001Good evening. It is 5 o'clock p.m. and I'd like to call the September 10th, 2025 me meeting of the Englewood Unified School District Board of Education to order. Uh, next we'll have the roll call and I will ask Miss Sbrano to call the role, please. >> Board President, Mrs. Margaret Turner Evans, >> present. >> Board Vice President, Dr. Carlos McGee, board member, Miss Joyce Randall, board member, Mr. Brandon Myers, >> present. >> Board member, Mr. Ernesto Castillo, >> student board member, Miss Amaya Hazard, >> present. >> Dr. James Morris, >> present. >> Dr. Bernardet Lucas, >> present. >> Mr. Rafael Guzman, >> present. >> Miss Tiffany Egan is in place of Dr. Brian Coffee from human resources. >> Present. Please be informed the Spanish language interpretation is available during this meeting of interpret. >> Thank
002you very much Miss Sbrano. And now I'll ask Miss Tiffany Eaggan, director of human resources to please lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Miss Egan is here for Dr. Coffee who is taking a welldeserved vacation. Thank you so much. Miss Egan, please >> please stand and face the flag. Put your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you so much, Miss Egan. Moving on to approval of the agenda. I hereby approve the agenda with one modifications number 7A17 from the educational services division has been reissued with a reduced cost and a shortened term date. We're now going to transition to reports
003and presentations. Our first presentation will be from schoolboard member Mr. Brandon Meyers who will provide an update on the Los Angeles County Schools Trustees Association commonly called LAXA. Mr. Myers. >> Thank you, Dr. Morris, and good evening, community. Uh, so my, uh, presentation will just be brief. Uh, just to give you a few updates. Um, during our last, uh, last meeting, uh, we actually had the pleasure of picking our new president. Uh, and I just want to celebrate, um, our past president, uh, President Alma Macro for an amazing job uh, and effort that she's doing in her school district. But currently uh we have Miss Tracy Miller uh Zarini and she is out of Elsagundo and I tell you she's amazing young lady. Um and I think she's going to do well in this role.
004Uh just a little bit of background about Laxa. Uh we are some school board trust trustee members that get together uh I believe a quarter of a month um every quarter um throughout the year and we discuss various things that are happening in our district. Um, I know currently the topic is uh ICE raids that are currently happening on uh various uh campuses and areas of our county. So, we just like to send our prayers and wishes uh to those that are experiencing that. And I'll send it back to you. Thank you, Doc. >> Thank you so much, Mr. Meyers. Uh in our school district, we have the incredible pleasure of having students who are brilliant, capable, and do things that amaze us on a daily basis. Our next presentation this evening will be introduced
005by our um assistant superintendent of educational services, Dr. Bernardet C. Lucas. Dr. Lucas. Good evening board president Evans board esteemed board members cabinet and Dr. Morris. Of course, I am so privileged to introduce the next presentation on girls build LA. We have the u pleasure of having the most extraordinary partnerships in the district and this is one such partnership. I would like to bring to the mic Veron Veronica Sto, senior adviser for workforce development, Miguel Guzman, youth workforce coordinator, and Sophia Cavali, CIP industry relations, so that they can tell us more about what our um girls did this summer in support of this program. Please join me at the mic. Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much. Um good evening, Madam President, members of the board. Thank you for inviting us to be
006here and share um the extraordinary work that a lot of girls here in Los Angeles um actually undertook in this summer. Um especially a delegation from your students which we're very proud about. So we're going to go ahead and show this video that kind of is a synopsis of how they spent their three weeks. And as the video goes, I'll go ahead and tell you a little bit about the story about what happened and what we were able to accomplish together. [Music] So, this program was for three weeks, Monday through Thursday, um from early morning to late afternoon. Um parents made a commitment um to drop off um their girls at Southwest College and pick them up in the afternoon. Our first day was at the airport learning about aviation careers and so we went
007ahead and and took advantage of that. Day two was about green building and lead sustainability. Everything that we build is sustainable. And so we wanted to go ahead and have the girls learn about sustainability and also design. So two major architectural firms basically spent the day with them to show them the principles of architecture and how they go about designing the buildings that they do, not just for school districts, for the airport, but for all public entities. And so they've learned quite a bit um doing this through Corgan and Gensler which are two major firms. Um one of them is here um in Culpa City and then the other one of course is in downtown Los Angeles. Day four we took them away from LAX in Los Angeles and we took them to the San
008Frernando Valley to Vanise airport where they got to see one of the largest general aviation airports. Um the highlight of their day unfortunately was the Kardashian jet um that sits there. It wasn't about the excitement about aviation. and it was about the Kardashian jet. Um but anyhow, on day five, we took them over to East LA College um to have them understand the principles of surveying. And then on day six about construction, how do you measure, how do you read blueprints, you know, how do you do things to scale um in order for them to be able to understand it. And then we took them to higher LAEX um over at Southwest College to learn about apprentichip readiness training. Day seven was about wellness. You know, how do we go ahead and deal with those
009hurt feelings that we have so that we can achieve our goals. And then we took them to the intu dome for a private tour. So they got to see this magnificent building. And then day eight we basically introduced them to the electrical trade. Um we were hosted by the electrical training institute which is IBW. And so they actually learned what it takes to turn on a light bulb and they did it exceptionally well. Um they also learn about renewable energy since that location is actually a net zero um building. But you can see the excitement and the intention about what they were learning and what they were doing. And I think they got more excitement about working with their hands than they did other disciplines, which was really strange if you think about it because
010a lot of them said, "I want to be an engineer. I want to be an architect." But once they got to construction, they were having fun. And so hopefully we we we switched them over um to the construction side and then we took them to USC to the school of architecture so they can learn about the admissions process um at the university as well as the scholarships that are available for students locally and the level of support. As you can see there was a lot of you know enthusiasm about what they were doing. And then we took them again to get their hands dirty. So we took them to the laborers training institute um and the labor training school. And here they got dirty. Um, wearing hard hats, um, working with their hands, and they
011got to do things that never, I'm sure their mother would never allow, you know, would never allow them to do it or they would never listen to their mother about carrying anything um, heavier than 10 pounds, but they were actually working out there um, and carrying sandbags and carrying plywood um, and learning how to operate the the the boom lift. They were actually doing that. Um, and God knows that those operators earn a lot of money. Um, so a lot of them got really excited about doing that. And one of the things that we also wanted to do was to make sure that all the girls left with something that they can put to use and that was first aid and CPR training. And so they went through the entire process, an entire day of
012getting their certifications for that um so that they can actually, you know, hopefully they never have to, but if something were ever to happen, they are prepared um to help someone in need. And you can see that they actually were having fun doing this and they were taking it seriously. Um this is another example of something that they enjoyed doing um you know physically. And then we also wanted them to go ahead and and develop a career blueprint now that they took all of this exposure. What is it that they want to do and how are they going to get there? And of course, this would not be possible without the support of Mayor Karen Bass who gave us the money um to be able to do this and pay for stipens and also the
013Watts Labor Community Action Committee which was our work source center that helped us go ahead and and and process the stipens and of course all of our industry partners which are quite significant from the architecture, engineering, construction, labor unions and of course um the airport. And so all of that came together for three weeks. Um and we provided, I would hope, um a great deal of exposure for our young ladies. We have gotten some feedback um from some of the parents that they said that they have a new child, a new child that is excited about going to school, about doing their homework, that are helping around the house, things that before these mothers could not ever dream of. And and now because of this program, they also got that um in exchange. And so
014we're very pleased about it. Um I can also tell you that without the support of your school district, Miss Abba, making sure that the schools knew about it, that we got the chaperones to support us every single day. I mean, Miss Muhammad was amazing. She was a trooper. She was out there in the hot sun with us, you know, with her shirts and and and being there to help us with the girls. And so without that level of support and the transportation, we all know that transportation is always a barrier for young women um and anyone from our community to be able to participate and you also did that. And so we are very grateful to the commitment and the support that was provided by this school district. Um and we hope to do it
015again. U Mayor Bass gave us support for next year. Um so we'll be back. Um and hopefully we'll get more of a delegation from all of your schools to participate. And just so you know, year round we're doing things with you. Um in November at aviation career day, we're inviting some of the students, some of the schools to come to LAX um to go ahead and learn about those careers. And then in November, November 5th and 6th, we're doing national STEM days. And so we'll be at your schools as well. And not just the high schools, but some of the feeder middle schools. So this is a long-standing partnership with Englewood Unified. and we just wanted to come and share with you what we did this last summer in hopes that we can continue to
016do this um for more of your students. [Applause] >> Oh, I think where's Miss Abba? >> Come. I can I just take this moment to just recognize Miss Abba and Miss Muhammad. Please come up. [Applause] See, she's wearing her girls build shirt. >> So again, without the support of your staff, um, we would not be able to do this. So we just want to thank you so much. I don't know if you have any questions regarding the program. Willing to entertain any question you have. Um, but as you can see, we had fun as much as the girls did. >> I just have one question. I don't know if I missed it. What was the grade level of the girls? >> High school. So, from 9th grade to 12th grade. And so, we actually took
017some students that had just graduated from your middle school and were going to be ninth graders this year. So, we started early. In fact, one of the parents of one of those ninth graders said she's the one that got a new daughter because of this program. And so, there's a lot of personal discipline now. Um, because we try to enforce Miss discipline. Remember, Miss Muhammad, a lot of discipline. Um and so but yes, 9th to 12th grade we do not and we don't have any GPA requirements. This is about self- selection. This is about them having an interest in learning more and being exposed and participating. And so that's what we wanted to do. We don't want to create artificial barriers um and you know just create an open environment for girls to learn and
018explore. >> Do they get to go back again next year if they want to or another another set of girls will go next year? if some of them want to come back um we will welcome them um but I think it'd be great um for another set of students to join us um but I did select a few I think it was five or six Miguel correct me if I'm wrong that we are going to hire them as counselors for the program next year [Applause] reinforcing the leadership skills and the fact that they already went through the program um I think that's going to do a lot more because then it's peer peerto-peer. It's not us adults telling them what to do. It's going to be their peers um saying, "Hey, don't do that or
019this is how you do this. This is how you use the tape measure. This is, you know, what a blueprint is." Um so, I think that goes a long way, a longer way um than us continuing to do that ourselves. So, we are going to be hiring um some of those young women to lead this program forward. >> Wonderful. >> Board President, are there other Go ahead. Yes. You're not done? >> No, I'm done. >> Okay. Um, well, I came a little late, so I apologize. Uh, some some of these questions you may have answered already. How many students participated in the program? So, we only had 28 girls participate in the program and and I think one of the board members brought up the issue of ICE and during the recruitment period um that's
020when the raids were happening and that created a lot of fear in the community and so a lot of parents were very hesitant um to allow their girls to participate in the program which was a legitimate concern at the time and so we're hoping that next year I mean I had funding up to 40 um girls. And so we had 30 and then we ended up with 28. Um but we still still think that 28 is a significant number um of girls participating in the program. We actually paid out $20,000 in stipens um which were also made available through the grant monies provided by Mayor Bass. Um they actually earned $250 um every week. So they got to earn $750 um you know during these last three weeks. So that is significant monies um to
021go shopping for back to school clothes um and and for in some cases accessories and shoes and so on. So we were very pleased about that. >> That's amazing. Especially knowing how difficult it could be to attain students to show up to these type of events especially during the summer. I'm assuming this was during the summer, right? >> Yes. during the summer was July 21st through August the 7th and so it was the heart of the summer period and I think when they went back I think some of them only had a week left of vacation time. Um but they they made it through and I I can tell you that we didn't have attendance issues. >> Um the only time that they missed a class was because it was high school picture day and
022of course they were not going to miss that day. And then the other situation was one student was doing something at UC Santa Barbara um because she wanted to pursue higher education at at UC Santa Barbara and then there was another um school it was a testing um date of some sort for SAT preparation or something like that. And so again, the only absences were school related, which is extraordinary. Um that demonstrated the commitment that a lot of these young ladies made. And the parents, I cannot say enough about the parents either. Um you can imagine they're thinking, "Oh, one less thing to do during the summer." No, they continued their duties of dropping off their daughters at the college and then picking them up um in the afternoon. So it was a tremendous group
023effort by everyone involved. Well, thank you because I know this program, the way it's worded, it was meant to support Los Angeles. Um, you know, Inglewood is its own city, but because we are so impacted by the airport in terms of noise that we have to deal with on a daily basis, in terms of pollution that we have to live with for generations, um, it's really important for us to know that we have a partner with the airport. Uh, you know, not beyond just the noise cancelling, uh, windows that we get in our homes, um, and our school sites as well too. So, it's important for us to continue to build on this. So, I I want to invite the opportunity to continue building on this to make sure that beyond the counselor positions that
024we have actual career paths for our students to be able to work here because I grew up in wood. So, I know how much employee me employment is is brought because of the airport. A lot of my friends work at the airport. Um, and it's a blessing to be able to work to a place that has so many job opportunities so close by. But at the same time, it's positions that are not considered skilled trades. So, this is something that we definitely have to tap into. And I hope that uh we continue to build that partnership and a big big thank you to our staff because I know they work tirelessly for our students and Aba and Miss always do so well for our students. So thank you. Thank you for everything you've done and
025you always find opportunities and they work tirelessly. I mean 24 hours to find opportunities. So, thank you so much for bringing this to Los Angeles, especially I mean, sorry to Inglewood when it's probably made for Los Angeles >> and it yes, the funding was tied to LA. Um, but we were able to advocate to the mayor that we have our airport impact, you know, cities and we have long-standing partnerships with the cities surrounding the airport and it was important to make sure that the girls were also a part of it and that it could benefit from the stipen and the mayor agreed. And so I I recognize that you recognize um that this is something that normally would not happen. Um but it did and this just underscores the level of commitment from the airport
026and the city of Los Angeles to work alongside its neighboring cities. So thank you for bringing that up. And if I can just one more thing because I saw your construction update and my staff hates it when I do this but I find opportunities wherever I go and you're going to have a lot of construction and we do have a program over at the airport called Hire LAX which is an apprenticeship readiness training program. There's numerous residents from the city of Inglewood that go through that training because they get preference um to get into that program and it'd be great to connect those graduates to the construction that's going to be taking place to ensure that those monies stay here in Englewood in our local economy and they have an opportunity to have a quality
027career pathway with high wages, benefits and a pension which are not um easy to come by anymore. So So I leave that with you as well. Thank you, >> young lady. Please don't go anywhere. Please get your flowers white while while you're still living. You Yes, you. You. Yes. Come on back. Come back. >> I haven't heard that, young lady. Young lady, >> you're not young. >> Are my eyes deceiving me? These things don't work. I told you. I told you. >> Thank you. >> Well, I just want to say thank you so much. This is so rejuvenating to see the efforts and benefits uh particularly uh focused on our young uh female babies. Um I I I just say that um just your courage and your advocacy to uh cross bridges as my colleague
028said come on over to Englewood >> uh which is which I know has a special place in uh Mayor Bass's heart. So, thank you so much for advocating for our babies and great job uh to you, Miss Abba. I I know how amazing you are. >> Yes. >> And Miss Muhammad >> the other room. >> Yes. In the other chap rooms. Absolutely. >> They did. Hold on. >> So, promise. Let's Let's get a shirt with with everybody's names on them. All right. All right. But thank you again. Great job. And keep up the amazing work. Okay. >> Yeah. And I think one of the parents is here from >> No. Okay. Thought there was a parent here, but anyhow, we couldn't have done it with everybody. Thank you, board member. >> All right. Thank you.
029Thank you so much. It is just uplifting and and just to see the work that our young people are doing and folks who come along to support them. We'll move on our agenda. The next item is the 202425 unudited actuals report and the cash flow presentation by our assistant superintendent of business services chief business official Mr. Raphael Guzman. Mr. Guzman, good um evening, Dr. Morris, uh our board president, Mer Evans, board members, and our community. Thank you all uh for being here today. and we're going to talk about the 2425 unodudited actual report. Next, um I have to think here. All right. So, as you know, we have a financial cycle. We're constantly doing uh budget adjustments throughout the year. We're reviewing our budget. We're making sure that, you know, we're updating the budget to
030where our projections are telling us it's going and making adjustments along the way. So, as you can see here, uh we are in the month of uh September. So, we're in this area. And next up will be our first interim report in December and then of course the second interim in March and then we go again to develop the new budget and we keep going in this circle. Uh this report is actually looking at how we ended the 2425 fiscal year. So what is the unodudited actuals? It's required by EDC code and essentially it looks at all of your transactions that have now been recorded um from July 1st 2024 through June 30th of 2025. The reason why we're presenting it now is because you need a period to close. So we utilize the month
031of July and August and then a part of September to close the books which is where we reconcile the activities that happen whether it's revenues or expenses. So that's part of what the unodudited actuals is. Essentially, this is our final number that we then turn over to our auditor and then our auditor looks at it and says you need to modify this or this is correct, it's fine. And then if the auditor agrees then it becomes audited actuals. So we would eventually present to you the audit report that would have the audited actuals. Right now this is where we are saying we ended. Um, and again, it does have one last portion where the auditor will look at it, but it's looking at the period of July 1, 2024 through June 30th of 2025. These
032are the components of the unodudited actuals. There's a lot of forms in there. I'm not going to go over all of them, but of course, the most important ones that you'll have to look at is our certification and the um actual report of the actuals and the 2526 budget adoption. So um that's if you look at the packet and the agenda item under business services for an audited actual and you look at the forms all those forms are there um for your uh look and for your review. So those are the forms that we look at. It's important to understand the difference between the estimated actuals and the audited actuals. When we came to the board in June of uh this year earlier this year we presented where we estimated we would end the year.
033Um, and so that's how we presented we would end the year in 2425 and then we presented the adopted budget based off where we thought we would end 2425. And so now we're actually doing the unodudited actuals which is where we actually ended after we closed the books and made the transactions. The reason again why we do this is because if you think about it right by June 30th we we could still get a bill on June 30th and it would count to 2425. So, we still have like about a month of reconciliation and then um uh accounting entries that we have to do. So, here's the gist of it. We, as we mentioned in previous presentations, we have the unrestricted side of the house and the restricted side of the house when it comes
034to our finances. We usually focus on the unrestricted side because that is really more generally available to the district. Um, and so that's something that we really focus on. As you can see here, our LCF sources were slightly lower. This was due to an adjustment that we had to make at our P2. Um, so that's why you're seeing a little a little bit of lower amount there, but our other state revenues went up and our other local revenues also went up. For our other local revenues, the reason why you're seeing that larger increase is because at this point in the year, we do a accounting transaction uh where we have to actually true up our numbers based off what the um fair market value is of our finances. So if you know how you could
035say you have $200 in the bank, but what's the actual fair market value of that money? So we make an adjustment at the first interim to show our fair market value and then when we close the books, we have to then make that uh entry again for the fair market value. So a lot of that is really your fair market value and some other adjustments that we made for revenues that came in a little bit higher than we projected for other local revenues. As it pertains to the expenses, um you could see that certificated salaries uh were lower by about 500,000. However, um I'll go back to certificated and classified salaries because there's a reason those are lower. I'll just I'll just say it now. Essentially, we moved some items from the unrestricted side for
036certificated salaries and classified and we moved into the restricted so that we could spend down some of our monies that were uh getting close to expiring and that we could actually do that for. The reason why we do that type of uh thing is because we want to free up as much of the unrestricted dollars as we can so that then we could utilize those for more uh wider ranges of expenses that we could uh the big big difference here I I think here is the services you can see it's about $6 million less than what we projected at the estimated actuals. Most of this again has to do with the transfers from the unrestricted to the restricted side of the house and um that's uh one of the reasons why. But in general it's
037looking a lot better. Like it's $9 million uh less than what was anticipated. If we look at the revenues it's $2 million more. So if you do the math you could see that we had an a large increase to our ri to our reserve. So that means that the district is actually doing better than we projected as the estimated actuals which is really good news for us because that means that then we have a bigger reserve that we that means that now we start 2526 at a bigger number than we had anticipated. This here shows you the combined meaning it has the unrestricted which is in this column here and then it has the restricted revenues. Uh so you have the estimated actuals unrestricted estimated actuals restricted and then you have the unodudited actuals unrestricted
038and restricted and so you can see the numbers there and the differences that we had in the budget when you look at those. So we had on the revenue side it was about $4.9 million higher. I think we covered most of that was in relation to the uh fair market value recognition. Uh so moving on to the expense side as you can see here now when we look at the combined you can see that the difference is actually really really slightly less in certificated salaries and because like I said we moved some items over and so all in general in total we were pretty spot on with the projection for certificated salaries classified salaries was a little over projected but it's still uh good for us and uh benefits is something that we um also
039it was about $1.1 million less than projected Um and then of course we as we mentioned earlier the 7.4 million is a combination of the unrestricted and the restricted. Um so that's why you're seeing that. So all in all the total expenditures were about $13.4 million less than anticipated. So how does this impact the budget in the unrestricted side of the house? Well if you look at the actual reserve balance and this is where we are with the reserves. When we did the estimated actuals, what we showed you to what we showed the board in June, it was 70.5 million. That's where we said we would end the year. We actually are at 83.4, which is a $12.9 million uh difference, meaning we are better by 12.9 million. And again, a lot of that has
040to do with moving monies into the restricted side of the house. Um, and so that's something that I think uh benefited our budget and makes us start in a better position. So obviously this will impact how we proceed going forward uh in regards to budget projections for first interim, second interim and so forth. I don't anticipate these types of swings going forward because the um restricted one-time dollars that a lot of those have already expired and some of these were we were able to move into those one time. Um so that's that's something that I think we should not be expecting in the future. Um, and so that's something that I just wanted to throw out there to make sure. Um, in regards to, so that's the general fund. That's the main fund of the
041district, but we also have other funds, meaning other like pots. Think of it like you have the general fund pot. That's where all your salaries come from. Most of your services, all of that is general fund. Um, we have these other pots of funds. One of them is the student ASB, uh, which is fund 8. That's about 57,000 is where it ended. Uh, our adult ed fund ended at about 981,000. Child CDC ended at about 1.6, food services at 4.6. Um, the big one here is the bond fund. It's it seems relatively large. That's because we had that issuance for the bond. Um, so that's why you're seeing that there as the ending balance. And as we go on, we have fun 354. You can see the rest of the funds there of where those
042ended up in regards to uh where we ended the fiscal year in 2425. Next steps we will focus on the first interim report um and carefully monitor enrollment ADA and other important assumptions. Uh we'll have to update the fiscal stabilization plan. This is going to be really important that although we ended a lot better than anticipated, we still have deficit spending that is being projected in our budget in 2526. So we have to still address deficit spending in the budget for the fiscal stabilization plan. So come December, we will have a fiscal stabilization plan that has anticipated reductions. The other thing that we also have to incorporate into uh into these projections at some point here in the future is any impact for bargaining and or negotiations. Um so that's going to be part of
043how we look at these. And of course those balances that we spoke about are going to impact that as well. Um and we could expect these revisions to incorporate further adjustments at first interim and the approval of the first interim report in December. So just know that the b the budget is cyclical. It it continues to change. At the first interim report, you'll see very differences in all of the categories for the most part. For sure, you'll see it in the beginning fund balance because we just showed it. Um but I think that's really important for everyone to note. Um and that's pretty much wraps up the audited actuals, but we wanted to just show a quick cash flow illustration here. As you can see, um, in the month of, uh, June of 2025, we
044ended at about 84 or we're anticipating to end at about 84.1. So, we wanted to show the cash flow there. You can see every month we're ending uh, we're anticipating a positive uh, cash flow. And here's the actual projections for 2526. You can see those there. We anticipate to end positive. This bottom line is pretty much the ending cash balance for every month. This is kind of what when you're looking at this cash flow report. Um, this is what you want to look at. Um, and you want to make sure that none of these numbers at the bottom ever get like, you know, obviously they should never get anywhere near like $2 million or anything like that because you won't be able to make payroll in that next month. Um, so you want to make
045sure that it's higher. Um, and as you'll see this number start going down as we start spending down our reserves which we spoke about earlier. um the dish with the deficit spending, it's going to spend down its reserves. So, that number is going to go lower, but we have to as that number gets lower, we really have to keep track of where the cash flow is uh on the month- by-month basis. But that about wraps it up, and I'll turn it back over to you, Dr. Morris. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much, Miss Mr. Buzzman. I know Mr. Guzman is always saying, "It takes a team, it takes a team." And Mr. Bata and Miss Sto are there. They are an incredible team. Mrs. Evans, I'll turn it over to you for
046board member questions or comments. >> Okay, I'll start at the end this time. Amaya, do you have any questions or comments? >> Um, I sorry, I don't have any questions, but I would like to say thank you for the presentation. It does seem like we are in a good place, but that doesn't mean that work is never done. But I also do appreciate the presentation. Again, that is all I have to say. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Myers. >> Yes. Thank you, Madam President. Um, Mr. Guzman, are you able to explain uh to myself in the community? Um, I want to go to your last slide and I'm looking at uh employee benefits. Where do we rank as far as Inglewood Unified School District uh in terms of other districts throughout the county as far
047as our benefits? So um at the count so there's when you look at compensation right you have your salary and you have your benefits and then then we have we combine those both those that's total compensation in regards to the county if and I'll get back to you but the last time I looked I believe we were in third place countywide in regards to benefits the reason that's the case is because our district does offer uh you know a full employee benefit package that covers 100% based off of HMO plan. And so, um, that's why the district costs are a lot higher. Um, other districts don't offer that. Um, and so, you know, there's there's kind of a little bit of a trade-off there between salaries and benefits, but on the on the salary portion,
048we're definitely low. On the benefits, we're we're relatively high in the county. >> Thank you. Now, I have another uh follow-up question. You may or may not be able to answer this, but are are employees able to determine whether they want a higher salary and less benefits or more benefits and less salary? I mean, because typically when you're looking at someone who is a seasoned uh employee, they would typically want more benefits. I mean to want both, but if if if if you're, you know, picking and choosing and someone of my younger stature would want uh more money and less health benefits, not knowing that I'm eventually going to become older. >> So, uh is that option right? Is that option available? >> Well, in our collective bargaining agreement, we we really don't have that
049option available. However, that doesn't mean that that's not something that could be talked about. There are some districts that have stipens in le of b in le of a certain amount of benefits. But there are some rules that we have to follow due to the affordable care act and so we have to meet some thresholds but there are districts out there that will say well if you if you use another uh agency for your benefits you could do a stipen. So there's sometimes you could do stuff like that. Um but currently the way we have it we don't have it set up that way. >> Thank you. Thank you, Madam Board President, and thank you, uh, Honorable Myers, for that question. I think that question really highlights how hard your job is to make sure
050that we're not allowing our staff to work without dignity and the respect they deserve in terms of their benefits. And the reason why we're pushing forward with a budget that is so um, cared for because we still want to see wage increases for our staff at the end of the day. So this it's kind of a fine line you have to play especially when the labor negotiations uh come into play later on how important it is to be able to balance that budget. But I have to say as a board member I get a lot of calls about the classrooms. I get a lot of calls about um you know sped. I get calls about the maintenance of our schools. I don't get a lot of calls about business services and the budget. Um so
051that's the reason why I don't go to the second floor too much. But I do have to say that I do appreciate your team. I think your team is an amazing team. Every time I see them, they're they're smiling and happy to make I haven't came to bother them by anything too much. But they're an amazing team. They work incredibly hard. And I think um Miss Guzman, you're going to do a lot of great work for this district. You already have done a lot of great for this district. I'm just happy that um I'm able to experience your your excellence here on the board meeting of how you're able to save this district and at the same time allow our staff and our teachers to have their dignity to ensure that their jobs are safe
052to ensure that their benefits are safe and ensure that our students do not lose the program they need to be educated properly. So, thank you for your services and thank you for all the work you've done today for this presentation in the past and in the future. >> Thank you, Mr. Castillo. And um it it Thank you. Thank you. And it's truly a team effort. I I wouldn't be up here without Mr. Bata and Missto and our business services team and all the work that they're doing. So, I want to thank them. I think they're here in the audience. And of course, acknowledge them. Yeah. And uh and of course, I also got to give a a tip my hat to our our union leadership here uh like Mr. Hughes and uh Mr. Weaver as
053well and our teamsters uh um and of course ITA because they have you know they they really are pushing for us to get better at budgeting and and that is what's driving us to improve. Um and I just want to thank them for their consistent support in regards to that and and holding us accountable to improvements so that we give our employees the best salary we can. So thank you. Thank you. [Applause] I just have a couple of comments. Uh we were trying to get some money for Englewood at that billion dollar lottery last week, but I was hoping that we had we'd have a different report tonight, but uh since we didn't, uh I thank you for all the work that you guys do. Uh I have has another question about the lottery. When
054the lottery gets up that high, do we benefit as a school district? Do they give us more money? Because I know with the beginning of the year, we were worried about the state budget and Newsome's changing the budget and Trump changing education money and so forth, but when we have billions of dollars that people have raised in California, how does that affect the school district? Does any of that money come to us? Yes. So, there's two ways that lottery money has come to the district. Uh, and it's funny because it goes back to the earlier conversation. You have the unrestricted lottery dollars and the restricted lottery dollars. And the restricted lottery dollars are more so for specific instructional materials and unrestricted are really for uh mostly any purpose. So yes, as the lottery goes up,
055you know, those numbers do increase. Uh however, that gets divided by every student in the state of California. So it ends up uh being not as big of an increase, but we have projected um those increases as they come along. So, in this budget, you um in the um one of the lines that we showed of an increase, part of that increase was the increases for lottery revenue. >> I saw that spot there. Thank you. Thank you. That was the question that was burning in my head. I was hoping, you know, I'm trying every every month, every week, trying to help the school district because I'm buying lottery tickets. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you, Miss Evans. >> And thank you again, Mr. Guzman. Don't go anywhere because our final presentation
056this evening is an update on the Englewood High School construction project. Uh and uh Mr. Raphael Guzman, assistant superintendent of business services, chief business official will lead it off. Mr. Guzman, >> thank you. Uh and good evening again, Dr. Morris, our board president, Miss Evans, our board members, and our community. We wanted to give a quick update on the Inwood High School construction program, where we are, kind of where we're heading. Um I'm thankful today because we have our Bow for Batty team. Uh who if you guys may although you guys will present right now but if you may stand so the public can acknowledge you all and know who you are. So this is our Vow for Batty team. Thank you guys. Um they are doing a terrific job working with our district to
057make this uh happen for Englewood our new Englewood High School. We also have our architect here as well. if you could please uh stand and we could acknowledge um from practice and uh he's the one designing everything. So uh it's it's really great to have them here today to talk about the construction update. Um so we're just going to go really quickly over the project scope. So what do I mean by that? How is this project rolling out? What are we doing? Um as you can see here, here's a layout that we've shown. We've shown some aerial videos. If you want to check those out later on, let me know. Um, but we have a couple different packages that we're going to roll out to get all of this accomplished. The first package is going
058to include the demolition of most of the existing buildings as well as the as well as the construction of five new buildings to include 37 classrooms. So, it's a lot of uh construction there. We're going to have a science and arts lab, uh, cafeteria multi-purpose room uh, building, student life building, admin building, science and arts lab building. So, it's going to really look amazing. Uh, it's what our community deserves, and we're really excited to get this going. Um, and of course, package one has some hardscape and landscape incorporated into it. That's the first package. We also have package two, which includes two new buildings in the center of the campus. Uh these buildings will have 16 classrooms and they will focus on CTE uh as well as fine arts which include the band, choir and
059orchestra and some general classroom spaces and some general support spaces. Uh it's going to replace the scope of modernizing buildings JL and M. So this is one of the consistent things that we struggle with um as um that every school district struggles with in regards to uh construction. Like you have to really figure out are you going to modernize? are you going to build new and you have to really work closely with DSA uh to make sure that you understand that. So in this case, we wouldn't be able to uh do the modernizations there. So it's actually going to be new buildings. So that's what package two will do. Package three is going to be really some touch-ups to the auditorium and gymnasium. We don't have the money to redo the entire auditorium and the
060entire gymnasium in this iteration. Um we're hoping that if there's ever a new bond that this would be part of that, the auditorium and the gym. Uh but we're going to do some minor um exterior painting, some code upgrades that we have to do. And that would be kind of the totality of package three. And package four is going to have landscape and hardcape on the western half of the campus that's not covered in package one, which uh to describe it a little bit better, it's this area here. And it's going to have this new artificial turf, new outdoor tennis, basketball courts as well, exterior lighting, and additional outdoor amenities and learning environments. So that's you the tennis courts will be relocated there. you'll have this new field here and all along you'll have some
061exterior lighting and pathways so that our students could walk. So that is kind of where we are. I do want to turn it over now to uh Mr. Jordan Miles who go over the project schedule. And as he comes up, I just want to thank Mr. Miles for his leadership. He's our executive director of construction. He's making sure that everyone stays in line and that we get this project moving. So uh thank you Mr. Miles for everything you're doing. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Gizman. Uh good evening members of the board, members of the committee, uh of of the of the uh members of the community. Uh just a very brief overview of two kind of lenses of the project schedule. Uh as as you know, we did hold a uh a groundbreaking ceremony
062at the end of June. Since then, you haven't seen a whole lot of activity on campus, and I want to explain why that is. Any school facilities project of this size has to go through an environmental assessment. um depending on the size and the impact that this pro that a project has on its environment uh will determine the amount of assessment and investigation work that needs to be done. Uh so for example the the projects that we did at uh that are currently underway at Bennett Q as well as child development center where uh the scope is just small enough where we were able to get an exemption from an environmental impact report or an EIR. So that that that assessment was fairly quick. it was just filing some some paperwork at the county. The
063scope of this project, the size of it, uh it's going to lead to us having to conduct a full uh EIR, full environmental impact report simply because of the amount of potential impacts this might have on not just the natural environment, but as well as the surrounding community. So that could include impacts to traffic to uh the noise pollution around the area, the light pollution while we uh while we install new exterior lights. Um and then as well as uh potential uh historical significance on site as well as uh other other historical significance on uh with the project. I just wanted to let you know where we are with that work. Uh once we knew that we were moving all of our students from Inglewood High School to the Morningside campus, we were able to
064start our what's called the uh the initial uh statement, sorry, the yes, the initial statement, the is that work was started uh this past spring uh and was wrapped up uh before the beginning of the summer. Uh we were also able to complete our notice of preparation. So that's really the the notice that goes out to the community that shows the executive summary, the scope of the project like Mr. Guzman I just went over letting them know that the what we're all doing on campus to allow them to provide feedback on on these topics that we've pro talked about you noise air quality cultural resources on campus. So where we are today is we are drafting that EIR that that report that will be available uh for review uh both for the community as well
065as to the state so to SQA the California Environmental Quality Act over the the state. uh that work will be wrapped up uh this fall uh with a final approval from the state is anticipated in December. Once that approval has been uh received from the from the state likely in December is that's when we can begin our demolition on site. So right now this the activity that you see on site is really what's called abatement. So that's getting into the into the building removing anything that's nonstructural so that way we can accelerate demolition later on. So that's the work that you'll see really through the end of the calendar year is the abatement work going on site and that's us finalizing this uh the SQL work so that way we can begin demolition at the
066beginning of 2026 and then where we go forward from there have a quick timeline here that shows that the package breakdown that Mr. Guzman articulated. So package one uh was submitted to the state to the division of the state architect or DSA back in April. Uh it's currently under review. We expect to have that review be uh completed uh to around the holiday season. Uh and again, we'll be able to start demolition at the beginning of the calendar year, as you can see there in light green. That would allow us uh to begin the bid process in the spring and comp start true uh true construction on the site in the spring of 2026. So, by the end of this school year is when you'll actually see new uh new buildings being erected on campus.
067Package two, again, it's those two new classroom buildings in the center of campus. Those are still under design. That work will be completed and submitted to the state uh by the end of this calendar year. Uh similar timeline, just a couple months uh delayed from package one. We expect to start bidding this spring and start construction uh this summer. Package three, again, that's just the modernization of the auditorium and gymnasium. That's going to be pretty quick work. We we've just started that that package now. We expect for that to be submitted to the state later this fall and then we can begin that work on campus uh this summer and that will be wrapped up early 2020 sorry the summer of 2027. Then lastly the package uh of site development. So those tennis courts, the
068basketball courts, the artificial turf uh that work uh will be uh completed uh sorry that the design work will be completed this fall. Uh we expect that work to start on site uh towards the tail end of 2026. And as you can see here, all construction work is uh anticipated to be completed at the end of 2027. So when our students come back from winter break in January of 2028, they'll be coming back to the new uh Ingwood High School. At this point, I'm going to be turning it over to our representatives from Balfurb. Again, they're our general contractors uh for this project. Uh it's a lease lease back project. So they're currently the owners of the site. So I'm going to be turning it over to Don Rondo and Jim Mullenex to give you
069a quick update on the work that they've been doing uh since they've been selected as our contractor. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, go ahead. Okay, so uh good evening everybody. Um, breaking down a little bit what Jordan said about our construction activities that have happened so far. You know, drive by the site, it doesn't really look like much is happening out there. That's because primarily the abatement process happens inside the buildings. So, that's what's taking place right now. You see little bits of stuff coming out of the site. The fences go up. It's all the pre-work that we've got to do before we get in, start taking the buildings down. Um, so we're managing that process right now. We're getting into the uh the subcontracts for the demo and everybody else that is going to
070follow on once that SQA gets approved. Um then also behind the scenes like we talked about the packages that are coming up, all of the new packages that are going to be bid out. We're working with the design team and um Jordan is to get all of the packages ironed out in the structure we want them in the time we want them so that all of that can be put in place. um upcoming activities. We're dealing with SQA like Jordan pointed out and then DSA approval on these packages as they get submitted to to the entities that have jurisdiction and getting ready to bid the next phase of the project. Correct. Yeah. >> Next slide. Oh, is that here? That's it. So, something we like to do in the communities we're working in are our
071outreach programs. Um, we've worked uh a lot in the uh South Bay area with a program we called Sheriff Fest where we would go to campuses and do beautifification projects or just pet projects that the uh schools couldn't get done with their normal funds. So, we're going to be out looking for those kind of projects. If you guys are aware of any that you need help with, please get a hold of us through Dr. Guzman or or Jordan and we'll be glad to get involved with you. Um, we also uh like to do outreach uh for local businesses uh get more subcontractors involved in our project. So, as we get closer to um bidding out the the next phase of the project, which will be the biggest phase, we're going to hold an outreach. We'll
072we'll rent a ballroom at a hotel. We'll we'll bring in some food and send out flyers, advertise, and get people in, get you get interest going in your project. The more biders we get, the more competitive is and the farther your dollars go. Um, but the idea is to get local contractors interested. We want people in the area. Let's face it, if it, you know, for getting people from the Inland Empire coming out here, it it's it's not optimal that, you know, they've got to drive and and all that. We'd rather get local contractors. Um, so anyway, um, when we get closer, we we'll probably come back in here, you know, show you guys what we're going to do and when we're going to do it and, uh, and give you a little more information
073and then Jim's going to talk about how we bid the project out. >> So, expanding a little bit on what Don's saying, the the subcontractor outreach is open to everybody. It it's open to any contractor who can qualify to do this kind of work. And we invite everybody in the world because like Don said, we want the participation. We want everybody here. It's uh it's equal opportunity. It's open to unions, non-unions. Everybody plays by the same rules when we do these projects. Um we we have oversight from the state. So, it's it's all an even playing field and we look for everybody to get out there and do it. Um, we advertise in outreach in the local trade papers um direct invitation. So, we have a list of contractors that we know are uh that
074do this kind of work. So, we outreach to those people too. Um the evaluation criteria um professional qualifications. So, you have to meet some criteria to do this type of work. You have to have experience doing it, know the ropes of what we're doing here so that we all can dot those eyes and cross the tees when we're when we're reporting everything in. Um we have a skilled and trained workforce. Uh so there's requirements in the skilled and trained workforce for the workers to have gone through some of the programs that we're talking about like with the apprenticeship programs. There's ratios that we have to meet for apprentices versus journeymen in each and every independent field. There's oversight for all of that. So, we uh we put all of that in place and track all
075of that throughout the entire project. Um and all of that is is transparent. We're upfront with everything. It's anybody can look at it at any time. We have all of that backing for everybody. And the skilled and trained workforce requirements now are 60% u of the of the people on site have to be skilled and trained and we always get way above that and that's what that first part is saying. Um yeah uh go ahead. I'm stumbling. So, we got to comply with the prevailing wage laws. I think everybody's familiar with that. Um, uh, labor compliance monitoring. You know, if we get requests from outside entities, union or other, you know, we we turn over the paperwork. We're we're keeping that on hand and tracking it. And then bonding and insurance requirements that are required.
076Next up, Jordan, do you want this? I have some questions for you guys, please. Sure. >> Last month, we had the construction workers here talking about working, >> you know, they're trained out at their facility out in Carson. And this young lady spoke and said that she hasn't had a job. So, I'm wondering why don't they come to you so that you can hire them to work on our projects in Englewood? Because they said they live in Englewood. They want to work in Englewood. So they need to come to Balffor bey to be hired to work in Englewood on these on our Inglewood High School project. Correct. >> How does that work? >> Yes. I mean, we'll hire subcontractors to do the work. Um so if somebody comes to us and says, "Hey, I'm I'm
077a welder and I'm I'm looking for work." We can refer them to our contractors, you know, to to talk to them about getting hired. But yeah, we want to work with the unions, you know, and help get union participation out here for sure. >> Yeah. If if you're not familiar with how that works, like Don saying, there's if we have a subcontractor bid the project and they're a union uh they're a union shop and they need people to come work on our project, they'll go to the hall and they'll call those people out. for example, our our demo guy right now has union people on site doing the demo for this project. So, I'm not sure what that person's skill was or what their trade was, but that's how it work. Like, if they're an
078iron worker when we're doing the iron, the the union, if they need people, they would call the union and they would come out, work on our job. >> Okay, we need to talk. Thank you. >> Okay, any other questions? >> Go ahead. Absolutely. Please don't go nowhere. >> Okay. >> Uh so the the um union in which my um my president is referring to as Western Carpenters Union. >> And so I know they have an array of uh uh uh um uh I guess workers that that have various uh uh skills. Yes. >> Okay. Um including demolition. Okay. So I guess the goal is we want to see black and brown employment. Okay. We want to see those babies working at our campus. >> I I I know Balford Batty. I I've visited your booth
079plenty of times during uh numerous conferences that that we've went to and I've seen your work and I take my hats off to all of your work that I've seen. Okay. Great job. However, being that we are a black and brown community here in Englewood, that's what we want to resemble our workers as. So, to your point about recycling those dollars and putting them back in this community, that's exactly what we want to see. >> But other than that, great job. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, board president, and thank you uh again, board member Myers, because I think we've have seen Western Carpenters come to our meetings for the past couple weeks. I'm sure you're aware of that. And I'm sure you're aware that that slide was meant to ease some concerns
080that we've been presented by our brothers and sisters in the carpenters union. >> Um, prevailing wage is great. That's exactly what we need to work towards. A local hire is amazing. Exactly what we need to work towards. >> Obviously, the elephant in the room is that we don't have a PLA, right? That's that's that's what we're all kind of dancing around. We don't have a PLA for this. Um, but I I appreciate your commitment to addressing that inequality that we feel because we are a working-class community, right? these jobs could change lives in our community um and allow us to develop that middle class status that we are only dreaming about for years and generations to come. So, we're excited to see you here and we're excited to see this bond measure money going towards
081not only building a brand new school, but providing opportunities for employment, good employment for our our neighbors and our brothers and sisters here in Inglewood. So, uh I hope you appreciate uh the sentiment that we're trying to share as a board that we do want to see this be a priority. Um, and I do want you to know we appreciate your sentiment of allowing us to be updated on what you're doing to address those needs. Uh, and I think uh, I have more questions, but I'll let Mr. Miles um, do his part of presentation and I'll I'll continue to ask those questions. Thank you. >> Thank you. Maya, do you have a comment question? Okay. Thank you, gentlemen. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Don. Thank you, Jim. So, just quick wrap up. Just wanted
082to give you a quick look ahead at our next few months. Again, package one, our largest uh design package for this project was already submitted to the state. Uh we will continue our design efforts so that way the remaining three packages will be submitted on time based on that timeline previously presented. We'll also be working closely with practice, our architect Alfred Batty and other professional services to complete our SQL process on time. Again, projected to be completed by the end of this calendar year. Uh we'll also continue value in value engineering efforts to make sure that this project stays on budget. Uh in terms of construction activities again once we have received approval from the state uh for the design uh for package one uh we will complete the bid process and generate that guaranteed
083maximum price or the GMP for this project because this is a lease lease back project. uh we have a GMP so that you won't see the same sort of change orders you traditionally see on your on your design bid build uh that we've seen in the past. Uh we you know this is a maximum price so you won't see change orders coming for this project. And again we'll begin demolition work on site before that uh once again the sequel process has been completed. So that will again likely be early 2026. And then for community outreach, we're going to be increasing our communications both for the board, for our committee me uh for our committees and for our community on the status of our project as well as uh on upcoming on-site activities. And then we'll
084have a similar uh update uh at our December 10th board meeting just showing the work that we've done uh over the fall. Thank you so much for your time and your attention today. [Applause] >> Thank you, M. Miles. >> Madam Board President, I had I had a question. Did you have a question? >> No. >> Oh, okay. Uh, well, first I want to thank you, uh, Mr. Miles. You're also a favorite of mine here. You You always respond. You always address our needs, whether it's the ACS in our schools, whether it's the umbrellas that we need at some of our campuses. Hopefully, they're laying around somewhere. I know you're going to get back to me soon about that. um but or even the flags that you know it may just seem symbolic but our community
085does care to see our flags being flown in a good shape and they've recommended that we took good care of our flags because even though we don't have a lot to feel patriotic about we are still a patriotic community. Um so I do appreciate you addressing that flag situation at one of my school sites. One of the the the blessings and curse of being on social media actively and then giving my community members and parents my personal number is that they reach out a lot, right? which is fine because that's how we're able to present issues that come up. Um, and they're already reaching out about the Inglewood High construction. So, I'm glad that's why I wanted you to do your presentation because I saw you included the community outreach portion, but there still seems
086to be a lack of community outreach. Um, and I know that's something we're going to address moving forward, but I definitely want to highlight that because we do have very very close uh multi-use mixeduse housing in the area. families living in the area, families that I've known because I used to walk by every time for school and they still live in those areas. So, that's a blessing. But, we they reached out and they're concerned that there's not enough communication about what's going to happen during the demolition phase, during the construction phase, and how it affects their their uh ability to to live a life that doesn't involve dust and um loud noises. Um can you be more specific about ways that you're going to reach out to the community and what ways would you be
087able to improve that? I know communication is not just a one-way street. Um, but is there anything that we can help as board members to assure that there's communication happening between the construction team and the residents that live in the area? >> Thank you for for those comments and questions, Mr. Castillo. I'll try to answer them in in order. First, the Oak Street um umbrellas. I know I still owe you an answer on that. Still working with Mr. Nunes, our maintenance director, on trying to track down some additional umbrellas there for you. Uh, speak Mr. Nunes on the flags. I was merely merely a conduit uh of your communication to him. he is the one that that quickly uh was able to address that for you. So I can't take credit for his his quick
088work on that one. And then in terms of the communications and and community outreach uh for this project, one of the reasons I was excited that Balfur Batty uh did respond to our RFQ uh for this project and that we were able to select them for this work is this the strength that they have on community outreach. That's that's something that they take a lot of pride in. They have staff that is dedicated to that outreach work. So, we'll make sure that we we can meet with you uh and and uh cabinet members to ensure that we know what what our needs are in terms of our outreach to our community. Be that social media, be that additional um events uh to to provide updates. We want to make sure that we're not just creating
089newsletters and throwing it into the into the uh into the Nether Sphere, right? We want to make sure that people uh are able to actually absorb the information that's that's being provided to them. >> Thank you, Mr. Miles. And I promise you this is a serious question. When it comes to demolition, if it's safe, can I come and knock down some walls and grab a hammer? >> I don't know what the waiver looks like for that. So, I'm going to >> Okay. Because it's a lot. Yeah. We >> It's a lot of stress. I got to take out. Um, I just like to say thank you for the presentation. It is nice to see the specifics within the construction of Ingwood High School. I know I just saw the fences being put up and it's
090like, oh, we can't see anything anymore. Sometimes I do like drive past the school and just think that one day like the administration buildings just being knocked down. But it's just very nice to see the specifics with the construction um the detailed times when project should be done. And yeah, I just appreciate this presentation and thank you. >> Thank you so much, Miss Hazard. All right. Thank you, Mr. Miles. >> Did you have something? >> Yes, please. Please. One second. Um, thank you, Mr. Miles. Um, I want to acknowledge Balfur Batty again for their community efforts. Uh, I I'm very aware of your community efforts and thank you so much for what you've done for our babies. Uh, it means a lot when you pour back into those youth. All right. And open up opportunities
091of construction for them. Uh Jordan, can you go back to slide 10, >> please? >> Absolutely. >> I just need to reassure the community of this. >> Which one? >> So, right there. Go right back to the picture. It's the picture. Yeah. >> So, I want to reassure that Mayor Butts was not the construction manager at the So, he he had a shovel. Everybody put in their work. Okay. So, I just want to make sure that that picture is clear that he was not overseeing us during this site as a construction manager. All right. I'll digress. Thank you so much. Great job. >> Thank you for the clarification, Mr. Myers. >> I'm sorry, uh, board president, I forgot to bring something up. Um, the mural, it's it's so important that you included the mural in
092your new design. I think that shows really good faith to the community. That's something that I brought up at the very beginning of this stage that we needed to keep that mural. That mural has historic value to this community. Um, and the fact that you're able to incorporate that and shows really good faith on your end, um, both on the design team and the architecture team and Mr. Miles yourself, because I know I brought that up to you right at the beginning, like we got to keep that mural. So, I'm really happy we kept that mural. Community members reach out constantly, are we keeping the mural? And I'm so happy to say, yeah, we're keeping that mural and uh, thank you for including that in the uh, in the presentation as well. >> Thank you.
093One last thing, uh, since our our first first presentation about our girls in construction, um, Val Forbiddi, we'll be reaching out to those girls soon because we're just giving them a taste of what they could be doing when we had that program this summer. And I'd like for you to be in touch with those children who have spent the time and who will spend time and to realize that this is something that they can do because they've had a snippet. They've had a taste. I realize that you want skilled workers, but just the fact that you're here and that is a something that we're building here on this campus in in Englewood. They need to be somewhere in a part of it. I'd like to see that happen with those girls. And thank you for
094for your presentation and for yours tonight. Everybody, thank you very much. >> Thanks so much. >> All right. And I'll close it out just by telling you I'm channeling Miss Ingisa. She's already working on the girls build Englewood uh plan for next summer. So, I I I can see it happening. We're now going to move on on our agenda to public comments on agendaized and non-aggendaized items to provide an opportunity for the public to address the county administrator and board of education on agenda and non-aggenda items. Public comment card must be completed and submitted to the safety assistant at the back of the boardroom prior to the commencement of the public comment period. Members of the public who wish to speak about an item on the posted agenda must indicate the agenda no the agenda
095number on the public comment card. Three minutes will be allotted to each speaker and a maximum of 30 minutes for public comments on agenda and 30 minutes for non-aggenda items. If public comment cards exceed 10, the time may be reduced to allow the board and county administrator to hear from more speakers. Speech that is disruptive, defamatory, or impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting is not allowed at the discretion of the presiding officer. Anyone who disrupts, disturbs, or impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting will be required to exit the meeting. The guidelines for public comments are in accordance with board bylaw 9323. The Brown Act does not allow board members, county administrator, or cabinet members to respond to public comments. Miss Embrano, I'll turn it over to you for public comments on agenda and
096non-aggenda items. >> Thank you, Dr. Morris. We're starting with public comments for agenda items. The first public comment is from Mr. John Hughes. Mr. Hughes, please come to the podium to address your public comments on agenda items. >> You have three minutes. You may begin. >> Thank you. Um, good evening to uh Dr. divorce to the board to the cabinet and to the community. Um I'll begin with uh I guess human resources with the items 7 3 through 5. Um the establishment of job descriptions for behavior support which is uh definitely needed. Um a shift in the modeling and providing the support that is necessary. um in the classes is needed. Uh but it it brings us back to um being sincere about our commitment. Um at the beginning of the school, I guess in
097in the PD um we were told that you know basically all the positions were filled um and for the first time um we were moving forward with all positions filled and that was not the truth. um especially in this area here, special education, you know, we are still struggling because um we have failed to realize that we have to invest um and get in front of things, not react to them. Um there was um I guess a survey has just recently been put out to ask questions that we already know the answers to. Um it's not effective to to continue to um check boxes or put facades up when when when we have overcrowded classes, when we don't have uh people servicing students, when we don't have um the things that's necessary to function. And
098you know, I'm really getting tired of having to mitigate for parents. um you know they're they're legitimate complaints because um we are not stepping up to the plate and we're analyzing you know we do too much analysis is paralysis at this point we need action plans we need we need resources we need to put in place uh the things that are necessary um part of our issue is that it takes sometimes up to two to three months to onboard people who have accepted employment And um by that time they've accepted it somewhere else. So we have to be serious like I said about our processes and stop pointing fingers um back and forth and solve the problem. You know the problem is not being is is it's not the old an old problem. It's a
099current problem and we have consistently um look to uh transfer or deflect or or blame and not solve it. And um I'm looking at where are we headed with all of this? You know, we have uh uh a whole lot of crowded situations that were not well planned. So, let's accept responsibility and solve it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our second public comment is from Rodrigo Cardinas. Mr. Cardinz, please come to the podium to address your public comments on agenda items. You have three minutes. You may begin. >> Hello everyone. Um I'm just here to say something about the construction projects. Um they look beautiful. Um seven new buildings, 53 53 new classrooms, general support spaces, science and art labs, career technical hub, fine arts hub, six tennis courts. Where are the sensory rooms for
100our spe special needs kids? Do we have no dedicated rooms for our spread department for all our classes? Our kids need uh multiensory environment rooms with controlled customizable sensory experience, soft lighting, calming sounds, varied textures that help with over stimulation. You guys are spending millions of dollars on these things and our kids are not being seen. You guys need to fix that. Construction hasn't started. We can still do these change orders, you know, and get it done cuz they deserve it. I already know when these things go down, we're going to be stuck in the corner of the school in the bungalow. All these kids are going to have beautiful rooms, all these beautiful buildings, except for our kids. I don't care about a mural. Tear it down. Let's get some something for the special
101needs kids. You know that those are the questions that I want to hear from the board members. But, you know, nobody sees us, but we're still fighting and I hope you guys hear me out and start start trying to plan for this. Thank you. >> Thank you. We're now going to transition to public comments for non-aggenda items. The first public comment is from Beronica Camp. Please come to the podium to address your public comment on non-aggenda items. You have three minutes. You may begin. >> Hi, my name is Veronica Camp. I I live in Englewood community for over 26 years. Um, I have raised all three of my grandchildrens, uh, to whom have been in the Inglewood Unified School District since TK. Now, I have two grandchildren that attends Inglewood United that transitioned from Inglewood
102High School. On September the 4th, my grandson Jeremiah Cudding, who is now a 12th grader, was attacked by a group of 15 to 20 young men as he walked home from school at the intersection of Sentry and Yukon. This question has associated and have made him I'm sorry, walked home. They questioned him and made him feel threatening. Thankfully, he was not hurt very bad just with a bruises and some severe injuries just with some minor bruises and soreness. I am grateful for the young man that was walking with him that covered his I'm sorry. Let me put my glasses on. that covered his body and tried to help him. How however he was also beaten by a group of young men as well. This incident has left me very concerned about the safety of our
103kids at school and their and on their way home and to school. I am here today to ask for more safety measures for our kids as they travel and to and from school. There have been ongoing issues with these young men's harassing students and there is lack of security and police protections in this area. This is not acceptable and we need our school administrators and districts to take actions to assure our kids safety every day. I also want to address the recent decisions to move the Inglewood school high school to Morningside. These schools have had rivalries for as long as I can remember and it continues to today. I believe that moving this school without significant input from parents was not the right choice, especially considering the safety concerns that we as parents have about
104the movement. I appreciate your attention to this matter and I trust that we can work together to create a safer environment for our kids. >> Thank you, Mrs. Camp. Dr. Collins, the Ingwood High School principal is here and he'd like to speak to you outside the boardroom if you have a moment. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Our second public comment is from John Hughes. Mr. Hughes, please come to the podium to address your public comments on non-aggenda items. You have three minutes. You may begin. >> Um, thank you. Um, it's ironic that, um, the previous speaker was speaking to the point that, uh, I will be addressing as well. Um, we really have tried to get in front of this safety issue. Um we have um warned of the um potential
105violence that would be occurring as a result of um putting these two um communities together. Um however, we're not listened to and um we we need decisions that's going to be reflected of those of us who know this city. Um, I for one am always been against one person making a decision and and that's final or they believe that they're omnisient or have some kind of um clairvoyance that they're going to create a situation that our experience, our expertise, our acumen absolutely presents the opposite. It's a leadership question without a doubt. It's an expectation question without a doubt because you would not tolerate this in other communities. Period. Now, let's be plain about it. Somebody has a low expectation of the safety of our students. And it's not this community. Everybody here has said it
106over and over again, and it's been ignored. So, it's time to draw a line in the sand. Safety is never an option to be negotiated by a price, by a budget, by anything. That is our responsibility. Plain and simple. We are failing in our responsibility. If they're having fights at a high school every day, that is a leadership issue. Period. If it happened last year and you transferred the same process over, then that's a decision that somebody needs to be making and it hasn't happened. We have people not just at the high school throughout that are feeling unsafe to come to work, students unsafe to come to school, and that's not tolerable or acceptable. Now, someone, regardless of where you stand, has to make the the the commitment that before something tragic happens, somebody else
107need to lose their job. Somebody needs to be moved. Somebody effective has to be in place. This is not an option anymore. Safety is first. And we have failed in that. and we can't sweep it under the rug because now it's time for the rug to be thrown out and whatever is under there needs to come out and be solved right now today. Thank you. >> Our third public comment is from Miss Delid. Please come to the podium to address your public comments on non-aggenda items. Miss Delit. Oh, Del. I'm sorry if I'm pronouncing it wrong. Delit. You have three minutes. You may begin. >> Hello. Thank you for this time. I am here to present a petition that I have in regards to bringing back my classroom aid. I am an SDC teacher in
108the mild moderate classroom over at Oak and I have a case load of 19 students right now. Four of them requiring a onetoone. And I had my classroom a who I have been working with consistently very well as a team like Dr. Morris said in order to be able to be successful you need a team. I have been able to be a team with this particular aid for the last eight years. We have we have been able to make a system that works well and effectively for our students in regards to the fact that their education has been able to be something that we build upon. And this aid was abruptly taken away and sent to a different school site as an RSPA. Even though she did not request the transfer, I did not request
109for her to be transferred. They decided to do this on April. I'm sorry. On August 21st, I have contacted human resources. Human resources tells me that it's a special ed issue. Special ed tells me that no, it is a human resources issue. So, nobody is taking accountability as to what it is. My aid did not request this transfer. I did not request it either. I have a case law, like I said, of 19 students and she is an SDC classroom 8. Now they are telling me that a behaviorist interventionist can slide right into the job and do the same type of category of job that she was doing. Those are two different job descriptions, two different requirements, two different types of training. I am requesting to please have my aid by the name of Jovanna
110Telles to be replaced and returned back to Oak. I have a petition here signed by the parents of my students that are also requesting this as well. Can I turn this into you? >> Mr. Guzman will uh get the document. Mrs. Dell said, "Thank you for your time. I please hope that you take this into consideration. This is very important. The students do need this assistant in the classroom to provide the support that they that she can provide to them. in case I am ever absent, which I'm hoping that at least I'll be able to take one mental health day, she knows how to run the classroom very well. She will run it as if I am not I am there and no interruption will come. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you.
111Our fourth public comment is from Miss Yvana. Please come to the podium to address your public comments on non-aggenda items. You have three minutes. You may begin. >> Good evening, Dr. Morris and esteemed board members. My name is Joanna Telles. I'm a proud product of IUSD having graduated from Payne Croer and Englewood High and I have served this district as an instructional aid for 25 years. For the past eight years, I have been an SDC classroom aid with Miss Marital Desid where I direct work directly with students fueled my purpose and my passion. I'm so sorry. get nervous on these things. On August 21st, I was resigned to paying as an RSP aid without any notice. Despite having already begun the school year at Oak has changed and disrupted the classroom, students who consist, I'm
112sorry, who consists behavioral support are struggling because the BI who focus on individual needs is f now filling the classroom aid role. The class requires both positions to be to succeed. I never request a transfer, nor did the teacher. Parents and staff strongly support my return as our system has helped students transition successfully into general education. I respect and I respectfully ask the board to allow me and to return to Oak as the SDC classroom aid so I can continue serving our students and give back to our community. Thank you very much. Our fifth public comment is from Rodrigo Cardinas. Mr. Cardinas, please come to the podium to address your public comments on non-aggenda items. You have three minutes. You may begin. >> Hello everyone. So the first week of school for us was an
113absolute disaster. In the last board meeting, I heard Dr. more as minimize our problems at the end by saying that the comments that were made by the BenQ staff were um exaggerated and when they were extremely accurate on the description on how the district and the sped department is failing us. Now a few weeks later and a lot of hard work we finally have a room that at least meets the minimum standards. Thank you, Principal Appleton. But when are the teachers going to be hired? When are they going to start? Room three and room 26 are still lacking teachers. Although subs are trying their best, it's not enough and it's not acceptable. Can we think of something else? Is there any way we can raise wages for special education teachers? Um it's a very difficult
114job. It might be an unpopular uh opinion, but it is what it is. We don't have proper staff. If one TA calls out, the class is compromised and there's no sense of urgency to replace a TA with a sub. If my wife and I don't make a huge deal, it seemed like everyone just stands around with their arms crossed, placing blames on the TA, on the principal, on anyone instead of solving the problem. The other day, we had no back to school night because of the lack of teachers in room 30 and 26, elementary and middle school. We've been we've been getting nothing but false promises. Um, let's get it together. We We really need the teachers. We really need the staff to support our kids. And there's no reason why me and my wife
115should be running up and down the district, the special education department trying to figure it out when people are just trying to place blame on blame on each other. Let's solve the problem. Everybody's college educated. Everybody thinks highly of themselves. You guys are supposed to be great problem solvers. Let's do this. Thank you. Our sixth public comment is from Yarita Gonzalez. Miss Gonzalez, please come to the podium to address your public comments on non-aggenda items. You have three minutes. You may begin. Good evening. My name is Yita Gonzalez and I'm a resident in Englewood in trustee area 3, an alumni of the Englewood Unified School District. I'm now working as a policy manager at an immigrant rights organization and I'm here to continue to voice my concerns around all the ICE raids and activity in
116Englewood. As you may know, this past Monday, September 8th, the US Supreme Court granted the federal government's request for a pause of a temporary restraining order prohibiting federal agencies like ICE from continuing their unlawful actions in LA and surrounding counties. This would allow ICE agents from stopping individuals without reasonable suspicion and from relying solely on four factors alone or in combination, including apparent race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, presence in a particular location or the type of work a person does. We are expecting that the ongoing ICE raids and activity in Englewood and neighboring cities in the South Bay and LA County will continue, especially given the news this week. Therefore, now more than ever, we need to take action. This cannot wait any longer as the political landscape continues to
117get worse. This is not just a federal issue. It's a local one, too. The ICE raids and activity are traumatizing and tearing through the heart of our community. We urge you all to stand alongside immigrants in Ninglewood and that you meet with community leaders to continue to discuss how to work together on this to pass a resolution that can provide more protections and resources for members of our community that are currently being impacted by the ICE raids and activity. Thank you. [Applause] >> Thank you. Our seventh public comment is from Mario Sanchez. Mr. Sanchez, please come to the podium to address your public comments on non-aggenda items. Oh, okay. That concludes our public comments for tonight. >> Thank you, Miss Sbrron. You took me a little bit by surprise. I thought we had one more
118speaker. Um, and so now we're going to move on to approval of action items from the human resources division. Were members, any questions or comments on 7 A1 through 7 A6? Board members, any comments? >> Thank you. 7 A1 through 7 A6 are hereby approved. Moving on to educational services board members, any questions or comments? 7B1 through 7B17. >> No question, but thank you for um I was advocating for this field trip for a while. So, I'm glad that we're able to finally take our students to the water replenishing district. So, another very exciting and it's it's definitely worth the uh the little drive it takes to get there. >> Thank you. 7B1 through 7B17 are hereby approved. Moving on to business services division. Questions or comments on 7C1 through 7C15? >> No comments. >>
1197C1 through 7C15 are hereby approved. Moving on to measure GGI and facilities. Questions or comments? 7D1 through 7D9. >> No comments. >> 7D1 through 7D9 are approved. Moving on to approval of a agenda meeting. I'm sorry. The minutes of the meeting from the August 20th, 2025 board of education meeting. >> No comments. >> Minutes of the August 20th, 2025 board of education meeting are approved. Moving on to student board member remarks. Student board member Miss Amaya Hazard. >> Thank you, Dr. Morris. I first would like to start um showing appreciation for the first report. Excuse me. >> Sorry. Girls Spirit LA if I'm correct. >> Yeah. I would just like to show appreciation for that as I didn't um make a comment previously but thank you um sorry I do um appreciate um specifically girl
120programs especially I was in one democracy to be specific where girls have the same kind of goal career goal and it really just is inspiring to just be in a group in a community where everyone's trying to go the same direction and it's just really inspiring to hear from other people especially an older for adults within that profession and just get that just inspiration and extra information about these careers and how it can just brought from anything you could just hear or read on an internet but actual personal experience is what really gets students um interested. But overall I also would like to comment on um progress going on at Ingwood High School United. Um, I have been hearing a lot of good feedback so far with the new windows, new classrooms, all improvements, but
121what I would like to shed light on would be student health. Um, one of the public comments concerning um, school violence. I did know one of those students personally and it really does pain me to hear these things. first week of school there were a was a lot of instances of this violence and I would just like to let the community know that we are listening and especially me I am listening and I will dedicate my time to try to definitely because we do have programs on campus that are dedicated to these instances and I would like to share share more light on these programs with these students to make sure that this violence doesn't continue as it shouldn't be normalized on campus But that is all I have to say. Thank you, Dr. Morris.
122>> Thank you, Miss Hazard. Moving on to board member remarks. I'll turn it over to board president, Miss Evans. >> Okay. You had anything else? That's it. Okay, Mr. Myers. >> It's my time. Thank you so much, Amaya. Well said. And thank you, community, for coming out. Um, we hear you. We definitely hear you. And if you know me, I'm definitely going to get on it. Um, you know, this past week I, um, I had the opportunity to re-engage with the Tuskegee experiment of 1932. Um for many that are not familiar with the Tuskegee experiment, um it was exhibited uh down in Mon County, Georgia, um particularly to um negro males. Um the county persisted of I believe 600 black men and out of those 600 black men, 399 were affected with syphilis. And this
123happened because of mistrust, ethical guidelines, and just simple praying on communities. I pray to God. This isn't an Englewood experiment. I've toyed back and forth with this for 12 years that we've been in receiverhip, particularly servicing black and brown babies. We looked at 6,000 uh well, we actually went down from 13,000 enrollment 6,000 last year. Now we're at 5,900 community mistrust, inadequate environments. So it leaves me to wonder, is this the Englewood experiment? But the thing that I'm excited about the community is because we're advocating. The reason why so many black men back then got infected because there was no community advocacy primarily because there was mistrust. They didn't know. You all know what's happening. You all know what situation we're in. And the more pressure we put on these so-called leaders that control certain
124decision making, we have to do that because we're failing our kids. To Mr. Amaya's point, fights every day. It's not safe. It's not. And so when we have student athletes or even a regular student attending, even a sped kid, I don't see the urgency to protect our babies. And I'm just being honest. And you know how I feel about my community. So if this is going to be an Englewood experiment, let this experiment be to improve student enrollment, to improve our facilities, to improve our safety, increase career opportunities for our babies, and better our community. Thank you, [Applause] Mr. Castillo. >> Thank you, Madam Board President. You know, the other day, our community is getting gentrified, right? That's just the reality. And we see the walkability of our neighborhoods in a way we've never seen
125before. We see our new neighbors walking down our streets fearless, right? Uh growing up here, that wasn't my experience. Right? The reality of England growing up here was it was violent, right? It was not safe. You walked fast. you got to your destination and you got back, especially after school because people knew what time school was over and they knew that some of these blocks and some of these streets were a little more dangerous than others. It pains me to know that this reality is still part of what the Engle experience is about. And it pains me to know that there is no sense of urgency uh being shown not only being shared by our student leaders but also by our faculty leaders and our community leaders. The reality is we deserve to have a
126safe neighborhood. We deserve to have safe communities. We deserve to have safe schools. It doesn't we don't have to wait until someone else comes into our community and makes it their own for this to be a safe community. We could have our own safe community. So I I invite our community members to stay visual. I invite our community members to stay communicating, to stay vocal because it's not just the safety of our students we have to worry about. It's the safety of our undocumented family members and residents and students that we have to worry about. is Hispanic Heritage Month. And as we appreciate our food and our culture and our music, do we really appreciate our people that made it possible? And that's a question I hope we all ask ourselves here as we celebrate
127all the great things that we've done in arts, literature, education. Are we really appreciated in this community? That's a question I want to ask not only the board, the cabinet, but the community itself. Are we doing more to advocate for those who are scared and vulnerable right now, who can't come outside, who can't take their kids to school? There's a lot of bravery going on and I think we need more bravery for those in power. We've seen community members station theself outside of Home Depot to ensure that they're providing accurate account of people being taken by ICE. We've seen community members come to come here to speak publicly with their name and everything to show what they feel is an important issue in our community. I think it's time for us as leaders and as
128cabinet leaders and as school leaders and as student leaders to continue that bravery and what we do and everything we do in life. And that means even if it's on the board meeting or if it's at a city council meeting or if it's a state assembly meeting, we have the opportunity to speak up for what we know is not right. And there's a lot of things that are not right. And I just want to share my appreciation because I know I share a lot of appreciation to a lot of amazing people that sit here. But the parents here are just truly amazing. Marissa and Rogo, you guys, you guys inspire me. And I know there's a lot to be angry about, but I follow you on social media, and you reported every day what's been
129going wrong at this school site. But you also showed how you addressed it, how you went above and beyond to bring color and to bring hope into your classroom to make sure that you're not going to take someone telling you, "I'm sorry, that's the way it is." There's an answer. You're going to find a way to make it right for your kids. And I'm so inspired by what you do. And I'm so inspired by the work of not only the parents but the community leaders that are here speaking up for our ICE um targeted community members. So I I just want to end this um by saying that I heard and spoke from community members all over about this issue, but there was one uh community member that I spoke with who really said it
130perfectly of why we need to make this a schoolboard issue. Um she unfortunately was not able to make public comment today. Um, but I actually she shared these stats that she shared with me the other day. And I want you to know that students that are facing the fear of deportation, family separation, and family members who have to interact with ICE have what they call adverse childhood experience. So our students are already coming to school with the fear that they may come home and not be able to see their parents or the fear that they themselves may not be able to come to school the next day if they decide to walk the wrong street or they go to the wrong place or if they go out and they find themselves encountered with ICE. So
131I think we really got to address that it is not just a federal issue. It is not just a state issue. is a local issue and every local level every level local government we need to address inequality. We need to address things where they're not right. Whether is what's happening to our SP students in our classrooms and whether it's happening to our undocumented and vulnerable community members in Englewood. So, thank you Dr. Morris for constantly listening to me about these issues and I know that we're going to do right by them and we're going to address the issues and I want to thank the community again for constantly coming out. It's it's a long night and I know this is not the best way to spend your Wednesday night, but it matters a lot, especially
132for my Oak Street parents. I know we've been talking about this since the first day of school. I know that we're going to address this issue and make sure that you're able to have a school site that you feel comfortable in. And I appreciate you coming here because I know it's it takes a lot to come here and speak your your truth. So, um, thank you everyone for being here and uh I hope that we can make things right. Thank you board members. I did all that you have said this evening. Um this has been an eyeopener for me. I didn't know about all the fights happening every day. I'm not in that area. I had no idea that it was that way and something has to be done about that. As a former educator
133myself working at a school, uh we've got to put our heads together because we can't have kids afraid to come to school because they're afraid to walk the streets to go home or to get to school. And there, you know, the rivalry between the two schools as uh the parents said that has been going on for years. But there was a meeting, well there were meetings uh before we made that decision to put Englewood High students at Morningside and we didn't solve that 26-y old problem that has been in existence for years. But the students themselves came together and kind of made that decision as to how they were going to do that. It wasn't a decision that was just made unilaterally. students. They brought the students together to determine what they were going to
134be called, how they were going to do this, and this is like the experiment for year one. We don't have all the answers. We don't have it all right right now, but hopefully it'll get better. I am just I'm just I don't know. Just to hear that students are fighting every day, that's that's I don't know. We've got to do better. We got to do more. We've got to put some more staff out there on the street when the kids are walking home. You know, when they see a an administrator or somebody I used to be out there. They see your the administrator standing on the corner. They're not going to fight by the school. But you said the fight happened, I think, at Century and Yukon or whatever. We don't have people all in
135the neighborhood, but we have to get some more police on duty. We've got to do something different to show that we are serious about this. We can't have you fighting every day and have students afraid to come to school. That hurts us, too. When they don't come to school, that hurts the pocketbook. Raphael won't be talking about where we have money because we don't we won't have the money if the kids don't come to school. Bottom line. But their safety, parents are afraid to send their students to school. And then they're also afraid for their students to come to school and be afraid to walk home from school. This is this is a bit much and I'm I'm feeling a little upset right now that this is happening in our school district and I understand
136that there are so many things that have gone on but a lot of things that have happened at the beginning of school. Last month we were talking about the air conditioners weren't working and so forth. But these schools are 100 years old. air conditioners will break down because it's been really hot and they've been at full force. So, we've tried to fix these things as they're happening. We didn't foresee that these air conditioners were going to break, but they did. But we have staff that's been on it. They've been working on it. They were putting fans in, cooling, whatever they could do, move people around. They haven't It didn't fall on deaf ears. I want you to know that they have been working and we have air conditioning. Most people are in air conditioned rooms
137now, but there was a time we didn't have air conditioning at all. So, we had fans in the windows, but now we have air conditioners and we are making sure that they're working. That's just one problem. But we have to solve these things as they come along and we are trying our best. And, you know, people are writing to us about, you know, the air conditioner isn't working or my child isn't in the right classroom. I want this my child to be with this teacher. Well, there are, you know, there are ways to do certain things and I know there are protocols as to what has to be done, but sometimes it does seem like people are just standing around with their arms folded and passing it on to the next person onto the next
138person and not doing anything about it. That's why we have such frustration with the parents who are writing these letters to us about what's happening in the schools. Now we have teacher complaining about the help that they're getting. It's just this is like everybody's just coming to this meeting tonight to let us know what's happening and not just a a complaint session, but we need to know and I want you to please continue to do this and let us know what's going on cuz I did not know. My schools, they're fine over at uh the schools that I'm in charge of at City of City Honors. They had an air conditioning problem, too, or a power outage. We can't control the power outage, but we fixed it. Things have happened. You know, you have to
139let us know when things are happening so that they can be addressed and fixed. And that's what we that's all we can do. We can do some some preventive measures sometimes, but sometimes we don't know that it's going to happen. And when it happens, all we can do is get on it and see if we can fix it. And that's what we try to do. That's why we're here. That's why we have these meetings, so that we can hear what's going on. We want to hear the good things that are happening. And I I loved hearing the reports tonight of all the good things that are happening. But still, we are we're still coming short. We're falling short of some of the things that could be happening. So, all we can do is fix it.
140Let us know. We'll work on it. And hopefully the next month when you come back, you can come back and say this was taken care of or this was addressed. And that parent who was talking about the the rooms for the special ed kids, I heard you. and I'm going to make sure that we address some of those issues with our special ed kids because I don't want you to feel like they're just stuck in a corner somewhere in the back of the campus and they shouldn't be. They should not be ignored. So, thank you for coming out and addressing all of these issues tonight. Thank you board members for your comments. I didn't know what my comment was going to be tonight, but now you know. Thank you very much. I'll I'll keep it
141very brief just keep it in perspective. The students at Englewood High School are much the the vast vast vast majority of them are reflected by Miss Hazard. We have so many incredible young people who come to that school every day to learn. Um and and that I don't want there to be a misrepresentation about the vast majority of our kids because we have amazing young people in our school district. Uh and now we are going to reconvene to closed session that I'll remind everyone our next regular board of education meeting is scheduled for October 1st. will reconvene to close session with legal counsel on one matter pursuant to government code section 54956.9 and other matters as posted on the agenda. We'll now take any public comments for closed session agenda items. Miss Embrano, any public
142comment? >> No, we do not have any public comments. >> Thank you. And I just want to explain because of the work schedules of some of our board members, normally we would have a closed session prior to the meeting, but we've flipped it because we have board members who have a work schedule that they can't be here um earlier. So now we're going to recess to close session. We'll return for a report out after the closed session meeting. Thank you very much. And October 1st is the next regular board of education meeting. Maybe we'll take a three minute break before we go to the close session if anybody needs to uh get some water. Does that take? Okay, thank you. We're now back from our close session. In close session, the county administrator and governing
143board considered proposals for the sale and lease of district-owned property located at 11101 South Yukon Avenue in the city of Englewood, California 90303, assessor's parcel number 4033-013-908. The district has undertaken and completed a robust request for proposals process for the disposition of the property. Seven proposals were received from the following city of Englewood, City Ventures, Malia Homes, Meritage Homes, RC Homes, Solar Impact, and the Olsen Company. The RFP was widely distributed and published on the district's website. After careful review and consideration of the county administrator or designate is authorized, it was determined that the county administrator or designate take all actions and execute necessary documents for the preparation and negotiation of a purchase and sale agreement with the city of Inglewood based on the proposal submitted by the city. the uh PSA is finalized. When
144it is finalized, it'll be bought brought for approval in an open session at a subsequent board of education meeting noticed pursuant to the Brown Act. At that time, the reason for the district's determination regarding the selected proposal will be discussed and including in the open session meeting agenda. Also in the close session this evening, uh direction was given to legal counsel to enter an amikas brief in the case of Vasquez Pomo versus Noom uh and others. Case number 225- CV05605-m F-SP regarding the impact of immigration enforcement on educational programs. Additionally, the county administrator took action and approved the following settlement OAH case number 2025060903. settlement in SE case SE 012025-2026 CB and rejected a skip claim number 2113736. The meeting stands adjourned at 8:11 p.m.