bit tonight, but we can respond more fully in the FAQ. >> Okay. And the last one was Oh, I just wrote report. >> What was the last question? >> Oh, yeah. I don't think we've done that yet. >> No. Um, at this point, the district would not move forward on anything like that unless we know what the board wants to do. Once we know where the board is going, then we can cost out things. Um, >> there's no direction for that. So,
031we wouldn't cost that out because there's no direction for it >> and there would be an expense to doing, >> right? Okay. >> Good evening, board members. Thank you for convening the special study session. My name is Michael Coup. I've spoken previously on behalf of Sters. Um, couple questions. I just uh thought of as one. I'm not sure if you're looking at the previous data from the study, but if it's possible, I'd like to ask if it's um possible to look at uh all the new recency data and evaluate all schools equally rather than just the four that were put on the block last time. U let's take a look at everything. Um uh two, if we can evaluate not the same way that things were looked at as a package last time, it doesn't
032have to be a package deal. I think individual uh decisions can be made individually on their own merits. Does not have to be looked at as a package for decision-m. >> Okay. Is there a question in there? >> Uh right. Those are two questions, right? Can we look at it not as a package? >> Okay. All right. >> Instead, individually. uh and two, can we look at all the schools instead of just the four that were identified last time? >> Okay, >> so the data for all the schools will be in this evening and you'll be able to see that and it's in the report. And in terms of the actual sites and what decisions are made, that's all on up to the board and how they want to move forward. Uh so one of
033the suggestions I made last time is uh per the consultant they considered uh border schools to be offlimits because they thought that would be something that a neighboring district would poach our kids and at least on the east side I made the point last time it's a industrial complex. So I would ask the board uh not to worry about that that all schools even on borders can be considered on the east side. Uh, and then lastly, any other financial kind of fundraising. I can say at least for Star Wars, we have our Star Wars Foundation, which is uh has a great plan right now for this year. We're planning to be raising uh about $2,000 a month in donations for the school. And that will only grow as our as our uh tutoring and language
034immersion program is grows because right now it's only K12. As that program grows, so will the fundraising projections as well. So, not just that. as I'm I can only speak to Star Wars because that's what I know of, but if we can look at outside opportunities for fundraising, that will help our our uh financial crisis. >> Thank you very much. >> So, this would be questions. We're going to have a public comment section after that or we can Yeah, right now it's just questions. >> I'm sorry. And I just had one more question. Um in terms of facility use, um has are is there any prohibition right now? I know Sour is, you know, was on the block. is still in consideration. Is there any prohibition right now in terms of sters being able to
035purchase you know furniture certain supplies for the school because um my my my one my youngest is actually in kindergarten um and the furniture they were not allowed and as you could see it's we have a robust um kindergarten class. There's four classes three um immersion, one um non-emersion and my child is in a non-emersion and we were unable to get um furniture um for it. So, if you go in there, I mean, the teachers have made it work. It's, you know, the kids don't know you, they're fine. They're all happy. However, you'll see that the furniture is a mismatch of just random furniture that was found. And when um teachers were asked asked to purchase um furniture, they were told, "Well, Sters is closing, so we're not getting any furniture." So I'm not sure
036where this message is coming from, but I just want to make sure that you know if since Star Wars as of this moment is not determined to close that, you know, we want to make sure that the school is able to purchase um any supplies that it does need because again we have we're still open. Um so I that's my question is are there any prohibition from sour getting um supplies that it needs as of the moment? So, there will be information in the presentation about school budgets. Um, but I don't think that will answer your question. I would say um your question is probably best answered by talking to the principal to see what is needed. >> They our principal um deferred to the district and said it was a district decision. >> Well,
037then we'll work with her. Okay. Thank you. >> That will require additional research, I think. >> Okay. I appreciate it. Thank you. >> All right. One last question here. All right. Great. Uh yeah. Um Pablo Vega, uh quick question. Um I know that one of the slides is going to be on Tracy's low enrollment. Um my question is, uh do we know why we have low enrollment? Uh second question would be, is there other schools that students can be attending Tracy that are deficient in credit? And have we looked into why they're not at Tracy? And um I guess those are my two major questions before and I'm not sure just I saw it on the slide so I wanted to ask. >> Thank you. >> I think you'll have those questions answered in the
038presentation tonight. >> Great. So this is an experiment. We never did it like this before but I thought it's better than a cold, you know, we we don't get to answer their questions, right? So at least there's a little bit of interaction. The next section will have a presentation by Mr. win and provide us a lot of information. After that, the public again gets to comment and give us their opinion about the presentation that they just heard. Take it away. >> Thank you, President Nishi. Can you hear me? Okay. Thank you so much. The presentation tonight will presented by myself and Dr. Carol Castro. So I do have a partner in helping me with this presentation. Thank you Dr. Castro. Good evening. How about now? All right. Thank you so much um for allowing me
039to present the data. Uh most if not all the information in here are requested by the board. So we've asked you to send us the questions and we try to put the information in the presentation for you. So of course um you have any additional question for us, we'll try to answer them tonight as we go along. So this information is as of August 28th, 2025. So this is last Thursday as we put the presentation together. This is the most current information, right? That's as of that same day. So on August 28, the district enrolled 17,196 students um compared to um 17,552 last year. So we declined about 356 students as you can see here. And of the 17,196 um 2749 are out of the districts. So about 16% of the district's enrollment are out
040of the districts. So this page gave you again um through August 28 the detailed breakdown by school and by grade level of our enrollment. Right? So if you can see across Aloha has 262 students and you can read it down. Right? Total elementary school is 8801. Total middle school is 2757. High school is 5638. So there's a total of 17,196. So when you try to analyze this this page alone, there's two point of information that that should be of interest to to anyone looking at this. Right? Our senior grade is at 1427. So after this year they will leave us right um join the workforce go to college but we are enrolling about 1,24 in kindergarten I always point this out right if you lose 1400 students and you enroll a th000 students there will
041be a net loss naturally of 400 uh students right uh a point was made by um one of the um public members was our TK case at 62 27 right so in theory the total population we can enroll is about a thousand right the same as K so only decided to come to to our school system so there's there's some uh work we can do there to to advertise the program and have families that enroll their four years olds right there will be those that will just won't enroll but that's where we can grow because in theory we can get a th00and TK that that that's a capacity but at the end of the Okay. Um, you know, if you lose 1470 27 and you gain a,000, there'll be no 400 students naturally decline from
042from just looking at this data. So, from this point, we know that we will continue to decline. Number one. Number two, there's room that we can um, you know, enroll additional TK. This is the first year that the TK program is in full implementation. For the past five years, it was a phasing. So every three months you enroll, every year you enroll an additional three months of of students. But this year um the the law is that students if you turn four by September 1st, you eligible to enroll in LTK program. So that's that's the information on this page. So this is also at the request by the board, right? you break down the resident students uh compared to school of choice and intrad district permit out of district permit to get your total enrollment.
043So again reading across using aloha as an example 215 resident students attend Aloha 34 school of choice and intra district permit 13 out of district for a total of 262. So we're going to compare that with last year enrollment of 302. So low has a decline of 40 students uh in the one year alone compared to the capacity as we were asked for the capacity by school and the utilization percentage and that's on this page here. So reading across you can see school by school the breakdown between residents intra inter compared to last year compared to the capacity. Okay. So I would have that for elementary and the middle school. So if you want to eyeballing it. So the schools with the largest decline at elementary is is Aloha with 40 students less than last
044year. And we have a school with net gain of Leo had a net gain of nine and sour have a net gain of eight. So if you want to look at that also compared to last year there's there's um a piece of data here that was asked to the in the out of dis um out of district permit at sour is at 168 because of their dual enrollment um dual immersion program. Uh and this is a net gain of 18 students compared to last year. If you look at the last year information it was 150. So that is a school with a net gain of out of the district permit because of the dual enrollment program, dual immersion program. I apologize. So moving along. So I want to spend some time on this chart because
045this is uh there's a lot of good information on this chart and it's also providing you the transfer out rate by school meaning that what is the percentage of resident students that um have decided or parents to attend other schools within ABC and not the resident schools. So again uh using Aloha just because they they the first one right 262 total students 215 of the residents and if you're reading AC where say number Aloha here if you look at go all the way down I have here it say 396 that is their total resident students I want to make sure this this this information makes sense 215 families decide to keep their students at Aloha out of 396. So the rest of them would go to the other schools within the district. So 24 of
046them attend Bragg from from Aloha, four goes to Burbank, 24 goes to Carver, three go to Cerritos and you just street down. Then you know that for that particular school, you know where the students are attending. And you can read the same thing with B, right? 316 resident students attending Brack out of 435. So the bottom number give you the total resident students without any school of choice. If everyone were to attend their home school 100% that's your bottom number you would get 396 from Aloha, 472 from Bragg, 402 from Burbank. >> Where are you at the bottom? So I want to pause to make sure that the data makes sense to the board members. Okay. >> So at the same time going across is the gain. >> There's a question. So, so yet so
047let me uh uh finish my thought and then you can so Aloha again right 34 are from other schools within the district right whether school of choice or intrad district permit and going across you can see there two from Bragg two from Burbank 12 from Melbourne those are the students that are home schools are different than Aloha but they choose to attend Aloha so that's reading across reading down is their home students So just you go vertical and horizontal. Okay. >> So the question you had about here is um capacity that's current capacity in terms of the buildings that are currently there, right? >> Yes. So the capacity we com we compute it right here based on an average. So it's not you know absolute. So we take an average of 25 students per classroom
048for elementary school and 28 students per classroom at secondary. So in theory, you know, four, five and six at at elementary can can house up to 32 students per per contract. So you can actually have more student than than the capacity depends on where they land. This is just the average, >> right? >> Okay. >> And it's not if we put like other buildings there that doesn't include that. No, this is our the existing current building. >> Current building. >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> All right. Any questions on this page before I move along? There's a lot of information or help useful information that was requested by the board. This page, right? What you know what the school of choice the impact of school of choice? This page tell you that story. All right.
049So if you look at this page again, the schools with the highest resident students would be Melbourne at uh I'm sorry, no Neimus at 529 right the bottom. >> Yeah, at the bottom. I don't have the red thing. >> So, if all of the residents stayed and didn't do school of choice or anything else, we'd have 529 at that school. >> And then if you had look at the school with the lowest residence that we can solve, too. Okay, I'll move along. So Aloha has a Okay, go ahead. >> So if you look at the transfer rate again, uh Aloha is at 46%. A war is at 52%. Okay, those are the high numbers and this is the same set of information for middle school and high school. A factor here is because of the
050Whitney factor. So um you know families apply to Whitney and receive and and and and and get accepted to Whitney. So for example if you look at here um at Carmenita 664 students out of that is 380 are residents 165 or school of choice and interd district permit and 119 from outside the district. Ross actually has the largest out outside of the district too. Again, looking at Carmenita, 380 students attending their home school out of 459 because a big chunk of it, 71 students um go to Whitney. Okay. So if you look at the high school again at the bottom tell you the home resident students right Artisia has 1617 resident students among them 1163 decided to go to Artisia and the rest those two other schools. All right. So, one of the question was
051asked is uh if if the board if we were to go through the six, seven, and eight middle school configuration, will there be capacity? Will we be losing um school of choice? Will we be losing out of district permit? And this c this will show you that we still be able to do that. uh and still have sufficient or similar uh number allotted for school of choice and also out of district permit. We get about 600 uh 200 per grade level at the middle school. So this chart shows you that it still allow for that. So we're not losing any potential um out of district permit. So if we were to do this in 2728, right? Uh this is the first um columns here are their home schools at resident schools, right? Parmenita will be
052at 47 students without any school of choice or out of district permit. And if you add about 160 school of choice in total and 150 per grade limit, they'll be at 717. A little bit cap over capacity, but they can handle it. And the same thing with all the other schools. So this chart shows you that if the board decide to do this, there's still capacity room for school of choice. We may have to adjust it year by year. Uh and there's also uh capacity for out of district and as time goes by, as you move further uh out, you know, we declining more, there'll be more school of choice and more permits. Okay, my pacing okay? Thank you so much. All right. So, there was a question being asked about if we're what if
053we were to do a KA configuration, what does it look like? So, the first two columns there is that if you were to do KA at Ferguson and Hawaiian, right? You would split the 150 students right now attending Fetty at 75 students per school. Um, seven and eight. So, it's still within the capacity, way under capacity if we were to do that. And the third rule is that if you were just to make Ferguson a K8, do they have the capacity to take the the additional 300 students from Fetty? And and clearly they do, right? You would have to uh reconfigure the school, right, to fit for the middle school, but uh at 725 capacity, Ferguson can take all the students from Fetty if if the board choose to to put it there. And again,
054this is just strictly from a capacity and a number perspective. Dr. Castro will talk about the program perspective impact of the different provision. Another question was asked is that what if you put KA at Fetty and and and move them from Ferguson. So as you can see there you have the capacity to do that also. So here for K8 configuration you can do it both at Hawaiian or Ferguson just Ferguson or just Fetty. So this is is let me see if I can understand this if you don't mind me asking. Um so is this saying that you could do KA Hawaiian K8 at Ferguson K and FE all of those schools can do K8? >> Just those two the first two column is just the board hypothetically said Ferguson we'll close Fetty and we'll convert
055Ferguson and Hawaiian to K8. >> Okay. So this says close fetti and convert >> person and Hawaiian >> and Hawaiian that's the first two columns. >> I see. >> That makes sense. So you divide the the 150 students at Fetty 75 each to Hawaiian and Ferguson. >> But you still only have 36 kids at T TK, >> right? Yeah. This doesn't change. The TK projection doesn't change. The K to 6 TK to 6 projection doesn't change. It's just that you would put the middle school, the seventh graders here at these two school into the fetti and eighth grader at these two schools into the fetty. Right? This is if you were to put the seven and eighth graders just at Ferguson, right? This is the opposite. You were to close down Ferguson and put them
056all at Betty. >> The enrollment doesn't change, right? It just where where do you decide to put the student Mr. President? Did I answer your question? >> Yes. Thank you. >> Okay. So, the vice president walked in just in time for this. This is his question. He asked that what is the ideal size for a K6 school or TK to six rather. I apologize. Uh this is if we have you know a magic one we would like to see our schools look this way right two classes in TK three in K or and three in every other grade level right so this is provide maximum efficiencies teacher collaborations administrative staffing support for the schools right but this is just ideal this is theoretical in in you know in the real world students don't come in
057in this perfect package of 600 student or about 598 so and the class size very manageable right 20 at TK1 20 to1 at TK 24 25 at uh K the 3 and 29 at 4 to 6 so so that was the question was if what is the ideal or optimal class size at um >> school size I'm sorry school size and class size both uh this would be it right. So if you have about if you look at our uh TK to6 enrollment is 8801 you take that you divide it by the ideal number of of students per school then you know that you need about 13 schools or so 13 or 14 schools so that's another way of looking at different things but like I said this is just theoretical and ideal its do
058not come in this perfect package in term of enrollment. Another question was asked uh is what is the current um staffing at each school by the district and by the site and and and their total number of teachers and how many combo classes are there at each school and this report will give you that. Again, Aloha at 262 based on the contract formula the district provide 12 um teachers. This is just regular education, not special ed. Special ed is outside of this calculation. The site decide to use that money to to to fund or pay for one full-time teacher. So, they have 13 um teachers there. Even with that, there's two combination classes at that school. So, this provide the listing. Uh the school with the dual immersion program like Neimus because of it's almost
059like two school within one. So, so you have uh more um combo cl combination classes but this is every school ele every elementary school and the number of combination classes again this is SF828 uh we do have about four weeks to balance uh that was the question from the last meeting what was that term balancing the class so uh to meet contract obligation uh so we still working on this but this is again as of August 28 2025 So a question was asked by what is by site funding? This is sitebased funding. This is money given directly to the site and the principles along with the site council and the leadership team decide on how to spend the money. So this is precoid was asked I want you know board member want to see a
060precoid data versus postcoid. So again aloha in 2018 2019 their you unduplicated pupil percentage is 86.8 8 their P28A at that for that year was 336 and their school allocation was 275,391. They had title one funding, title one parent involvement, LCAP funding, VAPA funding and LCFF funding which is the base funding for that school. So you can read across and the total. So the district provided in 2018-19 about $ 8.9 million directly to the schools and the schools has 100% discretion on how to spend this money. They have to be in compliance with federal, state, and district law rules and programs and policy. But for example, Title One, they're very restricted on how you spend that money. LCAP, you know, very restricted on how you spend that money. It's it's it's it's um up to
061the school. So moving forward 2526 um if you notice UDP changed a little bit by school by school ADA clearly changed you know a lot uh and but they have a lot more funding. So if you look at just the total bottom number with about 20% less in students uh but the district provide about 3 million more in direct support to school with a total of $11 million. So when you look at Artisia for example the money given to Artisia is about 1 million190,000. This is not for staffing, right? This is just for the site to spend to support their student, right? You happen to be a parent at Articia, you can go to that school and ask for the detailed report of how they spend that money. And this is not just I don't
062want to pick on Articia or be at every school, right? So, that's the report. So, this is just a two-year comparison and and uh yearbyear and the change even like I said with the declining in enrollment uh we uh uh we provide additional funding to to support the schools uh and and clearly right it followed the students in terms of LCAP in term of title one funding our largest schools le uh 42526 received 268 8,000. They are twice more than twice bigger than Ferguson, but Ferguson at 412 against based on the needs of students. >> Can you clarify how we determine which schools get the title one funding? >> Thank you for the question. We don't have to because the federal government tell us how to do that. So, usually the the the basic rule
063is that when you 40% or more, you qualify, but depends on the district average. we are appro approaching 60% this is UDP now not not just low-inccome but for to qualify for title one schools um it should be about above 51% uh lowinccome and and and and unduplicated people percentage when I say that term that is the percentage of their students who are low-inccome English learners and foster youth unduplicated so if you happen to be both we only count you once right you can English learners and and low-inccome but we we only counted once. So that percentage and if you can look at um a school with the biggest change in term of their uh UDP would be bragg if you look at they had 59% now. So they they newly qualify for title one
064funding versus in 1819 they at 43%. So another factor within ABC is that the demographic at every our schools are changing rapidly or are changing right so you wouldn't expect Bragg who was at 43% now it's at 59% for example or if you look at Nixon it was 36% now it's 55%. So like I said there's a lot of information in these slides and I want to thank the board for allowing me to share this. Another question is that how many substitute do we have that is actually having a cl um a class roster? We have 10 long-term subs as of 828. Seven is in special education and three is in a dual dual immersion program and Dr. Frasier is in the process of we trying to hire permanent credential teachers um for these classes.
065Question was asked is about Tracy enrollment and staffing. Uh we have 70 students enrolled as of August 28. About 56 attends daily. And this is the staffing. We have a principal, an AP, a mental health professional, a counselor is paid for by a special fund equity multiplier. And we have nine teachers at that school. Seven is paid for by the district and two is paid for by equity multiplier. By law, we have to have a continuation school regardless of how how small it is. It just, you know, how however we choose to run that program. And what is equity multiplier fund? It's a special grant and Tracy is the only school in the district that qualify for that grant. And this year, uh, we are expected to receive about 476,000 students. Again, this funding is
066based on last year ADA. this next year since the enrollment here dropped so much it will change drastically. So if you look at the data before right Tracy's the school with the largest drop in term of percentage right it was say about 120 student last year and now 70 students sorry 164 versus 70 so it's dropped by 94 students right so there was a question was asked that how many students at our comprehensive high school right now that potentially could attend Tracy due to credit defic efficiency, right? We ran a report and I want to say about 130 115 students that potentially uh if they choose to, they can attend Tracy to make up uh for the credits. Now, uh we will work with the families uh but it's parents choice, right? It's the parents
067have the right to keep their students at the comprehensive high school or attend Tracy. We will work with the different families or different options. Um um at at some time if there's um cases that may require some involuntary transfer to Tracy, we will do that. But for the most part, it's voluntary program. 115 students uh potentially on the list that's eligible to attend Tracy due to credit deficiency. Dr. >> A question. microphone. Nobody can hear you. >> Um, so with this specific item, could the students stay at the comprehensive high school and we task the site principles to come up with a way to allow them to do the credit recovery that they need? >> Yeah, like that. Dr. Castro West for that. >> Thank you for the question. Uh certainly we do have I'll
068speak to like Articia High School has an opportunity program very limited in scope. Uh students at a comprehensive high school are held to the standards of a comprehensive high school per edition and they must complete uh the entire program of what's required. For some students it's a struggle to meet that 230. And so at Tracy High School our graduation requirement is at 190. They also have an accelerated pace which is not allowed at the comprehensive schools. They're at a quarter system at Tracy High School and so they can achieve more credits within that quarter system. So typically uh what we've done with Tracy High School is we encourage schools to use Tracy High School as early as possible so that students can go recover their credits and then go back to their comprehensive high schools.
069We're not saying Tracy is a permanent solution for students, but it's an option for them to be able to recover those credits at an accelerated pace, especially when students find themselves very deeply in the hole. >> Another question. Do you have another question? >> No, just a comment. I mean uh we are considering options and uh we always have students from Tracy come to us and tell us about their amazing turnaround story and so I know that having an alternative program for students is exactly what they need at the same time I think it's you know given the circumstances if it's not mandated that we have an alternative school and of our schools >> it it is mandated >> he just said it's mandated >> and what ed code I I looked it up >>
070430 30 or 8437. Um it doesn't have to be you know in term of configuration does it have to be at the current pro you know location um you know district is unique in term of demographic and and there's certain um issues within the district uh in terms of the ideal location for for the school. So uh but uh we are required to have a continuation education programs right for for students to make up their credit. So >> thank you. >> Uh one of the question again was asked by the board is um what what happened what about those grants that was brought up at Ferguson. So we we have a potential and I want to say potential because we are still at very early discussion stage with the city about uh a possible renovations
071of the field at Ferguson similar to to our joint use agreement with the city of Hawaiian Gardens at Fetty. Um you know project total is about 3.4 4 million and this is the funding uh from the different funding nothing um there's nothing to report to the board because like I said still a very preliminary exploring stage um there has been meetings um between district staff and city staff uh there there's potential use of we were talking about um artificial turf versus natural grass we were talking about you have to move the solar panels that we just installed there uh toward the parking a little bit to create space. So there's a lot of logistic um you know u things that we still looking at uh in term of this joint use agreement like I said
072potential joint use agreement with the city there was a grant that uh Freddy I'm sorry Ferguson also received um it's called the literacy coaches and reading specialist grant for $450,000 that we received in 23 24 they have until 2728 to spend it spent about 170,000 to date And um two we F Ferguson was the only school um qualify or and received this grant because of their UDP uh student their percentage of unduplicated pupil percentage is higher than 95% 95% or higher in grade K to third and this is again for literacy program at that school. Um I will turn over to Dr. Castro to share with the board about from an academic perspective of the different uh options that the board is considering. >> Thank you Mr. W. Um so I've been asked to present
073some information on the academic program challenges in small schools due to declining enrollment. And so the first one that is often discussed is these mixed grade level classes also known as combos. So, I did list for you some pros and cons that I found in the research. For the pros, it does allow for student independence and self-paced instruction and promotes peer-to-peer learning. This is typically seen though in upper grade levels. Pretty common for higher accelerated classes like in high school you have accelerated math courses and there are mixed grade levels in that. The con though that research shows there is some evidence of negative impacts on test scores particularly for math. Now, of course, research is not always complete. This was from a specific study conducted by the University of Milan, but it was supported
074by a separate study from the California class size reduction program and the effects were mostly seen for students in grades two and three. Um, another con would be the increases the need for specific differentiate supports especially for students who cannot learn independently. Obviously, teaching two different grade levels, different curriculum causes additional workload for teachers and also trying to manage different student learning levels in those different grade levels would also require some adjustment and would require a lot of professional learning and some more flexible models in the classroom setup. Another challenge that we've seen um for declining enrollment in our smaller schools is sharing of elective programs such as band arts or other additional enrichment offerings. So it typically typically happens especially what we've seen with some of our programs is a school because it uh
075cannot uh does not have full funding to support one full program. So for Prop 28 funds, it's based on not only the percentage of UDP but on your enrollment as well. And so typical Prop 28 funds sometimes do not are not able to fund one entire teacher. And often we see that schools would have to share a teacher with another school site or two other school sites. That means that uh students experiencing programs such as the arts would have to be done in rotations. And the scheduling is often happening dependent on when the teacher is available to travel. So ideally, preferably, our program should occur in the afternoon, but because we're trying to split the teacher with three different schools, sometimes it can't always happen in the afternoon and it happens in the morning just
076depending on the situation. In addition to that, it is difficult sometimes in attracting and retaining personnel. Um, we've had a recent situation where we had hired a staff member to work at one of our school sites, but it would have to be a split situation and they decided to accept a job offer at another school district that had a full-time at one particular school site. So, having to it's not ideal for when we're trying to recruit staff for positions that they would prefer to have one singular school site. There's also limited offerings in specialized programs. So, this is just beyond the arts and bands and enrichment. So, this includes uh special education, counseling, or various therapies. Typically, we've also had to split special education teachers who work at two smaller school sites because of the
077different case loads. Currently, we have seven split assignments for our special education teachers due to class sizes or case sizes. We also have limited counseling or specialized staff and we also have to split split those up among school sites and we also have limited staff to offer and support extracurricular activities such as elementary track STEM Olympics spelling bee. Some of our school st sites have staff as low as 13 14 teachers as you saw in the previous chart. And so when you have a limited number of staff, it typically becomes that everybody is doing everything and it's uh not easy to then ask staff members to stay additional time after school, come on Saturdays. In the past, even for our STEM Olympics, although this last year, I'm happy to say that every school was represented,
078we have had difficulties having a team at every single school site because of um the strain on staff on having to take on additional duties. These next set of slides is more about um there was I was asked to show what does the research show about K8 schools and 678 schools. So you can see here that first thing that I noticed there was a one main research that was cited repeatedly which was Rockoff and Lockwood from 2010 and it shows that context matters first of all. So the transition supports the school side, the community engagement impacts the success of either model. So whether K8 is successful or whether a 678 is successful really depends on our intentionality and the programs we design to support students in those transitions. The next thing is that some studies
079did show that there was a modest academic achievement and fewer suspensions in K8 models due to fewer class transitions for students. So technically these were very urban school districts that were studied, Philadelphia and New York. But the fewer transitions that there were for students, meaning whether it be the transition happening from 8 to 9 or from 5 to 6, the the more that we reduce those or increased the support during those transitions, the more successful students were. So again, the intentionality and the context behind it. In California though, context does matter because we look at how our frameworks are designed and in California it does the 678 model does align with the current California standards for science and math. Those frameworks are written for those specific grade levels in that way. We also have staff
080with content area expertise and that allows for more collaboration. our seventh and eighth grade uh our current middle schools have teachers who are content credentials and so therefore they can provide specific expertise on some of those areas. Although as sixth grade teachers would travel to the middle schools or be part of that middle school and they are multiple subject certainly exposure to content experts having them be at the table to help them plan for math, science, English and history activities would contribute to their own experiences and enriching the curriculum for students. We could also look at broader program offerings for electives, extracurricular activities, world languages and CTE introductory offerings at the U middle schools. We have more and you'll see that in a further slide. We have the opportunity for them to take world languages
081for high school credit. We have the opportunities to take some um college and career courses and I'll give you some more details in the next slide. And there's an array of labs and facilities specific to the needs of specialized courses for college and career readiness again as I spoke about before for CTE and dual enrollment that currently exist at our 78 schools. So here is one of the pros for a 678. You can see the specialized labs, facilities, and extracurricular programming in middle schools. Um when I speak about labs, these are actual infrastructure. So these are u it's not just equipment, it's actually how they were designed. So in our middle schools, they were designed to offer science labs. And so you can kind of see on the bottom picture there, the robotics, but you
082can see behind it that uh that's at Fetty Middle School. what was designed to be lab stations which are important because they have special equipment um faucets and such that are necessary for both physical and chemical labs. You can see at the top there for CTE digital media and film video production we have sets that are designed at the middle school. Again, this is an infrastructure. Um the one above is from Tesla Middle School. And then we've recently started to design some of our CTE video game um programs and that you can see at Fetty. They have their new vid um uh CTE game video design lab that was just installed this last year. And there you can see the listing of various offerings that are uh currently at our middle schools that sixth grade
083students could be exposed to either on an elective wheel rotation or if they were in an accelerated pathway they could possibly also take. And one last note about our middle schools is that we offer intramural sports and a wide variety. You can see there we offer uh volleyball, soccer, basketball, and track for both boys and girls. And they play that intramural and they compete with other middle schools across the district. So if sixth graders were included in that, they could also participate in those intramural activities. Um, I had spoken about this a little bit already, but um, another pro would be maximizing our next generation science standards ready labs, which every middle school has science labs that are designed specifically for science experiments and math pathway options. So, since I already talked about the labs,
084I'm going to spend a little bit more time on the math pathways because I do get this question quite often about the accelerated math pathways. If our sixth graders are able to be at the middle school, it does allow for the sixth grade students to now have access to content teachers. And we could offer we could look and explore the possibility of um promoting a new accelerated math pathway where there could be a sixth grade accelerated math class leading to a seventh grade accelerated math class. And then um by 8th grade they would take be taking integrated math 1, which is typically the first year of high school. so that we can do in advance. So why can't we do that now? Because the accelerated math 6 content would require a credential teacher to be
085a math credential teacher to be teaching that course. So that is why we don't currently have that. Could we have that if they join the sixth grade? There could certainly be a way that we could do that for sixth grade students to join in that pathway. And then you could see how that pathway would allow for continuous work in high school to reach AP calculus and the possibility of going AP calculus BC or statistics. Another pro due to some grants that we've been able to receive, we've received the Golden State Pathways Program Grant, which is about $4 million, which supports CTE school counselors at middle schools for at least the next three years. So for sixth grade students, it means they would have access to school counselors that would support them academically as well as
086social emotionally because I know somebody asked about social emotional supports in addition to the MHP. Uh these grant funds do restrict that these CTE counselors live at the middle school grade levels and it does ensure that we look at academic review. So, we could look at a six-year plan for students. By the time they're in sixth grade, start developing that, looking at college readiness, and as I mentioned before, social emotional development. Currently, there are only three counselors at the middle school, but we're planning to expand. And as I spoke about earlier, the research study that talked about um the possible negative effects and one way to counter that was to be very intentional with the supports that are provided to students who are transitioning. So what I'm showing you here is what the research has
087cited and as well as in combination with things we currently already have to help support students with their transition. So research has noted that the sixth grade academy model is the best model. So, in other words, rather than taking sixth graders, putting them at a middle school, and forcing them to take six different classes like we do our middle school students, and constantly moving from class to class, it's best to keep them with their teachers as they currently have now in the blocks of time. So, they would have a English and history block with their teacher, a math and science block, elective and academic interventions. That could be a wheel like I mentioned before where the CTE and other types of courses are pushed in for the sixth graders and then they would be able
088to have PE in that math and science block for those students that are accelerated. Those could be uh those students could then attend a separate class for their accelerated sixth grade. So that's how they would be able to access those content teachers. In addition, we currently have programs to help support that transition that we can expand to serve our sixth grade students going into middle school. We have a program in summer school called the middle school prep program that's help that's uh open to all students. Uh we right now we particularly support students who are foster homeless youth eel and low income but also looking at students who have been struggling academically but certainly that's something that can be expanded and that uh class is meant to prepare students for the rigor of writing and
089math in middle school. Uh we also have an early start day. Every single one of our middle schools have an early start day. That early start day is only for seventh graders, but we could certainly look at the possibility of including our sixth graders in that. And that is in order to help the students just become comfortable with the campus. So, they get a full day. And I went myself this year. I was able to visit Haskell Middle School. They had a great uh they call it welcome everybody day. Uh it's led by eighth graders along with the teachers of the seventh grade students. They had a morning rally. They got to break up into small groups, play some games, and then they got to learn about the school rules. They talked about the dangers
090of social media and the appropriate use of cell phones and not to use it at school. Um, and then they also showed them their lockers, PE rotations, uh, where all the classroom buildings were, help them with their book checkout. So that way the first day of school for middle school students is not as scary as it could be as we're providing them some, uh, a softer landing with this early start day. and I'll hand it back to Mr. Wyn for the remainder of the presentation. >> Thank you, Dr. Castro. So, um the information here uh for the most part was presented in the last four meetings already. So, I will not repeat myself. Uh this is the state budget um recap for this year. This is our cola and the different programs the state is
091supporting including with the onetime block grant uh for the district. This is on the the other side of the ledger. The expenditure side, the ADA funded was reduced by 512 students. Healthcare cost went up by 3.3 million. We have an increase in general liability uh insurance uh cost. This is just the increase in the premium alone for this year. So, we still have a structural deficit that the county asked us to address uh going forward. I added this slide. You didn't see this at the last meeting. Uh this is our special education. Although our total enrollment has declined in the last five years, um special sess special special education um students um showing a different uh trend and pattern and and the cost associated with with special education also has increased. Um I want to
092point out that in the 2021 uh school year uh that was um due to co the expenditure there is is is um is lower than than normally it normally we would spend about 43 million uh precoid. So so you want to look at the trend you start in 2122. So you see that big jump is because of CO in that year we were not able to to provide the support uh due to COVID obviously but um regardless since 2122 special education expenditure has increased by about $12 million and if you look at our total budget is about 320 million about 57 million is special education. So this is the federal these are the federal programs and this is what we received last year and as I shared the last meeting these programs are most likely
093not to continue meaning that we will lose this funding from the federal government including program for migrant education uh title two which is um teacher training uh title three there's English learners there's title three for immigrants and title four for student support about $2.8 million in general fund and about 352,000 from the adult school. So about 3.2 million total in federal funding that um we were informed that most likely will not be available or exist in 2627. These are the other federal programs that will continue beyond 2526. Title one funding for low-income students. uh special education funding, Head Start programs, and the national school lunch program about $18.2 million that the district received. Uh these programs will continue beyond 2526. So that has concluded our presentation and I will turn it back to the board
094president. >> Thank you. I think the next section is um public comments. 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 board discussion on an agendaized item. Persons wishing to address the board on a specific agenda item at the time the item is under discussion are limited to five minutes each and will be called to speak following the staff comments and prior to the board's discussion and taking action. The board shall provide 30 minutes for speakers to address agenda items. Should there be six to 10 speakers for agendaized items, individual speakers shall be allowed three minutes to address the board on the item. In
095order to ensure that non-English speakers receive the same opportunity to directly address the board, any member of the public who utilizes a translator shall be provided at least twice the allotted time to address the board. Please remember that the board is unable to directly respond to comments made during the public comment section. In addition, neither the board nor district staff verify the accuracy of the statements made during public comments. Adverse remarks about a person's race, ancestry, ethnic group identification, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, mental or physical disability, or age may not be made. Please avoid remarks or charges which reflect upon the character, motives, qualifications, or ability of any school district employee regardless if the identification is by name, position, or other reference. Such comments may be presented through the proper administrative
096channels set forth in bylaw 9323. Um, so the first public comment, uh, >> how many public comments do we have? I currently I have three on my table. Currently we have seven. >> Okay. So that means three minutes per speaker. >> Okay. So um first we will have uh Sandy Marcato Navarez. Next Selia Spit Spitzer and Carla B. Santa Cruz. So if you could please um prepare. First, we'll have Sandy Marcato Navarez. Thank you. >> We start. What time you start? 7:30. >> Thank you. I'm glad that I came got up first. Um, good evening, Superintendent Zitllo, uh, President Nichi, um, the school board, and the executive board members. Um, I speak before you as a former Ferguson teacher, um, who has lived shared experiences with Ferguson families, um, ever since teaching kindergarten, uh, and
097following my students into adulthood. Um, I I've attended many celebrations, graduations, you name it. It's been uh just a a wonderful personal family experience uh for me. Ferguson has a real sense of community. Um although this evening's topic of pending school consolidations and closures merits more time than allotted. It is my hope the school board will consider all proposals before arriving at a final conclusion. I propose Ferguson transition into a community school. I believe a community school can maintain and support both Ferguson's dual language immersion program and its newly adopted literacy program while creating a dynamic community hub that will support both the school and the community. I'd like to share a brief context before describing what the community school model really is. ABC Unified School District recently that your recent analysis of potential school
098closures was conducted by a third-party consulting group, Schoolworks, Inc. While such reports are a common baseline, they are tools for school districts. Schoolworks Inc. Um, let me see. The report represents only the start or the starting point of m of a much larger, more thoughtful process across the state. Best practice requires community input sessions such as this one, and I thank you for offering this session. We trust the district's intent is to understand the human and educational impacts that cannot be captured in data alone. Third-party analysis focuses primarily on numerical configurations and efficiencies, but often underestimate the lived and shared experiences of students, families, and staff. We understand school closures carry profound and lasting effects on children's sense of stability, belonging, and opportunity. For this reason, I urge the district to conduct its due diligence
099based on prior um input and especially today's input by engaging directly with this affected communities, exploring creative alternatives, and ensuring that all voices are meaningfully included. Decisions of this magnitude must be grounded not only in spreadsheets but in a holistic understanding of what is best for students lives and futures. >> With this being said, >> thank you. >> I do apologize the timer went off. Thank you. >> Okay, >> we do have the paper. >> Thank you. >> Next we have Silia Spitzer followed by Carla B. Santa Cruz and uh Carrot Chahan. A copy of my remarks are being passed out, so I'm going to talk really fast. I do want to mention that um I went to Kate school in Chicago a gazillion years ago. I was there until when my parents moved to
100Arizona when I was in the middle of seventh grade. Um my daughter went to Tets when it still had a six had a sixth grade in 197980. Most people don't know about that. Both my granddaughters in San Diego went to 68 middle school. In early 2022, our school board saw the proverbial writing on the wall showing that due to ongoing declining enrollment, some number of elementary schools needed to be closed and their students consolidated with other schools. The board formed an ad hoc committee to quote, "Review and prioritize issues of declining enrollment and efficient use of facilities." The committee's first meeting was in May 2023 and it was to make its recommendation by May 2024. Unfortunately, due to a number of events, the committee did not have the opportunity to complete the task. In June
101of this year, after analysis by a consultant, a great deal of input from the ABC community, discussion by the board, and continuing declining enrollment, the board on a 4-3 vote chose not to close any elementary schools nor to reconfigure middle schools to include grades six through eight. Here we are in September and faced with the same problem. Declining enrollment continues and a growing number of elementary schools have enrollments so low that their facilities could not be used efficiently, resulting in mixed grade level combo classes, which can negatively impact student learning and limited offerings and special programs. The report presented tonight is very comprehensive and has far more salient data than that which was presented by the consultant in May. A big hats off to our staff. The report also presents the many benefits of including
102grade six in our middle schools. While closing schools is a difficult decision to make, school districts throughout California are doing so. The decline in enrollment continues and that's fine. Thank you. Um continues and there is nothing to suggest that it will reverse. In addition, some sources of revenue that we have had will decrease and others will no longer exist, some even as soon as the next school year. I strongly encourage the board to place an information item on the agenda for its next or immediately following meeting similar to information item 1.2-I of the June 3rd meeting which said public hearing for school consolidation and reconfiguration based on the most recent data and analysis in tonight's report. If this is done, I hope the following meeting would have an action item similar to the one June
10317th and at that time the board would vote to move ahead with this muchneeded action. Thank you. Thank you. >> Next we have Carla B. Santa Cruz followed by Chawhan and Tammy Cabrera. Hi, good evening. I'm Carla Santa Cruz as you know an area 2 con constituent with over 50 years of expertise and experience as ABCY educator. And you've heard multiple pleas on why Ferguson is so important by Ferguson uh Gardens Hawaiian Gardens former community uh employees and alumni. This is not nostalgia to hope open buildings but rather the heart and lifetime lifeline of a walking community. Like Sandy, I share history and connection with Hawaiian Gardens community for over 50 years. Oh jeez. I have some additional thoughts because I would like to highlight Ferguson's strengths to the community to increase interest in participation
104and enrollment. I would like to see uh efforts to increase the Ferguson Elementary dual immersion programs which can be supported with increased visibility across the district per perhaps even on the nearby illuminated freeway signs. I noticed a new sign publicizing the Mandarin dual immersion program posted at the corner entrance of Sters Elementary School on Carmenita. I see possibilities in more networking and cross-program alliance across the three dual emergence schools in three distinct geographical areas. Ferguson, Neimus, Sters already occurring through SEAL professional development. There could be additional support for the district dual immersion programs through shared advertising and more communication on the district website, family involvement, and more. the IB program as one possible option to consider towards building attendance in the future. I realize there are many steps along the way, but first uh finding
105interest is a new option. I'm very aware that Ferguson is already overloaded with their literacy grant, but I just would love to explore more possibilities because there are very few dual immersion IB combinations in California and fewer in Southern California. So S Ferguson would stand out and could partner with Stars Elementary IB Mandarin dual immersion to both be publicized as ABC unique stellar programs. Sters already has an IB primary program and I did um propose consideration of a TK8 configuration for Stars in June as well. Ferguson already has a full TK6 Spanish dual immersion program, but could potentially become an IB Spanish dual immersion with staff, district, and community dedication. Also looking at the TK options and our data from this year, parents had an option to have no TK or continue in preschool. So
106perhaps if we look at our preschool head start data, we might see a more uh larger cohort. The reason I propose to explore the concept of the combined programs as well as encourage advertisement for the district dual immersion programs is to highlight school of choice programs in three distinct geographical areas to uh the district. Thank you for consideration. Last call. The district supporting uh surrounding districts would not be competition because they're full. I checked indeed people from Patrick Henry area in Long Beach wanted to go to Carpenter in Downey because they were full. Carpenter is now full and so we could be unique. Let's highlight our schools. Thank you. >> Next we have Kira Chawhan, Tammy Kbera following and Patrick Gordon. >> Good evening board members and staff. It is no doubt. I will agree
107with what Celia had to say wholeheartedly. We are here because there's no denying. The data that we have does not lie. How we interpret the data is subjective though. In preparing for school closure, here's a good Duncan experiment that I'd like you to consider. Have each principal create a plan if a catastrophe happened tomorrow and they had to close a school. How would you do it? Where would you put your students? Where would the programs go? And that should be done for every single school. It should be part of your disaster plan. If you had such data, you might be able to say, you know, this is a good option. When we were on the committee, we owe several data elements that we considered and decided to leave out, but that's neither here nor there.
108It is about time that the board comes to a decision to realistically close some campuses. You cannot get your way out of this. Denying this is denying the future students the right that they deserve. You can cry all you want about students and how they'll feel. Tell me what you're going to tell a student when they graduate from here and they can't get a job. Try listening to the students who graduated from this very district who are undermployed. Yes, you think you have a good graduation report. Look at the underneath data. College and career readiness. It is not even. What matters to me is not what you close. It's how you reinvent your schools and bring about a future that the parents and students can tie into. As a district, you had an opportunity to
109lead, but you have deferred. Cell phone policy is something you should have done long time ago. Instead, you waited for the state to act and still not universally there. So, why don't you take the lead? I need civics back in our schools so students can be engaged. We need to have a consumer economic class for all of the students at 9th grade level. It is pointless talking about economics at 12th grade. They don't understand money and they don't know how it works. CTE pathway should be an option for all the students. Thank you. >> Next we have Tammy Cabrera followed by Patrick Gordon then Robin Rico. Good evening, President Nishid, Dr. Zitlo, esteemed members of the board, and district staff. Uh, as you can see, I'm on a ticking time bomb over here. But there's
110something I really want to say because my history with the district's gone back about three decades. It started when I was at Sters and then at Carmenita and at Cerritos. At Cerritos, there was a wonderful teacher named Richard Neville who said something that I'll never forget and there's context that extends to this day. to the conversation we're talking regarding Star Wars and and where we go from here. What he said was at an upcoming conference he said um he said to our class he said you can't stand a chance against those east east coasters you can't and he was trying to be lovingly honest but the fact of the matter was he protected the future for us because he knew that the future is a dim one unless we can look at it with sterner
111lenses and so I come to you I'm so sorry I come to you. Um although I know my Sters's uh fellow parents have rallied so hard and I'm so proud of them for doing what they did, but I do have to tell you that I myself don't think that Romela, this is Romela, I don't think she can be at Sters because number one, their PBIS system is nearly non-existent. Number two, and I'm sorry, PBIS stands for positive behavior intervention supports um evidenced by bullying, evidence by lack of communication between adult staff on campus regarding safety, basic safety measures um that that keep playground itself is safe in one recess period. Also, I don't think Romela can go there and I think I would ask that Romela be able to go to another campus because uh
112writing now in the early elementary grades is really really scammed and and I know this because I'm a teacher myself. In fact, I teach sixth through 8th grade math. I'm on the west side. I should be at home preparing for that tonight. But I need to talk to you about this because this is very relevant. So, thank you. Romela is um very upset and and I hope my message is conveyed that you know things just have to happen. I agree because in the end children grow up those treasured homes and properties that we esteem because of that neighboring school that will become irrelevant when your children are old enough to compete in the world market. And so what will matter is what kind of education they receive today. Thank you. So sweet. >> You don't
113need a time limit. >> He has her own. >> Next, um, we have Patrick Gordon, followed by Robin, Rico, and Michael Coup. >> Should have brought a baby. >> All right. So, uh, my name is Patrick Gordon. I'm a teacher at Gar High School. I've been teaching at Gar for 30 years now. Um, you might ask yourself why I would care. because I'm probably a few years from retirement, but um because of all the time that I've invested uh into Gar High School, I I just kind of wanted to share my perspective. Uh I do understand that this is a very emotional um process and I do know that there are a lot of people very concerned about the memories um and the commitment that people have made to their students and that the teachers
114that have made to their schools. But I also feel that the discussions about buildings not teaching students but teachers teaching students and that you can build community. Um I I really feel the district can't make a decision on this sort of stuff with regards to people's memories because even if you close schools those memories won't be gone. Those experiences won't be gone. The time that teachers put in will not be gone. I get the sixth seventh and eighth. I get the transition. My daughter went to schools that had sixth and eighth. She managed to barely survive, but she survived. And I think what Dr. Castro said about having money and having resources to provide transitional support would be very important and could be immediately a part of of what the district prioritizes. I think some
115of the novel ideas that people are speaking to are things that can happen, but those things need to happen on top of probably these schools closures because of the dramatic economic effect they can have. Yes, the consultancy made decisions without the emotions, without being connected to these schools and without being connected to these teachers, without being connected to these students. I teach AP economics. I'm the only AP economics teacher in this district. It's a matter of economics. This is a problem. Um, you know, the money that might be off offered to teachers for early retirement, not for some windfall, but to take those salaries away and provide lower salaries with newer teachers to come in to reinvigorate this district. ABC cannot be complacent. They cannot be there. In the past, they have been the failed
116bond measure. I walked around, I knocked on doors hearing a carrying an overhead projector. You can't be complacent, especially if we're talking about the trend being to 14,000 students. Eventually, declining enrollment is masking the crisis of ABC not being competitive. I have colleagues that work in different school districts making 5, 10, 15, $20,000 more than I currently make. And I can tell you I had a chance to leave ABC years ago. It makes me sad to say this, I should have left. And you think, oh, the students that I would have missed, the students that I built these relationships with, the students that had success in my classes, I could have had that success someplace else. Well, maybe you wouldn't be happy. You know, for $20,000 a year for the last five years of my
117career, for another 10,000 the five years before that, man, that's a lot of money. That's a lot of money. I know how many people are applying for jobs. I'm a I'm a department chair. I know how many people are applying for jobs in this district for positions. I know how many people are applying for jobs in other districts. If you don't do anything and you delay, you are rearranging the chairs on the Titanic and you will not survive because of how this is perceived in the community around you and the communities around you. I know there's a lot of debate. Was there room? I mentioned the Titanic. Was there room on that that door for Jack? If you don't make this decision now, there's no door. There's no door. There's nothing to hang on to
118and you will lose teachers. Next, we have Robin Rico, followed by Michael Coup. So I have a few questions and a few comments to add. So one was why do so many of our parents choose to send their kids to other schools and can we do a survey of that so that we get better data as to what is causing them to move? And one of the things with math when I was talking to Mr. Niola is um that Cerrito's College is saying that our well not specifically our students but the Cerritos College students aren't able to get their associates degree because they can't complete college math. So there might be a piece missing there and it could be worthwhile to connect with those people to get that information. And we also talked about consolidating
119Whitney High School or Whitney Middle School to Fetty. that would be bring a really cool cultural mixture and just an inclusiveness of one side of the community coming to the other side. I know they were in Hawaiian Gardens for summer school and it seemed like everything went great and it also allows um Hawaiian Gardens to offer its best. The Latino co community is so rich and welcoming and loving once you get past the quietness. Like our parents are very quiet. They're very respectful and they appreciate teachers. They're not boisterous. So sometimes that comes across as not being welcoming. But once you get past that, you see that love and embrace. And um I love that these ladies brought up um the cultural magnet. They called it something else DL or something like or DI. Um
120but I think that would be super cool if our music program could be mariachi based or our arts program could be all the the Latin American arts. Cal State Long Beach has programs that could support this. So we could work together with them and it could also help with a better marketing strategy because we definitely need to bring more awareness of our programs and like these ladies were saying we have um Patrick Henry and Helen Keller in Long Beach and they're packed. There's no place for the middle school dual immersion kids to go to. We have Fetty less than a mile away from them. So, why don't we welcome those kids into our loving arms. And um I would also ask that you please talk to the district staff about what's going on because it
121keeps coming back to us that our kid or we have parents who are calling the district office to get kids into Ferguson and they're being told, "Oh, let's go to Hawaiian because Ferguson is closing." Somebody else today mentioned, oh, sters can't have whatever, you know. So, I think there might be and I've heard from ABC teacher staff that, oh, well, it's already decided this. So, you know, maybe you guys could talk to your staff about nipping that in the bud. Thank you, >> Michael Coup. >> Good evening, board president, board members, administrators. Thank you for um hearing me today. My name is Michael Coup. Again, I'm a parent of uh a kindergartener at Star Wars Elementary. Uh my middle student, my middle uh daughter will be entering school next year and then a third one
122will be following soon after. Uh I'm here to say I I love my community. I I came to LA um the ABC Unified Schools because of the great schools that that drew me in and I I want to see that continue. And I know something has to be done. uh regarding the budget otherwise uh the dominoes will fall and eventually it will not be as strong a school system as it was that drew me in. So part of that is is I agree difficult decisions have to be made. I'm glad you have this hearing. I'm glad you have the community input. Uh I'd love to be part of that moving forward as well. Uh appreciate that as well. I do want to speak on behalf of Sters Elementary. I think we have such a great
123strong program. The proof you can see is as Mr. Nuran uh showed us the the program is only it's a third year and it's just growing. The kinder numbers are 110 stronger than any other school that you see on there and that those grades will just metriculate 110 all across. So even though it says 82% capacity in just a couple years that will be fully filled because all those students will grow a year and then another 110 will come in after it. So, I encourage you um to to take Star Wars out of your your consideration for either closure or for middle school expansion. Uh because we we are a very strong uh passionate community. We love uh the parents love the kids. We we we're very proactive. It's it's definitely a great program and
124the numbers show it. It's I know I know a lot of schools have all a heart and soul and I I agree. I love that passion. Um the numbers are are there already. there's nothing more that can speak more to the the feet that are coming into the classrooms and paying for you know the the what is it the daily ADA. So u I I hope that Star Wars can be uh left alone from either combination with with other schools or just even the expansion to middle schools because uh leave us as the program for a model um it is really working well and I think it should be left alone to its devices. So, thank you so much. Um, appreciate it. >> Megan Mitchell. >> Uh, I need a motion because we're at uh
12530 minutes. Just about uh to extend for how many more speakers? >> Two more. So, maybe seven minutes. Can I get a motion for that? Thank you. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Great. Extended for seven minutes. 807. So I come up here wearing multiple hats. Um the first hat that I always identify with is as a teacher because ABC is the district where I teach and it's the district that I love. Um, second is as a parent because both of my children are ABC students. I have one at Certos Elementary in first grade and I have a can't even say it, a senior at Cerritos High School. That's a whole another story. Um, but the one that I'm going to wear today is that of an alumna because I attended ABC for
126elementary. I went to Whitman. I'm a proud warrior. um prouder tiger, but I'm a proud warrior. And then from 7th to 12th grade, I went to Whitney High School and I'm a full-time all six years Whitney High School alum. Um one of the topics that is on or one of the um choices that the district was given was to make Whitney High School a middle school. And I heard from a lot of parents who were concerned about their sixth graders then going to school or being on campus with sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. I want to reiterate that Whitney is 7th through 12th grade. So if your sixth grader is not quite ready to be on campus with eighth graders, it's a lot harder to have your 12year-old 7th grader on campus with 18-year-old students.
127and you're looking at one who experienced that. As a sixth grade teacher, I know the developmental appropriate age for students and having Whitney be separate as a middle school from 6th, 7th, and 8th is much more development developmentally appropriate than having Whitney be 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th. My seventh grade year at Whitney, I had an amazing teacher, u Mr. Dennis Brent. And having Mr. Mr. Brent was fantastic because he whooped us into shape. But I also can tell you that was one of the hardest transitions I've ever made in my life because Mr. Brent had four periods of juniors. No, I'm sorry, three periods of seniors, one period of juniors, and one period of seventh graders. While Mr. Brent was amazing. His tolerance for 11th and 12th graders was not ready for
12812-year-old Megan and my comrades who just left elementary and playing games. And so I want us to consider that when we're saying we shouldn't move sixth grade to middle school because they're not ready to be in eighth grade or with eighth graders that we are then fighting tooth and nail to make sure our seventh graders are on campus with 18y olds. That is all I have to say today. I love ABC. I trust that the board will make the right decision. I trust that through our community partnership that we will do what's best for our district. That is all I got. >> Jamie uh Castillo Silus Castillo. Hello. Hello again. Good evening. President Nishi, board member, superintendent Dr. Zitlo. Again, I'm Jamie Castrillo Solless. Um, I am a mother um with a kindergartener and a
129fourth grader at Sters. Um, I know we're here tonight to talk about the district as a whole. And you've heard me many times represent Sters. Um, since, you know, we're here, I've felt that it would be remiss if I didn't mention the numbers. I think we've all saw it. It's pretty glaring that the Sters numbers have um are much better. So, what the school works um showed initially. Sters again has 110 kindergartener students this year. My son is in the non-emerging class and they are bursting at the seams. I strongly believe there could have been five classes. Um and you know we even added as again the number showed we added eight students. That may seem small but compared to many other schools that lost students it's not an insignificant number. Again, our school shows
130growth, strength, and um the Mandarin immersion program shows momentum. Um and you know, this is a material fact that that can't be ignored. Start has done everything has been asked to do to increase enrollment and here we are showing actual results. if we set emotion aside as you know many have you know said here um and just look strictly at facts because I agree um education is also very important to me my husband and his family are um ABC grad my husband went to Nixon went to Haskell went to Gar um I you know I not go to school here but I went through the same rigorous academic process so I value ABC and everything here so I know you have to make um you know difficult decisions But setting like I said setting emotion
131aside and looking strictly at the numbers for sters I mean they speak for themselves the ster school is not in decline one of the few that's not in decline enrollment is up parent involvement and student outcomes have you know showed a lot of strength um and again based on the data it's clear and obvious we don't believe I don't believe should not close lastly I want to point out that the risk of primacy primacy bias here because Sters was one of the schools closed, one of the first schools um one of the schools first named in this process, the schoolworks um um report. It it may unfairly stand out in people's minds as a a school that should close um you know because it it's just stuck in people's mind and sometimes this was just
132a suggestion. This was not one of the you know as as the schoolworks um um representative said it didn't have to be sour. It doesn't have to be sour. And again, the numbers shows that it should not be sour. Um, again, when we strip away any biases, focus on just numbers and facts. Um, the data shows that Star Wars is strong. And again, we're growing. We're bursting at the seams. You should see our playground. Um, and that's it. Thank you again. I know you have a very difficult decision. So, thank you. Thank you for um hearing us out in this study session. Thank you. Are there any more public uh comments? >> None. >> Um I'd like to take a short 5m minute break. Five minute break. Thank you. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat.
133[Music] [Laughter] [Music] One more. [Music] back in session. All right. I don't think anybody heard me, but uh that's part for the course. We're back in session. Thank you very much. This is the time for board to make comments, questions. This is the time for the board to do the studying. So, um I don't have a uh little keyboard here, so you're going to have to raise your hand. I'm with uh board member Mccaten. >> Well, I've thought really long and hard about all of this. Um first of all, aloha and Wararez. Well, first of all, I'd like to say thank you so much to um Dr. Castro, Mr. Nuin, and um Dr. Zitlo for all the information that you gathered for us. I appreciate that. Um, Aloha and Wares continue to lose enrollment. Um,
134I've I've thought a lot about the programs, the good programs that are going on at our schools. Um, I think Ferguson's Spanish immersion program can be moved easily to Hawaiian and still be successful. Um, I'm hoping that the reading program that they started working on for two years, even though the teachers will be split in two different schools can still continue with the the professional development that went along with that. The the funding for a specialist will they'll be well, that will be lost, but I think maybe the district could um hopefully do the PD that goes along with that program so it's not lost. Um, I know Sters has a great uh Mandarin immersion program, but I think it can be moved to Gonzalez and continue on. I think that enthusiasm will go with
135the teachers, go with the students, and it will continue. Um, having Whitney uh split off into a 678 and a high school, I think that there could be a lot of um coordinated programs. They don't have to be completely separate. they can still be somewhat coordinated and and be successful. So, um I really see some advantages definitely in doing that. Um being on the ster site, um I would I'd like to go back to the original plan. Uh we had a consultant develop it. Um, in the beginning I I really hesitated because I saw the program at Ferguson and I saw the program at Sour being really successful. But when I look at it and know that they can be moved and that we can move ahead as a district and look at really moving
136ahead with novel ideas and reinvigorating the programs that we've got. Um, I've got to stick with the original program. >> Thank you. Any other comments or questions or >> go ahead turn on your mic. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank uh first of all the community for coming out and, you know, bringing some questions to us that we really need to consider and for the public comments. Um I I I I was looking at some of the the project reports and this and some of our schools have actually done really well like they've improved their enrollment. Um when I think of Star Wars and all of our dual immersion programs, um I know most of my colleagues got the C CSBA report. I think it was last month that we got it.
137And one of the articles that I read was that even though we have declining en sorry I just add a candy sour patch and it's hitting me now. I just I was reading it and it was saying even though we have declining enrollment across the state there was one program that saw increased enrollment and that was dual immersion programs and I think Star Wars has pro proven pro proven that. Sorry it's late. Um, I would actually like to see the district spend money on promoting those programs. I think someone said that they they saw a banner for scour. All three of them. Yeah. I because I earlier this um school year, I asked the superintendent to put the banners out there because I think Okay, I'm just tired. I'm sorry. One of our public comments
138said that um our other school surrounding school districts, they're full. So there's parents who want to send their their their children to dual arrangement programs. I think that we could promote those schools. So I I wouldn't want to see Star Wars and Ferguson on there. And you know my position on Ferguson, you know, I've been very vocal on making sure that that community keeps that that school. And I really liked changing Ferguson into community schools. Um we have that in Ali USD. And it is amazing. It's amazing to have a school that provides not just education but wraparound services not just for our students but for our parents and our community. Um, I I think that's an an amazing thing that we that can happen to Ferguson. And I don't want to give up on
139Ferguson because I think that um I think if I was told correctly that grant cannot follow um cannot go to another school. It has to stay at that school. I think that's what I was told. Um and they're they're just starting out and they're doing amazing work over there. Um they're using UFly which is an amazing program that provides progress for the students, provides literacy foundation for them. So, I I I would be very hesitant to vote on anything that has um taken outdoor immersion programs from from our schools. Yes, it does follow, but it's it's not going to be the same. And I understand that measures have to be taken. I totally understand that. Um, one thing that I didn't and I know I asked the superintendent is that something we didn't haven't discussed
140is we have some properties out there um that are not used and um I would love to see those properties used in a manner that creates revenue like mixed use like housing for our employees that is going to generate revenue not just one time but over the years and I would think I know other districts have done that and I think it would be great to have our staff living in our school district. So if that can be a report made I'm looking at Mr. Nwin. Um because I know we do have some as far as the KA configuration. I I work at a span school and I can tell you it's it's it's an amazing thing but it's hard because there are certain things that have to come with that. Um and you have
141to look at this. You're having kindergarteners and eighth graders on the same space. You have to think of bathrooms. You have bathrooms either you have to configure them for elementary school or you have to add for for um middle schools and you have to do vice versa. You are sharing everything. You are sharing the yard. You are sharing grass area. You're sharing lunch area. You have schedules that you know go from m like the morning till like lunchtime because you have recesses. You have you have those breaks for the middle schools. Um and staff too. like you have staff that's middle school, you have staff that's elementary and trying to work around all of those and getting um programs like I think um Dr. Castro was saying like you know getting people to stay after
142school to do middle school and do you know it's it's really hard. It's not an easy thing to do. It's not something that you could just say we're going to turn a school into a KA configuration. You need you need furniture that matches them. you have to schedule like open houses and then you have parents who have middle school, they've got, you know, kids in there, four kids, they have to go to all of the open houses, they have to go to all the parent conferences. So, it's it's a little bit tricky. Um, and then the staff, I mean, yeah, it's hard. So, that's not something that I would be supporting. Um, let me go back over here. And then just just I know that we have I know Mr. afternoon was talking about combo
143classes and I don't like combo classes at all but it's a reality even when you don't have declining enrollment you still have combo classes I just had a quick question um two questions do our staff get stipens when they have combo classes and do we give them like a pareducator to work with them the whole day because they have two grade levels I don't know who can answer that >> there is a combination classes stipen per the contract with the teacher union. So we do have that um par educator support is depends on the class size. Uh usually uh it's not in the contract. So the answer is no. We don't uh provide for that. However, we work with individual schools. If the class size getting um larger um approaching 30 at the primary level,
144then we will look into supporting the school uh through the various options. I I think that would be beneficial because, you know, the teachers there all day long with two grade levels. I think they need support with the parah the majority of the time. Um I think a stipen is awesome. That's great that you get that extra money, but what they really need is support. They need an additional adult to be with them. Um so that so that's my recommendation. Um I think that's the only thing, Mr. President. Let me just Oh, and also um we had a comment about Star Wars furniture. Can we work with them please to make sure that they have the needed um furniture that they need for the classrooms? >> I was a kindergarten teacher and it bothered me
145that one of my chairs didn't match. >> I am like that. It has to be the same. It has So, I understand those kindergarten teachers and I would like for them to have >> matching furniture. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you. Another board member, board member Dr. Yes. >> Um, thank you. I have a list, but I'm going to jump right into the combo classes because I know that oftentimes we are told that because of declining enrollment and but I'm looking at NEAs and they have three combinations, three combination classes. Can somebody speak to that? >> Like I said, um, NEAs is a larger school, but they have the dual immersion program. So, it's almost like a school within a school. So, the combination classes you see there is a direct result of the dual
146immersion program. >> I would like to think that they're not the dual immersion program. I mean, it's hard enough to try to teach a second language, let alone in two grade levels. >> Yeah, we we can have that information of you, but yes. Yeah. >> Dr. Zil, turn your back. >> So, one of those combos at NEUS is in the dual immersion one. >> Yeah. I would really like us to to consider that. Again, it's hard enough. Um I'm very bothered with seeing a lot of um combo classes in our area six and area 7 schools. um especially I mean we just talked about the difference in curriculum when it comes to sixth grade but I see a number of five six combos which again troubles me because some of these are again in schools
147where we already have students who struggle um I can't even imagine you know having um compounding that with combo classes okay so I'll start off with my list um you know yes as board members we represent all today I'm going to take a specific specific interest in speaking to issues. You know, we're selected by we're voted in by areas because we know that our specific areas have specific needs. So, I'm going to speak to schools that are in my area, which don't know or elementary schools in one high school. The money, oh my god, like I had to calm myself down because I was just like, what is happening? So, we know that a lot of our schools are in desperate need of resources and so I was the one that asked about the budget
148pre- pandemic getting all worked up again um to post pandemic decided to add up some of the numbers and was really troubled to see that the funding and some of the schools even declined. I decided to look at some of the area 7 schools, same thing. So at a time when we were getting about hund00 million a lot of money extra monies post pandemic to service our students to provide resources to our most vulnerable students in our most vulnerable areas there was a decline in funding. I added the difference of funding 2018 2019 which is the numbers that they and I get it some of these schools are half the population they were then but that's what they used to fund us that's what they used to give us extra money and a lot of
149the money that gener that was generated was by students who attended or were in these low-inccome areas bike area 6 area Mr. Nwin, can you answer the question? So, funding declined. >> So, there was an average. Let me go ahead and finish and then he can speak to it. Mr. President, thank you so much. >> Um, 335,000 was the difference in funding. >> Where are you looking at? >> I did my own calculations. >> So, I add Aloha. >> Okay. >> So, I did specific Aloha. The difference between 2018, 2019, and 2025 was plus $26,000. Um, B. No, my next school. >> That's more money. >> Less money. >> Oh, sorry. >> Wait, less money or more money? >> So, Aloha received $26,000 more funding. Um the next school that I looked at was >>
150oh >> Melbourne. >> This is on page 14. >> 134 13 and 12 and 13. So I took the number total budget that the school was allotted in 2018 was 275,000. In 2025 it was 301,000. Um you want me to go by? Melbourne received $9,000 less. Um, sorry. Yeah. Palms received $42,000 more. Willow received $13,000 less. Anyway, my point is how how how is it that we get millions and millions and millions of dollars to support our schools, to support our students, but yet the funding just doesn't add up? I think I added the schools in just my area and it was a difference of $335,000. Some got more, some got less. A lot of it was for our teacher. Art teacher received $292,000 more. But again, these are the students that should have been
151swimming in resources. These are the schools that should have had multiple reading intervention teachers, math intervention teachers, multiple psychologists, you know, and talking to some of the staff that are coming to us and saying, you know, we don't have the achievement that we want because we don't have the resources we need. Here's one proof that they're probably right. Um, we talk about low enrollment in some of our schools. I've talked to some of these parents and they give me the reasons, right? It's perception of quality and quality can look different to a variety of parents. Some of them consider quality achievement levels. Um, I like the idea of asking our parents that are choosing um to send their kids somewhere else to do a survey on anonymous level. Why why are they leaving? My guess
152is we know why, right? And it's going to have to do with achievement. It's going to have to do with um the quality that they think their kids are going to experience at a certain school versus another. Um I talked about combo classes. I to finish would like to reconsider the list of schools that we have. We know that we have to close some of our schools. Um there seems to be this idea that this is going to allow for more money or whatever. We had a teacher talk about teacher salaries. I I don't know where that comes from. I don't know why there's this idea that if we close one school, that's going to equate to higher to higher salaries. I don't know if we've talked about the amount of money that we're going
153to be saving that's going to allow for this. Um okay, there. Now, please speak to the money. Yes. >> Thank you for giving me a chance to clarify information. So if you look at page 14 of the report, so I'll go down with the different schools one by one. So Aloha funding went up by 26,000, right? At the same time over the 5 years period, they their enrollment or ADA went down by 54 students. So even with less students, they got more money. It's on page 14, the very first line. So that's aloha. So, moving on to the next school that you brought up, which is Melbourne. They went from 441,000 to 432. They lost about $9,000. Yet, their enrollment went from 467 to 321. They are at 68% of what they were. In theory,
154they should have lost 32% of funding, but they didn't. They only lost $9,000. So if you look at the per student funding it went up the same story could be say that artisia high school when the enrollment went down by 75 students the funding went up by 292,000 this is just direct funding to the school for their discretionary use this does not include any of the staffing provide to the school any of the additional support like you mentioned counselor e counselor reading specialist math coaches, um the writing center, all those support are being paid separately by the district through the LCAP. So this is just money again given to the school for their discretionary use. This is not staffing related. All those support still being provided by the district. So another school if you want
155to look at Willow is um at the same site the funding went up by $13,000 when the school lost 100 students. So the per student funding at each and every one of those schools went up drastically. If you just look at the total funding at in 1819 we provide $8.8 million given directly to the schools in 2526 it was 11 million. So every of those schools doesn't matter the area, but most likely the the the areas with higher percentage of UDP students, low-inccome and and English learners receive more funding per student than any other schools. Every all the information is on page 14 >> as they should, right? Because they generate millions and millions. >> That is correct. And so the 300 again that's and I would love at some point President Nishi I've asked
156for an LCAP um study session because I truly want to understand because in my mind um you know yes they got more money but 26,000 I'm sure you know again the funding was tremendous. We've would you agree Mr. Twan that we've seen more money than we've ever seen before come into our schools because of unduplicated students? >> Yes. Again, a lot of that was um LCAP or ESER money or COVID money. That was one-time funding that came to an end. The LCAP continues to go up uh because of our UDP percentage is also going up as I point out on the certain schools that their um demographic has changed and they have a higher percentage of low-inccome English learners now than 201819. I like to think that if we invested more in these schools, we
157probably wouldn't be having these issues. I think if we invested more in our schools, we would be attracting a lot more students. And we, you know, we're a lot of people seem to think that every district is dealing with low enrollment. That is not true. There are districts that are seeing their enrollment grow because they are attracting students into their school district because of the programming that they have. >> Thank you. Sure. >> So, so Mr. Nwin, the money that's listed here under total, that money follows the students depends on the different program. So on page 13, then they explain that, right? So the learning recovery block grant that's follow the students prop 28 that's by law. the funding calculated by the state. So, title one that's based on your low-inccome students. LCAP that's based
158on your UDP students. BAPA is a flat funding per level. LCFF that's based on your actual ADA. So, depends on the program. The allocation for each program is different per uh per the requirement of the programs itself. So if if the board decided to close a school and those students went to another school, that money would follow essentially somewhere. >> That is correct. >> Okay. Thank you. So we don't have here um the cost of running the actual school. >> Correct. This is just discretionary funding per the school as requested by memory. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I have other questions after board members have their turn. Thank you. board member u board member you and then follow with vice president no >> okay good evening everyone and I I'd like to thank the public
159for coming out to our uh board study session and giving your input and it was a good thing thank you uh President Nishi for taking that action to uh get the public input and public comments first and the questions uh very legitimate uh input and uh each perspective ive and everyone's um comments were very important very important now as we today's session is on the consolidation declining enrollment consolidation and I believe uh this is going to be what the third study sess third presentation tuan is this third or >> yes ma'am >> yeah so so this has given us a you know >> within a year >> yeah within a year so it we we're taken a lot of time probably more than any other you know topic to fully discuss and fully give be
160transparent to to uh give the public the opportunity to you know input. Um you know a few things is that I hope that we can look at this as a consolidation not closure of school because we are one unified district and it's not one school competing with another school but we are one unified school district although I am representing you know uh trustee area what is it forget the number but yeah two thank you I'm I'm I'm in trust area too But we're one unified district. And let's try to look at this as a consolidation. If two schools in that same area, the number is equivalent to same as what it was, you know, 15 years ago, you know, for each school, then it just makes sense to consolidate not one school over the other.
161It's just matter of utilizing, you know, one campus over the other. uh because each school has its community over the years and that's very precious and I really appreciate uh you know Ferguson and Star Wars community coming out to advocate for their students and community that's really honorable and respectable. However, I would as a board member I think it is very important to take into consideration to be sustainable. Are we going to be sustainable uh at this rate five years from now or 10 years from now or are we going to be able to bring this up again next year? Spend, you know, three uh board meeting sessions to to study this and hire um consultants again, right? Because we will continue to see the decline because that's not something that we can control. We
162cannot control what's happening in Sacramento, what's happening in the state or the you know in the nation, right? So sustainability is very important and really appreciate some of the teachers coming out taking ownership of this district. Um another thing is functional. you know ABC is one of the very few district that is very functional because there is collaboration between the different stakeholders right so I would really like to see that continue and that we can be competitive too can be competitive because uh we're not the only district that's struggling right our neighboring districts are struggling as I said I receive flyers even though all my kids are grown from other district like Buena Park and different districts So we are going to be competing with other districts and we want to look at that and
163um we want to be competitive. We want to attract best teachers for our children so that our children can be prepared when they go out. I have a question and a comment on page seven and six and this is the what is the significance of the percentage of transfer out rate and its relation to school consolidation. this data I mean I had to look at it like for a long time because this is a lot of numbers and I'm not really a number person but I'm looking at this number for example like bragg has total of 570 students but uh the students that transfer from other schools in our district is 148 and then 106 students coming from other district and the percentage of transfer out is 277% only but then there are schools like
164you know other schools um that has like 40% 35% transfer out that means their students from that school is transferring out to other schools. Is that what it is right? >> Yes ma'am. >> Mhm. So what is the significance? >> So this is anformational point for the board. >> Uh it's being requested uh due to our school of choice program. It just giving you the information as regard to the percentage of parents exercise their their the you know or take advantage of the school of choice program and and uh under the law to to to send their students or kids to to the programs to the schools that they >> they they believe that that best fit for them whether it's an academic theme or whether it's it's other considerations. Uh so this is just
165an information for the bore. So so you can see that it's an informationational point >> uh for the boar. So each each you know different um individual can look at the data and and you know interpret it differently but this is as anformational item for the board. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. Okay. So >> I see a real relationship between the the intrad district permit, the number of students intrad district permit and the students who come also from out of district which means that school has programs that's very attractive and so our the families within our district want to go to that school as well as students from outside of district which is a positive thing right? >> Yes. Yeah. And also our parents have every right to use and utilize a school of choice. Correct.
166>> Yes. >> Yeah. That's just just a natural thing and we have policy in place. And another thing is that I mean uh I really appreciate you know the dual immersion. I'm triilingual myself and speaking multiple languages and having multiple culture is really very valuable in life and I would love to see that thrive and continue wherever it goes both um Chinese Mandarin and you know Spanish dual immersion both both you know languages so I really like to see that too I think all the board members do so thank you very much that is all president >> thank you uh before I go too far and I very much apologize. There was the mayor of Certos that was here and also city council woman uh um Sophi and I think uh Frank Yokoyama is here,
167the mayor of Critos. So, I just wanted to recognize that and I apologize they they're not here now, but um I guess got too focused on what we're doing here. Um but I want to thank them for coming and showing an interest. Vice President Noella. >> Uh thank you, President. Uh thank you Mr. Wyn uh Dr. Castro Frasier for putting this together. I also want to thank you know the community for coming out again and again um trying to share their ideas you know give their input their their perspective because um this decision as much as we could make it a data driven decision where we just look at data um you know we are going beyond that we are trying to be more data informed and when you do that you have to look
168at specific context you have to look at the history uh you have to look at things that you know data doesn't really show or that can't really capture that effectively Um some of the things that the ways I look at it is um the school works you know proposal um is very data driven. It is looking at just the numbers and and being very unbiased and and I believe that has been you know the way we've done things in the past but I think you know getting the community's input is important because um this are community schools even though they aren't officially community schools. These are schools that you know affect all residents and all students. So that is why when looking at the proposal I I couldn't go forth because of some of the
169context that I you know I hold and that is um the majority of the schools being closed were title one and not just title one but 75% or more um students are up uh unduplicated pupils. Um, and we know especially in Aloha and Ferguson specifically, those schools are at the edge of our district and closing those schools or consolidating them. um you you move a lot of those resources to other schools. And in the transfer, you know, we've had this issue at our high schools where we have these resources that are meant for, you know, unduplicated students, but they are mostly used by non-duplicated or we have, you know, um struggles trying to get, you know, those students to take those resources and, you know, persevere and do better academically. Um, so I I I
170think some the community has shared a lot of great ideas on how we can take some of these programs that are been effective and I think looking at the schools that have a lot of out of school interist permits and out of district permits can can prove a a solution. I think looking at schools like Leo that has, you know, 108% capacity, you know, and replicating it. Um, you know, Whitney and Whitney Middle School and High School, you know, are number one in the state. Um, I'm I'm timid about separating the campuses and and and you know, because they have such a great relationship and that bond is with from middle school through high school is has shown to be effective. Um, but if we do go down that road, I think we could do
171something bold. Um, we could do something to expand Whitney and and keep that prestige. um but also make it more accessible. Um I I think moving forward I would like to see um not just the school capacities but all our facilities. I I think moving forward we can have a conversation on how we can create a grandmaster plan and not just think about you know deficit but also we we talk a lot about asset um being asset driven. Um so I I hope that we can look at these programs and on the other schools. Um, of course, we're going to have to make some decisions on on how we can, you know, use our resources effectively and eventually, you know, come to the decision of how we're going to move our facilities, uh, you know,
172the future. So, I I hope to get a I'm I'm asking if we can have uh all our facilities uh reviewed and look at the potential, you know, cost savings of consolidating not just our schools, but also um I see on the on the board are adult schools, our other facilities here at at >> Wait, so you're requesting we consolidate all the schools? >> No. Um, if we can look at the the cost savings, um, Mr. Win, if you can correct me if I'm wrong, the the report we've had in the the number I have in my head is the potential cost savings of every elementary school is 880,000. So, I'm ask >> what would the cost savings be of also consolidating u maybe some of our adult school classes or you know some of
173our other facilities. >> So, just so we can have all the options when we make a decision. Thank you. Any other uh questions or comments? >> Did you want to do the followup? Go ahead. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um I found a couple more notes. So, I I I want to say I I'm I appreciate this this study session because we just came on in on November and I I've been on the board previously and I felt like I needed to have this discussion with my colleagues because when I came on it felt very I felt very pressured. Um the the community came on and they were very strong and I felt like we needed to have this to have a discussion to really look at everything that we can do and looking at
174school consolidation as a last resort. Um, and so with that, I I was listening to my colleagues and um, President Nyola, I think you said it correctly, like our our I want to be a district that has heart. I don't want to just look at numbers and say, "I'm closing this school because it's the lowest. It has low enrollment." Um, where I work, it's called street data. Um, you don't just look at data that's in front of you. You kind of take the whole picture. And so, this is what I feel we're doing now is we're taking a the entire picture. Um I I did I I would like to have a report if if if staff can do that and seeing if we can get Ferguson to be an I IB school. I think
175we already have sters doing it. I think it would be a next step to have Ferguson and maybe eventually NEMas do that. The cost of what that would cost like um I think because I I can I'm going to keep saying this. That's one of our programs that we can bring students in that will that out of district students will come to us. We already talked about the cost of closing a school. savings. I like having other other facilities and knowing what what we can or cannot do. I mean, but having information is good. I I we keep talking about Whitney and I have this idea and I want to I want to pass it by you guys. Whitney is our draw. Every you talk to everybody in ABC Unified, you talk to people outside
176ABC, they know Whitney. It's a number one. Whitney is basically a closed school. We don't let out of district students in there except for our employees which I I think how about opening it up but with a condition. They can come to and attend Whitney High School but they have to come in elementary and so as they go through our elementary schools and our middle schools they can test and get points and like okay you you get an extra point because you actually came out of the district you came and helped us fill in our elementary schools our middle schools and now you're going to test and you can come to Whitney. Just an idea. It's a way to bring in um students from out of district. I think we have other I'm not going
177to say their names because I don't want to other Whitney like schools around us that do that. They open up their school to out of district. Um and if we're thinking about doing things differently, I think that's something we can do that doesn't cost us a penny, right? They're going to come, they can come in elementary school where we need students and they can come through middle, they can come to elementary, they can go through middle school and then they can eventually go to Whitney if they test and they do that because we know that they we know that families come and move to ABC Unifi just to go to Whitney. We know that they do that. So why not give them opportunity to come here and not have to move because coming to ABC
178Unified is very expensive. Um property is very expensive. So I would like to see if we can get some kind of report or the impact of of doing that. Um and one other thing and I think um Dr. Rios touched base is that all of our schools have amazing programs. All of them. We've all been to our schools. We know they have great programs but not everybody knows about them. And some schools are better at PR. Some school need support. And I would love to have um Scott, I love you, Scott, but I know you can't do this all it. I know you can't work for all of our schools every single day. So, I would like to see uh a cost analysis to get um someone to help um our communications director to do
179some promotion because I I'm sorry. I am on social media. I'm on Tik Tok and I am on Facebook. And every once in a while, I see this amazing videos from Downey. Downey has has gone up in enrollment. It hasn't gone down. And why can't we do what they're doing? It's PR. It's people like to see videos of kids. It's just it's what it's what's happening now. So, I would like to see if we can spend some money to get some students to come and really see what's going on in our school district. Um I did talk to I had a meeting with Artisia city manager and the superintendent and the president. We talked about um oh my gosh, I'm drawing a blank. Artisia is gonna have the the cultural fair and having a booth
180with the district there because we get people from all over. It's not just Artisia. And how about having I said, "How about having a booth there and promoting ourselves?" Because that's what other school districts do. They go to fairs, they go to other they go to other conferences and they're there and they're promoting themselves. We went to Cabab went to Cabab and I saw LA USD that was was promoting themselves. I'm like, "Where's ABC Unified? I'll do it. I'll sit down." So, we need to kind of step out of our comfort zone and it's going to cost money, but that's what other school districts are doing. And I would like to see our school district doing. And if we're consolidating schools and we're saving money, then I'd like to see us spend the money to
181bring in some students. That that's that concludes it, Mr. President. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. So, um, in conclusion, I'd like to say a couple words. One is thank you community for coming out and giving us some pretty good ideas actually. Um, I like the idea of cross marketing all our dual immersion classes and and um there was a lot of good ideas. I think staff is going to look at some of the realities. I like kind of like the idea of even marketing the Whitney to elementary. I don't know how that would work or if it's legal, but uh um you know the thing here is and um everything's on the table, right? This is consolidating schools is not is just one of many things. It's not about necessarily just the money
182in this situation, right? Because there are many things that we can be trying to do that is very different. Um, one of which is consolidating schools. It's not going to solve if people think that that's going to solve all the problems. It's not. So that's from my wife. Um yeah, you know, I I went to Huarez and it it kills me because their scores are doing really good. They're actually they didn't have a summer decline. They they actually kind of stayed the same, which is not what usually happens. But then I see the reality of what we're going to be doing here, which is combination classes. And I know that for those kids that are struggling, sure technically teachers can try to be at two places at the same time, but those kids that are
183independently studying, some of them may need help and they don't get that extra help, support, and and what they really need. They need actually the teacher and uh they're not going to get that if we have these these other things. It's it's an issue of of that. Um, so all these ideas are there's somebody said Ferguson for IB. So I don't know if it was one of our more struggling programs, but that might be something we look at. We talked about LCAP. Um, I wanted to see here though regarding the money. It looked like this money that we provide here is kind of mandatory like this. So the amount of money that we give, it's not like we just pulled it out of a hat. this this ADA this title one parent money that's specifically
184for that uh group right >> that is correct >> so it's not like I say oh I'd like to put more or less in there because that would take from the other schools that are in the district >> it's a specific legal formula that we must follow >> correct >> and there's the title one monies that's coming by a formula from the federal government >> that is correct >> and the LCAP and the VAPA and all these are. So it's not like Dr. Zitlo is deciding that this school gets 275,000. Um that's a formula. Um so yes, I would love to do more. I think they do that with other methods and funds that we have, but it's not necessarily within our jurisdiction to even do that. They we've already been determined. So I hear
185we should have an LCAP study session. You've asked for a couple of times. I think we can do a LCAP study session. That's a great idea. We will do that. Um, I heard else I heard that you want to bring back the original motion. Um, and any board member can do that and bring that back as an action item. So, that is something that we can do as well. Um, we will study all these other issues that we have here and we'll have a response from staff regarding all of this, but we can't um we none of these talk about how we're going to address middle school Betty. There's only 200 and some odd kids at Betty. How can you operate a middle school with that you and have a broad range of classes that
186they deserve with so few students? We have to I mean maybe at this next uh meeting we decide to do less but that would also mean that we're writing off Betty. That's that's the reality of what the decision is. If we do part of whatever the plan is out there, um we're writing off our middle schools and that might be another conversation for our future board, but uh that might come sooner than we expect because we need to make some of these decisions. And event uh want to thank everybody for their great ideas. We will be coming back to this. Um yes. >> Uh are we going to take action? Can we make a motion? >> So, there was already a request by board member >> um to put it on the agenda. It's not
187necessarily a motion that we vote on. >> It's a request. So, just like you asked for an LCAP study session, we can have an LCAP study session. >> May I do a point of order? >> And all of these members here asked for a uh this study session that we have here today. And so, that's why we're having it's not my choice. It is the board's choice. Yes, you may ask. >> Just a point of order. I I'm want clarification. You asked Twan Mr. Wen if um giving some money to schools meant taking away from others. LCAP is a fund that we get from the state to fund schools. 26 million I think was the last count 23 >> 29 >> close to 30 million. Yes. >> So I like to think that the money
188comes from that fund. We don't take money from one school to give to another. take money from this fund, $29 million, and fund schools that have more need. Correct. >> Let let me trying to answer. >> We don't take it from other schools. >> We we might take it from other programs. So, if you choose to allocate more to the schools, then you just have less money to provide direct support. But at the end of the day, the LCAP funds go to support UDP students. It's just whether you choose and we our district choose to spend um about 3.4 million to give to the schools directly um the LCAP money and because we believe that you know they they know you know how to spend the money best to support their students. Uh but we
189have a lot of programs within that LCAP that the board approved every year. uh the 40 item list or uh you know on the different program the different goals different specific actions with um the different metrics to measure uh effectiveness that actually has to approve be approved by the county. So we are more than an interest happy to provide the study session of the LCAP in detail for the bore how that money is being used to support UDP students. >> Yes. >> Yeah. That because you know we choose to advocate for certain programs or for certain kids needing more resources. It doesn't mean that some get less. It means that they get money that they are. >> Well, well, we should be clear that you can't spend the same dollar twice. >> Correct. So, just
190to clarify, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is when you gave us this number, uh, Whitney has over,000 students and Tracy has about 70 80 students. And the fund that Tracy is allocated is like half, almost half. That is more than half. >> That is correct. >> And that money, for example, Whitney has 357,20 and uh Tracy has 179,617 and that money allocated that fund allocated to Tracy stays with Tracy students. Correct. >> Correct. >> Yeah. So that's just to clarify. And this doesn't include any like onetime grants or grant that they got specifically like you don't see the um >> the the literacy reading grant for Ferguson on here because that's just outside of separate the equity and the multiplier that's separate. So >> and then some of the elementary
191schools that's not title one doesn't get any extra fund either that they don't get title one fund. So they have they have to operate with less fund. Right. >> That is correct and that's all on page 13. Thank you. So the issue regarding uh Tracy will also be studied in relation to the staffing and and adult school and those other alternate methods because we have to look at all these alternatives. It's not like uh we can just pick one. >> All of it's on the table. >> Yes. >> In relation to Tracy, can we get clarification because I know it was I I think there's still misunderstanding at least for me as to whether or not we are required by the state of California to rent a school. I get we have to run programs,
192but do we have to run an alternative school? I'd like clarification on that, please. >> Yes. >> So, the ED code does state that we have to run an alternative school or classes. It has to be a separate uh CDS code and it has to have its own separate administration. You cannot just combine it. You cannot combine it with a comprehensive because you cannot use the same rules as comprehensive. It falls under the rules for alternative education. Now the other question in terms of um if it has to be a school itself, board policy BP 6148 has established that uh they established that the way that we do alternative programs in ABC is to establish a continuation high school. It's also the preferred model for the state of California as uh Tracy was a model
193continuation school just a few years back and that mo that model continuation high school is because they are their own campus because of the high uh percentage of needs of the students that attend there. So, so I think the direction is that within the confines of the law that we will look at ways to address the low enrollment at at JC as well because I don't know that we need a I mean we have a principal assistant principal. I don't know that the ED code requires an assistant principal, right? >> Ed code just spec specifies that it must have its own administrative team >> team over. Yeah. So, um, we can look at that and that's, uh, part of the direction of this board here, too. So, um, any other, uh, comments? If not, oh,
194okay, one last comment. >> Okay. I'm not clear as to how we're moving forward. I ask I asked if the original uh proposal could come forward again. Um, and I think we're we're postponing the inevitable. We have to we have to move forward. >> So board member Manhattan, your request to put it on the next agenda is appropriate. You are allowed to make such a request and that will happen. >> The original request from schoolworks will be on the next agenda as will an LCAP study session as will some of the other issues that were uh provided here as things that we need to really look at in terms of a comprehensive plan. So it can't that will be on the agenda but also these other ideas that we've received from the public we can't
195just let them go we have to also analyze them and we're talking about marketing we're talking about uh cross uh marketing the dual language immersions we have to look at all of that >> right I mean there's a there's a lot of great programs I'm not you know saying that that's not true there's a lot of great programs at a lot of at a lot of different schools but we have to start somewhere and as we progress forward reinvigorate the whole the whole system and make ABC um the district we want it to be. >> We got a lot of work ahead of us. >> We do. We do. >> So, are you saying that my my suggestion doesn't come forward as a consent item? >> No, it is not a consent item. It would
196be an action item and we would have to vote on that >> item. Okay. >> Yes. So point of clarification because I think I think we're call So the action item is going to be consolidation of the four schools. So their original agenda item is coming back. >> That is what it looks like board member has requested. >> Okay. Is >> which we are allowed to reconsider motions. >> Is it going to be the exact um information or are we changing the information that was attached to it to this information if you can clarify in that? What she has asked for is what was originally the motion that was voted on and if we bring that back it will be as it is. Any changes to that we would go through process >> at the
197meeting. >> Okay. >> So changes can be made at the meeting to amend make it bigger make it smaller whatever the board chooses to do. Is that uh clear what our next direction is? Yes. Well, yeah, because that was one of my suggestions that we cons we take on new considerations and revise that list. >> So that this can be revised at the next uh board meeting. >> All right. Okay. One last one. >> Yeah. I I just because I know we had a public comment that um it's going to be on the agenda item again. Our schools, our staff are going to see it. Can we please make sure that we reach out to them and not tell them that it's happening? It's not happening because the board hasn't taken action. And I think
198that the the the the message that our community's got was like it's a done deal. It's not a done deal until we as a board vote for it. So the information that needs to be presented to our community and our staff is that this is an agenda item. It is not confirmed until it is voted on. That message needs to be very clear to our community and our staff that it's not a done deal. We still have to we can still have discussion about it. We still have public comment about it. I don't want the message to be this is on the agenda. This is what's going to happen. Let me talk to you about what's what's coming next. We can't talk about what's coming next because we haven't taken action yet. So, if you
199could please make that very clear. >> We can direct the superintendent to make that abundantly clear. Also, as as you know, the decisions that we make here can be reversed at at any point in time, right? So, that that is also part of what we have here. So saying that um no further comments. All right. Motion to close this meeting at 9:05. >> All in favor say I. >> Motion is granted. [Music] Thank you. [Music] Come on. Come on. Come on. [Music]