001All right, we call this regular board meeting of the board of trustees to order on Thursday, October 23rd, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. Roll call, please. >> Draft here. >> Brianna Tony here. >> Mask on here. Subject C, agenda, regular board meeting. I get a motion. >> I'll move. >> I'll second. >> Do second. >> Thank you, board president. There are no changes to the October 23rd agenda. Thank you. >> Discussion. Call the question. >> All you have I >> Brianna Tony I. >> Mask on I. Is there any public participation at this time? >> Not at this time. Thank you. >> Thank you. This mo at this moment we'll adjourn to close session where we may discuss conference of labor negotiators public employee discussion discipline dismissal or release conference with legal counsel or student matters.
002Can I get a motion? >> I'll move. >> I'll second. >> Call the question. >> Falls you have I. >> Brianna Tony I. >> Mask on I. We adjourn to close session at 6:31 Welcome everyone. Uh we reconvene this regular board meeting at 7:36 p.m. Autumn, would you please lead us in the flag salute? >> Please stand. Put your right hand over your heart. Ready. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic indivisible with >> Mr. Falsgraph, would you please read the civility statement? When conducting the district's business, we will strive to communicate clearly and concisely with respect for the time of others. Listen objectively, carefully, considering the opinions of others, understand the counterproductive effects of disruptive, demeaning, and intimidating behaviors. Understand and respect district policies and
003procedures, and maintain a rich a respect for the rich history of the district and the efforts of others who have served in the past. >> Thank you, Mr. Falsk. Item five, close session. There was no action taken in close session. >> Dr. Hakian, any public comments at this time? >> Yes, sir. We do have two. >> Mr. to Gavin Betty. >> You have three minutes, sir. >> Good. Good evening, esteemed members of the board. My name is Gavin Baddy. I'm a junior at Vasquez High School and I ser I serve as a captain of the varsity basketball team. I along with my fellow teammates am honored to speak with you this evening regarding the achievements of the high school of the high school's basketball program. As you are aware, last season we made history by
004capturing the Heritage League title for the first time. It was a great pride that we invite you to join us November 20th vers night for the opening game of our 2025 to 2026 season. This occasion will also serve to a new tradition teacher appreciation night where we wish to formally recognize and honor you in Vasquez High School staff loops in commitment to acting a school district. Please accept these polos as our official invitation to the Vasquez basketball program to attend this significant event. We look forward to welcoming you and receiving your support as we embark another promising season. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you. Tracy Kathy the third. >> Welcome. >> Um um I'm Tracy Kathy. I'm a senior Vasquez High School basketball team. And I'd like to thank you guys
005for inviting us or us coming here to talk about our basketball team. And we like to invite you guys to our, like you said, our P9 game, our opening game against PI on the 20th. And hope to have a lot of people come support and hope to get a word out for us and show that we bring entertainment to the district and a lot of respect. and really just to show you guys that we can play basketball and get our school known, especially through the sport, too. And want people to come here, get our school like very much known, like more than what it is right now. And like he said, we have polos for you guys and we just like to bring the excitement to you guys. >> Thank you. >> It's on November
00620th. >> Yes. >> What time? Seven. >> 7. >> Well, it could be 6:30. >> Okay. >> What time should we show up? Six. >> Six. >> All right. Six. >> Lester, what was that? A was is that a cheap shot because some people on the board want to start the board meetings inconsistent. Are you gentlemen planning on leaving or are you going to hang out and watch whatever this is we call business or >> a good >> what >> I'd have to do a form 700 with three agencies. Leave them in the back. Um I'm going to make a comment. That's okay. >> Um the next time you see me, I want to hear not about the basketball. I want to hear about what your what your academic levels look like and I want
007to hear what you're doing for this community. Tell your coach I said that. >> Okay. >> But I do want to see you again. >> Okay. >> In here. >> Thank you. >> Hey, we appreciate you coming in. Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. >> All of you. >> Um I did I just put that in my calendar. So, thank you very much for the invite. My favorite thing about being a board member is supporting students and supporting the people that support our students. Um, and I really, really love seeing students come to our board meetings. So, thank you for taking the time to show up. Thank you guys for being here. Um, it's always an honor when you guys show up to our boring board meetings and have the courage to talk in
008a microphone. Um, so, thank you very much for being here and we'll be at that game. >> Thank you. Oh, >> don't leave. We have more questions. I'm kidding. >> I appreciate you guys. >> Thank you. Excuse me. I'm in the fitting. >> Oh, all right. >> Does he have a 3X tall? Don't be concerned with them. >> You don't have long sleeve, do you? >> No, just short. >> Oh, you get to see the tats now. >> Okay. >> Might have a tank top for you. >> Wow, dude. Light it up, baby. Light it up. >> All right, we'll move along. Uh I hope >> item seven correspondence proposals and reports add a representative. Nope. CSEA rep. No student representative to the board. >> So starting with meark and little owls learning center. The
009great shakeout on October 16th went well. Soar has begun. Reading intervention classes in grades one through four have started by Mr. Luick and Mrs. Jenny Zapetta along with help from Miss Jackie Herrera and Miss Claudia La Land Verde. Makeup picture day was October 14th. The I Ready math coaching and lesson planning slashcoeing with the I Ready consultant has went well in all grades K through four. Classrooms at both sites are competing in a pumpkin decorating contest. I'm excited to see the best ones. The student council with the assistance of PTO are selling boogram grams as a fall fundraiser. This week, yeah, sorry, red this week from the 20th to the 24th of October was red and ribbon week. Each day the students and staff were dressing up on theme or bringing an item to share
010it to school. Monday was stuffed animal day. Tuesday was dress like your favorite animal day. Wednesday was wild west day. Today was scarecrow day. And Friday tomorrow is pajama day. Everyone's very excited for the upcoming Halloween parade on Friday, October 31st. At High Desert, the hawk highlights are to Mrs. Giza Rivas. She's an incredible member of the High Desert Food Services team. She always greets all the students with a smile and generally gets to know the students and brings joy with her every day. The Vasquez Fall Festival was a huge success. Big thank you to Mrs. Goodstein and High Desert ASB for their mystery box booth. Thank you to the High Desert Booster Club for supporting the Bouncy House, which is always a big hit. And thank you to Vasquez PTSO for sponsoring the event
011and doing all the work behind the scenes to make sure everything's possible. Quarter 1 Medal of Honor Awards, 25 students were recognized last Friday. Congrats to all the recipients. 84 students who had perfect attendance in quarter 1 joined Mrs. Vanorum for pizza with the principal. Thank you to Miss Christina Bruce and her amazing team for making the events possible. The Great Shakeout October 16th was successful. Then this past week, each class has attended a bullying prevention workshop presentation by the LA County Department of Mental Health. Monday, October 27th at 8:30 a.m., there will be a parent workshop on bullying prevention, and all parents are invited to attend. It takes everyone working together to put a stop to bullying. Upcoming events. Next week is Hollow Week. There will be week-long activities for the students to participate
012in at lunch. The Halloween dance is October 30th from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. Red Ribbon Week is November 3rd to the 7th. High Desert students will be learning about being drug and alcohol-free. High Desert Athletics. Our cross country students are doing amazing. They've competed in the Mount Sack Middle School Invitational, which is the biggest race in California. We brought home two medals. So, congrats to Avery Walker who achieved third and Colton Voyage for sixth place, which is very impressive. Finals are November 4th. Thank you to the coaches, Mrs. Laura and Miss Elizabeth for their work with all the cross country students. Both JV girls basketball and JV boys soccer are having a fantastic season and are looking to be in the finals this year. Varsity flag football triyouts were last week and games start November
01310th. Mark your calendars. High Desert will be hosting all the league games and we're super grateful to our team for prepping the fields at Vasquez. Past events. October 16th was the Great Shakeout California drill. October 18th was the fall festival which had a great turnout. Big thank you to the entire community. Tomorrow, October 24th, is the CCAP preliminary student training for two very special students. Then, tomorrow night is the homecoming game. So, be there 6:30 cuz the game starts at 7:00. Saturday, October 25th is the homecoming dance. October 28th is PSAT testing and October 29th is SAT testing. Good luck to everyone. Athletics. Girls volleyball has completed its best season in nine years. They won seven games under the leadership of coaches Bri Garcia and Tommy Galbreth. The cheer team has been working hard and
014are very excited to show off their skills homecoming. The tennis program has exploded to 20 girls with the help of their wonderful coach. Football has been working very hard. Both the players and the coaching staff. They're very excited to homecoming and they have clinched a playoff position. Cross country has two more meets before CIF rounds start. Flag football is currently in their third round of playoffs. They just won their third playoff game and we are very excited to see where they will go. Thank you. >> Thank you, Adam. facilities and finance subcommittee report. Um, what's that? Oh, >> superintendent report. Sorry, I skipped you. >> I won't take any offense. It's okay. Tonight, thank you, Mr. Mascan. Tonight, two goals and I'm going to make my comments very brief. Goal three, community engagement. Goal four,
015student safety. And Autumn, you always do a fantastic job. So, I'm going to be covering a couple of items that you already covered, but you do it better than I do. >> Goal three, community engagement. So, incredible night last night with the community pep rally. The energy and the Mustang pride were on full display display as you can see with our students as they gear up for the Vasquez homecoming again like Autumn mentioned tomorrow at 700 p.m. A huge thank you to our Vasquez cheer squad student athletes, coaches, and the amazing DJ for keeping the crowd all fired up. And a very special thank you to Karen Bailey and the entire Vasquez U football booster club for their hard work, dedication in bringing this community together yesterday evening. Goal four, great shakeout. Another shout out
016to all of our school staff and students for taking part in last week's earthquake drill. Of course, also known as great shakeout. Teamwork, focus, and commitment to student safety always makes a difference. from classroom to offices and you can see in that picture to the left even our class pets pets joined in the action everyone played a part in practicing how to stay safe and ready so thank you to everybody who participated and that concludes my report >> thank you I think Ken Bailey might be everywhere >> all the time >> she really is uh facilities and finance subcommittee report Bill's not with us tonight so I will go through it. Um, we discussed some status update of facilities projects. So, everything is on schedule so far. Uh, we expect the roofs to be done
017over at High Desert over the winter break. Uh, we also expect the shade structure over at Vasquez to start over the winter break as well. Uh, we went through the lease agreement for the ILE, the Aguodels campus that's being leased by ILE. Um, so that looks good. went through facilities assessment. We've identified things need to be corrected at that facility and they're diligently working to correct that. So, that was great. They're making a lot of progress on improvements over there. And then we went through our leasing bus cost analysis, which was a great exercise because it looks like there's a lot of room to save quite a bit of money there. So, that's a great thing to see. Um, that's it for the facilities and finance subcommittee meeting. Lester, do you have anything more to
018share about the assessment of the Auados campus at this time or is that going to be an open uh session discussion in the future? Uh at this time there's nothing particular to share. We noticed deficiencies in the campus compared to the lease agreement that we had with Eile and they were identified to the staff over there and they began making all the corrections that we requested. >> Thank you. education subcommittee report. >> Um we met on Tuesday. Uh we discussed there was a lot of people at our meeting actually which there isn't usually so it was kind of fun. Um we did have our Vasquez counselors um as well as our high desert and Vasquez principles um in attendance and we discussed CTE and project lead the way Paxton Patterson um all the great things
019happening at Vasquez and High Desert. um staff went into a very detailed report of incredible things happening at Vasquez and High Desert and just the amazing things. I really encourage you to go watch the video um and maybe we can get just an overview again at a board meeting. I know they've done it before, but I feel like there's so many amazing things happening at Vasquez and High Desert that are just really overlooked. Um, and people just don't know. And we have incredible sports right now. We have incredible teachers. Um, and the way just the structure of the way that they're able to fit all of our CTE pathways in and the plans that they have for the future for our CTE pathways, it's it's really um, incredible, just all inspiring. The way that they
020are able to make everything happen over there is just fantastic. They have really cool things for our kids. I just think that it's glossed over. Um, and I I really want to shout that out. So, if you do have time to go watch the ED subcommittee and the presentation that was made by our counselors and principles, it it was fantastic. It's a lot of good information. Um, future agenda items, we're still looking at um our attendance recovery plan and our instructional continuity plan updates. So, that's what we're going to be looking at in the future. Um, our next meeting is November 18th at 3:00 either here at the district office or on Zoom. >> Do you have anything to share about the early returns on the attendance recovery plan? >> Uh, share on that yet
021or not yet? >> I would want to share with hard data, but I think that we are moving in such a positive direction. It's really really exciting. Um, and as far as the work that people are doing at the sites, our our office staff and our teachers and our parents and our students are really working all together and our attendance is it's showing in our data. >> That's great to hear. >> That's awesome. >> Subject G, policy and management subcommittee report. Um, we gave an update about the uh meeting on the 9th at the open session meeting of the 9th. >> All right. Thank you very much. Submissions. >> There are no submissions this evening. Item nine, consent agenda. Get a motion. >> You want a second? >> Um, I'll second. I would like to
022pull subject B um the minutes and possibly vote on that. Bring bring that back next meeting. >> I get a second. >> I would move. >> Oh, she she's motioning to pull the uh the meeting minutes out and then vote on them on a future meeting. >> Well, let's pull it. I need to understand the context. So we'll pull that and we'll vote on the consent agenda without item B. >> Call the question. I >> Brianna Tony I. >> Mask on I. >> Wait a minute. >> Clouse I. >> There you go. Miss Taxony care to elaborate on uh your questions on item B? Um there were just some things that there were questions on and so I would like to pull that um and let Dr. Sahakian work on it and bring it back.
023>> I'll move that we put the minutes for this meeting on the next meeting and update then >> I'll second call the questions. >> I trap I Brianna Tony I. Mask on. I >> item nine, personnel action report. >> Motion. >> I'll move. >> Can I get a second? >> Me. Uh, Claus. I I'll second. >> Second. There you go. >> Dr. Hawin. >> There. There are no changes to what's been posted on the agenda. Thank you. >> Discussion. Call the question. >> Quals. I. >> All I. >> Brianna Tony. I >> mask on. I subject B acceptance actual state teachers association formal request to bargain independent study. >> I'll move. >> I'll second. Dr. Sen. >> Thank you. So on October 10th, um ADA, our teachers union provided a letter to our board president,
024Mr. Mascan, which serves as a formal request to bargain with the district the impacts of implementing the new independent study uh law and policy. In good faith, we'll be negotiating to ensure compliance with the law moving forward. >> Discussion call the question. >> I Brianna Tony I. >> Mask on I. Item 10, business services, public hearing, Mission Academy Charter School Renewal. We will open this public hearing at 7:58 p.m. >> Thank you. Um, our director of charter services, Miss Patterson, is here. She'll do the introductions and then she'll turn over the podium. Thank you. >> Good evening, um, board members and Dr. Sahakian. Um, my name is Nishay Patterson. I'm the director of charter services for Actton Angodul Unified School District and tonight we have the public hearing for um Mission Academyy's renewal. Um we
025have Lindseay Reese who is the area superintendent who will be presenting tonight. Thank you the whole time. Perfect. Thank you. >> Good evening, Dr. Sahakian and board president, board members. Thank you for having us tonight. Uh, as Nishay said, I'm Lindsay Reese, the area superintendent. I also have with me Dr. Dearis Owens. She's our principal and we're excited to do this public hearing for you tonight. Um, let's see. Before we begin, I want to thank the board and act in Auadulsa Unified School District for their continued support for our students in partnership. Since 2018, your authorization has enabled us to provide educational opportunities for nearly 23,000 atrisisk students and has given us reason to celebrate our over 700 high school graduates. So we thank you for this partnership. Uh next slide. We believe that our
026success in is due in large part to the strong relationships we have with this district. Uh the positive engagement. We maintain timely reporting and responsive communication with Nache. Uh community collaboration. We meet regular regulatory compliance for all federal, state, and local laws. And finally, our charter alignment. We have demonstrated full understanding of the Actton Aguadulse Unified School District charter petition matrix and have adhered to it closely. Sorry. All right. And then um I just want to go over our mission and our vision. So our mission is really to um ready all of our graduates for postsecary success. So that we're doing that by providing a flexible, equitable, and high quality and personalized virtual learning plan. And then our vision is really to empower our students with the enthusiasm uh for that lifelong learning and grit.
027We do use that acronym and grit stands for growth, resilience, independence, and transformation. So, it's really getting our students um providing them with that post high school pursuits and the qualities to strive um to instill in every student that we work with in our program. >> Next slide. >> So, some of our students um that we support, many of our students do choose this school because traditional settings haven't met their needs. So that could be due to truency, poor grades, um or learning styles that don't fit that mold. So our team uses strategies from Trek training uh to meet students where they are, and we truly recognize signs of stress or disengagement, and respond with empathy, structure, and support. We feel these trauma-informed practices help our students re-engage, build their confidence, and overcome barriers to
028the learning. And by doing that, we're creating a school environment where they truly do feel safe and understood and ready to succeed. >> Um, so our program, so it's 100% online. Uh, we are dashboard alternative uh, status school. So DOSS, we do have two in-person graduation ceremonies twice a year, which has been very successful. We've had the most graduates that we have ever had last uh, May. It was really exciting to see. We'll show you some clips um soon. Uh Canvas learning management system that is our LMS and the curriculum that we're using is strong mind curriculum. Uh we have 999 students currently. It's actually increasing. Uh we have another enrollment period happening this week. We have 57 credentialed teachers, 12 special education case managers. We have one English language development specialists that works with
029our EL population, three school counselors, one social worker, and seven tutors. And we just wanted to show you a clip of our program. Welcome to Mission Academy, a fully virtual school for students in grades 6 through 12. At Mission Academy, we provide a flexible, personalized learning experience that fits each student's need. Every learner meets regularly with a credential teacher in a live virtual environment and has access to highly qualified subject instructors and live tutoring Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. In middle school, students meet with teachers daily. In high school, meetings occur weekly. These sessions help track progress, keep families informed, and ensure students stay on the path to success. >> I just want to learn like independent because I feel like it's better for me and I'm not like really used to
030like being like with a lot of people and like I'm just like really like an independent person mostly. >> Do you feel like you might need some support with that project? Maybe after you do the rough draft, you can meet with the teacher in office hours and go over it. Yeah, >> I could I could send you both online two office hours if I need help. >> So, do you want to go over any of the specific assignments together or are you feeling good in finishing this class? >> I feel good. I finished these class tomorrow. >> We're proud to be track and was accredited with courses that are UC A throughG approved and NCAA certified. Families choose Mission Academy for many reasons. flexibility, mental health support, work or child care responsibilities, or simply the
031chance to learn at their own pace. Our trauma-informed model is designed to remove barriers to learning by connecting students with academic guidance, consistent teacher support, and community resources such as food and mental health services. >> If it wasn't for Elevate, I wouldn't be where I am today. They supported me. They've been here for me, and it feels good to accomplish this because of them. If I didn't have Elevate, I probably wouldn't be the person that I am today because it really taught me to be more independent. My experience at Elevate has been amazing. I prefer it over any other school that I've tried. Personally, the work, it's not so stressful. The teachers always helped me through problems that I faced. All the staff, the teachers are really good with me. They supported my journey. They
032really helped me. I thought I wasn't going to graduate and they helped me get to where I am. If you're an online learner, I would definitely recommend it. And even if you're not, it's it's always worth a try. You know, you never know if it'll work out for you or not. If you're looking for a school that really supports you and believes in you and with all your decisions, this is the perfect school for you. >> We believe every student deserves the chance to thrive in school, at home, and in life. you know that one of the challenges with online learning is how do you show others a peak inside? So, we hope you enjoyed that video and got a little bit of a taste of what it's like to be a teacher uh or
033a student in our program. Next, I wanted to highlight demographics. Oftentimes with charter schools, um there is a belief that they may not be as diverse as traditional schools. Mission Academy is very diverse. We have nearly 12% of students are English learners. I didn't put the percentage of RFEP, but if we included anytime English learners, it would probably bring that number up higher to 40 or 50%. Um, we have 18.7% of our students have disabilities. 79.6 are se are socioeconomically challenged. Um, seventh grade are an average reading level is our average reading level for students in high school and sixth grade is the average math level. So you can see that our students are also skill deficient and that's oftentimes why they end up having uh not succeeded in previous programs and due to our
034unique model we're able to help those students catch up and get ahead uh and experience success oftentimes for the first time in uh our program. This chart I won't go too much into depth. It just shows how Mission Academy compares to other schools including uh this district but also other larger districts just so you could see how we stand up uh demographically in comparison. Next slide. Uh as Dr. Owens mentioned, we are a dashboard alternative school status. 72% of Mission Academyy's unduplicated students qualify for at least one designation under DAS. I won't go on and on about all of the different categories, but um it's any sort of uh challenge that students have experienced previously. It could include probation, could include students who are pregnant and parenting. There's a variety of reasons why students would
035be considered DAS and so 72% of our students meet that criteria. Next slide. Um alternative metrics. So Mission Academy in collaboration with Actton Aguadulsa Unified School District has agreed to the following alternative metrics. CAST performance and participation, English learner progress indicator growth, Northwest Evaluation Association, MAP assessment growth, DAS one-year graduation rate growth, and success rate growth, which is an internal metric that I'll explain in depth in a moment. Next slide. Areas of strength, cast participation, preliminary CASP results for 2526, um, NWA MAP assessment growth, DAS one-year graduation growth, and success rate growth. Next. So, for the Smarter Balance Assessment for 2024, 98% of our students completed the CASP test, which is great. Um, and for CAST, same thing, 98%. Next slide. I said preliminary results when I was putting this presentation together. It was before
036they officially released the dashboard, but these uh this does match and I didn't have a chance to update it. Um, oops, go back. Um, so for our ELA scores went up 11.2% in CASP this uh most recent test cycle and our math CASP performance went up 8.7% and science improved 4.4%. Next slide. NWA reading this chart can make you kind of go crosseyed so I apologize. Um, but one of the harder things in our program is when our students uh enter our program skill deficient. oftentimes state tests don't do a good job showing that they're learning because they're so far below even if let's say they improved two or three grade levels it wouldn't show on the CASP for instance because if they let's say they entered at a seventh grade level they come up
037to a 10th grade level but they're still below grade level we feel like NWA is a way to show how they're growing uh in our program based on where they started versus where they are now so the data on this chart shows a year's worth of growth for their students zero a zero on the conditional growth index indicates expected growth. That's on par with national norms. Anything that's like a plus one or plus plus two is considered exceptional growth or average growth. Anything that's a negative 1 or negative -2 is very below average. Uh notable growth. Seventh grade ELA sped and uh socioeconomically disadvantaged had uh notable growth. 10th grade all subgroups had notable growth and 11th grade EL students experienced notable growth. So exceptional growth a plus one or a plus two. Next slide.
038Uh same explanation in terms of how the the conditional growth index works for math. The notable growth for these was seventh grade all subgroups, eighth grade all e and sed subgroups, nth grade all subgroups, 10th grade all subgroups. So that's significant. Nearly all of our subgroups had growth in ma significant growth in math. Um that's when your cohort graduation rate. So oftent time program programs like ours are criticized because of our four and fiveyear cohort graduation rate. The reason why that tends to be low is because that's uh more appropriate for a traditional setting. We can enroll students with our Rioa partnerships up to the age of 24. So in many cases we enroll students past that fourth or fifth year grad date to help them still recover and get their diploma. Um so oftent
039time and most of the time students enroll when they're 17 or 18. uh more than two years deficient. So even if we work rapidly with them, we still can't get them done by that fifth year to qualify for that grad rate. So we prefer to measure um the one-year cohort rate. This used to be recognized by the CDE as a valid measurement uh for DAS schools. It has since um been revoked as a valid option because the fed the federal government no longer recognizes it as an alternative metric. However, we still measure it because we think it's valid. It measures the percent of seniors who graduate within that year. And as you can see, all but 22 23 uh we have grown each year. This year was our best yet. 98.62% of our seniors graduated.
040Um I believe I think we only had one or two that didn't finish, which was awesome. So we're very proud of that getting our seniors out. Next one, success rate. So this is an internal metric. Our success rate is the percent of students who are retained in the school. Remature remmetatriculate back to their district of res residence or graduate. We do consider it part of our mission to return students to their district of residence. If they choose to stay with us, that's great. But if their goal is to go back to their district of residence, that's also um a success in our mind. So we calculate that in this metric as well. You can see for 2425 91.2% we had a 91.2% success rate. So 91.2% 2% of students were either stayed in our program,
041went back to their district of residence, or graduated with us. We're very proud of that number. Opportunities for growth. Uh CASP results for 2425 and English learner progress indicator. Next, that was a typo on the last slide. That should have said 2324. So, and so should this slide. Our 2324 CASP ELA and math uh declined. So there could be a number of reasons for that. Mission Academy has experienced rapid growth. So in many cases we haven't had students in the program for very long, most for less than a year. Um it it could be an anomaly. It could be that we uh happen to enroll a lot of students right before testing. Since we enroll year round, students enroll at any time. We might have had a large influx of students who enrolled right before
042testing that we didn't have much time to prepare. Um, it could be a variety of factors, but that was considered an area of growth for us uh for 23 24. So, forgive the typo. I apologize. Next slide. Our English learner progress indicator. This one's also really um surprising to us. That declined 9.2%. Despite us adding staff in the EL department, what I suspect is that many of those staff members were newer. They're just learning how beginning to understand how to better work with English learners in a virtual environment, which does pose different challenges than when you can sit side by side with a student and offer different resources, including paper resources to them. Um, so we're continuing to make this a focus. We're hoping to see this go up for this next school year, but
043we are noting it is an area of growth. Our LCAP goals number one is to increase academic progress. Goal number two is that students will gain skills for college and career readiness. Goal number three is to increase our student retention rate. And goal number four is to increase educational partner engagement. Our budget projections um kind of small. It's hard to see. I'm not going to go through every detail. The the um main point I wanted to highlight is that Mission Academy is doing very well financially. We have a very healthy reserve uh to protect against any sort of budget shortfalls or economic changes. Um we have approximately 20% in our reserve which is uh in alignment with our approved board policy and we look forward to continuing to grow over the next few years. We
044hope that we can maintain this pattern of moderate but steady growth. And finally we believe that we meet the criteria for renewal. We have a sound educational program successful program implementation. We enroll all students who wish to intend attend. We demonstrate we have um demonstrated community support. We're fiscally sound, a nonprofit organization with transparent governance and we serve a state recognized disadvantaged population. I think that's perhaps the most compelling reason for us to continue being able to serve students. And we just want to thank Actton for being partners all of these years and we hope that you will approve our application for renewal. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. >> I think you there may be some questions. >> My nerves get >> there. Zero chance. >> I was going to do the
045Pink Panther scoot out the door and you guys wouldn't see me. >> Want to take over? >> I've known you for a really long time. Okay, here we go. These are standard questions outside of a few of them. My understanding is that um Mission Academy was an outbreak of learn for life when the 1200 series of legislation caused someone to decide that there can't be forprofit schools in um in being publicly funded. And so I think that I think that what I know today is that there are people who serve as a superintendent for both learn for life as well as mission academy. That would be accurate. >> I am one of those people. I have a life school in San Diego with 12 locations and I have three. >> That's what the Tribune said
046on the 6th. Yes. So, um, I'm trying to go back to the days when we were having 10-minute hearings and people were stealing $80 million, but I do remember mission and I do remember not feeling bad about that. So, this your your track record with this organization goes back probably into two about the time I came on the board is when they made the law change. Okay. I'm going to ask questions. If you don't know the answer, um, great. Just make sure that they're submitted back to staff when we vote on your thing. U staff, has staff, has Sher Shannon seen this? Is she Is she here tonight? Sherry, you there? Say hi. >> Hi. Hello. >> Packers are going to beat you. you know that. >> Um well, we'll see. You know, we've had
047a couple wins, but only a few. >> So, Sherry, Sherry, back to business. You've I was nice to somebody and had a conversation with them this year. >> Um so, you've seen this, Sherry. Good. >> Okay, here we go. Here's your question. Does your organization employ a model in which different schools each have their own board? Yes, unless they're under the same corporation. >> Okay. I don't know what that means. So, if there's a if there's a school board, um, and this is just a general umbrella question, um, are are the boards that exist independent of each other? >> Yes, they are. So you don't have one board that sits at the top and holds themsel out as a hybrid charter and then supplies four charge services to the other people and and basically usurpers
048the control the local control that those other boards have on their own school. >> Absolutely not >> good. Um, are there any positions in the organization that are duplicative in function that are held by one individual that amasses more hours than could be provided by that individual during a normal work week, month or year? In other words, I am a principal of six schools and I collect full salaries from each one of those schools. >> Absolutely not. >> Good. That's new. Uh, is any member of your school system administration subservient to a third-party consultant or back of house contractor? >> No, we are not. >> I want to make sure everybody understands what that means. I'm a contractor. I was the guy that started it in my garage back in the old days when public
049education failed my own children. And so I get a paycheck now of $500,000 a year for just telling you guys what you should do to keep me in money coming into my wallet as the founder. Am I clear in my questions? >> Yes, sir. >> Good. Why are you laughing? Anyway, you've basically told us what your charter law exception is, and that applies collectively to all of your sites. >> Yes. So if you have WEOA agreements, are they intact and current? >> They are. >> Have you lost any significant WEOA relationships during your current authorization period? >> If so, why? >> We have not. >> Is your SPED director here? >> Our our sped director? I think you were meaning our Yeah, but she's for Lac. She's just a consultant for us. How many do
050Okay, ready. How many due process findings have you had during the current authorization period? >> Zero. >> How many um settlements do you make did you make to make that number zero? >> Zero. >> That's awesome. Does this district, this is for everybody, charge you any sped related fees? >> No. Do they provide you any sped related services such as therapy or administration costs? What selpa do you currently participate with? >> The Elorado SULPA. >> Do you pay any facility related fees to this district? >> We do not. Do you have is your organizational structure structure such the big umbrella organization that the is it such that there are sever several different authorizers involved >> with this charter >> with the charter anything that is in the organization that I'm going to vote on is
051there any >> other authorizers >> yes >> no >> that's Not always the case. >> Oh yeah. No. >> Okay, here we go. This is the fun one. You like cheerleading? Do you like football? >> I like football. >> You like soccer? >> Yes. >> How many inact How do you purge inactive students from your attendance roles? >> Oh, it's a process. We have a um student re-engage a tiered re-engagement process that's a part of our personalized learning policy that includes um frequent outreach to determine what the nature is of why the student is disengaged from our program. We offer resources. We offer assistance if they maybe they need mental health supports or other things. Anything that we could think of that might help them re-engage positively in our program. Uh this is a what
052would I call it? almost akin to like an SST. It's the teacher is involved. We have a um we call it a student retention uh support person, but in oldfashioned parlance it would be a truency officer, but it's someone who specializes in retention. We have a school administrator available, a school counselor, and it's really a wraparound to re-engage that child. If those efforts don't work after a certain length of time, we reconvene again to then give them a final chance to re-engage. And if it still doesn't work, then ultimately they're disenrolled from our program and referred back to their district of residents. >> So I think we missed something here. So, what you're telling me is you don't have a marketer that holds um cheerleading camps in the summer, never never purges those records, and
053four years later you find that there's been taxpayer money spent out for enrollment of students that have not attended the school to the point where Judge Link down in San Diego um uh tells the newspaper that somebody stole $80 million. You don't have that. No, I'm deeply aware of that case and we would never participate in fraudulent >> this isn't this is the questions I asked everybody the AV news press reporters right back there so I don't feel slighted I think you did really good and Sherry did they do good earth to Kansas City that's unfortunate Um, please repeat your question, Mr. Fals. >> Sherry, I asked them if they did good on my questions. Did they do good? >> Um, they answered them correctly. Yes. >> That's good. Thank you, Sherry. >> You're welcome.
054>> Accurat. >> Huh? >> I'd prefer accurately. >> Accurately. Accurately. >> I'll learn those words in fourth grade. Thank you, Mr. President. I bet Um, I don't know that the minister will reflect that I asked those questions. I'll supply them. Will that be okay? >> Sure thing. >> Okay, I'm done. Thank you. >> May I answer any other questions from the board? >> Yeah, >> I don't have any questions. Thank you. >> I have a few questions. Um, absolutely. >> On your cast results, you mentioned a lot of whatif scenarios, but uh I'm a pretty firm believer that you can't uh measure things that if you don't have data, you can't manage it, right? So, I would like to understand if you could repeat get back to staff with what exactly you believe that caused
055those uh declining results >> what and what you're going to measure as key indicators going forward. >> Yeah, absolutely. Um, on your financials, you mentioned your reserve, but I don't see it anywhere on the financials that are in this. >> If it's not in there, it's absolutely submitted with our petition. It's one of the exhibits and it's um detailed. So, this was just kind of a snapshot to just review it quickly. Um, I can't find that slide right here. >> Mine all got scrambled around. It's on this one. It's in the exhibit, right? It's in the exhibit. Would you like to open that separately just to call it out for you? >> Okay. >> Thank you very much. Do you have any facilities at all or is it all everybody from home? Is it >>
056We have a warehouse that we No students go to the warehouse. It's strictly our IT team that collects laptops that we deploy to students via FedEx. They gather the equipment there. They assemble them in the FedEx boxes and ship from there. They also work out of that location and trouble provide troubleshooting support for students and staff. >> You had mentioned inerson uh with the students when necessary. Where do you do that at? >> We never in students. It's only inerson graduation two times a year. Okay. And we do that most recently in Carson because that's the most centrally located for many of our students. >> Understood. So, um, Ken asked a question I'd want to elaborate on a little bit about if there's an organization that sits within uh, your program that basically does all
057your back office work for you? >> Yes. >> And are they are there multiple charters that feed up through that with diff with different uh, authorizers that are members of that? >> Yes, there are. So that company is called Lifelong Learning Administration Corporation. They serve oh I don't know if I could quote the total number of charters right now off the top of my head. Is it 18? >> 18 in California. Uh three of which are fully virtual programs like including Mission Academy. The rest are all what you would consider um like a hybrid or in person. Students go in once or twice a week for inerson instruction and do most of their work at home. >> Is that a for-profit entity? >> No. Thank you. >> I do have one question. What are your
058boundaries? Where do you pull students from? >> For Mission Academy, we're allowed to enroll students from LA County and surrounding counties. The bulk of our students reside in LA County. We might get a few from Orange County. Um, occasionally a few from Kern County and I'm trying to think if I'm missing anything. I think those are the Yeah. So, but the the lion share from LA County. >> Good. >> I think I have one more. >> would you characterize your cohorts as kind of transient, meaning you've got kids coming in doing credit recovery? By the way, my daughter went to his school when her charter collapsed and she came back here because they didn't have a sports requirement. um she'll graduate with her um JD in May. Anyway, so you guys did good with the
059bowling thing. >> So um but but would you characterize that you're doing a lot of credit recovery and and kids that aren't going to be together from grade six through grade 12? >> That's absolutely correct. A lot of our kids have had very inconsistent educational experiences. They may have gone to a traditional school. They may have departed school for a period of time, then reenrolled, or they may have tried other schools with alternative structures, and then ultimately made their way to us, but they have very non-traditional journeys towards their high school diploma. >> Okay, thank you. I think that should answer some questions about some of the scores. >> I'm done. >> Thank you very much. Aren't you glad you stuck around? >> I'm so sorry. I tried to run away. I got excited slash
060nervous to meet everybody. I appreciate being here this evening. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Close public hearing now. Uh we close this public hearing at 8:30 p.m. Item 11, board policies and administrative regulations. New board policy, mobile communication device, First Street. Dr. Saki. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mascon. Uh through the policy management subcommittee, we were able to review the new policy while providing our own addendum as districts have that luxury to do. In differentiating the policy between two of our sites, which is Vasquez High School as well as High Desert for Vasquez High School, students may use their mobile devices, cell phones on campus during non-instructional time. The devices shall be turned off during the instructional time, hence in the classroom. However, a student shall not be prohibited from using their
061device in case of an emergency. That's outlined in this new policy as well. For high desert, students will have prohibited use of their devices at school. So, we've differentiated between Vasquez as well as high desert within the sleep policy. I want to thank both administrators for providing their input early on in the subcommittee. And that's what we have for our first read. >> Thank you, Dr. Sakin. Any discussion hearing? None. Move on to subject B. New board policy 0441, artificial intelligence. Second read and adoption. >> I'll move. >> I'll second. >> Dr. Hawkins. >> Thank you. So, I'll just reiterate what we shared last time for the first read. Uh, for this policy, it is a new policy. Multiple areas are referenced in regards to use of AI such as um such as AI should
062be used to enhance learning experience for students. It should be used to support staff performance as well and and use of um AI must be ethical and transparent and districts shall provide professional development opportunities for the use of AI for staff. discussion is the recommendation of the uh policy subcommittee that we adopt this new board policy >> Mr. False graph is it the recommendation of the >> yes >> sub yes >> yes >> all right thank you call the question >> I >> balls draft I >> Brianna Tony I >> mascon I subject C new board policy and update administrative regulation 0420.4 charter school authorization action second read and adoption >> I'll move >> I'll second >> Dr. talking. >> Thank you. So, updates by CSBA for this policy include number of signatures required for
063a petition to start a charter school. That's one. The inclusion of a staff advisor and committee and a detailed updated list of components for a charter petition is outlined in this updated policy. Discussion. Mr. False scrap is the recommendation of the policy subcommittee that we adopt this new board policy. >> Yeah. Yes. We talked about this at length in the um policy and management subcommittee. Um my concerns that were there was again about these umbrella uh groups where you have um a vast network and then this fragment of this is participating with an oversight group that basically uh serves the function of a county office of education equivalent kind of like your question. Is there this bigger group that supplies this and are there multiple authorizers? We have some blending going on where if one
064charter gets in trouble then that was my big concern that we discussed. So I think the policy has enough language in there to capture that. So the answer is yes. >> Call the question. >> Claus I. >> False graph I >> Brianna Tony I. >> Maskon I. Subject D, new board policy 0420.41, charter school. Is that the one we just did? That's the one we just did, right? >> No. Yeah. Charter school oversight. >> I'll move. >> I'll second. >> Taken. >> All right. This new policy covers language such as monitoring of charter school performance, location of the charter schools, and fees that are being charged for oversight by the authorizing um ELEAs. Dr. S or discussion Mr. Falsgraph, it is the uh recommendation of the policy and management subcommittee that we adopt this new
065policy. >> Yes. Again, there was uh uh those meetings are televised and put into a an archive and there were it was made quite quite clear what our expectations are especially in the terms of that we are not doing this for money. It is not a revenue source and I think everyone understands that. >> Call the question. >> Claus I. >> FallsGraph I >> Brianna Tony I. Mask on. I subject E update board policy 0440 district technology plan. >> I'll move. >> I'll second it. >> Dr. Hen. >> Sure. As a refresher, this update to this policy includes a detailed outline to the components of a tech plan for a school district, which includes, but it's not limited to identifying current resources being utilized, such as platforms for instructional purposes, accessibility by students and staff
066to these platforms, professional development to enhance knowledge and education and needs, and how AI is being utilized by students and staff, and how district uh will prevent and respond to cyber attacks. as well. >> Thank you. Discussion, Mr. Falsgraph. >> Is it the recommendation of the policy and management subcommittee that we adopt this board policy? >> Yes. >> Thank you. Call the question. >> Claus I. >> Ballgraph I. >> Brianna Tony I. >> Mask I. Everybody's favorite time. Board comments. >> All right. Um, I'm going to limit mine to this suggestion. I would like to um because sometimes our group uh our different subcommittees do not have uh both members um able to attend. There's been a couple of issues like that. I would like the board to consider that we could allow now this
067the student rep is is entitled to participate but if there are two board members there we don't have the ability to have the student rep participate as in the board member capacity everyone understands that correct but in the event that someone is not going to be there I would like the board to think about the idea that the student rep could attend as a voting member if uh there is only one standing board member there. So um that's my comment. Please consider that. >> Um I actually don't have any board comments today. >> Got somewhere to be. No, I have I mean I've I have not been present at all of the exciting events and I mean I can comment how much I apologize, but I've just, you know, had a life and been super
068busy and I've been missing a lot of things and I say a lot anyway. So today I'm not. That's that. >> Short comments tonight. Thank you everyone uh who attended virtually and in person and uh as usual proud to be part of this organization and work with all of you. Thank you. Calendar November 13th December 11th January 22nd. Anybody have any issues with those dates? Hearing none. Future agenda items virtual academy. Only thing we have on the future agenda items. Anything else? Dr. Sen. >> Yes, I did take notes. Vice President Taxon did mention a possible presentation of CTA CTE pathways for both Vasquez and High Desert. >> Sounds good. With that, I'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll second. >> Call the question. >> Claus I. >> I. >> Brianna Tony I. >>
069Masan I. that we adjourn at 8:39 p.m.