001The regular meeting of the Chilivista Elementary School uh district board of education is now in order. Welcome everyone. All board members are present except for Vice President Tamayo. We will now approve the agenda. Is there a motion? Motion. >> Second. >> Moved by trustee Dominguez Arvant, second by trustee Tolston. Recording secretary, please call the vote. >> Dominguez, >> I. >> Dominguez Alvantes. >> Tolston. >> Igarte. >> I. Motion carries. 41 absent. Oral communication for close session items. The oral communication section provides the public with an opportunity to address the board on closed session items only. Persons wishing to be heard may attend in person and should complete a request to be heard card and submit it to the recording secretary before the start of the meeting. Speakers are requested to limit their remarks to three
002minutes and speak in a respectful and professional manner. The board shall limit the total time for public input on each topic to 20 minutes. With board consent, the president may increase or decrease the time allowed for public comments depending on the number of persons wishing to be heard. No board action can be taken. The board of trustees cannot legally takes take action or respond to matters not posted on the public agenda due to government code, but will refer the matter to the superintendent for review and report. And we have one speaker, CVE negotiations. Hello. Thank you. I'm going to be addressing you during the regular board meeting tonight, but wanted an opportunity to speak to you before you go into close session. As you know, CVE has been negotiating with the district, and the only
003article that we have not been able to settle is article 51 health. We ask that you consider that starting in January of this year. 40% of our membership took a pay cut. Compared with surrounding districts, our current pay is ranked 22 in the county. But we have responded to your salary office offers at the table by putting all our eggs in the basket of benefits. Starting in January, our members who cover a dependent or their family and health benefits are paying about $400 to $500 more per month to do so with this recent increase in premiums. Our members covering one dependent are now paying around $800 a month while families are paying around 1,500. We recently surveyed our membership about health benefits. Many said that this is a large negative impact on their family. Many
004of our of our members who do not use the district's benefit to cover their family say it is because benefits are simply too costly and they can't afford it. Some are lucky to have access to health care through their spouse or other means. But many don't have that option. Some younger members shared that they're holding off having children because of the high cost of family benefits. Some families say that they make less per month than their colleagues with less years of experience because of their costly contribution to their health care. Some have had to change their plans and leave their longtime doctors because they simply could no longer afford them. Single parents or head of households are feeling this burden even more. A large portion of their paycheck is going to cover their benefits, which
005causes serious strains on their finances and access to basic needs. For some, it has meant having to get a second job or just just to make it through the month. This is having a negative impact on the quality of life of our members. They are considering going to nearby districts who offer better health care options. We provided the district's team a comparison list of surrounding districts. Chiliva Vista Elementary School District is falling short. Last year in your budget, you rolled over $170 million and this year it was 168. this year. Um, what we are asking is a reasonable settlement to solve a growing problem. We ask that when you provide bargaining direction to the district, you remember to prioritize the quality of life of the district's employees and ensure that we continue to be a
006district that attracts and retains quality educators. Keep CBSD the best place to be. Thank you. Thank you. There are no more speakers. We will now adjourn to close session in accordance with the following. Government Code section FI 3549.1D and 54957.6 Six, Collective Bargaining Employee Negotiations LLP and Adams Silva and McNal LLP. Employee organizations Chula Vista classified employee organization Chula Vista Educators Non-represented Employees Administrators Association Chula Vista Government Code section 54957B1 public employee dis discipline dismissal release and government code section 54956.9D1 conference with legal counsel existing litigation in the office of administrative hearings case number Five. We will now rec uh adjourn. Excuse me. We will now reconvene to open session with all board members present. Recording secretary, please note that Vice President Theo arrived at 4:45. Close session. Uh excuse me, we we're back. Uh
007close session announcements will be made by the clerk. >> Greetings. uh government code section 54956.9D1 conference with legal counsel existing litigation in office of administrative hearings case number 2025070775 on motion by member Tolston second by member Ramirez Dominguez. The board approved the settlement agreement by the following vote. The A's were four and one absent. >> Thank you. The open session of the regular meeting of the Chiliva Vista Elementary School District Board of Education is now in order. Welcome everyone. All board members are present. And Miss Perez, if you will, excuse me, Miss Mon uh if you'll Perez, if you'll lead us in the pledge, please. Perez, pledge. [snorts] Please stand. Put your right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin to it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank
008you. [clears throat] We will now approve the agenda. Is there a motion? >> So move. >> Second. Moved by trustee Tomo, seconded uh by trustee Tolston. Recording secretary, please call the vote. >> Ramirez Dominguez I. >> Dominguez I. >> Tolston >> I. >> Tamayo. >> Ug. >> I. Motion carries. 5-0. Um and just for everyone's knowledge if there uh just so you know there is overflow in room C if you choose to uh sit down rather than stand. All right. Communication to the board of education. President, I'm sorry to interrupt. What does the overflow room consist of? Are they going to be able to participate? They can they see if you could explain. >> Is it that's video and correct? It's video feed and then when we call names they can come back in. >>
009Okay. Because I did ask for a bigger room. >> Thank you. Um Chill Vista Classified Employees Organization. Miss Ruby Williams. Good evening. President, board members, and district leadership. Do not approve the consent calendar under the public disclosure. I am stating this plainly, directly, and without hesitation. Tonight's consent calendar contains actions that will outsource two programs, our Aspire and visually impaired programs to Sulpha. When jobs are being moved, eliminated, or restructured, the district has illegal and contractual obligations obligations that protect employees, students, and the integrity of our program. Were the parents notified? As the new president of classified union, I was not informed, not consulted, and not included in discussions regarding the movement or dislocation of classified personnel until I was notified as an employee of the closure of the department I was in or am.
010These conversations are happening at higher levels behind closed doors and without adherence to the guidelines that exist to protect transparency, due process, and the rights of employees. When decisions about classified are made without the union to the ta at the table, it is not only disrespectful, it is a violation of the collaborative process the district claims to value. As positions disappear, we are seeing a troubling trend. Classified staff being assigned inappropriate or unrelated duties under the labels of inclusion, support, or other duties as assigned. We've watched student We've watched student stores meant for volunteers shift to classified staff. We've seen special education aids pulled from the very students or classrooms they're trained to support. RSP aids taken out of RSP to cover to cover general education classes for IEPs. Essays rotated through general ed classes.
011Staff pulled for traffic duty. Interpreting at parent conferences without a choice. lesson planning or even organizing PE equipment or running PE classes. These are not harmless adjustments. They are they pull classified away from the work they are hired, trained, and expected to do. And our support staff are too often treated not as educational partners, but as plugins wherever the gap appears that day, whether or not it matches their job descriptions or protects student safety. Classified staff are not gap fillers. Special education staff should remain in special ed education settings. RSP aid should support RSP students. Students deserve consistent trained staff, not whoever is available that day. Every employee deserves respect for their profession and every student deserves the support of the staff trained to serve them. We don't accept patchwork solutions and we expect structure,
012clarity, and true support for students and for the professionals who serve them. Others who support the classroom are our substitutes. An issue that directly affects both student learning and employee safety is a need to increase substitute pay. When substitutes don't accept open jobs often because the pay is too low. Classrooms are left short one to two staff members. That may not sound like much, but in a classroom it creates an immediate domino effect. Stress and student behaviors increase. Remaining staff must cover multiple roles just to maintain basic safety. Learning is disrupted especially for students who rely on stable routines and most importantly injuries rise for both staff and students because supervision and support are stretched too thin. Staff movement that affects not one but also more than one class. Each injury leads to another absence
013which creates another vacancy which leads to yet another uncovered classroom. The cycle isn't just inefficient, it's unsafe. The combination of substitute shortages and inadequate pay is directly responsible for these unfilled absences. When classrooms operate without the staffing they are supposed to have, both classified and certificated employees face higher risk and students lose the consistent structured environment they need. Raising substitute pay isn't just simply a budget decision. It's a safety measure. It's a retention strategy and it is an essential step to ensure our classrooms remain fully staffed so students can learn and employees can work without unnecessary risk. Thank you for your time. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] Chula Vista Educators, Miss Rosie Martinez. [cheering] [applause] President Ugarte, may I please have an extra 45 seconds tonight? Thank you. I ask that any CBE member
014or their family are pre that are present, please stand with me. Good evening, trustees. Tonight, you're going to be hearing presentations on the CASP and the dashboard. As you look at the numbers and graphs, please remember that the hard work of students and their teachers create that data. It is a great opportunity to highlight the amazing work that teachers do every day in their classrooms. Please remember that test scores reflect only a small portion of the work that happens in our schools. Our educators face greater challenges than ever and we ask them to do more with less every year. Now with a tightening budget, we expect educators to be interventionists, counselors, behavior specialists, to learn new curriculum, new assessments, new strategies, and more. And on top of that, the demand to increased test scores. No
015matter the challenge, educators show up because of the great commitment and love that they have for their students. Just as every one of our students is an individual of great worth, so are each of our educators and so are each of their family members, many of whom happen to be our students. The effort of our educators put into their work is worthy of gold medals. Sadly, instead of gold, the district has suggested that we settle for bronze, but we will not. During negotiations, we have not been able to reach an agreement on our health benefit article. As I shared with you before close session, this is an an important topic for us because of as of January, 40% of our members took a pay cut. In a recent survey to our members, almost 400 of
016them responded sharing the negative impact that the cost of increase to their health benefits is having on their families. I shared some of the data with you earlier today, but now I would like to read to you just a handful of the quotes directly from our members on how it impacts them as individuals. One teacher says, "Monthly health care costs take up a take up a large portion of our family's budget, leaving less money for basics like food, housing, and transportation. As these expenses rise, our family has too often cut back on things that we need or put off important plans. Over time, the strain of high monthly he health care costs makes everyday life harder and adds stress to an already challenging situation." Another teacher shared, "As a single parent of two children and
017one income, I off I cover all of the family's medical expenses, including out-ofpocket orthodontics costs. Paying for rent, utilities, groceries, gas, car insurance, and typical living costs like clothing and shoes, means I spend what I earn every month without anything left for savings. The increase starting in January is causing an enormous amount of stress. I'm scrambling to figure out what else to cut so that I'm not going in debt just to pay off my health insurance. And another, the dramatic increase has made it difficult for me to support my daughter while at college. The money that I had been able to contribute on a monthly basis in the past is no longer in my account. And yet another the rising cost of health care in addition to the rising cost of prescription medication and care
018that is not covered become unbear unmanageable. After working for the district for over 20 years I'm having to cut back in other things to save money for my health care. In addition to stay healthy by eating quality foods, exercising, upkeeping mental health all have rising costs as well. The amount that our health cost have risen is extraordinary and unsustainable. Our teachers and their families deserve to be healthy and not struggling financially to do so. A lifetime of service to the district and community deserves manageable health coverage and costs. Our district used to be one of the leaders in the health coverage that they offered to their teachers and now we are one of the worsts. and another I had to drop my son and make him apply for medical since he is 19 and another
019living daytoday and now this will be an added cost meaning that there will be there will have to be some cuts to activities that are foundational to building family connections and support real world learning. And finally, surrounding districts have found ways to better support their employees. Many fully cover health care for their families, while others offer significantly higher caps that ease the financial burden on staff. These districts have chosen to prioritize employee well-being, understanding that supporting families directly supports retention, morale, and the overall stability of schools. CBESD must do the same. Prioritizing employees is not only the right thing to do, it is essential. Competitive and equitable health care coverage allows educators and staff to focus on serving students rather than worrying about how to afford basic medical care. I urge CBESD to take meaningful
020action to address rising health car health care costs and to ensure its employees and their families are supported in a fair and sustainable way. CBE believes that our educators are worthy of more than praise and accolades. The district must respond with action. We will not settle for bronze level care while providing our students with gold medal commitment and support. We ask that you show that we are a priority by accept by accepting our fair proposal and help lift the financial burden that health benefit costs increase have placed on our members and their families. Lift up our gold medal teachers so that they can continue to lift up our students. Thank you. Thank you. [cheering] [applause] Administrators Association, Chula Vista, Miss Teresa Corona. Good evening, President Ugarte, trustees and superintendent Dr. Reyes. On behalf of AACV,
021I would like to share that our association has been actively working through consultation with district leadership as we already begin planning for the 2627 school year. AACV appreciates the opportunity to engage in dialogue early and we remain committed to working collaboratively to strengthen our schools and ultimately to strengthen our district. As we look ahead, our advocacy is focused on ensuring that the district's rigorous learning for all plan is specific, measurable, timely, and most importantly realistic. Our site leaders are deeply committed to improvement. However, sustainable progress requires goals that are clear, that are actionable and grounded in the daily realities of our campus uh campuses and the work the work we do. Ambitious goals of course are important, but they must also be attainable if we are to maintain morale, build capacity, and achieve lasting results
022for students. I also want to emphasize that the number one goal for our district community must always be our kids. Every plan, every initiative and metric should ultimately be measured against one question. How does this serve students? Our district is facing a variety of challenges. So, let's keep our eye on what is important, our students. Finally, I want to mention that data for our schools can be found in our single plans for student achievement. Additional measures for our schools can be found on the California school dashboard which provides transparent information about each and every school in our district and in the state. I do want to state however that while academic indicators including test scores are important, they represent only one measure of a school's impact. growth, student engagement, school climate, attendance, support for multilingual
023learners, and other target populations also tell the story of a school's success. AACV continues to stand ready to continue working in professional partnership uh with district leadership to ensure that our focus is on our students and on the whole story of student success. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Oral communications. The oral communication section provides the public with an opportunity to address the board on non-aggenda items. Persons wishing to be heard may attend in person and should complete a request to be heard card and submit it to the recording secretary before the start of the meeting. Speakers are requested to limit their remarks to three minutes and speak in a respectful and professional manner. The board shall limit the total time for public input on each topic to 20 minutes. With board consent,
024the president may increase or decrease the time allowed for public comments depending on the number of persons wishing to be heard. The board of trustees cannot legally take action or respond to matters not posted on the public agenda due to government code, but will refer the matter to the superintendent for review or and report. And I'm going to call you three at a time so you're ready. Um, Julie Brewer, then Mary Davis, and then Miss Erica. Julie Brewer. >> Hi. Good evening, members of the board. Sorry. My name is Julie Brewer and I'm a parent of at Allen Elementary. This year, the CVESD speech contest focused on the question, "What makes a strong community?" I invite you to think about that as I share my experience as a parent of two boys at Allen Elementary.
025I still remember when we first moved to Bonita and became part of the Allen family. We were welcomed with open arms. Other families embraced us and on our very first day, another mom kindly showed me the ropes of drop off and pickup. We were so excited to be part of this intimate little campus tucked into such a sweet little neighborhood. No school is perfect, but Allan has come pretty close to our family. Um, five years later, we now have a fifth grader and a second grader, and we continue to be incredibly impressed by the staff. They have embraced our children, communicated with us clearly, and consistently welcomed my husband and me to be meaningfully involved through volunteering and school activities. Not once have we felt shut out of our children's learning journey. Instead, we've built
026a mutual respect with their teachers. Respect that includes healthy boundaries, which are so important to growth, learning, and independence. Over the years, the boys's teacher have uh truly shown up for them. They've attended sports games and events to cheer them on. And during one of the most personal times for our family, when my husband and I each donated a kidney, teachers reached out and staff reached out to us to offer support and care in ways that we will never forget. So, when I think about what makes a strong community, the answer is clear. our teachers, our staff, our schools, and the families who share in them. Allen Elementary didn't just educate our children, it helped make Bonita a home. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share my appreciation and support for all of
027everything they do. >> Thank you, [applause] Mary Davis. Hi, good evening. Mary Davis, uh, government watchdog and steward, your regional accountability partner. Uh, first of all, I do want to concur. You do need a much, uh, larger venue, and so I'm not sure why you continue to have it here when you know you're going to have a large crowd. Uh, schools have auditoriums and such. Please. It's almost like it's designed to keep uh dissent or um critique out. Uh next, I'm also very much in favor of support for increased health benefits for your educators. Um and what I'm asking you to do is reduce administrator compensation or the number of higher level administrators. Funnel that money [applause] funnel that money back into the lower people and I say lower on the hierarchy that uh actually
028keep this place running and educate the kids. and that includes par educators and support staff. Um, also I do want to know for um there is an employee whistleblower protection and this is at the federal level and uh it's oih hotline.ed.gov and you can report things like fraud and public corruption which would include nepotism, favoritism and hiring. I'm going to get into this later in item 12 but for now know that you have that right and that protection. Next, I want to get into uh Tiffany Elementary where they have a sub who um is apparently in a protected class, but what that is set up is a paradox between the parents and uh what many perceive to be a forced curriculum, forced conversations that come at a a tender age. Um what I'm asking you
029to do is give a parent optit and a parent notification for that and find a balance for that issue. Uh lastly, I do have to talk about ICE and I know that your educators had this wear blue. They posted it and um what I want to let people know the other side and you actually have a duty to report that under BP 6144 controversial subjects. So if you're going to have a mass wearing of a color, you need to make sure your students are being told the alternative story. Um, that would be the duty to protect all students, including, for example, the little girl in Linda Vista who was sexually assaulted by an illegal alien in her bed in a home invasion in the middle of the night. That prowler walked that community for 4
030days. Are you saying you would really give him sanctuary on one of your campuses while he victimized the community? So, when you tuck your kids in tonight, I want you to think about that little girl. And lastly, there is a growing price for sanctuary. And again, I want you to be aware of these children who, by the way, are all children of color. And this list is growing. There are now actually seven kids in California who have been killed at the hands of IIV, illegal immigrant violence. And I want you to protect them as well. And I would ask for the educators out here. I know you want to do this. A lot of people want to quote abolish ICE, but I want you to think about which of your students is disposable that you
031would want to be number eight on my board. Thank you. >> The next um Miss Erica, then Kathleen Cheers, and then Valerie Swafford. Miss Erica Eric. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. Um, Miss Erica, good evening, President Ugarte and members of the school board. My name is Miss Erica. I'm here on behalf of veterans and Wolf Canyon school parents whose children have benefited greatly from After School Good News Club. Thank you for your time. I would like Miss Alma, Dr. Alma Vanise to speak first. >> Good evening, President Ugarte, members of the school board. My name is Dr. Alma Vanise. I am here on behalf of veterans and Wolf Canyon school parents whose children have benefited greatly from the afterchool Good News Club. Thank you for your time. For more than 20 years, the Good News
032Club has met in the district, helping students grow in kindness, responsibility, and respect. Last year, 76,000 children across Southern California participated in our program. Parents have shared how the club provides encouragement, builds character, the values that our district champions. During the summer, we once again apply to use classrooms at Wolf Canyon and veterans. Our request was accepted at Wolf Canyon, but was denied at veterans, citing interference with lead and extended day classes. Even though the classrooms we requested were not being used, we were told to reapply later. So, we reapplied in the fall and again after the winter break, but we have been denied. Meanwhile, we have sent letters from the parents, which are some of the letters you have there, and from the Good News Club staff, volunteers I should say, to the principal
033and to the superintendent appealing the denial. You have those copies. We are here tonight to appeal the denial of veterans for the Good News Club. Last year, the US Court for Northern California issued a preliminary injunction against Oakland Unified School District. Judge Gileiam ruled that when a district opens its facilities to outside afterchool vendors, it must grant equal access to faith-based organizations, too. He ruled that excluding a program because it holds a religious viewpoint violates the free speech, free exercise, equal protection clauses and California civic center act. First of all, denying the club deprivives our students, our children from participating in this valuebased program. Secondly, it is against the law to deny equal access, especially when there is room for the program. We hereby respectfully request equal access for the good news club at veterans
034and any other district school where the parents and the students request. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. [applause] Do you have a speaker card? >> Yes, I submitted it. >> Wayne Sheets back here. >> Got it. Thank you. >> Great. >> Good evening, President Yugare and members of the board. My name is Wayne Sheets. I'm the director of child evangelism fellowship in San Diego and I'm here on behalf of the good news clubs at Veterans Elementary. You see, for several years, our good news clubs have met on campus after school, helping students learn character qualities, moral values, and how to respect others. Parents have shared even in letters as you have there how the club has offered encouragement, development, positive character, and the strong core values held by this very district. There are
03576,000 children all over Southern California that participate in the Good News Clubs. And last year it was supported by 2600 volunteers. For years, the Good News Clubs have operated alongside uh district school offerings such as yours. Yet, for the last two semesters, we've been denied from holding a good news club, citing in uh interference with the expanding learning opportunity program. We have teachers with empty classrooms that we know for sure who are willing to let us use the rooms. Our presence has posed no logical or safety concerns. And Chula Vista School District already welcomes a variety of third-party ELOP vendors. Denying the Good News Club undercuts our shared goals and enriching children's lives and places the district at risk of cost costly legal battles. It deprivives children of safe space that so many parents cherish.
036You may be aware that on August 15, 2025, the federal court ruled against the Oakland Unified School District allowing CEF equal access during the ELOP program. We respectfully ask the board to reconsider and allowing the good news clubs to resume meeting indoors during the same hours granted to other school after school programs and we stand ready to coordinate schedules to avoid any overlap with the EL OP activities. I want to thank you for your time. For your commitment to serving every child here in the community, granting equal access to the Good News Club honors both your own policies and federal courts clear guidance. We look forward to partnering with the district once again to serve with Veterans Elementary School. Thank you. >> Thank you, Kathleen Cheers. Then Valerie Swaford and then Adam Brewer. >> Google.
037Who runs a school district? Answer. School districts are run by a group of elected community members called trustees. They establish policies, set goals, and oversee the superintendent. Trustees are responsible to the community for the performance of the district. This downfall is not entirely on superintendent Reyes. It was those trustees at the time and several current trustees who own the dysfunction and deficit we are now in. Trustees, it is your job to question agenda items. But that is only if you're doing the hard work in researching the items. Why is it only Miss Dominguez we see consistently asking for clarification, reasoning, and explanations? How did this board allow a $30,000 payout to one who resigned? Why a non-disclosure agreement? What is being hidden with our tax dollars? Community members. Chula Vista is being run by a
038special interest group. That group, the teachers union. Mr. Reyes is there because they strategically placed him there. Was he qualified? Hard no. Why did we vote in union leaders from our sister district who at the time buckled under the shadow of correction and expect anything less than what we are now experiencing? Whatever happened to independent trustees serving our community? Teachers, are you comfortable with what this leadership has done to your once valiant district? I understand the value of respectable union leadership. What we have here is abuse driven by power, money, and what's in it for me. Those high district salaries, those are monies that you teachers earn. You are on the front lines. Most of them sit around and instruct their underpaid support staff what to enter into a spreadsheet which they then present as
039their work. Think about this. Our teachers have a union. That's their voice. Who do parents and taxpayers have independently champion for them? When the teachers union is running the district making the decisions, what about our rights to independent representation and voices in the decision-making? I raised nine six C Chula Vista graduates including a special needs now adult Miss Crosby, Mr. Parker, Mr. Mack. Examples of the angels who walk amongst us. Unsung heroes all of them and so many more. My name is synonymous with teacher advocate. My reputation proves it. I fought for teachers, stood with them on the front lines, spoke out for them. So don't let anyone attempt to tell you Miss Cheers is anti-teer. I am a constant at our sister district board meetings for over 20 years. 99.8% attendance. I have forgotten
040more about that district than most know. My name can be found on the first page of the search warrants of the past trustees of our sister district. I birthed two sped teachers. A lot of eyes there. I realize that. But I'm just trying to help you understand who Mrs. Cheers is. Thank you. Thank you, [applause] Valerie Swaford. Then Adam Brewer. >> Thank you for letting me have an opportunity to speak. My name is Valerie Swafford. In September, I will have worked for the Chula Vista Elementary School District for 30 years as a teacher. I'm nationally board certified. I have a B-clad credential and a master's degree in education. I've had the privilege of working with many families in our district. Unfortunately, I have seen the last few years, health insurance costs for our teachers skyrocket.
041For example, last year alone, to have one dependent on a Kaiser HMO plan, costs increased 51%. It went from $330 to $650 a month for one dependent. to ensure a family with Kaiser HMO plan. It now costs teachers over $1,300 a month. Many neighboring districts with similar salary schedules have far lower insurance premiums. For example, South Bay Unified School District pays $58 for the same plan that I'm talking about for one dependent. Their salary is on par. I compared my current salary and I will admit that I am the farthest on the pay scale. Highest education, masters plus 60 units. I also have 32 years experience. National school district pays $99 for the plan I stated and makes a salary greater than Chula Vista Elementary School District teacher by $6,000 per year. A teacher in
042San Diego Unified School District makes a salary greater than mine and pays zero dollars to ensure a family, not just one dependent, but an entire family. We are dedicated public service employees who do not receive bonuses or other compensation. We have relied on health care premiums that are reasonable to make ends meet in one of the most expensive cities in the country. When I was a single mother, I took a second job to pay for health care for my children. To pay over $1,300 a month to ensure a family on a Kaiser HMO plan is unsustainable for many of our families. The health insurance costs are out of alignment when compared to neighboring districts with varying sizes and do not support our dedicated teachers. Many of us with many years of experience do not also
043receive step increases and the rising cost of healthcare is actually lowering our salaries. We are taking a pay reduction. With each year of teaching, I truly feel you gain better perspective skills. May I continue? And we're doing the best for our te our students in our district. We have some of the most amazing and dedicated teachers. They are willing to grow, change, and pivot to meet the needs of all of our students. Please consider this when formulating decisions that will impact present and future educators that will come to our district. Thank you. >> Thank you, [applause] >> Adam Brewer and then Robin Alova and Brandy Chargin. [clears throat] Good evening, board. My name is Adam Brewer. I have two sons that attend Allen Elementary. Uh Allen Elementary was a big reason we chose to live
044in our current home and remains an overwhelmingly positive influence in our lives. My sons have taken enormous steps each year and I don't have a critical word for any of the teachers they've had to this point. Their learning and development of social skills has exceeded my expectations. Almost as importantly, they're happy to attend school each morning. While I can't quantify the quality of the education and strength of the Allen community in two minutes, I feel safe in saying the number of families that actively seek to transfer into Allen each year demonstrates that this is in fact a great school. I'm asking that the administration support the teachers and staff of Allen Elementary. I suspect if you continue a course of appeasing the most vocal critic, then you will find teachers and staff transferring to other
045schools and the quality of the education and sense of community will suffer. Thank you. >> Thank you, [applause] Robin Alcoa and then Bertha Lopez. I apologize to Miss Harin. I had you in the wrong uh you were agendaized item. Good evening member board members. I'm speaking tonight as a parent, taxpayer, and community member about transparency and trust. On January 26, I filed a California Public Records Act request asking for records related to the severance approved after the resignation of a senior administrator. At the very end of the 10-day deadline, the district responded to my request with an extension citing unusual circumstances. I understand extensions may be allowed, but a delay in transparency raises serious concern. Families are being told there's no money to keep Violindo together during modernization, that the district is millions and millions
046over budget, and that counselors, behavioral supports, and even general education teachers will be cut. At the same time, the board approved a sixf figureure severance after resignation. The math isn't mathing. And even if the money for that severance truly and honestly existed, I still have one basic question. Why would anyone approve a six-figure payout to someone who resigned? Despite [applause] despite the district being in a budget crisis and especially knowing that same six-f figure amount could have paid for at least four school or behavioral therapists who directly support our children and students, those are real tradeoffs. But since these choices have been made, then I feel that my family and the community deserve clear and timely access to those records that explain those choices that you've made. Since the board already approved that severance, the
047documents showing how and why should already exist and they should already be available. So why the delay? Why invoke an extension? What's being kept in the dark? And why is somebody resigning but getting paid? So board members, please understand this is about transparency. It's about priorities and accountability to the students and the communities that you were all elected to serve. Budgets, numbers, those cuts, they show what the district chooses to protect and what it's willing to sacrifice. Right now, the families are watching you closely, and we want to see where our children fall in line with those choices. Thank you. >> Thank you, [applause] Berta Lopez. and then Vanessa St. John. [applause] My name is Berta Lopez. I'm a community activist and a taxpayer in the Chula Vista Elementary School District. I care deeply about
048CVSD, our children, our classroom, the staff, and the trust this community places on this board, which currently has decreased because of all the concerns that have been made in public. Thanks to the voice of San Diego for making us aware. As taxpayers, we expect this board to make decisions that are fair, transparent, and always center on students. California law sets clear expectations for public officials. The Fair Political Practice Commission enforces government code section 871000, which prohibits public officials from participating in decisions when they have a financial interest or interest where or where outside professional roles could influence their judgment. Government code 1090 goes further by pro prohibiting public officials from being financial financially interested in contracts made by the boards on which they serve, including employment and labor agreements. These laws exist to protest the
049protect the public and ensure decisions that are made without divided loyalty. I am here because I'm very concerned that the current board president Ugarte also serves as a teachers union pres union union president in a feeder high school district sweetwater. Both districts operate within the same uni unisurve labor representation structure which coordinates bargaining strategy across multiple districts in the South Bay. This overlaps raises legitimate concerns about independence, labor, and governance decisions. As a community activist and taxpayers, I rely heavily on this CVS board to protect limited education funding to ensure decisions remain focused on student success. Even the appearance of divided loyalty can weaken public confidence, trust, and transparency. When there's no transparency, the trust begins to erode with it are your constituents. I respectfully urge this board and superintendent to seek formal written guidance
050from FPPPC or independent legal counsel regarding compliance with the government code 8710 and 1080. This is about protecting the integrity of this board to make decisions based on children and not regarding adult or per personal agendas. In conclusion, let me remind you that public trust is not built on good intentions alone. It is built on clear ethical boundaries. Our children deserve leadership that is not only dedicated by transparent, but transparent, accountable, and independent. I would also like to commend Trust Deia Dominguez Cvantes for being very courageous and calling out her number one employee, which is Dr. Reyes, as she did at the last meeting. Miss Karen Ramirez for continuing to ask questions regarding the agenda. A reminder to Miss Olsen, please again I urge you to remember that you are here to represent parents and
051community and not just to second every motion but to to participate in the actual discussion. And thank you to the Voice of San Diego for writing all the articles and making all these articles public so we can become aware of what's going on. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Vanessa St. John. >> Good evening. My name is Vanessa St. John. I'm a teacher here for 15 years and I'm a teacher for 20 have been a teacher for 25 years, 15 here in Chila Vista. I've attended all the board meetings for the past year. But I noted that on January 26 board meeting, something was different. A trustee spoke during oral communications and provided stakeholders with in-depth transparency regarding her one employee. I attended the CBE union rep council meeting on February
0522nd at the South County uh teacher union building and I learned that some of my colleagues also were concerned about what was communicated that day. Uh CE President Rosie Martinez advised us to and cautioned us to make sure that we looked at the information and made sure it was valid. I went home, I researched and I researched uh minutes from December 22nd, no December 2022 to December 2025. I have all those minutes and I reviewed them. I did observe a change that after the July 9th, 2025 meeting, President Garte, you requested the minutes to be limited. You stated here per presidente, President Guarte called a point of order, stating that moving forward, minutes will follow the Robert's rule of order guidelines. The only required elements in the meeting minutes include the names of individuals who
053speak during public comment, a record of whether a specific item was addressed, the names of the trustees making the second motion, and the votes outcome. It is beyond me as to why Trusty Aguarte, as president of the Sweetwater Education Association that represents other teachers, would want to limit the information that's provided to us here at the Chiliva Vista family. I'm not sure why you would do that, but I wish that you would represent and assist us here in Chila Vista just as you promote and you back up your own school district that you're president for. Overall, I did find supporting facts in the board uh approved minutes that corroborates uh Trusty Domingo Cervantes uh statements on January 2026 meeting. In this case, the social media post and clips that we observed were true. A raise
054was given in the contract that was renewed at at least one year in advance before it expired. You could see this on the board meeting videos. The board could have had the contract remained exactly the same without giving the step increase and the 3% increases right as well. But you guys chose to not do that and in advance a year in advance. So instead, President Ugarte Tolson quickly removed quickly moved to approve it while the two Dominguses did not have with me a list of the meetings that can be referred to so you can find the information supporting the points that trustee Dominguez Cvantes mentioned on January 21st, 2026. If anybody would like that, please reach out to me. I have the contract dates, LCAP, FICMAT, curriculum, and title one as well. So if you'd
055like that, just let me know. And I a break is coming up soon so I'll have more time to have fun and research in depth more information. Thank you [applause] Shomaras Santos. Okay. Good morning board members, educators, family and community members. My name is Tio Mara Stos Pier and I'm a parent at Huades Lincoln Elementary. I'm here tonight because I believe something very simple but very important is needed to be said. Our students are best when families and district leaders work together, not against each other. I understand this is a difficult time financially and politically. I commend everyone here that supports their cause and speaks for what they believe. I want to speak in support of the district and Dr. Reyes. Are they perfect? No. But are they leading a very large school district? Yes.
056Leadership in public education does not mean that it's in private. It just means you have to be in the right room to hear what's being said. So I would like to instead of rather turning down all of the leadership options and criticizing to call to action, join DAC DAC, join SSC, join PTA, PTO's and other organizations within this district to be in that room. educate and spread, but do not spread hate, spread facts. Thank you. >> Thank you, [applause] Heather Gyana. And then Cara Good. I am a parent of third and sixth grader at Allen Elementary. I'm here because I'm tired of hearing of how horrible our school is every month. I have been seeing parents complaining here and online. Now, people outside of our school are asking what is going on. I'm not discrediting
057other parents' feelings, but Allan is not as bad as it's being made out to be. So, I want to tell you some good things going on and what really needs to be addressed. I wasn't a huge fan of your approach to close campus, but since establishing Raptor, I have seen how it has made or has made drop off and pickup easier. My sixth grader and I noticed teachers are more prepared and ready to teach kids in the morning. It's great that the kids are seeing a positive impact. I have never had an issue with my kids teachers responding in a timely manner and it has been easy to schedule after school meetings. It's been nice that my child's teacher is fully prepared to meet with me and there's no interruptions from other parents. Parents teacher
058relationships and communications are still strong. Teachers are still reaching out to parents and parents are still very involved on campus. I also appreciate the communication this year with Mrs. Lopez. She is showing she is growing with our school since she started last year and it has not gone gone unnoticed about the lack of volunteer opportunities. I am personally confused by this. The whole time I've been at Allen, it has not been normal to have volunteers in the classroom on a regular basis. I have not seen any changes with the amount of volunteer opportunities in the classroom since my kids have been in kinder to now in sixth grade. There are so many volunteer opportunities at Allen because they're very because we are a very active community. I know it may not be the kind some
059parents want, but saying there are no opportunities is not fair. Unless the goal is to monitor teachers and not actually contribute to the community. I have personally volunteered on campus five times in the last two weeks. Only one of those were in the classroom. I've always I've always seen myself and other volunteers welcomed warmly and shown appreci appreciation by the principal and staff. Lastly, Allan has always had an amazing community. A big part of that is the relationship and respect respect between teachers and parents. There has been a shift since last school year. Mostly our school is still amazing except for some select people who feel being toxic is more important than community. No tolerance for bullying should not only be for students. Teachers are being terrorized and I'm sick of seeing them consistently being
060beaten down and bullied. While this is happening, they're still putting their personal feelings aside and continuing being teachers that go above and beyond for our kids. I have been told it has gotten to the point that some families have been terrorized by specific parents' behavior. We have seen their abilities to manipulate facts and school incidents involving children as leverage, which is not right. Parents do not have the right to bully teachers and other students. Please do the right thing and make sure parents don't get away with bad behavior. Support our teachers. Support our principal, Mrs. Lopez. And more importantly, show us that you stand by no tolerance for bullying. Thank you. >> Thank you, [applause] Cara. Good. And then Marcela, Superintendent Reyes, and school board members. My name is Cara Good, parent of a sixth
061grader. I've spoken on the topic of the removal of sixth grade graduation from East Lake Church twice and emailed the superintendent once asking why a sixth grade graduation was removed from East Lake Church. I have yet to receive a response. The PTC and sixth grade parents at my particular school were asking if it would be possible to sponsor graduation at East Lake Church. This is a tradition that has taken place for almost a decade. There are no religious rituals performed at graduation. East Lake Church provides a beautiful venue with more than enough seating to accommodate our sixth grade families at no charge to our school. Thank you for considering our request to have our graduation ceremonies at East Lake Church. >> Thank you, Marcela. Hi, my name is Marcela. I didn't write anything down. Anyways,
062um I'm here as a parent and as a substitute teacher. Prior to being a substitute teacher, I had no idea the amount of work you guys do just by the homework that my kids brought home. The level of respect I have for you guys is beyond. You guys were teachers. I have no idea. But if you were, you should be know what their position was. I mean, they need good health care. How is it that I'm gonna expect them to teach my child to be a better person if we're not taking care of them? And also, I am from Liberty and I agree with Miss Good. Um, our kids were the starting of COVID and they didn't get a kindergarten graduation and I don't think it because of one parent, we should all be deemed
063to not go to East Lake. We should vote it. Thank you. >> Thank you, [applause] Anna Vasquez. Uh good good evening everyone. Uh I'm here to speak about the rising uh cost of health benefits. I think it's very important to put a face to uh to what's going on when you raise uh our benefits. I've been teaching uh I've been teaching for 25 years and this year I had Kaiser for 24 years. uh the the family pack and and the cost keeps going up and up every year to finally this year I could no longer afford it. The total cost now with vision and dental for me it wasif is $1,500 a month out of pocket. So I could no longer afford Kaiser. So, I was forced to choose Simsa, which which is free, but
064it's located in Tijuana. I still don't know how am I going to get my children over there or myself. Because I have never driven in Tijuana. [snorts] It is very upsetting to me that to to get affordable health care, I have actually have to go across the border to another country because my district cannot provide me and my family affordable health insurance. And I'm not the only one. Just in my school alone there are many teachers on the same situations. We talk u and we know that you know when we have children in college most of us our children went to Liberty the all the all our stuff. So now our children, most of our children are in college and we can no longer afford health insurance. Three weeks ago, right before I after I
065quit um paying you to Kaisa, my oldest fainted [snorts] and I had to take him to the ER here. I got to Kaiser is the closest to my house. I got to the ER Kaiser. [snorts] They told me I didn't have their coverage anymore. >> [snorts] >> And so I haven't paid the co-ayment yet because I'm waiting for my next paycheck to cover it. [snorts] So I'm here to ask you, we don't deserve the bronze package. We deserve the medal package and we will not take anything less. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] [applause] >> Oral presentations. The district safety health update. Dr. Rosendale. >> We have no we have no new updates. >> Thank you. >> Can are we allowed to speak in that? >> No. The following items listed under the consent
066calendar are considered by the board in one action. There will be no discussion on these items prior to the time the board votes on the motion unless members of the board, staff or public request specific items to be discussed and or removed from the consent calendar. Trustee Ramirez Dommez, do you have items to be pulled from consent? There you go. 10 E uh 10 F and 10 G and S S like Sam. >> Yes. Trust Omega CVantes 10B 10 C and I'll call out the subsections 10 CG 10 C I 10 CJ and then back to the regular consent calendar 10 E 10 F 10 G 10 P and 10 Q. Some of them are almost identical but I can I have to call them out. Jesse Tolston >> 10 FNG >> just the I
067have none. Okay. I will entertain a motion to accept the consent calendar. I'm going to go in alphabetical order. minus 10 B 10 C 10 C which is 10 CG 10 I 10 G uh CJ excuse me CG C I CJ 10 E 10 F 10 G 10 P 10 Q and 10 S. Is there a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Moved by trustee Ramita Dominguez. Seconded by Vice President Damayo. Recording secretary. Please call the vote. Ramirez Dominguez. >> Hi, Dominguez Cvantes. Hi, >> Tolston. Hi, >> Tamayo. >> Hi, >> Ugarth. >> I motion carries 5-0. >> Okay, starting with trustee Dominguez Cervantes because you have the first alphabetical 10B as in boy. >> Yes. Um, adopt minutes page 72 of the unadopted minutes. believe there's a correction or clarification needed to
068be made. There was an item 4. >> What's which page? >> Page 72. >> There was an item uh item under close session 4 H conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation pursuant to and then all the codes. And during close session that agenda item was uh pulled. We didn't take a vote. There's no explanation and we didn't report out to the public. So I don't know what the corrective action is on that. >> It's if it's pulled there's no nothing to do. We can pull things up until the very moment before an item is on there. >> And when we pull we don't vote. >> No, there's nothing to vote on. >> Well, we don't vote to pull it since the agenda was approved and when we opened up the session, we approved the agenda.
069>> It was already pulled. >> Nope. >> Uhuh. It was not pulled. >> We didn't correct it. That's all just so we can have a correct agenda. >> Well, it would have been >> you weren't here. >> Even if it I know I wasn't here, but even if it was uh an item and there was no action, there was no action to report, >> right? >> So there's nothing on the >> but wouldn't there been like a vote or something? I don't know how it works. That's why I'm asking what the corrective action is because we when we when um the pres presidente opened up session, we approved the agenda for closing need to do is correct the fact that we just took it off the agenda and we can do that. >> That's all
070I'm speaking. That's all I'm speaking to. >> Okay. >> And no, that's not just Okay. Page 75 uh item 10F U at the start at the three point three three at the three minute and one minute second the hour mark there was an action item that came out of that discussion and I know that we're not um itemizing what we're saying but there was an action item and specifically we I asked we were the conversation was about dependent and independent charters and there was an extensive conversation about would it be up in the in the agenda this month and uh and it was approved to be on the agenda this month and it's not on here >> was it agendaized for this month >> I went back to look >> so so it was requested
071and the board requested to agendaize it for this board meeting however because of uh all the items that were here uh I we didn't want to take the risk of not being able to to do it after uh if the board didn't approve the extension after 10:30 because we have uh uh operational and uh uh and um operational items that are very important to to uh to approve. >> So correction will be um >> so so we can have it for March. >> We have it. >> Yeah. >> I just think we have to all have a better understanding on dependent and independent. So no >> we can have the the report in March. The presentation. >> The presentation. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, am I going on to the rest or we start?
072Are you are you done with B or >> Yes, I'm done with B. >> It's an action item. >> Move to approve. 10 B. >> Second. >> Record. Uh motion by trustee Tamayo, seconded by trustee Ramirez Dominguez. Recording secretary, please call the vote. >> Ramirez Dominguez. >> Hi. >> Dominguez. >> Hi. >> Tolston. >> Hi. Amayo I >> Ugarte >> I motion carries 5-0 item 10 C and you'll give us the subsections trustee Domingus office >> 10 CG and I'm as 10 CG uh retirements page four of seven just uh the question is uh are there any more early tail retirements? >> Yeah miss uh Dr. you want to share the early tails both the gen and non-JEN. >> Yes. So we received a total of 28 early tell um early tells the due date
073for that was a week after we returned from winter break. The total includes one nurse um 14 gened teachers and then the rest were DI and special education. Thank you. 10CI, page 507, uh, promotions. The second employee listed there states the promotion is effective retroactively to January 20, 2025. Dr. Reyes, >> Dr. Rossil. >> So, yes, this individual um, he was already working in the position. He's a current um HR tech person um staff and so he we had some movement within our department and he is working in that position >> for so we're retroactively paying him back a year 2025 >> 2020 sorry about that >> so it says 25 so it's just a typo >> typo okay >> that's when my ahd kicks in >> got it thank you So additional question related
074to that. So they all got raises with their promotions. Some got 4% raises, one received 2% raise and the IIA and uh student aids did not get the plus percentage raise. I just want to understand how that works. Dr. in here. >> Um, >> on [snorts] page five of seven, >> with the exception of the IIA and the student aid, they all receive some sort of raise, a 4% and a 2%. >> That's due to the stipen that they receive due to associate associates degree or their bachelor's. >> Okay. Thank you. 10 CJ consultants page 507 a reason to survive arts elop is that not part of prop 20 excuse me 98 I just want to understand why one funds source over the other >> yeah so that's an after school program it's an arts
075program it's an enrichment program and it's for two schools for roar and and lum verde and that's through ELOP. >> So because of the type of u program I'm just wanting to understand why we why we're picking one fund source over the other >> because this is not within the school day this after school. >> Thank you. 10 E approveou [clears throat] with CVE regarding >> where we so 10 C is an action item. Move to approve. >> Second. >> Moved by trustee Ramirez Dominguez. Seconded by trustee Tamayo. Recording secretary, please call the vote. >> Ramirez Dominguez. Dominguez. >> Hi. >> Tolston. >> Hi. >> Tamayo. >> Hi. >> Ug. >> I. Motion carries. 5-0. Um, and trustee Dominguez Cvantes. Um, trustee Ramirez Dominguez also pulled 10E. So then we'll follow. >> Questions are probably
076similar. >> Okay. >> All righty. Uh, 10E. Could I have more information regarding this memorandum? >> Yes. [laughter] >> President, should I include my questions to see? >> Um, >> how do you think? >> Do you want her to explain it first and see if she answers them and then Okay. >> So, this is a memorandum of understanding um an agreement between the district and CDE. Thisou addresses a component of the layoff process when faced with um individuals who were hired on the same date. Oftentimes we have to go through a a tiebreaker process. So thisou allowed us to assign additional points to individuals if they had um um uh two years or more temporary status for teachers for counselors it was additional lensures. Okay. >> Could she emphasize that last part because I know
077that question came up before. So if they were here as a temp. >> Yes. >> Then and then so they got that credit as a point. >> So as an example, if I was a teacher for two years as a temp and then I became probationary the third year and then I had to go through the layoff process. I would then be assigned one point for the two years of temp status um to be applied during a tiebreaker um situation. >> Do we know how many uh certificated were affected by that positive move to give them extra points? >> I couldn't give you an exact number, but I can tell you as an example, there were quite a number of individuals that were hired on the same date, July 13, 2023. And this process um
078helped us in determining the ranking in seniority. >> A subsequent question >> if she if she's done >> okay >> so I was asking how many how many staff how many teachers certificate we were talking about >> and school so school social workers and counselors is this regardless as to where their services or employment was? I wasn't clear on that. So if their services they're getting points for the particular um certificates that they have if they worked for CVESD um their temporary status in CVSD and then if they hold specific lensures that are listed in theou then they would be um eligible for the points. So the points could bump someone who's been here five years and they've only been here three or four. >> The ranking might adjust. >> All right. Thank you. >>
079Okay. >> Do we know how many people are affected by that? We don't. >> I can provide you that in an update to give you exact numbers. >> Just to get an idea. It's a general. Thank you. >> Trust Dominguez. Did you get all of your questions answered? >> Yes. Um, would this also help if for some reason they were laid off in order to come back the people with more points get that hierarchy to be rehired or re >> we would follow the we would follow the seniority process when bringing back. >> Okay, that's it. Thank you. >> This is an action item. >> Uh, motion to approve. Second. Moved by trustee Ramirez Dominguez. Seconded by trustee Dominguez Cvantes. Recording secretary, please call the vote. >> Dominguez Cvantes, I'm sorry, Ramirez Dominguez. I >>
080Dominguez Cvantes. I >> Tolston. Hi. >> Tamayo. >> Hi. >> Ug. Motion carries. 5-0. Item 10F. Trustee Ramirez Dominguez. >> Yes. The grievance. Give me one second. Um, I would like to have more information as to how we um ended up getting a grievance. Um, please. So, this is a settlement agreement between uh the district and CVE uh settlement agreement for a grievance that was filed for Wolf Canyon and for going over the cap uh for students that need to go with with the IEP, they need to go into a general ed uh class for uh a certain amount of time. So, let's say that their IEP says that they need to go to a general ed class for 15 minutes. Mhm. >> So they go into the class and then they go back to
081to their their their class. However, for teachers that already have 31 students, even though it was only 15 minutes, that that went over their cap. So that was a the settlement agreement for that grievance for going over the cap for those students that um went in went in to serve their the time specified in their IEPs. >> Okay. So, I want to express my support to all the teachers that had experienced these issues. Um, I believe that if >> if their contract was somehow not respected or they had more weight put on them, I I want to support that. Um, but for me, moving on, I want to make sure that this doesn't happen again. And I know that you have a settlement with Wolf Canyon, but what tells me that what made this happen
082in Wolf Canyon won't happen in Camarina. It won't happen in any other of our 45 schools. And I want to make sure that this doesn't happen. First of all, because of the strain that it causes for the parent, the student, the teachers obviously, but because we want to make sure that we are doing the best we can with more than 31 students. I'm sure that even with support that was really difficult for our teachers. So, I want to make sure this doesn't happen again. And how come it got all the way to a grievance? Why wasn't this solved before? >> That's the question. >> Yes. >> Uh, Miss Casey, >> we've actually been working on this with CV for quite some time. So, we have a a legal obligation under the IDEIDA to make sure
083students on their IEPs are followed. So, if an IEP, we we get a student in an SDC classroom, and the IEP states that they need two hours of time in a general education setting, and the classes at Wolf Canyon because of the their overflow status were full. We still have an obligation under the IDEIDA. So, been working really closely. We understand that 31 is the cap, but we also have other things we have to follow. So, we're we have some very structural guidelines in here, like looking at how we don't cap the classes at 31 when we're doing projections, how we're sending adults in to support those children when they're in a classroom of more than 31. Um, to how we structure our calendar and time during the day so those students have opportunities in
084those classrooms, but when there's not 31 students there. So, it's been a it's been a process over the last year. Um, and CBE has been really collaborative with us to go through this process, but we also understand what you're saying. We're we're trying to make that correction as well. >> We might need to open more classes there. >> There are no more classrooms there. It's the one site that's completely impacted. >> I understand. It's super busy. Um, another clarifying question. Could I have the total amount of money that we are paying in this settlement, >> please? facility >> for there's a few numbers I want to make sure I understand. >> So, uh we can have that in the board update. >> Say it again. >> We can have that in the board update. >>
085In a board update. Okay. I thought it was >> It's actually attached. >> Do you have it? >> Okay. Let me double check. >> Which number of >> Can you tell me where >> the last page? >> Mr. B. >> Yes. >> Grievance settlement. I'm only looking Oh, here >> it's attached on >> on the other >> attachment A. >> So I see exhibit A, >> the final page. >> So it's a total of 134,000. >> 134,000. Okay. I just want to make sure again we go back to we're trying to make fiscally sound um decisions and having to settle again. I support that if this happened it needs to be paid for but it's also money we don't have. >> So let's thank you for working hard miss chair and Casey but let's make
086sure this doesn't happen again. peace. >> Do do we have any other overflow schools other than Wolf Canyon? >> I don't remember. >> We have a few but not as impacted. So like a couple grade levels here and there with different school sites, but Wolf Canyon is the one impacted school that there's no extra space anywhere. And so as those stu those lower grades move up into upper grade classrooms, we're being strategic and not placing them at those numbers. We're keeping them smaller for that reason. I remember when um Muroka was open, it was supposed to help with the overflow into Wolf Canyon and then uh we opened um >> Sotomayor. Well, we opened the other one first and then Sotoayor. Uh, but I do know that uh we keep expanding and and multihome facility
087uh condominiums and stuff like that is being developed in Otai Ranch and I know that we're planning another school over there but um so Wolf Kenya is the only one so far that is impacted as as >> every grade level. Yes. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. questions >> might not been answered yet. So, thank >> I I still had that question. Um >> I wanted a description of the pilot project, but it almost sounded like Miss Sharon Casey was describing some of it, but if I could get a better picture of the pilot program that they're going to do, I believe it's probably in intended to figure out how not to fall into that problem again. >> Yeah. So, Miss Casey, so I think it's important to share because uh to share with
088the with with the board uh some of the constraints uh that are specifically at Wolf Canyon and so this pilot program, what are we doing to ensure that we don't fall into that and at the same time we continue serving the needs through IDEIDA of the of the students that need it. So yeah, so this thisou with CVE anticipates that possibly next school year our sixth grade classes will have the same kind of impact. That's the cost here as well because our fifth grade classes right now are already at 31 and they're going to roll up to sixth grade 31. Our fourth grade classrooms we know are going to roll up the 24 and so we'll have space there. But what we're trying to do in the program is really be collaborative with our general
089education teachers, our special education teachers, and our administrators to make sure that they're scheduling time in classrooms when there's other time when students are being pulled out. So there's collaboration VAPA times, there's RSP time, there's speech time, and those are the times that we want to make sure that it's meeting the students needs to the IEP and they're being pushed in when when there's not 31 students in those classrooms. And so it's a really collaborative effort with the school team and the school site um to make that work. >> Very coordinated effort to make that happen. >> And it's going to be a little struggle. We're still working through. We're just getting in with the school team right now to um give some suggestions and and work alongside them. But yes, >> and you'll give
090us some updates. Sure. >> Periodically just so we get a sense of maybe you you have a request of some changes that we need to make. >> Yeah, I can give you some board updates along the way. Thank you. >> Sure. This is an action item. >> Move to approve. >> Second. >> Moved by trustee Ramirez Dominguez. Seconded by Vice President Theayo. Recording secretary. Please call the vote. >> Ramirez Dominguez. >> Hi. >> Dominguez. >> Hi. >> Tolston. >> Hi. >> Damayo. >> Igarte. >> I. Motion carries 50. Item 10P. Trustee Dominguez. >> P. P. It's kind of P and Q. And you'll see what I'm talking about when we get there. I asked for G, but I don't need it anymore. >> Well, you I thought you had said you didn't need the question.
091>> I asked for G also, but I thought that's okay. >> That was all G. >> Do we want to go back to G? >> Do you want No, because I thought I heard you say I got my question and answered. >> Oh, that was for this for for F. >> Oh, okay. So, we were still on F, but I thought we were on G. We still need to vote on G. So >> So, we'll move to approve uh 10 G. Have a second. >> Second. If there's no questions from the boards. >> Okay. >> All right. Um, moved by Trusty Tolston, seconded by Trusty Tamayo. Recording secretary, please call the vote. >> Ramirez Dominguez. >> Dominguez Arvantes. >> Hi. >> Tolston. >> Hi. >> Tamayo. >> Hi. >> Ug. >> I. Motion carries. 5-0.
092I just wrote in the wrong places. All 10 P. Sorry. Trusty Dominguez. And Q. You said P and Q kind of together. >> And Q. Yes. So talking about 10P and mind you I can repeat myself again in 10 Q but they applies on both. So approve agreement with class leasing LLC to lease three portable classrooms. The intent is to use the Gonzalez unified district bid number 012023 and this also applies to Q. Are we assuming that the Gonzalez Unified School District bid is the best as far as money goes? I know maybe in 2023 it was, but is it now? Also, especially since we're looking at trimming wherever we can. Could there have been a better offer and or did we just assume that that was the best deal and we jumped on that
093one? >> Yeah, Mr. Pong, do me a favor. if you're going to to share with the board, you know, when we do a piggyback, uh, how does that work and how do we ensure that that's the best, uh, quote price for the services or product provided >> and essentially this applies to 10Q? >> Yes, thank you for your question. So, this was a piggybackable bid that the Gonzalez Unified School District issued as a public bid um, similar to how we um, issue our public bids. So, it was cast out um to a wide network and um class leasing was the one that they awarded it to. Um I don't have all the other ones, but the board um has approved other piggyback bids from other school districts for for um portable classrooms also. So, we
094did get multiple quotes and this one from class leasing was the lowest out of all of those that we got quotes from >> from the other piggy bucks. >> Right. And I understand the logic we're doing. I just don't want us to robotically do what we've been doing historically if in fact now we need to be a little more um tighter on what we pick. But it maybe in the future this could have u prevented this question by maybe listing a couple of the other bids, local bids. >> Yeah, we can do that. >> Um Mr. Dr. This is Brendon. Um, one of the things that we discussed when when I reviewed this with you on our oneonone, >> um, initially, uh, the district's position was to buy the the relocables for violend, but in
095order to save, we found that leasing it was better. Is that the case or >> That's the case. Correct. So, so we did a analysis of u purchasing versus leasing and uh the cost analysis uh proved that leasing was a much better choice. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions from the board? This is an action item. Uh would you like to do P and Q together? >> Yes. >> Okay. 10. Do I have a motion to approve 10P and 10 Q? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Moved by trustee Dominguez. Seconded by Vice President Tamayo. Recording secretary, please call the vote. >> Ramirez Dominguez. >> Hi. >> Dominguez. >> Hi. >> Tolston. >> Hi. >> Tamayo. >> Hi. >> Ugarte. >> I. Motion carries. 5-0. Item 10s. Trustee Ramirez Dominguez. >> Yes. On
096the travel crisis prevention institute. Uh we're paying $5,39. Could I have more information, please? >> Sure. Can you uh go ahead and uh talk about CPI and why we're doing it? Absolutely. So, these are our trainer of trainers. So, we have CPI trainers that do all of our crisis prevention for all staff in the district. >> Um, and we had two people that left the the district and so we needed to have two more people trained to be able to do that. They have to be certified. So, it's a it's a intense program for certification >> and it's two days. >> It's two days. Okay. >> And then they're they're certified to be able to provide that training to our staff and so they can be certified. >> Okay. I also pulled that one. >>
097I didn't have you. Oh, it's 10s. I I stopped at Q for you. >> No, I >> You can talk about it. >> Okay. So, along those same lines, thank you for clarifying that. I also pulled I I was also questioning the uh crisis prevention but to take it a step further I know training for trainers is important and I see the value in that CPI but um in past we've had um and I don't know that this is the plan we've had um staff getting trained out at the different uh school sites but they didn't go through this training so they don't have the same skill set to be able to then turn around and train their colleagues. So my question is, are these two individuals going to go to every school site and
098train? How does that work? >> No, we provide district level trainings at at the district site and people can sign up throughout the year. So when they're getting trained, this is for our team to become trainers and they're training other people just to have the skills not to be trainers at their sites. Okay? So you have to be certified in this program to actually become a trainer to be able to implement the program. >> So they'll give the actual training and staff and is that for our our our principles our classified or certificated >> anyone who wants that training >> wants that training. So that means they're doing it on their own time. >> No, we provide days and subs for them to do that. >> Okay. and maybe u you know some kind of
099a good description on how it could benefit them and their in their classrooms and instructional aids will be able to access this training as well. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I I had another question. Uh spring cue 2024. >> Yeah. >> Um what is this please? >> The the Q conference. Uh, Miss Marus, >> the Q conference is a educational technology conference and one of our innovation station teachers is attending to learn new practices to bring it back to reinvent some of the station experiences that our students receive. Uh, that's our energy station teacher who's going. >> Okay, that's for the sixth graders, right? >> Uh, I'd have to go back in my thing. I think maybe fifth graders, maybe six. Let me look at my chart. Okay, we got lots of them
100now. >> Don't worry. >> But they are launching something cool, which is going to be some use of indoor drones and things like that >> to get our students some more learning experiences. So, she's very excited to go. >> Okay. It's good that we are keeping up with the technology. Thank you. That's all my questions. >> All right. This is an action item. Move to approve. >> Second. >> Moved by Trusty Tamayo, seconded by Trustee Tolson. Recording secretary, please call the vote. >> Dominguez. Hi. >> Dominguez. Tolston. >> Hi. >> Tamayo. >> Hi. >> Ug. I. Motion carries. 5-0. >> Let's go. >> Sound speakers. >> Take a little break. >> You want to? Yes, I want >> for the next one. Public hearing. >> All right. Before we get to the public hearing, um,
101which could take a few, uh, minutes, we would like to take a 10-minute break and then we'll return public hearings. The public hearing section provides the public with an opportunity to address the board on specific items. Persons wishing to to address the board on any public hearing items must complete a request to be heard card and submit it to the recording secretary before the start of the meeting. Speakers are requested to limit their remarks to three minutes and speak in a respectful and professional manner. The board shall limit the total time for input on each public hearing item to 20 minutes. With board consent, the president may increase or decrease the time allowed for public comments on each public hearing item depending on the topic and the number of persons wishing to be heard. 11B.
102Conduct the public hearing on discontinuence of certain classified services and adopt the resolution on discontinuence of certain classified services for the 2627 school year. Dr. Rosendale. Yes. This um item addresses the need to eliminate 48.5 FTE of our classified positions. >> Board comments or questions? >> I have a comment. I mean, can you explain a little further or am I talking to you or you? >> Um, can [clears throat] you just explain a little further what we said we would discuss in there so people can understand? >> So, we have um several positions that are listed there in your item. And while it is listed at 48.5 FTE, which are full-time positions, we are looking at an actual 16 to 21 um person impact to layoffs. And what I mean by that is um while
103we have for example the behavior support assistant positions, there there are listed 31 positions. Um we are anticipating that we will be able to move the majority of those people into other paraprofessional positions. So we anticipate only a layoff of 0 to five um of actual individuals. >> Thank you. >> Uh Dr. crossing can you also explain uh or share with the board for example when we have the point4.1.3 >> so how does that take place and how does that how does that happen and how does that impact our staff >> so when you have um 0.4 4 0.1 4.7 those are parts of an FTE. So typically those are hours. So if we're looking at our um let's say noon duty supervisors um it's a limitation of 4.7 FTE. the impact might be to
104let's say 12 individuals but there we're anticipating an impact of zero because we don't anticipate any layoffs it's actually a reduction in hours so we're redistributing hours and so instead of an actual layoff it's a reduction >> and how would that be why why would there be a reduction in hours is that a district or sites and can you explain why the site would do that >> yes So these reductions that you're seeing here are due to site. So prior to um the winter break, our principles went to their school site councils. They reviewed their budgets and they reviewed their site um positions that are funded by their site budgets and they determined as an SSC which positions would be supported for the 2627 school year. I have a question or mark fine. Um when
105it's right here with the student attendant for visually impaired um those positions are doesn't mean that we will no longer support the visually impaired students >> and can you go over a little bit more? >> Actually, can I have Miss Casey? >> Robert can answer. Absolutely. So we are obligated to provide those services to students on their IEP. So we're not removing services from students. We're just changing the model in which we provide them. >> And what will be the new model? >> So our SULPA will be providing those services for us. We already fund those services through the SULPA and they'll be coming out and providing that on our behalf. >> Just to clarify, we will not be paying more money for this services. >> That is correct. >> Okay. >> Can you elaborate
106a little bit on how they will be providing those services? What just briefly what does that look like? >> Yes. So those service providers from the supple will come out we'll we'll meet with our our teams to look at the students across the district that have VI services on their IEP and then they'll come up with a schedule with our special education team to make sure those students have those services are pushed out into the classrooms um at their school sites. >> I have a followup. Um do how do we keep track that the SULPA um and our our attendants are being are coming to the students? Is this something we continually um review? >> Yes. So our we have a coordinator that would be overseeing that that work. >> Okay. So what happens to
107the children that are there now? What will they see? they'll just con if you could give me that perspective please. >> So those services will continue this school year doesn't change anything. So starting next school year the services that they're receiving now from our staff will be receiving from staff from the SLPA. >> So nothing changes the IEP has to be followed as written. So the services there's the same continuity to service and service minutes. >> So parents can rest at ease that the services will continue. It's just a different model. >> Correct. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments? >> I do have one more. Um, when we when that position is I'll go call it for what it is, emptied out. Does that position then get removed from our website and if
108we need something that position again or those services is that come back to the board? How does that work? So the position closes, the job description remains. >> So it stays in case we decide that we want it again. Is that what? >> Well, because there could be other other people in in in those positions. So for example, uh if we close um an IIA position, the position, this IIA position here closes, but we don't take out the job description because we have many other IAS. >> No, that that part I understand. I think I should have been more specific, but for those particular positions where there's just one type of position, one individual, then that position is removed as well. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? This is an action
109item. Oh, I need to open the hearing. Sorry. I'm now opening the public hearing. We have seven speakers. Cara G. Oh, no. I'm sorry. This is the wrong item. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. This is 11C. I was right. I was right. I'm opening the public hearing. There are no speakers. I'm closing the public hearing. And this is an action item. >> Nobody wants to do it, but we have to. And I think it's going to be the same in this situation with both items where somebody has to do it and we are board members and we need to be fiscally responsible and as much as we are all facing uncertainty and reductions what have you um it's a very difficult situation but I will move to adopt 11B. Second. >> Moved by Trustee Tolston, seconded
110by Vice President Theayo. Recording Secretary, please call the vote. >> Ramirez Dominguez. >> I. >> Dominguez. >> I But I would like to qualify it that we continue to work as aggressively as Dr. Rosendell is doing to ensure that minimal impact. >> Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> Holston. I >> Damayo. >> Hi. I motion carries 5-0. Item 11 C conduct a public hearing discontinuence of particular kinds of certificated services. Adopt the resolution on discontinuence of particular kinds of certificated services for 2627 school year. Dr. Rosendale. >> So similar to the previous item, this this item addresses our certificated positions. We have nine certificated positions that are up for review for elimination um positions um which total 91.75 um and then we have management positions which totals four FTE >> questions or comments from the board.
111>> Could you repeat those numbers again please? >> Yes. For the certificated teaching positions, it's 91.75. And then for the management positions, it's four. >> And then similar to classified, this is the number of FTEEs. How many actual POS uh people are being impacted? >> Right. So we are looking at a an impact of 56 individuals. >> Also, Dr. Rosendelle, can you share with the board even though right now currently we have 56 how that number we believe is going to be much smaller and why? So what are some of the factors that we're looking at and we're monitoring from now until May June that will actually factor in in reducing that number? >> Yes. Thank you. So, I'd like to start off by saying we met with the teachers yesterday, um, Rosie Martinez and
112I, the CVE president, and we, you know, it is, this is a difficult time, and we understand and we want to provide as much transparency as possible. Um, I think we've, a lot of us have, um, been in a situation of layoff before and so it's we understand it's tough. So, with that being said, um we met with the teachers yesterday and here on your item, it lists 43 positions and what that represents is 43 classroom closures and that is due to enrollment projections and to one-time money. Um so as we receive more enrollment um as we receive more retirements and teacher resignations due to employment new employment opportunities um we will be able to adjust and rescend layoffs. So while that number is 43 um I mentioned earlier that we have 14 general education
113earlytail retirements um and then we had one resignation the other day so that's now 15. So it's an ongoing process where the numbers are continuing to adjust. So that 43 right now actually is just 36. But again, as we receive more information um with people separating from the district for various reasons for enrollment increase, we will be able to open more classrooms and we'll be able to resend layoffs. And >> can you also share about the leaves? >> So yes, uh right now we have um teachers that are currently on leaves of absences. Um that number is eight. they have until March 31st to notify the district of their intent to return to work for the 2627 school year. So those are numbers that we are already um that we're waiting for to finalize and
114so should people extend their leaves um that will also help offset the layoffs. >> Um so I had a few questions. The first one was if CV was made aware of these decisions and you just answer that with yes. Um and the other question that I had you just answer with the enrollment variation. Um I think that it is it will be beneficial for me and for the public to continue to get updates um as we you know as we know how many of the people that will be given a layoff letter um what it how it translates to after May after however many months that need to happen. Um I think those are my questions. I have couple. So if I'm understanding correctly, we're looking at what's driving these numbers that were current for
115certificated. We're currently looking at 36. So what's driving the um intent here is lower enrollment uh which causes then the classroom closures. Correct. >> Correct. >> And onetime money. >> Correct. >> So how many of these were one-time money related? I'm gonna throw this one over to our numbers guy. >> So, so the one-time uh funded positions actually relate more to the some of the other positions on there. So, the counselor social workers, those are funded with one-time funds. That's the main group >> and there's 20 impacted or just positions. >> So there were 30 total of 35 social workers districtwide. um 10 of them are temp so they're end of contract at the end of the school year and then 15 and a half FTE are being funded by site for next school year
116so the um the impact to layoff will be 10 >> and can you share about the onetime money that has uh currently be offered by the governor and if uh what's going to happen in May and the conversations that we've had with principles Yes. So, in the governor's January proposal, which is a um proposal for next school year's budget, next fiscal year, there's a proposal for restoration of some funds from previous years called learning recovery emergency block grant funds. And so, those funds um are what we have been using to fund some of those counselor and social worker positions. And if that money continues to be in the proposal in the May revision and u moving forward then we can resend some of the layoff notices um after that point. So uh we'll be working
117with the principles and schools more on determining which behavior supports and mental health supports that um the school site determines um the most value for. And just so you know board, we have already communicated with the with the AACV and principles that if uh we do get that uh onetime money, then we would be providing that those funds to the sites. >> I have comments. Um, this is always the time of year that that uh I have a great big conflict with. And as a labor partner, I know the value of an elected official explaining a vote. Not an excuse, not a deflection, but a valid explanation of a vote that impacts others. Two things can be true at the same time. In fact, multiple things can be true at the same time. And just
118because someone says something does not make it true. And I live by that every day. My actions every day are to defend teachers. Not just teachers that I represent in my district, but the teachers in CVESD. As a union leader, I experienced reduction in force of over 300 teachers on March 13, 2020. I because of a mismanagement of fiscal finances, right, of finances by a previous superintendent. We were too close to having the county come and take us over. So, don't think that I don't take this personally and have a very firsthand experience. It took three years of working with the current superintendent to restore all of those 300 teachers and that is something I am very proud of. I know the trauma that a riff impacts ha a riff has on teachers and the
119reverberations that exist long afterward. And I have advocated since the moment I came on this board to ensure that reductions be minimal and based on enrollment and not just budget. We are not the only district in a deficit spending model. And what's happening at sister districts across this county is hundreds of layoffs not based on enrollment but just to balance their budget. And I made sure that every conversation that I had with the superintendent and Mr. Pong. It reflected and emphasized enrollment. There's no need. We're not reducing 300 teachers tonight. These reductions reflect a loss of one-time money that we knew was ending. They include attrition as uh Dr. Rosendale said where people are going to be moved back into different positions and not be actually rifted. And they are in part a big part
120due to declining enrollment. I know that when you have kids in a classroom, you have to have a teacher in front of them. That's just basic math. Board members, however, must act as stewards of the organization's assets, ensuring sound financial management. This means making difficult decisions with minimal harm to others while looking to the overall governance of the district. Our rating with the county is dependent on a solvent budget. We're not in a crisis right now, folks. We're trying to prevent it. So to say that there is a decline is false. We are preventing a fiscal crisis. As a member of CTA, I am not the only local president on school boards and we are on we are increasing in numbers. I have seen county office of educations come in and take over when a
121district is deemed insolvent or in fiscal crisis. the elected board is typically suspended or rendered rendered powerless and replaced by appointed managers. So, if we want to keep saying that we're in fiscal crisis and creating a problem, then these people up here are going to be moot. It also takes away the local community's voice because you lose direct elected oversight on school policies when a county takes over. And I'm speaking from my colleagues in CTA. Oakland Unified School District was in state receiverhip for 22 years from 2003 until just last year. And guess what? They're still in deficit spending. There are hund00 million in the hole right now. So as a trustee, I have to look not only at the immediate impact, but the future of the all-encompassing impact. and putting off minimal layoffs now
122could result in a mass layoff later and a potential county takeover and I'm not willing to risk that. So when you say that I have a conflict of interest, I don't. Perhaps it's ignorance or perhaps it's the goal to make all of us be moot on the dis and come in and take over and strip the community's voice. All it takes is a simple Google search to know that what I'm telling you is true. And just because people are out there saying things are happening doesn't mean that they're true. Two things can be true at one time. In fact, multiple things can be true at one time. And the truth tonight is I am torn and I am heartbroken for those that are affected. But I know that I have to be fiscally responsible as
123a board trustee to avoid mass layoffs in the future. And I'm sorry to those that it affects. I'm grateful to the district for following the guidance of enrollment and that those 91 FTEES are actually only 56 people. And that's not minimizing anything because it hurts. And I will now give the public an opportunity to address by opening unless anyone else >> would like. I >> I still have one. >> So go ahead. Um, Dr. Reyes, can you explain there's six positions for the early childhood special education teacher and the preschool teacher. Why are those there? >> Yeah. So, so with the opening of TKS, uh, then our preschools have had a significant declines because we've expanded our TKS. So, that causes us to be able to well reduce our upper school uh need. >> Are
124any of those uh being absorbed by a TK? >> Yes. Uh depending on the credential if they have the right credentials. Yes. >> All right. Thank you. >> I'm now opening the public hearing. Sarah, good. Superintendent Reyes and school board members, my name is Cara Good, parent of a child in the district. I'm here again to talk about the impending cuts for the upcoming school year as you vote on the discontinuation of services provided by certificated employees. I was assuming that counselors, physical education teachers, and behavioral assistants were the only positions on the chopping block, which is bad enough. However, as I read this resolution, I was shocked to learn that the district is proposing 95.75 positions be cut, including 43 K through5 teachers, 20 social worker counselors, 12 physical education teachers, six early childhood
125special education teachers, five preschool teachers, 2.75 resource teachers, and one for each of these positions. teacher for visually impaired, program specialist, principal, orientation and mobility teacher, independent study teacher, director of attendance, wellness, and student support, and director of leadership, development, equity, and access. CVESD's motto is that every child is an individual of great worth. These cuts do not support that mission. Over the last year, according to reports by the VO V voice of San Diego, state auditors found issues with CVESD's business personnel and budgeting operations. And the district is paying a total of more than $360,000 in connection with the assistant superintendent for HR's resignation. $217,324 to him plus $147,500 to his attorney. and he's on paid administrative leave until February 27th, 2026 in addition to having his health benefits paid for until June 30th,
1262027 or until he gets another job with health benefits. I ask additional media outlets and Chula Vista families to ask why. These are only a couple of the troubling headlines reported on by The Voice of San Diego. Our schools and our children deserve better with the impending cuts. I also found it alarming about what our superintendent and the district staff have been making. OpenGVPay.com cited that the superintendent earned $419,290 in 2024 according to public payroll data from CVESD. According to public records, the superintendent's salary increased by 20% from 23 to 24 and his salary was 161% higher than the average superintendent salary in 2024. In addition, other district staff earned over $300,000 a year. I asked the board to reconsider this discontinuation of services by provided by certificated employees in the best interest of those
127providing the services and of those receiving the services. The board has stated multiple times that they would like to keep the budget cuts as far away from the classroom as possible. Voting for this resolution does the opposite. These cuts will impact the classroom and almost 100 people will lose their jobs. There must be a better way. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Erin Hakes. [applause] Erin Hakes. >> Hello. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. My name is Aaron Hakes. I'm currently a sixth grade teacher at Harborside. Um, I'm speaking tonight in regards to the proposed layoffs. On Monday, I received a very vague email about the district doing a number of layoffs within the district. I was confused by this as I had just become permanent within the district back
128in October. When I attended the meeting yesterday hosted here at the district, I was told that I'm one of 39 teachers, both permanent and probes, that will be in fact laid off if this proposal is passed tonight. My co teacher Brandy is going to speak more on the harmful effects of these layoffs will have on our students especially at Harborside. But I want to highlight and ask you to find empathy for the 39 teachers that you plan on laying off. Many who have been granted permanent status this past year. I wanted to share my story, but I hope that my story only highlights the stories of every teacher um and classified staff member um that you are planning to lay off. I began my career in LA Unified and after three years I got news
129that my dad was sick. I made the hard decision to leave my permanent position within LA Unified to come home to San Diego to support my mother and my father. I found a job within CVS and I was excited to be part of a district that felt more close-knit and where I felt more supported compared to a large district like LA Unified. I was hired at Harborside as part of their redesign. And while it's been incredibly hard work, I'm extremely proud of the immense amount of work that we have been doing to help our students within our community. It hasn't been it has not been easy. >> [clears throat] >> Um, when I was given permanent status, I was extremely relieved to not only be able to continue the amazing work that I'm doing at
130Harborside, but also that it gave me stability and a completely unstable time in my life. My dad is only getting sicker, and his days are unfortunately limited. Now, on top of this, I'm facing instability with my job as well. It feels like a slap in the face to receive permanent status only to be treated like a temp teacher again only months later. I share this story hopefully to humanize a number on a piece of paper in front of you and to remember that each one of these names is a person with a family and a story and it's going to affect us all in deeply harmful ways as long as our students of course. Um, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. >> Thank you. [applause] >> [applause] >> Brandy Harkin. [applause] >>
131Good evening. Before you vote tonight, I'm hoping that you will consider Harborside as um a possible fatal outcome of your vote. My name is Brandy Harken. I have been a teacher in this district for 28 years. 23 of these years right here on the west side. For the past six years, I've served as a resource teacher at Harborside, a school and a community that means everything to me. Harborside has been through more instability than most schools could survive. In just the last 10 years, we've had, I don't know, eight or nine principles. Only one stayed for three years. That means seven or eight principles in seven years. Imagine what that does to a staff, to children, and to trust. Every time we started to find our footing, the ground shifted again. Last year, we rebuilt
132Harborside from the ground up. Our scores were some of the lowest in the district. We had the highest population of English learners and one of the largest groups of newcomers. Children who arrive to this country facing unimaginable challenges. And if I'm remembering correctly, we lost 11 teachers and hired nine. Of those nine, almost all were brand new. brand new to teaching or brand new to CVSD like Aaron and because those were actually the only people that applied to teach at Harborside. No one else did. But here's the miracle. Those new teachers were incredible. They worked harder than anyone could have asked. They believed in Harborside before we had anything to show them. and they helped us build something new, something hopeful, something finally moving in the right direction. And for the first time in a
133very long time, we finally have some stability. We have a wonderful principal, Mr. Raparisio, who has been with us just over a year, and that alone makes him practically a veteran at Harborside. We have an amazing assistant principal, Dr. Ortega. and our staff, the teachers of Harborside, are some of the most dedicated, hard-working people you will ever meet. And like Erin said, a lot of these teachers were announced as um they were announced as to have permanent status. Sorry. After and after years of being overlooked, Harborside years of feeling like the forgotten school on the west side, we are finally starting to see progress. Our students are growing. Our culture is healing. Our families feel connected. And they feel proud. So I have to ask you from my heart. Why would you take this away
134from us? Why now? Why when we are finally getting it right? Two of the eight teachers on your layoff list from Harborside are out on maternity leave. One gave birth just three days ago. I don't even think they know they've been laid off yet. That's going to go over really well. So, how do we justify that? How do we look them in the eyes? New mothers, new teachers, people who committed themselves to rebuilding a struggling school and tell them they no longer have a place here. Harboright has fought to come back from years of instability. These teachers are a part of that comeback. Laying them off just doesn't hurt them. It hurts our students, our families, and everything that we've been working to rebuild. Please don't undo the progress we've fought so hard to achieve.
135Thank you. Thank you, [applause] Bobby Lao. Good evening, President Ogart and board members and superintendent Reyes. My name is Fabola Lao. I'm a parent and I'm also the chair of the school site council at Heritage Elementary. My daughter has been attending Heritage since she was in kindergarten. She's in fourth grade now. I'm here to ask you to please reconsider the discontinuation of the school counselor positions. I know that school district has a huge deficit at hand, but despite this, the district should do everything in its power to retain these vital positions. School counselors are the often the lifeline for many kids. They provide kids with the tools and strategies to help them regular their emotions and cope with social and emotional distress. A student who cannot regulate their emotions while in school has a harder
136time learning and interacting with their peers in a healthy manner. This is what happened to my daughter. My daughter was diagnosed with anxiety in second grade and that interfered with her ability to excel in her studies. And she wasn't the only one having a hard time that year. her school counselor, Mrs. Marsh, who was actually here in attendance, saw the other second grade girls were struggling with their social and emotional needs. So, she created a group for these students. As a member of this group, my daughter learned about the various coping strategies to help her manage her anxiety. Two years later, after having learned these strategies, she still uses them. They have helped her tremendously and have allowed her to do really well in school. Last year, the school counselor created a group for third
137grade girls because many of them were having challenges having healthy friendships. For kids, this is very important the school, you know, the relationships, the dynamics, they're learning how to be little people. So, it was really important for my daughter, you know, to also be part of this group and she learned a lot. This year, the school counselor has been able to work at Heritage in a full-time capacity and her positive impact on the school environment is palpable. She's been able to create more groups for students and she has started to provide alternative activities for students during recess such as playing board games and coloring and these types of activities are very helpful for those kids who are more introverted and who do better in quieter settings versus you know the loud games that you play
138in the blacktops. As a chair of the school site council, I've also heard from some of the teachers in the SEC that the school counselor has been able to provide services to whole classrooms such as sharing information about various topics. These teachers have seen firsthand the benefits of a students interactions with the school counselor. Because the school counselor has been at heritage a few years, she has been able to build rapport and trust with students there. These qualities are key when providing social and emotional services. I'd like to finish by reiterating that my daughter and other students have greatly benefited from the guidance and support they have received from the school counselor. eliminating her positions and those of other school counselors would be a great disservice to students well-being and learning experience. So, please reconsider
139the discontinuation of these positions. Thank you for your consideration. >> Thank you, [applause] Jamala Sims. Good evening. I'm an elementary school counselor in CBESD speaking on behalf of the students, families, and educators impacted by your decision to pink slip over half of our district school counselors and social workers. We were informed that funding funding originally intended to support school mental health was reallocated and that some schools will operate without a counselor next year. So, I ask, what happens when access to credentialed mental health supports becomes unavailable for thousands of kids? Where will parents go when their child refuses school because of anxiety or bullying? Or when a student grieving a loss or experiencing family separation doesn't know what to do, or when daily meltdowns disrupt the learning of other students. If a conflict starts on
140social media, I step in before it becomes a suspension. When a child has a grandparent that is no longer with them, I provide support so pain doesn't turn into behavior. When a child struggles to regulate emotions, I teach coping skills so that teachers can teach and students can learn. Without full-time counselors and social workers, families will face long wait lists, insurance barriers, and financial strain. For many students, school is the only place where they can receive consistent mental health support without missing instructional time, which you say you value. Rigorous learning for all can't come without basic needs and disregulated behaviors being tackled and met. Counselors and social workers are already called upon daily to address behavior concerns, crisis respon response and prevention through interventions. If these roles are reduced, who will be answering those calls
141next year? Allowing some campuses to retain counselors while others do not raises serious equity concerns. Access to mental health support should not depend on which school a child attends throughout this district. In 2026, school counselors and social workers are not extra. We are essential. This work requires specialized training in mental health, crisis response, and child development. I respectfully urge the district to revisit this decision and prioritize equitable school-based mental health services for all CBESD students. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. [applause] Rachel Leowski. [clears throat] Good evening, members of the board. My name is Rachel Leowski and I am a second grade teacher at Rosebank Elementary. Thank you for your time and care you are giving to these difficult budget decisions. I understand that financial challenges require thoughtful solutions. and I do not
142stand here lightly. However, I am deeply concerned about the proposed layoffs of nearly 100 teachers, counselors, and social workers. At its heart, a school district exists to serve students. Every decision we make should reflect that mission. The people who carry out that mission every single day are the teachers, the counselors, and the social workers. We are the ones that are working in the trenches. Um, and we are the ones delivering instructions, building relationships, supporting emotional needs, differentiating lessons, assessing progress, and creating stable, structured environments where children can thrive. When we eliminate these positions, we are not simply adjusting a budget line. We are directly affecting students daily learning experiences. I would also like to address the impact of combination classrooms in elementary schools. as Miss uh Ramirez Dominguez uh wanted to know, well, what's going
143to happen? Yes, every single school classroom needs a teacher. And when you reduce the teachers, you're putting two grade levels in one classroom, and that is how you're going to be saving money. And that is not how we help students. um managing two grade levels simultaneously significantly reduces the amount of instructional time that individualized attention each child receives. The behaviors increase when the kids can't go to a counselor and have their behaviors or their feelings regulated. It lands on the teacher and the principal and whoever else can run around the classroom. Psychologists can't do that if they are testing and managing the IDA, which are all the things that we need to enforce, as Mrs. Casey has said. So, I understand what you're saying, but you're not realizing what it's coming down to in the
144classroom and at school levels. Um before cutting the professionals who work directly with children every day, I respectfully urge you the board to consider reductions in administrative staffing, particularly in positions furthest removed from the classroom. If we must make cuts, which is clearly evident, they should be made as far away from student instruction as possible. The classroom should be the last place we look to reduce reduce resources, not the first. >> This is not about protecting jobs for the sake of adults. This is about protecting the quality of education that your four domains of intentional improvement all stand behind. It's about ensuring that children receive the focused grade level instruction that they need during their most formative years. The district works for our students. The strongest investment we can make in them is preserving the
145teachers and the adults in their at their sites that serve them directly. Thank you for your time, your service, and your consideration. [applause] >> Rosie Martinez. [applause] Hello again. So CVE recognizes the need to make reductions in order to avoid overstaffing our schools. As I do every year, I need to express our concerns over the high number of classroom closures. While there has been a trend of decreased enrollment in the past years, it has not been significant enough to justify the closure of over 40 general education classrooms. That would mean more than 1,200 students less that we are predicting for next year. That's simply not going to happen. We are looking at laying off teachers who have been in our district 5 years. That means having them spend the next few months worried about their
146livelihoods while expecting them to focus on offering their students the best learning opportunities. This will not only impact the 39 teachers that you are noticing, but also the number of displacements that you will be creating with this number of classroom closures. Enrollment began today. We know families will come to complete the process. Projections need to be done looking at yearly trends, not actual enrollment before the enrollment window even begins. Every year, we put our teachers through this disruptive and unnecessarily stressful time just to bring them back once families complete enrollment. We ask that you consider more realistic numbers and create the least disruption possible at this time. If you need to make reductions, we ask that you be more prudent. As I've asked in previous years, please look at how neighboring schools do their projections
147so that we stop this ineffective practice that demoralizes our teachers and causes stress at ent at entire sites who have to deal with the loss of their colleagues. Thank you. [applause] Thank you, >> Madam President. If I may, >> I have to close the >> Oh, go ahead. Close. >> There are no more speakers. I'm now closing the public hearing. Just keep my own. >> Thank you. Um Dr. Reyes, can you tell me what is the cost for the 10 um counselors? >> Mr. Brown, you have the numbers. >> It's about a million dollars. Also, um the resource teachers positions were those um cut by the school site or is it being cut by us? >> Those are being cut by the school site. >> Thank you. Now the >> one of the things that
148makes this process very difficult and you have heard me said it before is the imbalance in the way the state allocates money. They tell us in January, the governor tells us, "Here's my proposed budget." But that proposed budget is going to change and likely changes in May. That's where the governor actually knows how much tax revenue came in. But we are supposed to make uh projections bait based on may. And because of that we have this deadline of March 15. By March 15 we have to notify all certificated pe uh personnel that there might be a layoff. And that is the problem that I have with the whole system, right? That I have to notify before I actually know the real budget because if we don't if we don't notify before before March 15, then
149if we do have to make cuts, we can't we have to pay out of the reserves. we have to pay out of other budgets that uh which most of the time is reserves. Counselors, I hear you. I I'm not going to be the one that's arguing that your uh services are not needed. And because of that, the board has extended your stay in our schools for more than two years because the money that we used to initially hire you was the CO funds. and that expired. But we knew that we needed the counseling service and we still do. And we and people ask uh the district used to have a lot of money in in reserves. Yes, we did. And we started using it on you on maintaining those services. Why? Because that's what reserves
150were meant to do to continue supporting students. Now you've seen our budget. You've seen our reserves have dwindled. We cannot afford it anymore. Now I'm very optimistic and I'm very hopeful with the news from the governor that he proposed to give us funding to maintain it. Now here's a problem. He said one-time funding. So that means that yes he may in actually may tell us that yes the money is there u please go ahead and and do and use it or plan to use it but we're going to be in the same spot again the following year if the next governor doesn't prioritize mental health. So, and I tell you that not because I don't want to do it or not don't want to extend it. I tell you that because I want you to
151know now that if we get the money, which I hope so, that everything seems like we're going to get the money, that you are aware that it's one-time money, that we will extend it for one more year, and then we are at the mercy of the state to give us additional funding to continue to support mental health. Um, with that said, uh, I think that I think we already clarified that it's not 100 people, uh, being affected. >> 56, >> it's 56. Um, which I think it's it's important to also state, right, that while yes, FTEES might look like it's 100, but actual positions is 56. Um 57 >> 56. Okay. >> For some reason, >> but I have a question. >> Um now I wish I could tell you let's modify this and and
152continue to use uh reserves, but frankly we don't. If if I do that or the county will not validate our budget on the third year. So, one of the things that we have to uh to do is we send our our financial information, our financial health is monitored by the county. We have to certify with the county that we are able to meet our budget for three years, not just this year, but two years down the road. If we were not to cut that third year, we are on we're not in um we're not solvent. Um so the county would take steps to either force us to cut or they will take over. So um we don't want that. I think that um we all knew that this time was going to come that we
153needed to cut services but it's still hard. It is still hard to cut services. >> May I president? >> Yes. uh listening to so many of our teachers here and sometimes I'm a late starter but I did get some other um thoughts that crossed my mind and the combos has been something that I've that all of us don't like but I've been especially vocal about it but I got to thinking we've got a couple other things that were approved on consent there was a promotion from the executive director of HR there's a retirement from Miss Tagi congratulations you get to live your life now. Wherever you're at, there you go. But these are positions that I didn't, for instance, we have Miss um Dr. Rosendelle doing an amazing job. Thank you for your work. And
154we don't have that other position filled. And she's doing the work. So, what I'm looking at is why do we fill those other positions? Just like we're asking teachers to do combos to do things and uh um in why don't we ask >> doc Dr. Reyes can you speak to the attrition that we've already done with the management? >> Can I can I finish? >> Well, you're you're asking a question. >> Just give me a second. Uhu. So my thought was there's other ideas that came across my mind here. It's like no more automatic me too that we spoke about. uh the title one money and have we looked at that? have we sat down and just with each uh school site and and based on some of these questions that I have now, I'm
155wondering if it would not uh you would consider a special meeting in a week or two which would still meet the the March 15th requirement and it might give us an opportunity to lower that number down um and cause less anxiety. >> Would you consider that? So uh in regards to the question regarding to management so one of the things that we've done here at the district office is we've reduced uh it's uh what what is it almost a million uh Mr. with the five with the five positions. It's about a million dollars right now. I know that um the executive director of HR uh is um >> promoting >> is leaving. >> So, it's not so so he'll be resigned. He resigned. Uh he got another job. So, that position, the executive director position
156is going to be reduced. It's going to be the same job, same job duties, but a a reduction. We're looking at either director or sen or senior director, but we're we're inclined to lower it to steps to director. Uh uh we're looking at other positions that as people leave then we change them and we lower them to to reduce the the cost. We can't while the president is there, but as they move or they leave, then we are reducing those positions. Uh and we did reduce uh about a million dollars. My commitment to to the board was 750 and we actually went over that. Um in regards to the your question of the projections, it would be a question regarding um that I I would have to speak with Dr. Rosenale. Um two weeks I
157mean we can look at the numbers again. However, two weeks the window is very small for us to be able to really know. For example, one of the things that we need to look at are the leaves. Either those that are currently on maternity leave that may take an extended leave for one year that would open up a position or the ones that are currently on leave and they're going to be renewing it for another year. So, those we won't know until the end of March. So, the window is not there. um any any teachers, let's say teachers that are um might be moving to different states or different uh city uh those we're not going to know until as they happen. Uh also the like we said before the funding the onetime funding that
158the governor pro um has promised uh we're going to know in May again so the window is not within two weeks. So I I totally understand they need to look at the numbers uh because these are people. These are jobs. These are people. Uh I'm not sure if two weeks is enough time to see a a difference because of some of the things that I've shared. >> So those other two positions that I was speaking to to um since I haven't seen what that looks like, that's why I'm sharing that. But uh the thought of increasing combos and the fact that this has a direct impact not just on teachers but uh the students themselves that they're not going to get their full instructional time because it's impossible for a teacher to devote the required
159instructional time to each grade level. So I'd like for our president to reconsider that. Maybe not two weeks. Can we dig some more? Maybe we come up with something else. get some creative juices happening. I just, you know, like you said, they're people and that's I think it merits just extending that one subject item agenda item to see if we come up with more ideas. But uh I also want us to it would give you more time because the automatic me too that some um uh administrators get every time the teach the teachers get a uh raise so do certain administrators. So maybe they no longer get it. They have to bite the bullet like our staff does like our teachers do. Even if it comes up later that we approve it but just part
160of the sacrifice that we all making. >> Yeah. Just uh uh some caution is that for example for principles and assistant principles >> and I really wasn't talking about principles because people here. >> Yeah. So so just you know those those are things that are negotiated with with a union. >> I don't touch I don't like touching the schools at [clears throat] all. >> Um so uh what I'm hearing you is that removing the teacher piece. No, removing your piece that goes, but there I I appreciate you. I know you ladies, you guys just do a lot of work. >> I'm not talking about the the the me too. I'm talking about the the item, the board item. >> Yes, that's what I'm talking about. That that Yeah, because there's a scale that happens every
161time. It just has has this domino. It was in the contract that you showed. >> No, no, no. I'm >> We're talking apples and oranges. >> Let's come back. >> Okay. We're not talking about the me too. That's not part of the item. >> Okay. >> We're talking We're talking about the item. >> Yes. >> Your request. Your request was to uh to delay the the teacher component. >> Is that what you're requesting? >> The the teacher the Yes. The decision the vote >> on the teach on the uh the uh removing the certificated positions >> positions or >> Yes. the teachers. >> So, >> we've got it says here the elementary classroom teachers just that piece >> that that would be something that the board would have to >> if the board would consider
162that's 43 and that would be probably less if Miss Dr. Rosendelle looking at different numbers. >> So, the numbers are changing daily. >> Yes. >> So, as we receive information, we'll be able to adjust that number. And I understand our social workers and counselors, I don't want them to go anywhere. But if they were onetime funds, there's nothing I can try. And >> so, uh, when is it? March 4th. >> The next board meeting is March 4th. >> So, >> will that give you enough time? >> Yes. >> All right. I will second that motion to remove the elementary classroom teacher item. >> The general ed education. >> The general. >> Yes. >> I have a question before we do all that. What happens to a school? And I know you said these are fluctuating
163numbers, but what happens to a school if it doesn't have a counselor, a mental health counselor? >> Do they rotate? >> What's going to happen? Like are we going to are we saying we're going to have schools without mental health counselors? Like how does it work >> like they used to? >> If we don't get the money that the governor promised. Yes. >> Sad. >> So sad. But it's a reality that our budget cannot afford it anymore. So, >> so >> the the motion I think that trustee um Dominguez Cervantes was making was to remove uh from the resolution. >> What's that? >> So, we revisit that >> the elementary classroom teacher. the elementary classroom teacher >> and we revisit it March 4th >> bring it to bring back that just that line >> on
164the March 4th um board meeting >> I second that emotion >> you made the motion just clarifying your motion >> you second it >> so I I'm seconding that >> thank you >> um [applause] >> so my understanding [applause] just for cl just for clarification. My understanding is the motion is to approve the item with the removal of the elementary classroom teacher line. >> Yes. >> And to revisit that March 4th. >> Yes. >> And then we make the decision. >> Um there's a motion and a second. Recording. Secretary, please call the vote. >> Ramirez Dominguez. >> I. >> Dominguez. >> Painfully I. >> Tolston. >> Same difference. I >> I motion carries [applause] 5. >> You want to keep >> let's just finish it. >> Okay. [laughter] >> 12 item 12 the first and
165second readings parcable board bylaw censure of board members. Um this is the second read. Uh we have one speaker who's asked to speak on both 12A and B. Mary Davis. >> Hi, good evening again. I I won't take the whole time out of respect for the hour and thank you for that last vote. uh greatly appreciated by many. Um I do want to say I'm not quite sure again as just a watchdog and having a more helicopter view what is driving these two items. I do see they're connected. Um I'm not sure what what the machinations or the motives are behind the scene, but the fact that they seem to be intertwined and interrelated um makes my spider my watchdog spider senses tingle and think that there's something else is going on behind the scene
166here. So, I just want to uh again reiterate to people about the watchdog um or the whistleblower line ohotline.ed.gov. Um and that the things that are covered under that are com um K12 fraud, public corruption, student aid fraud, computer crime fraud, and you can look into that. And uh I what I'm afraid of is retaliation. And uh I know recently we had one uh trustee who exercised her first amendment right as I have seen done uh even in this very chamber one prior time and as a watchdog again regional I have seen that done elsewhere. So trustees do not give up their first amendment right to speak as a private citizen and that is clearly evident when they leave the podium and come all the way and speak here in public comment. So, I would
167hate to think there would be any type of retaliation or anything for that, especially uh one of my research was that retaliation uh and whistleblowing actually isn't protected for trustees because they're elected officials. It refers to employees. So for your governance manual, what I'm asking is that you actually if you're going to uh tweak around for governance and do your best practices that you would add in the definition so it's very clear to every trustee on the dis malfeasants versus misfeasants versus nonfeasants and also add in uh the potential for civil suits for breach of fiduciary duty, negligence or known waste that can target trustees. and also criminal charges that can come down. Um for any whistleblower listening or any trustee on the fence, uh please do your fiduciary duty to the taxpayers, but most
168of all to the students. We are in a fiscal crisis in this district and uh keep the classroom uh the dollars at the classroom and support godly trustees who are doing the right thing by both. Thank you, >> Dr. Reyes. >> So, these two are the uh board uh policies that were brought to to the district by the board policy committee. And so, it was asked last time in during the first reading to check with legal regarding the attorneys, the use of attorneys. So we did went ahead and uh checked with legal and uh and then legal went ahead and and clarified that uh attorneys uh are to be used by the board but not for individual board members or trustees. They they they represent the district and the board. So that was the information
169that the board requested for the first reading. >> Um >> I have I'll wait for questions. >> May I? >> Okay. So, may I hand this out to you so it'd be easier for you to follow as far as amendments go that I'm proposing? But we can share this one. You guys can share. I only made two copies. First, [clears throat] I want to urge the board to delay adoption of the board bylaw 9251. Cure is not required by law. It's largely symbolic and it risks being used to suppress dissent rather than improve governance. The board already has policies to address conduct concerns and voters ultimately hold trustees accountable at a time of fiscal crisis and community anxiety. Adopting a punitive bylaw sends the wrong message and exposes the district to unnecessary legal and reputational
170risk. Our focus should remain on students and transparency and collaboration, not internal discipline. The proposed board bylaw 9251 establishes a formal public censure process for elected board members. While framed as a governance tool, the bylaw raises significant concerns regarding vagueness, due process, constitutional risk, and the chilling of lawful disscent. The draft relies on subject subjective standards like board effectiveness which are which are undefined and susceptible to viewpointbased application. Although the bylaw asserts that censure is not disciplinary, its practical effect is reput reputational harm through permanent public recordreditation. The bylaw further converts aspirational professional governance standards into enforcable sanctions. blurring the line between guidance and punishment. Alleged legal violations already have established legal remedies and should not be adjudicated through internal political processes. CVSD already maintains policies addressing ethics conduct, confidentiality, and board self-evaluation. Adopting B
171uh board bylaw 9251 as it stands adds a punitive overlay that risks factional misuse, legal exposure and erosion of public trust, particularly during a period of fiscal instability and heightened comm community concern. I'm not asking the board to abandon governance standards. I am asking the board to amend this bylaw so it is narrow, objective, and resistant to misuse. These amendments protect free speech, ensure due process, and reserve censure for truly extraordinary circumstances. That approach strengthens rather than weakens public trust. I've incorporated and offered amendments so that don't have to do the work all over again. And I would uh ask for a an alternate version of this bylaw. Thank you. Um I just want to clarify trust when we drafted the censure we used exactly what CSBA has in their and their in their guidance
172for this bylaw right? >> Yes. >> But but CSBA is aspirational. So we we can call CSVA aspirational and stuff like that, but this this bylaw is something that uh most if not all of the uh school districts have adopted and they have it under governor manual. Uh every single member of CSVA has um this as part of their board bylaw U packet. Now, one of the things that we wanted to make sure or uh during the the policy development is to make sure that like it says on page 204 that the censure should not be based only on difference of opinion, lawful descent or minority votes or protected speech under first amendment. That was a critical piece that we wanted to make sure that was there because of the same things that you're saying
173uh state in stating right that you don't want this to be punitive is more of a government standard. Now um I again this has uh it's adopted by many of of our fellow districts um request uh to initiate censure is is two more poor members. Now I can you can tr you can do this and let's say that you're trying to censure me again, right? Um if you're trying to censure me and yes two board members can try uh attempt they can bring it to to the board uh and you have to state why right then the board can have legal counsel to see if that is enough to move forward with a centure. So essential is not just two board members trying to censor me is the board members have to bring it. legal
174counsel reviews it and then they legal counsel advises the board that yes you have enough or no uh try again right um so they it's not necessarily just oh uh two board members hate tamayo then let's let's go ahead and censure him now with a censure it is A like you have stated it does not limit the board member from anything. It's a formal statement from the board saying that they don't agree with the actions or the uh behavior of a board member. Now it does list what type of actions or what behavior constitutes grounds for censure and that is listed on page one at the bottom. It says a board member may be censured for conduct that substantially violate violates the board professional governance standards the board bylaws board policies administrative regulations and or
175governing board conduct requirements. uh close session confidentiality requirements, conflict of interest laws or any uh state or federal law. So it it's very narrowed as >> if you take a minute to read what I'm I'm I'm actually strengthening the language that you've inserted. Take a few minutes to take a look at it. It's strengthening the what you what you've said. It doesn't take away what you're saying. It's strengthening the language and it protects us from any civil liability in the future. So, I'm not going to be here forever. You're not going to be here forever. So, >> this was vetted by our legal counsel. So, he was like, "This is fine." >> Well, I I would u offer that if you could offer this language to see if he would consider this being better language.
176And I would also consider it having sunset dates. Hardly anything that we have has sunset dates. That's why we have things that are dated 1999. >> So So there's no such thing as sunset dates. However, there is a there is an actual bylaw that says that we need to rev uh review for policies on um frequent basis. No. >> And what's frequent? >> What's frequent? Right. And that's the thing that we need to as um as the U policy committee is reviewing these >> one of the bylaws is to um that bylaw is going to be changed to put a better frequency right two years >> right that's why you that's why you do a sunset day >> now okay so your sunset day is the review cycle we'll call it >> yes that's going
177to be baked into a general uh board bylaw that not just for this bylaw but every single bylaw >> makes sense >> has to be reviewed right because then we fall into the the trap that we have right now that there's board policies that are older than uh our fellow trustee uh Ramirez Dominguez. So, >> um, >> and or or we're missing him, right? Um, like this one, the attorney, the um the other one that I brought. So, >> trusty, but if you look at this, it strengthens what you have. All I'm asking is, can you take it to the attorney? We're coming back in a few weeks and take a look at it. It strengthens the the what you have. So, I'll tell you what. There's nothing that prevents us from later revising poor
178policies. >> Yes, there is. >> No. >> Well, you you're just not going to bring it back. That's what will be prevented >> or anyone else. You know what I mean? >> I'm going to ask the lawyer and see if the amendment does this. >> And if he says >> that it strengthens it, >> that that it's better, we'll add it. Okay. So, with that, I move to approve as it is. And I'll go and and ask the the >> I'll go and ask the the lawyer. >> Is there a second? >> I have a comment before we do that. Um, I think that historically we've had had issues when we approve bylaws and then we come back and revise them. Um if we have a proposal to review it and again we're coming back
179in two weeks, two and a half weeks, um I would say why approve it now if you can just review it and then you know make sure that everything legally can be specified because we already had an issue with closed campus with not specific you know clear concise specific direct and everything not up to interpretation. So my point of view is if we are going to be here in 3 weeks, why not just review, take it back and then bring it and we can really talk about it. >> So but if the attorney comes back and he says that it remains the same, then are we going to have this discussion all over again? >> We would have a the vote for it, right? I mean that's what we do, right? We have discussions. Yeah,
180we can have discussions on it, but I'm just saying we tabled it last time. If we do it again, >> it wasn't tabled. It was the first hearing. >> It was the first hearing. So, this is now. So, so we can't [clears throat] We would have to decide right now. >> This is the second reading. It could be approved. >> It could be approved. >> It could be. Doesn't mean that >> you could vote no and and not approve it. Um there's nothing that prevents that. However, one of the things that I remind everybody is that we asked for the FitMat uh review. >> This is what >> Figmat said we are missing um board policies, >> right? >> Um we are trying to work on those policies, right? And and we have done many
181of them. This is one that it's also um going to be part of it. But um if you if you look at what I offered, I I'm not giving you a blank sheet or saying I don't like this without offering the language. It's not having to recreate anything as far as you know, >> okay, coming to the boss with a problem without a possible solution. I I'm offering the language that strengthens your intent and the intent of this board. So for example, let let's let's look at amendment four. >> Amendment four. Okay. >> Amendment four says that you want to change it to a board member's protected speech. It says amended language since you're it's just if you compare the two current language with amended language that's the change >> but then it identifies >>
182in page number two >> it's not your wording but it's that that says right there you you're saying board member protected speech >> I I never said it was my wording >> you're you're proposing this right this is your wording >> okay >> to me this is your wording If somebody else gave it to you, I don't care. This is your proposal. This is your wording. So, if you're proposing this, it it says right there in page two, protected speech under first amendment. >> It's the same thing, isn't it? >> It's the same thing. >> You don't have to specify board members. Well, like I said, if once you take it in in the full context, then uh I guess we can talk about it later. >> I I still move to approve. >> I
183second and I will bring it to the board uh to the >> It's been moved and seconded. Recording secretary, please call the vote. >> Dominguez, >> nay. Dominguez, >> nay. >> Tolston, I >> Motion carries 32. First and second possible revision board law 90005 professional governance standards. [snorts] >> If there are no questions move to >> I have questions. >> Okay. First here, I'd like to offer this here inclusion into the official board record. There's three of them there. There's here. And I'll and I'll go ahead and read what I have. What I just gave you is my trustee statement regarding board bylaw 9005, professional governance standards to the governing board of the Chilivista Elementary School District. I respectfully submit this statement for inclusion in the official record regarding board bylaw 9005 professional governor's standards
184particularly as it relates to potential enforcement through board bylaw 9251 cure of a board member. I strongly support high standards of governance, ethical conduct, fiscal accountability and lawful operation. However, I have concerns that certain provisions of board bylaw 9005 as currently drafted may be interpreted or applied in a manner that one converts aspirational governance principles into subjective enforcement standards. Two, risks chilling lawful dissent by elected trustees. Three, blurs the line between political disagreement and misconduct. and four creates potential exposure to constitutional or brown act challenges if used to support censure. Board policy 9005 contains broadly framed behavioral standards such as act with civility or quote govern with unity of purpose and quote act with dignity and integrity. While these are appropriate aspirational expectations, they are inheritantly subjective and open to interpretation. When combined with board
185policy 9251, which authorizes public centure by majority vote, these broad standards may become the basis for punitive action against a trustee whose views, tone, or policy positions differ from those of the majority. As elected officials, trustees retain first amendment rights and independent rep uh representational duties to their constitu constituents. The education code recognizes that board authority is collective. However, individual trustees are independently elected and not required to surrender their lawful right to express dissenting views. Respectful disagreement is not misconduct. Minority viewpoints are as essential part of democratic governance. If board policy 9005 is intended to be aspirational, it should be clearly stated as such. If it is intended to support censure procedure proceedings, then objective criteria, procedural safeguards and clear evidentiary standards must be included to ensure fairness, consistency, and legal compliance. And I didn't
186print the other half. Here's the other half. I think you might have it there. Excuse me. Oh, yeah. You have my original. Thank you. Accordingly, I request that the board clarify board policy 90005 is aspirational in nature. Explicitly protect lawful disscent and individual speech rights. limit limit centure under board policy 9251 to documented violations of law confidentiality breaches or conflicts of interest and ensure that governance standards are not used to penalize viewpoint differences. My position is not opposition to governance standards. It is a request for clarity, constitutional safeguards and protection of the integrity of this board as democratically elected body. And here's my signature page. So I submit. >> Thank you. >> To be included in the official record regarding board pard bylaw 9005. >> And as you keep referencing uh differences of opinion, lawful
187descent or minority votes protected speech. >> I'll refer you back to board policy 9251 page two. It states right there that censure shall not be based solely on difference of opinion, lawful descent or minority votes, >> protected speech under the first amendment. So >> trusty, I'm not trying to challenge the work. I'm just trying to make these stronger for future board members as well. I'm not challenging it. I'm just asking for consideration to my statements and my comment and my input. I've also added some here's some uh additional amendments if you're for your consideration and um may I hand this over to you. >> Are these amendments to >> to yes 9005? >> Okay, I'll do the same. >> Here's this one if you want. I don't know if trustee President Ogarta wants a copy
188of this one. I did have enough ink to print >> copy. Yes. I had a question that had to do with the other one, but since censure comes up here as well, um does censure like stay in your record? >> Yes. >> It's there's no record. Um, it states on the minutes, right, of okay, of the board, but there's no record of a personal record or uh I go out and apply for a job and somebody's going to say, "Well, he was injured." >> I want to know cuz that's not >> identified. And I want to make sure that again everything's specified, everything's clarified, everything's clear. >> Yes. Um because I do believe that a person's reputation it's very highly valued at least for me. So again, if it might not stay in a record,
189but it might stain a person's reputation. And again, and I understand what is written, but I I want to support what Miss Deia said, and we need to make sure that I'm going to quote Spider-Man >> that with great power comes great responsibility. Um, but it literally is like I don't want to be approving bylaws that might be used and and you said for other issues that are and you continue saying not only for these things. So in my mind actually let me go back and read it because I want to see it. >> Um, >> it says it should not be solely based. So it means that there will be a point that difference of opinion, lawful disscent and protected speech for under the first amendment are a part like having that that specific
190word that says not solely. It means that it is it is going to be considered as a part of censuring. When you allow this this wording like these are the things that I were talking about. If you say not solely, it means that dissension will be considered for censure. >> So for example, >> Exactly. [applause] >> I I'll give you an example. Let's say that now we have a censure policy and and we have bylaws and then by next board meeting you decide that because uh we now have a censure and you don't agree with the vote you bring a uh a censure item to censure me right that would be protected under the censure uh guidelines right that it's not because you have a dissenting vote you can't do that we can't do that
191you have to say, well, uh, board member Tamayo went out and spoke about, uh, something that we discussed in close session or something that, uh, I went and attacked a member of the public or I went to um, a gathering of people that don't share our values. that as a board you could take a position, right? but not necessarily is something that is going to trigger just because I didn't agree with you on a certain item or I didn't agree with you on a particular uh board policy or I didn't agree with you on a certain item that we voted because at the end of the day if you look at our our standards we will have disagreements. Yes. It's not always going to be, oh, we all agree on on every single item, but
192once the board, the entire board makes a decision, we have to stand by that decision even though we don't like the decision. The board made the decision. And at the end of the day, that's the true power, right? And and it's not Tamayo has power to run the the district. No. I have a question and thank you for your clarification. But let's say first day >> you and President Agarth get together >> and want to censure me. >> Sure. >> She's the only one that can contact the lawyer. >> Yes. >> Right. >> Yes. >> So let's turn it around. Let's say Tolen and I want to censure you >> and principal Garte decides that maybe it's not a like we can't contact a lawyer you know I can't >> she has to >> so
193if two people come together and say we need to contact a lawyer you would have to do it and is this here >> the the bylaw >> in the bylaw does it say if two people come together >> yes >> and whatever the claim is you will contact the lawyer immedi medately. >> How can you censorship? >> How how can two is I thought it was two people have to be agenda and you would have to bring it to if it's not agenda it doesn't happen. >> So so here here's the agenda. >> So if in the agenda let's say I want to again please >> you're you're the victim here. Yes. Um, so if we wanted to censure you, but then President Agarta says there's no space in the >> in the in the
194agenda. Thank you. Um, then how far are we pushing this? How much like are we pushing it a year? Are we pushing it half a year? Are we pushing it? I don't know. I just want to make sure because that is not here. >> And I go back to the same it's not specified. There's additional clarification that we're working on on how we publish agenda items, right? So, requests, one of those is going to address exactly what you're saying. How long does it have the district to agendaize something where two board members are asking? >> Because I know Figma, you were requesting for how many months? since the sum the other summer of 2024 and didn't happen until >> so this >> because Vickmat had a delay of about eight months when we so >>
195the thing but but that was in January the fires were in January so there here's the thing she requested I second that >> okay >> that's why it happened not just because one board member said >> okay >> is I h I did second that then we reached out to Figma And then Figmat said, "We don't have uh bandwidth right now because we're dealing with fires." >> I understand that. >> And then we started the but we started the process. >> So what you are saying right now is that if one board member says it, another seconds that thing whatever they're requesting will show up in the agenda for >> Yes. And one of the things that I'm working on is the board bylaw to clarify how much le leeway they have to agendaize that
196item. Right. Because right now it's not clear. >> Yeah. >> Right now is is based on the workload of the agenda. Now we can request it. Let's say uh we request an item then they would have an x number of meetings uh to agendaize. If we don't get to it because we took long discussing a a a item then we don't get to it but it was agendaized. So, what you're saying is if there's an agenda item that was requested by a board member >> and it's placed on triple X or triple G because there's 1,700 other things that we need to go to. >> Um, and it's not touched on, does it mean that it it was agenda so it never has to be touched again? It doesn't come back. >> It comes back
197to the next meeting. It gets added. >> I want to make sure. I want to make sure >> whatever you don't get to in a meeting gets rolled over to the next meeting, right? In hopes that we move along and get to that item. >> I just want to make sure. >> But yes, all that will be clarified in uh other board bylaws. So I'm seeing yes to end the conversation on why I worked so hard on the two without the amendment the interaction of board uh bylaw 9005 and board bylaw 9251 it creates a subjective enforcement mechanism. It's a risk of majoritarian control over disscent, potential constitutionality, uh, constitutional vulnerability, and possible reputational harm to the district because of these kinds of discussions and because of censoring. It just it was that combination of
198the two >> being used in that manner. It can be used. It takes on it creates a creature that combining the two board by pol uh bylaws, it creates this non-intended creature which causes these things. And that's why I was asking if you would consider looking at these because combined and I'm glad they actually came out combined because had they been separated in two different sense. >> Yes. Right. So that's what I'm asking you as the uh bylaw chair to consider these two recommendations because combined they just create this monster that can be misused. >> Okay. >> I do have a motion >> you do >> to approve. Yes. >> I'm saying that this was already I mean this was adopted year years ago 2002. So, this already existed. >> Yes. >> And it was
199just revised. >> Slavery used to exist, too. >> That Come on now. >> Yes. But that >> we're not going to I'm not going to I'm [cheering] not going to engage in that. So, >> I'm seeing all the references. This is already ed code. It's government code. It's board bylaws. We're just we're just revising something that has already existed. And even if it wasn't here in our own bylaws, we could still use everything to take action as we've been talking about. Am I correct? >> Correct. Even if this language doesn't exist, government code, which is referenced here in this bylaw, gives us the power to do exactly this. So the the fact that we have a bylaw is for easier um consumption of the boards. >> The alternative is we go to education code uh
2003510 >> and we start looking at pieces >> and we find all the regulations. So I'm going to go >> that's why the the Thank you. >> You have a motion. I second. >> There's a motion and a second. Recording secretary, please call the vote. >> Ramirez Dominguez, >> it's a no until there's clarification. >> Dominguez, >> nay only until trustee Tomo has an opportunity to look at the two recommendations. >> Tolston, >> Tamayo, >> I motion carries 32. Item 13A >> report on results of the 2425 CASP and progress and the 25 California school dashboard indicators. Miss Morales. Thank you, President Nugarte. Um before I introduce our team who's going to be presenting tonight, um I just want to echo the sentiments that we heard from our union leaders at the beginning of the
201meeting that the progress and all of the work that we're reporting on tonight is really representative of the incredible work of our teachers, our support staff at our school sites, our principles, our district team. they have worked incredibly hard to get these results, but ultimately it's the students. So, we are excited to share our progress today. We have a new um metric on the dashboard which indicates that over 75% of our students are showing accelerated growth at this time. And so, we're just really pleased to be able to um to share that and to celebrate. We also have some of our principles and our school teams here tonight that we'd like to honor. um with their results and I'd like to pass it over to Mrs. Montgomery. >> Thank you, Miss Morales. And uh thank
202you, President Ugarte, Dr. Reyes, and board members. Um tonight, as Miss Morales said, we're very excited to share with you the results of our California dashboard and highlight the progress that our district continues to make on behalf of our students. Uh this year, as Miss Morales said, we have a new metric and we are proud to share this new accelerated growth metric with you um which provides a look at how our students are progressing over time. Um tonight's presentation will include our overview of the CASP results, key indicators from the dashboard, and we're excited to spotlight three schools. And as Miss Morales said, we have our principles here to represent their schools as well. At this time, I'd like to introduce Cindy Estrada, our coordinator for induction and assessment, and she's going to walk you
203through the data and also the highlights from our schools. Good evening. Well, everything that they just said about what we're going to be previewing and so we're going to go ahead and dive right in. Good evening, President Muggarte, trustees, Dr. Reyes, cabinet. Um, we're going to go ahead and take a look at our CASP results in our dashboard from last school year and what they mean um, as key indicators for performance um, for our district. And so before we actually dive into the data, uh, let's take a look at the two systems that we're going to be referring to um, and the presentation. And so CASP is our system of assessments that measures student achievement in English language arts, mathematics, and science. And the California dashboard is our state's accountability system that provides that comprehensive
204view of performance across multiple indicators. So, we're going to be seeing both of these um in our presentation this evening. Um both of these systems use CASP data, assessment data, but they serve different purposes. So when we're looking at CASP, the test results for California assessments reports the number and percent of students that fall within performance levels. So level one, two, three, and four. The California dashboard reports the average distance from standard for academic indicators. So you'll be seeing both of those this evening. And so in these upcoming slides, you're going to see our CASP results from last school year. Um, this data is used not as a single definitive measure, but as a checkpoint for us to validate our progress, celebrate success, and also identifies areas for growth as well. And so here you
205can see um in English language arts 56.38% of our students met or exceeded in this area. On the right hand side um in this chart you can see the student counts by proficiency band over the past two years. In level four we had an increase of approximately 120 students from the previous year. Level three saw a slight decrease which is attributed to the increase in level four and then levels one and two also decreased slightly which is encouraging as it means that fewer students are performing at below standard. Overall the data shows positive movement towards the top end which more students are which means more students are exceeding standards and fewer students are not meeting. Let's take a look at mathematics. 45.94% of our students met or exceeded standard in this area. We saw an
206increase in the number of students in level four from the previous year with level three also increasing slightly. Level two remained relatively stable with the number of students in level one decreasing which is a positive trend. Overall, while math proficiency is lower than ELA, we are seeing incremental gains at the top levels and a reduction of students not meeting standards. To address this, as a district, we are providing intentional professional learning opportunities to all teachers in the district and site leaders aligned to the California frameworks and standards. These efforts will strengthen instructional practices, deepen conceptual understanding, and ensure access to high quality math instruction for all of our students. In the area of science, 38.95 uh a percent of our fifth grade students met or exceeded standard. When looking at the comparison chart on the
207right, you will see that the number of students in level three and four increased. level one decrease indicating positive movement toward higher proficiency. You will notice that our greatest number of students for science are in level two standard nearly met. It's important to note that although students take the science assessment in fifth grade, the CAST science test covers kindergarten through fifth grade science standards and the science and engineering practices. Our district adopted curriculum twig science which we have had for just a couple years now is NGSS aligned and provides multiple opportunities and resources aligned to the cast assessment. In fact, CBESD is currently providing professional learning in the area of science for all fourth and fifth grade teachers. Now, we're going to transition into the California school dashboard, and we're going to start with a
208quick refresher on what that looks like. So, you might be wondering when we go to the dashboard, where do all these colors come from? And how does it display performance? So, performance is um determined by two factors on the dashboard. status which is ranging from very low to very high and change which is ranging um from declined significantly to increase significantly. When we're looking at 5x5 grids, we want to be cautious not to focus just on the color alone because growth matters and it's based off of a growth model. For example, a school with a medium performance that is improving is more promising than one with a high performance that is declining. In short, the 5x5 grid provides valuable context, but growth and change over time are just as important as color when we're assessing
209the progress. The California dashboard includes two different sets of indicators which are part of our state's accountability system. The state indicators include academics which is uh English language arts, math and science, uh English learner progress, chronic absenteeism and suspens suspension rate indicator. Uh the second set of indicators are the local indicators which include the basics, implementation of academic standards, parent and family engagement, local school climate and access to a broad course of study. Um the dashboard also reports specific student groups as required by ed code. So um if a student group happens to be less than 30, no color will be assigned to the dashboard. They do that um for confidentiality purposes. And so that um is something that you if you see some a group on the dashboard with no color that would be
210why um the dashboard reports distance from standard which I mentioned earlier and distance from standard um often referred to as DFS or distance from level three u measures how far a student's performance is from meeting the state's academic standards and subjects. So it shows the distance between a student's score on the CASP assessment and the proficiency threshold known as level three or standard met. So here's an example, a fifth grade math example. Um a score of 2528 is needed to meet standard um which is indicated by the green arrow that you see there. If a student scores 2500, which you see in red, they are then 25 points below that threshold, giving them a negative distance from standard of 28. And you can see that there in the yellow uh triangle. Here's another example. If
211a student scores 2568 shown in red, they are then 40 points above that threshold with a positive distance from standard of 40. And so what they do is the average of all of those different uh distance from standards is what is reported on the California dashboard indicator card. And here's an example of what that would look like. Um in this case, the average distance from standard would be 8.1 points below standard. So this is just an example of what that looks like on the dashboard. And so now that we have an understanding of what um the dashboard is and how it's reported, let's take a look of um our data from the 2025 dashboard for CBESD. And so for our local indicators, CBESD met standard for all five, including the basics, access to a broad
212course of study, implementation of academic standards, parent family engagement, and local climate survey. And on this slide, you can see our state indicators um and our assigned colors for the 2025 dashboard. We were issued yellow indicators for chronic absenteeism, English learner progress, and mathematics, and earn green indicators for suspension rate, English language arts, and science. On the next slide, you'll see a snapshot of the performance indicators for our different um student groups. But first, I'm going to share with you that new indicator that you heard in the introduction. So, um this year on the dashboard that was released, there's um a new indicator that uh they call the growth um data indicator. And so, this one here for ELA and math um they have a new growth data um for the first time. and the
213dashboard cards include this graphic displaying performance levels. Um, as well as the percentages of students whose scores have improved from the previous years. So, the it's kind of confusing because there's so many colors on the dashboard and now they're throwing a whole bunch of new colors at us with this new indicator. So, I put a little uh key at the top there to help us out. And so the growth performance levels fall into different categories of minimal, moderate, average, accelerated, and exceptional. And down below you see where we fall for CVESD. Um we're proud to share that 76.3% of our students improve their score from the previous year in English language arts and 75.8% of our students improve their score in math from the previous year. And in both of those areas, we are improving.
214Our growth is um improving at an accelerated rate. So, we're really proud to share that with you this evening. >> Yes. Yes. [applause] >> And so, here's another um way to look at the data. This is our student group report. So this displays um the distribution of assigned colors across the different um indicators. It used um it compares how they're doing across the district and it helps us to identify gaps and determine where um additional supports um might be needed. And so on this next slide, you're going to see what that looks like in a more manageable way because that's a lot of data. So, this is a two-year comparison. Um, and we're able to see that our students student groups has uh shifted our colors in the right direction. So, that trend of growth
215is continuing here. In the area of red, um, we have our student groups has decreased from 5 to three. In orange, we're decreasing from 16 to 10. Our yellow has increased from 19 to 26. Our student groups in green from 15 to 22 and our student groups in blue have also increased from 6 to 9. This positive change is a testament to our hard work of our teachers and uh leaders at school sites and our commitment as a district towards that continuous improvement. Uh, as I mentioned early earlier, each indicator has a 5x5 grid um, which determines the color based off of that status and change. And so we're going to go through each indicator to see how we fall as a district. Um, here you see the 5x5 placement for English language arts and
216where our schools fall within that 5x5 grid. So for English language arts, 31 of our schools were assigned high or very high status and or increased or increased significantly in English language arts. For mathematics, again 31 of our schools met that same criteria. Um they were identified as high or very high status or increased or increased significantly in the area of mathematics. And are we allowed to ask questions? >> Okay. Well, like the the 31, are those the same schools? >> Uh, they're not all the same. Some of them are the same. They >> already are. >> Um, some of them are not. So, we can um there are some commonalities, but some some are not. Yeah. >> Okay. >> You know, we can't read what it says, right? >> I know it's very small.
217Yes, I know. It's hard to We have so many schools. It's hard to fit them all on one slide. Thank you for summarizing it though. >> Um for science in the area of fifth grade science 28 of our schools were assigned high or very high status or um increase or significantly increased in this area. Our English learner progress um 5x5 placement 17 of our schools placed in the high or very high status or increased or increased significantly um in this area. And a key thing to remember about this indicator which um they don't disclose is that this is not encompassing all of the students that are reclassified as English learners. So although that number is lower, it's not encompassing all of those students who have gone through that process and they're already reclassified um as
218as um proficient in the English language. So this one is a little bit tricky for chronic absenteeism. 29 of our schools uh were in the low or very low or declined or significantly declined for this area. And they like to throw us for a loop here because we hear the words low or declined and we think, "Oh, that's not good." But in this area, that's our goal. So for low stat low status and declined um for chronic absenteeism actually reflects strong and improving student attendance and engagement. So that's what we want to see. So we have 29 there. And then our last uh state indicator is suspension. Follows that same model. We had 22 of our schools that placed in that same criteria. Okay. So now that we know where we fall as a district,
219let's take a look um of how we compare to some local districts within our area. So I know there's a lot on this slide, too. It's kind of small, but we'll make sure that you have access to see it up close, too. Okay. Um, so out of the seven local districts that are listed here, um, CVESD is at the very top above that black line, CVESD stands out as the only district with two green academic indicators. In English language arts, we are the only district that are above um, that is above standard in English language arts. In mathematics, CVESD is the closest district to meeting standard. We are under at -14.3 um below, but versus uh the other local districts, they range between 37 points below to 82 points below. In science, CVESD has earned
220um a green indicator and has the highest number of science points um compared to our local districts. We have the lowest suspension rate in our chronic absenteeism is sus significantly lower as well. When we look at the new dashboard's growth model, CVESD is the only district with both ELA and math growth showing at the accelerated level. As a district, we remain deeply committed to continuous improvement by analy analyzing data, examining our practices, and strengthening our systems to ensure meaningful and rigorous learning for all of our students. So now at this time, I'd like to spotlight a few of our CBESD schools with you this evening. That happens to be my favorite part of the presentation. Um, our first school that I would like to spotlight with you is Hilltop Drive Elementary School. Hilltop dedicated staff
221and students embody the Knight spirit. Strong, focused, and committed to growth. Their hard work is clearly reflected in this year's dashboard results. Hilltop saw 5.84% increase on ELA on their CASP assessments. The Knights really shined on the California dashboard where they increased 15.1 points >> uh distance from standard in English language arts earning green status. In math, they increased 9.1 points distance from standard and they earned a blue status in science uh increasing 12.3 points. They also reduced their chronic absenteeism by 3.4%. Their growth data shows that 83.3% of their students improved their scores in ELA and 82% of their students improved in math. Their progress is a testament to what happens when a school community leads with purpose and unity. And I'd like to extend our congratulations to Hilltop Elementary. [applause] >> Dr. Gryer
222couldn't make it tonight, but he's texting me. So excited. >> And next up, uh, are the road runners on the rise? And I know that their proud principal is probably going to make some noise back here. Uh, so we're happy to highlight Rice Elementary, a proud community school for their strong and meaningful gains on both CASP assessments and the California school dashboard. Just like their mascot, the Rice Road Runners are focused and moving forward. And this year's data proves just that. On the CASP assessments, they increased 5.76% in English language arts and 8.9% in math. On the dashboard, Rice increased 7.7 points distance from standard in ELA. Their English learner progress increased by 4.7% and their chronic absenteeism declined by 1.2%. Uh they also increased on the dashboard in mathematics distance from standard 26.4 points
223distance from standard. [applause] And on that new growth metric, their data shows that 82.5% of their students improved their score in ELA and 87.6% of their students improved in math. Well done, Rice. [applause] >> And lastly, we will spotlight the Montgomery Eagles who are taking their learning to new heights and their principal is also with us this evening. [applause] On the CASP, Montgomery increased 10.91% in English language arts and 9.71% in math. And in science, they increased 12.29%. On the dashboard, they're shining bright in yellow. They increased 10.3 points in mathematics, 18.2 2 in ELA and their growth data shows 78.3 of their students improved in math. And this is not a mistake. 93.3% of their students improved in ELA. [applause] >> The Montgomery Eagles are soaring together, showing what happens when a school community
224lifts every learner toward success. Congratulations, Montgomery. >> [applause] >> As we wrap up our presentation, I just want to reiterate that CVESD is strongly committed to putting students at the center of everything we do. The dashboard and the CASP results provide insights into student growth, achievement trends, and progress across um all student groups, helping us to understand and respond to the unique needs of our learners. So that way we can support our teachers and our leaders with what they need to meet those needs of our students. This commitment is evident in our district and our school plans like rigorous learning for all and our LCAP. Every decision that we make is guided by our focus on highquality student centered learning. Our goal is not only for students to succeed while they are here with us
225in CBESD, but we want them to thrive on the pathways of opportunity that await them when they leave CBESD. And later this evening, you'll be able to see that commitment in action during our LCAP presentation. But with that, I thank you for your continued support and dedication to the success of our students. [applause] board comments. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Uh first of all, I would like to congratulate all of our schools that are working really hard uh especially the 4th Avenue Reas. Um [gasps and laughter] um I I've actually had the opportunity to go visit both schools and um it's been a pleasure to see our community uh work really hard. So congratulations uh ladies and also I went to visit Hilltop. So it's it's it's been such a a good thing and one of
226the things that I really highlighted me from Hilltop Drive was that the moment I walked in the principal he gave me a spreadsheet and he's like this is our numbers and this is how we did before and this is how you read this and and I just got a lesson of of how to read these things and I was like thank you. But um it was great because I can see how much effort each and every one of our principles and teachers have put into just making like helping our students thrive. So um I love seeing highlights. Um at the same time um I I hope that we can get that report because I would love to see [laughter] the tiny little letters. Um and I know that you guys have access to absolutely everybody
227um in the areas of growth. So I'm I always want to learn more of the people that are doing great in order for it to help us with the other schools. Um just again support and contribute. So I'm excited for the growth. I'm excited for that new um um growth marker that actually shows us like hey it's not only a number. It's like they're growing. They're going they're doing better because at the end of the day this is what we want. This is why we're here. This is why we do late nights and get in fights for the kids, you know, and and I just want to congratulate everybody that's doing a great job. Thank you for the report and and yeah, that's it. Thank you. >> Thank you. I love the presentation, especially seeing
228the growth that really helps us see a bigger picture. The bigger picture is was amazing. and I really uh uh I really enjoyed the presentation. Um on that same note, um I know trustee uh Tamayo and I have asked in the past about focus on the children, the students that are more challenged that have what do we need to do and that's the point of asking to identify those and at some point we're going to get some report. I don't know when but uh but why I'm asking this is because it's the trend seems to be that those economically challenged students seem to be the ones that are also then challenged with um not not the same speed of growth that we'd like to see. And I would love to see what our plan is
229uh on how to to continue to support them. I I'm just really excited about all the work that all the school sites did and all the staff because this didn't happen by itself. >> We know that, but we know that all there's also these other students that aren't experiencing that growth. And if you think about it, they're not experiencing that growth and therefore they're not probably too happy either because they see their their peers are experiencing some um little more excitement. So I would love to see at some point uh what we're going to do. We need to identify those students that trusty Tamayo and I have been asking for. So what is the plan to give them the support they need also? And it can't be to give us any classroom 32 students. Um,
230I just wanted to say congratulations again uh to district administrators, school administrators, and teachers for all the hard work that you do. I see it in my own son in his growth, whether he's whether his school is up there or not. Um, I see it as our children and how he's been growing with the teachers that he has and the support that he has at his school. Um, I just had one question. Obviously, I'm sure you're going to tell me, "Yes, you do." But um you say certain schools have different strengths, some in English, some in math. How do you guys work together to share this across the community, across the school communities? Do you guys have like roundts, meetings, you know, teachers collaborating together to see what's working and what's not? >> Sharing. >>
231So we have a lot of different um opportunities and structures in place for sharing to occur and collaboration to occur on many different levels. at the teacher level, at the leader level, and it all falls actually within our rigorous learning for all. And so within high quality professional learning, we have teachers coming together um at all at the same time, all teachers, we have moved away from like the trainer of trainer model. So teachers are coming and learning together, collaborating, sharing best practices. Um in that way um our leaders are engaging in learning walks together where they're going to each other's sites or engaging in um opportunities to identify best practices. Um all of our sites uh leaders have um engaged uh or created turnaround leadership action plans. So they're looking at the areas of
232needs that are specific to their sites. They have strategic plans where they're getting um support from their senior director uh uh where they receive coaching um that is specifically catered to their sites because we know our district has there's a wide range of um of needs. Some schools are f um f need to focus more on English language arts that is their strength where others are are math and so it's really um catered to that need. Um and so we have all of those different layers of support and um one of the things that actually just wrapped up this week is our instructional leadership team. Um we have that going on where teams are coming together not only collaborating as a school site but also um within uh schools within different cohorts as well. So
233we have a lot of different systems in place to allow for that collaboration and sharing to occur. >> Thank you. Obviously, these these are amazing results. Um there's no denying that that the district has improved and it continues to improve thanks to the work of teachers, classified personnel that it's also supporting the the classroom uh all the way to bus drivers, right? To make sure that that chronicism uh is is lowered by having a smile when um students are getting on board to the to the bus. and everybody here supporting the schools. I I applaud that that effort because it's it's a whole effort. It's not just isolated efforts. Um going back to what uh Trustee Dominguez uh Cervantes said, I think we we kind of viewed that number today. Uh ELA in that slide,
234you had a number there with level one that our students are level one. You don't need to show it, but there's roughly 2,000 students. Is that uh first grade to sixth grade or or what is the range there? >> That's a great question. So, the students who engage who take the CASP assessment are grades three through six. So, that represents students from grades three through six. >> And then, [clears throat] do we have any numbers for primary grades? >> For primary, so primary grades do not take this assessment. Uh this year was the first year that we have um implemented the new reading risk difficulty screener. So we actually um just went through that first initial implementation of that. So that's new data that we're just starting to dig into. Our teachers just finished um
235that administration in January. Um and so that's something new, a new a new level of data that we haven't had before. And so that's something that um we're excited to dig into and and identify trends to see for those primary grades, what are those areas in those foundational literacy skills um that students need support? Who are the students that might need additional interventions? And with the risk screener that we adopted amplify dibbles or lectura for our DI programs um or the Spanish speaking students, it actually encompasses the next steps for those students. And so um we're excited as a team to really dig into to look at that data. Yeah, I'm excited to have that data now with that screener because with that, I'm sure the the superintendent can and should uh develop a plan
236on how we're going to address those uh students that are uh at level one in that uh and I'm looking forward to seeing a plan uh come uh soon on what are now that we know these are the students that are far below, what are we going to do to target those students either in a summer school environment or additional supports. Um, you know best. That's why you are here because you're the bright minds. Um, but um, I do want to see a plan. I do want to see what are we going to do different because doing the same is not going to be enough. So we want I at least I think the board what has been saying is they want something else >> to make sure that uh students are being served and
237we're helping those that are far below uh standard. Thank you. >> When will we know those results for that new assessment? >> The risk readers. >> Yes. >> So as um Mr. strategist said, "We just finished that administration and we're going through that data." That data is already um in the hands of our school sites and teachers so that they are able to identify right away the students that um either were identified as um well uh at risk or not at risk. And that's possible risk. That's not saying that they actually have the risk. Um, and what that does is it informs teachers about where the students strengths are, what they know and are and are able to do, what they understand about early literacy and foundational skills. And then it also provides resources for
238teachers to be able to provide support for students um in the areas that they need. One of the key pieces about um when you say what's the plan, right? So where we begin, we begin with the universal screener and that universal screener gives us that really important data that we have not had before >> and that data helps to inform our instruction, our core instruction in the classroom. So it helps our teachers to identify how to focus instruction for the whole class and for small groupoup instruction. And if if you look even right behind you, we then the next step is like that's the first step in a multi-tiered system of support. Then we go from there after that good high quality tier one instruction is provided. We look to see are the students making
239progress. That's why it's so important that we adopted a screener and an assessment that allows us to look at the progress of students over time. And so once then we get the next piece of information which would be the progress monitoring then we look to see did our instruction help support students in making growth or not and if not then what's our next steps for additional supports. That's a part of a a multi-tered system of support that we're working on at the district level as well as at each one of our sites. >> Um I just wanted to double check you what grade were they these students? So what we did is we adopted McLass uh dibbles um lectura so in English and Spanish as a district um for our screener which is for K2
240it must be administered once per year that administration was in January as Mrs. Estrada said in addition we ensured that we adopted that actually all the way to sixth grade >> because looking at our literacy um percentages uh we knew that we needed this information for all students so that we could get a really good picture. As I said we haven't had this data before and this information. So, um this is our starting point. Yeah. >> And um we'll continue to gather more information, find out more about the progress and um provide supports for our teachers and our students. >> Yeah. Thank you. I I was thinking they get tested in kinder and then they get tested again all the way through third grade. I was like that's a huge gap, but I love that
241you actually >> Yes. >> It's not one and done, you know? It's it's a continual, >> right? And this is just the beginning part of a comprehensive assessment system that we're building. >> Okay. right just at the beginning. >> Thank you. >> I just want to reiterate what my colleague said about thank you for the presentation and it's it's very great to see that the magic that's happening in the classroom every day with our instructional assistants our teachers at our sites with our leadership our principles that it's coming to fruition. Kind of want to piggyback on what they were saying with regard to sharing. I know our principles are in cohorts and I think one of the great things that we um we could share and what trustee Tomo said is what did you do
242differently to get these results right there's my accent specifically what what was it that what can you pinpoint as a principal as a teacher as a team at a site that you did differently in these areas to have this growth so that you can share it with the others and I know that that's kind of your your job, right, to go around and share that, but I think it would be great if they could have those conversations and say, "This is what we did differently and go ahead and and use it as well." >> Yeah. >> Thank you very much. Enjoyed that. [applause] >> All right. the midyear update on the local control and accountability plan and the local control funding formula budget overview for parents. Miss Morales. Okay, thank you. Um, one of the
243pieces and probably I should have introduced this in the beginning presentation because we're back here in instructional services and one of our plans that we developed to hold ourselves accountable for supporting our students is our LCAP. And so tonight, we're excited to report out on our mid-year progress with all the expenditures. But in response to the conversation that we had at the last board meeting about um what are we going to do with our students who need more support, we've added slides in this presentation to be able to illustrate that. And so I want to start by saying though I want to talk about um uh our words around our students. So in tonight's presentation, we're really going to also share those dis district efforts to support our atromise students. At promise students is a
244strength-based term that recognizes our students potential while also acknowledges the systemic challenges that can impact academic outcomes for our students. We are intentional in using the term at promise students and we hold ourselves responsible as a team to use these words at promise because we don't want to label our students negatively with a deficit mindset as at risk or even failing. And so it's really important that we see the assets of our students, whether they be language differences. And we heard earlier tonight about some of the challenges our students come with that are supported by some of our mental health specialists in our campus. And so we'd like to introduce that term tonight and um and use it as we speak about our students. Another incredible other incredible members of our instructional services and student
245services team are going to be presenting tonight. One of our plans is that our LCAP, our rigorous learning for all, we all do it together. We have a one team approach and it extends to many people in this room and in our district. And I know you know Miss Lonnie Perez who is amazing and she does such a great job with the LCAP and she's going to start us off tonight. Thank you so much, Jessica. Good evening, President Garte, trustees, Dr. Reyes. As you know, the LCAP is well, let me move this forward. Oops. Wait, how do we go backwards? There. There we go. As you know, the LCAP is specific to California, and it is a three-year plan that outlines how we will positive support positive student outcomes based on our state and local
246priorities. The LCAP gives our district the opportunity to share our story on how, what, and why programs and services are selected to meet our student needs. So, our LCAP has goals, specific actions to meet those goals, budget expenditures, and metrics to measure progress. And we are currently in year two of our three-year plan. The LCAP describes how the district plans to improve academic achievement for all. However, supplemental and concentration grant funds must be specifically directed at the following student groups you see up here. Lowincome multilingual English learners and foster youth. Jessica mentioned our at promise students and I want to emphasize that this LCAP is designed specifically with them in mind when we discuss the actions, supports, and investments outlined in this plan. It's important to recognize that these are the specific efforts that we're
247making to ensure that our atromise students have every opportunity to th to thrive and thus this LCAP is our roadmap for that commitment. So here on the slide you'll see the timeline of LCAP development and we began the input gathering process with our educational partners just last month in January and that includes engagement sessions with our teachers, staff, labor partners, administrators, parents, students and community. We had our first engagement opportunity with our DAC DAC and then our special education parents had a presentation at their coffee talk with Dr. Patel and the school sites right now are planning their engagement sessions and may have already had some with both their staff and their parent communities. We're going to continue gathering input through March and you'll see that in February there's a mid-year report to the board
248of education which we are conducting right now and that is required. Any revisions to the plan based on our educational partner input will be drafted and in May there will be a public hearing for the proposed 2627 LCAP and this is the chance for the public to comment on the plan and for the board to provide feedback. So, at that meeting, you will be presented with a draft of the 2627 LCAP. Tonight, we're just doing a midyear update on the current LCAP that we have. Now, then in June of 2026, the LCAP goes for board approval. As a reminder, our LCAP is based on the top themes that emerged from educational partner input, which you see here on this slide, and they include adequate staffing for all, comprehensive student well-being and support, effective and engaging
249curriculum and instruction, increased access to resources and infrastructure, relevant and ongoing professional development, strong homeschool partnerships and communication, safe, inclusive, and supportive environments, prioritizing innovation and future skills, targeted support for English learners, and efficient operations and resource management. You're going to see a slide like this very similar in May with a summary of the new input that we gather after our input gathering process, but this uh this is the feedback that we are working off from last year's input and survey. Okay. So, we will be providing a mid-year update on our five goals. Goal one, academics. Goal two, safe and inclusive environments. Goal three, English learner supports. Goal four, innovation. Goal five, educational partner engagement. We will now provide an update on key items for each goal. Okay. So for goal one um this is
250focused on academics. Our work this year centers on strengthening standards aligned core instruction, improving instructional coherence and building educator capacity, the conditions that drive sustained academic growth over time. In English language arts, we are focused specifically on literacy and foundational skills through the district-wide implementation of our literacy screener. Teachers received professional learning at the start of the year and they just recently administered this assessment. They are now analyzing the results to inform core instruction and provide guides for differentiation. In math, our professional learning has focused on the California mathematical framework and standards to support our teachers in providing grade level standards aligned instruction and engaging our students in mathematical reasoning and problem solving. We're also committed to ensuring students receive special education services and have access to highquality grade level standards aligned instruction. Our special
251education teachers are currently engaging in professional learning alongside general education educators to strengthen shared expectations and to increase instructional coherence with additional jobspecific training such as jobal alike learning for our RSP teachers. LCAP goal one is grounded in the understanding that strong core instruction, effective use of data and ongoing professional learning lead to the sustained improvements in literacy and in math. Our districtwide academic fa focus is also supported through our principal learning which includes coaching and instructional walks. All schools have participated in at least two learning walks this year. These efforts build leadership capacity and support consistent instructional practices across our sites. We're also investing in instructional leadership teams, as Cindy mentioned, at each site as a district capacity building strategy aligned to LCAP goal one. So far, we have provided three out of our
252four ILT release days for each school in the district. This investment strengthens sitebased leadership structures so that instructional improvement is shared, sustainable, and focused on improving literacy and math outcomes over time. At the site level, school plans for student achievement, SPSAS, operationalize ELCOT goal one priorities. Our principles lead teams in analyzing data, allocating resources strategically, including our instructional assistants, intervention teachers, and resource teachers. As a team, they monitor the effectiveness of these strategies, adjusting supports based on student need. Strong standards aligned core curriculum informed by data and supported by instructional leadership structures is how we are improving student outcomes across LCAP goal one academic indicators and instructional coherence across all of our schools. And goal two is all about making sure every student feels safe, supported, and included academically, socially, and behaviorally, and emotionally so
253they can truly thrive in our schools. A key component of the work supporting this goal is our comprehensive multi-tered system of support, which has been mentioned a couple of times tonight, or MTSS. And this framework allows us to proactively identify student needs and deliver timely supports, whether academic, behavioral, or social emotional. This school year, we have dedicated considerable time to deepening district-wide understanding and strengthening the implementation of MTSS. This has included ongoing training and professional learning aligned with rigorous learning for all, engaging both staff and a broader community. Our students genuinely enjoy being at school, which is reflected in our strong, consistent, and continuous daily average attendance. This speaks to the meaningful connections we have built and the strong sense of belonging um felt by our students and our families. In addition, safety also continues
254to be a top priority. So, all CBESC staff is trained in Ejects. We continue to partner with our school resource officers or SRO's. In addition to that, we have our door access control project uh which are at 50% completion. And as mentioned previously, part of goal 2 is social emotional supports. So this funding source actually reflects a combination of ELCAP funds and learning recovery emergency block grant funds. Together these funds, these resources have allowed us to provide meaningful supports that address the whole child, not just academics. As part of a goal two, we prioritize social emotional supports through uh like I said before, a comprehensive multi-tered system of support. And this approach ensures students receive the right level of assistance based on their individual need. These supports do include direct services for students that are
255delivered by a variety of specialized service providers across our district. Some of these services include support from our lead mental health and district social worker who works closely with students experiencing homelessness and those in foster care, ensuring they have access to consistent support. In addition, we also have 10 district registered behavior staff providing behavioral support across our schools as well as additional psychologists supporting to assist with more student assessment and timely identification of needs. We also listen carefully to the feedback from our school sites. So based on that input, we increased instructional assistance support on campuses. In the past, these positions were assigned strictly by classroom numbers. And we have shifted that approach to provide additional allocations to school so that school sites can respond to more intensive student needs. So this gives school leaders
256greater flexibility to determine where support is needed most needed on their campuses. Together, these investments reflect our commitment to creating a safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environment. Our ongoing commitment to supporting multilingual English learners remains a key focus in CVSD. While ELPAC data reflects maintained overall language progress, this stability underscores the importance of continued implementation of LCAP actions focused on accelerating student growth in English language proficiency. Overall CASP data, however, shows growth in literacy achievement for our English learners and notably long-term English learners, which is a new student group in the LCAP and dashboard, demonstrates gains in both language proficiency and reading achievement, suggesting that instructional supports are positively impacting this student group. We're also pleased to report that our mid-year reclassification rate has already exceeded last year's endofear reclassification rate. Yes, that's awesome. [applause]
257Educational partner feedback informed the implementation of focused supports for identified English learners across all school sites, which includes smallroup instruction by trained English learner instructional assistance structured around key language domains to accelerate language proficiency growth. Now you will see here in budgeted expenditures and estimated uh actuals that there is a material difference. The 272,000 was actually not spent this year. This is title three money. However, because at the beginning of the school year, uh there was a federal freeze on title three and there was uncertainty for that specific funding source. when the funding was actually released, we were well into the school year and we did not think that making a decision to pull teachers out of the classroom to uh fund two title 3 resource teachers was wise at that time. But that is
258something that we can revisit in the 2627 version of our LCAP. So I just wanted to point um that out as part of our midyear report. Goal four focuses on advancing innovation to expand meaningful learning opportunities for our students. This work continues through our LEAD afterchool program which currently serves more than 15,000 students through both LEAD hub and lead club offerings. Funded by the expanded learning opportunities program grant, LEAD provides equitable access to engaging enrichment-based experiences that support student growth beyond the instructional day. Our students continue to have access to our exceptional VAPA classes across one or more arts disciplines as well as physical education. In addition, our fourth through sixth grade students actively participate in our signature station experiences where they engage in innovative learning opportunities that emphasize creativity, collaboration, and design thinking. Teachers
259in both of these programs also continue to receive professional learning to strengthen instructional practices, align to our instructional vision, and ensure high quality, engaging learning experiences for all students. CVS has continued to strengthen family engagement through community outreach, family leadership, educational opportunities, and enhanced digital communication. To ensure our families are informed and connected, they re routinely receive communications through our Final Site platform, social media, flyers, and translation interpretation services to ensure accessibility for all. Community outreach continues to be a top priority for the district with over 1,000 families attending the community expo for the past several years. Furthermore, we have representation from all 43 district schools in our new parent ambassador program. The district has hosted three parent ambassador meetings as of January 2026, where our parent ambassadors gathered to learn about district initiatives, work
260on increasing family engagement at their school site, and build community with one another. Now that we've shared our midyear progress across the five LCAP goals, I want to pause and connect that work to the students it's ultimately designed to serve. This brings us to our at promise students and the supports we've put in place for them. Our approach is intentionally multi-tered and systemwide beginning with strong core instruction and extending to focused and integrated supports. Supporting our at promise students requires a deliberate district-wide system, not one single program. Our approach ensures that every student has consistent access to high-quality grade level instruction paired with timely supports that are based on identified needs. We begin with access to standards aligned core instruction. It's the most powerful lever for improving outcomes for all learners including our at promise
261students. Instruction is informed by our assessments, including our universal screener and ongoing classroom assessments to support teachers as they identify strengths, monitor progress, and then adjust instruction as needed. This work is part of our continued de continued development of our MTSS system, one coherent system serving all students. Within our classrooms, teachers use small groupoup instruction to provide responsive support while maintaining access to grade level learning. When additional support is needed, students receive additional supports aligned to the classroom instruction so that they can accelerate their progress. Extended learning opportunities and social emotional supports provide additional time to address conditions that may impact learning, ensuring students are ready to engage and succeed. School sites play a critical role through their SPSA plans. Principles and teams analyze their data and strategically use their title one and LCAP funds
262to provide supports to the students. These supports are aligned to their community needs and they use intervention staff or instructional assistance and resource teachers to support their goals. These supports are intentional. As I said, our support for our app promise students really begins at each school site. For example, we're going to highlight Montgomery Elementary. Again, we're going to get a little bit more information about how did they do it. At Montgomery Elementary, we have a resource teacher who is providing support to identified students. They use multiple sources of data, including the CASP ELA and our districtwide assessments to identify students in grades three through six who are needing who are needing additional support. Then they provide intervention and monitor progress. These supports include focused reading and writing support aligned to the classroom instruction and designed
263to address specific learning needs. The school team is actively monitoring student progress through teacher feedback and Lexile data which is reviewed to adjust supports as needed. As a result of this strategy, the site has observed that 10% growth that you saw earlier in grades three through six on the CAST data, moving from 40 to 50% students who have met or exceeded standards. The principal and team continue to monitor outcomes and refine their plan to ensure that the supports remain responsive and effective for their students. Supporting our at promise students are is also a strategy that we look at at the district level. We use district supports to support our students across all school sites. In alignment with LCAP goal three, we have been providing supplemental language development support for English learners to strengthen access, engagement,
264and progress in learning. This year we have 26 district English learner instructional assistants who deliver eight weeks of focused supplemental instruction in the fall to 1,06 identified English learners across all district schools. This support was strategically designed around students individual language development needs with a focus on listening, speaking, reading, and writing. These services complemented the core classroom instruction, ensuring English learners received additional aligned support that would accelerate their language growth and help them to fully participate in grade level learning in the classroom. This concludes our LCAP midyear report. We want to thank you for your ongoing support of our plan and most importantly for our CDESD students. Thank you. >> Board questions or comments. >> Madame President, before we start, do we need to extend the meeting? >> We have reports and communications. >> What
265time is it supposed to be? >> 10:30. So, >> I mean, we'll finish with the agenda, but do you want to extend it 15 minutes or end it at 10:30? >> Well, 10:30 is in five minutes. >> Yes. So, >> can we give our comments to our presenters and >> Well, we still need to do reports, right? And 15 minutes. >> Yeah. Okay. Move to extend the meeting by 15 minutes. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. Recording secretary, please call the vote for minutes. >> Ramirez Dominguez, >> hi. >> Dominguez, >> hi. >> Tolston, >> hi. >> Tamayo, >> hi. >> Ug. >> Motion carries. 5-0. >> Comments, questions. >> Thank you for your presentation. Um, I look forward to I just keep thinking of our um counselors and I know that for next year
266there's you guys are going to have to be really creative and I'm sorry. Um yeah, but thank you so much for the presentation. I know that there's a lot of effort put into it and um I would like to see and I think maybe it was before but um if there's any way we can get like all the um results for because I know the SIPs have all the school site results. Um if there's any way we could just have like the actual numbers, I don't know, maybe it's a reports thing. But yeah, thank you so much. >> That was my same call. The social workers, the counselors under the circumstances, please let us know how you're able to pull this off again this next year. >> Great presentation, mind you. >> Um, I just
267want to echo what I said during the CASP presentation. Once again, I admire everything that you do every single day working in collaboration with the whole staff which includes our schools. So, thank you again and just keep it up. Keep up the good work because it shows. >> Likewise, um thank you for everything you're doing. Um let's remember that promise that we're making to these kids. Um let's make sure that the next Hellcap as we develop, we develop with that intention, right? that we're going to not just promise, but we're going to keep that promise to these kids because we know that those are the ones that need us the most. So, we should dedicate a little bit more resources to that. Thank you. >> I want to thank you, too. And as you all
268know, this is my jam because as an elelll teacher and a MTSS resource teacher, this spoke to me. and to see that those supports for our at promise students hit everything that is involved with MTSS was right on. So, thank you very much and good work and congratulations Montgomery again. Good job. >> And [applause] right too >> and the Hilltop >> and Hilltop. >> All right. Report calendar to the board of education. This is a point in the board agenda where board members can ask for reports from the district office. Trustee Ramirez Dominguez. >> Yeah, I think I already mentioned them, but um if we could have those presentations so we can review them, but I would like to have um the CASP results all together. I don't know if that's possible. So like the
269schools all like in all together. Yeah, I can add it again to the board update. We have it by school, by grade level for ELA, math, and science. I'll put it in the next week's. >> Thank you so much. You're welcome. >> We already mentioned the report that Trusty Tamayo and I are looking for and the plan and um didn't want us to forget that we're looking to have the report or presentation >> on the charter schools. Thank you. >> Nothing. If I can get on a Friday update the actual counts for how many people are participating in the employee plus one for benefits and also how many people are participating on the the family plan it >> all units I mean you can you can break it down by unit but it's all units
270and >> that's what it's going to ask for. Okay, thank you. Um, the board communications is the point of the agenda where board members communicate the activity for the last since the last board meeting. Trustee Dr. Dominguez. >> Thank you. I would like to report that I attended the CVLCC elementary speech contest as well as the McMillan speech contest which were amazing and I'm glad I was not the judge because they were really really good. Um and I also attended um I visited Harvard side which was a great experience with Mr. Apario and I learned a lot and all the effort that he's and the whole school is taking to to make sure they do everything for their students. So thank you so much for to Harvard side and I'd like to officially apologize to
271Mueller um because I had to cancel last minute um but I'm looking forward to go visit them soon. Thank you. I attended the uh Olympic view. What makes a strong community? And they just the kids are just so amazing. Just you sit there, you're in awe. And the teachers that helped them prepare. Thank you. Because it took them, the parents, and uh I know that um it it takes a village for some of these things. also attended the uh celebration of life for uh Miss Langfeld. It was beautifully attended and the staff there uh were not staff, they were family and they uh did a they decorated the NPR room and uh principal Miss Liz, she did a great job, too. She's just everybody just came together and there was no everyone was family and
272well my my grandkids went to that school and was the teacher for one of my grandkids. So great loss but everybody had shared their beautiful memories of their interactions and life with her. >> Thank you. Um, I also had the opportunity to judge the McMillan and the Aoyo Vista uh, what makes a star community speeches and again like they have said it was amazing to see these kids and their speeches they some speak better than maybe we do. Um, and their message their message of what builds a strong community. I think a lot of us as adults should follow their message because speaking of also kindness week a couple weeks ago or even last week, um I think we should all remember that what builds a strong community is to be kind to one another
273whether we agree with each other or not because there's always ways to discuss and have dialogue and not be disrespectful or insulting to others. Um, I also want to send uh love to Auro Vista because uh last weekend there was another parent that passed away unfortunately. Um, it it's been a hard year for that staff, but I do know that they are in the best hands and that that staff will rally around them to to for them to make it okay and to slowly process their loss. So, thank you. >> Nothing to report. Um I it was a very short time period it seems like. But I do want to wish um everyone um and uh continue to remind people that we are celebrating Black History Month and to continue to uplift and elevate all
274of our ancestors that um contributed to so much of our technology and our advancements like our nurses and our um mathematicians that allow us to have the technology we have today. Um, I want to wish everyone a happy President's Day weekend and a happy Valentine's Day. >> I just want to say that I'm very proud of the accomplishments that uh across CVD we've seen today. I think it's a day of celebration. We saw the amazing results that are have academic results that that are happening across the district. We have some incredible school sites that are just doing things that um you know we need to you know we're looking at to see how we can replicate that and uh the the positive trend of academic success it just it doesn't happen in a vacuum and
275because teaching and learning happens in the classroom and it's the amazing teachers that do the work with the support of the classified and the leadership of the site principles and of of course the support of these amazing folks that work in the district office. But I I I do want to say that that uh you know we know how hard our teachers work and uh I'm very proud of the work that is being done because the ones that are benefiting are the students. And so today I you know I felt very proud seeing uh the numbers because each number each data point represents a student alive. And so if you take that, it's not just a number. It's actually an individual that is moving up. And so I'm very proud of the work and I
276I want to thank every single one of you here, but also especially at the sites that every single day they do whatever needs to do to be done to ensure that our students are being successful and thriving. Thank you. >> Thank you. The next regular meeting of the board of education of the Chula Vista Elementary School District will be held on March 4th at 4 PM for close session and 6 pm for the open session. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> Second. >> All uh recording secretary, please call the vote. >> Ramirez Dominguez. Hi. >> Dominguez Tolston. Hi. >> Hi. U motion carries 5. Always be like