001All right, we call the special board meeting to order on Thursday, June 12th, 2025. Roll call, please. Balls graph here. May here, Brianna Tony here. Mask on here. Uh, just a special note, Dr. George De Jesus uh is not in attendance. He has uh work he's a LAPD police officer for those that don't know and they're obviously pretty busy right now. Agenda motion. A motion. Oh, I'll second. Dr. S. Thank you. Um there are no changes to the June 12th, 2025 agenda. Thank you. Call the question. Falls. I mess. Rihanna Tony I. Mask on. Uh Dr. Hak, any public participation? Nope. Not at this time. Thank you. Thank you. This time we will adjourn to close session. I get a motion. I'll move. I'll second. During close session, we may discuss conference with labor negotiators,
002public employee discussion, discipline, dismissal or release, conference, legal counsel or student matters. Call the question. Def I M I Brianna Texony I Mask on I journ to close session at 6:31 p.m. She had turn. All right, we reconvene this special board meeting at 700 p.m. Kai, would you lead us in the flag slip? United States of America to the stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Falsgra, would you please read the civility state? Yes, mayor. You don't have to ask his permission. Would you like to read the civility statement? I'm being coerced. Oh, well, thank you. When conducting the district's business, we will strive to communicate clearly and concisely with the respect for the time of others. Listen objectively, carefully considering the opinions of others. Understand the counterproductive effects of disruptive,
003demeaning, and intimidating behaviors. Understand and respect district policies and procedures. maintain a respect for the rich history of the district and the efforts of others who have served in the past. Thank you, Natalie. Report of action taken in close session. No action was taken in close session. Dr. Saki, any public comments at this time? Not at this time, Mr. Masc. Recognitions and reports. correspondence, proposals, reports. No, not the sun. Add a representative, CSA representative, student representative to the board. Starting with Metallark Elementary School this this time. Um, some May highlights. Painting with mom was just recently in May. This activity was a huge success, offering families an opportunity to bond through art and shared creativity. Our students showcased their unique gifts in our annual talent show. From singing and dancing to instrumental performances and comedy
004skits, students confidently took the stage and impressed the audience with their courage and skills. Spring concerts. Both LLC and Metallark students participated in a wonderful spring concert celebrating their growth in music and perform performance arts. Field day and the awards ceremony. May ended on a high energy note with our field day, a fun, active day full of games, relays, and outdoor celebration. We also honored the student success with our end of the year awards show recognizing academic growth, good citizenship, and personal achievements. Some June highlights for Metallark. The carnival celebration to celebrate the end of the year, students enjoyed a festive carnival day on campus. Booth games, treats, and activities made for an exciting and memorable event. Building with Dad. Our Build with Dad event offered students offered students and their fathers or father figures
005a hands-on opportunity to work together on simple construction and design projects. Fourth grade promotion and graduation. We close the year with a beautiful fourth grade promotion ceremony celebrating the journey of our oldest students as they prepare to transition to new adventures. Moving on to High Desert Middle School. Some Hawk highlights. Miss Baker is such an amazing security guard. Every student knows her and she builds rapport with every student on campus which helps to keep our campus safe. We also want to give a big thank you to Mr. Roland for 40 years of exemplary service and teaching excellence. Your climb up Mount Perseverance and steady anchor shaped lives and guided generations. Thank you for a career anchored in achievement. May retirement be as inspiring as the legacy you leave behind. We are excited that he will
006be continuing with harmonic bronze handbells. Thank you so much to Asmo for their amazing support of music education for the past 30 years. Their incredible their incredibly generous donation will help support the Handville program for years to come. Some past events for the Hawks student showcase and open house. Families enjoyed an unforgettable evening filled with student talent and pride at our student showcase and open house. Guests were treated to incredible performances by the harmonic bronze handbell and ensemble dance force ballroom dance a sixth grade keyboarding and our spirited spirit squad. Student speakers shared heartfelt reflections about the amazing programs at HDS. A huge thank you to our students, teachers, and staff for highlighting all the great things happening on campus. And a special thank you to our amazing HDS booster club for their continued support.
007Spring Handbills concert was a beautiful celebration of music talent and teamwork. Thank you to Mr. Roland for another amazing year with the music education and dedication to our students. HTS was was filled with pride as we welcomed back graduating seniors for their senior walk and we celebrated our eighth graders at promotion. To mark this special achievement, our eighth grade students enjoyed an exciting trip to Sixfags Magic Mountain. As they look ahead to high school, we hope they remember the lesson from the shark and the goldfish. Don't wait for someone to feed you. Choose to swim and find your own food. And as teach like a pirate reminds us, passion and enthusiasm are contagious. Carry your drive, creativity, and heart with you. Your next adventure is just beginning. Some upcoming events for the Hawks. HTS is
008excited to welcome six new teachers to our campus next year. Thank you so much to Mrs. Jackie Ersri for her support in filling our open positions before summer. HTS registration days are August 4th and 5th and the first day of school is August 13th. Some athletic updates. Track and field had their final meet. Boys took first in the 4x400 relay and girls took second in the 4x400 relay. Cassidy Olsen placed third in long jump and Shayen Botton placed second in the 400m race. Thank you to coaches Erica E and Jen Olsen for their amazing work with our students. Varsity volleyball will be our first sport of the new school year. Lastly, campus updates. The HDS banner project. Our parade of tables Shark Tank pitch was was for new banners on our campus. With the help
009of HDS booster club and act doulsece women's club, we have been able to purchase banners that will be installed for the new school year. And that is all for my report this evening. Thank you very much, Superintendent. Thank you, Mr. Mascan. Tonight, I'll focus on two goals uh from our plan. Goal one, student achievement, and goal three, community engagement. I'll start with goal one. On May 28th, we celebrated our senior scholarship recipients with the Actton Women's Club senior scholarship recognition. To the members of the Actton Women's Club, my humble opinion, the one of the coolest group of ladies in town. Your tireless dedication to our students, especially through the scholarships you provide to our Vasquez High School seniors, is deeply appreciated. To our scholarship recipients, congratulations. You are beginning an incredible journey, one filled with
010opportunity and tremendous growth. Congratulations to our four students, Ryan Ames, Sadie Mendoza, Brandon Vasquez, and Lucas Williams. Our graduation and promotion ceremonies at Metoark, High Desert, and Vasquez were fantastic. First off, I'd like to thank our incredible teachers and staff. Their dedication, care, and hard work have guided and support our students every step of the way. I think Natalie would agree with that. Perfect. And students, congratulations to each and every one of you. You are entering this next stage full of promise, potential potential, and full of possibilities. We're immensely proud of what you've acco accomplished and excited to see what lies ahead. So, some pictures from High Desert and then our Metallark fourth grade promotion. Thank you, Alex. Uh, goal three, community engagement. On May 27th, we held our volunteer recognition lunchon here at the
011district office. It's our way of saying thank you to our volunteers who give their time and energy to support our schools. There are two very special volunteers that we recognize that day. First, Miss Meredith Falgad. Thank you for your countless hours and tireless efforts as ASMO chair. Your heart has always been in the right place doing what's right for children. You've helped keep the arts alive here at AADUSD for so many years and that means the world to us. So, thank you Meredith. Our second recognition was Miss Don Schneider, our volunteer of the year recipient who's nominated by her peers. Don, thank you for your incredible commitment, leadership, and heart. You've set a shining example of it what of what it means to give back. Your efforts are deeply appreciated. We're incredibly grateful for everything
012you do. Thank you for being an inspiration and for showing us what true volunteerism looks like. Thank you. That concludes my report. Thank you, Dr. Saki. No facilities and finance subcommittee. You guys went over it last meeting. What's up? Facilities and finance subcommittee, right? unit over on the last meeting. Yes. Yeah. Education subcommittee report. Um we have not had a meeting since our last meeting, but we are also having to reschedu our next meeting that I believe was originally said for the 18th I want to say. Um we do have to reschedu that. So we are looking at um the following Tuesday, but that's not set in stone. So that will be rescheduled. policy and management subcommittee report. We had a meeting today at 5:00 pm. I was the board rep. Um Dr. De Jesus
013was not able to he was not able to make it because of his professional commitment which we all appreciate so much. staff updated us on um some final language about the bullying, mobile communication device, and alcohol and other drug policies that will come forward to the board. Staff will be seeking some uh direction on nuance language and within each one of those. And then we were joined by the district's attorney who was formerly uh for three decades or more the Orange County Office of Education uh legal head there which is the equivalent of the LEO uh main attorney and we had a robust discussion about what are appropriate behaviors when you're a visitor volunteer and you're interacting with staff. I used uh an example of a belligerent board member who thought they might be able
014to um just come on a campus and do whatever they want. Um what appropriate interactions with um staff and the public are regardless of what your position is uh including visitor or volunteer. And then we went into the uh topic of what type of potential legal ramifications are when people get out of bounds whether they are a board member, a staff member, a visitor or a volunteer. Our next meeting will be scheduled for um I believe the beginning of the year. Staff will call us when they want to process things through that subcommittee. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Scar Dr. Takian submissions. There are no submissions this evening, but for the 2526 school year, there will be four from authorized charters. Just as a heads up. Thank you. Thank you. Consent agenda. I get a
015motion. A motion. Any discussion? Call the question. The Jillian I Paul grabb I Maze I Brianna Texony I Mason I personnel report get a motion all motion second I'll second thank you there are no um changes to the par just like ask superintendent of the district to congratulate Mr. Larry Roland on his retirement. He's truly shaped countless student lives and inspired so many generations of our learners. 40 years to be, you know, um that's that's a huge accomplishment. 40 years in education. We wish Mr. Roland all the best. And I know as mentioned earlier that he'll continue the harmonic bronze for the community and that's something that he desired and he's so passionate about. So we thank him for that. Congratulations, Larry. discussion. I have something. I have never ever wanted to vote no on
016a PAR report as bad as I do tonight. Um when I first met Mr. Roland, I was in um I believe third grade. My mom was walking me around. We were looking for my teacher. It was labeled as Mr. Golding out on the list on the front of school. Um and he was the only male teacher that we saw. Also, my mom asked him, "Are you Mr. Golding?" And he wasn't. It was Mrs. Golding. Um, but he walked us to where Mrs. Golding's line was supposed to be. So, that was my first interaction with Larry. Um, and then in sixth grade, I was absolutely blessed. I know I've said it before, that man changed the direction of my life. I hated school. I never wanted to come to school. I never did my work. My
017report card always had Fs. I absolutely hated school in fifth grade. I redid fourth grade because I just didn't want to do anything. I hated coming to school. I hated everything about school until I got into his class. Um I never got straight A's, but I did get A's, B's, and C's. Um I wanted to do my work. He makes you want to perform. He makes you want to learn and want to do good. and he brought out something in me personally that I would not be who I am or where I am. Um he taught us about um getting to know people. And I know I've told this story before how on the first day of school he said he started telling this story. First he did this skit in class um that was
018that was really kind of cool and something that we had never seen. Um, and then he went on to say how um things that we would do in the school year. And then over the summer he was going on vacation and he always takes a vacation in the summer and we were all quiet and we were just listening scared to death. It was our first day of school. Um, and then it was quiet for a minute and he goes, "Oh, I'm really disappointed. Nobody asked where I was going on my vacation." And we didn't know we could ask a teacher a personal question like that. Like that was really, you know, unheard of. So, I remember that a couple of us raised our hands and we're like, "Where are you going?" And he said, "No,
019no, no. I'm not going to tell you now cuz I already told you like now you're only asking because I want you to ask, but towards the end of the year, I'm going to mention this again. You can ask then and then um I'll tell you." So, towards the end of the year, all year long, he didn't mention it again. And towards the end of the year, he mentioned it again. And I raised my hand and I was like, "Where are you going?" Um, and he was going to Hawaii. And I remember that it was such a life lesson. And it was just two small moments in time of a whole year of amazing things that we did in his class. And those two small moments and it really made made me and I'm sure
020the rest of our class, there was like 39 kids in our class, something crazy, maybe 40, I don't know. Um, it really made an impression on all of us that and it changed our interaction, the way that we interacted with adults on campus. Um, and I was I was student council treasurer that year because he encouraged me to do that. I I know that I went on to do other things in junior high and high school because of his encouragement. Um he even escorted me in one of my pageantss as like most of the little girls had their dad's. Um Larry was my escort. So we just built that kind of relationship and I'm so excited for him. So excited for him to retire and do the things. Go back to Hawaii if you want.
021Like go do the things that you want to do. Um, but man, I'm sad for everybody that's going into sixth grade and every every kid that's going to come after cuz imagine how many years over 40 years have he changed my life the way he changed my life and my kids' lives. How many how many kids over 40 years has he impacted and just done absolutely amazing things. And it's not just the kids, it's the families, too. And he's just such a fantastic human being. So Larry, thank you very much for everything that you've ever done for me, my family, this town, this school district, and every family that you've ever come in contact with and ever will come in contact with. We are just absolutely blessed that you've you've been here for so long.
022So thank you from the bottom of my heart. And that's it. Thank you for sharing. That was good. I'm just thrilled we get to keep him on do the hand belts. So yeah, not quite gone. Uh call the question. The Jillian eyes. No. Paul graph I may I brianna reluctantly I masc. Subject be memorandum of understanding between CEA ausd chapter number 473 enacted unified school district staff member working out of class. Dr. Sakin. I'll move. I'll second. Dr. Thank you. It's our it's our recommendation for the board to approve theou uh between CSEA and the district for staff member working out of class. The scope of work includes life scan fingerprinting on behalf of the district. Discussion call the question. The Jillian I balls I may. Brianna Tony I masc. Subject C, approval tenative agreement
023between AATA and AADUSD. I'll move. I'll second. Dr. Saki, I'd like to express my appreciation to both district leadership as well as to the ADA uh leadership for their good faith bargaining u coming um to the end of the process um for this tenative agreement. Turn it over over to Miss Erdrich, our lead negotiator for the district. Good evening. Um, I just want to say thank you to ADA for the negotiations. Uh, we cleaned up some language. We were able to come to many agreements because it was the whole contract that was open for negotiations. So, a lot was accomplished and we hope that next year we are just as successful and work as well as we did this year. discussion. Natalie, are you sure? I'm silent for once. Go with it. Thank you for
024your hard work and thank you for everyone on both sides for a relatively quick process. Call the question. The Jillian I balls you have I may I Brianna Tony I mask on I subject D contract internship for social worker. I'll move. I'll second. Dr. S. Thank you. Uh through our mental health demonstration grant, um our current social worker interns, primarily from USC, earn a $2,000 stipen as an incentive as part of their fieldwork and their practicum here at the district. And this is just the agreement for the 2,000 to be paid for second semester for the intern who concluded their fieldwork to be paid out of um one of our grants. Please discussion. Is is this um part of the program that we read about in the AV press twice in the last two weeks?
025Yes, that's one big part. Developing social worker interns for school sites. Natalie call the question. Did Jill and I could could this person help this person I Brianna Tony I mascot I subject E ed education healthc care staffing agreement move I'll second so this this agency will support staffing um on on an as needed basis um looking for specific classifications within the realm of special education such as an SLP speech language pathologist and occupational therapist U behavior analysts and others if the need ever arises. Discussion. Is this a new contract with a new vendor? It's the same vendor. Yes, we've had this vendor. How many years running? I would say probably like two to three. So we we've not had complaints or filings over any of their cases? No. Good. Call the question. The Jillian
026I Falls I Maze I Brianna Tony I Mason I subject F imagine learning price quote in motion I'll move I'll second Dr. Second. So, as far as recruitment, we've attempted to recruit through um recruit a speech language pathologist, but we've been unsuccessful thus far. So, Imagine Learning has provided us a quote for the 2526 school year for the mound of 135,000 for speech language pathologists to come on board and to work for the 2526 school year for our district. Discussion. Call the question. Dillian I Falls I M I Brianna Tony I mask on I item 10 student education services subject A second read and approval hillbilly elegy memoir of a family and culture in crisis I'll move I'll second Dr. talking. Thank you. So, as an action item, uh we recommend that the board um
027approve the memoir for um as supplemental instruction and reading for Vasquez High School for 2526 school year discussion. Call a question. Vigilian I Paul I amazing Brianna Tony I subject B public hearing local control and accountability plan you open the hearing We open this hearing at 7:25 p.m. Thank you. So, a public hearing on the LCAP is a required step in the adoption process of the plan by school district as well as Los Angeles County Office of Education. Here we present the draft plan for 2526. And to do that, we have our director of ed services, Dr. Chamberlain, to present. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, Gordon, superintendent. So, this year I'm pres presenting the LCAP for the 2526 school year and we only have this year's outcomes. Last year we presented three
028years because we presented a new plan. So, just a brief review of what the LCAP is um and how the goal how the goal development process works. Um, we the LCAP is a three-year plan that describes goals, actions, services, and expenditures that support student outcomes and address state and local priorities. And the LCAP is developed in an ongoing cycle of continuous improvement with the input from our educational partners to meet the unique needs of our local education agency, which is our school district. Part of that process is to consult with groups. We um and to consult with our advisory committees which is our school site council, our DAC, our ELAC, um our parent groups, PTO, PTS, PTSO, and also with our um school site administrators and our school staff as well. And then we also
029consult with the SULPA. So to review quickly um these are our goals the same goals that we had that we presented last year. Goal one is based on student academic performance and the graduation rate. It focuses on all students, English learners, foster youth and students eligible for free and reduced lunch. U and the goal is to provide a robust a robust course selection that meets the needs of all of our students and ensure graduation in line with AADUSD's graduation requirements. Below you see the seven actions that we focus on each year and I'm I'm not going to read each one of them but I am going to share an update a summary of updates or outcome. So based on those um actions, one uh 1.1 was professional development. An area that we exceeded and did
030a lot of really good work this year was an I Ready that supported our K8 students. We also through AVID had our summer institute, our district-wide PD also provided by our district area AVID consultant. We also expanded our career techn technical education CTE in the areas of biomed, construction, visual and performing arts and computer science. We in addition expanded our graduation credit recovery program through the implementation of Aselis. We also expanded our virtual academy to provide services for K through 12 students through also the implementation of Aselis. And we expanded our targeted services for students elig eligible for special education services by hiring a board certified uh behavior analyst. You sometimes hear called a BCBA and behavior intervention aids. Goal number two is um focused on students being in school every day in a physical
031and cognitive environment that's safe, caring, clean, and conducive to learning and allow students to thrive. All facilities will be in good repair and equipped for the 21st century learning. These are actions and services. Our outcomes for this year is that student attendance plans were developed and implemented during the school year which included all stakeholders and the plans were reviewed and updated throughout the school year. Our monthly um attendance was tracked through a monthly report for all stu for all school sites and then sites um also were were fully staffed with at least one clinical social worker. Basquez High School has a full-time MTSS coach to support PBIS and RTI and two academic counselors. High Desert has a full-time school counselor to provide social emotional support to students and that and also focus on tier 1,
032tier 2 and tier three supports. Meet also has a full-time intervention specialist to provide instructional interventions to increase learning and engagement at the tier 2 level. And the clinical social workers at each site provide services through their weare team and focus on tier 2 and tier three interventions and supports for all for all students. Goal three is that the district will recruit and retain quality employees as measured by employment of teaching staff with appropriate credentials and placed in appropriate assignments. Those are our three areas of actions. And our year one outcome included induction services continued with the center for teacher in innovation in its third year. This year we had two teachers complete year two of induction making them eligible for the professional clear credential. In addition, we had two one year one candidates and
033three mid-year candidates participate in the program. All teachers receive professional development at the district professional development and weekly site profession professional development throughout the year. And for the 24-25 school year, the district started with a dedicated human resources director. This allowed us to fill positions quickly and to support new open positions during the school year and quickly fill positions for the upcoming 2526 school year. Goal four, parents and guardians feel welcomed at their site at their school and have um sufficient two-way communication with their school and are provided with knowledge and skills to successfully support and advocate for their child. These were the actions and our our outcome for year one was um our ELAC and DAC had a dedicated staff who made phone calls and reminders and invited families and the community to meetings.
034Um reminders and invitations were sent out weekly and students were encouraged to invite their families to the ELAC and the DAC meetings. Uh translation services were included at all meetings. There was more re uh outreach this year and input from parents and the community to collaborate on the LCAP goals, metrics, and analysis through meetings with the PTO and the PTSO. And the family engagement survey indicated that we have made some progress in creating schools that are welcoming and allow for parent input. Um we still have work to do in this area. However, the survey did indicate that 77% of families felt they were well they were received um in timely school that they received timely school updates and 78% that they felt that they uh were kept informed and that's an improvement over last year.
035So, I'm happy that we're moving in the right direction. Just an overview of the um approval process. The LCAP is adopted by the July July 1st. So, this is the first read. It's up for approval for at our next um board meeting. We have to submit to the county office of education within 5 days of adoption and then by August 15th, the county office of education can request clarification and writing and we will respond within 15 days. uh within 15 days of receiving response from the district, the county office education may provide recommendations and um the county office of education has until October 8th to approve the LCAP. And then with this presentation also is a brief presentation of our local performance indicator self-reflection and those areas of self-reflection. Again, this aligns with the LCAP,
036so it's a little bit repetitive, but the priority areas are basic services and conditions. The priority two area is implementation of state academic standards. Priority three is family and parent engagement. Priority six, school climate. And and priority seven is access to a broad course of study. For priority one focuses on teachers. Oh, you don't have those slides, do you? I updated it. I'll just use my computer. Oh, okay. Sorry. I I added stuff. Okay. I'm like, I think I could have done it without it, but maybe not. The slides are nice. So, for basic service and condition, it specifically addresses um our teachers and it uses um data quest, which the most current data is 2223. During that school year, we had a total um FTE, which is full-time teachers at 46.1. 66.4% of those
037teachers have clear credentials. So, some of those teachers are have a preliminary and those teachers are teachers that are going through our induction program that I spoke about earlier. Um 2.2% of those were interns and 30% were considered ineffective. And ineffective is defined by teachers that do not have a clear credential. If they're in our internship program, which we get, we attract a lot of new teachers, which is actually really great because they're new right out of school. They're excited about being teachers. They enter our internship program. Um, it's a really great program. So, we do get a high number of teachers in that program. So, it's not that they are ineffective, it's just that that's how they're defined under this measure. And then implementation of state academic standards. The district has adopted stateboard adopted
038curriculum and assessments that are given at regular intervals and a yearly report of student state dashboard data is prevented presented to the school board for parent and family engagement. This is a repeat as well for priy 3. School sites hold regular meetings for parent groups including PTO, PTSO, ELAC uh and school site council. The district holds a variety of meetings as well, including project to expire, DAC, board meetings, strategic plans, and LCAP meetings. And priority six, school climate is the data. Oh, this is the student data from the 2024 LCAP survey feedback indicated that 62% of our students reported that facilities were clean and in good repair. This is a slight improvement over last year where only 55% of our students um reported the same. So, we're moving in the right direction there as well.
039And I believe this is the final one, access to a broad course of study. Again, this is looking at the courses that we um offer our students. And I highlighted our expansion of our CTE, our career technical education courses, our graduation credit recovery courses, our ve our our virtual academy through Aselis, and our targeted services for students eligible for special education services. Thank you for listening. Um, that concludes my presentation. Do you have any questions? Um, I'll ask you to pull slides starting with slide seven. Um, I want everybody to take a look at this. I'm going to be referencing this in my board member comments. There are things up here that I did not see here three and four years ago, and I'll talk about the depth and measure of those things. Um, if
040you were to find out that there would be a means of expanding your online offerings to people that could not attend school physically, are your licenses and all that up to speed to take on additional capacity in your Aselis programs? Yes. To what level? Are you asking how many students we can accomplish? Yeah. Did I put on a hundred new kids on that program? Right now we can put on as many as we want. Um we that we pay by the license. So as we add students, we do increase um the expense. However, we also increase our ADA. For example, we added K6 this this year and we have an additional 18 students since you board approved this earlier this year. So that's 18 students who are now um attending our 100% virtually online academy
041who have we've attracted back to our district. So is there anything within that program that allows our staff to input and have impact on the students that make them our students rather than computerenerated? I'm an old man. I don't understand these things. So in other words, are they the product of our school system or are they the product of we just happen to sign them up? Tell me what that looks like from the staffing perspective. So teachers um they they get regular emails and and teacher check-in as well by our teachers who teach the Aselis program. Your teachers our teachers good u Miss Lep and Miss Chun teach this and Mr. Gaporian. And there also is a weekly um requirement that we check in with students. So there's so we even though it's virtual the
042kids are seeing their teacher through virtual also some some of the pro program when I say virtual is also blended. So we have kids who come to school for two or three periods and then they go home or they they um they might be on in the morning and then they they go on in the afternoon. So, um, yes, and our a lot of our virtual kids attend our dances, they attend our carnivals at the elementary. Um, they they they they're part of our sports teams. So, there are students 100% and and and many of them are involved in a lot of our online um extracurricular activities and our clubs. So kids that attend this that would that may may need some um special education support what would that look like if I needed 20
043minutes of speech a week. So any SIA services or speech services or OT they would come they usually would come on speech is done generally online. um SA S essay specialized academic instruction um minutes also are done online. However, students have the option and some do come on site for those um services. Sometimes they have social emotional support in as part of their IEP and again that can be done virtually or in person. We really um accommodate the student and the family's needs in those areas. So they're not stranded in a room by themselves. Well, no. No, they're not. Good. So um you would characterize this that as um students they would identify that they go to our schools. Yes. Absolutely. Good. That's cool. They receive our weekly communications. Their parents are invited to the
044meetings. DAC ELAC. Some of them come. They're they're all they're involved in our community. I don't like the the the computer processing of children. So they don't know who they are, who's teaching them what. Let's go to slide eight, please. Is this aid? There was something in here about facilities and finance that I wanted to talk about right there. I usually don't see that on here 2.6 and I wanted to call that out because we have a facilities and finance committee. I think that the discussion is robust and honest and I think staff has a has a means now of saying, "Hey, our computer system, even though old man up there doesn't understand it, here's kind of what we need to stay relevant and all that." And I would like to congratulate the two staff
045members that that sit on that committee as well as the board members that staff it. Thank you. Let's go to slide 14. Is this 14? Maybe one up. Okay, wrong slide. But who knows? Here's what I Here's what I care about. Oh, yeah. Here's that's the one. 13. I'll cover that in third grade channel. Okay. So, what I'm interested in here is we're starting to see people starting to to like come together in groups and the last board meeting I went on and on and um and I I tried to get some people in here to meet each other and do their thing and um what happens when we get hit with funding stuff and I'm going to talk about funding where we used to get in my board member comments, but what I like
046to see is and I'm not going to get too far out in the weeds here, but I really think that when kids are born with problems and they need supports early and they have regional center support, then all of a sudden then that's a highly intensive program and you're involved as a parent. In fact, it will occupy one parent's life or the bus drivers or everything and then they get dumped into a public school special day class program. Communication stops, everything stops. And I think that um what we had in the room at the last meeting was a very powerful thing. And if you get a hold of the newspapers, these are very hard to find now. I don't know why they don't, but you can go to the AV press office and you can
047ask them to do a search and they'll get you the newspapers and they're reasonable. But if you connect the dots on what was covered in these three newspapers, you saw the opening of a new school, you saw us talking about the loss of federal grant funds through some political mess. And then you saw this board saying that we would support these programs. I think these programs need to start early, which means there has to be a transition from the regional center to the SULPA. And I think you have the the players in place where you have the last meeting you had your local CAC rep. Local meaning ours. You had that person who who is the chair of all the CAC's, nine other school districts. They brought you the SULPA director. They brought you the
048the the the person that does the psychology work with some of the most difficult cases. And you also had a fine measured presentation, which is so difficult to do for a psychologist to say, "Here's how many kids we help. Here's the effects of the program. Here's the need." And I think you had all those people in the room and if if I if I think you can get all of them to visit that new school back here regularly, you're going to see less IEPs. I don't care what they cost if kids need that, but you're going to see a lot of the stuff, the contention coming out, the settlements we have to deal with back there because people are angry, they feel alienated, they feel all that kind of thing. So you guys doing this
049kind of stuff and I can look up there and and measure what bringing these groups together and have having them be active participants. That is where you make a difference. You cannot call a mental health program. I hate that that that language. There's something else in here that I don't like. Oh, it was the ineffective part. I'll get to that in a minute. But a mental health support is not a kid going on a 5150 ambulance ride. And that's what it has typically been. So I congratulate you on working with people, getting them to come together, but push a little bit further. I want the SULPA to help us not on how to prep for how to get out of a due process hearing. I want them to help us recognize how to get the
050parents in six months before their kid drops into that school while they're still a regional center client. That is not direction, but it's I I I don't know. I don't know what that is. I think it makes sense in some odd way. Let's go to um 17. What the hell is that verbiage? Who who puts that on the table? Um I believe the um state office of education. Oh, that's all I need to know right there. Who calls who rates something ineffective? Do we not know that there's a teacher shortage? Do we not know that they don't give us enough money? Yeah, that's the most offensive thing I've ever seen. Tell them or I should tell them. Maybe the board president will tell them. I don't want to ever see that again in her paperwork.
051You should never have to fill out a form that says that. That's all I have. Thank you. Your team is doing a wonderful job. Believe me, I've seen 10 years of it. I know what good looks like. Thank you. Uh so for the Aselis, um we said that we have to add licensing. At what point would we have to add teachers as well? So we'll we add licensing as need. So far this year, we'll probably stay with what we did last year. We actually added a teacher. Two years ago, Mr. Gaporian, and we base that on the number of um courses they take. So, for example, if I'm in credit recovery, I maybe only need one course. Uh my sister might be in credit recorder recovery and need 10 courses, right? So, you know, just
052because I have two kids, which if you had two students all day long, you would teach them six courses, but you have them all day long. So, you have to really look at the number of courses, not the number of students. Um, and I really work closely with the team to kind of see what that time looks like. It's not really well defined, but I know when Miss Lep was doing this prior to two years ago, she just I I just knew she had too many kids. She it when I saw the it was just unbelievable the list. So we split that with Mr. Gapfor and right now we're good. If they start to get to that top end again and we don't have an exact number. Um, one thing that might help just to
053even get a number is to see and I'll look next year now that we've had a sell us for a whole year to see how many like at the end of this year how many courses did we actually teach through the year because kids finish and then a new kid will start you know so it it's kind of an ongoing it's very very fluid. But if kids start to fail a course, they might be put in and then now summer school's coming up. So the counselors are in the process of making that list. So then they make like the students name and how they list all the courses and and we look at we look at that. Yeah. Because I can see the cells thing is exploding over the next year to two years. And
054so long as we have a plan to get teachers on as we need. Yeah. I mean, even 18 new students from from K6. So those that's one teacher, though, because those are self-contained classrooms. But yeah, and and I don't think we had it I'm not sure if it was border if we were done at the very beginning of the year. So we didn't even start really marketing it until right later. So yeah, we expect it to grow. Other schools that had the same thing not being around anymore. It's definitely, you know, Okay. I don't have any questions. Thank you. I think we find ourselves in a place where we need to hire more teachers to accommodate people coming on. That's a good problem to have. Yeah, definitely. Um, thank you for the update on this,
055putting it together. Um, it's a ton of work. It's a if you dig through all the stuff that's available there, it's a a lot of work to keep it up to date. you know, just for anybody in the community that would like to have an idea of what we're trying to accomplish, what we've accomplished, and what we plan to accomplish. Um, it's a great road map and there's virtually nothing you won't find in there that won't show you where we're going and what we're trying to do. So, if you're interested and you want got 10 hours, thank you. I mean, I will offer if anyone in the community that's listening tonight and has questions, it is a huge document. It can be super overwhelming, especially when you first look at it. Even as an educator,
056it was for me. And anytime anyone would like to call me, meet with me, I can zoom or you can come in person, I'd be happy to break down any of it. And again, that's actually how we get parent input, which is really critical to what we do. So, we're open for that. Thank you. We close this hearing at 7:50 p.m. Item 11, business services, subject A, partnership with community health councils incorporated for healthy schools, Los Angeles County Project. I'll second Dr. Sagi. Thank you, Mr. Musk. Thank you, Carrie Wright, for introducing this opportunity for uh to our district. This this potential partnership with the Department of Public Health will incorporate health strategies and school connectedness strategies at Vasquez High School. For example, education and awareness when it comes to negative impacts of um ecigarettes,
057vaping, uh tobacco use, and on alcohol and other substances if approved. Um He you answered it. I have to ask um health takes on a lot of new stuff lately. This isn't one of them things where I have to get a lawyer to find out that my child is identifying as a kitten at school, is it? No. Thank you. Call the question. I graph I May I Brianna Tony I Mason I subject B operations operational memorandum of understanding between options for youth actton charter school and actual unified school district a USD I'll move all second Dr. Second. Thank you. Um so staff recommends the board approve the operationalou between options for you options for youth of FY as well as um the district as presented. Theou covers language such as their renewal their evaluation of
058schools um of the school student performance and district's oversight as well as the charters authority discussion. Um thank you for this. This is something was historically missing in the background. We would uh issue a finding and then um vote and then you really never saw the document as to what the the the nuts and bolts of compliance look like in written form. Thank you very much. Call the question. The Julian I Balls have fine. Ma Brianna Tony I mascot I subject C AB 1200 public disclosure of proposed collective bargaining agreement Aurora teachers association and the actual unified school district for 2425 school year. I'll move. I'll second. Dr. Sopin. Thank you. I'll defer to Mr. Newen who's been up at the podium for some time. You could take this one, sir. Thank you, Chalken. Um,
059this is an AB1200 where for the board to approve for the negotiation settlement for the 2% on schedule for certificated as well as for confidential and management and then a 2.5% off schedule for the bargaining unit member for certificate confidential and management. and then a $2,000 increase in health and welfare for certificated personnel. Discussion. Um, this is a a sunshining requirement of 1255. Uh, is it read once or twice? I believe it's read once. Okay. So what this means is the public can see that what this board has approved that our negotiation team and our fine teachers have agreed upon has been weighed out not to be fiscally collapsive two three and 5 years later yeah correct thank you very much uh Mr. when Yes. What was the governor's budget for for increase in cola?
060The governor's budget increase in cola for this year was um.97%. And what was the total percentage increase for this? It was a two well a total of 2% on schedule, 2.5% off schedule. So in essence for for this year it is 4.5 years. What's the what's the gap between cola and what we approved for increases? So the increased um approximately a 3.7% where's that that that affects our budget our fund balance. Where's that coming from? From the general fund. Okay. Thank you. Loop. Is it not accurate that's the general fund reserve? Yes, sir. Thank you. I'm so glad that we kept on to that money for as long as we did. Call the question unless there's more discussion. Natalie did the Jo I Falls I May I Brianna Tony I mascot I subject D bargaining
061unit salary schedules I move. I'll second it. All right. This is the um salary schedule for the baring unit member for certificated confidential management as well and non-representative. So this is a 2% on schedule that's reflective on the salary schedule as well as the $2,000 increase for certificated as well. Discussion call the question. Digilian I balls you have I Ma Brianna Tony I masc public hearing of the proposed 2526 budget open this hearing at 7:56 p.m. Thank you. Um by June 30th of every fiscal year, the school district must a school district must adopt um the budget for all the funds uh for the following school year in this case 2526 school year. So the proposed budget presentation will be presented by Ky. Thank you. Again, let me make my data. I'm going to provide
062a PowerPoint presentation. Good evening board members, superintendent, Dr. Sin, and members of the audience. Tonight, I'm going to present the 2526 proposed budget for the school district. As you've seen this in the past, there are three type of certification. We have a positive certification where the district will meet its financial obligation for the current and two out of years. A qualified certification where the district may or may not meet its financial obligation for the current and two out of years. And then a negative certification means that this district will not meet its financial obligation for the current and two out of years. This is what we anticipate our revenues to come in or our estimated actuals. As you can see here, the bulk of our revenue is our local control funding formula which comes in
063about 14 million. We get federal, state revenues and local revenues. You know, onetime dollars are in here as well. And then our expenditures, which is our certificate salaries, classified salaries, books and supplies. We had some one-time funding that we had to exhaust, which was the SR3 funds, as well as the emergency block grant. We bought some one-time um seven-year textbook adoption for math, which was about $400,000. We also bought some interactive displays, which was about 120,000. And then we also had some professional services outsourcing as well. So, so in ence, we're looking at about $23 million in expenditures for the for the current year. We're looking at also the negotiation settlement with a 2% on schedule, 2.5% off schedule, as well as the the benefits for certificated the increase. So, we're looking at we're going
064to be deficit spending by $800,000. So when I build the budget for for 2526 school year, I factor in what the governor proposed for based on the May revision, what our enrollment looks like, as well as our averagely attendance, our one-time dollars are no longer available, as well as our contribution to restricted routine restricted maintenance, as well as for our special education. We spent just this year alone, man. We only received about $1.3 million in special education funding, but we spent over $3 million in special education. In addition to that, just this year, we spent a million dollars in outsourcing services. Um, anywhere from for services that we do not provide. We outsource the service to Lancaster school district, Palmdale school districts, other independent organizations. We have organization that write that attends IEPs that writes
065up the IEPs. So, it's it's a huge um contribution. We contribute to special education. This one, this is our revenues that's coming in. Um, for 2526, the cost of living adjustment, cola, went down. Again, everything changes year to year. 26 27 3% 30 year out 3.42 42 and then this may change perhaps after um I hate to say it the Trump administration is is gone we may get more revenue onetime funding additional funding we don't know but so based on the local control funding formula we're looking at enrollment to be,51 for the next two years a decline of 18 students enrollment from this year to next year and then also a decline in 27 28 by 10 students and then the fourth year and fifth year out another 10 student decline. We're looking at our
066average state attendance to be 92%. the federal revenues. We have mental health stop grant. We have title one, title two, title three, special education funding, other state funding, the lottery for both restricted and unrestricted as well as the arts block grant, arts and music and schools, educated effectiveness and ELP fund which is for the after school program. And obviously we have our local revenues from leases and donations. So in essence we're looking for the 2526 of revenues of of about 21.3 million. As you can see here the bulk of our revenue is our LCF funding. And as I mentioned our expenditures um our certificate we have full-time equivalent of 75 employees classified salaries or full-time equivalent is 77. Obviously we have more than 77 classified employees. It's just there's a combination of part-time employees that
067adds up to be one FTE. We have uh our health benefits, books and supplies, professional services, capital outlay and intra fund transfers which is for our certificate of participation cop funds and these are step and come on average when employees move from one step to the next step during their anniversary it's about 2% and then our calers cow's purse rate it's going to stay flat for calers from 25 to 2030 at 19.10%. Again, this may change two years from now. Um the calers is pretty much at 27% with the exception of 27.28 it is going to come up to be close to 28%. So for every dollar we we we earn we have to contribute 27 cents to the um employees contribution to Kalpers and Calers. And then we have negotiation settlement that we just
068recently settled for both certificate classified and non representative. So in essence like I've mentioned um we have included the certificate on schedule and off schedule. um I'm sorry on the 2% on schedule and then the $2,000 per certificate in their increase in health and welfare benefits. We also in input into the services and operating expenditures for special education, routine restricted maintenance, professional services, books and supplies and um the COP for capital um outlay for construction projects. The outgo 185,000 for the cop that we have. So we we do have other funds as well. We have fund 13 which is a cafeteria fund that is self- sustaining that and we're looking at having a beginning balance of 344,000 revenues projected to come in 730,000. We get all this funding. Obviously, all all of our students get
069free meals for both breakfast and lunch, but and we submit our um our receipts to USDA to get funding back and we're projecting to garner a surplus for fund 13. We also have deferred maintenance fund 14. um nothing has been contributed um as far as I know in a while but there is a fund balance there that we can use for construction projects facilities projects we also have capital facilities but 25 which is developer fees which we are going to use about $250,000 for facilities she structures modernization as well we're hoping to get about $50,000 in terms of revenues for developer fees for the next coming year. And this is the road map right now. Obviously, um, Miss Oh, thank you. And yeah, I hear. Thank you, um, Alex. And this is our multi-year projection.
070We did a five-year plan out of obviously one-time dollars are not included. We in this here because we exhausted it all. Um, so we're looking at deficit spending for next year and like I mentioned the second year, the third year out, fourth and fifth year out. Again, this may change um especially in the 28 29 year depending on who's going to be sitting at the helm at in Washington in Washington DC. We But if you look at the fifth year out, we still have a strong fund balance. um is is about 35%. We have a subcommittee that we'll be looking at to look at our finances to see where we can make um adjustments to our budget. All right. And this is our road map. Um Miss Chamberlain as well as myself, we present both
071the LCAP and the adopted budget to the governing board right now. Um we'll be completing the oned actuals and present that to the governing board in September and it it starts again with the first interim in December and then the governor's proposed budget in January and then we'll present based on the governor's information. We'll present the second interim in March and then again um the May revision and then obviously we're not going to submit a third um interim because we have a strong fund balance. We we would not be submitting a qualified or a negative certification with that. If anyone has any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer. I would think I would like to hear what the facilities and finance subcommittee members questions are and then loop back to me if they
072haven't been covered. Yeah. Okay. Um, can you go to the to the slide with the the bar graph with the ADA? So, if you're looking at this, everything precoid um 94.5 to 95.9% um ADA. That was good. We were doing okay. I mean, obviously there's room for improvement there, but we were doing okay. Um 2425 school year. So, this school year, we're looking at 90.6%. Yes, ma'am. That's a big difference. Um and then 91.8 last year and 93 for the 22 23 school year. And then I didn't even bother counting from 2019 to 2022 because those were COVID years and those were wonky. Anyway, um but then we're looking at 92% for those those last 3 years next year and the two years out from that. Um I think that we have a lot of
073work to do to get from 90.6 to 92. Um I don't know about you guys, but when I put in my maps and I it it tells me what time I'm going to arrive, I don't see that as like that's the time I'm going to arrive. I see that as that's my time to beat. I see these 92s as as times to beat. Um I know in the ED subcommittee meeting, we've been talking about ADA. We've been talking about um different um ways to get kids to come to school. We've been talking about short-term independent study and trying to get parents to do those short-term independent study contracts. Um because those did go from minimum of 5 days before COVID to no minimum now. If a student is out for one day, if they're going
074to do the work, they we have to get them to sign those those contracts. They're doing the work anyway. So, we should collect ADA on those. It takes, you know, a couple of signatures. Um, so I think that's really going to help. And I think there's a lot of good ideas. Our last ED subcommittee meeting, maybe not the last one, I don't remember which one. Um, the principles all did a um presentation. that there's a lot of great things going on in terms of how to recoup some ADA and incentives to get kids to come to school. Um, and when we're talking budget, um, enrollment is huge and butts and seats is is a big giant, um, hurdle that we need to cross. We have to raise our ADA above 90.6 is is not really
075great. I'd love to get back to where we were in 15 and 16 to that um, 95.9. That was I know that that was a goal. Paula, you said that we had a goal. What What is our goal that we want to be at for ADA? Do you remember? I know in an you had you had a report of it. I don't expect you to remember because I don't remember off the top of my head either. That wasn't fair for me to ask you. Awesome. Um, and I had one more thought and it's gone. So that's the end of that. Uh, before I go with my comments on the that contract, is that can they sign that one time at the beginning of the school year and then every time we have to streamline every
076time? But it well so that's what we've been working on in at subcommittee meeting. That's what the principles have been working on. Paula redid our um contract. I I say Paula because you're the one that told me about it, but if there was a team, everybody redid the contract to where it is a digital signature now. Um we're working on making that um the same throughout all the school sites. So, you know, it's if a parent has kids at every school, it's not going to be a different process for everybody. The same process, making it easier, digital signature, here, sign this contract. um trying to really streamline it as much as possible so that it's easy. Parents aren't going to do it if it's hard. So, if it's easy for parents to do and we
077can get that ADA every time they're absent, that'd be so cool. secretaries. They already started using it. Yeah. As of our our last ED subcommittee meeting, they had been using it for I think two weeks and Paula was getting feedback and really working on that. That was that was a big goal of yours. Fantastic. Um, from the policy and finance subcommittee perspective, um, losing four million out of our reserves over the next five years is it's unacceptable. Obviously, we've got work to do to try to close the gap, find new revenues. Um, and unfortunately, at some point, we're going to need to talk about cutting expenses. Yes, sir. And, um, trying to save nearly a million dollars in our current budget per year. is going to be our target and goal over the next over
078the next few years. Try to come up with something remotely resembling a balance um in there. So, we do have a lot of work to do to get that done. In addition, we have many aging buildings and there's lots of upgrades that are required. Yes. In order for us to maintain educating our students. So, the combination of those all that deferred maintenance coming our way. um some buildings that need to be almost completely rebuilt uh as well as having a budget that's taking us backwards every single day. Um it's almost an emergency that we do something about this as quickly as possible. If we were to lose that grant as it's forecasted currently that we may, what would that turn our annual losses to for 2526? Currently it's almost 800,000. How much would and we
079didn't do anything about it. How much would that add to our deficit? Deficit. Oh, go ahead. Dr. Well, for 2526 um for that entire fiscal year, the grant would provide 750,000. So, we would go backwards by 1.5 million versus just 800,000 or 2526. Let's hope we're successful in keeping that money. Luke Okay. First, um, this term deficit spending has become so normalized in educational funding that it's just expected. And I think the responsibility of it goes back to the people that give the money. Um, this chart, if you look at this chart, it's skewed so badly visually. If I, if I start at zero and go up, these gaps are going to appear to be this big. I get the strategy of predicting demographically based on, you know, who's old and I'm not going to
080be here in five years. I get all that. Um, and I and I get it that that it's a tactic to predict um um that you might be lower so that way it looks like you beat your expectations. I came on the board on that first uh thing. I want I want you to watch the dip there and I want you to watch a dip before CO and I want you to see what happened there. Again, I I think this chart looks skewed. It's more significant than it is, but I don't see that our um our enrollment is falling at all. I don't I don't see that in the trend the last three years. It would actually surprise me if this happens. Um, but that said, the term deficit spending, they need to come up
081with something new at the buzz phrase at the next conference they all have about how not to give us the money we need. Um, I want to talk about sped. Um, sped has always been seen as an impingement on the general fund. And I mean so do we characterize because the teacher salaries and everything uh take up 80% which is normal everywhere. I mean we're going to try to do save a buck on a teacher but I think the sped program when you start taking a look at it and you start figuring out that there are fullcost students going elsewhere. Uh when it come time for Tammy to drop out of Meadowark finally. How long was she in Meadowark? Like 17 years. And she skipped Michelle's school. But I wasn't going to put her on
082a bus 3 hours a day and burn up gas money on the bus and put miles on the bus and drive back and forth unless there was something measurable about the quality of her life. And when kids spend time on a bus and they're alone, there's no quality of life. So you end up with a kid that gets out at 22 years old is self-injurous, sitting depressed in a room. And so I decided I wasn't going to be one of those parents that put the kid over there at 60 or 65,000 a kid. Is the funding in this district 65,000 a kid? Is it 40,000 a kid? No, it's not. So, when you've got a kid that's costing over there 40,000, you have to ask yourself, is the service that they're getting over there Tam
083spent two years in an autism unit. I can talk about this. She's my child. Um, and and those districts charge full cost. So, there is no regional look at, you know, this group. So, I'm always focused on the SULPA and the regional center because if I send my kid over there, I've just burned up the equivalent of four full-time ADA things and and it and and they charge for everything. So, I've always said if you have a group over there that is capable of taking the kids around, I knew she wasn't going to be a lawyer. That's what her sister is. At the end of the day, it's a quality of life issue. And until the SLPA can figure out how to take those costs and absorb them across the entire area that doesn't punish
084small districts like this. And until we can reach parents early where it's not some victory out in the parking lot that your lawyer got against this little small school district and you're stuffing your kid on a bus 3 hours a day and calling it education. we are going to continue to have this fallacy that because you give that kid 12,000 just like everybody else with their costing 60, it's a failed system. So every kid that doesn't have to go over there, you know, I'm not supposed to do this, but I, you know, I can get on one of my channels about this and talk about what it means to parents and then if they choose to watch it, it's one thing, but I think the early intervention where we stop dropping the ball coming out
085of regional center, isolating parents, not knowing what's going on, using our CAC rep to affect this problem here and regionally and get the SULPA in here and get everybody out of their silos and quit worrying about how unconventional it is that somebody might be stepping on his toes or somebody else. But there's a lot of money in sped and it's not being characterized effectively because the system fails to supply practical outcomes. I'm going to have everybody crying here in a minute when I talk about what happened at graduation. But these are kids. They are best in their own community. They're not best as being portrayed as some draw down on the general fund budget. Thank you for your patience with that. You know my question. How much net gain did you have as local revenue
086on the charter schools this year? None. Perfect. Thank you very much. Um that's all I have. I just want to make one comment though. We are not alone. A lot of school districts, I think every single school district in California are deficit spending because of the one-time dollars that are gone. Now, I'll tell you what, we're different than that. We're putting people, we can do stuff in this little room right here with the our little staff here. And if we can get somebody to finally write what we're doing in the newspaper and tell the truth about it for once, somebody over there might read what we're doing and say, "Hey, you know what? that little bit of an idea that they had over there. I think that might work. We have the right people in
087the right place right now. Thank you. You're very thorough. Thank you. call. We close this hearing at 8:21 p.m. Well, Ken, back to you. Board comments. I would ask uh politely if the other board members would make their comments first and then I'll finish it out with the end of year summary. Mr. May. All right. Um, I attended all three, well, the graduations, the culminations. Uh, it's very fun going from basically adults down to these fourth graders that are shy and wanting to learn about life and watching the difference between all all three schools. Um, seeing the excitement in the kids. Um, so thank you principles. Thank you teachers for getting them to that point. Um and yeah, hope everybody has a good uh well, we have one more meeting, but a good summer. That's
088it. I don't talk much. Um I just want to congratulate everybody and apologize again to Vasquez High School seniors um that I did not get to go to your graduation. I was thinking about you. I was very sad not to be there. Um I did make sure that I was at the Gradwalk at Metallark and High Desert. Always such an incredible event. Um so moving, so awesome to see those kids um come back. And some of those kids I met at Meark, their first day of kindergarten, some of them before that. But um so very cool to watch them go back and and do that. I hope that tradition never ends. It's very cool. Um, so congratulations High Desert 8th graders and Metallark fourth graders. It was a very fun to be there and celebrate
089with you guys and congratulations to everybody that just made it through this school year, staff, students, and families alike. Um, I don't know why I personally felt like this school year was a a lot. So, um, I'm just glad we we made it to June. So, um, looking forward to one more school board meeting and then a good summer. I saw that. Um, and then I know at this time of year it's really busy for staff. You know, we all think like, oh, the end of the school year, time to relax. No, it's not. No, it's not. It is so busy in the summertime. So, I um you know, keep at it, all of you guys that don't get a summer break. Um, and thank you all for doing what you do. Thanks for a
090great year. Um, I did attend the Inlet Valley School Board Association the last dinner meeting. Um, I wish I had taken notes or recorded this speaker that we had. He was talking all about different bills and and the governor's budget and I was really really wishing that you guys were there cuz you would have gotten so much more out of it than I did. It was a lot of it was kind of over my head. Um, but he was he was really interesting to listen to. I really wish you guys had the time to come. So, if you ever want to come, please come with me. The next um Analent Valley School Board Association event is the annual Ed Summit at Lancaster High School in September, September 26th, if you want to um mark your
091calendars. But Yolanda's really really good about sending us invitations. So, thank you for that. Um but it's I feel like I always walk out of there and and get something out of it and even if it's just collaborating with other local school board members or superintendents or whatever. Um, so please come. Um, I think that's it. Yeah, end of the year is always a special time. I think I'm I think I'm always uh impressed by how all the teachers and staff seem to get just as excited over this year as they did the year prior. It always seems like a special event. It always seems like it's the first time everyone's been through it. And uh it's enjoyable. I I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak at uh at High Desert and
092at Vasquez. That was always nice to be able to do. And u yeah, thank you for all the hard work. Always humbled by all the effort everyone puts into everything. It's a small school district, but we do accomplish a lot. My turn. Um, come December, I will have sat up here for 10 years. And um, what I do every time this year is I look back at when I went on the board and the things that I wrote. There were three things that I said that I wanted to do because I looked and thought, what is it that I can do up here personally that I can be accountable to? Well, I work for an agency that has good process. I I I understand all that and it's not important that I'm liked. I like
093it when people respect me uh and they understand that I'm I'm just honest. Um but I remember thinking, what is it I'm going to do? Well, I knew that we couldn't carry on the charter game. Anybody knows that if you pay to have your your your uh uh sidewalk put in at your house and they do a property assessment, you get the sidewalk. You don't go spend the money in San Bernardino somewhere. So, my first one was reduce fiscal dependence on out of boundary charters. The next one was restore focus on local students because when you're chasing money for personal wealth building, you're not focused on the students. And finally, this was the most important one. Restore the good name of the district in the greater educational marketplace. Now, you just heard me ask our
094finance director if there was any net gain focus or charter revenue to this district. The answer was no. So, number one got done. The focus on local students. I want to talk about that. We showed up on the screen all these additional programs. We have CTE electives, the sports offerings, not only the number of them, but the level at which they're offered. Now, there has been so much expansion on the focus of local students. I want you to sit down and think about that. Um, we respect educational rights of parents to take their kids, put them on in an online class, take them to a charter. That's great. But it's really important to me that the reason we're here is not just because we live right down the street. I think I think we're better
095than that. We have organ organized labor willing to teach kids here how to walk right in to a union job as an apprentice. You have colleges here that you can graduate with with college credits. None of this stuff existed. Zero when I hit this board. And then I remember the times when we were on the front page of the newspaper, all right, it was state investigates three charter schools for fraud. Uh district pays back threequarters of a million dollars under court order. District under investigation. Nobody wanted anything to do with this district because we're being sued by everybody. We were we were accused of drawing down everybody's uh education, filling up these rooms, ripping out this room, doing all that kind of stuff to make it look like this school was too full so we
096could capture money elsewhere. Nobody wants to align with that. So I think the biggest measure is in the last one. Restore the good name of the educ of the district and the greater educational marketplace. Now, I like to call Miss Taxony Miss uh congeniality cuz she's like the pageant queen. She's the cheerleader for the district. She will tell you everything that's good about it and she will tell you everybody that does a good job. She'll recognize them and that is really really so important. But Miss Tony for the first time was able to bring the entire Analopee Valley School Boards Association into our gymnasium, show them our facilities, show them what we're all about, show them our culture, show them our little town, and they actually came. 10 years ago, that would have never happened.
097Thank you so much. Now, these alternative approaches I'm talking about on how to address deficits and special education funding and these grants and supporting our health care. Forget mental health care. It's about making kids say, "I'm cool there. I'm different. It's okay to be different." If you can't recognize I'm the poster child of ADHD, I cannot help you. But being bullied is what made this monster you're listening to today. There are so many things that we're able to reach out now to other agencies and they're not afraid of associating to us to be embarrassed. So when I look at all the things I said I was going to do, they all come true. But I want you to ask yourself, other than me saying it out of my mouth, what actually did I do? I
098kind of push people together sometimes a and and kind of coax them along because in the background I can see very clearly. I don't want to sit up here and cry that special education is bad for the budget. That's a captain obvious thing. In my job I'm paid to fix difficult problems and deal with difficult people. And so I I I don't want to listen. I'm not a good listener. You should just listen. No. That's why I have three different mother-in-laws. I never was good at that. So at the end of the day the answer is I did nothing personally. All the things I promised were based on the actions of everyone else and not me. All the teachers, all the administrators, all the facilities people and if you look back the big the big
099winner for me is my campaign promises are the result of the subcommittees that we have now. Each one of them has a special responsibility to that. I knew that 10 years ago. I don't do fortune telling unless you pay me a lot of money. So when I'm doing this, I take a lot of flack and if I can take some heat and get get all that off somewhere else so you guys can steam ahead, I'm happy to do that. But the most important thing for me each year is to look out and see the kids that are moving on. Okay, this is going to be very difficult for me. But I have been able to sit up there, think about this, and watch nine graduating classes go out into the world except for the COVID
100years. And I still got to do it once. But this year was really rough. Imagine you're a school board member and you look out in the audience and there's an empty chair where your kid is supposed to be. Do you know why it was there? Because the kids at the school and the administrators wanted it to be there and her picture was there. And her sister came in and her sister graduated in 2018. Her sister is very highly accomplished and she got to see people that put her where she is right now. She has so many degrees that she's responsible for global warming, but she was put where she is today because of the teachers and the staff in this district. They gave her the foundation. And one of the seniors in a in a
101yellow robe, you want to think about this. I barely graduated. I'll tell you the story sometime. It involves fake picking up trash and who knows what. But at the end of the day, some kid in a yellow robe who had the who who was at a high point of his life right then come up and shook my hand and and told me about how sorry he was for me. That right there is the meaning of focus on local students. And in that moment, I realized that empty chair was supposed to be for my kid. But if there's one empty chair anywhere else in that district, then we have failed another kid. They are all critically critically important. And I think that I've got 10 years and knowing that there's How many kids graduate a year?
102How many kids have I seen go out? There's at least 1,00500, 2,000 that have gone through school every day while I've been up here and they're out there making our town and giving it the reputation it is. I am so proud of everyone. This has been the most difficult year for me, but the most re rewarding. And I would really like to thank the school board members here that have supported all this and given of their time. Good job, everyone. Thank you, Jim. Item 13, calendar. Next meeting is June 26, 2025. Anybody have a conflict for that date? Future agenda items, quarterly strategic plan report 26. All right. Subject A, adjournment. I get a motion. I'll move. I'll second call the question. Jillian I Paul I mess Brianna Tony I this meeting at 8:37