001test. Test test All right. Good evening. Uh, the board has just returned from close session and while in close session, we conducted the superintendent's evaluation and no reportable action was taken. So, I'll call this meeting to order. Uh, the regular meeting of the board of education of Darti Unified School District. Uh, it is 7:01 p.m. Do a roll call real quick. Uh, vice president Diaz >> present. >> Uh, President Finley present. Uh, board member Holin >> here. >> Board member Hasso >> here. >> Board member Reyes >> here. >> All right, everybody is here and accounted for. And Dr. Hillman, is all of your team here? >> All right, everybody's here from Dr. Hillman's team. All right, we can go ahead then and move on to our flag salute. Uh, Vice President Diaz, would you
002mind doing that? >> With a great honor. Before I do the pledge allegian, I will just mention that we do have a translator English to Spanish. If anyone in here need translator, we have it right there in the back. Marlene, thank you. >> Ready? Begin. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Please be seated. >> All right. And I've asked Dr. Hasso to do our beliefs, our vision, and our mission. >> Our beliefs. We believe we are a community of learners. We believe learning occurs in a culture of caring and respect. We believe all students are motivated to learn when they are engaged in meaningful work that connects
003to their lives. We believe expectations do influence performance and outcomes. We believe learning increases when there are high expectations for performance and conduct. We believe we have the responsibility to find solutions that enable all students to learn. Our vision 21st century schools producing 21st century students. Our mission provide the knowledge, skills, and inspiration for each student for success in college, career, and life. >> Great. Thank you very much, Dr. Hoso. All right, we'll move on to item number seven, which is the adoption of tonight's agenda. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by board member Reyes. Uh second by board member Diaz. Any discussion, board? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. >> I. All right, that passes 50. Next, we'll move on to the superintendence
004report. Dr. Hillman, >> thank you. Good evening, board. Good evening, community. So, even during these uh traditionally quiet days of July, Dwarte has remained active and focused on our mission. I'm proud to share several updates that reflect our continued commitment to student success and educational equity. So, first of all, I'd like to report that members of our district leadership team, Dr. Margaret Akenusi, Miss Tiffany Bell, Dr. Kelly Lawson, and Mr. Kevin Morris recently uh presented to a packed audience at the BASBY uh Baby Conference, which is the Black and African-American Student Education Conference. Their session was called Casting the Net, Supporting African-American Students in Minority Context. Really highlighted the meaningful equity work taking place across our district. Their presentation was very wellreceived and served as an affirmation of our ongoing efforts to create an inclusive,
005supportive environment where all students thrive. So, congratulations to that team. Our professional learning also continues throughout the summer. Many of our teachers are right now participating in the cognitively um guided instruction, the CGI training and our math framework training to deepen their understanding of research-based math instruction. And these are investments in professional growth directly um support our goal of support uh raising student achievement in mathematics across all grade levels. So meanwhile of course the pre personnel office has been very hard at work interviewing and onboarding new team members for the year ahead. We've been inspired by the caliber of professionals eager to join Dart Unified individuals who are not only highly skilled but deeply committed to the success of our students. While we've had many strong applicants, we do remain focused on selecting educators whose
006hearts are fully engaged with the needs and aspirations of our children. Most of our administrators return to duty next week and we are preparing for a strong launch of the 2025-26 school year. Planning efforts are underway and centered on student needs with a clear focus on data um informed decision- making. And speaking of data, we were also just notified of an exciting um exciting achievement. Our 2025 advanced placement or AP scores have been released and we have very much to celebrate. With the exception of three courses, our students significantly outperformed the statewide average uh percentage of passing scores. Most notably, we rece achieved 100% pass rate in AP English, English language, AP English literature, and AP Spanish. >> Wow. >> These results are testaments to the dedication and our teachers, and Mr. Harrow is here
007tonight and the perseverance of our students. So, congratulations. And finally, the board of education has officially begun the process of identifying the next superintendent of Dwarte Unified. A special uh board meeting is scheduled for next Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. during which the board will review proposals from executive search firms specializing in educational leadership. This marks the start of a thoughtful leadership transition as this district prepares for the next chapter following my retirement. So, thank you all for your continued support of Duard Unified. While it may be summer, our dedication to our students never takes a break. That concludes my report. Thank you very much, Dr. Hillman. That's excellent news about the AP exam. Very exciting. All right. Uh we will now move on to the approval of the minutes from the regular meeting from June
00826th, uh 2025. Uh so, do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Motion by board member Reyes. >> Second by board member Hasso. Any discussion? >> Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. I. I >> All right, it passes 50. And next is the approval of the minutes from the special meeting that we held that was held on July 9th, 2025. Do I have a motion to approve those minutes? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by board member Reyes, second by board member Hogin. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. Passes 50. >> Next item of business is the adoption of the consent calendar. Does anyone have any item that they want to remove for separate discussion and or action? Seeing
009none, since we have no objection, may I have a motion to approve the consent calendar as written? >> So move. >> Motion by board member Diaz. >> Second by board member Gin. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Passes 50. All right, we'll move on to first reading of the board policies. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So move second. >> Motion by board member Diaz, second by board member Hasso. Any discussion board? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. Passes 50. And next is the second reading and approval of board policies. Do I have a motion to approve? >> Move to approve. >> Motion by board member Hasso. Second. >> Second by board member Reyes. Any discussion? >> Not a discussion, but um
010the importance of approving the uh this um um gosh, it went away. >> Policy. Thank you. Um it is so important and it take a lot of time really to just read it. I cannot imagine the time that is to put it together. And I I just um I feel very very proud to be uh part of the decision making on this because it it it shows the quality of service that we provide to the kids and many of these policies and so thank you to all of you that put it together. >> Excellent. Thank you very much board member Diaz. Any other items of discussion for this item? All right, seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. >> I. All right, it passes 50. Uh, item six, uh, sorry, 10.6 is, uh,
011just for our information is the construction and modernization project for the July 2025. Next, we'll move on to educational services. Uh, 11.1, this is for the approval of college course substitutions for high school core graduation requirements. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by board member Reyes, second by board member uh Hasso. Right. Yes. >> Uh any discussion, board? >> Yes. Uh Dr. Hillman, could you explain this to the community, please? >> Absolutely. Be happy to. Um Dr. Lawson, did you want to start this off? And I know Mr. Harrow is here as well. So I'll let I'll turn it over to uh Dr. Lawson to get us started. >> All right. So I'm going to go ahead and get it started by sending it over to Mr.
012Haro. We'll talk about the courses. Thank you. >> Hello. Uh as you know, our dual enrollment early college program is uh connected to sisters college back in 2008. Uh when we first met with them and created a CCAP agreement, it was then when we decided um well, first of all, all courses that students take through a dual dual enrollment program uh count for dual credit. they get high school credit and they get uh college uh credit as well obviously but uh all there are a few classes that substitute a core graduation requirement. So back in 2008 we sat with Citrus and we decided which courses should substitute and that was a class that was substitute English 11 a class that was substitute econ and then another class that substitute government and then history. So that's
013been the the process since then. Uh there's been some revisions since then. uh it was uh past time to kind of review those courses to see if they still align. There's been some um courses that have changed from Citrus, some title changes. So, it was just a matter of updating those courses so that it's clear which courses substitute a core graduation requirement. Um, but like I said, every course students do take uh count towards get C, the college A throughG uh credits, but also they all land in the elective category except for the classes that were listed in the um the in action item. And um it was if you want me to prove those I mean or list those, it's again it's going to be English um English 11 gets substituted by college course,
014econ, government, and US history. So that's the reason for the update. Yes. Thank you. You're welcome. >> Thank you. >> I would like to add a little bit to to this uh topic right now. I I can't believe when we starter this program with uh with Citrus College program u early college and Darte was the first district to start participating in that program and then it's everywhere now all the cities around surrounded and to citrus they participate but I I will speak about one student that he start early college when he was at Royal Oaks And then he came to Dwarte Hyde and he continue with the early college and now he's intern uh Susa Pacific and he was the the program was offered for him to the intern to UCLA but because it was
015too hard for the parents to transport him to UCLA they decide to enroll him over here. So that shows how the programs at our VAR high school are working. So thank you. >> Thank you. Yeah, we have so many success stories and uh great stories to share with because of the early college program students double majoring finishing in a couple years and and also just think about the competitiveness uh with today's time. It is extremely competitive. So if student graduates with, you know, 50 credits, college credits under their belt already, it does prove to colleges that this student is very well prepared. So they're they're really competing for top schools in in the country in California especially. >> Thank you. >> And uh Mr. Hart, um do you know roughly what percent of students at
016the high school participate in the early college program? >> Last we checked it was about 23%. >> Wow. >> Yeah. So we expanded as uh I mentioned in the past where it was we do have that strict aligned uh cohort system where sequence of courses but since we opened it up to a kind of a allocart menu then students can take classes here and there uh most recently we were starting a um administrative justice pathway where it's like five classes and students can have a administrative justice certificate which is great for uh employment upon graduation. So because of that we were able to expand a lot now. So >> excellent. That's very impressive. >> Yes, please. Dr. Helman, >> what I wanted to add though too is something really important that that Mr. Haro said
017that yes, there is a cohort. Um but opening up to you called it all a cart. I would also remind everybody to note that this is allows for equitable access. Students can access this. There's no barrier. uh it it it's something that you can access at any time. So maybe you're not ready to start it as a as a freshman. Many are and there's been great success stories around that. But this is not an exclusive program that is unique for certain students. There opens up access for collegegoing college um level uh education to all of our students and I think that's a real testament to the focus that we have on that equity. So thank you. >> Thank you. I would like to just uh publicly mention that uh Norm Anderson's retiring and he was
018an integral part of early college. Um before I got there in '08, he already had relationship with Citrus and um they did a few courses after school uh but it was in 08 when we started the cohort system. So I just want to thank him publicly for all his work he's done uh in his career to you know build this program. So >> excellent. All right board any other questions or comments for >> I have a quick question. Yes. >> On the um the adult education, are the students allowed to take those classes as well? Like for example, chemistry or calculus, something that we can't offer at we don't offer at the high school. Are our students able to take them for credit? >> Adult education. Yeah. So, our our courses that we offer on
019a on the campus are just for our students. >> Um I'm not sure. Can you re rephrase the question? I'm sorry. Are um are the kids allowed or are they able to get credit taking on the adult courses like through MIT? Oh. Um, at MIT, oh, some MIT students do take classes on our campus for the students able to like for example chemistry. I know I had um one of the students um come to me and say, you know, they don't offer chemistry. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you meant college. So, uh they offer their sequence of courses at Mount Olive, uh but they don't take our high school classes, but they are able to take um early college classes with us. And there are a few students that do that. >> The MIT.
020>> Yeah. So, chemistry wouldn't be offered, not from our teachers. However, they do offer through the cells program a variety of A3G courses as well. And I'm pretty sure chemistry is one of them >> through the online system and the teacher support, but not not in person with our teachers. Thank you. You're welcome. >> It is a great report. >> Yes. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> All right. Um, get back to where we were here. Uh, okay. So, that was our discussion part. Um, so any other items of discussion or questions, board? If none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> All right, that passes 5. Next is the 2025 2026 expanded learning opportunities program uh plan update. Uh, so do I have a motion to approve? >> So move. >>
021Second. Motion by board member Diaz, second by board member Reyes. Any discussion? >> Could that be explained to the community, please? >> Absolutely. Dr. Lawson, would you like to uh explain that for the community for the expanded learning program? So um every three years the expanded learning opportunities program plan has to be revised and so we are at the three-year mark we need to make revisions and um the only changes to the plan we are we have our extended learning opportunity program through our think together program. So we work with think together and so the only change to the program is a few revisions to titles. Um some of the titles have been adjusted to align with the work that the people do. So, that's the only change, but it's still the same services, still
022the same hours, still servicing our students in uh TK through sixth grade um after school programs and then the um non-instructional days that we provide for us and then what we have in the summer as well. So, the only change is just a few titles for the job descriptions, but they'll continue to provide the same services to our students that they provided in the past. And if anything changes, it's a living document, so we'll go back and make revisions as needed. So if for example we're not able to offer NID or something changes, we'll go back and make those adjustments. But every 3 years you have to make it but ongoing you can make those changes as well because it's a living document. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> All right. Thank you very
023much Dr. Lawson. Any other questions from the board? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. All right. That passes 50. Next uh is to receive for information the notice of the rights and responsibilities of parents, guardians, and students for the 2025 2026 school year. Uh additionally, we have to receive for information the back to school night calendar for the 2025 2026 school year. Feel like we just got out of school and now we're going back to school already. So, but we got to get these on our calendar because it it gets busy at the beginning of the year. >> Uh all right, so we'll now move on to business and finance. Uh this is item 12.1. This is a settlement agreement with options for youth Darti Incorporated. Do I have
024a motion to approve? >> Move to approve. >> Second. >> Motion by board member Diaz. Second by board member Oggin. Any discussion board? >> Yes. Dr. Hillman, why are we doing this? >> Miss Bell, would you like to uh start us off on the explanation for why we're doing this? Uh >> so OFY is we're part of the SULPA with OFY and the SULPA provides funds um for the services provided to the students at OFY. There has been more over the last four five years um questions about how we pay OFY based upon what was provided to them with the SULPA. So this is the settlement what is paid the selflets. It was usually like a pass through account. So money is provided to them and it's supposed to pass through our funds and then
025go to them. We held the funds until they could explain to us how we're paying for their students. And so there was a settlement because there was an amount that was more than what we're settled for. So, um, we decided to proceed with a possible settlement as opposed to paying the funds that they said that we owed. And we prevailed and we came up with we I think it was earlier in the year. We set aside the $7.5 million and that was the resolution we brought to commit the funds because we wanted to make sure we had it when the settlement came through. The settlement came through for 7 million. And so then we'll now take the 500,000 and put it back um into the general fund. >> And so that's what the settlement is.
026>> And so what was the reasoning that those four years they didn't they were not paid or the past few >> it wasn't that they weren't paid. They were paid some some monies. It was going back and forth like at one point off the top of my head it was before I was here. Let's say maybe 22 23. No I was here then. It was prior to that we paid a lump sum of money and then they sent some of the money back and we said well why did you send it back? They didn't know why and then there was a lot of change in the SUPA with personnel. people left and then that information that historical information left. Then I InZ came, George came, I came and nobody had any of the historical information
027because everybody left and so we were just trying to understand and then there were changes in OFY staff and so there was this money that was passed through but in the pass through it says you should pay for um special ed kids services and these type of things. So I said well if we did that then show me the kids we paid for and show me the services. Gotcha. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> And this will be uh the last time we will do this. At this point, OFY is no longer with us in the SULPA. They're in a different SULPA. So, their funding won't come be coming through us. So, this is a settle settlement for what we owe them. So, we won't be going doing this again. >> Great. That's great. because
028I know they this this kind of has h well it opposite in Santa Ana with uh the arts orange county the arts and they owe they owe them while they they settled to 12 million and now because they haven't been paying and interest compounding they owe them it's back up to about 19 million that they owe Santa Ann Santa unified so I'm glad that we're not involved in anything like that here. That's great. Thank you. >> All right. Any other discussion on this item board? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Passes 50. Next, we have resolution number 01-25-26 for education protection account. Do I have a motion to approve? >> Move to approve. >> Second. Motion by board member Reyes, second by board member Diaz. Any discussion? Board.
029Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Passes 50. Uh, and then we have resolution 02-25-26 for the board of education of Dart Unified School District to release committed funds fund balance. So, uh, do I have a motion to approve? >> Move to approve. >> Second. Motion by board member Diaz, second by board member Hasso. >> Is there any discussion? >> Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> All righty. Thank you very much. Board, we'll now move on to the non-aggendaized items. Uh so we'll go ahead and um why don't we start actually down with Mr. Reyes. Everybody have a have a good night. We're gonna try to break a record tonight. >> See you see you on Wednesday. >> Alrighty. Alrighty. Thank you. Um >> Okay, we
030can we can continue. All right. So, uh board member Hasso then. >> All right. And on that note, yes, we'll see you on Wednesday as the board is tasked with um their most important job as we uh delve into this selection process for our next superintendent. >> Yes. >> All right, board member Holene. >> Wow, pressure. Well, um have a couple things. I'll make it quick. Um I got a chance to um go to the high school and visit the international kids this week on Monday. It was pretty cool. Um they were uh they had a basketball camp and they were um also they split the kids up um with um creating creators. They were having a great time and um I want to thank the maintenance the custodians. I mean they're doing a great
031job. I got out there and they were polishing the floors. I didn't know they did all that and I I mean I know they did but I'd never seen it and it was it was great. They had all the desk out, everything out. It looks the classrooms I saw that they had completed look great. So, thank you everybody. Have a great evening. >> All right. Thank you very much. Board member Diaz. >> Can you believe that I don't have nothing else to say but thank you to your cabinet and to Mercedes for sending the information that we need to be prepared up here. So, that's it for me. >> All right. Sounds good. Well, I I I will not go on too much, but I I did want to just um quickly read a a
032quote um since we are in the the summer season and there is some traveling that happens there. Um and I I just I saw this um this quote on a on a headstone in a graveyard. Um so, uh but but I thought it was it was uh fitting. So, it says uh travel isn't always pretty. It isn't comfortable. Sometimes it hurts. It even breaks your heart. But that's okay. The journey changes you. It should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind. Uh, and I I just really like that quote. um you know because we we are traveling uh during the summer but I think we're also just traveling through life and um as
033as this quote says it it is not always easy it's not always pretty um but as we as we move through it it can have a great impact uh not only on our own lives but also if we seek to do good to others uh it can have a great impact on their lives. So, um I just want to to leave that thought with you all um as we uh enjoy our summer. And um I I I do want to do a small little shout out to uh my son Ethan who will now be able to help us travel on our road trips this summer because he just got his driver's license today. Uh so if you do see him uh around Darti, give him a wide birth. Uh and um just just be nice
034to him. Don't honk too much. All right. Uh so I think that is it for me. Dr. Helman, did you have anything you wanted to share? >> Very quickly, just realizing that this is our last regular the next regular board meeting. Now, we're going to have some other board meetings involved with the superintendent search, I'm sure. But the next regular board meeting will be after school starts. School starts August 13th. >> Good night, everybody. >> All right. Good night. All right. So, uh, do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Motion by board member Reyes, second by board member Hasso. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> 7:30. Everybody. >> Ti. Tied the record.