EUHSD Regular Board Meeting - April 21, 2026

001Any comment then on close session items? So, we will adjourn to close session and return for the regular session at 6:00 p.m. Thank you. Like like even that What you doing? Good evening everyone. Welcome welcome to our meeting of the board of trustees. Before we start the meeting tonight, we have a special treat. We have ballet folklorico from Delago Academy and from S Pasqual High School. So I would like to welcome their adviserss Yenia Cavetta from DLA and Irene Sanchez from S Pasqual for them to introduce and uh start off with a performance. Thank you. Okay guys. I need to go. Let's go. Pal. Next up, Thank you. Okay. Christmas. What's happening? Uh good evening board. My name is Irene Sanchez. I'm from Sasqual High School and I have the privilege of um teaching the

002baltoico class. Um here we have a couple of our students and we will be dancing to mambo froma. Mambo. Good job. Let's go. That's it. Let's go. Okay. Wonderful job Everyone, thank you for being here. And let's give him another round of applause, please. >> Great job. At this time, we're going to reconvene the regular board meeting of the Escanido Union High School District Board of Education. Um, and we'll establish a quorum at this time. All board members were present for a close session. However, I failed to uh establish a quorum in that meeting. So, we'll do it here. Um, we have board member Weller. Board member Jurnney is present online. Board member Durnney, are you there? >> Yes, I am. >> I'm here. I'm here. >> Board member Dur just confirming if you are

003present online. >> I am here. Uh >> and maybe we can work on that. Okay. Um let's see. We have board member Vincent >> present. >> Okay. Board member Williams here. >> And I am board member Knight. At this time, I'd like to introduce our interpreter. Um, there will be a Spanish interpreter for this meeting. Attendees who would like to listen in Spanish to the Spanish interpretation of the proceedings, please pick up headphones from the table located in the back of the room. And this announcement will now be shared in Spanish. Thank you. Gracias. Um, additionally, our meeting announcement is this this meeting is being webcast live and recorded and the recording or webcast may capture images and sounds of those attending the meeting. Um, were we able to Okay. Okay. So, at this time,

004I'd like to extend a welcome to everyone who's here this evening. Thank you for being here. Um, we have our student board member, Nathan Berserina, here with us this evening. and our student board member Hannah Ibrahim is out um sick this evening I believe absent. So um this evening we will have our mission and vision read by our student board member Buramina. Take it away. >> Here at UHSD our mission is empowering every student to graduate prepared for college career and life through excellence and learning. And our vision is to relentlessly pursue with optimism equitable support for all students to navigate a changing world by providing rigorous and relevant learning experiences that strengthen their capacity as open-minded and invested collaborators, effective and thoughtful communicators, resourceful and creative problem solvers, curious and analytical critical thinkers, and

005informed and compassionate community members. >> Thank you very much. Um, next on the agenda is to have our pledge of allegiance and we will be led by our board member Williams this evening. >> All right, please stand. >> Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Test test. Am I hearing? Is anyone hearing me? >> Nope. >> And that brings us to our report of action taken in closed session. And I have board member Weller reading out the action from this evening's close session. >> Got a few of them here, so keep me on track. >> So, report of action taken in close session for Tuesday, April 21st. in close

006session. On the motion >> of board member Weller, seconded by board member Knight, the board of education uh voted to approve physical education waiverss number 649 through 720 for the 202526 school year on a roll call vote as follows. Weller, Williams, Durnney, and Vincent all approve and none dissenting. Superintendent, do you have just a quick second to let the audience know what these are? Um when we do uh approve education physical education waiverss. >> Yes. >> Just yeah just briefly Dr. Cus. >> Yeah Dr. Casus. >> Yes this is a matter of routine that we do monthly. State of California requires two years minimum but four years actually let me restate that state of California requires four years of PE. However, we can grant waiverss after successful completion of two years in ninth and tth

007grade. And they can be exempt in junior or their junior and their senior year for reasons like completing their A throughG requirements or other graduation requirements that have not been met. So, it is a four-year requirement. They have to be completed two years in order to get a waiver and they have to be at least 16. >> Thank you, sir. >> Waver represent junior and senior class waivers. >> Thank you, Dr. Kasus. Also report of action taken in close session for today on motion of board member Durnney seconded by board member Williams. The board of education voted to approve graduation waiverss cases number 70 through 79 for the 2526 school year by a roll call vote as follows. Knight Williams Vincent Durnney Weller all approved nondistending abstaining or absent here again. Uh Dr. Kus, could

008you get a brief for the audience since everyone's here tonight? >> Yeah, we have lots of reasons why students receive grad waiverss. Uh mainly excusing them for anything that is not part of the state requirements. The state requires 180 credits, district requires 230. So, we'd be waving those additional credits that the district requires outside of the state minimum for reasons like uh students coming out of Jun juvenile courts, uh students that are migrant students that have interrupted education elsewhere, uh students that are foster homeless youth, for example, is a matter of the law. >> Thank you so much. And for the students out there that don't get any ideas, you're here tonight. You can get all the grad the credits you need. Yes. >> Looks like I have another one here. Um, yes, >> Madame

009President. >> Report of action taken on closed session by Board of Education, April 21st. Report of action. In closed session, the board voted unanimous unanimously to approve a settlement agreement to resolve the special education allegations raised via local dispute resolution process in exchange for a waiver of educational claims for case one. The vote was five yes, zero no, zero absent, zero uh abstain. B6 report of action taken in close session. In closed session, the board voted unanimous unanimously to approve a settlement agreement to resolve the special education allegations raised via the local dispute resolution process in exchange for a waiver of educational claims for case two. vote five yes, no, none voted no, none absent, and no abstensions. And also under B6, in closed session, the board of education voted unanimously to approve a settlement

010agreement to resolve a special education allegations raised via the local dispute resolution process in exchange for a waiver of educational claims for case three. vote yes, five, no, zero absent, and zero and none abstained. And that is all the readouts from close sessions that I have. >> Okay, thank you very much. Um, the next item on our agenda is an item we'll vote on. So, I just want to confirm. Have we um we have board member Durnney online? Board member Durnney, can you hear us? >> I am here. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Nope. They you cannot hear me. >> Okay. They're working on sound. Is there a way for the next several items that if he were to vote, you could put something to that little that

011little speaker so we could hear his vote? You have a microphone that you could do that just for the next few items until you're able to get him in surround sound. Okay. >> Um the next item on our agenda is item um seven in this portion of the meeting to approve the board meeting minutes from our March 10th, 2026 meeting. >> So moved. >> So I have and a second. First by board member Weller, seconded by board member Williams. Um, every vote this evening because we have someone attending virtually, every vote is what we call a roll call vote. Um, student board member Versamina, how do you vote? >> I, >> Board member Weller, >> I. >> Board member Durnney, can we hear you? >> I I board member Durnney, I hear you. >> Hi.

012Yay. Okay. Wonderful. Is that an I? >> I. >> Okay. Board member Vincent >> I. >> Board member Williams >> I. >> And myself board member Knight I. Thank you. Thank you for working on that. Okay. So the next item is to approve tonight's agenda with any additions, deletions, or corrections. Do I have >> There are none. >> There are no additions, deletions, or corrections. So we'll be approving tonight's agenda as posted. Do I have a motion to approve? >> I'll move to approve. >> We have a motion. >> Second. >> And a second. Okay. Uh, board member Burcamina, how do you vote? >> Hi. >> Board member Weller, >> hi. >> Board member Durnney, >> I. >> Okay. Board member Vincent, >> I. >> Board member Williams, >> I. >> And myself, board member

013Knight. I >> um the next item is to pro approve the consent calendar. The consent calendar are all all items on the agenda that are marked with an asterisk. All of these matters listed on the consent C calendar are considered to be routine and sufficiently supported by um prior or accompanying reference materials and information as not to require additional discussion for each item. So a motion will will enact all consent items to be approved. Um, so the items this evening that are on consent and will be approved with this motion are items G1. Um, under educational services. Under human resources, we have items H1 and H2. And under business services, we have items I1, I2, 3, 4, 5, and six. With that, do I have a motion to approve tonight's consent calendar? >> Motion to

014approve. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion and a second. Thank you. Board member Buramina, how do you vote? >> I. >> And board member Weller, >> I. >> Board member Durnney, >> I. >> Board member Vincent, >> I. >> Board member Williams, >> I. >> And board member Knight, I. >> Okay. Uh, with the passage of the consent calendar tonight, which included the certificated personnel report, I would like to congratulate Mr. Dan Barahas, who was just appointed principal of Eskanito Adult School starting with the upcoming school year. >> Congratulations to Dan. >> Dan Dan is not present here in the room. I think he may be online, but he's up in Sacramento lobbying on our behalf for the educational initiatives that are important to us. >> Thank you. Thank you. And we look

015forward to his >> watching. >> Yeah, >> Congratulations, Dan. Um, wonderful. Thank you for that. >> That brings us to section D of our meeting this evening, which are recognition and reports. Um, the first item, D1, is our inspirational student recognition. And we have principal of Eskanito High School here this evening, principal Jason Jacobs here to present our student of the month. All right. Um, good evening. Um, it is with great pleasure I'm here tonight to represent Escandido High School in tonight's inspirational student segment. I would like to thank the EHSD school board and the EHSD cabinet for this opportunity tonight. I al also like to thank the staff, students, and Escandido community for continuing to shine no matter the circumstances. Escandido High School is a unique place where everyone who enters its doors is

016considered family. The reason for this is our model of loyal, strong, and true, which resonates in the community from generation to generation. Being loyal, strong, and true helps to create a pathway for our students, staff, and families as they carry out their daily routines here at EHS. Tonight, I'm honored to present Wuanita Lopez Abazan, Lizzie to those who know her for the EUHSD inspirational student of the month of April. We have watched Lizzie transform herself in remarkable ways. When she first came to EHS, she is facing real challenges, but she made a conscious decision to change her mindset. Instead of dwelling on obstacles, she chose to think positively about her future. That shift in perspective didn't just change her attitude. It changed everything. The results speak for themselves. A 3.0 GPA while maintaining a full

017course load. But beyond the grades, Lizzie has discovered her passion. She's working towards trade school to service and wind turbines, charting her own path forward with determination and purpose. What makes Lizz's story so inspiring is that she took charge of her own learning. She didn't wait for someone to fix her things for her. She's decided to grow and she did. Lizzy represents everything EHS stands for. Resilience, self-belief, and the courage to embrace change. She's not just a student we taught. She's a young adult. We're all proud to have helped along the way. Um, Mrs. Leticia Magdaleno was supposed to be here tonight. She's out sick. She's Lizz's school counselor and she nominated her. And I have a brief thing that she wants to talk about uh for Lizzie. A second. Sorry, I'm speaking for two

018people now. Okay, here we go. Good evening, everyone. My name is Leticia Magdaleno. I have the pleasure of being Wanita Lopez Abazan's counselor or Lizzy as she prefers to be called. I met Lizzy two years ago during my first week as a school counselor. I must say she was a captivating she has a captivating personality that truly warms your heart. She also has an amazing ability to bring a smile or laughter to almost every every almost anyone she encounters. She is truly a pleasure to have. However, what most of us don't know about Lizzie is what makes her even more special. By the time Lizzie completes high school this upcoming June, not only will she have met all the graduation requirements, but she she will have also overcome drug addiction, chronic absenteeism, and a significant

019credit deficit. At such a young age, Lizzy, you have accomplished and overcome so much, and I couldn't be more proud of you. For the past two years, you have worked tirelessly and your efforts have not gone unnoticed. You have made up two years worth of credits and you will be the first in your family to graduate from a comprehensive school site. Visit your resilience, strength, and determination and are truly inspiring. We are you are proof that no matter the obstacles, it is never too late to rewrite your story. I have no doubt that this is only the beginning of all the amazing things you will accomplish. We are so proud of you and we cannot wait to see you what you do in the future. >> Yeah. >> I I present to you Lizzy Amazon.

020>> Um, >> good evening everyone. My name is Wanita, but most of you know me as Lizzy. It's scary up here. Um, I'm grateful to be here tonight and share with you my story. Don't get too excited. There's a lot of ups and downs in my story. Um, I'll start from the beginning. It started with a beam of light in my face and a doctor telling my mom it's a boy. Then I turned out to be a girl. Maybe that's a little too far back for you guys. Um, I was born in Eskandido and I've been here my whole life. We grew up I grew up in an immigrant household. My my mom my mom had me me and my sister when she was young um things were hard. My older sister had to step

021up and take care of me. Um okay. My older sister, she took care of me. She did what she could from doing my hair um to getting me dressed and to being and for being there for me. My mom had two more girls later on in my life. Um I flew by so fast before I even knew it. I was already in high school. My mom felt older than my actual age and I used to zone out and roam the halls. I had a bad drug addiction. Um, I was never in school and I dropped out so many times, but somehow ended up back in school. If I'm being honest, back then I had no plans on changing. Like, literally didn't mind being another addict in my family. I remember most of the time my

022counselor pulled me out of class a lot. She was she was the only one that was there for me. Even when I wasn't doing well, she probably didn't know what was going on. She always told me, "You're a good kid. I know you are. just try. That's all I ask. I remember being so mad that they wouldn't leave me alone, but now I couldn't be more grateful that she never gave up on me. Um, when my little sisters were born, I was scared. Um, I realized that we had nobody in our family to look up to, um, let alone help with school. I knew I had to change, but I was stuck in this loop where I would do really good for a for a bit, then mess everything up. So, I made a promise

023to myself that no matter how much work I had to do, oh my gosh, no matter how much work I had to do, I had to do it for them, for my sisters. Four months into junior year, 4 months into my junior year of high school, I completed so many online classes. I really thought they were adding more classes or I was just this far behind. But I had a choice. I could give up. I could give up or get up and stay up and go nowhere but up. And I choose to stay up. I finished my online classes in just one year. Two years in one year still blows my mind and shows me that I'm capable of doing more than my own mind thinks. And after high school, I'm off to become a

024wind turbine engineer. I want to thank my principal, Mr. Jacobs, for seeing light in me that I didn't see in myself. and for allowing my hard work to go to not go unnoticed. Um, my junior math teacher, Mr. Graham, for always being there for me. Even when I didn't show up, he was there. Um, I Okay, I want to thank Hold on, you guys. I lost my I want to thank my mom for changing and becoming a better person. I want to thank my stepdad too for stepping up. I know I know raising me and my sister wasn't easy. You guys didn't have a loving home yourself, so I get that it was hard. Um I want to thank my older sister for always protecting me as she promised, showing up when nobody else did

025and sacrificing her own future for mine and my siblings. Um, my family's hard work is noticed by me and I'm so grateful for what you've taught me about life. I'm thankful for all my teachers and all the people that I've met in my life. They're the reason I am the person I am today. If you think you can't or that no one in your family has, just start. Take the risk. Um, and if you ever feel like giving up, remember never to lose hope. Always have faith. It allows you to cope. Bad days will pass just like the good days do as um Oops. Just just be patient. You'll live through that pain. It's never too late to change, to become a better you. It all starts with the man or the woman in the

026mirror. The same way the sun goes down, he'll be back tomorrow with more challenges, with more hard work, with more questions. You just have to be willing to get up one more time. Thank you. We're coming. We're coming. Well, Izzy, your story is incredibly impressive and you're an example of resilience and hope, and there's a lot of kids in Escandido that look up to you. Um, not only your siblings, but you can be an incredible example to so many kids in this community. So, I hope that you step into that and recognize you can be a mentor and a leader and share can keep sharing your story. um be proud of it because you've overcome things that a lot of kids are trying to overcome and so showing them that it can be done um

027is really important and you're a great example of that. So we have some really um cool things to to share with you. So the California State Legislature um would like to present you with a certificate of recognition. So this is from the California Assembly Assemblywoman Daranna Patel. Um, so your full name, Juanita Elizabeth Lopez Abazan. Congratulations on being recognized as an inspirational student. The character, integrity, and perseverance you have demonstrated while pursuing your education at Eskanito High School is an achievement deserving of recognition and praise. There's one. This one is from the County of San Diego from Supervisor Jim Desmond's office. So, you're being recognized as April's inspirational student. Is with great pleasure that I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Juanita Elizabeth Lopez Abazan on being named April's inspirational student for Escanido High School. Your

028hard work and dedication have not gone unnoticed. We are proud of the choices you've made and we can't wait to see how you use what you've learned to continue building a brighter future for yourself and your community. Best wishes for your continued growth and success. >> And one more from us here at the Eskanito Union High School District Board of Education. So we this is in recognition of your outstanding accomplishments and be proud and okay. You want a photo? Okay, next up we have our student and staff recognition that will be presented by Superintendent John Peterson. >> Thank you. Good evening. First, I'd like to uh recognize some students who are achieving uh from all of our school sites. I would like to congratulate the March and April rising stars who were formally recognized by

029the Greater Escandido Chamber of Commerce at the rising stars breakfasts on March 18th and April 15th. The 10 exceptional district students shared their journey and future plans. They will have an opportunity to apply for a scholarship at the end of the school year. Congratulations to Steven Lucido and Sandra Nuion from Delago Academy from Escandido High School. I'd like to congratulate Luis Garcia and Juanas Lopez Aagon, also known as Lizzy, our inspirational student tonight. Uh, from Orange Glenn High School, Daniel Aoyo Ramirez and Alejandro Perez from Orange Glenn High School. From S Pasqual High School, Sai Martinez San Juan and Valeria Lopez from Sasqual High School. And from Valley High School, Chaquan Russ and Atziri Casillas from from Valley. City of Escandido honored US Navy Captain Royce Williams, a Korean War veteran and Medal of Honor

030recipient. Prior to the meeting, the district's 78th Regiment Band performed in tribute to Captain Williams. The band is composed of talented students from Delago, Escanido High, Orange Glenn High, and Sapasqua High School. Now from Escanido Adult School. Escanido Adult School's paths to Palomar College tour on March 12th was a strong success. 69 Eskanito Adult School students visited the San Marcos campus where they received clear guidance on how to begin their college journey and what it takes to thrive as Palomar students. They explored available general education pathways, certificate programs, and the range of student support services offered. During the campus walking tour, students engaged directly with Palomar College instructors, followed by a shared dinner that allowed them to connect with peers from neighboring adult schools. The evening concluded with an inspiring alumni panel featuring former adult

031school students who shared their experiences and encouragement. It was an energiz energizing and motivating event for our adult learners. at Orange Glenn High School. Orange Glenn's Assusa Cruz Ramos won the Cook College Scholarship, a last dollar award that supplements all institutional aid, provides recipients up to $55,000 per year to pursue a bachelor's degree at any accredited undergraduate institution. Congratulations to the Orange Glenn High School's dance team for winning first place in jazz and novelty character categories at the West Coast Elite competition and for taking first place in hiphop and novelty character and second place in the jazz categories at the Sharp International Competition. Orange Glenn High School's The Torch Publications received second place in the California Allstars yearbook category at the statewide competition. Moving on to Sasqua High School, the Robotics Super Nerds team has

032qualified for the 2026 Houston World Championship. The team has had an impressive year so far, placing third place at both district competitions and winning two autonomous awards sponsored by Google. They are ranked 136 out of 3,700 teams worldwide. The 2026 Houston World Championship will be held from April 29th through May 3rd. We wish them the best of luck. SP sophomore Sophia Swift was selected as a 2026 Carson Scholar. Funding for this scholarship was made possible by the Elen Wolf Gang Gagon Trust. This year's applicant pool was exceptionally competitive, and Sophia was selected as part of the largest cohort of Carson scholars in their 30-year history. Sophia will receive a $1,000 college college scholarship that will be invested on their behalf, earning interest until they metriculate to college along with a Carson Scholars Fund medal and

033certificate. The SP dance team just returned from Orlando, Florida, where they competed at the Contest of Champions and placed first in the character division, third in the jazz division, and 11th grade soloist Maline Rhodess placed seventh out of more than 30 soloists. They then moved on to the USA Dance Nationals and placed first in musical theater. Congratulations to the SP DECA who just returned from the state conference and so many of our students did great. Six students will represent us at the international competition in April in Atlanta, Georgia. Rachel Hodgson and Kora Thistle earned fifth place in the state in the travel and tourism category. And Diana Alanise, no excuse me, Diana Alcena Gomez and Misha Patel who earned gold level for their chapter awards paper. The club also earned Thrive Level, the highest, and

034will nominate two students to represent Sasqua High School. Girls varsity basketball won the Division 5 San Diego CIF Championships. This is the first time the team has won since the early 1990s. And finally, for staff recognitions, also from Sasqua High School, SP English teacher. She's also a PL PLC TOSA, an ELA TOSSA, and a project-based learning TOSA. Jennifer Frray was recognized by the AXA region 18 North County Managers Charter and the Palomar Charter area as someone who demonstrates equity, promotes leadership, and facilitates a community learning. The celebration was held earlier this evening at the North County Regional Education Center. And that is all of the recognitions for this evening. >> Thank you and congratulations to everyone and all of the wonderful things going on. It's really, really impressive. Um, with that, we also have our

035student board member report this evening. So, we'll have board member Bersamina um, let us know what's going on. >> Great. Good evening, board of UHSD and everyone else who showed up tonight. I'm Nathan Brousamina and it is my pleasure to report on some of the major events from the previous month within our district. Tonight, I'm here to report on the Escandido High School, San Pasqua High School, and Escandido adult school sites. At Escandido High School, orange tier winners for last year's CASP have been celebrated for exceeding performance in both English and math. This year's winning circle consists of 25 seniors and me. On March 10th, some of our brightest students were able to be spotlighted at our honor roll lunch, nominated by their teachers to receive an award for outstanding work. Starting this Monday, the

036Cougars have been celebrating pep rally week with the following spirit days. Pajama day, twin day, pink out versus camo, western day, and class colors. Seniors and juniors are looking forward to prom 2026 taking place this Saturday at SeaWorld San Diego this Friday, April 24th. EHS will be having its final pep rally in the theme of Toy Story to honor our senior class moving on to college. And I'm Woody. At Sasqua High School, juniors hosted and celebrated a picnic party on March 16th. From March 23rd through the 27th, the Eagles also celebrated their final neon themed pep rally with a spirit week, including dress for the wrong occasion, dress as your type, anything but a water bottle, toes out, and class colors day. Partnering with Chick-fil-A, ASB Eagles had the opportunity to fund raise for more

037resources to make events even greater. On March 27th, SP celebrated their final prep rally of the school year as well. Students are are now looking forward to their prom on May 16th at Baloa Park in the theme city of the stars. At Escanido Adult School, classes for those preparing to endeavor in the nursing field are able to be certified through courses provided from May 4th to July 17th. Students will be tested on April 15th. This concludes my report on Escanido High, San Pasqual High, and the Escanido Adult School. It's always a pleasure to report updates and insights from our campuses and I'm looking very forward to giving you my next and my very last report. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, the next section of our meeting is e the public

038comment portion and first up we will have a report from CSEA which is California School Employees Association Escanido Chapter 219. I see Rachel here. mine out here. Good evening. Thank you for the board for taking the time to listen to our comments last month. I am here again tonight to respectfully ask that you resend these unnecessary layoffs. The district has stated that the primary reason for these layoffs is lack of work. However, the facts do not support that claim. For example, the district continues to subcontract work performed by our translator interpreters. During the 2425 school year, the district paid a contractor 64,54210. So far this year, that number is already $35,815. This clearly demonstrates that work still exists. Additionally, the district is not permitted to outsource classified work without mutual agreement with CSEA. Looking at

039maintenance, technicians worked a combined total of 811 overtime hours between July and January. On top of that, a substitute technician worked over,00 hours and even acred overtime. Of those,00 hours, only 120 were used to cover an absent employee. California Education Code 45103 clearly defines the role of a classified substitute. Our custodial staff have also logged in incredible 5,835 overtime hours from July through March. Again, this reflects a workload that exceeds current staffing, not a shortage of work. The only position being eliminated due to lack of funds is the part-time print shop role, which was supported by a grant that is now expiring. However, other positions funded through grants, particularly at the management level, have been retra have been have been retained through alternative funding sources. It's also important to note that the print shop provides

040services to 49 outside agencies generating revenue for the district. Both the health office and counseling offices continue to serve high volumes of students. In counseling, the numbers of students supported has gone up by nearly 700 more in one month from our three comprehensive sites. So, it's gone up. They've had 700 more visits than they did last month. Each position the district plans to eliminate will have a negative impact on our students. So I ask, where is the data that truly supports lack of work? From our perspective, these decisions appear arbitrary and there seems to be a growing disconnect between district leadership and the realities on our campuses. I urge the board to resend these layoffs and to carefully reconsider the approval of additional confidential management positions. Thank you. >> Thank you, Rachel. Um, next item

041on public comment is our report from the Escanido Secondary Teachers Association, ESTA. Do I have a representative from ESTA here this evening to provide a report? I do not see anyone coming up. So that brings us to comments from the public on non-aggendaized topic that lies within the subject matter jurisdiction of the board. Okay. Okay. So we do have um quite a few speaker slips here this evening. um it looks like 12 total maybe approximately. So we will go in the order that they were received. So the first speaker I have um to come up will be April Branch and then I'll read off the following few speakers followed by Casey Wong and Skyler McFarlane. Oh, April A. >> Good evening, distinguished board members, and hello to my husband and two kids watching at home,

042James and Julian, who I promised can come next time. Uh, I hope you all had a wonderful month, and that you enjoyed reading the curriculum documents being voted on tonight. I'm incredibly thankful to have had the opportunity to get to know Yenna and Irene, who um presented their students tonight, and the work that I got to do with ballet folklorico. This afternoon, I sent you a second set of teacher testimonials that speak to the impact of my work. And last month, I described my how my role supports teachers within our district. Tonight, I'd like to focus on the most important aspect of my role, its impact on students. Curriculum determines what students experience in their classrooms. It shapes whether a student walks into a class confident in what they're learning or unsure of what is

043expected of them. When it is strong and aligned, students build skills and experience success. When it is not, they experience gaps or repetition that can impact their confidence and progress. The work of building and aligning curriculum does not stay on paper. It shows up in classrooms, in student engagement, and in student outcomes. This work will impact every student across our district and shape their learning for years. Eliminating the curriculum TOSA position limits our ability to ensure that students receive the highquality consistent education they deserve. I respectfully ask that you preserve the curriculum to TOSSA position so I may continue this work in service of our students. Thank you for your time. >> Next up is Casey. See >> I wrote I wrote something. >> Okay. Good evening, EHS EUHSD board, and thank you for giving

044me a chance to speak tonight. My name is Casey Fuang, and I'm a math teacher and the ASP director at Academy. As you know, ASP is composed of student representatives. Um, are here with me today, some of them that dedicate themselves to planning schoolwide events throughout the school year. All the things we do require us to manage and operate our annual budget to successfully execute pep rallies, book venues for homecoming and prom, and so much more. However, none of this would be possible without our finance support technician and buyer, which are just two of roles of many that you're considering eliminating. I can't imagine to think the significant impact that removing these positions would have on pretty much the efficiency and effectiveness of our current financial processes. I think that these potential delays will create

045even more challenges for not just ASB but also for student clubs and all athletics uh related payment processes throughout the district. It'll make it even harder for all of us to keep our year-long programs running smoothly. To close, I want to go beyond just discussing the logistical and fiscal impact related to a decision you're contemplating moving forward with. what looks like just I think saving big numbers and dollar signs to you I think is real people actual people with livelihoods that you're considering throwing away. Please consider your position and think about the people you affect. Thank you for your time. >> Next up is Skyler McFarland followed by Thea Lopez and Matt Petrulli Petrulli. Hello, distinguished board members. Thank you for having me tonight. My name is Skyler McFarland and I am the labor relations

046representative with CSEA and Eskanito Chapter 219. Tonight, I stand here united and in full support of our classified members. I am here before you to plead to to plead you to please resend these detrimental layoffs. In requesting information from the district, the response we received on paper is that all of these proposed layoffs except for one are for lack of work. However, let it be clear, there is no lack of work. As Rachel provided, the district has proposed to lay off a custodian when at the same time the custodians have done almost 6,000 hours of overtime in the last year and a half, amounting to much more than one full-time position. So, why is this being cut? Another example, a maintenance technician who's here with us tonight is being laid off or uh when over

0472,000 hours have been worked in overtime over the last year and a half. There has also been a substitute used. In fact, since October, the district has used a full-time substitute going over the 60-day limit for having a sub outlined in California Education Code and in our CBA. There is no lack of work for classified members in Escandido Union High School District. These layoffs feel unjustified and they will harm our classified employees, many of whom do not have bumping rides and will not have jobs. They will lose their jobs completely. This will affect their families and their livelihoods. But it's not just the employees and their families that this will affect. This will harm our public schools. It will harm our students. Quality public education is not possible without quality classified employees. They ensure our

048school functions and they enable our students to thrive. I believe something can and should be done to resend these layoffs and I respectfully ask that you find it in your hearts to find a way through this. It would be a disservice to our dedic dedicated classified employees and to your students to go through with these layoffs. Thank you. >> Next up, we have Teresa Lopeel followed by Matt Trachelli and Monica Estrada. >> Good evening members of the board. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I would like to begin with a simple question. Have you ever received a travel reimbursement after attending a conference or work rellated event? Behind that reimbursement is a detailed process that ensures accuracy, proper approval, and compliance with the district's policies. That work is part of the position that is

049now at risk of being eliminated. My name is Deressa Lopez. I am the finance support technician at the district office. I'm here to respectfully ask you to reconsider the layoffs and resend these notices, especially in light of the R SRP retirements. This position is essential in maintaining the efficiency, accuracy, and compliance of the district's financial operations. Each week, it supports clubs, sports across the district, ensuring ASB expenses follow district and FICMA policies. It also processes over a thousand employee reimbursements annually, supports account technicians, maintaining thousands of vendor records, and handles additional responsibilities such as invoicing, accounts receivable, and financial reporting. These are ongoing timesensitive responsibilities that require consistency and attention to detail. If this position is eliminated, the impact will be immediate. Student activities and programs will fa face delays. Employee reimbursements will take longer,

050placing added strain on staff. At the same time, accounts technicians which already processes more than 10,000 invoices annually will be expected to absorb this workload. This would make it difficult to meet the net 30 payment terms, delay vendor payments, and diminish effective and timely customer service. both internally and externally. The current structure exists to ensure efficiency and accountability. Removing this position will not will create backlogs, increase errors, and introduce compliance risk. Eliminating this position does not remove the work. It shifts it to teams that do not have the capacity to absorb it. I respectfully urge you to reconsider this decision. While the cost of this position is small, its impact is significant to the daily operations of our district, our staff, and ultimately our students. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> We have

051Matt Petuli. >> Good evening, everyone. I wanted to share my concerns on the proposed cuts to essential positions in the maintenance and operations department and the detrimental impact that will have on the future of our schools and students. Maintenance and operations technicians are a critical part of school environments. We prioritize student and staff safety enable positive student outcomes in productive, safe learning spaces. We're being told the reason for these reductions in workforce are for a lack of work. Yet, most of us in the maintenance and operations department are working many extra days and hours to meet the demand. Since July of 2025 to April of this year, we have worked over,00 hours of overtime, including long days, weekends, and holidays. We are cons constantly making improvements to keep our schools headed on a successful path.

052Our students and community deserve a safe and supportive learning environment and each individual maintenance technician is a critical component of that system. These proposed cuts will destabilize our team. You know, people get sick, injured, take leave, go on vacation, and having a team stretched too thin can increase the likelihood of accidents and mistakes. And it slows response times. Our seven campuses require constant upkeep and repairs to ensure site safety for students, staff, and to the public. We also work on modernizing outdated systems like data, phone, security, and fire alarms. In the past two years that I have been here, we have been very busy with constant new work order requests each day along with any emergency responses for facility breakdowns and repairs of electrical, water, gas, and sewage systems. These issues can quickly turn into

053much larger problems if not given immediate attention. Not only can they cause unexpected financial losses to the district, but also can endanger students, staff, and the public, potentially causing injuries or even death. I sincerely hope that the board can reconsider these proposed cuts and resin these layoffs of the critical staff. Job cuts to essential services are devastating to our schools and our community on both public and personal levels. I urge you to all please re-evaluate the data and information that is being used to make this challenging decision and help us to continue to be successful in the maintenance and operations department. Thank you for your time. >> Up we have Monica Estrada >> followed by Eva Contreres. Good evening board members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I would like to begin by

054expressing my sincere gratitude to everyone who came and supported at the last time meeting and especially to those who spoke publicly for the first time. I know that is not easy and your voices truly matter. I also want to say thank you all for coming and supporting when you can be resting at home. Your presence is greatly appreciated and meaningful and I hope our voices don't go unheard. I am here today to follow up on the ongoing discussion regarding the proposed closure of several positions, including the special education interpreter and translator roles. These positions are not simply supportive. They are essential. Interpreters play a critical role in ensuring that families fully understand and can meaningfully participate in IEP meetings, assessments, initial evaluations, and educational planning. Without them, we risk creating communication barriers that directly impact

055student outcomes and weaken the trust we work so hard to build with our families. Beyond the impact on students and relationships, there are also important legal considerations. As a district, we are required to provide meaningful access and participation for all families. Without adequate interpreter support, we risk falling short of these obligations, which could lead to compliance concerns and potential legal consequences. I also want to emphasize that all the positions being considered for closure are vital to the effective functioning of our system. Each one plays an important role in maintaining collaboration, efficiency, and the level of support our students deserve. We all share the same goal to serve to serve students well and ensure our programs continue to run smoothly. I respectfully ask that you reconsider this decision with these impacts in mind. Um, thank you

056all for your time and for your continued commitment to our students, schools, and communities. Thank you. Up we have Ela Conturus followed by Rhonda Jenkins followed by Davidson Curtis. Good evening, district members, superintendent Peterson, school board members, and student board members. My name is Eva Conturus, and I've worked with the independent study program for almost four years. I understand layoffs are not on tonight's agenda, but I wanted to follow up on my previous comment regarding the laboratory classroom assistant position that is at risk of being eliminated again. This is the same position that was brought forward for elimination last year and the same position this board chose to thankfully preserve. That decision gave our program the opportunity to continue operating with the level of support our students need. Because of that oop, sorry. Because of

057that decision, our program has grown. Despite operating with fewer teachers, EHS maintains the highest attendance rate across our programs from month one through month six. Our average attendance rate is 98.27% which means on most days only about one student is absent. At another site the attendance rate averages around 91%. Which is closer to five students absent on a typical day. In our recent month 8 we had our lowest attendance and that was at 94.55 for ADA. For other sites in the same month one site had 88.51% and 82.67 for the third. The loss of this position is no longer a hypothetical that we were talking about last year. We now have a full year of comparison or almost a full year. We can see what outcomes at sites can look like without this position because

058our two sister sites are operating without a laboratory classroom assistant. At EHS, our structure allows us to provide immediate consistent support. And the difference not only shows in our outcomes, but also in how our students feel within our program and coming to school. Independent study often serves students who benefit from alternative pathways to complete their education and remain connected to their school and community. Many of these students may already struggle with navigating unique life circumstances, truency, or managing a traditional schedule. They're not looking for another system to navigate. They're looking for immediate consistent support. This kind of support is what makes our program stand out to parents and what leads them to recommending the program by word of mouth or what brings them back to our program for their younger students. I have seen that

059firsthand. At Eskanito High School, the structure includes the LCA, the laboratory classroom assistant, and it works. While other sites have adapted to keep compliance without the LCA, I ask, how do we maintain the same outcomes we have at Escanido High School without this position when we already have examples of what the program looks like without it? We're not asking for more. We're simply asking for your help to protect what is already working for our students. Thank you for your time and support. Next up is Vonda Jenkins, followed by Davidson Curtis, followed by Lisa Olsen. >> Good evening, esteemed members of the board. Um, I'm here I don't have anything uh prepared. Uh, I changed my major to avoid public speaking, so bear with me. Um um I I am a survivor of domestic violence and

060my uh child, she attends the independent studies program. Um I'm here just to tell you my experience with Miss Rios who has been a tremendous support. I can tell you that um even after having my full faculties um when your family is going through trauma and you're the head of a household uh single anything that see that's procedural like getting her uh scheduled any schedule it was very difficult and I can say that not only has Miss Rio's been a liazison she's been an advocate she's been a support um I've experienced many different, you know, uh, parts of the school that kind of, you know, they kind of let you down. They don't follow up. They don't provide resources. But I can say that, um, not only was I inspired to be more active in

061my child's education with Miss Rio's support, um, she is now thriving. And this is after being a year behind. And, um, she would be the second in two generations. Now I can look forward to her graduating from college and I really would appreciate just to reconsider because it really does affect families in ways that I guess is not immediately um you know visible. But thank you for your time everyone. Top is Davidson Curtis, followed by Lisa Olsen and then May Fay. >> Good evening board members and district leadership. My name is Davinson Curtis. I teach at Escandido High School and last month I spoke alongside so many others against the spate of classified layoffs that were nevertheless approved. At that time, Christy Knight responded both openly and genuinely. Uh she said that the board had

062heard our voices and that while time and legal mandates forced the outcome of that meeting, there was precedent for similar measures to be modified by May, given more time to create a plan that would satisfy the state and serve the needs of our community. I'm here today to remind the board that we have not forgotten our conviction in the intervening month and to ask them to please make good on their stated intention to mitigate the train wreck that will come to pass if nothing is done next year. I speak to appeal mainly for the position of district interpreter, not because it represents the only important position cut, but because it is the position the absence of which I can least imagine. in service of their mandate to run IEP meetings. It is rare for case

063managers to go a week without using interpreter services, and it's often multiple hours per week per education specialist. Having just one interpreter adds difficulty to the job, and as far as I can tell, having zero would make it impossible. Um, if there is a plan to fill the gap, I have not yet heard it. And to say that ED specialists would be interested to hear the plan would be a dramatic understatement. If the plan is to simply have case managers cobble something together from other staff members who speak Spanish, I cannot stress enough what a farce that would be. We do have an informal list at EHS of staff members willing to help teachers make phone calls home to parents, but those people all have other jobs and are giving 10 minutes here and there

064because they're team players. Asking them to give over a full hour on the regular to facilitate an IEP meeting is a non-starter. They are not certified. They have their actual jobs to attend to. And we cannot rest the weight of how our district relates to the families most in need of attention on generosity and extracontractual labor. We need a plan. On the other hand, if the plan is to give this position over to technological substitutes, then I really hope that you all know something I don't. In my experience, conversations had through real-time translation technology as it is today are stilted enough to make people clam up. Trying to run an IEP meeting through the likes of Google Voice would encourage one-sided proposals of IEP text followed by parent ascent. It would not encourage the type

065of genuine collaboration explicitly mandated by IDEA. In some I suppose my message is we have one more month. Please please come back in May with a plan to reinstate the interpreter position or a darn good plan for how we'll function in its absence. Thank you, >> Madame President. Madame President, can I ask a question? Um, it's interesting. And I know before I was elected to a board, you know, people would come and speak to a board and it was like blah blah blah. Next agenda item. It's interesting cuz this gentleman has spoken two months in a row now. And it seems to be a pretty darn compelling reason to keep the interpreters. Bear with me here a second. I'm I know for sure that Dr. Kasus and the team over there have a plan. Is

066this a plan that's not been presented yet or can you help on that? Because his he's pretty compelling, I have to admit. the the plan has has not been communicated yet and furthermore it's not agendaized for tonight so we can't really address it >> okay because we're running out of time so we might have to call a special meeting to present it before the next meeting we have to vote on just saying >> thank you Lisa >> good evening um Escandido Union High School District cabinet and board members. Um I'm here again. My name is Lisa Olsen. I'm the district nurse for Escandido Union High School District and I oversee um health services for our students and staff. I'm here to respectfully share my concerns again regarding the district's proposal to eliminate health office assistant

067positions across our school sites. Um you should have all received a handout um that has some data on it um with uh um comparing annually um the number of health office visits that we're seeing and the percentage of students that are um being um seen to in those years. Um the f on the first um little section you'll see the school years. There we have the first one is 2018-19. That's really the last full year of um school prior to the pandemic. And then we re um convene again for our first full year of um non-COVID work so to speak in 2022. Um you can go ahead and just uh not even pay attention to the 2526 data there. um as those are still pending and and we haven't completed the school year yet. Um

068but you can see in uh though our annual enrollment in the district has decreased um annually from 7 uh 7,364 in 2018 2019 down to 6,044 of this school year. that um the percentage of students um that are being seen in our health offices has massively increased. It was 307% in 2018 2019. Um and then once COVID hit, students were coming to the health office quite frequently with test results and with symptoms um being in quarantine and or isolated. And I think that gave the student body a great place. uh they they were like those students who had never come in the past are now having to come because of the pandemic and learning that um the services that we can provide and the help that we can um support them with uh is important

069um and we're seeing in 2022 23 509% of students were being um seen in the health office um and that has increased annually uh 24 25 is 512% %. On the next um little section there, you can see the comparison of the data from 2425 school year to this school year. Um last year we saw a total of 32,411 students in 10 months. That's averaging 3,241 um student visits per month. Um with our projected we still have three months left of this school year. um with uh adding the projected um visits for this school year, we'll be at 33,433. So even though our numbers are going down, our um uh health office visit numbers are going up. On each of the following pages, you can see um each school divided down um individually and how

070our health office numbers are comparing. Um and I just wanted to make one last point. I appreciate your time here. A health a school health office is not just a room with ice packs. It's a medical safety net for hundreds of students every single day. Students who may not have a primary care um provider who may not have health insurance. And this uh our offices provide that first step, that front line to these students. If our shared goal is to keep students safe, healthy, and in school, reducing health office staffing moves us in the opposite direction. The question is not whether we can afford health office assistance. The question is whether we can afford to operate safely without them. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Next up, we have >> I've added

071my contact my card there. If any of you have any questions uh or comments, feel free to reach out at any time. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> And May Fay, followed by Terry Rice afterwards. Hello board members and cabinet. Um I have been so honored these past 25 years to serve this community and work with all of you. I am retiring at the end of this year and onto other adventures. Uh, but I thought this was so important that I discussed it that I made time to come in today. Um, I've known many of you over the years and actually was on a couple of interview panels as well. So, it's amazing that we're here. I'm here today to discuss again and Mr. Uh, her palani, you were not here for last year. So,

072I just wanted to reiterate that our laboratory classroom assistant has been a vital piece of our success in at our site for both our indis independent study program, but our campus online program. And I think if uh Miss Phillips, if you have the opportunity, you could maybe look and see how much money that we generate as a result of our independent study program. We um as of the numbers that were released for the school year at the end of March, we are 14% above uh one site and 7% above the other. We our average is above 98% attendance. And we have as a district put a huge amount of investment in this position. It requires a great deal of training. Uh this person has to be able to quickly answer many many different types of

073questions about technology, uh projects, essays, uh other information about the campus. and the persons that we've had in this position are significant to our success. And I would make the argument that they're significant to our district's success because we want to keep public education in Escandido and we want it to thrive and be strong. As someone who has lived here for 25 years and will probably continue to live here for another 25, having a position like the laboratory classroom assistant is so important for so many people in our community and I am so lucky to have been part of this success. We're going to have a lot of changes next year including uh four retirees from the programs that know uh have been trained on this and we're going to have a new online platform.

074I would say that um Mr. causes this is a very important time for us to have that support that we need to keep this program strong because it's a tough change that's coming up for us. Uh to completely change how we do things online with a new package to have so such a wealth of experience gone. It's going to be a tough hall, especially at Orange Glenn and Escandido. And so, not only as a community member, but as an experienced educator, I would please ask that you continue this position. It's so important to so many people. Every day I see students and families coming together as a team to help a student be successful, Mr. Peterson, that were not successful before. What happens? We have great communication with our families. We have immediate answers. We

075have great information about the whole campus. I cannot do that. A new teacher could not do that on their own. We need those support people in this sort of situation. >> Thank you, May. >> Thank you for your time and listening. Again, it's been an honor. I really am so happy that I got to be part of all of this. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations on your retirement. Thank you so much for your service. >> The final speaker slip I have is for Terry Rice. Hi board members and Escanido union. I don't think I can stick to my prepared statement after hearing all of these different speakers come up. Um I think you're cutting at the wrong end of the string. I think you need to look at non- studententf facing um people in the

076district. Um but I do want to talk about some other things as well. I'm here to highlight a very unfortunate and unjust history with your district tonight. The reason I say unfortunate is because things could have been rectified many times and the district was requested to do so and they did not. My son had a really horrible senior year at Orange Glenn. I'm sure that many of you may have seen um a state complaint. I've I've talked to many many administrators in the district and nothing was ever rectified. The the year was basically a year of non-implementation. No matter how many IEP meetings, and there were countless, no matter how many letters, parent concern letters, no matter how many meetings at the district where I just kept knocking and climbing up the ladder to try

077to get them to do something for my son. So I myself have witnessed that there is not support on in the campus sites. They say that there is. They'll write it in an IEP, but what you get is an IEP on paper only that's not being implemented. So clearly 3 minutes isn't going to do me the time that I need to. So I will plan to choose only a few things from my long list that I want to share with you to create visibility. Um I am really upset because I felt like trust was betrayed to me um by district administration um not Dr. Casus. I'll say that where I met with those and they would say to me, you know, let us let us have a meeting. Let let's have more staff training. Nothing

078ever changed. So where I'm going to go today is what I think is going to make the biggest impact in my 54 seconds left. I want to talk about the failure in the design of your co-taught classrooms. Kids are being funneled into those rooms like animals into a barn where they think that makes them compliant. And I'm here to tell you it doesn't. Accommodations are not being given. Um, children are not really participating. They are just in the room and they're calling it good. And I'm here to tell you as a parent and as an advocate that is not good. Those classrooms are causing kids to have inequal access to the curriculum. And I will tell you when you look at my complaint, you may ask for it. You will see that my son went

079over a 100 days without visual supports that were documented by the district. And they weren't sorry. They didn't fix it until I brought another advocate and another advocate. So, I'm here to say hi. I will see more of you and I hope that you're going to take a deeper dive and take a deeper look because I am concerned. Thank you, >> Madam Madam President. Was this was that special ed related? >> Um, it sounds like it. Um Terry, I would also encourage you if you could because I know you had a lot more on paper. If there was um if you were able to take the time to also send were send it to us by email um we can review more >> because I was concerned from my perspective. I made this easy. Let's

080resolve this. Let's move this forward. It didn't move. >> We would like to hear more about it. So, please share that with us. Thank you. >> Um, and I know there were a lot of you that came out to speak this evening. Thank you for taking the time to come out. Um, to the students that came out, um, thank you because, um, we know that this matters to you if you're here. Um, even if you didn't speak, we know that this matters to you. Um, this is not some, as mentioned, it's not something we're actually voting on tonight. Um, but everyone who spoke and shared more about what it is we need to be looking at and taking into consideration um will give us more um more information to be able to speak with cabinet

081about so that we can hopefully by May reach something where we're uh able to resend the pink no pink slips that were sent out. None of us want to do layoffs. Um, I've been on this board for 13 years and this would be um probably the second time we've had to do any layoffs. And in previous years it was very difficult. And so this time I just want you to know it's um every time that's presented to us, it's very very hard to consider. Um, and we know there's a lot of moving parts to it all and trying to understand all of that. um from what we're being the information we're being given. So, we do appreciate the additional information from everyone's perspective. Um that's our boots on the ground. So, um thank you very

082much for being here this evening. Um that ends our public comment portion. Um I have one board member stepping up to go to the bathroom. So, if possible, we'll take a short recess for a few minutes and let's be back in 5 minutes at 7:38. Thank you. Okay, looks like we've got all board members coming back. So, we will reconvene this board meeting at 7:43. Thank you very much for your patience. Um, that will bring us to section F of the meeting, which is our presentation portion. And item F1 is a presentation this evening by our charter partners, Essanito Charter High School presentation. And we have executive director Shawn Roner here this evening. Welcome Sean and uh take take the podium there and uh take it away. Thank you. >> Thank you. Well, good evening

083uh President Knight and trustees uh Superintendent Peterson and cabinet members. Thank you so much. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you uh again for having us uh here this evening. We appreciate the opportunity to provide our annual update. And uh before I begin, I just want to um express our heartfelt gratitude for uh the partnership with our district. We appreciate the opportunity to work with you collaboratively. We appreciate your leadership uh and uh over these 30 next uh fall will be our 30th anniversary and uh it's been an honor to be a part of our community and to uh work with you so closely. Before I begin, I want to introduce some of our key staff members. Uh first we have Dr. Clifton who's the principal of Esia Charter High School. Next to her we have our

084business manager uh Mr. Jonathan Teagi and next to him we have our assistant executive director George Torres. So thank you very much. Um first I want to just give uh a highle overview of our schools. We have we have two learning tracks from TK through 12th grade. So, at our Heritage K8 school, we have a hybrid track where students attend school two days a week and are at home three days a week. And then we have a full-time track. Uh, and those tracks go all the way up to 8th grade and then meet at Escanido Charter High School. So, you can see on the top we have our traditional classroom program, uh, Heritage Elementary, Heritage Junior High School, and what we call traditional classroom learning program at Eskino Charter High School. And then you can

085see at the bottom, Heritage Flex Academy. and that at Eskio charter high school we call it our flex learning program. I want to briefly give you an overview of our demographic trends. This is our current enrollment for 2026. So our full-time classroom students, we have approximately 435 students. And then our flex program, you can see uh CLP, our students are on campus. Uh if you remember from my la my presentation last year, our students are on campus four days a week and then our uh PLP program is independent study one-on-one where the students come to school one day a week and then they have the opportunity to blend into classes. So our enrollment right now is 900 students. I wanted to highlight a few of our uh dashboard elements. First, you can see our A

086throughG requirements, uh, 2022 through 2025, and you can see that about 72% of our students complete the A throughG requirements by the time they graduate. In our classroom program, it's it's just about 100%. And then you can see the A throughG completion rate for our socioeconomically disadvantaged students, 60 65.5%. our graduation rate. We're very pleased this last school year that we were able to have 100% graduation and then you can see 100% for our socioeconomically disadvantaged students. >> Dr. Dr. Roner on that 100% is the number one thing that is attributed to that parental involvement. >> No. Uh good question. Uh obviously that helps. Uh I I think one of the key elements for us is Dr. Clifton and her team have taken uh additional steps, extra steps to target uh the student population that

087was missing that. So we had uh in our PL program or independent study program um we have a population of students that uh sometimes can be behind in credits when they arrive. We'd have students that come in as juniors be significantly behind in credits. And so her team has done a particularly great job this past school year targeting those students and ensuring um that they complete all of the requirements for graduation. Whereas in the past it wasn't uncommon for us to have some fifth year seniors just to try to get all the requirements that were necessary. And of course with our dashboard um that was something that we needed to we needed to address. Our chronic absenteeism you can see there. Uh so last school year we were 5%. And then you can see the

088breakdown uh for our demographics. I find it very interesting um that when I if you look at 2021 um the rates were um fairly high for some of the demographics and then they dropped substantially >> but then for uh African-Americans they seem to increase. >> Yeah. Good. Is there a is there a reason for that? >> So I I think the challenge for high school is that the African-American population is relatively small. So you could have that be skewed with a a student that's chronically absent. Um whereas if you look at our Hispanic and Latino population and our white population, which is an Asian or the largest groups of our students, um is probably more accurate. So you'll see higher fluctuations with that particular population. Um and so our our data analysis is is hasn't

089been a particular concern um uh compared to the other the other groups. >> But you still got 100% graduation rates. >> Yeah, >> good question. Thank you for for those questions. >> Uh and then you can see our an overview of our cast performance. So, we we've stayed pretty steady with our ELA and stayed steady with our math math performance. Bottom one is, let me go back to that. Yeah, the bottom one is science. Cast is our science score. >> What is the um current overall for California math? >> Uh, it's in the 30s, I believe. >> Oh, okay. >> Okay. It's in Yeah, it's in the 30s. >> Is that correct? I >> think. Yeah, >> in the 30s across all grade levels. >> And do you have mandatory three years of math? >>

090Four. >> Okay. >> Oh, wow. >> Yeah. Four. >> Four years of math >> for a classroom program. So, I want to be really clear in our classroom program. Uh, so those will be our programs where the kids come every single day of the week. Uh, it's basically for graduation, they have to complete the A throughg requirements. the questions. uh our demographic trends. Uh this is this is a chart from uh the dashboard but I want to just uh give you a high level over the left hand side you can see our total enrollment over the years. Uh so it's it's uh starts in 25 26 and goes down uh to earlier years 22 23. So we're pretty steady. You might ask why we had a a drop this year. that that drop was just

091something structurally as we were making adjustments to to uh scheduling and a few other things that we've taken care of. But um we've hovered around uh we budget around 9:15 and that's kind of we fluctuate from 9:15 to 9:30. That's where we expect to be next year. I think the big uh key takeaway is we're we're not planning to grow at all in terms of our enrollment. We're just going to stay where we're at. And then you can see the breakdown uh of our demographics for our our population which is we're about 35% white. Any questions on that? >> Special education. >> One quick thing I would say is it is a lottery system though, right? >> It is a lottery system. So we, as a reminder, we give priority lottery enrollment to the community

092around our school. Um, so we've chosen to do that. It's in our charter and we've chosen to do that. So that's also true, by the way, for Heritage K. So, uh, essentially what tends to happen for us is, uh, most of our families come in in the lower grades, kindergarten or TK. And so that's Oakill, Glen View, and, uh, Orange Glenn Elementary. uh that they have priority enrollment. And so, contrary to popular belief, uh those those communities, those school communities fill up our our kindergarten besides besides siblings that are already in the school or staff member kids, which is a very small number. It's that priority that gets in. And we don't usually take students from outside uh of Escandido unless it's in one of our independent study programs. And then those students usually metriculate

093up into our high school. And one of the questions that's come up uh over the years that I've gotten is uh do we do we take enrollment um in high school from uh this the area of Escandido? And in all honesty, yes. But most of the students that come into nth grade have been with us in elementary and junior high school. The vast majority of the kids. So they're they're kids that have been with us internally all the way up into high school. our special education I'm going to talk about in more detail in a moment. I just wanted you to see the the overall trends for us there and then I got a slide where I want to highlight that in particular and then you can see an overview of our EL population some

094of the statistics related to that and then last you can see our free and reduce. you might ask in 2425 you could see a pretty significant dip there and that was a reporting uh we we changed our reporting process and it didn't work. It's the simple thing and so we went back to our original way of doing our reporting. We think that the way that we were collecting information was confusing to our families and so we went back to doing it the other way and so you can see you can see where we land there. Any questions about that? Okay, let me talk about um our our special education trends. You can see this breakdown of those numbers. And I just want to highlight the fact that uh remind the board that uh we partner

095with the district that provides our special education services as you know and uh that partnership has been in place since we opened in 1996 and it's been a terrific partnership and unique. Uh not very many charter schools in California have a partnership like that. Uh it's been fabulous and we appreciate uh the high school special education team. They're terrific and you can see uh um on the right hand side uh the the spe special education personnel that provide support for us and we're grateful for that. They partner with Dr. Clifton and her team and we've been able over the years to provide a high level of services for our kids about that. What I want to highlight is uh just a couple of of programs. Some we talked about last year and uh a couple

096of them are new. We've made a a really large uh push last school year and we're hoping to uh this school year, excuse me. And we're hoping to do this moving into next year is our our multi-ter support for our students. Um so as we look at those uh demographic groups or socioeconomic groups uh where we know we can improve um test scores attendance and on so forth we know that we need to have a form a better formalized system to address their needs. So we're fortunate from TK to 12th grade we can implement those strategies to try to meet the needs of our kids. And so our team has been working on that. And as I know um uh the cabinet and and uh team uh here at the district office knows it's it's

097really a challenge trying to put something in place that can provide universal supports for kids and then leveling those supports for kids that have particular uh particular needs, but we're working on that. We're excited about that. Our entire high school next year will be on a block schedule and we're looking forward to that. will provide more flexibility for our independent study students to blend into classes like a like college students and participate in that. So, uh we were planning to do this and then COVID hit and then we just kind of waited on that process and now we're ready to do that across all of our all of our programs. >> Would that be a 4x4? >> It's not. So, that's a great question. So, we we had a conversation about that and there's certainly

098I know 4x4 schedules are really popular. There there's challenges with them from from our perspective and one of those challenges is um they can be difficult in in relationship building with students because it's fast you're turning so if you have a semester long course like a government course you're you're moving those students through and then the benefits of course is kids can have more opportunities at bats for different classes and growth in that area. And so we felt like uh our we're going to do a traditional schedule which is a full Monday and then a block schedule Tuesday through Friday. Okay, like to see that. >> Yeah, sure. Great question. >> Then last but not least, um one of the core elements when we opened our school in 1996 was uh what we call back

099to basics or focusing on the fundamentals and we've tried to stay true to that mission uh as a part of our school. And so we're always kind of reassessing how are we how are we meeting those needs. We've been really excited over the past five years in our elementary school and then moving up into our high school. Uh we've been implementing a core knowledge curriculum. So, we've been really trying to be intentional from uh TK all the way through 8th grade and then coming into high school um to have a a a wellplanned thoughtout curriculum um that's really specific in its design and in particular that provides a broad level of specific content for kids to be exposed to. And we we believe that that's good for all kids, but in particular, our EL learners

100need to have access to a a contentrich curriculum that prepares them for that. And so, uh, we've been implementing that and we'll begin, um, leveling that up into our high school over the coming years. And then in addition to that, with our pedigogy, we've been, uh, implementing a classical model that's really been incredible to see, um, what's taken place with our kids. And so we're excited to see these elements um as we move into next school year and uh we think it's going to continue to help us improve. >> Mr. So regarding the classical aspect, I know my daughter has been through the classical aspect with you guys, but can you put a little more detail to what that exactly means? >> Sure. Um for us pedagogically what that means is um we have a

101sort of a back to basics traditional approach. It focuses on fundamentals contentrich curriculum for students. So what that means say for example in a human classroom is an incredibly uh rich and challenging curriculum that that uh so for example in our freshman year um we have kids reading Homer or Iliad and the Odyssey and Plato and that can be incred well too >> in that sophomore year. So uh it's a contentrich curriculum. And then the third element that's really crucial is um the instructional practice has uh seminars and discussionoriented. So it's designed with a really unique questioning technique. So if you were to walk into most say for example some of our humanities classes on a Thursday you would see all all 25 kids in a circle for the whole entire hour discussing the content.

102And um when we first began implementing it was it was it was intimidating for our staff. Um but it's an incredible thing to see to walk into a a ninth grade class with EL learners and to see them um bless you to see them working through that curriculum and and um coming to understand it. And so uh it's been challenging for us as a staff, but um it's something that we believe is really important to help our kids continue to grow and not just to be ready for college. we're doing I think we're doing a good job with that. But just the world world of work and life beyond that. So there's a lot of values values are really core part of that curriculum, those conversations, deep questions. Um and so we're really looking forward

103to um continuing that journey for our high school team. The questions again I I truly appreciate the opportunity to come and speak and thank you for your support. And if there's any questions that come up afterward, please feel free to email me. Uh let Superintendent Peterson know. I'd be happy to have board members come out and to visit our campus. And again, uh on behalf of our staff, we're very grateful uh for the district's leadership and the opportunity to be able to serve kids in partnership with you. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. And uh I just wanted to say, I know that it's not something that you talk about a lot, but your athletic programs are thriving >> and doing really well. Well, they're very competitive. So, um, >> thanks for pointing

104that out, too. It's become, it's become a draw, I think, to your schools that may have not been there before. >> Yeah, I think that's been a Thank you for bringing that up. everything that's been a big growth area and you know this uh President Knight um because you've been familiar with our school from the beginning is we sort of um I don't want to say we're opposed to that but we we wanted to really just focus on the classroom part of it but I think what we've um come to learn over the years is um we can better serve kids through arts and athletics. we we know we we can serve them in the classroom really well, but um you can't teach everything in the classroom and so you need other opportunities. And so

105in addition to that, we hired an amazing musical theater teacher and theater teacher and so we've um launched that program and um just been really really inspiring. In fact, we had plays over the weekend and it was just incredible. We sold out um uh six shows and it was really incredible to see the community come along with that. And so we're growing in those areas, but we always remind our co our coaches and remind um our theater program that um we we're a school, so the classroom's got to be the heart of what we do. But um these co-curricular activities support what's happening in the classroom and how can we bring those things together to to to coach the heart of our kids. And so we're excited about So thank you for for bringing that

106up. I appreciate that. >> Especially the cross country team and swim team. There's a mean freshman on that team. Yeah, very much so. Very, very much so. All right. Thank you all for for your questions. We appreciate it. And next up for our presentation portion, F2, we have our social work presentation and student services. So, we're excited to have some staff members here this evening to present on this. Um, am I handing it over to you, Dr. Casus, first to kick it off? >> Yeah, I'll just introduce uh Dr. Oscar Felix, our director of people services, and uh Geraldine Sullivan, who is a social worker at Sanqual High School. Have a great relationship with both of them, and they serve our district with excellence. So, I'll pitch it over to Dr. Felix. Can't we forward

107another mic? >> Okay. Do you want me to grab? >> So, we both have one. Yeah, perfect. Good evening again. Um, I'm here to present on our comprehensive uh social work program and I have the honor of being able to work and support our amazing social workers throughout our district. Currently in our district, we have a total of nine social workers. Uh we have uh two at Escanido High School, two at Orange Gun High School, two at um S Pasqual High School, and then at Delago we have one and a half and one and a half at Valley High School as well. Um there's a great picture of our team uh that that is being supported. We have a couple of them here in the audience today. So I want to thank them for being

108out here and supporting us and as we do this this presentation. Um, I do want to share a video uh that is narrated by one of our social workers, uh, Mr. Steven Garcia, social worker at Orange Glenn High School. Have you ever wondered how a school social worker makes a difference? In the Union High School District, these dedicated professionals supporting students and families facing tough challenges. Let's start with the families our students face each day. I feel overwhelmed and can't seem to find comp. My family no longer has health insurance. Problems at home is tracking during class. I constantly worry about money and where we will live. These are common voices among our students. Schools let their workers listen and provide crucial support. Through trauma informed practice, they create a safe space where students can

109express themselves without fear. They offer practical resources helping families navigate difficult situations. Now listen to how our students feel after receiving support. Having someone listen to me has changed everything. I discovered ways to help myself calm down and self-regulate. My social worker helped me find resources we needed. I trust the caring adult here at school. Through guidance, students focus on overcoming their challenges. They learn healthy coping strategies and feel heard. Thanks to my social worker, I'm making plans for college and feeling confident. They linked us with local community support. I want to be a positive role model. School social workers are vital to our community. They instill hope in our students and families every day. If you are someone you know needs support, reach out to us to a social worker. Remember, you are not

110alone. That's a great video put together by our social workers. Uh I also want to add that the quotes that are mentioned in the video are actual student voices from our district collected from our student surveys. >> Thank you. So, as we move on to our next slide, um I'd like to get into the why behind why school social work services matter. And if you take a look at the image that we have here, you can see that many of the students in our district are carrying burdens that go far beyond the student backpack. We have students carrying homelessness, sickness, hunger, and burdens that are not visible without intimate knowledge of what goes on in these students lives. and the school social workers have that knowledge and are able to support those students with those

111burdens that they are carrying. Um this is also directly related to our LCAP goals. When we look at LCAP goal number one, increase student achievement. We strive to remove the barriers that are impacting academic focus. We're fortunate to be able to provide bilingual school social work services to our English learners and we also provide direct support to our foster youth and lowincome students. Again, with the goal to improve graduation rates, A throughG completion, and college and career readiness, if students social emotional needs are not met, it's extremely difficult for them to focus in class, learn, and be successful. And when we can remove those barriers, that has a direct impact on their student academic performance. When it comes to LCAP goal 3, student engagement and graduation, we have a focus on reducing chronic absenteeism. We

112work as a team as well as with our counterparts through counseling, admin, attendance toas to provide direct supports to those students that are struggling with chronic absenteeism. Specifically trying to identify what are the barriers to their attendance. What are the things that are causing them to struggle and how can we remove those barriers, provide supports and ultimately increase their connectedness to school? LCAP goal 5 relates to safe and inclusive school climates. And so we work with our admin teams implementing restorative practices to reduce suspension rates and we do that from a traumainformed approach. So having the knowledge that students are dealing with trauma and childhood stressors provides us the opportunity when we lead with that in mind to connect with them on an individual level. And by supporting their mental health needs that is increasing

113their connectedness to school and ultimately reducing the uh disciplinary incidents. As we move on to our multi-tered systems of support, I just want to highlight at the base of our pyramid here, we have the tier one supports which are those that are available to all students. So currently on our comprehensive sites, we have wellness centers at each of our comprehensive sites. Those are available Monday to Friday all day and those are accessible to all of our students should they need it to take breaks or access supports. We also provide support at the beginning of the school year with our first four inter uh presentations to um really start with that culture focused start to the school year building a school culture and highlighting our school safety protocols. Uh we also have suicide prevention information for

114our students and of course we work with our food distribution partners and providing additional supports that are accessible schoolwide. As we move up the pyramid into the tier two, more targeted supports, that looks like school social workers supporting at the team levels through SST meetings, IEP meetings, parent involvement meetings, um, and working within those smaller groups to identify targeted supports and link them to resources. At the tier three level, we have the most intensive services. And although this is the smallest portion of the pyramid, this is the section that requires some of our most intensive labor efforts. We at that level are providing individual counseling to groups of students that have higher needs. Uh we also provide the risk and threat assessments for safety concerns. Those typically would involve follow-up meetings, parent supports, linkage to

115resources. We also assist with home visits. Um and then there's often collaboration with child welfare services or school resource offices officers or some of the additional support partnerships that we have. And so that is a little bit of a highlight of kind of how we organize our services uh within that MTSS framework. >> How many students do you think would fall into tier three? >> Uh we're going to get into that in a couple slides that's going to break down kind of which of how many of our students are receiving those more intensive supports. >> I want we want to add um you see a very similar graphic here. Um the what Miss O Sullivan just covered is has to do with how we support our students within our school system. uh this pyramid is

116how we support our staff within the school system because social workers don't only support students, they also support the staff on the school campus. So as you can see, we also have a tiered uh intervention support system for our staff. So we want to make sure that all uh teachers uh that when we go through tier one uh they go through the new teacher orientation where we cover uh social emotional supports, we cover um different ways to cope with different stressors within the school system, things that they're going to encounter. just preparing them for the school year and making sure that they're not not going in blind and they're going in with the necessary supports that they need in order to be successful as teachers. Uh we also have try and form practices uh practices

117trainings um and then adverse uh childhood experiences which is we call it asis. That's our trainings that we provide to our staff uh when it comes to trauma-informed practices understanding where students are coming within the community so they understand the demographic of our students so they can meet them where they're at. Um, we also have uh say something uh presentations to our staff. Uh, that's the see something, say something uh motif that we want to encourage our students to speak out if they see something that's unsafe. So we could pro proactively u uh take care of the situation and make sure that we ensure a safe campus. As we move into tier 2, those are our targetive approaches. Uh that is classroom consultation. So if a teacher has a disciplinary consistent disciplinary issues with specific

118students, uh they would either go to an administrator, most likely a social worker, social worker would then collaborate with that teacher and try to support them um in unison, whether they're doing a restorative circle or restorative conversation with the student um uh supporting in a parent conference, connecting them with resources and supports. Uh, and if it's a student that needs additional supports and resources, that's when we go up to our tier three or sorry, staff member that needs additional supports. Um, and that's when we have, say, a student is in a classroom, they're not their their mood does not look normal as they would in a normal day. Um, uh, they would most likely send them to the social worker where the social worker could check in with the student and then see if a

119threat assessment uh or um a risk assessment needs to take take place in order to best support the student. And we're going to go into a little bit of the data that goes along with that in a little bit as well. Um so as we look at this data here um these are the number of students that are served throughout the district. um started from when we collected 23 24 school year we started about 1,500582 students uh to where last um last year it was um it was uh 1570 students um whereas this year we're projected to have about 1920 student um served. So these are total students served throughout the district. That's going to be an increase of about 22% from the last couple years going on to this year. So, we're projected to

120see more students coming into our um to our offices. Um and that could be from various things, whether it's uh lack of uh u food insecurity, lack of housing, um uh the illnesses, whatever the case may be. If the student is having a challenge outside of the school that's impacting their education, that's where social workers step in to support the students the best way possible. Um so and moving on to the next slide. >> Quick question. Any thoughts on you know you mentioned some reasons why it would have increased right but obviously it's a it's a big increase right so you say there you you just are offering more services so there's more reasons for them to come by or do you think there's >> say something going on in a sense or something in

121the water shall we say? >> I think there's a lot that goes to that question. Um it could be the climate in the community, the political climate in the world. um you know different things that are happening in in in our community at large. Um not necessarily more services. I think the services are steady because we have various partnerships that we're going to touch on later on in the presentation as well. Um but there's a lot of stressors as you guys hear the news. There's a lot of things that are kiddos are scared about um which leads to them feeling insecure or not safe um within the community or even the school sites. So if we were to get an audit based on projected and stuff like that, what organization would audit you? And is

122there file documentation to prove these numbers? As you can say, you know, we've seen sadly in the news if all that fraud wasn't out there, we'd probably have a lot more money for kids actually in need, but I know that um you know, documentation and audits are increasing. Uh if we were to face an audit, who would do that? And would would there be files to support all this? Um there we've we've been audited um through um the um >> FPM does our federal progress monitoring. We just went through it. We had zero findings and >> awesome. >> And how we serve our foster and homeless youth. >> Perfect. >> Also we also engage in middle cap medical billing which we have to present those documented hours to get reimbursements for some of the services

123that we provide. So F and medical billing >> we also as a team document each and every one of our efforts. So like every parent phone call, every meeting with a student, it all gets logged in our student database. And so we have pretty good data that we're able to track annually um to you know to that's where we get these numbers from. And just to answer your question from earlier the trends the numbers listed on this slide are typically in that tier three category. So these numbers are reflecting the kids that have been served individually with um higher needs interventions and are not necessarily reflective of every single kid that's ever come to a wellness center. Those numbers would be much higher. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. And so as we move on to

124the uh next slide here, we discuss how many interventions are received on average by students. So as you look, you can see here that the projected interventions is expected to increase by 18% compared to the last 3 years. And on average, each individual that meets with a school social worker receives around eight interventions. So an intervention could look like something from an individual counseling session to a referral to an outside resource or a parent meeting. Um there's a wide variety of interventions, but on average is about eight per student that we see. Some are much higher, some are less, obviously. And to add on to to that slide as well is when we when we see students like Malam was saying is we um traditionally are not seeing them just once. So think about when

125you go to the doctors, right? You break a leg. You're going to go get a cast put on your your your on your leg. Um after that they remove it after six seven weeks or so. Then you have to do some physical therapy. Then you're going to follow up with some pain management. put that in perspective in how social workers work as well. Uh a student comes to us and tells us that they're homeless. Um it's not a oneanddone. That's going to take us months to resolve and support that family and connect them to resources. And that's why we're seeing the students as we go through. Again, to answer your question, Mr. dweller as far as how do we collect the data, how do we keep the data. We also have our multi-ter systems of

126support within our database with our student information system and that data is being collected by all parties that are supporting the student throughout and that's how we were able to um demonstrate the eight interventions per year that it takes to serve our students on average. Some of them is more than that. Some of them were seeing them 20 times one and others we might see them three or four times to resolve and support them with their with their issues. Um, on the next slide is the school safety impact. Um, and I want >> Dr. Cus, it' be interesting with all the data we keep, and I know there's probably hippo laws and stuff like that, but it'd be interesting to see what is like the number one, two, or three things that kids come in

127to see, and then what are some of the ones that cause take the longest to to solve. I mean, we're in an age of big data. We have tons of data now. And hopefully, especially with the increase because as you said, I mean, societyy's pretty stressful right now for all of us. And so, it'd be interesting to see what additional um, you know, help we could give or that. >> Yeah. I think they actually do collect that. They might be going over some of that right now. Yeah. >> Yeah. Um, so we're going to touch touch base on um our our safety data, right? How do I we keep our school safe? Um, and and it does start with that first contact with all of our students. Um, last year alone we had 185 risk

128assessments and 42 threat assessments. So, just to kind of give you uh context in regards to the difference between the two, some some people think they're the same and actually there there's a there's a vast difference within the two of them. A threat assessment focuses on harm to others. Uh, it's school safety centered. It evaluates intent and means and may involve discipline and supports for that student. Uh whereas a risk assessment focuses on harm to self, mental health centered. Um it evaluates suicidal ideiations and safety and focuses on care and stabilization of the student and family. Uh so the social workers are working with these families to support the student through that process as well as partnering with law enforcement with our school resource officers and supporting with other mental health supports and providers throughout

129the community whether the student has private insurance or if they have medical. that makes a difference as well because that's how we're going to take the situation and be able to support the the family the best way possible. Uh this uh year as of February of this year that's the last time we we were able to run and collect the data. Our risk assessments are at 103 and our threat assessments at 34. So those those could be potential um violent acts that could have happened in our schools that were prevented thanks to the work that our social workers do along with our administrators, along with our counselors and our school resource officers. >> What do you mean violent acts? >> Um some of these cases is a student making a threat, a direct threat to

130a staff member, a student. U we have to investigate the situation whether the student has the means to carry out the act. We usually partner with law enforcement. They go out to the h the school I mean sorry the the house of the student. Uh they do a wellness check make sure there's no weapons on the site they at the at the home. Uh they make sure that the family doesn't have any registered weapons to make sure that they can't carry out a violent act. Um so these are things that we take very very seriously within the work that we do and we want to make sure that we do keep our our campuses 100% safe. So, if a student does have uh means and and actionable actions, then we involve the FBI and the

131CIA. They come into our site and they partner with our local law enforcement to investigate deeper through social media, make sure that there's nothing happening and if there is, there could be potential arrests that do happen in those situations. >> So, you do work with the police force? >> Yes, we do. Very directly. >> Okay. You have a liaison that you work with specifically? Yeah, we have uh Sergeant Alva that is our liaison for the for the Eskanito Police Department. Then we do have three school resource officers that work with us directly as well. >> Okay, thank you. >> We also do have um very detailed protocols that we follow for when we conduct those risk and threat assessments. We've developed um a series of questions that have been approved districtwide that we use as

132a team in a team of two to conduct those assessments and work within those teams accordingly. And so it's a it's a well thought out and developed process that we've consulted with numerous districts in that development of that process. And we have found that we have a really strong team that's conducting those assessments together. >> And putting in perspective, thank you for bringing that up. um when we do have those risk assessments come up, it's it's not something that is one taken lightly and it's not something that we breeze through and make it as quick as possible. Uh some of that could take up to 8 n hours to complete uh from start to finish uh from when we hear of the situation happening to the end of the situation to make sure we have

133closure and we feel safe. Um and then it continues on from those nine hours to make sure that we're monitoring and checking. I take the responsibility of communicating whether it's with uh juveninal court and community schools or the San Diego County Office of Education in regards to where is the student being placed. Are they in juvenile hall? Are they coming back to our sites? Could we find an alternative placement for that student that's going to be safer for them where they can get the supports that they need in order to be proactive in their education? >> The next slide discusses how students can access the supports. Um so during the summer registration parents have the option to opt out for their child to access the wellness center. Uh if they don't do that then all

134children have the access to the wellness center to take breaks if needed access supports if needed. Um secondarily to that there's a separate process for how students might get referred to see a social worker. And so the most common reasons for why somebody would refer a student to see a social worker would be because there's an identified socio emotional or mental health need. Could be that there are safety concerns that have been identified both for that maybe that student's individual safety, maybe there's something going on in the family that we're aware of. And so that might be a reason for a referral. Could be family basic needs, maybe housing or food insecurity, academic or school engagement barriers, and then some of those tier 2 and tier three intervention needs that we had mentioned. Um, once

135that need is identified, the referral can be submitted in a few different ways. They can either use an electronic referral form. They can send an email, phone call. Sometimes this comes up directly in meetings like an SST meeting or an IEP meeting where there's an identified need. And students themselves can also self refer for services as well as their parents can reach out. And so then once we've received the referral, we work with the student and the parent to obtain consent for those services before we begin them. >> From a communication specifically, um do you guys have bilingual services? >> Yes. Um, so the majority of our team are bilingual. Um, we have, I believe at some sites both school social workers are are bilingual and I think there's at least one bilingual school social

136worker at each site. >> What What if there's somebody that speaks um different language? >> Yeah. If it's outside of Spanish, we do have options for um interpretation that we can access through our district. Um, if needed, we can communicate with parents in their in their home language. Um, and we just need to sometimes depending on the language, we just need to arrange an appointment with the parent and the interpreter in order to be able to do that. But we do have those options. >> Yeah, my wife uh actually does that uh every now and then she gets a call for Tagalan and that uh because some kids can't speak English very well and neither can their parents. >> I thought it was for your New Finland accent. But yeah, we do our best to

137to meet those needs for sure. >> And then we're going to be discussing a little bit about our partnerships. Uh we have a a really robust system of partnerships that we work with across Escandido. Um for example, the YMCA program has a transitional age youth program. They serve students aged um 13 to 25. And so that's a really useful program, especially for some of our graduating seniors who are leaving our school systems, but still need a lot of case management supports. That program can assist them with job readiness, resume building, things like um how to get a license, how to open a bank account. Uh they have a safe space in their program for socialization. They also have uh housing programs for students facing homelessness. So that's one that we wanted to highlight. Also, we

138work with a lot of our local universities, both um inerson local universities as well as online universities for our internship program. We currently have around eight interns in our district and so we provide clinical supervision to those interns and then those interns are able to expand the reach of our services. Um currently at Sampas, for example, we have in our wellness center anywhere from over 13 different providers from some of these agencies rotating in and out on a daily basis providing services to our kids. and then Dr. Felix is going to discuss a little bit about some of the other ones that we work with. >> Thank you. Uh so one of one of the ones I wanted to highlight are um as you see the bottom uh right hand corner, it's our uh our

139phase program. So fostering academic success and education program that serves our Escanido Union High School District foster youth. Uh that's a partnership with the San Diego County Office of Education, HH HHSA and LiveWell San Diego. uh with them. They have case workers that work with our students who are most at Promise uh which are our foster youth students. Uh so these are students that are coming in, they you know living in a foster home. Some of them are living at S Pasqual Academy um that's down the hill by uh by uh the wild animal park. Uh so those these are the students that that we are supporting. I meet with them on a monthly basis. We c case manage together. uh we u collaborate and compare notes in regards to how we're supporting our students

140and if there's any uh gaps and we fill those gaps immediately to make sure that our students are supported the best way possible. Uh we also work with neighborhood healthcare um where they provide mobile units uh that travel to each one of our school sites and provide Escanido Union High School District school-based mental health clinicians. All of this is uh um approved and requested by parents. it's something that they want uh for their students. So, the clinicians come onto campus, the student is is is pulled out of one of their elective courses and then they are able to pro get the supports that they would otherwise not be able to take part in out in the community because parents may not have transportation or they might not have access to be able to get the

141stu the student to the clinician's office. Uh, another support that I want to highlight are our um our partnership with educational compact, our Eskanito educational compact. Uh, they support youth and and families through educational education prevention and workforce programs to streng strengthen our community. Uh, and some of the programs that I wanted to highlight within Escanido Compact, um, I highlighted them and bolded them in here in the presentation. the achievement center. Uh currently they have about 80 students that are participating in the achievement center. So these are some of our most atrisisk students that are at risk of participating in gangs or they're already probably in a gang. U so they provide them mentorship, tutoring, they provide a mentorship along with tutoring um and support academically uh so they can be better prepared for uh

142for school as they as they come in and get them off the streets and get them somewhere where they can be productive. um our family's first program, as you can see the flyer in English and Spanish on the right hand side, uh the education compact received a uh $1 million grant um that they're able to provide supports to local families here in Escandido. So since November of 2025, they've served $17 homes um and they've uh been able to allocate over $227 uh,000 to supporting these families. And how are they supporting them? These are families that have fallen behind on rent or their mortgages or their utility bills and educational compact is helping them come up and be current and supporting them also with either finding a job, supporting them with um trainings or skills that

143the family may need so they can be proactive and be successful within our community and then our students can thrive as well because their families are thriving. Um, another program that that they have, there's actually two of them. One is more geared towards our our young men. Another one's towards our young women. Uh it's our our family intervention team, the FIT program that is uh we have clubs on our campus on each one of our campus where there is a law enforce um retired uh law enforcement mentor teamed up with the education compact mentor and they go in and facilitate uh um clubs within the school campus and they support the students, take them on field trips and additional supports. And we do that as well with our young ladies through the girls rock program.

144Uh we also have our juvenile diversion program. So if a student in in uh the city of Escandido is arrested for a drug offense on our school campus, they are arrested. Um, but we give them the opportunity to participate in the diversion program through educational compact where we take them through a 90-day program where they're receiving mentorship, tutoring, they're receiving uh counseling, um, and they're receiving additional supports, wraparound supports for the family to make sure that this doesn't happen again and if the student does have an addiction issue that we're supporting with that addiction so they could be more effective in in a school setting. Um, and the last program I wanted to highlight was Project Hero. Um that's a community-based program where families meet once a month uh with uh compact staff. They have

145a dinner together as a community. Uh gives them an opportunity to build community with one another and and break bread with one another and and have a valuable experience with one another. U not only do they have these monthly uh dinners, they also take the families on excursions like they just went to the Dle DLeague Clippers game not long ago. Um and they're also taking the students to Padre's game and soccer games just so they can have those experiences uh that uh most of our students don't have access to. So just wanted to share these amazing programs that are happening, these amazing partnerships that are social workers are able to take advantage of as we serve our students on a day in dayout basis. >> You work with Cal Safe too? >> Yes, we do

146work with Calafe. That is a program that's run by by our by our school district as well. Absolutely. Yes. And our social worker at Valley High School, um, Adriana, she works closely with that program and so we definitely do collaborate on a lot of cases um and provide supports for those for those students. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> Thank you to the social workers that are here this evening. And I see that you picked the tallest one to split in half between the two different schools. like I was waiting the whole presentation to say that >> but your patience is >> No, but thank you for being here tonight and thank you for all you do to support the students in our district um both on campus and off campus through the partnerships that

147we have in the community. Um this was a great presentation. Thank you. Anyone? >> Thank you. Thank you. Okay, it looks like G1 under educational services division G1 was approved on consent. So that brings us to item G2 which looks like we have a a mass subcommittee update. So Dr. Cauus, we'll give that to you. >> Yes, this is upon board member request. I did email the board just right now uh some notes from our latest board Matt subcommittee that we met. We met on March 23rd. Um and we right away always review our math improvement plan and then we jumped into reviewing our interim assessment data which if you recall we're in our third year of every class doing a practice castlike environment. Uh we shared gradual improvement as our students progressed from interim

148assessment one to interim assessment three with practice number three showing a projected increase to four to 5% on average by site. There's two sites that projected a 10% increase but I want to remind the board that is just practice. Uh but it's still very positive news as we shared before. Uh very excited about that. Uh item number four we shared that our cast testing window is open. It's still currently open. We only have two sites left that need to complete it. That's and San Pasqual. Uh there's a big range in that testing window. It's about 2 months. So we're moving along nicely district-wide. And then probably the most exciting part I would say about the board subcommittee is the close collaboration with the elementary district. In the previous meeting, they attended and stayed the whole

149time. The plan was for them to attend this meeting, but something came up where they couldn't attend. However, our math content specialist the very next week met with their math specialist and went over the following items. Uh number one, uh looked over the promotional flyer to um increase our participation in our math one acceleration program. If you recall, that is the opportunity for incoming ninth graders to take and complete math one in the summer and start their freshman year in math 2. So, um that is an exciting thing. Last year we had two sections. Our hope is to increase that to perhaps three. Um and we're not um we're not like jumping at the seams to like really increase that too much because we also want to make sure that they're successful and we don't

150want to just uh overwhelm that just for quantity uh wise. So, we want to make sure that the right students are identified and the right students do attend um because we want to make sure they're successful when they start their math 2 journey their freshman year. The next item we talked about was increasing the numer number of students that participate in our summer math summer bridge program. A typical year we uh average about two sections, so give or take about 60 students. Our hope is to identify and invite students that are performing below grade level and or have a D or an F in their eighth grade math class. Um, and we're doing things just a little different this year to hopefully maybe double that from two sections to four. Um, our math specialist already

151sent the flyer to every middle school principal. In about the the next week or two, we're actually getting the elementary to send that out via their beach jar to all families, which we haven't done that before. And exciting, we're going to add to that flyer that successful completion of the summer mage program will result in uh attendance into an amusement park that might be Disneyland. So, we hope that uh promoting that incentive will increase the participation because as we know, summer school is optional. we can't make them go. Our hope is to really give them all the tools for them to be successful immediately in ninth grade when they start with us. So >> we think that would be a big motivator. >> Yeah. >> Some of the things we discuss Bob and I and

152the team about how to incentivize them. >> That might be fun. That might be fun. Um the next item we discussed was inviting uh the elementary teachers to uh participate in our next math studios which would happen in the fall of 2026. And they agreed which is awesome. So we're going to work out those details. And then the next item we discussed was inviting them to participate in our summer professional learning that's dedicated to math. It's a two-day uh professional learning experience that we do with our math teachers and they agree to participate in that as well, which is huge. >> Um, since I've been here, we never had this increase in communication and collaboration. So, we're we're excited about that. Um, and we thank the board for their support in that as well. Um,

153and then what another big one is articulation meetings typically happen virtually and they agreed to do them in person this year. So that is the when we work on the transition and identifying the students from 8th to 9th grade who should be placed in what and what we're covering in 8th and 9th grade math that's actually happening in person as well soon. So they agreed to that. So we're excited about the partnership and the increased collaboration and our next meeting is scheduled for May 11th and the elementary has the invite and they said they would participate. So >> thank you. Good update. Very exciting. Item G3 which is to approve textbook adoption. Um this is for AP government. Um this was something that was presented as a first read last month. Um, so it's AP

154comparative government. >> AP comparative government which is only offered at Sasqual High School. This is a second read. No changes and copies have been available for parents at Sasqual at district's office. >> Wonderful. Do I have a motion to approve? >> I'll move to approve. >> We have a motion. Do I have a second? >> I'll second it. I'd like to make a comment, too. >> Sure. I didn't get a chance to make it by the uh superintendent's office to look at the book, but I have been honing my chat GPT skills and I was able to get a quick summary of this and identify certain things. And it was interesting to see that for AP comparative government, they were focused on China, Russia, Iran, Mexico, and Nigeria and a few things like that. And

155they didn't uh they they were it was the book was well written like Iran's very you know theocracy with a lot of uh persecution against uh the citizens. So the book was uh straightforward and I appreciated that. So thank you. >> I just had one question myself actually um and that is um I'm hoping that this book is fully aligned with the college board framework for AP. >> It it has to be. Yeah. Yeah, it's part of the syllabus that the college board approves. >> Okay, good. Okay. Yeah, and I did take a look at it, too. And I agree with Bob. >> Wonderful. Thank you both. >> I didn't read the whole thing. >> Not all of it. >> Did I finish it tonight? >> I didn't use AI. I use DV. >> DV.

156>> Okay. Well, we do have a first and a second. Thank you both. Um, with that, we'll do a roll call vote. Board member Weller, how do you vote? >> I. >> Board member Durnney, are you there? How do you vote? >> I. >> Thank you. Board member Vincent, >> I. >> Board member Williams, >> I. >> And board member Knight, I. Thank you. Next item is to approve new courses. And it looks like we have a couple of here. We have AP World History, Fire Technology, and Advanced Fire Technology. Dr. Cauus. >> Yes. Uh these are both second reads. No changes since last time we met. Both courses are currently being piloted at school sites. Firetech at OG AP World History at Sampas and to positive feedback. >> Great. Do I have a motion

157to approve the new courses before us? >> I'll move to approve. Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Okay. Board member Weller, how do you vote? >> I. >> Board member Durnney. >> I. Board member Vincent >> I. >> Board member Williams >> I. >> And board member Knight I. >> Thank you. And bringing us to item I or G five which is to approve curriculum revisions and these are to um several ballet folk lordico um beginning intermediate advanced and chemistry class and um very um fitting because this evening we had our ballet folklorico pres uh um dance before us. So thank you for that. Very impressive. >> Very good. So it looks like it's being very well received at our site. So I don't know if you want to present

158in >> Yeah. Um so these are revisions. These are courses that existed before. So they're just being updated. Uh both second read no changes since last time we met Cordico. Those revisions reflect changes to the California VAPA standards. And then in chemistry changes represent changes to the lab requirements and the A3G requirements. >> Dr. Cassus, I got a quick question. The colors of the dress that does is does that represent a district or does >> Yeah, regional. So you heard uh they're from Sonora and uh I believe the other one was Ketaro and also Kalisco. So yes, they are representative to the regions. >> That was very beautiful. >> Very cool. Okay, with that do I have a motion to approve the Thank you. We have a motion in a second. Board member Weller, how

159do you vote? >> I board member Durnney. I >> I >> board member Vent. >> I >> member Williams. >> I >> and board member Knight I. >> And it brings us to G6 which is the first reading of some um new it's new courses. It looks like careers in education and future educators. Um mariachi. So I guess those are three are those three separate ones. Yeah, I can jump in here. Uh, these are first reads. These are courses that are new to our district but are both part currently being piloted. Careers in education and future educators being piloted. Orange Glenn and San Pasqual. Uh, these program this CTE program is being funded through the Golden State Pathway Grant. So, it fully paid for the sections and the teacher and the resources there. Uh, it's

160to address the upcoming teacher shortage with the amount of retirees that are forthcoming. uh and it gives our students the experience to figure out if they like interested in perhaps being a teacher or any other field within education. They also get the opportunity to participate in tutoring of their peers but with a training background in pedigogy but also help in the elementary and participate in tutoring elementary students as well. Uh so pretty excited about that. So this is a first read of approving it as a full course and it's currently being piloted at Sasqua and at Orange Glenn and Mariachi uh is being piloted across all of our sites. Um in particular Sasqua has had the most enrollment in Mariachi and we discussed perhaps maybe the next board meeting they can perform as well. Um

161it's in the second year of its pilot there and it's um received pretty warm feedback. So, >> I got a quick question. >> No action needed >> for the will they get for the teachers, will they get real uh classroom experience like going in and >> in the elementary setting, they'll get an opportunity to perhaps do a little bit more tutoring under the supervision of a credential teacher. Uh but because of the rules of credentiing, they'll never be by themselves with students yet. Um so but they will get a head start on the amount of um introduction to teaching and pedagogy and teaching methodologies and instruction that they would have to take when they eventually enroll in um in a credential program or early educator program. >> That's a great idea. Future teachers, we need

162lots. >> As you stated, that's a first reading. Um so no action taken tonight. that'll come back next month for adoption. Um the next item seven is also first reading of um is this curriculum revisions it looks like? >> Yeah, the these are courses that already exist and have existed in our district for a long time. Beginning art, intermediate art, and advanced art are being updated to align with new California visual and performing arts standards. That's it. Okay, great. Again, these um three will come back next month for adoption. Bring us to item eight on this section, which is the action upon um recommended expulsion of the accused student for case number 11. Um so I'll need a motion to accept and approve. Uh yes. I move to accept and approve the recommended expulsion of

163the accused student for case number 11 from April 21st, 2026 through at least April 21st, 2027 and to accept and approve the stipulated expulsion agreement. Do I have a Oh, sorry. >> Okay, thank you for that. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay, we have board member Vincent with a second. Um with that, um board member Weller, how do you vote? >> I. Board member Durnney, >> I. >> Board member Vincent, >> I. >> Board member Williams, >> hi. >> And board member Knight, I. >> Okay, thank you. That that passes. And section 8 is our human resources division. Items H1 and H2 were approved on consent. Bringing us to item H3, which is to approve proclamation in observance of school nurse day to be celebrated May 6th, 2026. And I'll hand that

164over to Don. >> Thank you. Yes. I'm pleased to present for the board's approval proclamation recognizing the vital role our school nurses and health staff play in supporting uh UHSD students. On May 6, 2026, the district will join the San Diego County Office of Education, and the state legislature in honoring all of our school health professionals for their dedication and service. Our school nurses and health staff are essential in promoting student health, wellness, and academic success. This proclamation serves as a small tribute to their contributions, and again, I'm pleased to submit it for the board's consideration and approval. Do I have a motion to approve the proclamation? >> Motion to approve. Okay, >> we have a second. >> A first and a second. >> Any comment? Okay, board member Weller, how do you vote? >>

165I. >> Board member Durnney, how do you vote? >> I. >> Board member Vincent, >> I. >> Board member Williams, >> I. >> And board member Knight, I. Thank you. And that brings us to another proclamation. is they have to share this is this this month this will be that's right nurses and teachers are always kind of the same week okay the public servants um so we will be approving a proclamation in observance of national day of the teacher to be celebrated on May 5th and California day of the teacher to be celebrated on May 13th >> that is correct thank you again I am pleased to present for the board's approval procla clamation recognizing the critical role our teachers play in shaping the lives of EUHSD students. This proclamation acknowledges their dedication, patience, and

166hard work. Beyond fostering academic growth, teachers nurture professional development and inspire future leaders, professionals, and community members. As has been mentioned, National Teacher Appreciation Day will be observed on May 5th, 2026 and California Day of the Teacher on May 13, 2026. together. These occasions provide an opportunity to celebrate our teachers and reflect on the impact they have on individuals and society. Again, this proclamation serves as a small tribute to their contributions. And once again, I'm very pleased to submit it for the board's consideration and approval. >> Have a motion. >> I'll move to approve. >> Thank you. >> I second. >> We have a motion and a second. Board member Weller, how do you vote? >> I. Board member Durnney. >> I. Board member Vincent. >> I. Board member Williams >> I. >> And board

167member Knight I. >> And that brings us to approving another proclamation for later in the month of May. Um we'll be approving a proclamation in observance of classified school employee week be celebrated May 17th through the 23rd, 2026. >> Thank you. Yes. This is the third proclamation uh that I'm presenting to the board for approval. This proclamation is for recognizing the hard work and dedication for our classified school employees. During the week of May 17 through May 23rd or May 23, we acknowledge these individuals who play essential roles in creating safe, supportive environments that promote student achievement and well-being. Each of our classified employees contributes to the smooth operation of our district and enhances the overall quality of education for our students. This proclamation, just like the other, serves as a very small tribute to

168their contributions. And yet again, I am pleased to submit it for the board's consideration and approval. >> Thank you. Do I have a motion? >> Move to approve. I second. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. Board member Weller, how do you vote? >> I. >> Board member Durnney. >> I. >> Board member Vincent. >> I. >> Board member Williams. >> I. >> And board member Knight. I. Thank you for those proclamation approvals. And bringing us to item six in this portion of the meeting, which is to approve the memorandum of understanding between the Eskanito Union High School District and California School Employee Association chapter 219 related to the option of flexing summer hour summer work hours to four 10-hour day work weeks. and I'll let Chiron present that as well. >> Thank

169you. I'm uh submitting this memorandum of understanding to the board for approval. Thisou is collaboratively developed to provide 12-month classified employees the option to flex their summer work hours to four 10-hour days in place of the traditional 5 8h hour workdays. Uh this agreement will be in effect from June 22nd through July 31st. like to thank President Rachel MSAS and Vice President Juan Vargas for their partnership and collaboration in this effort. >> Wonderful. Thank you. I know that is an option that many um classified employees really enjoy during the summer. So, >> I'll move to approve. >> Thank you for that. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Board member Weller. >> I. >> Board member Jurnney. >> I. >> Board member Vincent. >> I. >> Member Williams. >> I. >> And

170board member Knight. I thank you. Bringing us to item seven, which is to approve a side letter agreement between the Escandido Union High School District and Escanido Secondary Teachers Association regarding the refingerprinting of certain certificated employees. And I'll let you present that one as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh yes, presenting this side letter of agreement to the board for approval. Uh a little background on this. The education code requires uh educational agencies to obtain fingerprint-based clearance for employees prior to employment. And since the late 1990s, the San Diego County Office of Education has supported this requirement through something called the clearing house. However, because individuals remained in a quote cleared status even after they left uh employment, the process was not compliant with the California Department of Justice. So to come into com

171to come into compliance, the county office is expiring all fingerprints dated June 30, 2016 and earlier effective this July 1st and will implement a 10-year expiration period for all fingerprints and file. Although we don't utilize the clearing house, some of our employees were originally fingerprinted through it prior to joining the district and so we accepted those clearances. However, to ensure that the district maintains valid fingerprint records, uh these employees will be required to complete the fingerprinting process again. So, uh we will coordinate we we will coordinate with SDCE or the county office to provide on-site fingerprinting services at the school sites during the workday. And this is just an agreement that outline outlines the agreed upon process to complete the refingerprinting. >> Okay, thank you for that uh explanation and background. So with that, do

172I have a motion to approve the side letter? >> I'll move to approve. >> Second. >> A motion and a second. Board member Weller. How do you vote? >> I. >> Board member Durnney. >> I. >> Board member Vincent. >> Hi. >> Board member Williams. >> I. >> And board member Knight. I. And that brings us to an additional uh approval of a side letter of agreement between Escanido Union High School District and the Escanido Secondary Teachers Association regarding completion of the mandated training to support LGBTQ students for the 2526 school year. And I'll let you present that one as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. Yes, I'm uh presenting this side of agreement to the board for approval. A little background on this as well. Education Code 218.3 requires that all teachers and other

173certificated employees serving students in grades 7 through 12 must receive a minimum of one hour of LGBTK plus c cultural competency training annually during the 5-year period from 2025 2026 through 2029 uh to 2030. This agreement provides that ESTA unit members may submit a time card for completion of the required 60-minute training at their PDM hourly rate. The training must be completed no later than the last day of the teacher work year, June 11, 2026. >> Okay, thank you for that. I need a motion to approve. >> I'll move to approve. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Board member Weller, how do you vote? >> I. >> Board member Durnney. >> I. >> Board member Vincent. >> I. >> Member Williams. Hi. And myself. Board member Knight. I. >> Thank you.

174That brings us to let's see. This is number nine, which is to approve a memorandum of understanding between Eskanito Union High School District and the Eskanito Secondary Teachers Association to revise the 2526 supplementary retirement plan and I will let you present on this as well. >> Thank you. Yes. So I'm submitting this revised memorandum of understanding between the district and the Escadita Secondary Teachers Association for board approval. Thisou temporary temporarily uh revises the minimum age eligibility to access retirey benefits to 53 for certificated employees who meet the eligibility requirements for participation in the supplementary retirement plan. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Um I'll need a motion to approve. >> I'll move to approve. Second. >> Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Board member Weller, how do you vote? >> Is there

175a minimum number of years that they need to work? I mean, 53 is pretty young. >> Yeah, this is uh for the retirey benefits, but for the uh supplementary retirement plan that uh was approved at the February 10, 2026 meeting. Uh part of the eligibility criteria to participate is you have to be either 50 or five sorry 50 with five years of service or 55 with 30 years of service um to do but the other way around sorry thank you uh for the calers eligibility but there is a uh criterion there that you have to work with the district for at least uh 5 years I believe as well. >> So how many people does this apply to? uh approximately 24 people will get uh an enrollment packet but of that 24 uh some of

176them will have to prove that they meet the 30 years of the service because they may have not had all 30 years with the district I haven't read enough to really vote on this kind of came in kind of late so I'm going to abstain Okay. Board member uh Durnney, how do you vote? >> I. >> Board member Vincent. >> I. >> Board member Williams. >> I. >> Board member Knight. I. >> Thank you. That brings us to item 10, which is the public hearing on the initial proposal from the Eskanito Union High School District to California School Employees Association, Essanito Chapter 219 for the 2025 2026 negotiations. So, this is the public hearing. We will open the public hearing at 9:01 p.m. Oh, do we have anyone who wishes to speak on this public

177hearing? And we don't. So, we will close the public hearing at 9:01 and 30 seconds. Okay, that brings us to item 11, which is to receive the Williams report for the third quarter 2025 2026, which is January through March 2026. This is an information item only. And we have any >> Yeah. Uh has as has been shared previously on a quarterly basis, school districts are required to submit a Williams report to the county office of ed and to our board. Uh the report is designed to identify any complaints under the Williams settlement regarding instructional materials, facilities, teacher vacancy, and miss assignments. Happy to report. We did not receive any complaints. >> Thank you. Okay, that brings us to our business services division and items I one two three four five and six were all approved

178this evening earlier on consent. So that brings us to a seven which is a public hearing and first reading on resolution R2025-2026-31 to increase level one statutory school fees imposed on new residential and commercial industrial construction pursuant to ED code 7620 and government code section 65995. And I'm going to hand that this over to Amanda to present further. Thank you. Yes. Thank you, President Knight. So, as you mentioned, we'll be sharing some information so that hopefully at our May meeting, we can approve this resolution to increase our level one developer fees. Here actually to present tonight is Steven G. He is the executive vice president for key analytics, which is the company we utilize to provide professional services related to our continuing disclosure compliance services. So, they assist with our annual and five-year uh reportable

179fees, which we shared in December. Um, and as well as our annual debt transparency reports. Um, and so Steve has been with the company, I think since 2015. Um, but he's been working with other with school districts in general on the similar topic since I think 2002. Um, and I'm gonna hand it over to Stephen for the presentation. >> Thank you, Stephen, for waiting until this portion of the meeting. you've been here a very long time and we've noticed. Thank you very much. >> Yeah, not a problem. Good evening. Um Steven Gold with Key Analytics and yes, I've been serving school districts um on projects like this statewide since 2002. Um this evening uh what we're going to present to you is an item related to the funding of capital facilities projects within the school

180district. As you know, in 2025, the school district completed a facilities master plan. Within that plan, the district identified a number of projects on their school sites that would need to be completed over the next um 5 to 10 years. In total, those projects um had a cost upwards of $500 million. In addition to those $500 million of new identified projects, the district continues to have an ongoing obligation in total through maturity of about $50 million for prior capital facility projects that have been um built. Um, state provides a number of tools to public school districts in order to fund these types of improvements. One of these tools tonight is the imposition and collection of developer impact fees from new development within the community. And that's going to be the topic of our conversation tonight.

181Uh, developer fees are intended to mitigate the impact um created by new development on school facilities within the district. They're authorized under government um uh government and education code and um the district can levy these fees but they are required under the mitigation act to prepare a nexus uh study in order to justify both the imposition of these fees levy of the fees and particularly um the authorized uses by which the fees can be spent. school uh this school fee justification study which you have a draft in front of you as part of the agenda tonight which will be planned to be brought back to the next board for approval um is that justification nexus study. The way it works is the state allocation board every even number year sets the maximum level one fee

182or developer fee that a uh K through 12 school districts can charge in the state. Um this um maximum is adjusted each year based on a series of indexes reviewed by the state allocation board that are seen to approximate the increase in the cost associated with building and improving schools. In January of 2000 um in January of 2026, state allocation board took action to increase the maximum residential fee for K12 school district from 517 to 538. and for commercial industrial uses from 84 cents a square foot to 87. This represents an approximately 4% increase over what was approved in 2024. I will note at this point that as we move through the presentation, you'll see that the proposed increase in your fee particularly is going to be significantly more than that 4%. And the reason

183being is the last time the district took action to update this uh justification report and the level of fees being imposed was way back in 2018. So there's a series of five separate indexes from the state that the district has not participated in. So this is kind of a catch-up study as it were from the amount of the the uh the amount of money that you'll be able to collect. I will also note that as a high school district um Escanido Union High School District does not collect 100% of this maximum fee. Um you have in the past entered into a fee sharing agreement with each one of your feeder districts. So in um the areas of your district that are served by Escanido Union School District um you collect about 51% of that total

184maximum fee and in the areas covered by San Pasel you collect 33.33%. Um these are uh agreements that were put in place um long ago and remain in place um today. So in the feed justification study what you'll see is um that we do two primary things. Number one we establish a nexus between new residential and commercial development and impact on the school district. Um the core of the nexus obviously it runs through um the production of students and a new we we calculate the propensity of a new new home within your district to generate a student. Then we estimate what the impact on your current facilities will be to house that student. In the high school's case, as represented in your 2025 facilities master plan, um the district does not intend to continue to

185build physical capacity on each of their sites, make the sites bigger, make it have more seats. However, there are a number of of critical improvements that have been identified that'll be necessary um to ensure that when these students are generated that the facilities are are there and they're in in working order to continue to house students over time. When we look at uh the impact of commercial development, um it runs a similar uh path. Um the connection between student generation and commercial development is really through um the increase in employment within your community and how that relates to um the housing housing of students both through new household formations. people moving into the communities take these um these jobs as well as the propensity for students to transfer into your schools um because their their

186their parents are employed within the boundaries of the district. What this table here shows you is um it shows you for each of the use types and the development locations the impact that was calculated through the nexus report. So first you can see in the on the residential for residential homes we calculated that using the the new developments proportion of the 2025 facilities master plan cost estimates that each residential unit per square foot will generate an impact of $3.92 in both cases in Escandido Union as well as San Pascal Union. um the $3.92 exceeds the your portion of the maximum level one fee. As a result, the state allows you to justify and impose the maximum fee. In the boundaries of Escanido Union, it would be $2.75 and in the boundaries of San Pascal, it

187would be $1.79. On the commercial side, it's a little >> quick question. >> Absolutely. >> So, it's interesting. I had a home repair company come in for heating and air conditioning and we wanted to get our attic like line so it'd be more efficient. And he showed me the different finance options and it was like 256 bucks a month. I was like, "Oh, I can I can I can handle 256 a month." And then I looked at the total and it was $27,000 over like 20 years. So the question is is on that $3.92 which doesn't sound like a lot what is the average cost per house and the average cost like house size in Escanido would that add to the price of a house that's already at pretty close to $800,000. >> Yeah. So

188I have actually have a slide a little bit further. >> Um so when we when we get to that slide we'll circle back to that question. But that is that's a great question especially in face of what we have in California which is an affordability crisis. Um so in the commer so back to the commercial industrial uses the state does not not allow school district to arbitrarily just impose the maximum fee approved by the state allocation board. Um there has to be a a sound analysis of nexus and an identification of impact. In the case case of commercial industrial um the district receives an impact of 47 cents to $144 per square foot of commercial industrial for all commercial uses with the exception of self storage. Um self- storage uh district has a significantly lower

189impact per square foot of development. This is simply as a result of the low employment density and self-s storage usage. um you build a very they build a very large you know hundreds of thousands maybe even a million square foot of self storage there might be one guy who works there maybe two because that low employment dis density the employee creates the generates the nexus by which the district is impacted. So, in that case, though the the state says you can authorize up to a 44 cents per square foot um fee on self- storage, um the school district can only um generate the nexus to charge a 3 cent per square foot impact on self- storage. This is pretty standard across the board with school districts within the state of California that um that self-

190storage is being levied at a significantly lower rate. So uh what you see on this table is the proposed um level two fee change. So um again fee type development location current level one fees a reminder that they were last increased in 2018 and then with the 2026 level one fee update. So you can see as I mentioned before though the annual inc or the semiannual increase by the state in this cycle was only about 4%. The district's proposed increase ranges from about 42% to 45% for commercial industrial and again with the exception of um self storage. Again this is really just a catchup of um the mist escalation in 2020 22 and 24. So the question uh that was posed by um the board and was provided to us uh prior uh by Miss

191Phillips was how does this affect the uh the an actual person pulling a permit for the construction of a new home um within your district? Um, in order to give you some insight into this, we look back at the last two years of certificates of compliance that were issued by the school district. A certificate of compliance is a document that's provided by the school district to the planning agency, the city or county um to give approval of uh the fact that the that developer paid developer fees. So, every time a home is built within your district, there's an addition commercial industrial. The school district issues one of these certificates of compliance. We took that information and we uh we calculated that the average square foot of a unit be being constructed within your district over

192the last two years is about 1,800 square ft. Um this is uh there's going to be significantly larger units and some smaller units, but this is the average over the last two years. So, the proposed residential fee um as approved would be $2.75 uh within Escandido Union and $1.79 within San Pasel. What you'll see is that um before the action here on the left, this unit would pay a school fee of between 7,200 approximately in San Pasel and 8,000 in Escanido Union School District. I will pause to note that this is not the only permit fee or public infrastructure exaction that developers pay in the state of California. Quick Google search will tell you that on average in the county of San Diego, just in permit fees alone, developers pay 40,000 approximately $40,000 a unit.

193If you look closer, I was at a recently at a um at a industry group where a developer said that when you count the permit fee plus other public infrastructure exactions, cities want you to build a park, they want you to put in a street, they want you to put in stop lines, stop signs. It could be upwards of $80,000 per unit um that is owed on each piece of property before the first piece of lumber goes in. So with your increase, you can see uh the middle one is what what you would what the charge total charge for school fees at large would be for community your community. And you can see the the difference there is between 960 and about $1,500 per unit. So whereas that that's a uh a higher fee um

194in the in the larger stack of all of the fees that are associated with it, it's not a significant um swing. I also believe that when I did the Google search and rece and got the uh $40,000 of developer impact fees, they had assumed already that the school district was levying the maximum level one fee. So to give you an idea, >> um what from your uh knowledge or research, how many uh how many school districts max out the ceiling >> for level one fees? >> Yeah. I mean, is this is this something that we are this abnormal for us to let's say raise it all the way up to the ceiling or is it something that every school district does? >> Yeah, the vast majority of school districts keep their level one fee current

195with the maximum amount that is levied under the state program. One exception to that that we find is small school districts that collect a small amount of developer fees. So, we were uh we were just discussing it with another school district a week ago. They collect $15,000 worth of developer fees a year. So, in their instance, by moving their catching another 4%, the differential in their fee collection would be very small. Um but any school all school districts in the state that collect any type of material level of fee um generally will keep their fee updated. There's two primary reasons for that. The first one is obvious. As the as the cost of making improvements on your school sites increase, it's necessary to move up the funding mechanisms. Also cost me an extra dollar to

196build a classroom, to expand a classroom, to improve a classroom. It'd be nice if my funding source also moved up by that dollar by improving the fee increase every other year. It helps you keep pace with that or at least helps defer that a little bit. >> Yeah. Secondarily, which is something we see more and more often is similar to kind of the process you're going through. Many school districts over the last several years, um their facilities priorities have have migrated and changed from a growth standpoint that we saw in the early 2000s where everybody was just building building housing students housing students. And then now the enrollment growth has crested. Many school districts are in decline. But what's happened is at the same time many school facilities have become aged and over their useful

197life life expectancy. So the priority that they need to spend the fees on changes. Mitigation act requires that school districts not only justify the impact they also draw a nexus between how they're going to spend the money. So, school districts will up periodically update their developer fee to number one maximize the amount of revenue, but then also to make sure that their developer fee justification study and the nexus within it is aligned to what their actual facilities goals are. So, when they go and spend the money, they can show the um that they justified the impact, they collected the fee, and they spent the money on the impacts that they had justified through the nexus study. How much does our district take every year or get every year? >> Um the last few years it's

198been approximately a million dollars a year >> about a million. Uh real quick, it's interesting to note that after action, so um Oh, never mind. I had it backwards, so we're good. Thank you. >> Yeah. The one thing I would note here is both Escandido Union School District, they did approve an increase in 2024. They have yet to to move forward with a study in 26. and Sans San Pascal uh last approved in 2020. So this change here just ch just just includes your change. Doesn't doesn't assume that sometime in the future that those districts will will make the change as well. H >> uh going back to that last slide, if we change our let's say we vote to change our rates, do we have to wait for does that >> we have to

199wait for the other districts to change their rates as well or >> no do this individually? >> Yeah. Each individual district takes individual action on their fee level. As you can see, your district last increased your fee in 2008. However, subsequently in 18 subsequently, Escandido Union updated theirs in 2020 and 2022 and then again in 2024 independent of any action you would be taking and it's kind of the same same thing. The thing that does not change is your percentage of the maximum fee um under the conditions of the fee sharing agreement. So what you what um what you don't have the ability to do as an example is if they don't move their fee, you can't take the balance of the maximum fee authorized by the state. Your your maximum becomes that percentage under

200the fee sharing agreement. >> Can we lower the fee? >> Um no, we don't want to lower. >> You said that. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I'm with you on that. >> Well, it doesn't affect you anyway. It affects families coming into the that's one of the reasons we have declines in uh student um enrollment because nobody can afford a house. >> Yeah. But I think Escandido is still on the average and I don't know you're in the mortgage um I'll be cheaper than other schools. >> I would like to use a different word than cheaper, Dr. Vincent. >> Okay. >> How about less insanely expensive? >> Yes. Okay. >> Okay. There we go. I'll take that one. >> I've actually never gotten that question, so I don't know. It's really probably more of a legal

201question. I will say that um I think that the reason we don't get the question a lot is is two two points. Number one, there are not many school districts in the state of California that have adequate funding for capital facilities. So capital facilities dollars are always in short supply. Secondarily, when you look at the stack of um other fees, uh you know, say an $800,000 home might take the the the delivery cost of that. Once you put all the fees in, all the construction costs, all the marketing costs, all those types of things, that $800,000 uh home is going to cost maybe 700 or over $700,000 to deliver um the builder to deliver to the to the end consumer. um they generally don't believe that changing it by $1,000 is going to make a

202material impact in the >> and that my friend is totally the the paradigm that I want us to start to readjust in the state of California. Well, my fee is not that much. It's like fire. It's $40,000 for a fire permit in Eskanito to build a house. 40,000. And so it'd be nice cuz I'm totally opposed to this and I'd love to see before we vote on this exactly what all fees go into a house in our area to build a house like does the city charge something does the fire what other fee like I think there's like a $100,000 in fees and if everybody because this is an 18% uh increase I think if I did my math right you're over you know 18% like if houses. If everybody raised all their fees another

20318%. We'd be at a million dollars like that. So, at some point, someone needs to start taking a stand that we're done with fees, done with charging people to live in the state. We're what are we $22,000 per kid in our classroom, you know, times 30 kids. So, we're running a classroom on over $600,000 a year. I'm like, do we need to raise it? Anyway, I'm I'm making a point. So um a little bit about the appropriate use of fees. So on the lefth hand side we just have a list of appropriate use of fees. Basically these are capital facility projects. So these are improvements with useful life of 5 years or more or the repaid debt incurred to do like projects in the past. What it can't be used for is what we would

204call regular or deferred maintenance. Um if you're painting a school as a as a part of a mo a full modernization project of the school, you can use fees to paint it. If you're just painting it, um generally that's seen as a regular or deferred maintenance. Difference between replacing a um sprinkler system and fixing a sprinkler system. And then uh a special cutout for asbesus abatement and removal. I don't understand that one. >> I don't either. >> I mean, do you want to expose people to asbestous or students? >> Yeah. >> I mean, there's got to be a some reason behind that one. >> Yeah. Um, the other the other thing that with the ex exception of a three of a maximum of 3% of the amount collected each year, the revenue collected through these

205uh developer fees cannot be used for staff salaries or benefits. put the two together here. I'm trying to figure this out. So, we put a facilities master plan together. Correct. >> Correct. >> Oh, Mike. >> So, we put a facilities master plan together. H how does this relate to that? I'm just trying to figure that one out. So when we when we draw the nexus between the impact of new residential development and commercial industrial development within your district to the need for the district to make improvements or to spend money. So we have to make a nexus there. >> What we what what we've done here is we've said okay the district currently just by count has significant has has the appropriate amount of seats to house both your existing students as well as future

206students to be generated. Gotcha. >> However, many of the facilities that the district has are either at or have exceeded their useful life. >> Meaning, >> yeah. Meaning that in order to maintain that capacity, the district must make improvements to those schools. >> Mhm. >> The cost within the facilities master plan supports the question of well, how much would it be to maintain a seat at um Escanido High School? what are the costs associated with maintaining that seat? Um that becomes the cost basis by which we justify the collection of the fee. >> Okay. Gotcha. Dr. Vincent, I would also argue that from a master plan standpoint, whatever um whatever we don't get from developer fees, we have to take a bond out for. >> So, do we make our our general public pay for

207it or do we pay make new developer do development pay for it? I think I'd like to have the developers pay for it because I don't think the community would vote for that. Um I don't know. Um you know people sometimes shy away from bonds. So the the keep by keeping this ceiling value up right at the to catch up and keep up with inflation >> right so that what we were collecting before can give us the same amount of in today's dollars may it make sense to continue with this >> uh what do you what so my question at the end of the day um so the the relationship between the two is that we have to compensate for rent. Is that what it is? >> Well, we get we get money we need

208money for the for the school from a master plan standpoint. Yeah. Right. We can get that money through and do get it through developer fees. Okay. >> But that's not being kept up with inflation. >> Yeah. >> Um or we can take a bond out for it >> in a sense, right? But either way, we we need the bond. But this would by doing this it keeps the bond a little bit lower. >> Okay. Gotcha. >> Um what was our current fund balance for our developer fees? >> You know, do you have that on hand? I know we went over it when we had the sensive light discussion. >> Good question. It was in the millions, I think. >> Millions. Yeah, it's pretty high. >> So either way, um when somebody purchase a new home,

209>> are you on the mic? >> Yeah, I am. Either way, when you either way, the end and buyer is going to be paying for all these fees anyhow. Correct. So, that's going to be built into the pricing >> passed along. Correct. >> Be passed passed along >> for a brand new home, not an existing home. >> Okay. Yeah. Yeah. >> And does this apply to sing um any type of home like condos or um apartments? >> That's a good question. >> Correct. the the residential fee um is applied equally to any type of new residential square foot built. >> So for instance, if it's going if it's an apartment, the home it's not a home owner, it's the renter that would absorb those costs. >> These are these are all fees paid at building

210permit >> building time. >> So initially it would be paid by the developer or the builder of the >> uh unit. Um, the only time the fee crosses over to individual homeowners within the community is when a homeowner is adding a square footage to their home in excess of 500 ft. >> This apply to ADUs. >> It applies to ADUs under the condition that it's over 500 feet. >> Which Okay. most of them. >> So to answer your question, President Knight, um so at the end of last school year, um fund 25, it's it's a combination, so I'll separate it for you. So for developer fees that we've accumulated over the years, there would be about 20 million. Um we also um in fund 25 keep our RDA dollars. Okay? >> So there's other funds

211mixed in fund 25. So fund 25 has a total of 38 million at the end of uh last school year. 20 million of that is developer fees that we've accumulated over the years. >> We haven't really been spending it. >> That's not >> use it for debt service. So um that's that's what we typically use that fund for to pay our coops, which is what um Stephen mentioned the $50 million of debt that we have. >> That's what we typically use fund 25 and the learning centers. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> I would note on the discussion of the funding of the master plan projects, what you'll see here in this, going back to this slide, is that the identified impact of a new residential home is $3.92 per square foot. Even if the district

212takes action to increase the maximum in the in the bound as an example in the boundaries of Escandido Union, we still have a you still have an identified shortfall of $1.17 per square foot of new residential homes that are built in your community because the state caps this maximum amount and the cap is below um what almost every school district experiences in the way of impact. So, it's it's correct to say that maximizing the opportunity in other funding sources takes the pressure off the other legs of the stool as it were, which are the main ones being developer fees, state grant funding, and geo bonds. Um, but even in this case, you know, you're not going to be able to fund as as um board member Vincent asked, you're not going to fund the whole

213facilities master plan from the collection of developer fees. >> Yeah. I'm good. >> So, a little bit about timeline. So, um we're presenting this to you for consideration as an information item this evening. Um we will uh make a number of required postings in the local newspaper regarding the increase the consideration for the increase of fee. Um, we'll do a posting on May 1st and we'll do another posting on May 8th and then we'll represent this item for action by the board or consideration for action by the board on May 12th. After the May 12th meeting, we if the board approves the increase, uh, the district will work with our firm to notify each of the planning agencies so that they can update their u information that they provide to developers. And by statute, the

214new fee goes into effect 60 days after approval. So, uh, with an appro with an pending approval on May 12th, that would mean that you would start collecting the higher level one fees on July 12th. Um, the the state does not require the district to periodically take action to update this fee. Um, so once you approve it and it goes into effect on July 12th, it can run for as long as that uh fee level and nexus remains appropriate. So, is that is that going to be grandfathered in or is it because there's development going on now, will they be >> if a building permit is pulled before July 12th, they will pay the old fee. If it's pulled on or after July 12th, they'll pay the new fee. >> Okay. Gotcha. I think I

215had another question. When I was looking at the uh the relationship between the Sasquel Union School District uh after action, if I got the number right, it looks like they would be getting about 8,100 bucks and we would getting about 9,500. So, I have a question. Sanford School Union School District is one schoolhouse. How many kids are in that district? You do you >> No, I I don't know. It's roughly 500 I think. >> Yeah. They only the um >> and so they're getting like basically 90% of what we're getting with onetenth of the students. >> Yeah. So I think >> a nice school. >> Yeah. I think I think >> we need to get >> Yeah. >> four or five. >> Um remembering that that school districts only impose and collect fees for development

216that happens within the boundaries of their district. So what happens generally and I would imagine this is why they haven't increased their fee from 2020. I would imagine that if we pulled their audit, they're actually not getting a lot of development within their boundary. They would only collect fees. So you have two theater districts. If they build an Escandido Union, you get part of the fees and San Pas and and and Escanido gets part of the fees. If they build in San Pas, San Pasqual gets part of the fees and of the fees. >> A line share of their geographical territory is in the S Pasqual Valley Agricultural Preserve. And there's not really any residential construction happening. They do have the two big the development, the Eagle Crest development, but there's no room to build

217any more houses in that development. >> Development out there. There was a proposed development out there >> behind Safari Park. It's going to be mostly um >> Highlands, I think it was called. I don't know. >> Effectively, we we might be building a thousand houses and they might be building 20. >> Correct. >> Okay. They may not be building any houses right now that I'm aware. >> Thank you so much. So, what do we do today? Just listen. >> Tonight, we'll hold a public hearing about it. So, at this time, um, I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing at 9:36 p.m. And I don't believe that we have any people here wishing to speak. >> Anybody still awake >> on this public hearing. However, this item will be coming back on May

21812th, at which point we'll be having a second public hearing for all the people who missed this evening's public hearing. they can attend on May 12th to voice their um support for this item or not. And um that will close out this public hearing at 9:37 p.m. And thank you Stephen for your presentation. Very thorough presentation. Thank you. >> One other quick question I forgot to ask. How does this affect the es uh the elementary district? Do they have their own different fees? >> Yes, they this doesn't affect them at all. >> We have our fees their own if they want to do it or it's the same. >> And if it's in the same area, then they have their fees as well. So >> yeah. So it they they pay our so they and

219they actually collect our fees which is funny. So they um the people actually have to go they pay theirs and they it's split. So they we collect they collect the whole fee and then they send us our portion. Do you know the dollar amount of theirs roughly? >> No, I don't. Off the top of my head, I don't. >> It'd be interesting to know. >> They regularly raise theirs to the maximum. Hey, man. They gave themselves a $2,000 a month raise. So, hey, why not? Just more money from the taxpayers. >> I'm pretty sure they're at the maximum as of 2024, >> right? So, it would >> they haven't taken action yet on because it's in even numbered years that the state sets the new rate. I don't think they've taken action yet this year,

220>> right? So, whatever it was on the slide, 2024, I think. >> Okay. >> Well, as you W2 taxpayers know, taxes in this state are brutal. >> Uh, looks like, um, it looks like it's about 253 per square foot >> total. I mean, for them >> for elementary school. what I'm seeing on the elementary school site. 253 for the elementary, 193 for high school. >> You're like in 2001 Space Odyssey. How how what's the fee? >> Thank you for that information. Um, okay. So, is there any further discussion on this item? Okay, that will come back for the May 12th meeting. That brings us to section J this evening, our district operations. Item J1 is to adopt recommended revisions in administrative regulation 3440 under business services and that's related to inventories. So I'll hand that

221over to you again, Miss Phillips. That is a second reading. There have been no changes. This was the minor change just to remove the specific $500 mention. Okay. Um do I have a motion to approve uh to adopt the recommended revisions with AR 3440? >> I move to adopt. >> Okay. We have a motion and a second. Board member Weller >> I. >> Board member Durnney >> I. >> Board member Vincent >> I. >> Board member Williams. >> Hi. >> And board member Knight I. And bringing us to item J2, which is a first reading this evening on recommended revisions in board policy related to educational services and this is under migrant education program and I'll hand this over to Dr. Cauus. Thank you. >> Thank you, President Knight. is a first read to reflect

222CSBA recommendations mainly updated to uh directly mention the reference to ED code 5443.1 which is related to the reporting of student achievement of migrant ed students which we already do in the all cap and in our title reporting. >> Okay, we're just bringing this policy up to date with what we already do. Okay, sounds good. that will come back next month for a um adoption. And that brings us to our board member reports and comments. I will start with board member Weller. >> Yes. If the state of California would not try to fund every focus group in the state, they could send more money to school districts and we would not have to tax the rest of us to death. So, I guess we're just going to have to reach out to our assembly people

223that just think that we can just keep sending money. Thanks for letting me share. >> Thank you. Board member Durnney, do you have a report from Florida? >> Uh, just want to give a quick shout out shout out to u our inspirational student Lizzy. I mean, that was quite a touching story and uh she is quite the inspirational student. Uh, but also I I guess what I do want to say is I'm just a little concerned about these classified layoffs and I guess we'll talk about that next month and that's all I've got for now. >> Hey, thank you for your >> Die. How are the taxes out there? >> What taxes? >> Uh, no state income tax, but you know, I'm I'm a California resident, >> so you're paying dual tax. Uh, I'm paying

224California tax. >> Okay. Thank you for your report and for um tuning in from across the country. >> And say hi to your dog for >> Say hi to Lucy. >> Yeah, >> she's right here by She's right here by my feet waiting for a walk. >> She must be sleeping now because she's not barking. Anyhow, >> remember Vincent? >> Well, thank you. Um, I'd like to bring up something that I think is very important and I'm going to kind of give you all a little uh readout on what I think is important right now and what we should focus on as a board. and I'm hoping you guys will uh support me in this and that's declining enrollment and that um I brought this up in the past but we're t we're we we

225we've talked a lot about budget and potential layoffs but I think it's a important to take a step back and look at a bigger picture. Um, yes, California has structural uh funding challenges as Bob mentioned, but there is also something within our control and that's enrollment. Our district has lost approximately a thousand students over the past years, several years. Uh, that's not a small shift. That is a structural change to our system. We're feeling that. Um, I want to be clear. This is not about placing blame. It's about making sure we we're we're addressing the underlining issue so we can provide stability for our students and staff. And this isn't just a local issue. Statewide, California is projected to see roughly a 15% decline in K to2 enrollment from a peak level by 2031. That's

226devastating. That tells us this is not temporarily. It's a long-term trend. If we don't address enrollment directly, we will remain in a cycle of reactive decisions. That means cuts, tradeoffs, and ongoing financial pressures. That's not a sustainable pathway. While difficult financial decisions may be necessary, they should not be replaced by a long-term strategy. I believe we need to be take a more focused and strategic approach understanding where we're losing students and how we can retain and attract families. I would recommend that we dedicate time to this whether through a workshop, subcommittee or focus agenda items so we can give it the attention it deserves. Because at the end of the day, enrollment is just a number. It's not just a number. It drives our funding, our programs, and ultimately the opportunity we provide to our

227students. addressing it is essential to long-term stability of this district. So therefore, I recommend that based on with the board approval that we look at enrollment and how we can uh look at different ways to increase it within our school district. And I do believe that we have the brain power here to do it. And I do myself I've done a lot of research and I think we can put a good strategy together because we got to entice families into this district either through different processes and I think um um Brian you brought it up marketing other there are other ways that we can do this. So, I'm going to just say that I hope you guys we can have that discussion so we can show that we're moving forward in the right direction by

228increasing enrollment. That's all I have to say. Um, and I don't know where we go from. >> So, perhaps um because it it's um there's nothing agendaized tonight. Um would it be possible to bring back an agenda item then next month to discuss declining enrollment and the potential of forming a subcommittee for this? Um while um I know subcommittees have not been a historical practice that we've done on this board. I've seen incredible value with both the ethnic studies subcommittee that we formed and the mass subcommittee that's that was formed and they're temporary as as intended. They're temporary in nature but they do address a very um critical issue that we can need to deal with and um um declining enrollment is not something that can be just discussed at uh as a at a

229normal board meeting. It's something that I think that um if we were to if we were to have a subcommittee would allow potentially even two um rotating board members to at a time to provide input um coming from our various backgrounds and perspectives that could be very valuable going forward. So, um, perhaps next, uh, u, I would second if there having a discussion item of what it would look like to form a subcommittee and then how we might, um, be able to rotate board members through that two at a time to provide that type of input if that's possible. Um, >> yes, it's good to talk, good discussion. >> Okay. because I think yeah like all of us would probably want to serve it um sit and provide input at some point. So um limiting

230it to two of us might be um hard. I don't know what that would look like. So >> it can never be more than >> two at a time >> at a time. Uh unless it's a standing committee that's going to be permanent and then it has to follow all the acts of the the rules of the Brown Act, >> right? And then it would be agendaized and it's >> since I'm going to volunteer Ryan for that, he's only going to want it temporary. So, we're good to go. >> Yes. Because we're going to fix it that fast. >> Right. >> Temporary ad hoc like we've done with >> with these other studies was addressing one issue in time and not intended to be permanent. >> Right. >> And same with the math. >> I

231think this could be a we could look at potentially doing something with this too. Not that it would um we're going to solve it all right away, but that it, you know, it has an intended purpose in some sort of given time frame. Okay. >> Yeah. We just can't sit by and do nothing. We got to do find a way of um you know increasing our enrollment. We just can't sit by >> and it can have a broad scope of declining enrollment, but that could also look look at all different things. I would argue we we should not sit by and allow a market share to disappear. The market is shrinking but we can grab a bigger share of the shrink. >> Exactly. >> Right. >> I agree with you that I agree with. Yeah.

232There's ways of doing that. >> Yeah. Okay. Um thank you for that and thank you for your comments and your idea >> marketing. Yep. Right on. >> With that you concludes your report. >> Appreciate it. Um, I think we all agree that it's an important issue to tackle, so I appreciate it. Thanks. >> Great. >> All right. Um, I've had plenty of caffeine today, so I've got a good list. >> Um, so, uh, first off, I want to thank and congratulate, uh, Escan High School for hosting the Iron Man Relays down in La Hoya for their swim swim event. That was actually a really fun swim event to watch. It was a It was a swim meet that was only relays and they also had some fun some fun parts of it at the very

233end. So, uh, congrats to I want to say Coach Lulip, maybe >> Skittle High School. Yes. >> Yeah, that was the I want to make sure I said that right. But it was a it was a fun meet. So, I appreciate all the work that they did to host that. Uh, number two is AV 1390. I uh I know um Escanido uh Escanido Union High School District got a uh not high school school district got a little bit of flack from it. But I I'm a big support of of bumping up that number for us. I think for my example here, if I uh as the large family that I do have at home, I I actually can't participate in the insurance programs, all of them, without having to pay the district because our paycheck

234isn't big enough to cover all that. So, um, >> for clarification, AB 1390 is the bill that allows the board stipens to be increased. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, I've, uh, I don't know what we need to do it, uh, but I would, I would love to have a chat about that to get our get our number up to, I think, is something more more fair and meaningful and appropriate for the for the work that we do. So, again, I know we can't discuss it here today, but that's that's on my list here. Um, number three is again just to follow up follow up on my request for uh changing in auditors. I know uh you put it the board um notes that you're going to start doing that. My question is is from a board

235policy standpoint, is that something that we can or should be putting in the policy as a to say that we should um be changing that that auditor on a on a certain case. We can we need to look at what our existing policy states. >> Yeah. >> I think it's right to change it up, but I want again I want to make sure that you know we're protecting the the future of the district as well. Right. >> Yeah. I don't know if the existing policy prescribes a certain cadence, but it is known as a best practice um to periodically change your auditor. Yeah. So, I' I'd love to look into uh what that might into making that official in the board policy to to change that up. All right. >> Need um a second to

236bring that back to look at it or you'll >> we know we can we can look at our policy and provide that. All you're asking for is information at this point. But bring it back where it fits and where it would exist. Um, let's see. You know, I actually uh kind of based on on um David's comments here, I was actually going to propose some type of skunk works blue sky type of of group. Anyway, we tend to I know uh our board tends to throw some big ideas out there, right? And um it would be interesting to kind of have that little subcommittee to allow them to do that. Um kind of throw it out there to see what sticks and kind of play with it. So um I kind of do agree with

237the whole subcommittee in terms of um enrollment, right? But I think it would be a good have a good outlet, shall we say, to to be able to throw the those big ideas out on the wall and see what sticks. >> Maybe like an innovation innovation and and enrollment. >> Maybe it could cover a little bit of >> may maybe right. I do agree that the subcommittees need to be intentional, right? Purpose >> in a sense, but I do think we need to find a good outlet for those big ideas somehow. >> So again, that's that's food for thought here. Um, I do recommend also that we have a we have and set a standard for stopping people during the open comment section. While I agree with, you know, the nice people to give them

238a few extra seconds or a minute or so, I think there's there are occasions where they're not nice people, right? and and we want to stop them. But if we give but if we give some people extra time but other people we try to stop them off pretty fast. I think that's brings in an element of liability because we're not consistent with with how we're treating the people who during open comment. >> Love your honesty and transparency. >> So yeah. So I I would like to find a way for us to from a to to determine what that that etiquette looks like, right? in terms of okay at 30 seconds we say hey here's your warning at 60 seconds we cut the mic or whatever that might be but I think whatever it is I

239think we just need to be consistent with it because we don't always it's not always nice people up there shall we say or at least they're not always saying nice things that we might agree with or not agree with and so I think consistency is the most important part of that >> no I agree with you um however there I believe there is a level of discretion that um the board president does have to have. So um given that there were a couple of people here that may be speaking for their very last time before they were retiring, I chose not to interrupt them, you know, knowing who they were, knowing that they've served the and so those are kinds of things. However, um I agree with >> that was the nice persons you met

240there. >> I agree with you. there are people who are not so nice where um and maybe even you may have noticed at the last meeting I was very quick to say you need to wrap it up to certain people so you know may it's it's it does depend on I think the and so the board president does get to take the heat for the inconsistency I think but um I'm not a huge fan of the beep so >> I get that that's there I know the beep is popular but yeah >> but I again right that's just my my thoughts from from from not only just today, right, but I think just in the past, right? I' I'd like to see us find a way to just be more consistent so >> so it

241doesn't come back and bite us. >> And maybe a blowhorn or something or start >> That's right. >> about a floor that opens up. Um, I think that's my list for tonight. Oh. Oh, last one. Like I said, I had a lot of caffeine today, guys. >> I'm doing great. Um, I do have a proposal from an organizational standpoint here because it seems like we always have clicker problems over there and in reality, but the speakers are generally addressing the board. So my proposal is is does it make sense to move the presentation over there? Um they're usually trying to present to the board anyway. Um those on this side kind of have to look sideways anyway. And from a clicker standpoint, yeah, your last proposal was the best. You should end there, bro. So

242just a food for thought. Just food for thought. Mhm. So, that's my uh that's my list. I won't be able to sleep tonight. >> I saw you like stacking up cans over there. >> I think it was the three pieces of cake. >> I did have three pieces of the carrot cake, too. >> Okay. Oh, well, thank you all for your great comments and great suggestions and ideas. I do appreciate that. And um I believe staff was taking notes and we'll be following up. Um so I think for my comments this evening um um one of the classify or one of the employees came up afterwards after the a break and mentioned that there um wasn't a lot of followup and I know um there's there hasn't been a lot uh any public discussion about

243the moving puzzle pieces that are happening related to uh potential layoffs, but to the extent possible, I um believe it will be important to have some follow-up discussions with some people that may have provided comment this evening that um could use some clarification. Um, I think uh I don't know how to say all say all that carefully, but I think you guys know what's these moving parts are. And if there are positions that aren't going to be impacted that were addressed tonight, um, how do we relay that back to employees that spoke about those positions so that they understand that there are there are things in in the works? Um, so that would be my request. Um and then um really just I know it takes a lot for employees to come down and for

244students to come down and um so I I uh want to see what we can do to address um making sure that even though we gave out some pink slips that a lot of those can be rescended. So, um, that's it for my comments. >> Can I have a one? Can you make another comment? >> Thank you. And I cuz it's 10:00. We've been here for 6 hours. Started at around 4. 6 hours and we're probably going to do another hour maybe. >> Probably not. Is there a way that it seems like we have a lot of like a lot of agenda items and that is there a way of and I don't know what the answer is but are can we spread these agenda some of these agenda items out or or is that

245just how things work? I mean, there just seems to be uh a lot of things in there that I feel that we cover in another meeting or something. I'm just throwing that out there, guys. >> We had one meeting per month. However, there are other districts that meet twice a month. So again, that goes back to board service and potentially the impacts to lives and families when it is such a um lowpaying position um or basically volunteer position. So you know those might be discussions we have if Ryan gets his way and AB1390 is discussed in more detail. Perhaps we do discuss that making making it make sense >> would be that we're having more meetings per month to justify any type of potential increase to make it a position that people want to continue

246to do. >> Not only that, our community sitting there waiting too a lot of times for their presentations and stuff. So I just think, you know, we we maybe need to reassess the amount of information that we're regurgitating or maybe I got to stop asking so many questions. >> You mean like removing the ARS from the the list of topics, right? Or more on consent, right? Those are those are easy ways to to move it along. >> Okay. Thank you for the additional input. Uh, well, it's things to consider. Thank you. Let's see. Next item would be our superintendence report. So, it's your turn, John. >> Thank you. I have a short report. So, uh, this week we celebrate adult education week. And I'd like to take a moment to recognize the power of lifelong

247learning and the dedication of our adult education students, teachers, and staff. Every day, adult learners are building new skills, reaching personal milestones, and advancing their career goals. In the coming weeks, we will recognize the contributions of bus drivers, administrative professionals, principals, school nutrition staff, school nurses, teachers, classified employees. Look forward to visiting the school sites for the staff appreciation nacho bars and thanking our staff members for all they do to support our students, families, and community. Also, we will be hosting our second annual Escanido Union High School District Visual and Performing Arts Expo at the California Center for the Arts. Opening night will be held on Wednesday, May 6th from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. I invite everyone to stop by to see our wonderful student work and performances. The expo will be available to

248the public through May 18th. And I'd like to close the night by wishing Sasqua High School's robotics team the best of luck at the 2026 First World Championship next week and wishing everyone a good night. >> Good night everyone. >> We have a couple of dates to remember really quickly. May 5th, 2026, we have a board workshop here in this room at 6 PM. May 12th is the regular meeting of the board of education close session beginning at 4:30 and the regular board meeting beginning at 6:00 p.m. Um, we will be going back into close session, but I don't believe we have uh we action to occur, so there will be no need to report out >> action. With that, we adjourn tonight's meeting at 10:05 p.m. Thank you for those that stayed all the

249way to the end. >> Great job, guys. >> It's true commitment out there. There's there's certain things, but there's