001Good evening. It's 4:20 p.m. and I'd like to call the August 20th, 2025 regular board of education meeting of the Englewood Unified School District to order. Next, we'll move to Miss Sbrano. Who will call the role? Miss Sbrano, would you call the role, please? >> Board President, Miss Margaret Turner Evans, >> present. >> Board Vice President, Dr. Carlos McGee, >> present. >> Board member, Miss Joyce Randall, >> present. >> Board member, Mr. Brandon Meyers, >> present. >> Board member, Mr. Ernesto Castillo, >> present. >> Dr. James Morris, >> present. >> Dr. Bernardet Lucas, >> present. >> Dr. Brian Coffee, >> present. >> Mr. Raphael Guzman, Patrick Sana, Deputy General Counsel, >> present. >> Thank you. Please be informed. The Spanish language interpretation is available during this meeting. >> Thank you very much, Miss Sbrano. Moving
002on to approval of the agenda. I hereby approve the agenda with one modification. Uh item number 13B10 from educational services division has been reissued to reflect a reduced fiscal impact on the district. The updated version shows a lower amount of funding than when it was originally stated. And we'll now recess into close session. We have two matters to discuss in close session. uh one with legal counsel regarding government code section 54956.9 and another uh matter to discuss regarding uh government code section 546 >> 56 want to make sure I get it correct excuse me 54956.9 which is a settlement matter. Public comments are allowed at this time. Any individual who wish to address the board on this close session on these close session items may fill out a public speaker card. Miss Sbrano, seeing none,
003will forego public comment on close session items. The board will now recess into close session and once we finish the close session we'll Turn. Good evening and thank you very much. We're reconvening back to the open session this evening. I'm going to uh begin by reporting out actions taken in this evening's closed session. County Administrator took action to approve settlement in case OAH number 20250 618. Additionally, in closed session this evening, the governing board discussed a matter with legal counsel regarding government code section 549 56.9. And now moving back to our agenda this evening. Sorry, you have to get me to the right place here, Miss Zombrano. Uh we'll reconvene and we'll start with the pledge of allegiance. >> Sorry, Dr. Morris. You should you should state the decision that you've made on that item.
004>> Oh, >> yes. >> Thank you. Um maybe we'll report out at the next meeting because we'll take the matter back into close session at the next meeting. Okay. >> So, at this time, um, I would like to ask our student board member, elect Amaya Hazard, to come to the microphone and lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Please stand. Put your right hand over your heart. Face the flag. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance 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. May be seated. >> Thank you very, very much, Miss Hazard. And now we'll call ro one more time. Miss Umbano, >> board president, Miss Margaret Turner Evans, >> present. >> Board
005vice president, Dr. Cardis McGee >> present. >> Board member Miss Joyce Randall. >> Board member Mr. Brandon Meyers >> present. >> Board member Mr. Ernesto Castillo >> present. >> Dr. James Morris >> present. >> Dr. Bernardell Lucas >> present. >> Dr. Brian Coffee >> present. >> Mr. Rafael Guzman >> present. >> Mr. Patrick Sana deputy general counsel >> present. >> Thank you. Please be informed that Spanish language interpretation is available during this meeting. Miss Zbrano. And now we're going to move on to swearing in ceremony of our student board member, Miss Hazard. Would you please join me at the podium in front to take the oath of office? And as you see, I'm like running to the podium. This is a monumental time in the history of our school district. Will now administer the oath
006of office to Miss Amaya Hazard. Miss Hazard, please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Amaya Hazard, do solemnly swear >> I, Amiah Hazard, do solemnly swear >> that I will support and defend >> I'm going to turn the mic to you because they want to hear you more than they want to hear me the Constitution of the United States >> the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of California >> and the Constitution of the State of California >> against all enemies >> foreign and domestic. foreign and domestic. >> And that I will bear true faith and allegiance >> and that I will bear true faith and allegiance >> to the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of California >> and
007the Constitution of the State of California. >> That I take this obligation freely >> without any mental reservation >> or purpose of evasion. And I will well and faithfully >> And I will well and faithfully >> discharge the duties >> upon which I am about to enter. >> upon which I'm about to enter. >> It is my great honor to present student board member Amaya Hazard. You got a standing ovation. >> Miss Hazard, do you want to make some remarks before you take your official seat next to board member Myers? >> The remarks will be um for student board member rem. >> Oh, all right. And she's going to reserve her remarks until the end. So, we're going to have you, Miss Hazard, take your seat right next to Mr. Meyers, and then we'll offer
008board members if they want to make any remarks to Miss Hazard. Thank you so much. [Applause] >> You better get it, Amaya. We can do it right here in the center. I know, right? I think we could just stay in that position. We have this right here. [Applause] All right. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm going to ask I'll turn it over to President Evans to see if the board members want to make any remarks before we move on on our agenda. >> Well, first of all, Amaya, history was made tonight. You are our first really inaugurated student board member and we are so happy to have to have you. Welcome. I hope this will be a wonderful experience for you. Thank you. Board members, we're going to start with my vice president next.
009I think you said it all. I will reserve whatever more wonderful remarks until after the board meeting. Thank you. Congratulations. I do hope this is an absolute wonderful experience for you and if not, I'll ride shotgun for you. Well, congratulations, Honorable Hazard. Um, it takes a lot of courage to run for a position like this, especially during high school when you're trying to apply for colleges, trying to get ready for your life outside of high school, but you decided to take this time to serve your community, to serve the public, and to serve the students you go to school with. So, it's a big deal that you're here with us, and I'm really honored to share the dies with you. >> Congratulations, Mr. Maya. I have uh I guess a few more weeks and months
010to let you know the little ins and outs because you sit right next to me. So I got you, girl. I promise. Okay. All right, >> Amaya, did you want to have any words before we move on? >> I'll be saving my remarks for after the board meeting. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you so much, Miss Evans. And so now we'll move on to reports and presentations. The first presentation this evening, actually I'll give the district's thick mat update and I'm going to go to the podium to deliver the report. >> Thank you very much. So this is I think as we all know a very very important report for our school district. It really is showing that this district is on the road out of receiverhip. I think that's the message that
011I want to deliver. This presentation really gives an overview of the scores that the district has received and the progress that the district has made. I think as all of you know each year the state state's financial crisis management assistance team does an audit of the school district and they look at five areas and in each area there's a set of standards. Those standards the district is required to meet are the standards that would be required of a high performing district. A district that's functioning well. those areas, community relations and governance, personnel management, pupil achievement, financial management and facilities management. And this chart tells you the number of slides. I think as you see the FickMat report, it's a very very indepth analysis of the progress the district is making. This is kind of the
012overall scorecard. And in order for the de district to exit receiverhip, the district has to have in each of those five areas a score that you will see that's kind of an average score across all standards in that area that is higher than six and no substandard that's below a four. And this kind of shows you that the district has the progress the district has made since ex since entering receiverhip. I'm going to go through each of the five areas. I just want to point out the area of community relations and governance as you saw on the last slide has exited review. So that area is not reviewed on an annual basis any longer. This kind of shows you the ratings in the area of personnel management and we showed the scores over the last
013five years and we said last this past year for personnel management 28 standards were reviewed. Last this past year 12 of the scores went up, zero of the scores went down and 16 of the scores remained the same. Number of standards below four, zero. And here's where you see the magic happen. Two years in a row, no score below a four, zero and zero, and the average score above a six. This is a huge milestone for the district because next year, personnel management will not be reviewed by Fikmat. One additional area, community relations and governance, personnel management no longer reviewed. That's huge progress. Next, pupil achievement. Pupil achievement is another area that has made incredible, incredible progress. 31 standards in that area this past year. 11 went up, two slipped a little bit. 18 remained
014the same. Number of standards below four, zero. And once again, you see two years in a row, average score above six. 0 pupil achievement will not be reviewed this year. So now we have community relations and governance personnel management and pupil achievement. Three out of five areas will no longer be reviewed. Next areas two areas financial management and facilities management. Those are the two areas that will continue to be reviewed. I want to just note that Mr. Dr. Guzman was only here for half a year and so the progress we see in those areas is a half a year's progress under his leadership. We've already said Dr. Coffee he is he and uh uh Dr. Lucas are kind of the the show Otanis of the school district. You know every pitch you throw at them
015they hit that ball out of the park. Well, an awful lot of them. financial uh management 43 standards this past year 29 of them went up zero went down 14 remain the same seven are still below four so those are the seven areas that we have to work on and if you look over the past four years the progress you can see last year that 14 dropped down to seven that is pretty incredible progress in the area of financial management agement. Next area, facilities management. There are 33 standards. 23 went up this past year. Zero went down. 10 remain the same. Two standards, two out of 33 that we need to get four or above in order to exit receiverhip in this area. Here's kind of the the summary of ratings. And I just want
016to point out one particular thing on this chart because if you see total standards 155 and I know Miss Hart who's going to present next will say but we're only looking at 153 because two of them were dropped. There are 75 standards this past year went up two went down 58 remain the same. Nine nine out of 153. That's what our focus is. That's what we have to work on. But I also want you to notice on the bottom of the chart in 20 there were 36 standards. Between that year and the next year, guess what? They got eight out of the four range. The following year from 23 until 24 nine got above four. This past year 19 to9 10. Now think about that pattern. First year eight, next year got improvement in nine.
017This past year got improvement in 10. So we have nine left. I don't know. You go to any Las Vegas odds maker and they're going to say the money is on Inglewood Unified. Can we get nine standards out this year? Absolutely. Because last year we got 10. The year before that nine. This district is in great shape and it's because of the leadership of this board and the commitment to this community. I also want to just make a comment about the FickMat report. The FickMat report is really a roadmap for us. Uh I left my report over there and I'm going to try to from memory give you a couple of examples. Not only is it a report, but they also offer a comprehensive set of recommendations. here's what you need to do. And I
018guarantee you, for example, in the area of procurement, I think there's about 38 recommendations. You quiz Mr. Guzman on any given day, he's got those 38 recommendations rolling around in his head and probably at 1 or 2:00 in the morning, he's thinking about that recommendation. Okay, they said we have to make sure there's three procurement bids for every item. I got to make sure that system is in place. You also read that report in detail and I know many of the board members have they still offer recommendations for the board and in the area of governance. For example, one of the recommendations page 25 if I remember correctly says we need to provide a training for the board on interaction between board members and vendors. Well, guess what? We have that scheduled. Why? because it's
019not just an audit. It's a roadmap to say if we want to become the highest performing school district around, here's the things that we need to do. We take it very, very seriously. Overall, I just want to say from my perspective, this is a great report because it shows the progress that's happened in this district and it gives us a roadmap to say here's how we're going to get out of receiverhip. Are we going to get those nine standards? Absolutely. And I'm going to close my presentation and go back to my seat [Applause] and turn it over to Mrs. Evans. >> Board members, do we have any questions? Starting with you. >> Want to start with >> You want to start? >> Oh, sure. Dr. Morris, thank you for that very comprehensive uh overview of
020where we are with Big Matt. I want to thank the entire team. I think I've been here the longest and I think this is the closest we've gotten to exiting um out of receiverhip. As he mentioned earlier, uh Fikmat gives us a road map. Unfortunately, we just didn't have a roadmap from the state when we first got into this mess because if you're able to read and comprehend what they're asking for, I think we would have been out of this a whole lot um sooner. But with that being said, we finally got someone that could read the road and map us out of that. So, Dr. Morris, thank you again for um a very comprehensive report and I am looking forward to us um slaying those nine areas that we have to go. Thank you
021again. Anyone else? Mr. Castillo. >> Thank you, board president. It it was great seeing you up there at the podium. I I could tell you were a great teacher back in your prime because it was awesome. And it's great when you give good news like that too. It's really amazing to have that opportunity to obviously Figma provides a map, right? But it takes leadership to to complete that map and to make sure we're adhering to everything we need to. So the leadership that we have here on the right side of the dis and on the left side of DAS has worked together to make sure we follow through on that map and we're not going to be lost anymore. We're a couple years away and I'm really excited for this community. I'm really excited for
022these students and I'm really excited for this district. Thank you. Anyone else? I'm so excited I can hardly talk because the first the first Big Mac report I saw I was crying and Dr. Luca said, "I got it." And I'm just was shaking my head. So, she text me, "I got it. It's okay." Um, and I want to congratulate you. you kept your word. Thank you so much. And we have a team back there. Um um I'm going to I'm telling you, I'm just so excited. Um uh uh Dr. Goulby. Um Hosea James. I know they're back there. Some Yes. They are a fantastic team. So often times I just don't say anything because I'm just so overwhelmed because when I first saw my some of this stuff is like teaching 101, directorship 101, and
023I don't want to rehash it all, but you promised me you had it. Thank you for keeping your word, Mr. Myers. >> I did all what uh um Honorable Randall just just uh spoke about. Like you you you guys are amazing. you guys have a um wonderful uh teaming strategies I've I've seen and you know just live um and I appreciate just all your support. So just keep it up. Thank you. >> Okay, I'll close it out. I always talk about this cabinet and how hard they work. These are some hardworking people up here. They including Dr. Mars. He never takes a day off. So I thank you for this report. I remember the first Figmat report I read. It was thick and even uh as Dr. McGee said, we didn't really know what to
024do with that. We saw it and now we have a road map to what we can do to get out of this. And I'm so happy Raphael and I talked the other day. We're only two years away and we'll be out of receiverhip. And I am so happy and this community will be happy to say that Englewood is no longer in receiverhip. So I can't wait for that day to happen. Thank you very much for all that you've put in to get us. I can't say that we've put in anything but all the work that you've put in to get us to where we are today. Thank you. >> Oh, talking about the the governor's council. >> Yes, we did. We We were We set the bar. We were the first ones that they after
025we uh got the first report, we were the first one, the first group, this board, not this board, but the board at the time was we were the first ones to get us out of receiverhips and so the rest of them had to live up to our standards. They were trying to catch up with us. So now they have they're on their way and we are very pleased. Thank you. >> Oh, thank thank you very much. And I think that I think everybody's comments echoed the idea that it is a team effort. It's the board and the staff having a common vision, working together, and really saying, "We're here because guess what? We serve the community." So, with that, we're going to move on to our next presentation. We have the honor of having um
026Shayen Hart who is the deputy executive director from the financial crisis management assistance team um who completed the review to offer their comments and I think wise counsel to all of us. When Shayene speaks, we listen because she she really is very very wise and and really is an advocate for this school district to help us make sure we know what we need to do to be on this continuous improvement cycle. So, Miss Hart. >> All right. Well, thank you, Dr. Morris and advisory board members. Thank you for having me here this evening. You can see there on the slides that that Mr. Mike Fine was supposed to join me here this evening, our CEO, but unfortunately he had a medical event and wasn't able to be here this evening, but he sends his best
027to all of you. Um, so for the board, I know most of you are familiar with this process, but just for some context and some background for the audience members here today, AB1200 really set forth the structure that we work under, and our role as an organization really grew out of that. Um, we provide a variety of services to K14 local educational agencies across the state and we're an independent and external state agency. If you anyone is interested in our work um on districts facing fiscal crisis, there's a link at the bottom of that slide that'll take you to a presentation that really outlines our work in that area and really the comprehensive process as a whole. So, most of our work is done when we're invited in, but that's not the case with Englewood,
028right? We were assigned in here through legislation when Englewood back in 2012 took the emergency appropriation. And so our primary role, like Dr. Morris has stated, is really to come in annually and perform that progress report in terms of how the district is doing and scoring towards those legal and professional standards that he just touched on before. So I'm here today to give an accounting of the 13th review that we conducted in February and ended up in a final report in July of this year. So, just as a reminder, we're not the decision making agency here, right? Um, we don't have that authority. That truly rests with Dr. Duardo at the county level. She works very closely, I know with Dr. Morris, who works very closely with the advisory board and the staff members here.
029We simply provide that input and advice through the form of recommendations in the report. And I know there's a lot of them in there, but I appreciate you saying that you're using that as a roadmap because that's exactly what we've seen over the last few years. I know this board is also very aware that there was changes in receiverhip in terms of how that takes place. That happened back in 2018 when then Governor Jerry Brown signed a trailer bill um AB1840 which took our once state centric system right that everything was happening up there in terms of the oversight of Englewood and brought that back to the local level and shifted some of those superintendent of public instruction responsibilities back to Dr. Duardo is the county superintendent who is in touch with this community and
030knows what this community needs and works very closely with all of you and the staff members to meet the needs here at Englewood. So our comprehensive report just like Dr. Morris stated um is a written assessment on the district's progress towards those standards. So basically it is looking back one year from our last visit from the last time that we were here. So these standards were written to the five areas like he touched on and up until 2020 22 uh we did report on all five of those um areas but in 22 you met for the second year that really benchmark milestone score of an average of six within an operational area. You're right it was governance and community relations was the first one to come out with no individual standard less than a four.
031And so starting with 2023, we no longer reviewed that particular area. Now, that doesn't mean that you stopped focusing on that. Just like Dr. Morris mentioned, you're continuing to offer some professional growth and continuing to move in that particular area. And Dr. Duardo through her normal oversight duties is really keeping an eye on that area, making sure that Englewood is not moving backwards and you're continuing to move forward in your progress in that area. Oops. We'll go back one. All right. So, this chart really gives a summary of scores over just the last five years. It looks just a little bit different than Dr. Morris's that he just presented. We're really going to focus on um that column there on the right hand side, right? That shows you the scores for 2025. The key right
032down there at the bottom left really shows you how we score those standards. So, they are on a rubric of 0 to 10. Zero meaning that the standard is not implemented. A one through seven means that they're partially implemented, obviously with varying degrees. And then scores eight through 10 we consider fully implemented. And so if you're curious about how many standards were less than a four, it's on page 14 of the report, although I'm going to touch on that when we get into the individual operational areas. And Dr. Morris already did a great job of frontloading you on that information. And this one just gives a little bit of a different analysis. It just kind of lets you look kind of like what Dr. Morris did at how many um standards fell within each one
033of those bandwidths. So we started off in 2013. I couldn't put all of the reviews on here, but I just kind of did a little smattering of them and ended up with the last two years. So very first year you were in receiverhip that initial assessment, you had 34 standards that were not implemented. You had 120 that fell within that partially implemented and only one fell into that fully implemented. Fast forward now to the 13th review and here you are with zero standards not implemented. So you don't have any this year that scored a zero. You have 102 that are partially implemented and 51 that are fully implemented. So I think what this shows more than anything else is that there's just been this continual growth right of moving things from the lefthand side column
034over to the right hand side which really leads to more sustainability in terms of systems that are put in place for the district to succeed. So I want to remind everybody that our report's written to the deficit model. I know that's really hard, you know, uh when when we focus on things that are lacking, but that's how we can form our recommendations in terms of that roadmap to move you to the next level. Um I know it's tough when people are showing up every single day. And so I remind you of this every single year, but I'm going to do it one more time. Any place in the standards, I'm any place in the recommendations. I apologize. Where we use the words continue to just know that that is where we are truly trying to
035um acknowledge what's in place that is working well in the district and trying to give you kudos for what you're doing because we feel that that those things are already in place and we want to continue to see them um implemented in the district so that it can keep moving you forward. So next I'm going to be talking about the four operational areas. And the way I've set up the slides is the first slide in each operational area is going to talk about the improvements and the look backwards between the 12th and 13th review. And then the next one is going to look forward to things we'd like to see in place for the 14th review. So in the area of people achievement, yes, this is an area to celebrate. This is the second year
036that this area has met that benchmark score of six with no standard less than than a four. I won't review how many standards went up and down. Dr. Morris did a really good job of that. And I will say this though, this was the area that had the the smallest gains for this year, but here's what I would say. This is the area that's had the most gains over the last three reviews. All right? So, I really want to point that out. Um, this is also this has been a tough year for Englewood. you guys have gone through school closure process. I know that that hits hard, but I'll tell you where it hits the hardest, and that is down at the school site level and at the instructional level. So, I'm going to tell
037you, our team talked extensively going into this year's review. And that our expectation was that pupil achievement would make small progress or possibly even go backwards just because of the instability and the insecurity that it brings at the school site level. But even through that, pupil achievement continued to move forward and made progress in that area. So here's some of the highlights. Um, you know, our team feels that stability and leadership really makes a difference. Dr. Lucas and her team and even leadership at the school site level has made a difference, right? It it has allowed those systems to be put in place, led to some continuity, um, and really allowed implementing those standards to take hold. Right. And the work's not done. Okay. Yeah, that deserves a clap. Um, but there's there's continued to
038be more accountability both at the district level and at the site level in terms of student learning. um instructional leadership teams have truly just taken the charge at the site level to identify areas of need and then put strategies in place to meet those needs and really to focus on student improvement. So those are the kinds of things that we're seeing and you know there's very dedicated people out there ready to address student needs. So a big congratulations in this area. I'm not going to actually outline things to to work on for the 14th review since we're not coming back, but Dr. Lucas is very aware of it. I know she's already taken that report and ripped it apart and already has a plan for next year, right? Um there's definitely opportunity for growth and
039I know you're not going to let up in that area. So, don't take your foot off the gas because you met the minimum score, right? But there's still room for growth. Um that second bullet kind of says it all though, right? Because it is going to take a team effort. that team effort that you talked about before. So, it takes the advisory board, it takes your staff, it takes Dr. Morris, it takes Dr. Duardo, everyone working together to make sure that there's no regression in this area, but it's an additional step towards taking back local control, right? All five areas. So, congratulations on that. All right, we're going to shift now to personnel management with Dr. Coffee. So this is another area that made significant gains um over the last three years. In fact, you
040probably remember me standing at this podium and talking to you about how personnel had met the minimum score for a number of years, but they still had a few standards under four, right? And that if you could just focus on those standards and specifically related to evaluations that you could get out of this. And Dr. Coffee and his team, Dr. Morris really did that. They made evaluations a priority and they have continue to grow in that area. So again, year two of personnel management needing that benchmark score. And so yes, this is one more area that we will not be coming back to review next year. I know you're really sad about that, but congratulations, you know, and in terms of of some highlights, you know, again, leadership matters, right? Dr. Coffey's been sitting in
041that seat for a couple years. Uh his director, Tiffany Egan, has been back for two reviews. a majority of the staff within HR has been there for a number of years and so that continuity has really allowed things to take hold those systems to just go deeper and to keep building on that and you guys had a tough year. So we talked about the closures of school that impacted at the school site level and pupil achievement also impacted hu HR in a huge way right you guys had um employee layoffs you had to manage staff moving around during school closures you had um two um HR systems running simultaneously HRS and HCM so they had to maintain information in two systems and basically do double the work and really make sure that all of that
042was matching um there was a reduction in your department staff. So you had less people to do the work but even through that that department came through and HR is another area to um celebrate this tonight. So um so congratulations. So so one more time I'm not going to give you specific things. I know you also have taken that report probably and you're ripping it apart but just one more time. Um it's not a time to take a break, right? Keep going. keep focusing on that improvement and everybody working together to keep that particular area moving forward. All right, next up we have facilities management. So, you know, Dr. Morris talked about 23 of the 31 standards improved. No standards went backwards or decline. Again, there was that stability and leadership with Mr. Arona and
043Mr. Miles at the helm of facilities. And so some highlights include things like we received a deferred um deferred multi-year deferred maintenance plan um for preventative and deferred maintenance. That's the first time we've received one of those in a number of years. Um the district continued to update your master key system in three of your school sites. So you know facilities goes and visits every single school site instead of somebody pulling out you know a key ring that has 25 to 50 keys that each open an individual door at three of those sites. additional sites. They had a master key that opened every single door. So, you're continuing to make progress in that area. Theote warehouse is maintaining an inventory of tools and equipment, and there's a better awareness in MOT and facilities in terms
044of the district's purchasing practices and your spending limits. And as difficult as it is, um you are moving forward with the direction of aligning your school facilities with your student enrollment so that you're not having to maintain the excess facilities which really puts a drain on the district. So looking forward now to next year's review, even though the district has met the milestone score of six, right? Because I think they were 6.65 in this area, they still have two standards less than a four. So let's say everything else stays exactly the same. If the district can focus on those two standards just like we did with HR, right, and evaluations, bringing those standards up. If we could do that in facilities and bring the two standards up to a four with everything else staying the
045same or hopefully moving forward, right? Then that would be year one of meeting that benchmark score, which means you would meet it next year. we'd come back one additional year to make sure that you sustained it and then you wouldn't have to have that visit anymore in the area of facilities, which I know would be very exciting for them. Um, one of those standards that we're talking about that was less than a four deals with conducting an energy analysis by site and then tracking your utility costs and consumptions. And then the other one deals with um implementing an inventory of all facilities and equipment that's going to require maintenance and replacement. So, making sure not only is it that inventory list, but it has an estimated life expectancy, maintenance timelines, replacement timelines, dollars that are
046put with that, those are budgeted and incorporated into your budget so that you can be proactive rather than reactive. So, those are some of the things we'd like to see you focus on. All right. And last but not least, we've got financial um management. This score definitely improved this year. There was an increase in 28 standards. No scores went backwards. The highlights for this year, you know, we've been bringing the same team in here for a number of years and immediately our team recognized that the morale and the business office just definitely improved and the communication within that office and then between that office out to school sites and to other departments definitely increased. So, we know that having Mr. Guzman back and having him at the helm has definitely been a positive impact on
047that department. So some of the the highlights there regular meetings are continuing between business services and HR which are critical to reconciling position control. Some internal audits were performed last year. So in the area of let's see accounts payable, purchasing, accounting and food services. So internal audits happening which needs to happen and then external audit findings were reduced. Progress was also made in updating your business services procedure manual and individual desk manuals for people within that department. And what we loved loved loved is that there's a reduced reliance on consultants in the area of business services. Right? So in the past you've had consultants for financial reporting for general ledger general ledger reconciliation for cowpads reporting. you're really building capacity within the district for your people to handle things rather than having to outsource that.
048So that was a definite improvement in that area last year. So now looking forward in financial management for the next year, remember at the time that we came in, we were basing everything on first interim because that's where we were in the budget cycle. Um at that point um you were still deficit spending, your fund balance was declining. And so developing that that fiscal stabilization plan um where you implement spending reductions and eliminate deficit spending is just going to be critical moving forward. Right? Your audit report last year was filed late. Um and even though you reduce the number of findings, nine of the 13 were repeat findings. So, it's very important that the district make sure that your audit's done timely and then once you receive that information to immediately put a plan in
049place, right? Make sure that the staff who are responsible for the things that can touch that audit um finding have the training that they need to make sure that that does not continue as a repeated audit finding and it won't just continue to kind of trickle down the road. Budget monitoring is definitely better. Um, one thing that we would recommend is that you put a hard stop in your financial system um to prevent purchasing if account lines are are overdrawn, which is going to necessitate budget revisions, but we know it's a best practice. So, we would love to see that put into place and then work on that fixed asset management um with putting an annual inventory in place for any um equipment that's valued over $500 and then make sure you do the additions
050and the deletions as they come and go. Um, we're encouraged that Mr. Guzman's back and that his leadership, what that means for the district in this particular area. And so, just like Dr. Morris talked about, I think financial management along with facilities could really be a two-year plan, right? Where next year when we come back, I know you have a plan for how you're going to address the standards and you're looking at the ones below four and trying to bring the others along as well. That's going to get you there. So, why do we do this this review annually? Well, ultimately this report provides a sort of road map and an objective measurement to how you are meeting each one of those standards, your progress year-over-year. And ultimately, it's going to be the report that's
051going to lead Dr. Duardo in um consultation with the SPI and the president of the state board of education to get you back to local control. Right. So, community relations and government was was the first one in 2022 was the last time we came in. This year is the last time that we are reviewing pupil achievement and personnel and we truly do feel that uh facilities and financial management are right behind that hopefully with two more years right and that we'll be back celebrating with you next year. So in conclusion I just really want to um applaud the work of the district of Dr. Morris, his team, the advisory board, everyone has been working diligently, the staff out there at school sites. I know everybody is working hard as a team and that is truly
052what it takes to move a district along. Um so I want to applaud you in those efforts and a big congratulations one more time to Dr. Lucas and Dr. Coffee in your two areas that we're not going to be bringing a team back next year. So you get a little bit of time back. So you know tonight officially ends the 13th review. Uh we'll start planning for the 14th review right behind this. will only be bringing two teams in next February to visit the district. Um, but I know Dr. Morris and his team has a plan and and they're going to be very strategic in terms of how they approach this work moving forward. Um, so we have high hopes. All right. So with that, I will take any questions that you have. >> Thank
053you, Mrs. Mrs. Evans. Well, I'm going to start with this road map because in two years we will be making the decisions and we still need a road map >> as to how we're going to do what needs to be done because right now all the decisions being made are made by the cabinet, but we need to have something to guide us to make sure that we're on the right track as far as governing the school board. So that's my question to you. Do you have a roadmap for us? >> Well, you know what? I would point you back to the very last um the 2022 um report. So I know Dr. Morris has that report. I think all of you have that report. I would look specifically at those recommendations, right? Because those are
054recommendations that still apply. I think you have Dr. Morris and the team who is working with you every single meeting to bring you along in terms of your governance. So, I think you're doing exactly what you need to be doing to continue to move forward, continue the professional development. Um, continually look forward. I think that's what this board is doing. And so, I I think you're moving in the right direction for sure. But if you need specifics, re I would go back to that 2022 report and look at those recommendations. Next that movie, >> I'm I'm super elated with the outcome. I know that you won't have to deal with me anymore. >> I'm not your best person when it comes to these reports and knowing what we needed to do >> and spending so
055many years trying to get there. I am over the moon excited to say thank you to Brian Coffee, to Bernardet Lucas because those were areas that um we just kept missing the mark and it really had to do with our leadership. And so leadership, you guys ran that ship. And I am I I cannot say thank you enough because those were two areas that especially with people achievement. You can't even imagine from the pandemic. I mean there were just so many obstacles that you know losing students, you know, blaming um the charter schools. We had so many things that um we kept looking at, but the real direction was how are we going to lead the team that we have? And I think both of you have done a phenomenal job. And Mr. Guzman, I
056never would have gotten rid of you. you never would have had to leave here had I um or we had been in authority because to switch the way we did it just took us back and you were bringing us forward when you were here and the day the data doesn't lie. So, we're just going to hope and pray that they don't have some real wild card, you know, that interrupts our flow because um we would have been a lot further along uh with our systems had you uh been able to continue with us. So, we're glad you're back. We're glad to see those numbers going up and um it's it's a good day today. What's the day? The 20th. Patrick is over there looking at me. He must think I don't like him. I really
057do. but he's our legal counsel and he knows that I just have to get in the mud with him sometimes because this is the side of the pendulum that you keep telling us we have a vote and you know we don't but we have influence and I am really proud of this board because we used our influence in 2022 we were told what we needed to do I had never seen a board go to U master's of governance class in record number. So, Dr. Morris, you know, I won't be here, so you won't have to deal with me when we come out of receiverhip, but I'll be sitting right there um cheering this board on, but um I would encourage us. Margaret says she doesn't know what to do. I'm glad you said you because
058I want everybody to speak for themselves because if we were out of receiverhip today, I would know what to do because we only have one responsibility and if we are mindful of what that looks like, we have a responsibility to Dr. Morris. So when you start traveling all over the place, that's when you get lost. But if you stick with managing the day-to-day operations that he provides for you as the superintendent or the county trustee, whoever that person might be, that is your responsibility. So, um I don't want anyone on this board to think that they're at a loss of what we're supposed to do because you only have one responsibility. Um, with that being said, um, I'm going to end this little red button. >> Thank you, Dr. Doc, Miss Randle. I am over
059the moon elated >> with the team that's I'm over the moon elated with the team that's in place of Dr. Lucas and Dr. Hosea James and I'm really really really really over the team elated. Dr. Goulby was one of my students and it was her desire to come back and serve her community. She always wanted to do that. She always said that and she flat out did it and she came back and she's doing it in fine fashion. I'm over the moon elated that Dr. Coffee Yes. came in hit the ground running. I'm over the moon, elated that folk had good sense to bring Raphael Guzman back up in here to do what he needs to do because he knows his stuff. The very first first three board meetings he came to, he couldn't even
060calm down. He was so excited to be back in his position. He was so hyped to be back in his position. Dr. Morris, thank you so much for giving the team the autonomy to work their Harry Potter magic. I was crying. Dr. Lucas knows it. She says, "Don't talk about us. We got it. She knows it cuz I'm like, "Give me a break. I'm a classroom teacher. What is this?" And she said, "My team got it." And they kept their word. It's about the students of this district. And they deserve excellence and they deserve us operating in excellence. And I do want to be behind the superintendent. But I got to watch you cuz every now and then something slips through the crack like this PTL. you know, it slips through the cracks. So, I
061have to know what I'm doing and what I'm looking for. Otherwise, I'm letting you down. I am supposed to have your back. I am supposed to support you. You are, you know, in a position to support what we want, but I need to know what I'm looking at, too. Thank you for sending me that project labor agreement. It's 47 pages. I think I'm on page 22, but I want to know what I'm looking at. you know, there's just certain words I got to go through. I just it I'm just I'm just excited that within two years we'll have a fiscal advisor and not a county administrator and the decision making will be back in the board's hands. I am so elating that would not have happened if this team had not come together, rolled up
062their sleeves and done what need to be done. So, thank you very much for an opportunity to speak and I'll stop talking, but I am over the moon elated. Thank you, Miss Random. Mr. Castillo, >> thank you, board president. Uh, thank you, Mrs. Hart, for for that presentation. I think since I joined the board in 2021, I've been looking forward to our our interviews. >> Yeah. um because I welcome the opportunity to discuss what we're doing to improve the district whether it's talking to an audit as yourself or it's talking to prospective parents for the district or where it's talking to former students to know what's going on in the district. I welcome that opportunity because there's so much to share and I could tell from our conversations the same look you have in your
063face now there was a lot of positivity shared even though you're very polite you wanted to make sure I I was I was listened to. Um, so I really appreciate your report and I appreciate all this conversation we had with you and your team to discuss what we're doing right and I think I can't say anything more has been said here, but I just want to add more context to how important our leaders are here on the dis. Their dedication to education is is obvious to anybody who meets them, but their dedication to unified education students for them to be up to audit every year. They don't have to do that in any other district. They do it here because they're dedicated to our students. Whether because they've been working here for 30 years, whether
064because when they came here they fell in love with our students, whether it's because this is home for them and they want to make sure this is home for their potential students as well too or whether they come in our retirement enjoying their grandkids up in pool. They all made this dedication to Ingle Unifi students specifically. So, it's really really exciting to see that we're finally getting to the end of this audit and we're getting the end to this receiverhip and that we're coming back to Englewood Unified because there's a spirit in Englewood that's so strong and it's so prevalent that's going to provide us the right guidance and leadership road map or no road map. We're going to find a way to make sure our district is doing best for our students which include
065you know as a former student some of my family members too who are currently in the district. So while we're doing this, while we're improving our facilities, while we're improving HR to make sure our classrooms are filled, at the same time, we're we're bettering the education that we have currently. So we're doing that job and at the same time making sure that our district is getting better day by day. It's just I cannot thank these individuals more than I and I guess we already all done a pretty good job of doing that so far. So thank you. Thank you again. And I'm over the moon elated about this. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Castillo. >> Mr. Myers. >> Thank you, Madam President. All right. I guess um I'm happy. I'm not over the moon. Okay.
066Um and the reason why I'm happy uh because of the progress that our our cabinet and our county administrator has made. However, I'm not uh totally over the moon because it's our 13th year. >> Yeah. >> And I'm here in two more years. I'm ready to get out now. So >> when we talk about Figmat, we're paying $400,000 a year, correct? >> So that's $800,000 in two years. That could have been diverted to one of our schools. >> Has there ever been a way to find the findings? Okay, we say okay, in two uh two to three months, FICMA will come back instead of the annual review because it is a year. two to three months you give the district to come back and review the findings, see if they've been resolved, and if not,
067then we go out to the annual reveal. But I'm I'm just trying to figure out a way how can we condense it and appease madame vice president before she leaves that we're out of receiverhip. >> Um, has there ever been some thoughts or ideas to try to formulate a plan like that where there's multiple times that FickMack can come in? >> There hasn't. I mean, the way it's laid out is that it's an annual review. And if you if you brought us in within a couple months, the district may not have an opportunity to put the things in place where you're going to see that growth and then you're going to be paying more because you'd be paying for that one and then bring us back on the annual review. So, so, so far there
068hasn't um it doesn't mean um I'm speaking out of turn here. Something we can look into. Let me say that. All right. I'll I'll promise you that. >> So, to that point, Miss Hart, so hold on hold on to that to that point, Miss Hart. So there is an additional cost if you were to come back maybe in three months. >> There is the way it's laid out in statute is that the district is responsible for those costs of the comprehensive review. So if you bring us in then then the district would incur an additional cost. >> Okay. >> Well, thank you. I appreciate that. But great job. Great presentation. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, >> Mr. Myers. I will say this. Um, the county does have the option of if we have
069satisfied the requirements for four of the areas, we can take control of those areas. And so that is really a decision that can be made by Dr. Dorado's office. Um, Patrick, you're sitting over there as our legal counsel. What you say on that? >> That I mean, you're correct. The statute does talk about the possibility of individual areas being restored um potentially one at a time. It's not necessarily all or nothing as the statute's written. So, I I can speak to what the statute says. I can't speak to what Dr. Duardo might say on that. So speaking to the statue from a legal perspective, you've heard that. You've also heard that um there have been school districts that have been in receiverhip that have gotten partial um uh control uh given back to the board.
070So I think that's something that as this board as we move forward with all this great positive um result that that is something that um we can look into. >> Thank you. I I I'll just say this like with the amount of progress that we've been able to make um within these years, right? We got to go for the gusto, guys. Just saying we got to go for the gusto. This is a million dollars that we're getting ready to spend in two years that could have went to improving uh classified salaries or teacher salaries. Like this is wasted money and I'm just being real. I hate to waste money. Not saying on you Shayen because I you take it personally but I I I I think we really have to start thinking intentional. >> Um
071I'm I'm I'm not comfort comforted with with two years. I'm not. That's just me. I'm not. I think it's two years too long. >> And and and let me just give you a little food for thought. All right. Um it it hasn't happened in the 11 years that I've been at FICMAT, but in prior uh districts that have been in receiverhip, just like Dr. McGee spoke to, the district has taken back powers in certain areas that have reached met that benchmark score. I will tell you in a couple of those from what my understanding of the historical piece of it at that point you bring in a superintendent. So the district then hires a superintendent to oversee. So let's say like in this area you guys have three areas now that we're not no longer
072going to review. If Dr. Duardo felt to the need to give the powers back in those three areas. You would hire a superintendent who oversaw those three areas, but you would still have your county administrator who would still need to oversee the two that that we're still reviewing. There has been situations in the past where the district was moving the right direction. You bring in a superintendent, now you got two people leading and and there's been some conflict and that has brought the district backwards in those particular areas. So, I just want to caution you, right? I understand where you're coming from. I understand what you're trying to achieve for the students here. Everything you're doing is for the students of Englewood, right? You've got one sitting right there that you swore in this evening
073that is just so excited to be here and I love to see that. Um so everything you're doing is for the students of Englewood. So I just want to caution you on that that that is a possibility, right? You you just never quite sure what that relationship's going to look like. So, um I I know because of that historical perspective, our point of view is that the district take all five areas back at the same time, right? Um because then it keeps you moving in the same direction, keeps you moving on that progress down the road. Um so just because of what we've seen in the past from is my understanding. So I just wanted to voice that. Okay. >> Yeah. >> I have a question madam president. the the purpose of the two years,
074I just want to be clear for myself. You come and make sure that the goal has been sustained and if it's sustained the second year, that's when you no longer review. >> Yes. Yeah. >> So there's no shortterm evaluation. It's the year. >> Yeah. That's the way it's written, right? is that you not only make that benchmark score of six with no individual standard less than a four and and the reason for coming back an additional year is to make sure that it's sustainable and that it wasn't just a push push push to get there and then you fall backwards, right? Which we know can happen. So that's the way it is set up. Yes. >> I mean I was I didn't like paying you all that money anyway. >> Yeah. Next year it'll be
075less because we only have two years. >> Yes, I did. I was all over about that money. But but but that's the pattern and that's that's the way you have to do it. Uh you know my little grandson ate something. They say he had to stay in the hospital 24 hours on the to to be looking good 24 hours to observe. Um they put him out in four because he was just chatty. He wanted to know everything. He was busy busy. Put him out in four. So I understand that the need to come off and not keep spending money. But I think that's the pattern that's set up. That's the policy that's set up and we just have to write it out. Thank you. But to that point, um, my colleague, uh, Madame Randall, when
076we look at it's they say it's the law. However, this thing, this process is not set in stone. They may have it written as it is set in stone, but like Miss Shayen said, we can bring her back. It's just going to cost us some more. >> Yeah. >> No, I get it. I get it. >> I I get it. But we paying anyway. We're paying a million. That's what I'm saying. We're paying a million dollars. So, hypothetically speaking, if if if if we meet these goals, right, next year >> and then we just so happenedly uh uh digress in the process, then that's going to be another two years that we're going to have to be reviewed. So, no, listen, listen to me. We we don't know that. We don't know that. So, my
077thing is, how can we work intentionally to get this situation solved? How can we work intentionally to get this situation solved so that we don't go into a 15th year? Because >> as I as I as as >> people are in place to make sure that we get a return >> I mean we we could hope people in place but we aren't God so we don't know people's future >> and that's the purpose of two years >> turn >> I mean that's yeah that's >> and we've seen so much turnaround in this district that's what I'm saying so I just >> stability now we don't have to be like >> again I I can't work on hypotheticals okay >> hypothetical I'm working on the report >> well that if you look at the report you'll
078you'll see why they had to come back. It It's a catch 22 for me because had we had competent people in the past that could follow the road map, we wouldn't be here in a 13 or 14 year >> years ago. >> And so you have to look at an evaluation that's sustainable. Just because you did good this week, okay, are you going to do good the next week? So in order to evaluate that, that is the purpose of having two evaluations. The thing that gets me that I hope we all pay attention to is Fikmat is only here to guide you. That's all to tell you where you're where you've gone wrong and where you have to improve. The problem that I've had these last 13 years is they act like they couldn't figure
079out where they went wrong and where they needed to improve. So, in order for them to be able to evaluate a competent um uh journey, so to speak, they have to come back. They have to look at everything they asked you to fix and you didn't fix it and give you an opportunity to fix it 13 years. So that's what I'm mad about. I'm not I mean it's it's a dog on shame that we have to keep paying this money, but it's even more uh egregious that we have had the most incompetent um um staff um trying to navigate to me a very simple road map. The road map was harder the longer we stayed in receiverhip. So, um that's all you know, we just up here talking cuz we don't get to talk. you
080know, we're having a private meeting, you know, talking to each other. >> We got a good team. >> I can just interject a couple of a couple of comments here just for assurance for the board. Number one, because we'll only be reviewing two areas next year, the cost will will be reduced. Number one, and the other thing I just want to point out is, for example, in the area of financial management, there are 28 recommendations. So, it's not just Mr. Guzman turning on a switch to implement those 28 recommendations. He's going to have to be here day and night. Um and so you when you read the the recommendations there there's there is a lot of work to be done. We will get it done. I'm confident we will get it done. And the third
081point I wanted to make is just to assure you you do have a leadership in place that just renewed contracts for three years. And that stability of leadership is what makes the difference. And I I I don't know Dr. McGee mentioned it at the beginning, but um yeah, what what we need to do is be looking out for the health of these folks here and making sure that they stay happy and healthy and that they, as you did so well this evening, recognized them for their progress. I I feel badly because we got into a little bit of discussion and didn't give our student board member an opportunity. Um, Miss Evans, so we could just make sure we h give Miss Amaya Hazard an opportunity. >> One more thing, like you said, we are looking
082at the new contracts that they promised that they were going to be here. They got a new contract and they were going to stay and work although they have gotten out of their parts of uh ThickMac's recommendations, but they still promised that they're going to be here and continue the work so that we don't slide back. We don't want to have to fall back at all in any area. So, we're going to make sure that they keep moving ahead and we're going to help Raphael to keep moving ahead. So, I'm still excited about the progress that we've made and I thank them again. And Amaya, do you have any comments that you've you've heard all this? This is new to you, but if you have any comments, please feel free. >> Um, yeah, nothing as
083significant as what was said already. I would just like to thank Miss Hart for her presentation and the dedication from the board members and the cabinet members and that us students do appreciate it. >> Thank you. Well, thank thank you, M. President Evans. Um, and our next presentation, our final presentation this evening really is, I think, a demonstration of the hard work Mr. Goodman is going to give a presentation on some of the projects that have been done this summer. Because if you read in the area of facilities, the recommendations in that report and you really look at the comprehensive report, the recommendations across all areas, one of the things we know we have to do is improve the facilities in which our students attend. And so you'll see a little bit of the work
084that's been done this summer. And I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Guzman. >> Thank you, Dr. Morris. And uh good evening uh board president Evans, our our board members, our community. Uh good evening to everyone. Uh we'll go ahead and discuss a little bit about this uh district facilities program update. Um so to start off, I just want to say this summer is probably one of the most one of the busiest summers that our facilities maintenance and operation department has had in in in I would say in its history. We have done a lot of work this summer and I just want to start by saying thank you to our facilities team. Uh our director uh of facility of construction, Mr. Jordan Miles, our our director of of maintenance and operation, Mr. John
085Nunees, and all of our custodial staff, our maintenance and operations staff, um and everyone else, our Cordova team, everyone, I just want to thank you for this busy summer and all the work that was done. We have done tremendous uh amounts of work and we'll go ahead and get into this as as we go along here. Um one of the things that happened this summer was the consolidations and I do want to give credit to where credit is due and uh the leading cabinet member for that was Dr. Lucas and so we appreciate your leadership Dr. Lucas uh in getting in in helping us to get all of this done u and uh of course founder Salari for their support. Uh but we were able to move uh you know and that's a lot of
086work, a lot of hard work that all happened. Um so I just wanted to recognize that districtwide we also made some movements of you know anything from books to chairs to storage units. All of that was done. We had some exciting events this summer. Um as you know we had the groundbreaking ceremony for Englewood High School which we're really excited about. Uh Balfer Batty is our our uh contractor that is doing that project for us. Uh we also had the Sentinel School ribbon cutting on August 8th. We did a If you haven't been to Sentinella, it looks fantastic. I invite you to go. It looks beautiful. Um and we're excited. All new flooring, all new furniture, painted. It's It's just tremendous the amount of work that was done there. It looks like a brand new
087school and we're just really thankful including all the landscape and all the outside areas. We also had the new Keelso school uh ribbon cutting ceremony. Although I, you know, as we all preferred, the name Kelso is is still, you know, up for uh determination. But I just want to say we were able to do the ribbon cutting on August 15th. And um we have our first soccer field uh that was installed there at New Keelso. And we're just really excited about that, all the work that was done there. Um and just the whole school was touched even even more so than Sentinella. And so all of that was uh really difficult to do in the amount of time that we had because we have to get through DSA. We have to get DSA approval uh
088for a lot of these things. DSA is a division of the state architect. So to be able to do a lot of this work, we really had to push it. So I'm thankful to our facilities teams and of course uh everyone that participated in this and pushing us. Overall, we modernized 22 classrooms. We installed new furniture, new a new synthetic tur field, a new digital marquee, and we also want to thank the Clippers for their work and their support in uh some of the outer playground areas and the asphalt replacements that were done. So, we're just really thankful for them and all of the work that was done this summer at Newcastle. So, thank you to everyone that participated. It was really difficult and I just want to say the site looks amazing. Please go
089visit when you have a chance. If you're a parent in the community, we encourage you to go check out Newcastle. It is a brand new school. It looks beautiful. Um, Inglewood High School United had a lot of work done as well. We modernized 21 classrooms. Um, and again, this was all done with a very, very short timeline and uh, we were able to complete that. The gymnasium and auditorium had some upgrades. We did new carpet in the auditorium. We did HVAC and utility repairs, asphalt and concrete replacements, and of course, parking lot improvements. at Inglewood High School. So that's uh what happened there at Inglewood High School United. We also installed our our first real like camera system at the district. This is something that's really important for security. And as you can see there
090on the screen, this is a a single shot of multiple cameras that we have that will help our security uh in the district in the long run. This is through the verata system that is fed over the air. So, um, it's at any point in time from my phone right now, I would be able to log in and check out what's happening. So, we do plan on going out for an RFP to hopefully make this go districtwide so that we have a robust security system for all of our schools. Um, Sentinella, we also again modernized several of those classrooms. We installed brand new furniture in every single classroom at Sentinella. So, it looks fantastic. We actually did a new parking area as well. uh in Centanella for staff and uh we did some ADA and
091exterior uh upgrades. So that's what happened at Centineella. At Oak Street, we did renew some of those portables. We installed new carpet, uh new tack boards, uh painted, and of course, we did some of the work that the clippers did at at that site as well with the asphalt and the painting of those play areas. Across the district, we did a lot of playground repairs. We did a report and a study of any dangerous areas in any of our playgrounds across the district. We took care of all of those dangerous areas for our students. So, we wanted to make sure our kids received uh and are able to play safely and we were able to do that. So, we do have the early education complex that's still uh underway and and so we're still planning
092that area. And Woodri Monroe Woodruff Monroe also received a camera upgrade. Uh we do have that as well at Woodruff Monroe. Uh we replaced some of those areas that had decomposed granite with artificial turf because that granite was causing a lot of problems. Um and so and we also had some playground upgrades and repairs from the Clippers. So that area was also touched. Um here you could see another feed of the cameras now at Woodworth Monroe. So we have at Inglewood High School and Woodworth Monroe going over the air at Payne School. We had flooring replacements done at several of our middle school rooms. Uh we had some upgrades for the playground repairs and uh new hardcourt areas as well. And uh Bennett Q also received some upgrades. We did some exterior painting all over
093uh Bennett Q. We did touch-up painting as well. New hardcourt play areas is if you go over there uh it looks really nice. Um and we do have that big construction project that's going to be starting soon uh for the uh the new classroom building that's going to look amazing. But BenQ also received upgrades. Frankie Parent, we uh worked on re-roofing. That project should be completing here relatively soon this month. Uh we had some playground upgrades and repairs. Again, thank you to the Clippers for those uh items. And we had some new hardcore play areas and of course the playground repairs that we did at that site. So, Frank Dear also received uh some upgrades. City Honors is in the middle of an ongoing uh project to have the conversion of the library into an
094innovation hub that we're really excited about. We did some interior painting as you can see in the lower lefthand corner and we also had the rekeying of city honors at Latihara. We did some playground upgrades and repairs around the area and some new hardcore play areas and we also are currently in the midst of our rekeying project there at Latia. So um we had that work there. All in all, I just want to say every single one of our schools had some sort of project done. So I'm just so thankful for our team and for everything that they did. Um, for as far as community outreach, uh, we had, as I mentioned before, the groundbreaking ceremonies and some ribbon cutings. Uh, we do have a facilities advisory committee. We met on August 14th. It was
095a really great meeting if you want to check back on the website and look at that. Uh, and we have a new one, uh, I'm sorry, another meeting on November 6th. We've also been meeting with our CVOC, our citizens bond oversight committee. And, uh, we plan on really just engaging our community as we move forward. So to talk about just really briefly the 2526 facilities project. So I'll have Mr. Jordan Miles to come up. So thank you very much. [Applause] Thank you Mr. Griezmann. Uh good evening everyone. Uh just a quick look ahead of the major projects that we'll be taking on uh this this school year. Again, these are the four major projects that I know we've been presenting to you uh for some time. So there's the reconstruction of the child development center
096or CDC, the new classroom building at Bennett Q that's been designed for middle school students, uh the early education complex project over at Oak Street School, and then last but certainly not least is the reconstruction of Ingwood High School. And again, I know that you've seen some of these slides uh back in June, but just wanted to provide some quick updates for the CDC project. Uh we do have approval of the design from the state, the division of the state architect or DSA. We've selected our contractor and we are actually going to be starting uh construction activities on site next week. So, starting Monday, you'll see the contractor start mobilizing on site. We've also purchased the modular buildings for this project. Again, modular construction is permanent construction. It's not like a portable or a bungalow.
097It's a lot like those newer classrooms we have at Woodworth Monroe. So, it's permanent. It's just pre-fabricated off-site, brought on one day, installed on a permanent foundation. Uh so again, that's going to be starting next week. We expect this project to be complete by next summer at the latest. It likely will be earlier than that. Moving on to Bennett Q. Again, this is uh the the new middle school classroom building. Uh know we've talked about the scope of this project for some time. Uh similar to the CDC project, we've recently received uh DSA approval of the design. Uh in front of you this evening is the agreement for the general contractor for this project. And then we'll start our pre-construction work. We anticipate construction to start on site next month and then also be uh
098completed next summer. For Oak Street School, we did receive $5.4 million from Office of Public School Construction or OPFC to build new preschool, TK and Kindergarten classrooms on site. The scope of this project has changed uh since the the start of the project. So what you're seeing now going left to right uh currently that is the the green space then the existing parking lot and then we have 10 portable buildings there. At the end of this project we'll have seven new preschool TK and kindergarten classrooms there where the the green space currently resides. Uh the parking lot will remain and then where those portable buildings are now is where we'll have our second uh soccer field. Again artificial turf there. That project we're wrapping up design now. We're expecting to submit that to the state
099to DSA in October. So either at our September or our October board meeting, uh you'll see a more in-depth presentation on that uh project similar to what we did for uh CDC or Bennett Q. And again, we expect construction to start next summer and then be complete the following summer in 2027. And then uh lastly, Inglewood High School. Again, uh the largest scope uh that our pro that our district has taken on in decades. Uh we submitted the first package of that project to the state back in April. Uh we're wrapping up design for the rest of the site now. That will be complete by the end of this this uh school year. We did hold our ribbon cutting ceremony back in June. We're currently working on abatement. So that's rem the removal of the
100interiors of the buildings. You'll actually see true demolition work on site by the end of this calendar year once that abatement work has been completed and once the environmental assessment work has also been uh wrapped up. And again, you can see here the project completion is at the end of calendar year 2027. And at this point, I'll turn it back over to Mr. Guzman to wrap us up. Thank you, Jordan. And so just again looking ahead, we're going to continue to uh move on with our construction activ uh DSA and make sure that we meet their requirements and that we're holding on to that. Um we have to uh really wrap up our facilities master plan and that's really exciting as well. That's going to be something we're going to continue to work on. Um
101continue to hold community events as we meet certain milestones. will have groundbreings, urban cutings, those types of items, and continue to provide to the board and the community with regular updates on individual progress and the program as a whole. So, we have a lot that we're doing. The good thing is that, you know, um our last project or the longest project we have is Zinglewood High School that should be wrapping up at the end of 2027, which is uh two years from now. Um, so we're really excited that in these two years all of these items will be done and uh we're just excited about all of that for our community and uh just wanted I would be remiss without just thanking Dr. Morris for his leadership and vision with all of this. He's really
102the guy behind it all and so I just want to thank you Dr. Morris for guiding us and um showing us the way and I think we're just we're just implementing that vision. our board members as well for all of your input, all of the collaboration, all of the suggestions, all the ideas from the board. I really appreciate that, your calls, uh the input that you have on the different sites. A lot of what we did is because of you. So, thank you to the board as well. And thank you. Turn it back over to you [Applause] board members. Do we have any questions for Mr. Guzman? Anessa, you have a question? Yes, I do. Uh, but first I before I ask my questions, again, thank you. Um, and thank you to facility advisory committee.
103We have a member sitting to the right of me and we have a member sitting in the audience. Their work is important for us to make sure that we are allocating and using our funds properly and directly impact um directly impacting the students through these facilities improvements. Um, you know, you you brought it up. We had a lot of conversations about what we could do to our buildings because, you know, today I went to visit my schools, right, and some other schools in in throughout the district. The buildings that were not improved, you know, some of them didn't have AC today and it's a hot day and the AC, you know, students, the teacher was creative. They walked around, they they found shade, they did some outdoor class time. And I appreciate Dr. Morris and
104Mr. Nes for being so um uh to addressing that right away and making sure there's fans in those classrooms. And then you I walk into the new ones, right, where the AC's blasting, the stu is everything's clean, everything's new, and you can see that different energy. So, this is desperately needed for our district considering the heat that happens here in this city. And considering how it's going to get hotter and hotter, I did notice that walking through these campuses, we are not provided a lot of green space or a lot of shade structure that could be brought by trees and other types of green activity and green spaces. Um, you know, that's that's one of my passions, right? Ever since Oak Street Garden, I just been in love with building more green spaces for our
105schools. And I've seen that we've led in many ways in terms of mental health and and we've led in ways of diversity, but this is something that LUD is kind of beating us where they're able to get these grants and partnerships with tree people and organizations that are able to build trees on school campuses. So, I know the answer to this question is we'll find the money and we'll do it. Um, so I just wanted to see if you could provide a a report or an update on how those efforts may have been or how we as board members or as community members who here listening could help provide uh opportunities for our schools to be more green. >> Uh, sure. No, the that's a really important uh observation uh uh Mr. CIO I think
106to be uh precise with it. Um, if you go to New Council, you'll see a lot of green uh at Newcastle, a lot of trees. That's because um the state itself is asking school districts to do this. So as we do a lot of these new projects, if we go back to like for example Eng High School, I think we have a picture there uh that shows I mean the upper left hand kind of shows it a little bit, but we have a lot of green areas planned for that uh because of the concerns that you're bringing forward. This is something at the state level. So all of our new construction has this in uh vision incorporated. Um, so we'll definitely continue to make sure that we do more than just the bare minimum uh
107on that area. For what we have remaining, of course, we'll continue to look at what grants are out there that we could utilize to do some of that. A lot of the issues though that come with green areas and why it's not so easy is because for mostly whenever you're changing like from concrete to grass, you have to involve DSA or vice versa. Or if you're trying to put a shade structure, you have to involve DSA because it involves path of travel and those items. But we will do an assessment. We're doing an assessment of solar uh soon as well, an RFP for for solar energy and we could definitely do one for more green areas. >> And um I think my Oak Street PTA would be upset if I didn't thank you again for
108that shade structure you built when we brought the attention to you. You addressed it right away. Of course, it took a time to go through DSA and all that, but we have a beautiful strong shade structure that's used, especially during summer school when there was a lot of activities outside. So, thank you so much for providing that for our schools. >> Thank you. Any other board member have any comments? >> Yes. >> This is a very good exciting time. What I want to know for the project labor agreements, >> do you check to see if those are in place or does that come from Dr. Morris? >> The project Mr. Miles. >> So, so we don't have a project labor agreement that's active currently. So, I'm not um that's that's where we are today. So
109the responsibility rests with the county administrator form. >> Okay. Um and we are voting on this today. >> This is not this is just a presentation item. This is not a a Okay. So I misread it. Thank you very much. Sure. Thank you. >> I just wanted to say thank you Mr. goes men for a very comprehensive uh report you and uh Mr. Miles. Um Mr. Castile, we did have an organization that planted trees for us, but like he said, it's it's not as easy as, you know, just sticking a seed in the ground and watching it grow. But um if the um city and the county is making homeowners and landlords put an air condition in their properties. Now, I think that with climate change that there are some RFPs out there and grants
110that we can be looking at that would secure many of our campuses with um shade and a cooling system because um I probably would have been pissed off if I'd gone in one of those classrooms and they all cool and then I go into another one and they sweating like little little beavers. So, you know, that's uh something that I think we definitely should look at. Climate change is real and as we build our new facilities, I know we're going to have them, but as we look for funding um for many of our old facilities, um I think that's something that we really should consider. um all of us looking to see who has money to do that. So, with that being said, thank you so much. I love looking at all these new renderings
111and I'm especially happy because three of my schools look amazing, especially Sentinel. So, um kudos to the team for just making the dream work. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Meyers. Thank you, Madam President, and uh Honorable Castillo. So, uh what we discussed last week at our uh facilities meeting was HVAC machines. And one question that I did propose um because I think it was a little over 2,000 uh air filters that we use. So, first question was, you know, how many filters does one HVAC uh utilize? And then how often is it switched out? And so if you're looking at Oak Street being by the freeway, one thing we don't realize is it's so much pollution in the air and it goes and clogs our machines up. And so we um are currently um
112contracting out for HVAC services, which was one suggestion is that we try to train our maintenance staff to try to tend to these machines. But um we have so many different types of machines, so it it could be a challenge. But I guarantee you, you notify these guys, they'll be on it. Um, great job, uh, Ralph and, uh, your little self over there, Jordan, my guy. Uh, yeah, me and Jordan got a different relationship. Uh, so I I just appreciate you guys. Um, thank you for everything you do. Thank you for coming out to BenQ yesterday. Um, and just really showing up and um, showing things that can be approved. But great presentation, guys. Thank you. >> Thank you. Amay, did you have any comments at this point? >> I want to thank you also
113the schools that I visited on uh Tuesday, Monday. I forgot. Been on vacation. I forgot the days of the week. But anyway, I did visit my schools and the air conditioners were blowing. So, I mean, I walked in the classroom. I thought, "Oh my goodness, it's freezing in here." But that's a good thing because we're going to have some hot days. No, there was nobody in there. But still the buildings looked amazing. I can tell all the work that you guys have done this summer. It's it was amazing to walk on the campuses and see all the great work that you've done. So I want to thank you Jordan that uh they talked about all the classrooms had new chairs and the floors were done. It was just amazing to see uh the facilities. And
114if we're going to get a get out of receiverhip for facilities, we're well on our way. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Guzman. I just want to get the last word in and just make three points. Our facilities committee last week did make a recommendation to Mr. Guzman at a couple of our schools. We've been fortunate enough to install two water bottle filling stations. And believe it or not, a water bottle filling station because you have to run electricity and plumbing to it is about $10,000. and they did make a recommendation that we continue and make sure we have water bottle filling stations at every school. There's nothing like a student who may be thirsty getting a chilled glass of water. I'll tell you it makes a difference. Uh second
115point I I just wanted to make um specifically to Miss Randall's question is we do have a group in Rich LA um that the Rams are sponsoring and they're going to be planting gardens at two of our schools. the new Kelso Woodworth Monroe. They're committed to doing two more schools next year. And so it's a school garden, but they also maintain it. They help the school to maintain it. Uh and the last uh point I wanted to make is one of the very clear Fikmat recommendations is not only that we have a preventative maintenance plan, which this board put in place for the first time last year, but also Mr. Arona is returning and one of his primary responsibilities Mr. Guzman assigned is making sure that the facil's preventative maintenance plan is being implemented and
116supporting the folks at the school site to make sure it happens. So we're making progress. That's I think the bottom line. And when you look at what those FICMAT recommendations, get your preventative maintenance plan in place and make sure you're monitoring to make sure that preventative maintenance is done. Um, that's one of the 28 recommendations in the area of facilities. Um, with that, that ends our presentation portion of this evening's meeting. We'll move on to public comments. And oh my goodness, sorry. I sorry, we have three more presentations. Um, our next presentation is actually a very exciting presentation. Dr. Carlos McGee will give us an update on the amazing work of the Inglewood Educational Foundation. Uh so we'll turn it over to Dr. McGee. Thank you, Dr. Morris. I'm just going to have a very
117brief report on on some of the um activities that we have funded and some of the activities that we will be funded. As you know, the board gave um the educational foundation gave uh over $100,000 for the students to attend the um uh July 4th parade in Washington DC. We have an itemized report on that, but I'm still looking for um um the overall report, but the students, they had an unbelievable experience. We have Hispanic Heritage Month. We've been asked to make a contribution for books. So, we'll be doing that. We've also been asked to um sponsor an appreciation dinner for People Achievement um the staff that help with that. So, we'll be funding that. We're already funding the child development center for Miss Market. We'll be um funding that through October. We got a
118grant to do that. So, um, hopefully the grant is renewed and we can do it for an additional six months. Um, and I wanted to thank our board member, Ken Bilip, who continues to support City Honors, um, um, STEM initiatives. Um, he sits on the board with me. And a special thank you to Dr. Coffee, our board treasurer, who keeps writing all these checks. Um, so that's my report for the evening. Do you have any questions? >> Okay. >> No question. But madam board president, thank you so much again for your farmers markets because you know obviously we spoke about this food insecurity was a real issue in our communities. And when I reached out to Lauren who you worked with on this uh farmers market to see if there's any leftovers so I can
119make deliveries uh for some of our families. There weren't any leftovers. Families were able to take advantage of this opportunity. It was a great success and I know this Friday is going to be another great success at the CDC. So, thank you so much for providing much neededed resources and really good resources like some really good food, some really good red meat and all that uh to our to our community members. And if we um um we have a grant that um sponsored that, but if we could possibly maybe spread the farmers market off to I would I call our four corners of our um district. Um that's something that you know we could definitely look into. Um, we do have a food desert and food insecurity here in Englewood is I mean it's it's
120really bad and we've been fortunate the the farmers market that we've been dealing with I think uh Dr. Lucas can attest to it because she did come by. We have really, really good food, you know, and that's why there was nothing left because, you know, we had steak, hamburger, meat. I mean, just really good produce that you you would want if you were shopping. So, um, let's see if we can make that happen on four corners of our school district. I am so sorry. Our next present presentation this evening is an audience audit and finance committee update which will be presented by Mr. Brandon Meyers. >> Thank you Dr. Morris. Good evening community. Uh my name is Mr. Brandon Myers as you already know and tonight I'll be providing an update on the work of
121the audit and finance committee, one of my favorite committees as well. So Mr. Rafael Guzman delivered a detailed explanation of the 2023 2024 audit offering a clear and transparent overview of the district's financial status and audit findings. Uh the report reaffirmed the strength of the district's financial practices and highlighted key areas of compliance and improvement. Following the presentation, Dr. Morris recommended adding an audit update as a reoccurring agenda item in future meetings. This will help ensure ongoing monitoring and support greater transparency for the community. And my other favorite guy, Mr. Sid Bont, also provided additional uh commentary reinforcing the importance of consistent financial oversight. So now turning to the 2025 2026 adopted budget. Mr. Guzman addressed the district continued reliance on consultants. Thank you, sir. again and noting that it is an ongoing area for
122review and strategic planning. He also shared updates on the position controls list detailing current staffing levels and planning, excuse me, and and any planned uh adjustments. Finally, he provided an overlook on capital and facility projects of the majority of projects are expected to be completed by summer 2026. The completion of Inglewood High School United. No, not it won't be Ingwood High United then. Uh Inglewood High School is currently projected for late 2027 to early 2028. Uh these updates reflect the district's continued commitment to long-term planning and improvement of our facilities for students, staff, and our broader community. Thank you. And that's my presentation. >> Thank you for your report, Mr. Myers and Dr. McGee. Um Any questions? >> Just going to comment on that was fast and efficient and included a lot of information. So,
123we will finally move on. I'm not getting ahead of myself this time to public comments on agendaized and non-aggendaized items to provide an opportunity for the public to address county administrator and board on agenda and non-aggenda items. Public comment card must be completed and submitted to the safety assistant who's stationed at the entrance of the meeting room before the public comment period begins. Members of the public who wish to speak about an item on the posted agenda must indicate the item number on the public comment card. Three minutes will be allotted to each speaker with a maximum of 30 minutes for comments on agenda and non-aggenda items. If a the public comment cards exceed 10, which I don't believe they do, the time would be reduced at the discretion of the proing presiding officer. Anyone
124who disrupts, disturbs, or impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting will be required to exit the meeting room. Guidelines for public comment are in accordance with board bylaw. Board bylaw 9323. And I just want to remind members of the public, the Brown Act does not allow the board members or county administrator or staff to respond directly to public comments. Miss Sbrano, would you take us through this evening's public comments, please? >> Yes, Dr. Mars. We're going to start with public comments on agenda items. We have one public comment for agenda items. This 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. >> Uh, thank you. We just received and greetings to everyone. Um, I'm going to use my
125time judiciously. Um, we just received the report from Figmat. Um, I listened to the history, but I have the other other pages of that history went into receiverhip 2012. Upon that, um, some people called for it. Um I for one do not believe that um when we were in receiverhip for fiscal reasons that the structure was an honest um uh attempt at at assisting. And I say that because uh when I joined the district in ' 9192, we had a fiscal advisor then. And since we just were we just had fiscal uh or the reason for receiverhip was for fiscal reasons, why couldn't we just get the fiscal uh advisor again what we had when when I entered this district and if you were here I don't know I know Miss Randall was here his
126name was Dr. Bertran and every decision after it went through the board. We still maintain autonomy and um you know the final fiscal decision went through him but we were allowed to you know make decisions. So I I saw it as disenfranchisement. I still feel that way right now. Um moving forward we had an audit in 2015. They found all the faults with uh the state-run um fumbling that occurred with leadership, but it still was disenfranchising and autonomy. So, I disagree that when a AB-1840 was passed that that somehow was an improvement on management. No, I disagree because I don't think Dr. Duardo does understand this community. I'mma totally disagree. Um in terms of um what we are celebrating now by the time we get out that is 75% of the maximum time you can
127spend in receiverhip. 20 years is the maximum time you can spend in receiverhip. By the time we get out making the progress that we have that'll be 15 of those 20 years. That's 75%. So when you celebrate, it's not like we haven't taken blows here. You know, it's like ba battered spouse syndrome. It's if it's not a punch or a kick, you think you have improvement when you get a slap. No, that's not where we are. And I want us to always as a community understand that no one can better serve our community than we can. We have proven it time and time again. the achievements, the pupil uh achievement. One section was what, three years in a row with zeros. That shows that we have um great progress, but it comes from within us.
128Okay? So, don't don't lose focus, you know. Don't chase, oh, be celebrate cuz Figmat comes in and gives you a score. We earned it and we had it from the beginning. Thank you. >> Thank you. We're going to transition to public comments on non-aggenda items. The first public comment is from Brianna Dorsy. Please come to the podium to address your public comments on non-aggenda items. You have three minutes. You may begin. Hello and good evening. My name is Briana Dorsy. I am a sixth period carpenters apprentice out of the Western States Carpenters Union. And my purpose tonight, speaking in front of you guys again, is to um pretty much re um reintroduce the idea of considering utilizing carpenter union carpenters when it comes to the updates and the modernization of the Englewood school district. Now,
129I have been out of work since December 18th, 2024. And to see all of these different updates to these schools, they are amazing. But for me to this is this is in my backyard. This is something that is local for me where I would be able to work in the same district where I live, where I am a part of the union. I would prefer to pretty much bring in money into my household and also spend that money from my household in the community where I live. So to see these updates to the school district and not be a part of it, you know, it kind of struck a nerve. I'm not going to lie. But also, it's not just me, but it's also this sea of orange that you see behind me. for us
130to be able to work and spend money and earn money in the same area where we live and where our kids go to school and where a lot of us well I can't say us but a lot of the union members grew up. I am actually from St. Louis, Missouri, but I relocated a little far from home. But what I will say is the same way that I feel like St. Louis is my home, I feel like Englewood is my home. I feel comfortable. I live here. My kids go to school here, and I am just as much of a part of this community as everyone else who grew here, grew up here. So, for me, as well as other members of the Carpenters Union to be able to build and update the school districts,
131the different schools, um the playgrounds, the classrooms, and things like that. I just think that this PLA agreement should be reconsidered and extended for a longer amount of time so that way we can work in our backyard. Thank you guys. >> Thank you. Our second public comment is from Pedro Werta. Please come to the podium to address your public comment and non-aggenda items. You have three minutes. You may begin. >> Good evening board members. Um my name is Pedro Werta. I'm a representative here for local 562 carpenters. Uh pretty much as we were hearing here, we're all for the improvements on all the school systems, right? Have our kids grow up, become adults, and have jobs, good jobs, right? Livable wages where they can work here and live here, right? So, I mean, we heard
132him say it. Uh, there's no PLA agreement on this uh school projects right now. So, what does that mean? Like how he said, Buffer Batty is at that school right now at the high school. And we went over there and they pretty much kicked us out. Said there's no PLA agreement here. You guys can't be here. You guys got to go. Why? What are they hiding? What's going on? Is there tax fraud going on? Um, these are all questions that come up, right? And usually that's the case. So when there is a PLA agreement, what does that mean? There's implementation of local hire as the young lady was saying here, right? You live here, you work here. What does that mean? Also helps reduce pollution, right? You don't got people coming from the Inland Empire
133driving all the way here to work here and then going back over there from uh these subcontractors that probably stiffen them on their pay or whatnot. And then uh other other thing PLA's implement apprenticeship right skilled local workforce uh people that graduate from these high schools can actually work at these high schools, help build them, help better them, right? So they're skilled and trained. We have a bunch of apprenticeship training centers here in the South Bay in the Southern California. Actually, we have three. San Diego also, but just sticking to this area. We have one down the street here in Carson where they can go become apprentices and work at the school where they're at. Also, the community here. You don't have to be right out of school, right? You live here, you become a
134carpenter, you go to the apprenticeship training, you become an apprentice, you could work here. You live here, you work here. That's what a PLA is all about. Better jobs, wages, and benefits for everybody, right? Um, so what does that mean that high school? That means the community is not receiving the full benefits of local jobs, apprentichip access, and labor protections that PLA's offered. We must extend this uh PLA for at least five more years. Many uh major school projects are still planning or just beginning. Extending the PLA will ensure these future projects are covered and that the local workers finally benefit. This is our chance to make it right and deliver the original promise of the PLA. Englewood High is the first project under a new bond and there's no PLA on there. The general
135contractor's bought for baiting as I I explained earlier. It's being rebuilt but there's no PLA. I'm sorry. Can I speak a little bit more? I'm almost done. Um, >> no. Sorry. We have other public comments. >> Thank you guys for your um attention. Our third public comment is from Edgar Diaz. Please come to the podium. Mr. Diaz. Edgar Diaz. You have three minutes. You may begin. >> All right. Good evening. My name is Edgar Diaz and I'm here today as a resident and an alumni of IUSD. As an alumni and now a first generation student at Stanford University, I'm here to voice my concern around all of the ICE rates and activity in Englewood. I'm back home to support our community at a time when education is being threatened by a presidential administration that villainizes
136and is actively persecuting immigrant families. ICE rays are not just a federal issue. They are happening in our city. August 12th and August 18th, immigrants were deported or were detained at the Home Depot Home Depot in Century Plaza. History shows us that when we have these encroachments on basic rights, they don't stop. The growing fear from ICE raids is so overwhelming that our own neighbors are too afraid to stop to step outside, not to go to work, not send their kids to school, and not even to purchase groceries. I came back home as a worried son, brother, and community member. Now that schools have has begun, we are concerned that the growing fear will result in declining attendance at school and lead to fear while at school. The ICE rates are disrupting the very foundation
137of safety and trust that our schools are supposed to protect. We recognize that this school board has passed resolutions trying to address some of these concerns in February. But the political landscape is always changing. Children cannot learn where they are in fear. Teachers cannot teach when students are carrying the weight of uncertainty every single day. As an Ingwood alumni, I stand here heartbroken and as students carry the burden of political persecution. IUSD gave me the chance to dream and attend Staffford University and every ch a child here deserves the same opportunity. I urge this board to take a stand to make it clear that our schools are sanctuaries of learning and time to act is now. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our fourth public comment is from Yita Gonzalez. Miss Gonzalez, please come to the
138podium to address your public comments on non-aggenda items. You have three minutes. You may begin. Good evening. My name is Alita Gonzalez and I'm a resident in Englewood in Trusty Area 3 and 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 also voice my concerns around all the ICE raids that are currently happening in our city. As was mentioned on Tuesday, August 12th, several migrant workers were detained by ICE at the Home Depot in Century Plaza. The community held a vigil on Wednesday, August 13th in response. And this past Monday, August 18th, more migrant workers were detained by ICE agents at the same Home Depot, not far from the schools in Trusty Area 3. These ongoing ICE raids in Englewood and
139neighboring cities in the South Bay, are causing people to live in constant fear. And as students go back to school, we're concerned that this fear will result in declining attendance at school or fear while they're in school. We should not have to wait until someone in our schools or near our sto school schools are detained by ICE to take action. We need to take action now. Other school districts have passed resolutions that create or reinforce sanctuary policies that support students and their families and that also support ongoing litigation and legislation like AB49 and SB48 at the state level to ensure that existing mandated protections are strengthened on how to respond to federal agencies in our schools. We urge you all to stand alongside immigrants in Englewood and that you meet with community leaders to discuss
140how to work together on this to provide more protections and resources for members of our community that are currently being impacted by the ice raids and activity. Thank you. Thank you. Our fifth public comment is from Paola 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 Pao Gonzalez and I am a resident of Englewood and an alumni of the Englewood Unified School District that is a current student at Teachers College Columbia University. I am here to voice my concerns as well about the current ice rates and activity in Englewood. As students are returning to school, I'm concerned that the growing fear around ice will create a climate of anxiety and a heightened sense of fear
141while at school, an environment in which no student can safely learn. We need our schools to ensure that they are places of safety and support. And so I urge this board to communicate its commitment to protecting students and their families. I also ask that you meet with community leaders to provide protection and resources to those impacted. Thank you. >> Thank you. [Applause] Our seventh public comment is from Mr. John Hughes. Mr. Hughes, please come to the podium to address your public comment on agenda items. You have three minutes. You may begin. >> Um thank you. I um I want to speak about um our conditions, you know, here um opening day and what how we can better more efficiently utilize um some of our resources since we've um closed uh so many campuses. Um I
142think we need to we should have a uh accurate evaluation of uh materials, air conditioning. We're talking about air conditions and we have them, but uh we should be um ready to move those um resources to where they are needed. Um there's no excuse for having a classrooms um you know like easy bake ovens. You know, we can't have still uh children come in to um and not be prepared. And I don't think we were prepared. And I don't think we understood the magnitude of uh moving both personnel as well as um the facilities and the ability to to receive all of the students. Another thing when we talk about rightsizing schools, boy, we have to rightsize classrooms, too. And I don't see that our classrooms are rightsized and we have all this heat coming
143and we have children packed in in classes um and we're weren't ready to receive them. So these are things that we need to uh be more effective and efficient at. Um also in terms of um when I spoke about visiting schools, that's what I was speaking about. We we have to be there. We have to go in because it cannot be communicated just by a letter, an email. When you actually walk into a classroom and you see uh children, students um without without enough um seats to sit down or when you walk into the classroom and you feel the sweltering heat or the um the um uh for a better word chaos because there was just so much movement. Um we have to we have to see that in order to effect a plan that
144will um better prepare. So when we look at our resources, we look at redistribution, why are we having uh campuses crowded um and and and we have um bungalows that probably could sit on a field out there and and accommodate um um students. Why are um some of our our special uh needs students who are still marginalized, who are still treated as second class as far as um what I see um why are they being asked to leave their classrooms and and give up their um uh uh privacy and everything that they deserve because we haven't effectively looked at our facilities and understand that we have too many uh uh students and not enough classes to accommodate them. We have to do better. So, I'm I'm asking and would like for everyone to come take
145a walk with me. I'll take you to every class. I'll take you at any time that we want to go because we got to fix this and that means yesterday. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next public comment is from Rosio Sanchez. Mr. Sanchez, please come to the podium to address your public comments on non-aggenda items. You have three minutes. You may begin. Thank you. Good afternoon, board members, cabinet, and Dr. Morris. I was going to speak about the fact that at BenQ, we have a bathroom sink that leaks lots of water. We have an employee who slipped under water and hit her head last school year, yet it hasn't been fixed. Multiple work orders were placed since January 2024, but nothing has been done. A bucket catching the water um that needs to be
146emptied twice a day is the current situation. Unfortunately, there's other bigger problems at Bennett that I need to address because I believe in Dr. Lucas's message together for every child. I'm here today to ask for help for our most vulnerable students who deserve a good learning environment and a teacher. Our special education classes were transferred to BenQ without think taking into consideration the available space nor the students toteer ratio. We have much severe students in a classroom with 17 students when um it should only have 10. there's not a a permanent teacher assigned to that classroom. Apparently, that was a system malfunction as well as the RSP students who are lost in the system. Our principal tried her best, and she's here today, to find space for all. Um, she even had to spend her
147weekend setting up two classrooms for substitutes. All of the speech pathologists were placed in a shared space where it's challenging for them to service students and have IEP meetings. The RSP teacher was moved to a clutter library that's being used as a bookroom and distribution center. Due to the lack of planning, our students library, our school's library is going to be closed. It will be taken and turned into two classrooms. Our library that holds the walls of knowledge and was dedicated to our legendary Nancy Shinaga will be closed forever. We're going to have only we're going to be the only global school without a library. How can we promote literacy without a functioning library? to consider closing our library is to disregard its undeniable value. It will be um a disservice to our students and
148a step back for our community. We were told that bungalows take too long to be permitted and to be installed. But why weren't those factors taken into consideration before moving innocent children who deserve the best quality education to Benq? We truly appreciate Dr. Morris and Dr. Lucas for visiting our site and trying to help us resolve this problem. But every time there's a big decision that involves our students, our special ed students, we all need to all the stakeholders need to check, double check, and triple check that our students have their needs met. With the new construction taking place next month, we need to have a plan for our new special ed students who are sensitive to noise, run away from their 101 ones all the time. We've seen like for today and need outside
149time breaks for to function in their classroom. They deserve to have a safe learning environment. Let's be proactive and not reactive. Thank you. Thank you. And our last public comment is from Mario Sanchez. Mr. Sanchez, please come to the podium to address your public comments on non-aggenda items. >> You have three minutes. You may begin. Thank you community board members cabinet community feels disrespected. Um all the compliance policies procedures have failed them. All the systems that we have in place have failed them. The stories are horrible out there. If you guys recall I came every time I come in here is for a reason. And these children have been neglected for over six years. Year after year, you guys have moved them from school to school. Neglected them for the proper education. Now they're only
150already stressed. The family is already stressed. You're putting now the child in stress. Goes back home super stress. Parent comes back and going to stress you, our staff. And we're going to come over here at the board meeting to stress you the stress it's giving us. The preparation for this was unacceptable especially from you guys leaders failed to provide proper procedures and leadership for these type of changes. I remember when you say you guys were going to do it and you say everything is going to be fine. Just like you heard from my wonderful teachers, there was no leadership in trying to accommodate those classrooms and having ready for the students. Not even my proper teacher in that classroom. I wish you would be there cuz those parents were furious. Thank you for our board
151member to attending today also Dr. Lucas to Raphael guys were really grateful to come in here and the changes have to happen now. I came last year and the year before. Did these decisions have to be made by you guys? Can I Can our parents put those bungalows in there? No. Can we hire the teachers? No. Can we decorate the classrooms when we don't have access to them or we don't even know what you're doing because nothing has been informed to our schools. How do you think I feel? How can we give that face to our community that we have neglected? These are the children that have no voice. They can't even speak sometimes, but they can see the nice gestures that we give him at Benicue and we're going to go advocate for them
152from this point on. I haven't been here. I was really angry to hear those stories. They've been neglected through all those schools and now throwing a bicue with no guidance. I was really upset. Parents were breaking down with crisis. The children having crisis in the fields. Piling them up is not going to work for us. We have to come with solutions. So, I'm not going to go talk about all the stuff that is happening. Thank you. >> Thank you. That concludes our public comments for tonight. Thank you, Miss Embrano. We're now going to move on to approval of action items from human resources division. Board members have any questions or comments regarding human resources division 13A1 through 13A7? >> No. >> Thank you very much. 13A1 through 13A7 are each approved. Moving on to educational
153services division 13B1 through 13B23. Mrs. Evans >> 13 B1 through 13 B23 >> uh B10. I ask that that be removed. That's the approval of the memorandum of understanding for so-called rock to provide career and technical education. Um that's um 13B10B10 is SoCal Rock. Is that the item that you >> Yeah, that's the one that I'm referring to. the financial impact >> and how much the district has supplemental and concentrated grant funds and city honors. >> Um I served on that board. Um and the way that that money is being spent, we don't have another program that can spend that money because it it's a lot. the formula that the uh DPLA uses to allocate funds to students, it it's a lot. And with the shortage that we have for certain programs now, I'm I'm
154just wondering if that those funds can be redirected to give a more comprehensive program to those um those two schools. I mean, that's my recommendation. Do you want to make comment to that? >> Dr. McGee, thank you for the comment. Um, at this time were we to remove it, it would impact their master schedules. I think your points are well taken and we could investigate that for second semester or next school year, but the impact to their master schedules would be pretty intense. >> Are you talking about the school's semester schedule? >> Yes. Yes, ma'am. So when we get this, we're just supposed to be okay with it because it has already been implemented in a master schedule. >> Um, that's a good question. I I wouldn't say be okay with it. Um, the price
155was negotiated to be lower and based on the pathways and the courses that the kids the students need to complete A through G. Um, these are the courses given some of the shortages we have with staffing that help support their master schedule A through G. Um, based on your feedback, we can absolutely analyze this program for second semester andor next school year. Well, we're we're technically not a member of the JPL because we don't have a schoolboard member that represents the school board, but last time I checked, we were spending upwards of about $2,000 a um a unit. That's egregious to me. It was It was 1 2 3 4. It was $1,234 a unit a unit. So when you look at a student that's taken maybe four units for the semester, we're spending upwards
156of about $5,000 per student for one for one for one you for one class. >> May I do some research and confirm those numbers and get back to you through Dr. Morris? >> I have I have the numbers. That's why I was opposed to it. But um you know I don't want to interrupt it but this is the kind of thing that um yeah it's a lot. I sat on that board for four years. So I know how much money they're spending and I know what they voted to raise the number to because they are bleeding. you know, they're trying to keep their organization afloat. So, they have raised the money to the school districts to supplement what they're not able to do in terms of fundraising or even offering classes that um people want
157to take. So, we we spend a lot of money with them and this is not the first time that I've objected to the kind of money that was that we're spending with them. So, it is what it is. But, um, where's um where's Patrick? I abstain from this vote. Might add one quick thing. We do work with other organizations that are less money like the equity lab that allows our students to attend universities such as Spellelman, Howard, UPEN, Wesleian um where they get college credit and a transcript at no cost to them reducing their cost when they go to university and the number of units they have to you know pay for when they go to university. So we have explored other options that we will >> but so these are certificated programs. They're not
158getting any kind of anything to go to college. They're they're all certificated programs. So, you know, it's not like going to El Camino or something where, you know, you're going to get college credits for um taking a class there. These are all certificated programs and they have to be recognized by the state of California, but these are all technical vocational um uh classes. So, you know, it might help them, but I I'm just looking at what they're taking. Media design one and two computer application advanced culture sculpting. Okay. >> On this item, thank you for bringing this to the board uh board vice president because it also come under my attention that we are no longer part of the JPA with SoCal Rock. So, is there anything we can also do to to address that
159issue or what >> uh Dr. Morris can appoint someone on the board? I I uh I I elected to get off because of having to commute and drive down there with absolutely no um compensation going at night. I don't like to drive here at night. And then uh it was cool when we were virtual, but having to go there it it it was just and you I have to leave almost like an hour and a half early to miss the traffic to be there on time. So, um, Dr. Morris can appoint someone from this board that would like to serve, you know, because it is an appointment. They don't elect you. We're appointed to serve on that board. >> Is that something we could discuss, Dr. Morris? Um, to see >> at our next meeting,
160we can have an agenda item. It is something that an appointment is made at the annual organizational meeting, but we'll make sure we have an agenda item at our next meeting to appoint a representative to the um JPA board. Additionally, I just want to say we'll ask um Dr. Lucas to just bring back and getformational item to the board on the cost per participant and the total number of students who are participating in each of these programs. I think that would be instructive and I know Dr. Lucas will also work with um Dr. Mamu Jones and Miss and Gasea to see if there are some opportunities to bring um CTE credential teachers inhouse to provide this these opportunities for our students. So we we will get back to you in the interest as Dr. McGee
161said in not disrupting >> that that's what I um that was my recommendation when I was on the board and that's basically what we did. We brought in the teachers on campus. First of all, we're the only district in receiverhip. We were paying more money than any of the school districts. We were sending more students and um it it was not a great place to be because they had no respect for the school district because we were in receiverhip and to keep fighting them. It was just not in my um it it's just not who I am. So my thing was since you guys got it going on, Torrance, Roondo Beach, Pacific Palisate High School, y'all paid for all of this cuz we were essentially when Dr. Matthews was here, we spent over $2 million.
162It was incredible. And we couldn't get that money back. Not only that, if a student drops a class, you do not get that money back. It could be in one hour. You do not get that money back. So, yeah, I think we need to look at it because we're looking at $24 something,000. So, that's not like three kids are going to benefit, you know. Um, you're looking at a whole school. I'll come teach them. What What you got here? Media design. Yeah, I got some media design experience. Probably as much as they have. So, um, that's just my experience and I'm not talking from, you know, I don't like the school. I'm talking from what I know and that's why I'm not there. >> Right. Right. >> No, I just wanted to emphasize that our
163absence on that has been noted by other board of other school boards. So, it would be great to revisit that to make sure that we are having discussions. We're having it at the appropriate places as well, too. But >> they they they they have noted it to me. that he missed us a little bit >> right but it would be beneficial >> at the organizational meeting I volunteered to work with rock >> but I have been waiting to find out what am I supposed to be doing because I had no no idea. So >> just go to the board meetings and be very intentional when they start voting and please have something to say because when they raise the um when they raise the number from one to one two three which means $1,234 to
164because it it was not sustainable. It wasn't sustainable to um the school the school is bleeding. So if they miss us, they just miss our money, >> you know, cuz they do not miss us because like I said, they I to just be so vocal in the fact that we're in receiverhip. What does that have to do with anything? So, I just got tired of, you know, you know me, I'm gonna fight them. So, I got tired of fighting, fighting them. So, I was like, "Bye. We'll see you later." >> And if you know, if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. So, >> no, that's not true. Cuz they don't have the table. Okay, let's be clear. >> Yeah, they don't have the table. They need us. We don't need them. >>
165Thank you. What we'll clarify at the last meeting. Thank you for that point of information. And we'll make sure either Miss Evans I I just want to go back and verify what happened at the annual organizational meeting. >> It was Miss Evans. So we'll make sure that they connect with Miss Evans because she needs to have the information about board meetings and so we we will come back to it. And Dr. Lucas does have some homework assignments for the purpose of not disrupting students current schedules. Item number 13B1 through 13B23 are improve approved with additional information to follow on item 13B10 as a followup with by Dr. Lucas. Moving on to business services division division. Does the board members board members have any question or comments on 13C1 through 13C5? 13C1 through 135 are each
166approved. Moving on to measure GGI and facilities item 13D1 through 13D4. President Evans, questions or comments? >> Questions? >> Thank you. 13D1 through 13D4 are each approved. Moving on to County Administrators Division item 13E1 through 13E2. Mrs. Evans, >> no comments. >> Thank you. 13E1 and 13E2 are each approved. And moving on to the minutes of the August 6, 2025 board of education meeting. Board members questions or comments regarding the minutes? No comments. >> Thank you very much. Um, and so now we'll move on to student board member remarks and we'll turn it over to Miss Amaya Hazard. And congratulations on completing your first official board of education meeting. >> Thank you, Dr. Morris. Um, I would just like to say that I am truly honored to be here today as the new student board
167member for our district. This is a privilege I do not take lightly, and I would like to thank my peers, mentors, and the board for trusting me to represent the student voices. Voices that deserve to be heard, valued, and reflected in every decision made. This role allows me to bring student perspectives directly to the table where important choices are made. Choices that choices that shape our classrooms, our opportunities, and our future. I see my role as making sure those perspectives guide the conversation, not remain in the background. When I first learned that I was selected for this position, I thought about all the times students, including myself, have have wished their ideas can reach the people who make these decisions. That thought that thought reminded me why I wanted this role in the first place
168to make sure those ideas are heard. I am very grateful for this opportunity and promise to serve with integrity, care, and determination. I believe student voices hold the power to shape a brighter future and I will work every day to make sure they are heard where it matters most. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. And I'll turn it over for rest of the board member comments to Miss Evans. >> Okay. I'd like to start off again. Welcome Amaya. Uh we're happy to have you with us because you can give us that perspective that we need from student standpoint. And while we've been celebrating all the good things that have happened since we opened school on Monday, uh Mr. Hughes, you kind of knocked the wind out of me tonight because I was happy and
169celebrating the opening of school and now you tell me all this is happening. I'm not happy with that. That we have classes that are overcrowded. We closed schools because we didn't have a we had you know too many classes and now you're saying that the classes are overcrowded and uh air conditioning isn't working in some and we have all these buildings that we've closed where the air conditioning was working that we should have moved to the schools where the air conditioning isn't working and uh that's a problem to me. >> So >> we have to talk about that plan. We have to fix that because we can't we can't have that, especially with our special ed students and it feels like we're treating them like secondass citizens and that just isn't right to me. So,
170I'm glad you brought that to our attention. That's why we need community input because we are not at the schools, but the people who are at the schools, we need to listen to what's happening at schools. Amaya, you're at the schools. We need to hear from you so you can let us know what's going on. I'm not at school every day. I go by there every now and then, but I'm not on the campus every day. And I don't know and I need and I thank you for the input that you're going to give us and that you gave us tonight. Um, Englewood United, I think Brandon said something about uh, you know, they're just Englewood United for the next two years, but they're going to be Englewood United forever because there is no morning
171side for them to go back to. So, it's still going to be Englewood United because all of the kids are going to be uh on one campus. Um I was writing notes. Oh, with the rock program, do we send students to rock or do teachers come to us for the classes that they take? >> We have models. I'll check when I get the update to Dr. Morris, I'll let you know which class which model. >> Because you're talking about the master schedule. So that lets me know that they're taking these classes at school. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And we're paying the teachers who come from Rock. Is that how it works? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Because we've paid for transportation in the Okay. I just I didn't I said I would volunteer because
172I used to work with when I was working I used to work with Rock and I didn't know. That's why I said I would volunteer, but I've been waiting to see what am I supposed to be doing. >> But, uh, I'll work with you on that. Uh, comments down the road. Dr. Dr. McGee, we're going to start again with you. >> Well, I just want to thank um the public for publicly showing up and voicing their opinion. Um, also I want to remind families and staff that we are hosting a um autism symposium at the Krenshaw Family Y on Saturday morning from 10 to 12. the resources are there um for families that have some concerns about IEP, the laws and all of those things that um um kind of influence how you proceed with
173your child. So, I would encourage those that um have the transportation um that um would be there. It's being hosted by Holly and Rodney Pete. Um, you probably know Holly uh from television and Rottney from the NFL, but they have a son who was born on the spectrum. They have a lot of insight of what parents go through. Not as a public um person in sports and entertainment, but just how as a as a parent they had to navigate, you know, uh the school systems and certain supportive services. So I would encourage um um families and staff to be there on Saturday uh morning. Also uh mentioned earlier, our farmers market will be on the campus of the child development center. Um it usually opens around 10 a.m. But I would encourage you to check
174with Dr. Clifton to see exactly what time um the delivery is being made. It is open to the public. Um we just take care of our our families first. So um and Annayia, I just want to welcome you. I am super excited to have you share this deis with us. students always bring the best insight because they're not jaded like many of us and we're not controlled by public opinion or things that we've heard and seen. You kind of bring a fresh perspective to things. So, with that being said, yay. So, um that's about it. Um oh, I did have some more information. Uh this is not rocket science but so-called rock is charging they increased it from one two three4 to$,530. Um the average cost um at SC is $2,354. So we're just shy
175of $1,800 $1,800 of a kid going to so-called rock. That's it. Miss Randle, uh, Amaya Hazard, congratulations and thank you so much for serving on the board. I look forward to hearing your take hearing your input because you definitely have a a different point of view and I'm just very excited for you. Hope this is a a really good experience for you. Uh, Figmac. I've said everything I needed to say about Figmac. I am perplexed as to how we have a director of special ed, but we keep having special ed issues. I'm very perplexed with that. I asked about that before and I was told there need to be time to work things out. Uh, it's been enough time. We still should not be hearing things about the sped students being treated as secondass citizens,
176not having enough space, not being in air conditioned rooms. Uh, that a work order has been uh in place multiple times for to fix a a water some pipe at Ben. uh for people to properly drink water. Uh the Nancy and Shinaga Library is closing. Thank you so much to the public for coming. Um I am at my own school. I'm a classroom teacher. I am at school during the day. So if you don't come and tell it, I won't know. There's no reason to close the Nancy Ishanaga Library and I can report on how come it's closing. that report was that library was named in her honor. Um she gave her life blood to that school. That's the only other way I can put it. She did everything she could. Um Microsoft the kids
177were so uh had such high achievement at being a cute that Microsoft and he did keep his promise. Any child that graduated 12th grade and got into a college, he give a full ride. He kept his promise on that. So, I like a a full report about how come that library has to close and what needs to happen to keep it open. Every school needs a library. Um, I believe that's I've talked to you about PLO. We're going to come back with that. I believe that's all that I have for right now. And uh again, kudos to the administrative team. did a grand job. Thank you so much. I'm very, very proud of that effort and I do look forward to being off of receiverhip and having a fiscal advisor within two years so that
178the board has autonomy to make decisions about what happens in this community. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Thank you, Miss Randall, Mr. Castillo. >> Thank you, board president. Just want to thank our public speakers today, especially our former students who came to speak uh on behalf of our students and our families. As you could tell from our former students, our current students, another former student, um that there's something special here in our schools and that we have a big duty to ensure that these special students get all that they deserve and all that they're entitled to by law. The fact that students are not showing up to school because of the ICE raids is heartbreaking because those students deserve the right to come to school and be educated and the first day of
179school was a very impactful day to address that issue. So, I do want to thank Dr. Morris and his team for addressing that issue. I know that we play protocols and we talk to staff and we talk to parents and reassure the anxiety that you're safe in our schools and that you're able to come in and get the education you deserve. And it's so powerful to be part of a school district that cares about that issue that finds any way to lead on that issue to make sure that we're not going to follow other districts. We're going to lead in in our capacity to protect our students and protect our families and make sure they're fed and make sure they're cared for. something that um you know us board members have done over the summer
180is making sure that our families were fed and cared for and they had the opportunity to know their rights and their resources. And then in the first day of school is also the first day for all these schools that were combined. So we had that going on too and we have an administration over our head like a dark cloud constantly finding ways to cut our funding and cut our ways to support support our most vulnerable children including our special wed children. With all that I I'm really happy to say I think we had a really good first day. you know, we we were there on on site. Um I was there at my school sites to welcome in the students, to assure them that they saw a friendly face, to ensure that they knew that
181we had staff in front of our schools, that we had IPD working with us, to make sure that they were monitoring the streets, to make sure there was no excuse for them not to come to school and make sure their students deserve the education that they deserve and are entitled to by law. And you know, I want to thank our our councilman um Morales for providing coffee and donuts and juices for our parents. So they had a chance to congregate after drop off. Uh the PTA led they it's called tears not fears. So all the parents who have a hard time letting go of their children, they have a moment for all them to to still be on campus but get to know the PTA, get to know our new principal who was very excited
182to meet them all. So, I really appreciate his presence and I really appreciate our new principal um Miss Tate for for using that time to talk to them and ensuring that that this is the right place for them. We had a lot of students show up the first day, right? We don't have the exact numbers of how much the attendance were impacted, but it seems during my visits and Mr. Hughes, I would definitely follow up on on that invitation to be a tour guide because I feel bad having these principles and see staff do tour guides because they're so busy trying to uh do their job. I appreciate the invitation to allow me to see what you're seeing as well because what I'm seeing is something that has to be addressed, right? We're seeing classrooms
183that are filled all the way, every single desk being used and sometimes to a desk where there's two children at one desk, >> even though they have the opportunity to have brand new classrooms and brand new desks. I don't think we prepared for the fact that a lot of our students were going to come back. Obviously, we had conversations with the parents saying, "Well, I'm going to go to a different district if you if you consolidate my school." We didn't see that much of a movement. We saw a lot of parents show up, a lot of students, a lot of familiar faces that I knew and you knew show up the first day of school. And we had those issues occur during the first day of school of overcrowding and we need to utilize our
184space. But with given all that I've seen and all that I know that we have to address, especially with our SPE students at all our school sites, I know this is the team and I know these are the people who are going to address it throughout the year because every time I call and every time I bring the issue, it's always I'm going to find a way to help. So, I really do appreciate that. Our PTA appreciates that and I deeply appreciate that. not only as a board member, but as a former student of this district. Uh as someone who has family in this district who I had to reassure my family member that they made the right choice by staying in their school district and staying in their community. I'm reassured that not only
185those who are standing here, every teacher, every staff member that greets me with a smile when I come to visit on campus. every time we have the opportunity to speak to the parents, to speak to every single individual, to our custodial staff, that they're doing the best to keep our students safe and making sure that they're had the opportunity to further education because here in Englewood, we're have resilience as a community and as a school district. And I felt that resilience on the first couple of days of visiting my school sites. So, we'll address everything that we saw, but I know that when it comes to our students, they're number one priority, and that's for all students. So, thank you for for doing that and providing a safe space for our students the first day
186of school. >> Jordan Miles, thank you so much for the fabulous campus of Warren Lane Council. You did an outstanding job. I sent so many emails and had so many questions about all that stuff I saw, but you cleaned it all up and it's fabulous. Thank you so much. I forgot to say that. Thank you, Mr. Brandon Meyers. >> Thank you, Madam President. I'll be brief. Um, so just my uh recap uh for the first day. Um I was very excited. Um I did uh stop by Englewood High United. Very encouraged by um our Morningside alum coming out and welcoming our kids. Um, I also was very encouraged by you, uh, leading that band out there, >> doing your thing. I was very appreciative. I'm sure you got some good clips on NBC. Um, but
187I just say that, uh, we have a really good environment there at Inglewood High, uh, United, uh, All Hands on Deck. Thank you to the staff. Thank you to the staff. I'll say that one more time. Thank you. You guys good, you guys work hard. You really do. Uh I was able to see just a few hours of what you guys do. Um I wouldn't trade my job for you guys, I tell you. So I I earnestly say I take my hats off to you. Thank you. Thank you for being there. Um yeah, it's a tough one. So BenQ, I know we got some work over there to do. We are going to get it done. Um to uh Madame Randall, I just want to say the uh the library was mentioned um as an
188additional space to support um some occupational therapy as well as the physical therapy because there were some um just some some some uh spaces that that weren't uh I guess present at the time. We imagined that we would uh transfer the sped department a few students over there. um things weren't vision in in a sense put in a plan or or put in place um to support those babies. But I promise you uh this was only maybe a hypothetical kind of u solution that was put out there um to to try to appease the the the challenge that we had. But um I can reassure you that library is not closing. Okay. Uh if anything that it would have been some uh removable partitioner walls that we would be able to separate the library to
189allow kids to have access to the library as well uh as well as still have some assessments or some other things that might still need to take place because we have a lack of space. We have a 75 year old building um and simply we have a a great deal of kids there but we don't have enough space to house them. Um, I'm happy that we're at, you know, the the level that we have as far as student enrollment, but this is why we were discussing during one of our facilities meetings that, um, potentially down the line rebuilding Ben over again, but that's neither here nor there. Do that, right? I like to get him nervous saying that. >> Um, but this is this the these are the plans. So, I just want to say
190I take my hats off to my to to the staff doing an amazing job. Again, thank you so much. Thank you to our our babies for um forking through it and we got a few more days to go uh for the end of the first week. So, way to go and I'll digress right there. >> Thank you. >> Um >> tell you, we don't usually go this long, so this is your first meeting and this is kind of out of the ordinary, but this is we needed to hear these comments tonight. Thank you. >> Yeah, I just want to say that you know my first my first board meetings it was pretty fun. I enjoyed all the presentations. I do like hearing the updates about the schools and the constructions. I did go to councels
191and seeing new council is really nice but I will miss like the old campus and all that. But um first week of school is going great. I do love the Morningside campus and I can't wait for it the next week. >> The Englewood United campus. [Applause] Thank you so much. Back to Mars. >> All right. Thank you. Ju just a couple of closing comments. Um I ju I just w want to remark that our opening of school this year may not have been perfect. And we hear about all of those imperfections. But on this past Saturday, we had three different community events that started at 10:00 in the morning and ended at 6:00 in the evening. And so I had some opportunity between those community events. I actually went to seven of our 11 sites.
192And I was amazed at the number of teachers, administrators, construction workers, custodial workers who were at those schools working on their own time on Saturday to make sure that they were ready for Monday when school opened. Um, hats off to to the folks who put in that extra effort. Those teachers weren't being paid and they were there putting up bulletin boards and making sure that their rooms were beautiful. And so, yes, I think any one of us I've never seen a perfect school opening. Yes, there were some glitches and and some of it we hear about is described accurately and some of it may be overdescribed, but we look at those issues and we have a team that addresses each of them. Nobody's trying to sweep it under the rug and say, "Hey, it was
193all great." There are issues that we have to address. There are issues every year because as you know children don't show up at schools in perfect groups of 30 to go into one classroom or another. Um there and there were some technology glitches that have made it difficult for staff. We have folks who regardless of what the challenges are, they face them head on and they address them. So, I I just want to acknowledge it it t it it takes a team and and we have a team that is addressing it. Um, and so moving on on our agenda, I have to announce that our next board of education meeting will be on September the 10th, 2025. But before we adjourn this evening, I want to take a moment to wish a very very happy
194birthday to Board of Education Vice President Dr. Carlos McGee. And we got to sing happy birthday before we adjourn the meeting. And so with that, oh, and h the fire marshall will be very happy we didn't light the ca the candles. Happy birthday, Dr. Mickey. Happy birthday. With that, the meeting will stand adjourned at 7:46 p.m. I have pretzels.