001Good evening, Dardi community. Uh, the board has just returned from close session and we took no action at that meeting. So, we'll go ahead and call to order this regular meeting of the Darti Unified School District Board of Education uh for March 13 at 7:13 p.m. Uh we'll go ahead and start with a roll call. Uh board member Diaz, present. Board member Finley, present. Board member Hogin, present. Board member Hasso, present. Board member Reyes, here. board representative from Darti High School, Priscilla Nabarete here. Excellent. Uh and Dr. Hillman, uh is all of your staff and cabinet here? Staff and I we're all here. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you very much. Uh oh, and sorry. Um uh board member Diaz is going to make a quick announcement. I just announced that we have a translation to
002Spanish for anyone who would like to use the service. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you very much, board member Diaz. All right, we'll now move on to our flag salute, which will be done by board member Hasso. Please stand. Place your right hand over your heart. 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. All right. And next we will have our beliefs, vision, and mission. Uh will be presented to us by board member Reyes. Yes, 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
003connects to their lives. We believe expectations do influence performances 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, board member Reyes. Uh we'll now move on to item number seven, which is the adoption of the agenda. Um I do want to point out that we do have a an amendment to the agenda. Um on this is for uh resolution um which is the reduction or discontinuous of particular kinds of service. Uh the resolution had originally stated uh discontinue high school anatomy 0.6 FTE
004and has been amended uh and revised to read reduce high school anatomy 0.4 FTE. Uh as a result of this change the total certificated positions will adjust from 6.8 FTE to 6.6 FTE. Uh so do I have a motion to approve this amended agenda? So move. Second motion by board member Diaz, second by board member Hogin. Is there any discussion board? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? None. Thank you very much. Motion passes. So Dr. Hillman, we can now move on to item number eight, which is a spotlight on our very own Maxwell Academy. Wonderful. Good evening, everybody. As we like to do most of our meetings, we like to spotlight one of our fabulous programs. And tonight we are spot shining in spotlight on Maxwell Academy and is Missra
005the illustrious principal will come up to the podium. Good evening Missra and I'll let you take it from here. Awesome. Thank you. Good evening board and community and team Maxwell. All right, next slide, please. So, my presentation tonight uh focuses on team Maxwell. Next slide. Together. Oh, it looks really funny online. Okay, pretend it's stretched out. It should say together, everyone achieves more. Next slide. Oh, they're all going to be like this. Okay, good times. Technology is everyone's best friend at the same time as our worst nightmare, right? Uh Maxwell Academy is an international balorate school and so we're a part of a global team where everyone is striving to achieve uh this these aims and so I'm going to read them to you um because it's hard to read. So the international balora aims
006to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. These programs encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people with their differences can also be right. Next slide. So, um, not just globally, but certainly at Maxwell, parents, students, staff, and community, we're all in this together. Next slide. So, we're going to focus for a few minutes on our parents. Our parents share, they teach, they learn, and they strive for more. As evidenced by this is a parent who came with her student to our school to teach everyone about epilepsy. And so they presented um and then uh donated the book what is epilepsy um so our students could continue to learn but parents
007as educators. Next slide please. We participate with parents. They engage. They spend time and they grow. This is a photo of our annual family reading night where parents are encouraged to come with their students and engage in meaningful literacy activities. Next slide, please. Our students, we celebrate and we cheer. This is a photo of two classes. It is our moderate to severe medically fragile TK through three class participating along with our uh general education TK class. And what you can't see on the screen is they are celebrating and learning about football and the Super Bowl together. Our next slide focuses on how we care and we show love for each other among our students. This is Meline sharing that we can all be the eye in kind. And this was uh as a school we
008celebrated World Kindness Day. We encourage and we support uniqueness, passion, talents and gifts. This is one of our students that um does his academic day with us and then uh attends CS Arts for the School of Dance. And he is a break dancer and so he is performing um which we have him do often um but in this case he was performing for a holiday celebration um for some younger students. So Mr. Dylan Pack on his head. We're together. No matter what our differences are, we work together. This is a photo from the math literacy project. And I do want to shout out that this was something that was an opportunity given to our students um from Dr. Kirkwood. Um and our students got to engage in mathematical critical thinking activities where they didn't know
009they were doing math. And so this is a race uh between students who created cars that were propelled by mouse traps. Um so they worked in groups and then they had a competition. And this photo is really important because what you don't see is that there are students of every ability level in that photo and you wouldn't know. All students got to engage in the math literacy project. Next slide please. our staff. We grow, we learn, and we improve together. Again, this is a opportunity given to our staff. This was Kagan, and we participated along with Valley View in our trainings this year. And so, this was our professional development session. And very new as of a couple hours ago, when one of us wins, we all win. And uh front and center in the
010back row is Miss Andrea Stalder who is our recently um our recently uh crowned I guess would be the appropriate word uh district teacher of the year and um her squad all showing up to support her. Next slide. Yeah, you can give her a round of applause. It was very exciting. [Applause] The Y is missing because it got squished. I promise there was a Y there earlier. We celebrate culture and we learned from each other. This is a photograph of one of the 77 international students that we hosted at Maxwell this first semester uh into second semester. And these are international students with their ambassadors after spending a week together. So, they're celebrating. Um, a big thing at Maxwell is our foam fingers. Um, our motto being we succeed to the max plus one. So,
011they all got to go back to uh China with their foam fingers. We are one community achieving more together. This is our uh annual family IB night where we invite everyone including families but also community members to come and engage and learn about what it is that we do as a international balorate school. Uh facilitating learning through inquiry based and conceptbased instruction. So I just want to say to everyone here, thank you for being a part of the Maxwell team. Thank you. Thank you very much for that great presentation. I I was looking at uh that break dancer and I was thinking um I I think I've probably had a couple of times in my life when I've been in that position and it was not because I was break dancing, it was because I
012fell. Um so that's that's really admirable. Uh so um thank you for the presentation board. Any questions or comments? just thank you so much and for highlighting everything that you're doing over at Maxwell. I'd like to say that I am very proud to see all the successful all the success that is going on at Maxwell and um do you mind to ask all your staff to come forward? I would love for them all to come forward. Would you all come and join me please? [Applause] We even have a mini member. I see that. Very cool. As they come up, I want to point out one thing that was in the in the slide that you didn't mention. I'm going to call you out, Miss Demstro. I'm sorry. But also in that one picture just taken
013a few hours earlier was the Maxwell classified employee of the year. You go ahead. take it from there. I appreciate I will. Yes, we recognize Andrea Stalder as our Maxwell class uh certificated person of the year, but we also recognize Miss Cindy Duffin, who is our office manager, who is our classified. My absolute apologies. Uh Andrea Stalder will continue as the district, so I should have made that distinction. Thank you'all. And I like to say that um seeing that I know today we have a lot of teachers from different schools, but today since we are celebrating Maxwell as we do every month and for the different schools, I will say that you because I live about only two blocks away from Maxville. I hear the the bell. I hear all everything. I can hear the
014kids running and um but I will say that I some of you have changed so many lives that two of my nieces went through Maxwell school and one is a pharmacist doctor and the other one is a registered nurse and it's amazing when you see all the successful stories that come out from Maxwell. Thank you for being there for giving your life to the students. Um, I see teachers that are second generation impacting kids' lives and I'm very proud to see all the teachers and and when it's time for the schools to come and make their presentation, I make the different comments, but it's is it's amazing just to see how can teachers change lives. Thank you for being the second mothers of many of the students that we have in our district. Thank you.
015Thank you. [Applause] All right. Uh, well, thank you very much. It was excellent to have you here. Wonderful presentation and thank you all for what you do. Thank you. [Applause] All right. Uh, so we'll now move on to the recognitions portion of our meeting. Uh so we are going to go ahead and I'll turn the time over to um Dr. Hillman to introduce the recognitions portions of the evening. Maybe. I hope so. I'm calling out the administrators from our high school. Come on up. Mr. Haro, principal of Darty High School, is going to give them a round of applause. He's got a lot of fans in the crowd. Hi everyone. Thank you for having me. It's my privilege and honor to be here this evening to recognize some of our athletes from the winter sports.
016Uh we're here to celebrate them for having a great season and working hard in the classroom and achieving on the field as well. So, we're celebrating our wrestlers, our boys and girls basketball teams, and our boys and girls soccer teams. So, I'm going to first call on the academic scholars. So, between the sports that I just mentioned, um, every for every team, what they do is they look across the league for all the schools, there's six schools in our league, and they get the top GPA uh earners. So they're awarded with a special recognition for being great athletes and also academic scholars. So they take the top tier students. So these are kids who probably I mean not exactly always but around 3.8 and above. So uh they're doing great things in the classroom and
017still being able to play a varsity sport which is a great commitment and a testament to their hard work. So I first going to call on for the um those sports for academic uh scholar awards. So I when I call your name, please come forward to be recognized. Um, academic scholar Jason [Applause] Velasquez, academic scholar, Genesis [Applause] Mathenina, Samantha Samantha Arianiano, Hannah Malone, Carter Newan, Jonathan [Applause] Castanetta, Victoria [Applause] Ramirez, Selena Banuelos, [Applause] One more round of applause for our academic scholars. Make sure [Music] All right, good job. Thank you. Okay, now let's recognize our wrestlers. Um, they did had a great season. I'd like to first call on and congratulate uh our coach. He's 10th year, 10th season. He's really developed the program. Uh he started off with just boys and then it grew
018to girls. And you know the thing about our wrestling team and pretty much all our sports were open access. So what we do is if you don't know the particular sport like wrestling, we'll take you in and we'll coach you up. And he does a great job with that. Getting new new wrestlers and being able to coach them up and become true hardcore wrestlers. So, our girls and boys did an awesome um uh had a great season. Oh, I didn't mention his name. Mr. Josh Perez. Thank you, Josh [Applause] Perez. So, what you're going to hear now are wrestlers who ended up in top four uh at least fourth place. So, third place, second place, and then league champion. To be in fourth place in your in for your weight class is a great achievement
019because you're talking about like six different schools all coming together. So being top four um is a great achievement to be that that special and that that um such a great wrestler. So in um in fourth place for girls wrestling in our league we have Genesis [Applause] Maththenina who's also an academic scholar. Third place Mr. Damon [Applause] Ma. Congrats, Damon. Second place, Naomi [Applause] Delgado. Now on to the champions. That means first place in the entire league, Mr. Jack [Applause] Contas. All league champions. Adalius Tjo. [Applause] Another Ali champion. Camila Alonzo. All league champion. Lzth Godina. All league champion. Jason Velasquez. And that's our awesome wrestlers. Hand of applause. Picture. Parents, feel free to come up and take a picture of your son or daughter. One more, mama. All right, Falcon wrestlers and [Applause] gentlemen.
020Okay, we're going to recognize our boy soccer all league honors. Uh just like wrestling, if you're a top uh athlete in your position, what they the league comes together and decides the best players for the entire league. So to be mentioned as honorable mention, second place or first place all league is a great achievement. So for our boys soccer team, we have honorable mention Mr. Oliver Varial. Honorable mention Anthony Angel. Second team Ali. Second team all league. Jonathan [Applause] Castaneda. First team all league. Christian Correra Salenas. First [Applause] team. All right. Now on to the girls. Uh why don't we keep the boys up here and we'll do the girls and boys together. How's that sound? All right. So for the girls, they had a great season. They ended up in second place this season.
021Great job, guys. WCIF was a great achievement. I'd like to first call on our awesome and wonderful coach and one of our employees for our district, Mr. Javier. Coach Javier, come on down. Come on down. Him and his wife have really grown the program this year. We had three teams. We haven't had three teams in girls soccer in a very long time. So, that just a testament to their what they develop, the culture that they developed there. So, congratulations. Thank you for all you do, coach. First team, no I'm sorry. All league honorable mention Victoria Gos. Honorable mention Catty Martinez Funez. That's probably Katie. Sorry. Second team all league. Leilani Prado. Praau. It's a tongue twister. I'm sorry. Second team Ollie, Sophia Conjo. First team, first team Ollie, Samantha MS, first team Ali, Sai Mcdana,
022Cani Mcdana, and that's our fabulous Falcon soccer boys and girls team. Round of applause, everyone. Picture Parents, make your way for picture. We just have basketball left. If you're cursed, Coach, get in there. Good job. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Last sport is basketball. Our girls and boys had a great season. Our girls in particular, they did outstanding. Uh once again they went to playoffs. Uh they got second place. Um they had a wonderful great season. They're not here tonight, but I do want to shout out coach Shakan and coach Darnell for a great um great season. So all league honorable mention girls basketball. We got Ariel Low. All league honorable mention Savannah Vasquez. Second team, Ali Naomi De Ganon and she's only a freshman. Alli, second team, Victoria [Applause] Ramirez. Second
023team all league, Alis Alyssa Ramos. First team all league Selena [Music] [Applause] Banuelos and academic scholar first team all league Valeria Nunees first team all league Crystal Moran Crystal Moran and there's our girls basketball [Music] team. Yeah. Quick picture, please. Boys, you're up next. Great job everyone. A lot of these students like them three right there, they're all multi-sport athletes. A lot of them play three varsity sports and great athletes and great academic scholars. They're just wonderful, awesome Falcons. Okay, boys basketball. Another great season. Uh we're going to mention honorable mention and all league. So first up, all league. This name kind of sounds familiar for some reason. All league honorable mention Ethan Finley. [Applause] You had a volleyball game today also. Uh all I want to mention David [Applause] Rebecci Jenner Marcos. Second team
024all league Jeremy Nge where's our boys basketball team. Second team all league. Pao Cordetto. Paulo, where are you? First team all league. First team Ike Deance out here. First team all league. Nathan Petra. I messed that up. I know I did. Nate Nathan. Let me let me see that name. Let's say your name to me. Pretzer. That's not that hard. First team Ali, Mr. Jan Wade, al also a tri sport athlete. And that is our basketball team. Congratulations to all our winter sports for a great season. Thank you. [Applause] That's all our sports. That's it. [Applause] So, uh, we we're going to take a a recess right now. There are cupcakes over there on the table, and we would Oh. Oh, sorry. Sorry. We do we do have one more quick recognition and then we'll
025get the cupcakes. Sorry, my bad. That was my fault. So, we do want to uh recognize one individual. It's a staff member. Uh overall, just an awesome awesome staff member. She works her tail off to make sure that students all have a great experience throughout the four years of life uh high school uh with not just um her classroom teaching, but also the activities that she plans. Uh this is our ASB director who works tirelessly to build the school spirit of our school. Come on up, Lisa Bow. and she started walking up here. Because of her and her ASB students, we have great activities and high school spirit. Without them, it'd be a very boring place because they work so hard to bring great activities to our student body. So, I want to thank her
026for all her hard work as an ASB director and a teacher. But tonight we're giving her a special recognition, a special thank her uh thank you for all the work she does around the blood drives because she works really hard with with our community partner and education partner city of hope to create uh these experiences for our students to be able to donate blood and teach them the importance of giving back. Um so we have them throughout the year but it takes a lot of hard work and energy to make that happen. So, we want to thank her for her work around uh that. And we also have someone to also present a little special thank you for her from our City of Hope Educational Partner, Mr. Francis Bong. Thank you, Principal Harl. Uh good
027evening, President Dr. Finley, board of trustees, and the Darte community. The city of Full Blood Donor Center is a place where courage and kindness begin. Our partnership with Doh High School has been instrumental in saving countless lives. Over the past two decades, this collaboration has resulted in more than 30 blood drives. Each drop of blood collected going directly to our cancer patients in need. Tonight, we recognize Dorise High School's remarkable partnership with City of Hope and celebrate the ex exceptional leadership of Miss Lisa Bowden. Miss Bowden has been a tireless force in coordinating blood drives at Dhy High School, whose unwavering dedication has not only impacted the lives of countless cancer patients, but has also inspired future generations of donors. In recognition of her outstanding service, leadership, and commitment, I am honored to present the
028City of Hope Champion Award to Miss Lisa Balden. [Applause] take a picture. No, that's it. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to take a picture and after that, um, we'll take a short recess, if I may, uh, Dr. Finley. After that, we'll take a short recess so we can have some cupcakes. All right, Dardi community, we are going to begin to move along with the agenda. If there's any cupcakes left, please grab one and have a seat if you would kindly do that. Um, all right. I believe now we are moving on to our presentation section of the agenda. This is item number 10.1. Uh so Dr. Hillman, would you mind introducing our presenter? I'll ask Miss Bell um to bring up our first presentation. Did you want to announce the first presentation of
029our annual audit? This is our auditor from Christy White and she will present our audit report tonight. Thank you. Okay. I was like, good evening everyone. Um, like Miss Bell mentioned, my name is Natalie Palma and I will be talking about the audit for the 24, excuse me, 23 24 fiscal year audit um, report. Um, I thought I'd go over some of our procedures, kind of explain our process and the things that we take a look at, and then at the end I'll go over our general um, opinions and our findings that we found or uh, yeah. So this year we conducted the audit and it covers a broad range of areas that includes school site testing which includes the audit of attendance and ASV. We documented and tested internal controls in areas such as
030purchasing cash dispersements by taking a look at checks and invoices and purchase orders. We tested payroll procedures by taking a look at time cards and personnel files. And we also took a look at cash receipt procedures by taking a look at invoices, receipts, and deposits. We also conducted a single audit which includes the testing of internal controls and program compliance over the education stabilization funds also known as the gear or ESSER funds. We also tested state compliance in areas as such as instructional materials, admin teacher ratio, the school accountability report cards or the SARCS as I know they're also called, and the unduplicated local control funding formula um pupil counts. And finally, we tested all the June 30th, 2024 balance sheet accounts such as cash, accounts receivables, accounts payables, capital assets, long-term debt with revenues
031and expenditures across all district funds. And we did this by taking a look at bank statements, reconciliations, debt statements, um, and capital asset listings. So, our overall financial statement opinion, state compliance opinion, and federal compliance opinion were all unmodified, which is the best opinion that you can receive. Um, there were no financial statement or federal or state compliance findings this year, which is always a good news. Um, so a lot of the previous year findings that you guys have had have all been implemented and there weren't any issues with that in this year. Um, so that's basically the overview and our opinion and all I really had for you guys. I did want to thank everyone at the district. It's not easy getting all of the information that we asked for. I know we're always
032bugging her through emails and our online porter for a lot of samples. So, I did want to thank everyone at the district for working with us. Did anyone have any questions for me? Uh, board, any questions for Miss Palma? Well, more than questions, I would want to make a comment that since we received this information, we are very pleased to see um the changes that we've been able that the staff has been able to fix it. And so we are very proud I am very proud of that and um I think that we even though that is uh today was the presentation I think that is a big responsibility for me to go over again and again and again of many pages that we have in into this document. So thank you for the information
033information that you give us today. Yeah. Yeah. I know it's a it's a big report. So, if at any time outside of today you guys do have any questions, we're always, you know, available through email. Tiffany has our information. Um, give us a call or anything and we would be more than glad to clarify anything. Any other questions board? More than a question I want to ask. Yeah. If it is, if it is a point where you will say you really did it something that you can be proud that we made it. What will be I mean you guys did great this year. There's I mean I think the best thing is really that finding like I feel like every time I go to a district they always go and look at the last page
034to see if there's no findings. And I feel like if there are no findings as far as we're concerned you guys are doing great. Um, so I think you guys are already on the right track of being like you guys did it. Um, maybe I don't know, maybe doing it more timely because I know you guys had to do extensions, but that's probably, you know, the only room of improvement from that we see, but other than that, you know, it didn't, you know, arise in a finding, so I think it didn't wasn't that big of a deal at the end. And I just have a comment. Um, I just think it's important to um, highlight the complexities that are encompassed in this report. And so it's a 98 page report. And so even though we're
035getting a pat on the back and the good job and we definitely want to highlight that, there's a lot of information in here. And um, I think we'd be remiss to oversimplify the complexities of everything that's presented in here, too. And so just, um, I just wanted to make that comment. Yeah. Um, you if you wanted to specify, we're talking about looking at plenty of things that we ask from the district. We ask for a lot of samples. We take a look at a lot of checks and invoices and purchase orders. We talk to personnel. Um, and that report highlights a lot of tables like capital assets, the long-term debt, and it's a lot of complex things that we we take a look at. So, definitely there is a lot of complexity in the report.
036Um, can can you just I guess talk a little bit about this? You said unmodified. Is that the the rating that we're we're going for here? So So does that that means then that based on what you found, there was really nothing that had to be changed in in sort of our processes and the way things are handled financially at the district. Yes. So that essentially means that based off of our audit, there wasn't anything significant or any significant deficiencies or material misstatements that we found that would have I guess an um a modified that would have garnered a modified opinion which is what you're kind of saying where you probably there's I mean I don't know if intuitively I guess that's what it would mean that there should be any modifications that are done
037once you know if we do find something but yes essentially unmodified means that there wasn't really anything that you had to do uh to significantly change your processes or your procedures. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Yeah. Any other questions or comments, board, before we let Miss Palma go? All right. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thank you. Of course. Thank you for having me. Have a good evening. Thank you. All right. So, we can now move on to our item 10.2, two, which will be Miss Bell. I know you guys always laugh at me walk around the carpet and floor. Good evening, board. Tonight, we will present the second interim report. So in this particular report, we're going to look at our actual revenues and expenditures as of January 31st, 2025, your revenue
038and expenditure variances since the adopted budget, and your multi-year projections. The budget cycle starts in June when we adopt the budget and goes through September. We are at the second interim budget report now. This slide is regarding enrollment in ADA. So you've heard this constantly. You've heard it over the last couple of days. Where we are in enrollment and where we are in ADA. So your enrollment is actually who's enrolled and your ADA is who actually came to school and was counted that day. These are the numbers. At this point, our ADA is funded at about $13,600. You will notice the decline in enrollment, but you've heard that at Nauseium. So, we'll go to the next slide. Our funded ADA. This was developed after COVID to establish a baseline. So, it took your last three
039years of ADA and averaged it so we would get a higher amount of income. And this is where we are today. So, it shows your funded ADA and then your um your UP count. your up count should be above um 55 because that's part of your supplement on concentration and as of today your the upp count is your unduplicated pupil percentage that encompasses your foster your homeless your ELLL there's one more low income this is our slide so that you can see that we continue to monitor our budget and to see where we are when we start from adopted budget, first interim, second interim. So I always try to show you the changes so you can see that along the year that we're probably usually right on the money on where we say we're going
040to be. So you see the difference in your local control funding. Um it went down about $95,000 and then your federal revenues went down. It changed about $855,000 um state revenues. And so we the difference was about $200,000 a difference from your first from first interim to now. So I'm not sure. And why did it go down? Is that students lack of students or I'm going to explain each category and then I'll tell you as I go. So your local control funding is in that bucket of money is your ADA, is your grades span, your supplemental concentration. Um there's extra money for your grades span. So for TK, kindergarten, and high school, we get a a additional amount of money for that. So then we'd have to look at our grades span, who lost, who
041went down like that. So you start seeing a decrease when you see the drop in enrollment. Then we kind of look at our grades bands and see where they fell. Um, your federal revenues are usually like all your titles, and those are usually restricted monies. Your state revenues are property tax, state grants, your lotteryies, your ELP, think Together, ACES, and things like that. your local revenue is usually donations and sales tax. So what we look at is um how many usually for your local control funding it's based mainly on your ADA. So we might have said there should be this amount of students but second in a row when it all pans out it looks like maybe we didn't receive as many students as we thought and so this is usually the drop is not
042necessarily that's the reason but that's more of the line that's where we go because the most of your money in that bucket is your ADA. Next question. Next slide, please. So, the revenue variances, so our LCF minimal changes, $200,000 is not that big of a deal. Um, so that's we have minimal changes in our LCFF. Our other federal revenues, our SPE reduction in funds. Um, other state revenues, there were minimal changes in that. Local revenues, they increased um to budget the interest of medical billing options. And so what happens is that we provide for medical billing, for those of you who don't know what that means, we provide students with services and supplies who qualify and then we're reimbursed. So this is our unrestricted. And so when we usually talk about the um budget, we
043want to make sure because people look at unrestricted and restricted. So we want to show you first unrestricted, then restricted, then we'll show you the multi-year with them all together. The unrestricted usually is just we can spend money on things usually people um contracts our benefits and those type of things. So our certificated salaries are usually for our teachers classified as anybody else that usually is not a teacher. Our benefits are health and welfare supplies or office supplies or books or anything instructional services are like internet contracts, transportation. Capital outflow is outlay is usually equipment, building improvements. Other outgo is when we move money to another fund. Your indirect costs, it's like administration fee that we pay to maintain the grants that we receive. So those what those that's what those buckets are. So you'll
044see first interim, second interim, you'll see the differences. So at the end of first interim, second interum, there's like a almost a $2 million difference on what we thought it would be at first interim. So then when we come back at the adopted budget, we'll show you another difference. So it shows that, you know, things changed what we did and what we dropped. So we're like less than what we assumed at first interim, which is good because we want to continue to try to decrease our expenditures. Next slide, please. The restricted expenditures are things that we have rules for. We can only spend this money on this particular program. These people fall in these program, these books, these things like that. We can only spend restricted on money on things that are already outlined. So
045this is what we have. We have some salaries in restricted funds or some of our benefits because they're tied to the salaries, some of the supplies because this particular program says we can buy these particular we can participate in this program and use these supplies under this restriction. So remember that restricted money has a rule and we have to use it based upon that rule. And with that we were pretty close. We were short maybe we went down about $259,000 about $260,000 which again is good because from first intersection interum we you show that we decreased our expenditures about by $260,000. Next slide please. So this is our combined unrestricted and restricted general fund expenditures. So we've read that across the top. So we'll look at your total expenditures at the bottom. So at first
046interim we said about 59 million and then second interim about 56 million. So again you see that is $2.1 million difference in that we reduced our expenditures by that. Next slide please. So variances. So salary and benefits. Um we had a reduction by attrition. people retired, people left, and when they left, we didn't have to fill their positions. Um, reduction in contracted services. So, again, part of our budget stabilization plan was to go back and look at all of our contracts and make sure they were actually being utilized and if they should be utilized for those particular programs or people. We were able to reduce some of our contracts. And then we had an increase in our property and liability program. That's what our joint powers authority for insurance. That's just because we seven other
047districts in the area and we have there's just we're the smallest. Well, I'm sorry. Valley Lendo is the smallest. We're the next smallest. So, we took a hit on the increase in property and liability because we're in a pool and our pool includes Arcadia, Dorti, Burbank, Glendel. So, Burbank and Linda are the highest um West Coina Valley Lindo and Temple City and San Marino. Your favorite slide. Here we go. So before I start I want you to make there's a mistake on the contributions line under unrestricted that first one should be red like negative 10,86161. So this is our information and so you will look at your unrestricted amount of money and your restricted money and then the total. So this is for your three years 24 25 26 and 26 27. You will see
048that um If you go across, you will see that your expenses your expenses are more than your revenues at about almost $2 million. And so this is the things that we need to look at. So you will see going across um 2425 I believe it's 2.8 8 and then you see at 2526 where it compounds about 4.3 and then 2627 about 3.5 and I want you to remember that a budget is ever changing. So this number could be this way today but in we continue until the end when we present to you the unodudited actuals. So these are all remember estimates of what we're doing throughout the year. The transfers are money that we set aside for um we have a we have a dispute with our SULPA at this moment. And so this is
049about what we think we owe regarding um funds for that. And so that is set in reserve for that. That's what that $8 million transfer will be out of unrestricted. Your contributions are maintenance, usually set aside for maintenance and special ed. So that's why you'll see it red and unrestricted because we take it from unrestricted to put it in restricted to balance it out. So those numbers will always be the same as they go across the slide. So that's why I said this one. I'm sorry my mistake. This should have been red the first one under unrestricted. Your total deficit would be about $10 million. So your beginning balance is about and this is I'm looking at 2425 and you can go across but 2425 your beginning balance is what you after after you've spent
050everything, it was your ending balance last time. So, it becomes your beginning balance, what you start with for the next year. Restatements are um any corrections we make throughout the year. Um if we, you know, if something was unrestricted and we made it restricted, we then that becomes a restatement. Um our ending balance is what we have at the end of the year after we spent everything. Our 3% is your total expenditures. Um, and that's the 3% of your total expenses. Your committed leftover is your unrestricted ending balance minus your revolving cash minus your economic uncertainties. So, our committed leftover for 2425 is $9.9 million. Your um under 2526 is $7 million and for 2627 is $3.9 million. Remember that your committed leftover is what you have left over, but it takes $3.8 million to
051make payroll a month. Next slide, please. Usually in your multi-year projection assumptions, I give you three years, but I wanted to make sure that you understood and you watched the committed leftover go down and decrease in every year. So, in 2627, it's estimate that we'd have $3.9 million. And remember, I just told you it takes 3.8 8 million to make payroll. 2728 then we're back negative at $800,000. Next slide, please. Our fund cash balance, all of our funds are positive. General fund, adult ed, cafeteria, our bonds, those things are all positive. Next slide. The district is submitting the second interim report with the positive certification. We ask that the board approve that. Um this means that the board the district will meet its financial obligations for the current year and the two out fiscal years.
052We also have an approved which I hope you review the above uh updated budget stabilization plan which outlines what we would do to continue to remain solvent based upon our recommendation from Lego and FBA. That is it. Are there any questions? Thank you very much Miss Bell. Any questions for Miss Bell? So going going back to the page that had the transfers, the multi-year budget projection assumption. Yes, sir. How how is it that uh we may or we do owe SULPA $8 million? There is a discrepancy on what should have been paid. And so we have our attorneys involved and we are trying to establish what they say we owe and what they say they owe based upon their students. our students or their students? Our student. It's our It's OL's students and ours. Oh,
053okay. So, it's for It's for OL. The self money is for OL. It's for both. It's for both them and them and us. So, Miss Bell, um, the the committed leftover, I know that that sounds, I guess, self-explanatory to probably some people, but I just want to make sure I fully understand that. So, when it is a committed leftover, it is not leftover money like it's money that's up for grabs. It is already has a purpose and a job that it is committed to. It's just left over from once you subtract everything. Yes, I see. Okay, Miss um Bill, would you please in the in the same page um would you please uh elaborate a little bit more in about the def deficit surplus line? The deficit surplus is the difference between your expenses and
054your revenues. Okay. And um the uh the the last red in your right side, the last one, the total that's the difference. Yes. Okay. And what did that means? That we're operating in um we have we have a deficit where we're our expenses are more than our revenues. So we are spending more money than we are receiving and and I gonna play the devil in here. I um why there is some assumption uh that we high money? What do you open your doors to especially to the teachers or the people that are interested in our budget? How did this how can we be um I feel that we are a team this is a a team player play players and but at the end every school district is the same thing they you know we
055are here teachers are there but that's not the way they should be how can I explain and I I'm not going to say the board how can I explain to a teacher we are not hiding anything something that's that's really tough for me and I know that you and I have been having conversations. I go and check the budget. I see a lot but at the end I tonight is for me a time to say what is going to happen if we just keep doing what we're doing in a couple of years spending what we don't have. I I believe that hide money is just a catchphrase. Um there's no benefit in hiding money. There's checks and balances. You just heard the audit that we have a clear audit that we do everything that we're
056supposed to do. Um we have checks and balances. So it's myself, we have an auditor, we have a consult, a budgeting consultant, we have LEO, and we have Figma. All those agencies oversee us, oversee Dearti, oversee me. So if they haven't found the money, that's their job to help us. So the money isn't hidden. We're transparent. Um, my door is always open. My window is always open. I've invited people to my office to explain the budget. And again, the budget is like any other document. It's a huge book. If you want to take the time and try to read all 500 pages, then yes, if you're listening to someone say, "Go to page 12 and point to line 95. Explain what 95 is." But that takes it out of context. So, I can go in
057and say, "Hey, there's $9 million. We found it." But that $9 million might be allocated for something else. And so we're transparent. I don't I look at I mean I'm sure you do too. You look at other districts present the budget. You look at other districts present their their budget and it's usually two pages. Ending balance, beginning balance. Everybody, good night. Thank you so much. Well, budgeting, my background was psychology. So I had to come in this and explain in layman's terms what this means. so you can understand it, so the public and the community can understand it. If you need any help understanding it, come to my office. The door is open and we have snacks. Thank you. You're welcome. So, board, it looks like we need to do our homework. We need to
058get those students that are out there back in our schools to generate the revenue. We need to work hard to build trust with the community. and get them get them get them back here. And I know we could do it. I know it can be done. I just I just hope that everybody is on the same page this this coming year, you know, because uh you have parents that you had um had trained that you had given them a parent parent um training and um they should be here participating in this board meeting. you know that that that's how far you're supposed to take them, you know, when you teach them how to navigate the school system. And right now, we don't we don't see that. We haven't seen that in in many, many years.
059We've lost our parent groups at the high school, the elementary schools. We don't have the same participation, parent participation that we've had. We need to rebuild that. And and we'll get the students back. I know we'll get them back. And we need to reopen Andress toward so we have a place to put them instead of stacking. Now you want we want to do two twostory building construction. That's not a smart thing to do to pack people on one campus. It's it's terrible. You know, Mr. Reyes, we are not building a two-story um building at Beardsley. We're not building a two-story building at Beardsley. So that was just a wish. So that presentation that he had, right, when we had the board meeting on Monday, those plans were developed a while ago and that was a
060wish list. But in that same report, it shows you the capacity. And off the top of my head, and I don't remember it, but for instance, it might have said Beersley will be at 1,000 in capac. They could handle 1,000 kids, but they only actually have 400. And that's not the right number, so I don't want anybody calling me, but I'm just showing you the difference. So that what you're restating is incorrect. Well, it's not a two-story building. What I had learned on Monday, there's not building. I'm glad to hear that. You can't build a twotory building with 400 kids and the capacity is a thousand. If we had more kids, and sure, we would entertain that, but we're not there. Well, I'm glad to hear that. You're welcome. Thank you. just clarif I mean
061it's obvious but I just want to point out if you can go back one slide when we're looking at our deficit surplus it looks would you it's true that it's our restricted that we are underfunded for would that be a correct statement so I'm showing we're having uh like nearly 12 million come in but our expenses are nearly $23 million so giving a deficit of $11 million and being restricted. Those are going to be mandated funds. We can't just spend those on those are we have to spend those on certain things like special ed uh title three our English learners title one different things. Okay. And then a second question I had. I appreciate you first of all for adding going above and beyond and adding the 2728. Um because that's kind of the tip
062well it is the tipping point. Um I realize that budgets are ever changing but just looking at the projected if we were I'm just excuse me Dr. Can I go back to Yeah, definitely. Thank you. You mentioned the deficit, say $11 million, but remember I said if you look down at contributions, it's $10 million. So it almost comes up to this $22 million. So that's the money I said we pull out of our restricted unrestricted to cover the restricted. Yes. So that's what that kind you just kind of flip it. Okay. Thank you for bringing that up. Definitely. And then um going to the 2728. to the next slide where we see that that warning. If this were the third year out, let's say like play future, it's March of 2026. What would that page
063two pages ahead look like? Would we if you go ahead to we would be qualified? One. Yeah. One more. Sorry. One more. What? What would you're just talking about the what would it be? 26 27 because it's only I mean it's an added year you would be qualified and we'd be assigned a fiscal expert again. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. And sorry one more thing. I also appreciate this. Sorry because uh the 500 page budget gave me a headache on like page 28. Um it was certainly beyond my capacity to understand. I'm not a financial expert come to find out and um thank you for putting this together for um not just the board but also for the community and um simplifying the very complicated math for us and again I said it earlier with
064our um audit this is complex and we are remiss to oversimplify something that's really complex. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, Miss Bell, if um if we can I guess go to that the combined unrestricted and restricted fund chart that was kind of uh yes, this one right here. Thank you. So uh so just so I understand this correctly. So the first interim report there that has the total expenditures as being $59 uh million. Uh so that's that's saying that at that point in the year our projected budget was $59 million for the entire year and then now that we are at second interim it is just shy of 57,000. So, so I guess my question for you is obviously there's that $2.1 million reduction in the total uh expenditures that we're expecting, but do you
065anticipate that there's you know that that car insurance payment that kind of you know you know when you get to the year you're like wow we're doing really well and then you get reminded that you've got that car insurance the big is there something big that is lurking or is it going to be are we going to get to the end of this year and maybe have 2 million ion dollar that you know we saved this year in my crystal bowl. Okay, I'm glad you have one of those. You know, I can only assume it is our effort to reduce our expenditures because they um over our re revenues. So that is our goal. That's what we're doing every day. I mean, they tease me and I'm laughing at the water. I'm like, "No, don't
066buy water." you know, relax. Um, that is our goal to reduce our expenditures because we can never stabilize if we continue to exceed our revenues. So, even though it looks little, every little bit counts. And so, when we say no to something regarding our expenses, it's for a reason. If you know, seriously. And I mean, people kind of laugh and stuff, but we actually look at all invoices. We look at the Amazon invoices and like you don't need 500 markers. 20 will do, you know, but it it's it's it's a joke almost, but it's serious. So, we're looking at everything. We do we ever really use this particular contract? And so, we come back and say, we don't use this contract. We don't need need this service. We can utilize something else. And so, we
067look at all that. We take time. I'm you've been to mile 54. have a round table and we sit at the round table and look at the screen and we're all looking constantly like what if we move that? What if we move this? We're in and out of special ed's office. We're in and out of Dr. Lawson's office. What if we move this here? What if if it's $200? Let's move it. And so that is our goal. So we have to remain solvent. So it's like a little ball. We're in above the water. We're trying to stay that way. And so my hope is to continue to reduce that because it's always about $2 million at the end of the year that we're still exceeding our revenues. And so if we're at a standstill with
068um enrollment in ADA, then what can I do? Then I have to look at my expenses. And so then I decide to cut my expenses for whatever that is. So my goal is yes. My crystal ball says yes. Okay. And and then um when when we had filed qualified last year um I I know that there was a lot of heavy lifting that was done to sort of um I don't know what the right term is but sort of reclassify things to to pull from restricted dollars so we could return unrestricted dollars back to our budget. Um, has has that fancy footwork been done this year and or is is are we going to be able to do that again or or is that just already built into this budget this time? Sorry if I'm
069simplifying things and No, I had like all these jokes in my head when you said I was like, look here, my shoes are cute, but I'm not dancing that dance again. So, um, yeah, that's what we do. I mean, you it's like like you learn something like you fall off your bike, you know how to get back on it. So, if this is what most people were doing, and a lot of districts do it, they kind of just been there unrestricted first and then they kind of forget about their restricted. They're like, "Oh my god, I have all this bucket of money over here. I should have probably used it this way." So, it's like you got your hand slapped. We're going to use it this way and move forward. So, yeah. So, you see
070the $2 million, we didn't go back the other way. We came up. So, after March, you saw that we went we went positive. So, we've come before you three times now. Positive in um June, positive for first inter. positive now. So, I would hope that we continue to do that. That is our goal. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Any other comments or questions from the board? No. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much, Miss Bell. We appreciate your information and your open door policy. And it's open snacks, too. Just saying. All right. Um so we can now uh move on to um the report from our student board member, Miss Priscilla Nabarete. [Applause] Good evening everyone. It's been quite a busy time at the high school this past month
071and I'm excited to fill you guys in. Through the week of February 17th through February 21st, we had our Scooby-Doo spirit week that led up to the winter rally, which was Scooby-Doo themed. During the rally, all of our winter sports perfect attendance fall semester honoral students were showcased. Thank you. Uh, I am also thrilled to tell you that our validatorans and solidarans were announced at the rally. I wanted to congratulate Brandon Edwards and Aaron Cervantes, our validictorians, and our solidictorian, Joshua Varela. It was a great rally and ASB did a great job as always. Also on February 20th through February 21st, some of our CTE students had a great opportunity and tooured Fresno State University and the California highspeed rail site, witnessing cutting edge engineering, sustainable innovation, and the future of transportation up close. A
072huge thank you to our amazing partnership with the K through2 Foothill Conserium as a host for this adventure that brought the classroom lessons to life. Congratulations to Miss Bartlett and her talented drama students on the great performance of 8 minutes left. We love to see our students doing what they love and having their hard work showcased. During lunch on March 7th, our seniors hosted an event called Pia Senior. This is where selected seniors sat in chairs and then students would pay for plates of whipped cream so they could buy them. It was great to see our students have some fun. Also on March 7th, ASB hosted Morp, which is a casual dance for the student body. It was a great night to let loose and have some fun. Also on March 7th, our juniors and
073seniors got the opportunity to attend the event in the pack center hosted by Rotary. The woman of DHY event was a great event where they celebrated the women of DHY's impact on the community and Mr. Lynch's AP economics class performed a skit and it was a great event overall. Also at this event, our culinary students catered the event when they did it for the community that night. They loved getting to show off their school their skills and they worked really hard and that food smelled really good. Today we had food booth. Several of our clubs and sports sold food and it was great to see them fund raise and earn some money. Our associated student body applications have been open and we have had several students apply for the 2025 2026 school year because they
074want to be some lead. There's going to be some new leaders around. I am happy to announce that our ASB board for the 2025 2026 school year has been elected. Congratulations to our new ASB president, Alexis Aldana, Vice President Karina Flor, Secretary Mariana Esparza, and Treasure Stephanie Garcia. I know these leaders will do a great job taking care of the high school next year. March Madness, um we're hosting an event called March Madness, which is all throughout March. It's different basketball events that will be hosted in the gym throughout March. And then yesterday, we had a three-point contest, and it was great to see some basketball in the gym. Next Friday, we will have a staff versus seniors basketball game during lunch. Place your bets. Now, on March 17th, um it'll be St. Patrick's Day.
075Uh there will be a St. Patrick's Day celebration in the quad. ASB will be giving out soda floats. They will host a scavenger hunt fun scavenger hunt and encourage to wear green. On March 20th, um Miss Aeli and the career center will be hosting career day where several different um people have been asked to talk about their careers and it'll be great for our students to learn about several different careers that are out there. On March 27th, we will be having a prom fashion show with a partnership with Windsor and Frier Tux. Some of our students will be modeling um dresses that will be donated from Winers Windsor and our guys will be fitted from Frier Tux to St. Texas to show off and promote them since prom is coming up. On March 28th, Interact
076will be hosting a blood drive with City of Hope. So, if you're interested, come by. And then on March 29th, we the high school will be hosting the district track meet planned by Miss Hall. And students are definitely excited. This is always a great event where our high school students get to volunteer and get to see the little ones. We will be having a spring fever spirit or spirit week right before spring break where where there will be various activities and celebrating the start of spring break. I know many people are excited. And then on April 18th, we will have our spring rally where our spring sports, our spring academics, and more perfect attendance will be um highlighted and we'll have several performances. And it's also saying goodbye to our seniors and welcoming our juniors.
077Our prom is called this year a midnight in masquerade. A midnight masquerade in Rio on April 19th. This will be at the South Hills Country Clubs and our tickets are selling fast. We only have 50 tickets left about. Baseball has been doing a great job so far this season. They have a really good team this year and they are confident that they can make it to CIF. This past weekend they had a Saturday game and they did a really great job and they won. Softball is excited to have both a JV and varsity team this year. Recently they hosted a tournament at Otis Gordon called the Falcon Classic. They ended up winning this tournament and this is the first time they have won it in about 10 years and they've hosted this tournament for about
07815. Softball is also hosting a car wash on March 29th. Boys volleyball this year has a JV and varsity. This is their third year as an official team and they have started off great and they are excited to see them grow and win this season. They just played earlier and they won so big congratulations to them. Boys tennis also has a JV and varsity this year. They have played a couple games and they're doing great in their singles and doubles and we're excited to see how they compete in swim also has a JV and varsity. They also have a new coach. They have about two new coaches and they are excited to train hard. They are also excited for their prelims and finals. They are getting ready and we're excited to see them compete. They
079also had their first meet today here at the pool and I'm glad to say that they did a great job. and and and then track and track and field. Thank you, Miss Nunes, for coaching. And then track and field this year has over 50 people participating. They are doing several of the events, events that they haven't done in the past years. I know we have people competing in hurdles and then the pole jump thing that I'm not sure what it's called, but I've seen them practicing long jump too. They're doing really good. So, they're excited for their first meet next week. And we're also wishing the best of luck to Drumline and Wintergard who are competing right now on the weekends. And then this year, we also have cheer stunt which is uh which is
080our cheerleaders stunting. So, they're excited for this. This is their first year they've had it in, I believe, a while. I wanted to shout out our athletics program. Each year, our athletics grow, grow, and grow. The spring sports, I think we have definitely have the most athletes, and you can come by any day after school, and you'll see people working. I know it's been raining, but they they're still working. So, it's always great to see our athletes doing great. And I wanted to congratulate our teacher of the year, Mr. Johnson. We thank you [Applause] for We thank you for your 22 years of dedication and commitment to our students and this community. And we also I also wanted to congratulate our classified staff member of the year, Miss Green. We are also very grateful [Applause]
081for We are very grateful for you and how you have worked so hard. I also wanted to give a big thank you to the City of Hope. Through the City of Hope connection, DHS received gently used library furniture and couches to completely revamp our library. It looks really, really good. And then the bio classroom also received a brand new refrigerator. ASB received great workstations and presentation tables and the general campus received about 100 extra chairs. Everything looks great and our students are excited to see our campus with its mini makeover. As we approach the final stretch of the semester, we plan on having great things for our students. After a long year, it's time for our students to enjoy the last bit of high school and our underassmen to enjoy the rest of their hardworking
082year. I look forward to keeping you updated on the high school these next two months. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you very much, Priscilla. An excellent report as always. I hope that you pass along your wisdom and your reporting skills to your predecessor or your what do they call? Yeah, it would be your your the next person, the next ASB president. Um, all right. So, now we'll go ahead and move on to item number 12, which is the superintendence report. Dr. Hillman, thank you. Um, good evening everybody. We've already heard so many incredible things happening in our schools tonight. Um earlier today, we also had this beautiful event led by Mr. Crosby. Thank you for that. We had the privilege of celebrating the employees of the year for each of our schools and departments. Congratulations to
083all those who were honored at this event. We also had the special opportunity to announce our district employee of the year. You already met one of them. That was our certificated employee of the year, Andrea Stalder from the kindergarten teacher at Maxwell. Also, the classified employee of the year for the district is Miss Pauline Mon at um Valley View. And then we all Yeah, let's give her applause. Miss Pauline's awesome. Welld deserved. And we also have a um a leadership award that our leadership um selects and this year and we call it the Patterson excellence in leadership award named after our our dear colleague and the um the winner of that is Mr. Russ Ernest, associate principal at Dardi High [Applause] School. I knew that would get some excitement. So that was we you know
084uh um Mr. Ernest particularly, he supports high school. Um, our board member talks about that, but he also really does a lot to support the other schools as well. He's on call to our other principles and and really does an amazing job. So, we're grateful for all of our employees um for all their dedication and contributions to our students and our schools. While we have still several months uh remaining in this school year, we are already working really hard on preparing for the next. One key compon component of that planning is the local control accountability plan lovingly referred to as the LCAP. That's headed by Dr. Lawson. And this plan helps us set priorities and allocate uh resources to best serve our students. The parents and staff and student feedback is is essential in ensuring
085it reflects the needs and aspirations of our families and our students. Um, so we invite you to share your thoughts through a thought exchange that was sort of distributed electronically through district email and through the parent square um through the remainder of this month. And we really um look forward partnership of providing and getting that feedback for the plan that that Dr. Lawson is looking is is working on. And finally, as we've already talked tonight, the board remains committed to maintaining so much of the excellence in our schools while still ensuring our fiscal responsibility. This evening, Miss Bell um presented the second interim budget report and she will also be um sharing the uh budget stabilization plan. These are important reports that really help us uh guide the resources needed to support our educational programs.
086Um given the ongoing challenges of our declining enrollment and funding, we really must make some careful and and sometimes very difficult decisions. and the work of this governing board reflects a commitment to both student success and our financial stability of our district. So, I thank you board for your ongoing support and partnership. And that concludes my report. All right. Thank you very much, Dr. Helman. We'll move on now to item number 13, which are the requests to address the board. And I believe we have several of those. Pardon me. Yes, we have a few. I'm going to call up to the podium um Miss Stacy Nunees. [Applause] Good evening, Miss Nunes or Coach Nunees, I guess. I'm trying that on now, too. Coach, we're delighted about that. You'll have three minutes. Okay. My name is
087Stacy Nunees and I'm a proud special education teacher at Derty High School. I've been a special educator at DHS for the past 23 years. Prior to this, I served as an instructional aid within the special education program at DHS for three years. I am speaking tonight to make all of you schoolboard members, fellow educators, parents, and community members at large aware that the district level admin is moving forward with their plan to eliminate a special education teaching position at the high school and then move that educator either to Royal Oaks or Maxwell for the following school year. First, we are being told that this change is due to the fact that we special educators at DHS are good at our jobs, which is a backhanded compliment at best. Please understand that this did not happen
088overnight. We are a tenured group of professionals who have been working together for 20 plus years to create the excellent programs that we have to offer our special needs students. The district would not have trouble staffing special educators at either Maxwell or Royal Oaks if they created a structure to support new teachers. Furthermore, this would not be an issue if the jobs at Royal Oaks or Maxwell were actually doable. Having to be the case manager and service provider for students ranging from first through 8th grade with varying disabilities, academic needs, etc. is a setup for failure. an impossible feat for even the most experienced teacher to excel at. Second, we are being told that this move is being done because our class sizes are too small with some class sizes, excuse me, averaging around 10
089students. This begs the question of what the district admin thinks is the appropriate number of students with disabilities within a classroom because one of the foundational tenants of special education is to maintain small class sizes in order to work on individual students needs and close academic deficits. Currently at the high school, we are servicing 126 students with IEPs. This is roughly 16.5% of the overall school population. Please be forewarned that by eliminating a special education teacher from DHS, you are threatening our students ability to learn in classrooms that have their needed small class sizes to reduce academic deficits and to meet high school graduation requirements. By eliminating a special education teacher at the high school level, our case loads will be maxed out at 28 and we cannot take any more students above that number
090legally. In addition, students will then be placed with case managers who do not see or know these students. Or in the worst case scenario, students may go without a case manager. Period. Our students with disabilities at the high school deserve experience, special educators who have subject matter expertise to be taught in environments that include small class sizes, to have case managers that see and know them as individuals, and to close their academic gaps, which would then allow them to successfully meet graduation requirements and earn their high school diplomas. Thank you. [Applause] I'd like to call up Tony. I'm gonna move us. Tony, hi. Thank you, Tony. For three minutes. All right. Hello. My name is Tony Nazcame. I a 12th grader at DHS, currently set to head to a university and to take multiple AP
091exams. However, that would not have been possible without my case manager, Miss Lisa Smith. She has helped me through all four years I've been at DHS through teachers neglecting or denying my IEP accommodations and through mental health issues that have affected my academics. The special education department at DHS is already spread thin with the RFP teachers being made to balance teaching the SE classes and helping in seminar for their students. If I did not have the support of Miss Smith during these four years at DHS, I would have failed English my freshman year, failed English, AP World, and chemistry my sophomore year, English, US history my junior year, and AP government this year, having discussed with multiple other kids with IEPs across all four grades at DHS, I've heard similar stories regarding their teachers, especially
092if especially positive stories if they had multiple teachers across the special education department throughout my four years at DHS. The only three teachers that have cons the only three people who have consistently been helpful have been Miss Renee Hulard as my counselor, Miss Lisa Smith as my case carrier and seminar teacher, and Mr. Eric Setlitch as the school psychologist. If I did not have Miss Smith, if I did not have any of the SE teachers or any of the people that were helping me here, I would have failed. I would have not been where I am today. I know that some of you came to see the show Eight Men's Left. I would not have performed in that if I was viciously failing classes like I would have been without them. I would just want
093to ask for you all to reconsider any cuts. Thank you. Thank you, Marta Galdez. Good evening. You have three minutes. I'm too short. Um, I'm the proud parent of that child that just spoke right [Applause] now. So, my name is Martha Galdis. I am a parent at Dark High School and a transition teacher at L USD. Um, my son has been fortunate to have the teachers that he had, Miss Smith, and the support that he had um with her, but he has also been very fortunate that I have the knowledge of what it means to be in special education and what the laws of special education has and what it is to have an IP. Um, it is very concerning that um that that funds are being considered to be cut from the from the
094DHS department. This is where we need to start looking at what the students need because these are the most vulnerable of our students and the most vulnerable of our communities. One thing that we need to do for our students is that per IDA, we need to support our students in transition services. Um our students lack in DHS services for transition. We don't have the services for postsecary education, postsecary jobs, or any postsecondary agencies that can support them after high school. Giving teachers with moderate to severe credentials to support RSP students or to support SDC students is very difficult because those are two very differing credentials. um overloading teachers as they already service two different groups with the with the mild to moderate credential because they are servicing the STC classes and the RSP students. They
095get to see the RSP students only once per day. It's not fair to the students as well as it's not fair for the STC students or the RSP students. The B should the board should consider to hire teachers for special education instead of cutting resources for the teachers. They should be an RSP teacher as well as SDC teachers. Thank you. Thank you, Kyle Mendoza. [Applause] Good evening everyone. My name is Kyle and I might stutter during my speech, but please hear me out. Um, as a senior heading to college to pursue nursing, I'm reflecting on my high school experience. As a person with with the IP, I'm especially grateful for the support from my education teacher and my case carrier, Miss Smith. Um, they made a huge difference and I want to I want future
096students to have the same support. A case carrier or special ed teacher does more than help with academics. They provide guidance and ensure you're not lost in the shuffle. With FER students, they offer personalized attention that truly matters. Whether it's understanding a subject or having someone to turn in turn to when they when things get tough. My teacher, Miss Smith, helped me break down my schoolwork and gave advice when I was stuck. Without that support, I wouldn't be where I am today. And I'm worried about the students who won't get the same help in the future. As I move on the next chapter, I hope that future students continue to continue to receive the same support I had. Special education teachers/casecares are crucial for student success both in school and in life. Thank you for
097your time. Thank you Kyle. Brandon Aros. [Applause] Good evening Brandon. You have three minutes. Good evening. As a Doherty high school student with an IP, I stand here today to speak about a critical issue that affects not just me, but countless other students at DHS, which is the devastating impact of layoffs of our special education teachers. Special education teachers are essential ensuring that students like me receive the support that um we need to succeed emotionally, successfully, and academically. When our teachers are laid off, the consequences are immediate and farreaching. It's not just about losing a teacher we love. It's also lo um about losing a vital part of our support system that allow us allows those of us with unique needs to thrive. One of the most significant challenges we face is the need to
098um for small classes class sizes. Special education students, particularly those with an IEP, often need more indiv individualized attention. Larger class sizes make it incredibly difficult for teachers to focus on one specific need of each student. Without it, without the necessary support of our special education teachers, students quickly fall behind just not just academically, also emotionally, which we have a long-term effect on our well-being. The need of both educational and mental health support cannot be overstated. The loss of of special education um education teachers diminishes our ability to receive a tailored instructions that help us build skills we need to succeed in life. The class the classroom isn't just a place for academic learning. It's a place where we build self-confidence, develop coping strategies, and feel safe. When our special education teachers are removed from
099the equation, it's not just our grades that suffer. It's our mental health, our confidence, and our futures. Cutting the our special education uh education teachers at DHS isn't just a budgetary issue. It's a personal issue that affects the lives of your students. I'm asking for your support in ensuring that our special education teachers and class size remain a priority in our schools. Every student deserves the opportunity to succeed and that starts with keeping our class sizes manageable and ensuring that we have the support we need. Thank you. Thank you, Elizabeth Smith. [Applause] Good evening, Miss Smith. You have three minutes. Good evening. I don't even know what to say now. Okay. Um, that should be evidence enough of what we do. But, uh, good evening members of the school board and administrators, teachers, parents, and
100community members. My name is Elizabeth Smith, and I have also been teaching at Dwarty High School for over 20 years, special education. And I am here today to voice my strong opposition to the proposed cuts to special education high school classes. Um, education is the great equalizer, providing every student with the tools that they need to succeed in life. But when we cut special education programs, we are failing and our fundamental responsibility to ensure that all students, regardless of ability, have an access to the education they deserve. These proposed cuts are not just numbers on a budget, but they represent these real students with real needs who rely on these programs to reach their full potential. Um we have been told that our classes do not have enough students yet enrollment fluctuates from year to
101year. Just a few years ago I had a special education classes with over 19 stu 19 students while at the same time the general ed English classes had 20 students. Um, however, the learners in my class have a wide range of abilities from students who are non-readers to students who are reading at grade level and a variety of disabilities including students with intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, autism, just to name a few. And the California Teachers Association and other student advocacy organizations do recommend a maximum of 8 to 10 students for these classes to ensure that each student receives the individual support they need. And furthermore, these cuts do not just affect students with disabilities. They affect the entire school community. When the students with special needs do not receive the adequate support, the burden falls
102on our general education teachers who may not have the resources or the training to meet the needs effectively of our students. And it also places additional stress on our families who may already um many of whom already face significant challenges in advocating for their children. So, we cannot balance this budget at the expense of our most vulnerable students. Cutting these classes will not save us money in the long run. It will create greater costs for our schools, our communities, and society as a whole. Students who do not receive proper education and support may struggle with unemployment, mental health issues, a lack of independence later in life, and investing in special education now is not just the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do. So, I beg this board to reconsider these cuts
103and instead look for alternative solutions that do not compromise the education of students who need it the most. Um, I also would like to personally invite all of you to come to see our classes before you make any decisions. And in the words of our former superintendent, Dr. Ammerson, he always used to say this and he said, "Please involve those in decisions that affect them." So, you can see the effect that it will have on our students. Thank you. [Applause] Excuse me. Next to the podium, Olivia Hog. [Applause] Hi. Good evening. You have three minutes. Hi. Um, my name is Olivia and I am a uh occupational therapist. I've been one for over 20 years. I've worked in this district. I worked under Dr. Helman and Mr. Crosby and I've worked with most of the
104students that are in these high school sped classrooms. Um I'm also a parent of a child that attends DHS and is in Miss Claudia Olivas's class due to go to the um adult transition program next year. Um and I'm also a uh licensed psychotherapist. And so, um, this morning I was alerted to the fact that there were these cuts being made and I'm most concerned about, um, the cuts that could make the adult transition program at risk. And I want to talk to you about, um, my concerns about the mental health of the students. I think that there is outdated and archaic thinking that children or young adults or adults in general uh with disabilities are unable to or do not have feelings or empathy or uh have um the same mental health uh uh
105issues that other people have. And the res the current research is that suicidality, suicide rates and um suicidal ideiation is at an all-time high for this uh population of people. And when we um begin to not support them in in the ways that they need to and most specifically isolate them, not uh move them away from their community and their peers, that promotes more mental illness and uh more risk for suicidality. These are the people that I see that I see in my clinic. I'm also a uh uh run a business in Dwerty. So um this not only impacts as many of these people have said this not not only impacts our children but it impacts our community our society and um as a parent I will say that um Mr. Reas, you mentioned earlier
106about the trust of parents. Every morning I drop off my daughter with those people. And there is nothing better than being able to drop my daughter off who is non-speaking with people I trust. I know that from the time that bell rings to that time the bell rings, my daughter is safe. And she is safe because of the people that you all have hired. We can't we can't make these cuts on the backs of our the most vulnerable people in our district and in our community. Thank you. Thank you. Next would be Jonathan Castinetta. [Applause] Hello, my name is Jonathan Castanada front door. Um, the adult program has helped me with skills like taking the train, using money, groceries, shopping, and skills like cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry. We also do the Special Olympics and
107gardening. We also do take the bus and go to a community center and iron our clothes and go on field trips. We also we also this also not about the school. It's also about helping other people like teaching them how to become independent and become responsible. I know this program will help other students like me. I'm also going to Fresno State. [Applause] [Music] Hi, I'm Jonathan Castano's father. I just want to say without this program we don't we don't know where you would have been. Uh the our fear is for the most vulnerable students. Our fear was that they would end up homeless or even worse. I didn't know what he was going to do once he graduate or completed high school. He doesn't have a high school diploma. He gets a certificate. So, our
108students that go to a transition program, without it, where would they go? I'm a police officer. I see homeless kids out there all the time. I see kids out there that are in need of support and some of them haven't had it. We've been fortunate here at DIY that we have Miss Tracy who has mentor both these Jonathan has he's thrived. He has spent years helping the football team, the athletic department at our [Applause] school. And he had a goal. He wanted to be like everybody else. So his goal was to attend college. He has been accepted to Fresto State. But it wouldn't have been possible without the adult transition program. They've helped him learn how to use transportation to get himself to and from Citrus College. Right now, he does that on his own.
109He is able to manage budget his finances. He's able to go grocery shopping on his own. He's also able to do a little bit of cooking on his own. That's something that, like I said, I've seen kids out there on the streets that don't have the the ability to do. they don't have the adult transition program at their district. We've been very fortunate and as many of the other uh speakers have said, this is the most vulnerable of our population and without a program like this, where would they be? We need this program. We need teachers like Miss Tracy and some of the other instructors that we've had. I'm grateful to the to Darty, to Miss Tracy for everything that they've done. We we just hope you consider where the spending goes and which programs
110you retain. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Vivana Monre [Applause] Good evening. You have three minutes. Okay. Good evening. My name is Viviana Monroy. I am a freshman with an IEP. During my first semester of high school year, I was in a general ed classes. However, I find it incredibly difficult to focus due to large classroom sizes. This was until I met Miss Smith and I was put into her English class where the class sizes were reduced if a special ed teacher is removed from DHS. The class size the class sizes will increase and students will with learning disabilities won't be able to get one-on-one help they need. This is because everyone in our classes cannot comprehend things at the same pace. Students with an IEP should meet with their case carriers many times throughout the
111school year. Having one less teacher will overall teacher teach teachers causing them not to be able to meet with their students as much which can cause students to fall behind or struggle with school. For the sake of the upcoming generation, I hope you will stand with the special ed teachers of Darti High School as this will not only affect them but us as students. Thank you. Thank you. and Danielle Bander Vetting Betterine. Sorry, I almost got it. Maybe good evening, Danielle. You got three minutes. I prepared one thing, but I feel like maybe I should jump on the horse over there with everything else. Um, I just wanted to say uh in conclusion of the Waldorf thing, I appreciate all that we went through with that and um listening and taking the time. Um, three
112days before there is a critique and I know I could give a critique because I'm I can um three days before I'm like h especially with them searching everything a little bit better. I know my emails don't always get responded, but I feel like with that matter could definitely probably speed up a bit. Um, and also with the ED code that was given, the 17527, um, because I I talked to the county, I talked to the state, uh, and I even called them back again and go, "Hey, this is the one they read. Why am I getting something different?" So, I'm just going to read it. The governing board of any school district may enter into agreement to make vacant classrooms or other space and operating school buildings available for rent or lease to other
113school districts. Comma educational agencies comma except private in um educational institutes which maintain kindergarten or grades one to two comma exclusive comma governmental units comma nonprofit organizations comma community agencies comma professional agencies comma commercial and non-commercial firms comma corporations comma partnerships comma businesses comma and individuals comma including during normal school hours if the school is in session period. Um, just want to let you know I was an RSP growing up. So, hey, yay, I got there. I was able to read all those words. Um, so, uh, I had IP and everything. Um, but the part of the oper operating school, it's not an operating school. And so, the fact that it doesn't really apply to the same. Also, the gentleman gave me there are 25 private entities that are leased out into 25 well schools
114throughout California. Uh it's called Right at um Right. Oh, what did I put it? Right at school is a private company. Um and he gave me a couple schools here in Pasadena or um Vista Elementary School, Wter Hills Elementary School, South Pasadena Middle School that do rent out to private uh school that serves from K to2 programs. It is before or after school, but mainly it's all interpretation. That's the beauty of law. So in the sense of helping out these I'm like hey I will move heaven to earth but I didn't it just last time didn't come across kind of came like we're a bunch of poor people that can't afford to help other people which they definitely came very prepared to make all those accommodations just needed a place u so I'm gonna move
115on that I'm kind of going to jump on to this whole horse uh just knowing as a parent now that has a child that has an IEP and me fighting against stuff I go and also when I came to these other board meetings knowing that you guys were in some private thing talking about um I'm assuming there was probably some litigation going on with special needs stuff. Uh it's going to cost you long run if people come to you and you complain and bring it to the court and stuff like that because IEPs trump everything. Anyway, forewarning. Thank you. Keep those people miss Mr. President. That concludes our public comment. All right. Thank you very much. Uh we will now move on to item 14.1. Uh this is the approval of the minutes from the
116two special meetings that we had in February on February 12th and February 15th. Uh do I have a motion to approve these minutes for these two meetings? Move to approve. Second. Motion by board member Diaz. Second by board member Reyes. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? None. The motion carries. 14.2. Approval of the minutes of the regular board meeting that was held on February 13, 2025. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes? Approve. Second. Uh motion by board member Reyes, second by board member Diaz. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next item is the approval of the consent calendar. Does anyone want to remove any item for separate discussion or action? Yes, Mr. Reyes.
117I'd like to remove five, 11, 12, and 17. So, just to be sure. So you said that's item number 5, 11, 12, and 17. Is that correct? Yes, sir. All right. Thank you very much. Uh All right. So board, um with the exception of items number 5, 11, and 5, 11, 12, and 17 from the consent calendar. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Motion by Mr. Reyes, second by board member Diaz. Uh any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? None. All right. Uh so we'll now be able to go ahead. Uh so we had an objection um on the approval of the consent calendar um with uh items number 5, 11, 12, and 17. Um so those have been removed from the consent calendar for
118a separate action. Um so we did that part. Okay. So we'll now consider item number is there a motion to approve? So move move to approve item five. Okay. Under the consent calendar. A motion to approve item number five from the consent calendar. Is there a second? Excuse me, Mr. President. We were first. We're going to approve everything else. We did. I think we we did that already. We did. Yes. Yeah, we did that. I'm I beg your pardon. No, that's fine. That's fine. Uh so we're looking at we had a motion to approve item number five. We had a second and sorry, did we approve that? Was motion? No, I'm waiting for a second. We're waiting for a second. All right. So we're Is there a second? Second. Second by board member Holggin. Uh
119any discussion then on item number five? Yes, Mr. R. So I don't know, Dr. Hillman if this goes to you or or Miss Bell. Um, this has to do with the conference attendance. Yes. What's So, thank you. Ask me the question, please. Um, what is this is this all funded? Is this coming out of the general fund or is there money that's been set aside, grants, etc. to cover these expenses on uh these conferences? Miss Bell, can you respond to that, please? We if you'd like an account string, we can provide that. But off the top of my head and off of this list, I can't tell you which um which ones they come out of. Because they're remember when I told you about restricted and unrestricted. Yes. So some of it depends on what
120the conference is and you know what we pulled the funds from. So it's just not let's do there's not too many and I I just want to clarify. Well, what I'm saying is that we'd have to pull that for you. I don't I can't tell you like this is for off the top of my head learning recovery. This is for ELOP. We use different resources to pay for the conferences. So it's just not the general fund. It's the general fund with a resource. So the resource might be tied to a restricted fund. So if you're asking me to pull that for you, then I can get that. But just saying for instance, my conference is that general fund? It might be, but it might also have a resource number to where I'm pulling the money
121from. Does that make sense? Uh somewhat. Yes. So when you ask for where is it coming from? Correct. There's also an account string. So it's like 1 2 3 4 five different placeholders. So like one will tell you it comes from the general fund. Two will tell you the function, the goal, the object, the resource. The resource is usually where you're pulling the money from and that's what you bill it to. Well, the reason and the reason is, you know, you're you were you were telling how we need to to cut and watch our expenses. So, that's why I'm asking. So, and that's what I said. So, when we do this the conferences, we look where are we pulling this money from? And like I said, it usually comes from restricted money, not unrestricted. Okay.
122Well, still not getting my answer. Okay. That's that's I if you need what I'm asking you is do you want the resource that we're we're pulling the money from? That's your question. Where are we getting the money from? The fund may be the general fund but the resource will tell me if it's restricted or unrestricted. If I may you have the resource. We'd have to go back and Oh, so you don't have it with you. You don't have it on your laptop, your computer. I wouldn't have it with me. It's a whole another system that we'd have to go into to pull the POS from and get the resource. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Any other discussion on item number five, board? All right. So the motion is to approve item number
123five from the consent calendar. Uh we had a motion and a second. So all those in favor say I. I. Opposed? No. So uh Mr. Just to be clear. So you're you are opposed to it. Correct. Okay. Thank you. So that's 41. The motion carries. Uh, next item up for separate cons for separate consideration is item number 11 from the consent calendar. I have a motion to approve. Move to approve. Motion by Mr. Reyes. Do I have a second? Second. Second by board member Hasso. Uh, any discussion? Yes. Dr. Hillman, can you explain this and share this with the people because I think this is a pretty pretty nice thing going on here. It sure does. I think I'd like to do it myself, please. Um, I'm gonna ask Dr. Lawson to address this or
124perhaps there's somebody here could help us out with that. Yes, I will call Mr. Morris to the mic if you can come down and please ex um share this information with us. Thank you. Sounds really nice. Eight and nine, right? Oh, 11. Oh, yes, the memorandum. I was looking at the other two for the CTE and strong word first grant. Um so um the uh memorandum understanding for the nature for all is similar to uh the other program that we have which is outwardbound adventure where the students are uh immersed into learning about wildland forestry and so forth which is all funded 100% um transportation um overnight when they go on a trip. Uh well um Nature for All is the same program except they focus on the uh California beaches and conservation and runions
125and all that kind of stuff. So there's several field trips that the students can get involved in and they'll do some teaching out the school as well. Um it just so happens that Brenda who's part of that program um she also grew up in Albert Adventure as well and it's amazing program. So, but it's all 100% free. Not coming out of any funds at all, but just good old So, is this is this a new a new program for us? Yes. Yes. Okay. And so, how soon will they be able to benefit from this? Uh once this is approved. Okay. Okay. Well, you guys approve. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you very much. I've uh done some of those Grunion runs before and they're they're pretty entertaining. So um all right. So we have
126a motion to approve item number 11. It was a motion and second for approval. Uh any more discussion board? Seeing none. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? None. So that passes. The motion carries 5. Next item up for consideration is consent calendar item number 12. Can I have a motion for approval? Move to approve. Motion by board member Reyes. Is there a second? Second by board member Hogin. Any discussion board? Uh yes. I just like to know what is brain trust. Is that something new Dr. Hillman? Um yes it is. And how did we find them? And I will let um Dr. Lawson speak to that. So, Brain Trust is a a company we are going to partner with to help service our long-term English learners. And so, they do offer a
127curriculum where they address the needs of um reading, language proficiency, and math. And so, we are targeting a group of long-term English learners. If you remember from our the presentation of the dashboard, that is one group that is um scoring in the red on our dashboard in two or more areas. So, we have identified 28 long-term English learners um between Beersley and Maxwell because that is the school that has the largest percentage of long-term English learners. And it's a an intervention and a pilot. So, they'll be working we'll have tutors assigned to work with the students in groups of three and four um for 45 minutes a day for the next 30 days. Once this is approved, our target date is hopefully March 17th. For the next 30 days, they will get 45 minutes of
128daily instruction by tutors um to target their language proficiency. And we're hoping this is this one onone. It is uh it's four to one. So the ratio was one certified tutor with four students. And so we're looking at these students over the next um 30 sessions. We'll look at that data to see the impact. We're kind of delaying the assessment of ELPAC to see if it makes a difference with ELPAC. And we'll also look at their ESPback scores and kind of compare to see if it made a difference. And if so, then we'll look at how we can extend it next year to target more English learners to look beyond um language proficiency and also look at reading and mathematics partnership. How did you find out about this program? So the information shared Dr. Hillwin
129shared information with me um about Brain Trust. I reached out to them. We had a meeting. We talked about what they offered. They shared their data. They are currently working with um Los Angeles Unified School District, Sacramento Unified School, I mean San Francisco Unified. They work with districts in uh New York City, Texas. So, they're kind of in multiple states, but any anybody local or were the first Los Angeles Unified School District and LA Unified and um San Francisco. So, but they're all they're in various states. So, and they have a large selection of certified tutors that will work with us um and with their curriculum and they kind of focus on the science of reading. So, they're looking at phmic awareness, comprehension, um reading fluency, vocabulary, and there's one area that's escaping me, phmic
130awareness. Can I say that? But, um there five, they kind of target those specific areas that we know are areas that we need to address in order to increase reading proficiency for students. And we know that that also will help with their language proficiency. So very hopeful that this will make a difference and look at ways that we can extend it. We do we are using learning recovery funds. So we did receive funds to target learning recovery for um students during co a lot of kids there was some slides in the learning. So, we do have restrictive funds and that's one of the allowable expenditures to use on tutoring um small group tutoring um small group instruction to address those learning gaps. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much, Dr.
131Lawson. All right. So, we have a motion and a second to approve item number 12 from the consent calendar. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Seeing none, the motion carries. 50. And the final item from the consent calendar, item number 17. Motion to approve, please. Move to approve. Second. Motion by board member Reyes. Second by board member Gin. Any discussion? Yes. Board member Reyes. So, Dr. Hillman, the joint use uh agreement between us and the city for the use of parks. I noticed when I was going through it, I noticed North View Park is not there. Why is that? I'm going to um have Miss Bell start with this because she worked with the city directly with the city negotiating that part agreement. So, she can speak to that and we'll
132follow up from there. So, we meet with the city every year to go over the joint um use agreement and the city elected not to use that. Okay. Thank you. I was just wondering because I hadn't seen the the adult soccerers on the weekend, soccer players on the weekend team. It was always they were there religiously, you know. So the change mo I miss seeing them out there. Most of the changes in the agreement the city changed. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you very much, Miss Bell. All right, we have a motion and a second for the approval of item number 17 from the consent calendar. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? None. Motion carries. 50. All right. Now we can move on to item. What number item is this? Something
13314.4 I think. Yes. Yes. 14.4. The second reading approval of the board policies. Do I have a motion to approve? Move to approve. Second. Motion by Mr. Reyes, second by board member Oeen. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? None. Motion carries. 50. Next item is for board representatives to the community education council. This is for the appointment of uh to the CEC uh for James Finley, myself. Um and that will be Mr. Eddie Howard. Uh do I have a motion to approve? Move to approve. Second. Motion by board member Reyes. Second by board member Diaz. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? None. Motion carries. 5-0. Next item, the 2025 CSBA delegate assembly election uh in which we will cast a
134vote. Uh there are two vacancies for sub region 23A, which is what we're in. Uh and there are two candidates. So, do I let's see. Do I have a motion for this or do we just discuss or how does this work? You can have a motion before we start discussion. Okay. So, um do I have a a motion at all? Some motion. Yes. Motion to second. Okay. So, so what what are our motion? A motion to approve both of them. Okay. So, a motion to approve to to approve both uh Kathleen Cross and Dr. Gary Scott. Yes, they they are they they are the one incumbent. So, correct. They are the the incumbents. And I don't see any other numbers there names there. So, correct. Yeah. Uh so, um we have a motion. Wait, do
135we have a second? We need a second. Okay. Do we have a second? Second. All right. So, motion by Mr. Reyes. Uh second by Dr. Hasso. Any discussion, board? All right. Seeing none, then all those in favor of casting our board's vote for these two individuals say I. I. I. Any opposed? Seeing none, the motion carries. 5. Uh, the next item is 14.7. This is to receive for information only. This is the construction and modernization project updates for March of 2025. So we can that's just to receive for information. Uh next is item 15.1 memorandum of understanding between DUSD and CSEA to establish a one-time wildfire severe impact leave uh relief. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Motion by board member Diaz. Second. Second by board member Algin. Any discussion? Seeing none,
136all those in favor say I. I I. Any opposed? None. Motion carries. 50. 15.2. This is anou between DUSD and DUeA to agree on the school calendar for the 2526 school year and the 2627 school year. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Motion by board member Diaz, second by board member. Any discussion? I I will just say something quickly. I appreciate uh this getting um on our agenda as it has now because it's it's good to help uh families plan for breaks and whatnot. So I appreciate uh these getting put on here. Uh any other discussion, board? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Seeing none, the motion carries. 50. Next, we have resolution 17-24-25, which is the determination of seniority
137among certificated employees with the same seniority date. The tiebreaker resolution. Excuse me, I see 18, not 17. Okay. My script says 17. Really? Can we get a Yeah, that's the second the number four on this agenda. It says 18. Okay. Yeah. Let's Let's see what the the real number is. Well, there is this one and then is the I have 172425. Okay. Yeah. So, I I do see the the next would be mine, huh? That Yeah. So, the next different we got to check those glasses. I I have I even cleaned them. All right. All right. So, we got it right. Um, so do we Sorry. Did we get a motion to approve? So, move. Okay. A second. Second. Okay. Motion by board member Diaz, second by board member. Any discussion? Yes. Yes. We've always
138been told to keep the cuts as far away from the classroom as possible, and I just don't agree with this right now at this moment in time. Uh, so the this is the tiebreaker resolution. So what don't you agree with? No, this is this is the reduction. So see I messed up. Yeah. Yeah. See, so I thought you said four. I'm sorry. Okay. Take it back. All right. Before the next. Okay. So yes. So um any other discussion on this item then? All right. So all those in favor say I. I I any against seeing none motion carries 50. Um and this is now 15.4. This is the amended resolution to item number [Music] 18-24-25 which is the reduction or discontinuence of particular kinds of service. Do I have a motion to approve this amended
139resolution? So move motion by board member Diaz. Second. Second by board member Reyes. Discussion board. Again, good conscience. I I can't go along with this at this moment. All right. Any other discussion board? Yes. after seeing the students that I seen, the parents that I saw, the teachers that I saw, um I I feel my heart apart. It break my heart and I put myself and the parents situation and the students situation and it's very hard for me to make a decision on this item tonight. Any other comments board? I will um I would like to also agree with uh board member Diaz. Um this this especially hearing from the students um it was uh it was moving to hear them uh share their experiences uh because um this this is what this is why
140the the school system exists is for these students and it is it is a a challenging decision to make for sure. Um but I I think um that we do we do need to find better solutions um going forward than than simply cutting. Um, and I know that's a a difficult um, you know, I can I can say that when I'm not the one that has to I'm not the only one that has to find the dollars to stretch them as far as as we can go. Um, but I I hope that it is something that we can continue to not only think about when it comes to this time of year. Um but I I I thank the particularly the students for for coming um because that was not easy to do at all.
141Um so I thank them for their courage and and speaking uh and giving their points of view. May I Dr. Finley? Dr. Yes. Um I just wanted to share I totally understand and absolutely um right there with you in this these are very difficult decisions. Um I do want to um have Dr. um I gave called you a doctor but Mr. Crosby speak a little bit to this process because at this point in the year it is a there's a statutory timeline around this and and although it's it's none of none of this feels good at all and it's and there's our students are incredible um and as you say doc I called you a doctor too Mr. Ruth Reyes um Mr. Reyes doctor of plants okay you're the okay well I'm making everyone a
142doctor tonight um Mr. Reyes. No, I don't want to laugh because this is a serious but um that what you said keeping the keeping ours away from the students. Absolutely. Um but given what our timeline is for for looking into the year going ahead, we're kind of at a a statutory piece at that and I wanted Mr. Crosby to sort of speak that a little bit to what the planning looks like and what the considerations are for what we've heard tonight. Thank you, Dr. Hillman. Uh yes our statutory uh dates are we have if for any kind of reductions we have to notify by March 15. Today is March 13th. So any notices would have to go out tomorrow um that that we are given. um and going through the these particular kinds of service
143and that's what this uh resolution is is a a PKS. Um there were a couple things I want to make sure and and note. Uh their students talked about and a parent talked about the adult transition class. Um we are reducing one FTE of the adult transition class, but that class is vacant. We do not have students in that class right now. That class became vacant when um our our teacher left and went to a different job. So, so that and the the other adult transition teacher, we had two because we had um lower number of students is took over that class from um middle of last year all the way through this year. Since we have a vacant class, we still have to reduce it on our our our our records. And so we
144are not getting rid of adult transition. I want to make sure that's clear because that was what was was one thing that was said and no, we value that class. Um those students um that have gone through it have excelled. Um, I know those students personally when when I was principal going through my schools as well and now going off to college away um by themselves is is a tremendous feat. Um, and so I just want to make sure it's clear that FTE is not doesn't have any class any students in it. Um the teachers did speak correctly that their class size right now is 10 and previously they had 19 and I don't want to get to 19 but doing these reductions these uh by section their class size will be 12 to 13
145from there. Um they did speak about their their case loads and their case loads at 8 at 28. Their case loads will is working with Dr. Dr. Akenusi, our director of special education, um and um Dr. Lawson um that oversees the special education department as well. really working with all of the teachers on that campus to make sure that the case loads that are um consult or or have the least services going to teachers which right now some of those teachers don't see those students already and they're working their case loads. We'll dev to to teachers that have very small number of case loads. We have uh two teachers that have uh 10 to 15 on their case load. Um which then they would get a couple of those students. So we'll divi divide them
146up as well. Um there is no time where we enjoy doing reductions, but looking through our school service report and our declining enrollment and working with our special education department is why these came up. Thank you very much, Mr. Crosby, for providing some additional context to that. And I'd like to say something before we Yes, please. Dr. I just want to I think most of our folks have left, but I just want to acknowledge um the incredible teachers and students who spoke tonight and just um I was impressed by the longevity of our sped teachers. we heard, you know, 20 years plus. Um, and that's a testament to their dedication, but also, um, a testament, I would say, to Dward Unified. Um, and then also the parents who came up and just shared their appreciation
147and their vulnerability and, um, these decisions are really tough and I think it's critical that we look at several factors so that we're making an informed decision. And so I think it was uh Lisa Smith, is that her name? She, you know, talked about education being the great equalizer, which is how specialed services were brought to public education in the first place. And so as we're making the decisions, you know, try to keep cuts as far away from students. Number one should be, you know, our students needs being met. So with the given cuts, you know, are we still going to be able to meet those students needs? And then second, when it comes to IEPs, uh Danielle mentioned, you know, IEPs trump. There's the legality um and the compliance piece. And so, um I
148I want to assume that what's being proposed to us is legal and compliant. And I see you nodding your head. Um and I don't remember what teacher said the state recommendation is a class size of 8 to 10. and just wanted to, you know, there's recommendations, um, what's acceptable, and then of course there's what's ideal. And so a class of 19, obviously not ideal, 8 to 10, a beautiful, um, 12 to 13, a little more than we're doing right now. Um, and the third point would be our fiscal situation. And our kids aren't a number on our budget. Our teachers are not a number on a budget. Um they're so much more than that as we heard tonight. Um but we are in a situation where we have to make decisions based on our current
149conditions. Um in the audit on page 51, it was stated that our state and federal funding fall short of covering full costs of special education. And so our revenues, we are underfunded. That's the nature of public education. Um, I wish on the stars I get on my knees and pray for the day that we're fully funded, but that just unfortunately isn't our current reality. Um, and let me just make sure I'm not leaving anything out that I'll [Music] regret. Okay. Oh, and yeah, I just some uh we received emails from some teachers too who were not here too. I just wanted to acknowledge um their perspective. I think that um having perspectives from multiple stakeholders is helpful for us when it comes to make those decisions. So, thank you very much. Thank you very much.
150Board member Hasso, any other points of discussion, board? Um, one one quick question. What is the savings cost? Does anybody know? The savings cost is one FTE. One No, no, no. In dollars and cents. What is the savings cost? So, an FTE with uh So, a teacher on average with benefits. They're not going to say that's their salary, but it's about $125,000. Okay. One Yeah, that's what you're And the the proposed reductions of the 2.2.2 is one FTE. Okay. And I have a follow-up question. Let me No, the reason I brought that up is because we could still cover that board. Okay. the next year, two years out. I say we revisit this next year, see how things go. Okay. Um but right now, does it look good for our children? Sorry, Dr. Yes. Oh,
151I just in terms of the savings, was that calculated into uh what Miss Bell presented tonight in the second in the projections? That's part of the budget stabilization plan. Yes. Okay. Thank you. All right. Uh, if there's no other discussion board, then we can go ahead and vote on the motion. So, all those in favor of approving this resolution as amended say I. I. All those that are opposed say nay. Nay. Nay. So, I just want to make sure we've got the right number here. So, you can call by name. Okay. Maybe can we just do a roll call, but I just want to make sure we get it right. So, um I'll start with myself here. So, board member Finley. Yes. In favor. Okay. Uh All right. So, yeah, Dr. Helman suggested that we
152look at the resolution and see if there are items on there that we could potentially change. Um just I I want to if I may I'm sorry I I wanted to just put this to to the board because there's there is a complete list in there. Um and so if the board select but board decides to not approve this the whole list we can't move forward with any of it. So if there's a component to it that there's some object objection to that maybe I can suggest because we are on statutory timelines in terms of giving our our notices for in preparation for next year. This is um as was as was said this is part of our budget stabilization plan to reduce six FTE. That was what the recommendation was. That's in the budget
153stabilization plan. So, but the the special ed piece is not there's other things in there bes there's other things on the list other than special ed. Right now, the the reductions have a 6.6. It's a total of 6.6 FTE. If you look at the bottom line, I'm happy to answer any questions about this. Okay. So, what's the purpose? Is that one class uh reducing high school directive studies? What's the purpose? That is a class that's underenrolled. That's not a special ed class. No, no, no. I know. But you're saying about what to save. Isn't that what you're I'm I'm suggesting given the conversation is that there was cons what I heard and and maybe I'm wrong that there was a concern about the reduction related to special education. Okay. So, are we to make a
154motion? Am I to make a motion? Is that how we're going to do this? Uh yes. I believe I mean if if I'm understanding correctly we can we can make an amended motion uh or I guess a change to this resolution. Um so I think yes we can entertain a change to this resolution. Is that right Dr. Helman? Okay. Well, then I'll make I'll make the amended um motion to uh keep all of special ed, including the high school anatomy. Right. Right. All of it. That's here. All special ed. So, and and is that uh including the adult transition that correct that Dr. It all says special ed. One, two, three, four, five, six items. If I may is there. Sorry. Uh the again the adult transition class and there there's no students in that.
155It is on here. Yes. Yes. But it is a vacant current vacant position. There are no students or no teacher in that position. Um it is on the books only because we had a teacher leave and uh did not have the need to to fill it up. But that's why we still will have to reduce it no matter no matter if we had someone there or not. But what I'm hearing from the board um is the the second one reduce high school teacher special education career education. two uh reduce high school teacher special education moderate math 2 reduce high school teacher special education RSP seminar 2 reduce high school special education mild to moderate science point 2 and reduce high school special education mild math social science point2 I would like to also talk about
156the career education that career education was modeled with the CTE career exploration and that class is being reduced. That's why we do not need a special education class for that as well. Um, so again, what I'm hearing from the board, and I don't want to make any assumptions, uh, is that the the teachers and the students and the families we're talking about were the point 2 for math, 2 for RSP seminar, the point 2 for science, the point 2 for social science. Those were the classes that they were addressing. board. I say we pull this and table it and have a separate meeting on this. We can get together because this is giving me I I don't think that we can pull this item since we have to report they have to report this by
157tomorrow. Can we do a line by line by tomorrow? Oh my gosh. Yeah, that's why. Wow. Well, um I because I don't think there's any question about the first three. I'm sorry, the first line. Uh yes, I have not heard anyone mention that one. So the first three FTEES um that are in the TK through 8 multiple subject instruction um I would agree I I think I have not heard any objections to that yet. And the reason why those are on there is because of students enrollment. Okay. So we're not getting rid of any classes with that. Okay. Um and then uh just just for the sake of discussion those um five.2s um let's put those aside for a moment and move down to then the adult transition which Mr. Mr. Crosby, you said that
158is currently has no students, no teacher. It is a position on the books only. And what I understand is that that was uh the one the county start funding that one last year. No, it's not that one. Okay. But we will not have that one because we don't comply with all the needs or something like that. We don't have it now. I think I my have a clarifying question or answer on books. We have two adult transition classes. One of them is empty. So, we're getting rid of the empty one and we will still have one adult transition class. That is correct. Understanding. Okay. Yes. Okay. And how many students does that serve? Thank you. Eight. The the person that uh was the teacher last year. All right. Um Okay. So, that one um at
159least again from what what I'm hearing from the board, uh we're okay with discontinuing that position. Again, the the program will still exist. It's just that position that would not. Um, and then the high school anatomy. Um, just as a reminder to the board and the the community, that uh originally was going to be getting rid of all sections of high school anatomy. Uh, but that was uh amended at the beginning of the meeting to retain um one section of high school anatomy so that that uh would remain an option for our students. Um and then maybe if we could have um a brief discussion on the two CTE programs that are listed here, business entrepreneurship and career exploration. Uh so Dr. Helman, can we have somebody talk to us about that? I'll let Mr.
160Crosby give the full explanation on the reduction of that class. Thank you so much. um the discontinue of the business entrepreneurship and uh the career exploration because the the high school uh was mo is going to be moving away from those two classes and they are uh looking at a different elective to put put in its its place but the um business and careers class um will no longer exist. And and Mr. Crosby. Uh, does this mean that we won't have any CTE at the high school or No, we have many CTE classes. We have photography. We have uh um culinary. Um our our our wood shop is actually not a CTE class. Okay. Um our teacher holds a a a regular credential, not a CT credential wood shop. Okay. So, but we will continue
161to have a robust CTE program. Most definitely. Mr. Morris um will never allow that and that is not part of our program. Okay. Um and then I think the the last one on here is uh one one period of uh directed studies. So can we have Yes. This again is um because of declining enrollment and not the need of this class anymore. So, are there is there still directed study class already there? Yes, I see. We are not discontinuing it. Okay. Um All right. So, board, if if you'll indulge me then for a moment um to just make sure that we're sort of tallying these correctly. Um the the first line which is the three FTEES for the multiple subject instruction. Um the the board is okay with that remaining. The five the next five
162line items which are the uh special ed 2s um those are uh there's some question about those. And then it seemed uh that everyone was okay with the discontinuence of the one adult transition position. Uh and then high school anatomy. Uh we're okay with the point4 FTE there so that we keep one anatomy class at the high school. And then uh discontinuing the two CTE classes um in favor of future CTE classes. And then finally uh reducing one period of directed studies. So that that is um what I have sort of mentally tallied here. So um if if it's okay with the board, I will um I guess a amend this resolution and then ask for a a motion and a second on that amended resolution. Does that sound correct, Dr. Hillman? I think we
163might want to just state state for the record that the amended amended because it was already amended, right? So this is the amended amended resolution will now have the positions that will be reduced will reduce all of them with the exception of the five high school teacher special ed um I'll state them. We'll write we for the record we'll write them into the minutes. We with the exception of reduce high school teacher specialed mild moderate career education. with the exception of reduced high school teacher specialed mild moderate math. With the exception of reduced high school teacher specialed mild moderate RSP seminar with the exception of reduce high school teacher specialed mild moderate science and with the exception of reduce high school teacher specialed mild moderate social social science which brings the other amendment is at
164the end. The total the total certificated position reduction would now be it was 6.6 it would now be 5.6. Can we can I ask a question? Uh so why don't why don't we go ahead and do a motion and a second and then we can discuss it. I move to approve. Okay. So we have a motion to approve that really long amendment. Yes. Okay. And is there a second? We'll get second. A second by So there was motion by board member Reyes, second by board member Diaz. Okay. Now is there any discussion? Um yes. Could we talk about each of the point two? I think math, science, social studies is pretty obvious. Can I just um what is the career education point to and then what does the RSP seminar point to service? seminar is
165a homework help working with um their other homework or general ed classes. They might be uh going there to get extra support. Um there there is a a special ed uh education piece with that though as well. Yes, we want to give them help, but when the students is in that class, it gives them an extra period of special education as well. when we're trying to give the least amount of of periods and that sometimes pushes them over the 50% which makes them an SDC student rather than an RSB student. But the the that class um gives a lot of support for um students from their general ed classes or extra support for their other RS um special ed class. Okay. And that was the seminar seminar. Okay. And then the career education and the
166the career education class lined up with the CTE career exploration. So those students did not take the uh CTE class, they took that career um uh education class. And so if we are reducing the CTE class, I believe we should reduce this one as well because it's it was in placeholder for for a special ed student for that one. So we Okay. So we I don't Will you please say that again? Yeah, Mr. Crosby. I'm sorry. It's okay. the um the CTE uh career exploration class. Um the the special education career education class was was the special education mo um model of the other CTE class. And how would we go about approving a 08? I'm sorry. A point 2 reduction. Right. We'd have to re We'd have to vote on this one and then
167and come back around and Okay. Or take the vote. Take the take the vote and if it fails then you go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. We could we could amend it next time make in the next round. So, we would want to take action. We already have it um ready for a vote now. Okay. But the idea I'm hearing the idea that given that career point two for the special education as do as Dr. Crosby as Mr. Crosby um mentioned it is a it is a aligned with the class that we no longer have in general ed. Okay. All right. So any other discussion board before we go ahead and take a vote on the amended amended motion? I just sorry. Um that puts us at a 5.6 reduction. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. And the
168recommendation was A6 FTE. So that gets us very close. Um All right. So any other discussion before we before I call for a vote? Yes. Yes. So that that that is um just so everyone knows what they're voting for. It's abundantly clear. Um all of the items that are listed here would be um the the reduction would be approved except for those 5.2 items that were listed out by Dr. Helman. So uh all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Seeing none, uh, that amended amended motion carries. I If I may. Yes, Mr. I will go back to my office and get you a clean sheet and bring this back to you so that you have one thing to sign. Okay. Those those five off of it. Ah, I see. That you just approved.
169All right. Sounds good. Thank you very much for doing that. All right, board. if you can give me just a second to get back to where we were. So, this was that was item number 15.4 um that we just took care of. So, now we're moving on to item 16.1. This is the public hearing for options for youth. Do I have a motion to open the public hearing for item 16.1? Move to open. Second. Motion by board member Reyes, second by board member Olen. So the public hearing is now open. All right. Do I have a motion to close the public hearings? Move to close. Seems Oh, okay. Second. Uh motion by board member Reyes, second by board member Holgin. Uh all those in favor say I. I. I. Any against? Seeing none, that motion
170carries. 50. Next is the item 16.2 which is the material revision to the options for youth Darty charter. Do I have a motion to approve this material revision? So move second. Motion by board member Reyes, second by board member. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Any against? Seeing none, motion carries. 50. Next 16.3, the school accountability report cards for the year 2324. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Motion by board member Diaz, second by board member. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Any against? Seeing none, motion carries. 50 fif sorry 16.4 Four, the textbook adoption for science grades 9 through 12. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Motion by board member Diaz, second by board
171member Oeen. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Any against? None. Motion carries. 5. Uh next item is uh just to receive for information uh that the there's a public viewing for the curriculum for grades uh seven and grade nine for secondary comprehensive sexual health and HIV AIDS prevention. Moving on to item number 17.1 which is the annual financial audit report for the 2324 fiscal year. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Second. Motion by board member Diaz, second by board member Hasso. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Anyone against? Uh, seeing none, motion carries. 50. Item 17.2, budget stabilization plan. um update for the fiscal years 23 20 sorry 2425 and 2526. Do I have a motion to approve? So move.
172Yes, we because the budget stabilization plan says six FTEEs, right? And we approved 5.6. Can we round? If you give me a minute, I can get it to Rick and he can come back and amend it. Okay. So should can we just go ahead and um we can we can amend it the what the change is going to be. Mhm. Right. So well I can change it now. Mhm. So that they can continue voting. Yes. So the change would be that on the budget stabilization plan we would change it from 6ft FTE to 5.6.6 and then outline the Yeah. We'll bring a fresh copy over but I this way we can vote. You can take a motion to amend the budget stabilization plan to reflect that change. Okay. So, uh Ford, um can I get
173a motion? Move to approve. Hold on. So, um the the motion uh that was uh I guess moved by by Mr. Reyes is to uh amend to approve the amended budget stabilization plan which will include 5.6 FTEES rather than six. Um and we'll be getting that updated budget stabilization plan. Um so we have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Second. So motion by board member Reyes, second by board member Hasso. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Any against? None. The motion carries. 5. Next is 17.3 which is the second interim financial report for the period ending January 31st, 2025. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Motion by board member Diaz, second by board member. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I.
174I. Any opposed? Seeing none, motion carries. 17.4. Uh, this is to accept the bid and award contract through Spectrum to provide the district with -ate C-E470 internet service provider and wide access area network services. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Motion by board member Reyes, second by board member Diaz. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any against? Seeing none, motion carries. 5. And finally, we have item 17.5, which is the 2425 transportation services plan. Do I have a motion to approve? So move. Motion by board member Diaz. Second. Second by board member Reyes. Any discussion? Yes. Is Is this an increase, Dr. Hillman? No. Miss Bell, I know this has comes from the business services office. Is this There's no change on the uh is there any
175changes on the um transportation services plan? No. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Seeing none, the motion carries. 50. All right, that now brings us down to the non-aggendaized items uh by board members. Uh so we'll go ahead and uh open it up now for board members for non-aggendaized items. So uh I will go ahead and start with uh board member Diaz. How about that? Thank you, Mr. President. Um, uh, probably tonight hasn't been one the easiest board meetings that I ever had in my 27 years serving as a board member. And um I believe that due to the situation that is going in the entire country kind of affect my feelings too because I since I was in bed because I was a little
176bit under the weather for a couple of days. I keep watching Spanish and English news and um there is different uh points of view and I think that for me sometimes that more the more the most fragile people are the one that we really don't put attention to it and um when I saw those two students that approach. There were more than two but one that touched my heart was when he say and I'm going to the university. So that showed me that that all of us all of all of and I say all of us is because starting from the superintendent to all the people who participate and educate the students are the ones who make everything possible. And I also learned tonight the need we need to communicate more often with our superintendent
177or with her cabinet that are open all the time for us to ask the questions and not put it them on the spot when we are here at the board meetings. uh when I ask question I don't ask questions to show off or to show my power but just to make sure that the community see points of the way that we see it that we are not super smart but we do respect each other and um sometimes when we make the decisions as a board members we don't do it in support to our own staff but we do it in support to our students. So, um, forgive me if I have offend anyone, but I do trust you, but I believe that tonight I vote for what I thought it was the right thing for
178the students that came and approached us. Thank you. Thank you very much, board member Diaz. Um, I'll go ahead and go next. Um, I I want to thank a lot of people um that came out tonight and that stayed uh this evening. um and for the the board and Dr. Hillman and her team um that allowed us to have a really good uh robust discussion uh about some important items that were brought before us. Uh I I do um you know given given that we do have um these deadlines uh these statutory deadlines that we have to go by um it does it does sometimes put us in an awkward position uh when we get to those deadlines. Um, so I I think it would be helpful for us as a board to maybe explore
179getting and discussing this um when we're, you know, a little bit less close to the deadline. Um, and I know that that puts things forward on the burner faster than than usual, but I think that discussion um might be helpful for us and for the community. Um, so hopefully that's something that we can explore going forward. Um, and I think that would help everyone to feel a little more comfortable with the the voting that we're doing up here because it is it is, you know, something that's not only going to impact uh, you know, our our staff here, but also a lot of our students. And we, you know, a a promise that I can make to the the community, the school community, is that that we will really weigh these things out in our
180minds. And and I I think we saw that up on the dis here today. Um there's there's a lot of uh things that are going on in our minds as we're hearing from students and from teachers and we're balancing that with with you know spreadsheets and 500 paid budgets uh that that have been put together and we're trying to make all of that fit together. Um and it it takes a lot of of uh mental uh gymnastics for us to go ahead and do that. And so I I appreciate uh the board for um being patient as we work through that and for expressing yourselves as you did. And uh so I just want to express my gratitude to all of you and to Dr. Helman and her team and to those that that came
181and spoke tonight, especially as I mentioned before, the students. Um so I think that's it for me. Uh Mr. rants. I'm going to jump a couple people, huh? Keep everyone on their toes. Frog jump. Um, I'd like to thank everybody tonight, too. And and it was tough for me this this this meeting going back to back reading stuff from Monday night special meeting. Okay. And then all this. And I have a full-time job. I'm not I don't have the benefit of being retired. So, it was very difficult for me to get through and to get everything done and read and prepare for this uh board meeting tonight. Um, but uh it's it's it's a late night. I know she needs to go home probably working on her homework right now. And uh everybody have a
182good evening. All right. Thank you. Um board member Aleen, we're continuing the hopping. Thank you. Well, I want to thank everybody, uh, the community, the students, the staff, and yes, it was, uh, kind of a little more emotional than I thought it would be. Um, I walk on campus a lot of times at the high school and I do see the students out there and, um, you know, I normally don't talk to them because I, you know, but, um, it was nice hearing from them and, um, I knew that one of them was going to the university. I didn't know which one. And when I saw him, I was so excited because when I would go to the games, I would see them out there. And um anyways, um I think we made the right
183decision and it was a tough one. Um but I want to thank everybody, Tiffany, especially you. Um thank you for explaining this to me over and over and having your open door policy where I can come in and you break it down into 10 pages pages versus 500. And I appreciate everybody for everything you do. Um, I know it's late, so we'll make it super quick. Thank you, everybody. Have a good evening. All right. Thank you, board member Hasso. I'll um echo this was my hardest board meeting in my fourmonth tenure, but also I'll say it was the hardest meeting in my 20-year tenure as an educator. I've been the person on this five times, and I can tell you being on this side feels so much worse. Um, so just to kind of echo
184that sentiment, um, I also really want to just express gratitude and appreciation for all of the work that was put into this. This decision wasn't presented to us as something to be taken lightly. Um, and I think, you know, that's making informed decisions is what we are called to do as a board. And the missing information that I had tonight was the stakeholder information, their voices. I had everything I needed from Dr. Hillman. I had what I needed from Miss Bell, Mr. Crosby. Thank you. I was going to call you Mr. Lawson. I knew that wasn't right. And so I want to acknowledge um that you did your due diligence. Um I I trust the information that was presented to us uh fully, but the missing information was um hearing from our students, our parents
185um and our teachers. And so I had lots of other notes, but I'll save them for another time. Have a good evening, everyone. Great. Thank you. Priscilla, any closing thoughts from you? Real quick, I promise. Um, I wanted to acknowledge all theu uh students and um teachers who spoke today. I think it was great to see them and the courage that they had to speak and the support that the students have. I think it really showcases that the support system what they have at the high school and I thought it was great to see them and I just wanted to I know he's not here but I wanted to congratulate Mr. Ernest on his leadership award because you know I see Mr. Ernest every day and I love Mr. Ernest and um recently we've had
186like this joke about like if he can be replaceable and he I always tell him Mr. Ernest, you are not replaceable. And he always tells me, "Yes, I am. Yes, I am." And I'm like, "No, you're not." So, I'm going to walk in, for the record, I'm going to walk into his office tomorrow morning and I'm going to say, "See, Mr. Ernest, you're not replaceable. You're this award proves it." So, uh, thank you everyone for working hard tonight. I hope I know it's late, so I hope everyone has a good night. Thank you very much, Priscilla. Uh, all right, Dr. Hillman, you said you wanted to have a closing comment. Just very quick, I know it it's been between me and everybody going home. Thank you, board. um for the thoughtful consideration very difficult and
187challenging and and as you said Mr. this is not your full-time job, right? So, really putting so much heart and soul and effort into this work. This meeting was rough. I will also acknowledge though, I do want to thank reason why I wanted to say one last thing. Brenda Richards is st sitting in for our um vacationing Mercedes and um you got a couple good meetings this week. I think she's going to be happy when Mercedes has returned. We miss Mercedes but want her to have that vacation. Brenda, thank you so much for stepping in. I know the board appreciates it, but I appreciate it very much. Thank you so much. All right. Excellent. So, board will now go ahead and uh adjourn this meeting. Um I would like to have a motion to adjourn
188in memory of Anita Richards who is the mother-in-law of Brenda Richards. Um so we I'd like to have a motion to adjourn in her honor. move to adjourn in her m memory. Excellent. Uh so we have a motion by board member Diaz, second by board member Reyes. All those in favor I say I. All right, I think that was everybody. Thank you.