001[music] >> 7:03 Uh may I have a roll call, please? Student trustee Orlando Trustee Gutter Here. Trustee Gaydos Here. Trustee Lee Here. Vice President Tahada Here. President Walker Here. Thank you. There was uh closed session uh Pursuant to Government Code 54957, the board unanimously upheld um public employee discipline of employee 25-002. Um Item 4B the board took action in closed session to authorize staff to initiate litigation. Once litigation is commenced, the name of the case and parties will be disclosed to any person upon inquiry unless told to do so would jeopardize JUHSD's ability to effectuate service of process on one or more unserved parties or would jeopardize settlement negotiations. I'm sorry, what? Yes. Voted unanimously. Uh the board voted unanimously. Um Item 9 shall we approve the agenda? Are there any changes to the agenda?
002There um attachments were added to item 16A2. Since it was Thank you. Is that reflected on our online agenda for the folks on YouTube? >> It is currently attached. They are currently attached, yes. We would like to take action on the agenda as modified. So moved. Second. All those in favor? I. I. I. Uh Item 10A, there are board meeting minutes from March 24th, 2026. Move to approve meet minutes from March 24th, 2026. Second. All in favor? I. I. And there are board minutes from March 28th, 2026. So moved. Second. All in favor? I. I. Item 11 recommend Sorry, I can't read. Recognitions and commendations. Um 11A is uh our Jefferson High School Student of the Month. Uh I think that Principal John Harrigan will present for us. Welcome. Thank you. Okay. Good evening, President
003Walker, Superintendent Presta, and members of the board. Uh I am proud to present our student of the month. Um it's my honor to present uh to honor Sergio JJ uh Sergio Jayden JJ Peralta, a senior who has earned the deep respect and admiration of peers, teachers, and staff alike. Tonight, we recognize JJ as JUHSD's Student of the Month for his outstanding achievements and exceptional contributions to our school community. JJ is a remarkable leader both in the classroom and on the field. What stands out most about him is his confidence and his natural willingness to step forward and lead in any situation. It's been an honor to watch him grow into the young man he is today. JJ has shown us all that it is possible to be to possible to be both an elite athlete
004and an outstanding human being one who leads with humility, vulnerability, and heart. He sets a powerful example for his peers. He's made it cool to be kind supportive, and proud of his school. His passion for Jefferson is genuine and unmistakable. Whether he is leading a cheer, supporting a teammate, or bringing energy to an event JJ shows up as his authentic self. His willingness to be all in, to go big, to be goofy, and to lead with joy has made a lasting impact on our campus. Uh in my 26 years in education, I have rarely encountered a student athlete quite like him. Uh one of JJ's most visible contributions has been his leadership in revitalizing our student cheering section. The Grizzly Den. Grizzly Den was created to bring together athletes, band students, dancers, ASB leaders and
005other students to strengthen school spirit and unity. When we were searching for someone to lead this effort, JJ was the the very first student who came to my mind and came to most of our minds. I knew he was special, but watching him step into this role revealed just how extraordinary his leadership truly is. Uh JJ is also a key leader in our Unity Day program, Breaking Down the Walls which challenges students to confront stereotypes and build understanding and connection across differences. From the beginning, JJ approached this role with compassion, enthusiasm, and authenticity. He leads not by seeking attention, but by building others up. Academically, he can he excels while balancing an intense athletic schedule. Uh he maintains a strong 3.6 GPA while competing in two varsity sports. He's been the starting center for our
006basketball team for 3 years and the starting shortstop and pitcher on our baseball team for the past two seasons. Uh his commitment, discipline, and work ethic are evident both on and off the field. You can see that. He showed up right after the game tonight. On behalf of the staff and students of Jefferson High School, we are incredibly proud of JJ and deeply grateful to his parents for trusting us with his journey. He's helped shape the culture of our school in ways that will be felt long after he graduates. Uh he's made Jefferson stronger, more joyful, and more united. Congratulations, JJ, on this well-deserved honor. Thank you for your energy, leadership, heart, and the countless ways you lift others up. You're an exceptional young man and role model. Proud to call you a Grizzly. That's
007it. I think you can come up now. Yeah. You're choking up your principal. I know. God, I don't know what. Yeah. Okay. Grab it. Yeah. It's official. It is official. Yeah. That's superficial. There's a box in there and then uh there's what I read. Oh, I get to keep that? Yeah. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you so much. In case you didn't hear it all. >> Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Um Yeah. Yeah. Please. I mean, I'm I don't know. I don't really have much to say. Um thank you for everyone for showing up here and um thank you to the principal for I mean, being the principal and everything and that was a beautiful speech and that was great, but um yeah, I don't know. I don't have much to say. Thank you all. Thank
008you. >> Thank you. Follow up. Follow up on that. All right. We'll see. Oh. JJ, do you mind coming back to the podium, please? He left so smoothly I didn't realize we wanted you to stay here. Um we're going to say nice things to you. Okay. >> [laughter] >> Lovely. Student Trustee Orlando, would you like to? Hi. I don't know you, but I just right now you seem like a very compassionate person to be thanking our principal so much and I'm really glad that you have this award and you've done so much good in the world. Thank you. Thank you very much. Hi, JJ. Hello. I just feel very privileged to be here tonight to hear all of these outstanding things about you. And it's just a testament to your family and that support and
009also the support of the family that you created at the high school and it's just so great to know that you're just leading with joy because that will just take you far in life. So, that's all internal to you. So, never let anyone take that from you. Congratulations. It's great. >> What's good, JJ? What's going on? Who you here with tonight? Who you got over there? Mom, dad, and that's my little brother right there. Mom, dad, how you guys doing? Congratulations all of you guys cuz it does take all of you guys to put a nice young kid like this up on up on the podium and and earn this this award. Um I think what I like most about giving these out though is that, you know, these aren't things that you're working towards.
010These are things that are given to you for all that work that you do behind the scenes and that everybody sees. Mhm. Yeah, so it's like you know, you're out there busting your tail doing everything you got to do for you and for the people around you and you don't realize that people are watching. You know what I mean? And that's that's really important that that you understand that because you're you are leading by by example. So, um just super proud of you, you know, for doing that and as a father, too, you know, just seeing you up there and how you know, how proud you are and how proud your parents are. It's it's it's really cool. And then, you know, seeing John really get, you know, kind of take that to heart, you
011know, how how much it meant to him that you're representing the school and the district the way you are. Super proud of you. Keep it up. Thank you very much. Yeah. So, I have to know, JJ, what were your stats tonight? Oh god. >> [laughter] >> Um what I over one, pulled the walk, and that's about it. I played first a little bit and did I have a Maybe I had an error, but that's about it. But I had a few few outs at one. Okay, cool. That's that's all it's all good. It's all good. Now, you know what strikes me about you is just not having just met you for the first time is your presence. And it's really clear you we we we can look at you and just know that there is
012a natural born leader right here. And that's something that's going to take you far and and you know, and hold on hold on to it. And it's also clear from what your principal shared, you know, you're leading with humility and and keep that as well because it's really clear that you're going to go far. You're going to do some amazing things coming up and we're excited to see what you're going to do. So, stay in touch when you after you've gone. We'd love to know what you're up to. Thank you. Thank you very much. Hi, JJ. So, you you didn't pitch tonight. No, I didn't pitch tonight. >> Okay. >> [laughter and gasps] >> Well, it's really great to um to honor you. I when I read this um when I read the presentation that
013Mr. Harrigan wrote, um I was saying, "Who is this young man who in 26 years of his education um experience has rarely met someone like you." Um I went to Jeff. Um my daughter graduated from Jeff in 2022. Trustee Gallegos also went to Jeff. So, um I of course have a special place in my heart for any Jefferson students. Um And I just love how he said that you've helped shape the culture of the school in ways that will felt long after you graduate. You probably don't even realize that. There will be people, I'm telling you, from way in the future, someone will say, "Hey, you know, did you know this guy JJ went to Jeff?" "Oh my god, JJ? Yeah, I know him." It's going to be like that for you. And you know,
014I I just uh you you like they said, you know, you're so humble. Um but I can it is a gift that you can affect people in the way that you do just by being you. And that you're a scholar athlete as well and you you're um able to maintain that, but also bring joy to your school and I'm sure everybody everybody at Jeff knows you cuz you're just naturally friendly. I can tell. And he goes, "Mhm." >> [laughter] >> Uh but I want to thank your family so much. Um you know, Principal Harrigan, Mr. Falabella, um everyone at Jeff who created this environment uh to help you um excel and to be yourself and bring you know, the leadership out of you, which probably has been there for a very long time, even as
015young as you are. But you're going to go far. Can't wait to hear what you do in the future, but good luck and so proud of you. Thank you. Thank you very much. JJ, congratulations. Um I always say that, you know, students who come up here figure a few things out. And uh I'm glad that you've taken on this uh role of a leader. Um I'm really proud of what you've done in the classroom. Um and I don't know. It's important. These things are important. Somebody's got to step up and you know, when you're I think you maybe don't realize it like Rosie said, but you know, people look up to you. People around they see you and they're like, "I want to be like that guy." Um you know, I kind of embrace the
016special role of sports. I have a son won't do anything willingly except play soccer. Um and so I'm always like, "Oh, look, you can do this for the lads and that's leadership." And he's like, "And I don't care. I want to score." Um so, again, I'm really proud of you for doing that. Um and you know, maybe one day when these really nice people that I work with aren't smiling at you and maybe uh things are going a little bit rough, something happened in school, maybe an uncomfortable meeting at work, maybe you can look back at this, think to yourself, "Where are my leaders? Where are my leadership skills? How could I get out of this?" You know, so hopefully this delivers on you delivers for you in the future. Um I'm so happy for
017you. Congratulations. Thank you very much. JJ, I always go last and then all of the great things feel like they've been said. So, I won't be too redundant, but I will say um congratulations. I'm very proud of you. I hope I can tell you're a very humble person, but I hope you do feel pride because you are making a difference. I kind of joked when I said you've choked your principal up, but Mr. Harrigan was really quite moved and so that really really says something. Your principal sees in you something that and and I think we all see something that is shining through you. You've got a a wonderful presence and a wonderful smile and I there was one line you've made Jefferson stronger, more joyful, and more united. And um I'm grateful. As a
018superintendent, I'm grateful that you've brought this to your school and I hope that you feel that from those around you as well and that you you're getting filled up by that. Um I want to congratulate your parents and your brother and your family because, you know, you're a team um and I'm just really excited for what's ahead of you. And I also want to say very strong GPA, athletics, really like you are like bringing it all. So, I'm I'm excited for you for what's next and um just want to tell you how proud I am. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you all. You're welcome. >> Thank you. Thank you guys. So, I think under a Miss Shreve's direction we're going to take a picture. You with the board, you with the fam. And
019I'm standing next to that guy in the whites. So nice. I know. You know what it was made of? Joy. I know. You know what? I'm good. I'm good. I'm going to go over to that side. Oh, everything's easy. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. All right. And that was so cool. I know. So sweet. He was my soul It's something about being in No, you know what? It's all good. Your your people The Bruce Springsteen concert called to me. Had to go. God, really? Had to see him. Item 12 is uh communications 12A board report. Miss Orlando? Okay, there we go. Um this is just the update on our school, correct? Yes, please. All right. As many schools as you would like to cover. I I can read for all of them. I just don't
020know what some of the things are. You don't have to. I can just do mine. Um Terra Nova High School, our new field is officially opened. It got whole event that happened. Um our prom theme was announced, which is Golden Knights and it's going to be at Hibernia Bank. Uh we have a blood drive this Wednesday and we have plenty of donation people. It's going to be so great. Our yearbooks are now on sale. Grad night tickets have also gone on sale. Class of '26 is doing a raising dough fundraiser uh on the 20th. ASB reelections are coming up where we can integrate new students into our our ASB program or keep the ones that we have currently. Um our last rally is on May 1st. We have an Earth Week celebration from the 20th
021to the 25th with presentations, games, challenges, and a pop-up thrift uh pop-up thrift section. Uh we also had a mental health awareness week with activities in the quad with like shout out your friends and here's some fidgets and play with these and like write a nice note to your friend and stuff. Um we also are currently having a Asian Club flip-flop drive till May 3rd to help support kids in the Philippines. Thank you. Did you say blood drive tomorrow Wednesday? Yes. Right. Thank you. I guess it's my turn. Please. So, I never remember how to quite do this, but I was told that oh, I went to the Terra Nova ribbon cutting on the field and that was absolutely fabulous. I'd never been to Terra Nova before and that field is just something I see
022the entire community being able to take a part of and I'm glad that who knows how long it took, 10 years or probably 7 years in the making and I appreciate all the hard work that went into that completion of that um that project. Um I attended my very first board workshop um where um we worked on a new governance um document and I got to learn a lot and I also met with Tina so that I as a new board member could be more informed about the finances of the school and um I thought that was very important. So, I'll continue to do that and I'm looking forward to all the graduations that I'm going to be attending soon also. Thank you. Must be Guy Egos. >> Yep. Um well, we were on break
023so a lot has happened since then. Let's see, I started off uh before we left for break, I went to Oceana Senior X. Um and I and I wish I had wrote the names down of the two students that I saw first. Um it was a couple of our students with disabilities and I got to see two of their Senior X projects and they were amazing. Uh really cool to be a part of that. Uh watched them pass their Senior X project and and then I went and saw uh later that afternoon Violet, our our own board trustee here, uh student trustee, uh do her presentation and of course she knocked it out of the park. Uh I'd expect nothing less from her. So, that was really cool. Um and then later that day um
024we went over to the Terra Nova sports complex ribbon cutting and I do got to say uh that field's a a lot more impressive than I remember thinking about it it was going to be looking at the drawings initially when we had approved it to to be built. Took a little bit longer, but definitely worth it. Um and then Saturday we worked a little OT. We did our board workshop together and did a little, you know, board bonding and and good work to you know, enhance our our views as board members together. And uh personally I went and saw Project Hail Mary, which was a really cool movie and kind of geeked out on the Artemis mission for most of that week we were off. So, that was pretty much it. Indeed I attended all
025the things that have been mentioned, so I won't go into those details other than I will say it was fun to see the joy on the students' faces at the TN sports complex to see both the softball and baseball teams playing and and seeing how how the kids were really just engaged and happy >> [snorts] >> as well as all the as the band students and cheer students who were there during the actual ribbon cutting ceremony. Um for me last week, I actually so I'm on a housing committee with the California Department of Education specifically for educator housing and our committee last week actually met uh with Superintendent Thurmond and was also with Secretary Tom Moss from the business consumer services and housing department to see about how we can find funds for pre-development funds
026for for school districts to actually be able to do this sort of work. It's one of the sticking points for a lot of districts. There's thousands of school districts in the state, about 180 have begun some kind of process related to housing, but only 11 districts actually have completed projects and often times the the thing the sticking point is actually coming up with the $200,000, $300,000 to be able to do a feasibility study to see if they can actually do the work. So, it's really good to be able to to share about our our project and a couple of other districts were able to share about theirs and and and encouraging the highest levels of the state to find some money to be able to help LEAs do this important bit of work to support
027our staff. So, I also attended a lot of the same events. Um I truly enjoyed the Senior X that I attended, which was Dominic Prestez's um >> [laughter] >> presentation on nationwide injunctions, which I learned so much. Actually, I learned so much and kudos kudos to him. Um I also attended Terra Nova's musical Legally Blonde. It was fantastic. Um congratulations to the entire um team there. Uh director Ashley Carcases, great job. It was super fun. Um performances were great. And actually they revealed at the end four or five students they filled in at the last minute. They didn't know until like I think that day that they had to fill in. So, they they pulled it off. They pulled it off and um they were people just cheered because these these students just um they
028did their best. It was it was amazing cuz there a few of them went, I cannot believe that you just went in there and did that. Um and uh I also um attended our Youth Point Health Advisory Board meeting. And um we're looking I'm looking forward to doing more work with them. Vice President Tahara. What's um Youth Point Health? Formally known as Daly City Youth Health Center. Why, thank you. Now I know more. Um I attended a few events like my colleagues did. Um it's nice to see spring in the air. I've seen students outside the district. I bumped into one on a college visit. Um I encourage people to maybe get out and see a college campus. There's one right nearby. It's called San Francis- They call it San Francisco State University. Um just
029to see the energy and see what's out there for everybody. Um Also, my family spotted students out for interim. Uh students from Oceana uh out in the wild doing their thing. Um That's all I have to report. Happy spring. Thank you. I was at pretty much all of the same things that were listed earlier. So, the the two things that I'm going to talk about are um student advisory meetings. So, we meet every first and third Tuesdays the student advisory and Thank you. First and third Mondays, the day basically preceding the board meetings. And the student advisory has added an extra meeting this month because they're going to be presenting to the board um at our next board meeting about their work this year. And I mentioned to Trustees Walker and Gallegos last night we
030were chatting and I just we were kind of um walking around the room sitting with the group, seeing their progress, you know, checking in. And honestly, I I just have never seen a more engaged group of student advisory uh kids. They were working They were super focused. They've done such hard work this year. I'm very, very proud of them. And they um did a little bit differently this year. They've They've sort of taken more direct action than they have in the past. And guess what? Work doesn't all get done. That lots of it will just be started and there's a lot of students who will be returning next year. So, I'm really looking forward to seeing how their their work grows. But I'm very excited for um for for everyone to see their presentations. And
031I'm just super proud of them. And then the next thing that I will talk about is um Oceana Senior X. I've never had a my own child was presented a Senior X this year and it was just a very different experience. I've judged, you know, been a um a community evaluator before. I've just attended as the superintendent. And I'm always very impressed. But this year I got to see what goes into it. And it's mind-boggling the amount of work that these kids do. They literally work on it all year. All year. And the presentation, frankly, is kind of just the tip of the iceberg. I mean, like they worked on the paper He worked on the paper all year. 38-page paper. And then we saw, you know, a little snippet. So, I know that, you
032know, my child's representative of all of the students. They're all working this hard. So, just so impressed with um with what what goes on at Oceana. And that's all the staff members mentoring the kids um and then the kids doing that hard work. So, I was just really impressed. Um and yeah, and the time of year again having a senior in high school and, you know, making those final college decisions, I'm getting a different um vantage point on what what our students, you know, are doing in their senior year. It's quite a quite a busy time. Um yeah, so that's it for me. Thank you. Um any board subcommittees that need to report out? Seeing none. How about the highlight of the night? The AFT Local 1481 report. Something I would never forget. >> [laughter]
033>> Thank you, everyone. Um I'm going to make it quick so that um Mr. Ed Lopez can have more time. Uh we have May Day coming up and I just um want to let everyone know that there are actions that a menu of actions that you can take, what you feel comfortable doing. And um there's some coordination happening in San Francisco and San Mateo and San Jose. So, um please look at our website and see what what there is available for you to do to support May Day. That's a Friday, May 1st. Um and again, there's a menu of items that you can do. Number one, I'm just going to say is no shopping. So, if you can think about it a day or two ahead of time, get your gas, get some groceries, and
034not spend money that day, everyone can do that. Even if you don't feel comfortable not coming to work or not coming to school or whatever it is that you feel comfortable doing. Um so, there'll be more coordination later. And I think there was something else I was going to say and I don't remember what it is. So, that's all. Thank you. Thank you. 45 minutes. Uh item 14 is the consent agenda. Are we going to keep all the items on the consent agenda? So moved. So moved to approve consent. Second second. >> [laughter] >> All in favor? Aye. Aye. And no, I have no blue cards in anticipation of the question on item 15. There is no public comment. Item 16 A1 is uh a discussion item. And this is a presentation um from the
035community Really having a tough time tonight. I'm sorry. The community environmental education program. Uh Mr. Lopez. >> [laughter] >> Good evening. Um welcome. Um in in in 1992, I started my teaching career as a long-term substitute at Baden High School in South City. I soon came to the realization that there needed to be a better way to educate students who did not fit in the traditional high school setting. I soon was guided to check out a teacher in Daly City. His name was Reno Taiani. He sits right over there. Um with curiosity, I ventured up El Camino. From the moment I walked through the door, I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my career. I realized the Wilderness School is not just a pro- name of a program, but
036an idea. In 1967, four teachers from Jefferson High School, Dave England, Bill Curran, Pat Crowley, and Reno Taiani came up with the radical idea of taking taking students from the classroom from the classroom outside. Soon afterwards, a fifth teacher, Abe Abramovich, expanded the program to Serramonte High School and eventually moved it to Oceana High School. As the '70s progressed, Reno and Abe forged ahead. When Abe retired in 1997, I was finally able to realize my dream of being a teacher at Wilderness School. When Reno retired in 2003, Caroline Bird, a long-time volunteer and intern, stepped in in 2009. Since 1967, the Wilderness School has created and evolved its curriculum to fit the needs of our time, but more importantly, the needs of the students. But what is Wilderness School? What it's not is outdoor education.
037It's not a place where kids go camping. It's a very important to under- It's very important to understand the backpacking trips were not primarily about backpacking. They were about finding out what was possible and learning to believe in oneself. But backpacking was the best way to learn this lesson, and it was also a lot of fun. Uh our mission statement says that the Wilderness School is a socially and environmentally committed program. Our people and our resources are dedicated to the improvement of people and places through our direct involvement with our community. We fulfill this mission statement by centering the curriculum on two essential principles: kids teaching kids and the recyclable tradition. Our guiding belief was that older students were more effective than teachers in delivering and trans- lating the curriculum to newer students. As the
038semester progressed, the tradition recycled. Recently, a colleague labeled this guided autonomy. Walking through our classroom, there are signs that read trust, believe, and choice. [clears throat] There are images of students doing what was once thought the unimaginable and the impossible. Those images are saying out loud, "If I can do it, so can you." And it worked. What did they do? They hiked through the wilderness in all conditions carrying a backpack that they could barely lift on their own. Held strangers' lives in their in their own in their hands at the ropes course. Trusted others with their physical and emotional well-being. Trained hundreds of police recruit officers from the San Francisco Police Academy. Facilitated discussions on gun violence and domestic abuse using videos produced by Wilderness School students. Delivered home meals to people living with HIV.
039Constructed and maintained an award-winning school garden long before it was fashionable. Led elementary school students on field trips throughout the Bay Area. Taught them graffiti, graffiti painting, poetry, reading, and math skills. The list goes on, but bottom line, they showed up asking the question, "How can I help?" The shirt that I'm wearing tells the story of the Wilderness School. The picture of the mountains and the seagull tells us that we may not be far from home, but we'll all we may be far from home, but we'll always have the connection to Daly City and the coast side. The peace sign on my back Um the peace sign outlined with a profile of a student's face along with the tree and the deer. This image tells of the intersectionality of the environment, the students, and the
040idea of do no harm. Numerous articles have been written, a TV special report, an award-winning documentary, multitude of awards including several Kent Awards, and Wilderness students have earned the United States Congressional Award for their service to the community. There are numerous members of the community I'd like to thank. First and foremost, the Jefferson Union High School District, the Board of Trustees and all the staff for their unwavering support. To all to all who called us, who started a conversation or an email with, "I got a kid." To a very special thank you to Bill Somerville, Don Hawk, and everyone at Philanthropic Ventures Foundation for their belief and commitment through their constant financial support. To Seth Diemel and Doug Morgan, the cowboys and cowgirls of Aspen Meadow Pack Station, especially Reno Sardella, LaVonne Literal, and Josh
041Bloom, it would be an understatement to and too and I don't forget to put into words our gratitude for their support as we traverse the high Sierras. To all the volunteers who gave back because Wilderness worked for them and they wanted to work for others. Without them, the program would be very very best difficult if not impossible to run. To the town of Colma for their unwavering belief in our mission, the city of Daly City, San Mateo County Parks and its foundation, the San Francisco Police Academy for the belief that it's never too late to build better relations with youth. And to the families and students who trusted us. And my gratitude to my family, my partner Christine over here, son and daughter for tolerating or possibly looking forward to my long absences. What I
042What will I miss most of the Wilderness School? Witnessing students realize their true potential, that they can contribute, and more importantly that they are needed. Many of these achievements were small, something what I refer to as micro successes, but they paved the way to greater success. Often returning later years later saying how much their time at Wilderness mattered. Lastly, I would like to read a quote from George Bernard Shaw. It epitomizes what we at the Wilderness School reach for every day. This is usually read at the end of a ropes course day. As I recite the quote, please keep in mind that when you hear the word I or me, I'm referring to the Wilderness School. I believe that once we close the door, the Wilderness School will never happen again. This truly is the
043joy in life, being used for the purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little cloud of elements and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do it for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle for me to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing
044it off to the future generations. Thank you. And by the way, I couple people in the audience I want to recognize. One of my first students is right over there when I started teaching, Sasha. And the other one over there is Merle, right here today. And then some current students, I just want to say that. And then and then Reno of course is He started this whole thing. It's his fault. Thanks, Ed. Uh any discussion board? Um hi. Hi. I'm from Terra Nova, not from Jefferson, but I would just like to say that this program looks incredibly interesting, and I think it it's fantastic, really. I think this is a great program that a lot of students could use, and Same here. >> It's it's a it's it's amazing that our district has it at
045at least one of the schools, and maybe one day it could be at all of them. I think this is a very interesting program. >> Well, it's sad to say it's ending. Oh, well, sorry. Oh my god. >> [laughter] >> No, it's just your speech was so nice, and then the photos, and I was like, "Oh my god, this is so nice like community." You're good. You're I was totally listening. I'm so sorry. I was like I was in two separate places. I was like, "This is so nice, and I hope it can do I'm so sorry." It's it seems amazing, and I'm really glad a lot of students have grown and uh learned from it and Okay. worked. Well, thank you for coming. Um I met you at Thornton, and I appreciated your eggs,
046and I told Bored that week that that was amazing. I am so sorry that this program is ending, but the love that you and others have poured into the program just is filling this room right now, and just the benefits it's just immeasurable, especially when you taught those youth that they're they have potential and that they're needed in the world. And I think sometimes kids feel thrown away, and they don't feel challenged, and I think this program was able to bring out some of the best in them, and that was because of the structure in you and all those that work with you to provide that. So, thank you. Hey, Ed. How you doing, Ed? All right. Um first of all, yeah, the eggs were smacking. My wife [laughter] and I My wife and I
047had some really good avocado egg toast with those, and those they were really good, so. Um second of all, thank you for all your years of leadership with this program. I think we talked, and I I I was at Thornton maybe like the year before you came in or right around the same time. I started full-time in '97. Yeah, so I was '95 when I was there. >> But I was there in '92, '93. Well, but just listening to it, I was thinking to myself, I was like, "How did I not get into that program?" You know, just I would have rather I think I would have rather have done that than you know, just be, you know, at school trying to figure it out. I It seems like something that was more along the
048lines of what uh probably would have done me a little bit better at that time. Um but it is amazing to hear, you know, all the lives that you've touched through this program and all the support that you've had, you know, at the school and having your, you know, your your students come back and support you here and kind of see it off. It is sad that it is going away. Uh I know when I first heard about it going away, I was like, "Wow." Um understandably though, I think we know why, so I mean, Yeah. you know. Um but it was an amazing program. You did an amazing job with it while you had it. Um and uh yeah, thanks again for all your your years of hard work there. Appreciate it. Ed. >>
049[laughter] >> I know we had I know we talked quite a bit about this at the Thornton site meeting, but I do want to say, and I I know I've said this to you multiple times over the years, but I think it was this was one of the first site visits I had as a new board member back in January 2016. I I had been appointed November 2015, and and coming over with my wife and and actually watching you speak to the parents and the students about what was expected, and and that you were and then you're up front and honest about what these students needed, you know, that they needed to be able to just do the basics. Yeah. Not to worry about the academics. It was just about being being straight up and
050being themselves. And I remember just being really taken by that and by one, your honesty and your approach, and the realism that and that that the parents needed to hear. And I appreciate what has what transpires with with each cohort of students that comes through. Just the amazing growth that that each of them go through and as evidenced in this room. So, I just want to say as as a friend, thank you. Welcome. Really just thank you so much for your years of service to this district and especially to this to the students. Uh hi, Ed. This is so sad to me. I'm trying to keep it together up here. Um >> [laughter] >> I know. So, I grew up like three blocks from Thornton, >> [clears throat] >> and sometimes I would walk that
051way to get to Jeff, or I'd walk that way to get home, just for a change. And it was always a school where kids were building things, or they were planting things, or I go, "What are they doing? This is a high school. We don't do this over where I go to school." But um I have two friends who went through Wilderness School, and it was like a badge of honor for them. Uh Denise Bibiano and Christine Serrano. Yeah, so um said it was so hard, but when they went through it, it was just life-affirming, you know. Um and I my um my siblings went to Jeff, uh classes '65, '66, '67. So, I had all these yearbooks I would look through cuz I said, "I'm going to go to that school." I'd look through
052all these yearbooks and I would see Reno Taini in these yearbooks. And every year he would be like he's so um uh clean-cut, you know, got the tie, everything. And as the years progress, I'm like, "Oh, this guy, I didn't realize he was the same guy at the Wilderness School." When I went to Jeff later, I went, "This is the clean-cut guy? You know, he looks crazy, but I mean >> [laughter] >> you know, but all the kids would just, you know, run up to him and and you could see some of our teachers were kind of envious cuz he you could see he just did whatever it was this thing, you know, an aura about Reno Taini, you know. Um and then when I met you, I went, "This makes sense." I love that
053you're running window Wilderness School, you know. And when we celebrated, I think the 50th anniversary, all these students came back sharing all their experiences and how it changed their lives. And you could tell that there was a real um brotherhood and sisterhood between all the grads who went through Wilderness School. And I would just felt really humbled that I could be in the same room cuz they were also um students that I people I went to school with also who were younger than me, but went through Wilderness School. And you know, changed their lives. And it gave them direction. And I love if that it's students realize their true potential. And I hope that we can I know we talked about this at the school site meeting. Um that some form we could you know,
054still um have some form of SEAP. Um I don't know. But it's just makes me so sad because it's such a special program and just thank you. Thank Thank you so much for everything you've you've done for our district and for all of the generations of students. >> Congratulations, Ed. Um I don't think I can say a whole lot to make the experience you've had of touching all these lives for 30 two two years, uh any better, but congratulations on having it. Um I don't think I can do better than that. Uh June 2nd, is that the day? No, it's May 29th at 12:15. Okay. Excellent. [laughter] Thank you. Congratulations. Thanks everyone for showing up for Ed and the uh Wilderness School. Thanks. I was going to say congratulations on the fact that you are
055retiring on May 29th at 12:15, which is a a large reason why uh SEAP is going away. Um I I too am saddened and I'm also just grateful for the work that you have done and Reno and everybody who's been involved in the Wilderness School through all these years. It's very very clear that um you have all made a very lasting impact on many many lives and brought a lot of goodness um to to our students and for that I'm very grateful. And um I'm glad that you were able to come and share some of the I love that you chose rather than to do slides, Ed said, "I just want to show photos." And so that was really nice seeing the photos in the background as you were. Yeah, Corrine. She helps. She's always
056behind the scenes making things happen. Um anyway, thank you, Ed. Thank you so much. I just I also have like three of my former well, not former, but three principals there. Doreen and Wanda Allen Danny were also principals here at Wilderness School. So that's that's also good. I will be taking >> Okay. Okay. Yes. Item 1682 is a presentation from our Equity Design Team. Thank you. Miss Mesta. Thank you. I'm waiting for it to show up for me. Thank you. Technical people behind the scenes that make everything work. >> [laughter] >> Um Wait a second. >> [clears throat] >> I think this is a few slides in. There should be Can I go backwards with it? I can Your mouse? I don't have control at this point. Can call James. >> Okay, I do. I
057got it. I am in control now except I don't know how to get that [clears throat] off the middle of the screen. Is that Is somebody else Yeah, thank you. Okay, we got it. All right. Thanks everyone. Um so first off, I want to introduce there are a few people on our Equity Design Team that are here with us tonight. So John Harrigan's part of our team. Thanks for being here and staying, John. Uh Dan Arzaga is on the team and he's going to help me with the presentation. And Victor Zao is on our team and he's here as is Miss Corrine Baca, Deputy Superintendent Corrine Baca. So thank you all for being here and um thank you to Dan who did a lion's share of getting the actual slides together. So I'm going to
058try and um give a thorough but not wordy presentation, which is kind of challenging for me. So um our goal This is not advancing. Should I just ask you to advance? It's I don't Do I have control on the keyboard? Sorry. You just give me the clicker. Thank you. They gave me a keyboard to use, but it's not working. Thank you. Okay. Um Okay. So uh the purpose of the presentation tonight is to provide information about the broad work going on in our district in service of our commitment to dismantle the systemic inequities ensuring that all students develop a stronger sense of belonging and thrive in engaging learning environments. Uh we're going to go through a really brief timeline um that highlights our equity journey. Um there in um prior presentations, we've given a lot
059more details. So we just wanted to give the highlights tonight uh and then focus more time on what we're doing now. And um Danny Moreno just walked in. He's also on our Equity Design Team. So thank you for staying with us, Danny. Okay. So several years ago, we the board and um a team worked on the Equity Statement. We have included it here. Um what our focus has been in the last couple of years with National Equity Project has been on liberatory design. There's a hyperlink if you have the presentation. I'm not going to follow it right now that gives a really thorough description of liberatory design, but it's a process and practice to shift the relationship between the people who hold power to design and those impacted. So designing with, not for, students, families,
060um etc. Liberatory design invites diverse and dissenting opinions to name and disrupt harmful harmful or inequitable practices. Creates conditions and processes that support collective meaning-making, decision-making, and action. Fosters learning and agency for those involved in and influenced by the design work. And creates conditions for collective liberation. So in thinking about how to put this presentation together, the Equity Design Team we we met and we talked about, you know, what is it that we're doing? We're developing equity muscles. This is a metaphor for developing the will, stamina, and skills to engage and sustain uncomfortable and difficult conversations about race, equity, and systemic change. We're strengthening our equity practices. The process of providing staff with the skills, tools, and shared sense-making opportunities, which are necessary to implement equity strategies in our daily work. We're developing an equity
061lens cultivating a specific, intentional, and critical lens to examine policies, practices, and decisions to ensure they do not create or perpetuate inequities. We're cultivating equity-mindedness. A mode of thinking where practitioners are conscious about race and willing to take personal and institutional responsibility for the success of historically marginalized groups. And we're transforming equity leadership. Exploring structures and opportunities in which power is shared, not exercised, so that everyone can play a role in shaping the course of building equitable learning environments. So, we've created these we came up with these icons that are to the left and in the slides you'll see some of these icons um shown so that you can kind of you know, see the connections that are that are made. Um Okay. One of the things that I say we were meeting earlier today,
062Corrine and Dan and I going over the slides, and Corrine reminded me of something that I I say in most many meetings that we we are in when I'm talking about the equity work that we're doing. And for me personally um as superintendent my one of my main goals is for us is for our district to be a place that you can take me out of the picture, you can take Ms. Baca out of the picture, you can take any of the people kind of out of the picture, can be other people in place, but to have systems in place where um students can thrive, students um are you'll hear us talking about if they're seen, heard, and valued. We have that we have equitable systems that outlive all of us so that it doesn't
063really matter what person is is in the system, but the system is going to work for all of those students. And so this is the stuff that we're we're busy doing. We are improving our instruction. We're focused on universal design for learning, constructing meaning, grading for equity, ethnic studies, instructional coaching. So, it's not all about sort of getting in touch with our feelings, it's real meaty work that we're doing. We have set up and this is the part that that I feel is one of them the lynchpins of everything, like keeping everything together. We started with an equity design team with with National Equity Project. We have equity teams now at every school site. We have student equity teams at every school site. And not only are there is there just sort of a team,
064but they are functioning teams and I'm really excited for Dan to share with you some of the work that's gone on this year because a lot is being done and and we've been building, so I've this is my fifth year in this role, we've been building this for several and and preceding me by a couple of years, the board started this work. And um and now it's taken off. This year feels like um sort of a sea change that that the work is really taken off. We're working on um ensuring that we've got a positive climate. That that happens by building relational trust. We have had conducted many student listening sessions, staff listening sessions. And we're building our equity muscles, the work that we've done with Courageous Conversation, with National Equity Project, joining the district
065redesign and um building emotionally intelligent equity and inclusion practices. So, here's a brief timeline. We started the equity work in 2018, our school board did with the California School Board Equity Network. We in 2020 had keynote speakers, 2022 um Nicole Anderson, Toby Scruggs Hussein, Luis Versalles, we've had um Glenn Singleton from Courageous Conversation come. So, many keynotes so that we reached everyone in our district. We've had training um starting in 2021 with Courageous Conversation. And that was um district level equity leadership groups were our district equity task force starting in 2019 um who created that our equity statement. The um the leads, the leadership for racial equity, that is site and district administration and the DELT, the district equity leadership team, we worked on things such as the equity lens tool. So, all these years
066we've been sort of building and building and building to get to the place where we are today. In the fall of 2023 um I Corrine Baca and I saw something from National Equity Project inviting applicants to um become part of this um district redesign cohort. We didn't really know what we were signing up for, but we thought it sounded good and we applied. Um we were accepted and we reached out to some leaders in our district to see if they wanted to join us in this um in this uh I don't know what you call it, in this journey. Um so, in the fall of 2023 Corrine and I, along with Dan Arzaga, Jessica Tia Tia, and Josh Featherston uh formed the equity inquiry team. So, that first year it was really all about inquiry.
067One of the things that we've learned from National Equity Project is you really have to see see the playing field, see what is happening before you start taking any sort of action. So, this picture was from um our first retreat from and there were school districts from across the United States, New York and Chicago, local districts such as Walnut Creek and Santa Clara. I think there were maybe seven districts or so. I could be wrong, but there were lots. And um so, in the fall of 2023, working with our coaches and mentors from National Equity Project we decided to begin by listening to to students. And I'll be honest with you, it was a little bit um scary. We weren't exactly sure how to go about that. The year before Corrine and I had um
068spoken to students because we were um we had the equity design equity lens tool, sorry, and we wanted to meet with students to get their ideas um to hear what they thought about that tool and they turned into listening sessions where we said, "Well, if you could change something about your school, you know, what would you change?" And we really got a lot of good feedback from the kids and um so, that was the start of our listening here in the district, but it was not organized well. I mean, you know, we really didn't we were just talking to kids, just talking to students. So, National Equity Project said, you know, they said, "Talk to one student. It doesn't have to be, you know, just talk to a student." So, all of us, the five
069members in our different roles, in our different school sites, Josh was Jefferson, Jessica Westmore, Dan was at Oceana. So, they were just talking and Corrine and I went to the different went to Terra Nova and went to the other schools and talked to kids. And we just asked them, "What makes you feel seen, heard, and valued at school?" And we listened. You know, this was an example of a sophomore from Oceana, "The counselors are good listeners and they help me out." So, we heard positives. We also heard some things that were negatives, that were like we this needs to be we need to get better at this. And from some of those um smaller conversations, we decided that we needed to design a student experience survey. And so we we just asked the questions, "What
070makes you feel seen, heard, and valued at school?" And then we at the follow-up, you know, "If you don't feel seen, heard, and valued, what what would help? What would make you feel that way?" 2,400 students responded. That's a a really high number of responses. Oops, I'm going backwards. Um and so, after that so this is an example from that survey, "Although Westmore's a very caring environment, having a better connection with teachers and staff will make it easier for me to ask them for help and go up to them if if I need anything at school." So, we gave this survey and then we had to look at the data. And again, some of us were not very comf- I think I will say at least one of us on the team felt pretty comfortable
071with data and I think the others of us weren't so comfortable, myself included. Not really sure where to start. So we learned a data protocol from National Equity Project, you know, "What does the data say? What patterns do we see in what students have said? What about our practices contribute to these patterns? How will we learn more? How do we want to shift the patterns? What might we redesign to do differently?" So, as you see the ladder of inference to the right they really taught us to start with observations. Start with observations. Don't start coming up with how you're going to fix things. Don't start putting meaning to things. Don't start saying, "Well, if this would have happened." Really just observe the data. Then you can go up. Then you lend meaning to the selected
072data that you observe. Take a little subset of that data and look at that. Look at the meaning making assumptions etc. And then you take action as you go up. So from that student experience survey we this was the data. This Hispanic students make up 33.7% of JUHSD and they responded this high percentage responded with a one. The key takeaway was that 41.7% of Hispanic students responded with a one rarely feel seen heard and valued at school. There were a lot of different data points and we we spent a while deciding on where to focus because frankly there were lots of data points that were you know troubling to us. But this we we decided that we were going to focus listening sessions on our Hispanic students. That that's where we were going to start.
073So we had a surge of listening sessions beginning in 2024. We decided to create more time and space to hear students voices. So over 25 listening sessions with groups of usually four to seven students were conducted throughout the district at every school site. The focus of the sessions ranged from overall student experiences to hate speech to sense of belonging and being treated fairly. Some sessions grouped Hispanic students together. Other sessions then grouped African-American students or English language learners together. So at the beginning we really focused on those Hispanic students and then as we were moving through we focused on some other subgroups who had rated their experience low. Four listening sessions with staff were conducted at Westmore and Jefferson. Topics ranged from microaggressions to reflecting on how they engage with and offer support to students.
074Okay. So in the fall of 2025 so we that first year were we called ourselves the equity inquiry team or national equity project called us the equity inquiry team. Year two we became the equity design team and that's when we started designing some things and we were the equity design team that second year but we didn't add any members. So some school districts in that year two when they were starting to make some design they added members. We however decided that we wanted to remain five which was a small they kept calling us small but mighty. We were a small group but we wanted to sort of I think make more progress on what we were doing before we expanded our equity design team. So in the fall of 2025 which is the beginning of
075this year we expanded our equity design team to include Jessica I'm sorry to include John Harrigan Matias Johansson Maritza Torres and Danny Marenco and Victor Zao. And one of our team members had to step down because he had a lot of other so Josh Featherston had a lot of a lot of other responsibilities at Jefferson and decided that he wanted to focus on those. So this was our equity design team beginning this year. In the fall we met with I don't know I don't know what they call it the district convening and it was the whole country I don't know if it was West Coast or the whole country came to Oakland in the fall of this year and we always do lots and lots of learning with with national equity project and the result
076of that day or those few days actually was our equity design team creating the equity challenge cycle. And when I saw John earlier I said John I might call on you to help me because he's really good. He is the graphic designer number one. We gave our ideas and John helped with the with the designing. So I I said would you like to come up and help me John? I or if you want you can come up there. But what we did is we created this equity challenge cycle. So if you look at the bottom and you see see engage act this is a graphic that national equity project uses to explain you know you notice when we're talking about the data you notice and you reflect. You don't go straight to action. You have
077to see what's happening and then you engage and you start asking more questions and engage and then you take action. And you see the graphic right above pilot prototype and [clears throat] probe. That's another graphic that we've that we've learned from national equity project where and and this is one that I'm using with the students as well. They're asking questions they're probing and then they're creating some a pilot to say what if we do this to solve this problem. Let's do it at one school. Let's try this with this small group. Did it work? Then you're going to prototype and then you're going to probe some more. So what we did is we created our own equity challenge cycle as in the center and our at the bottom you you can see it says our
078challenge is to center student voice through engaging in cycles of reflection involving student listening collaborative sense making and prototyping scalable action steps. And I'm going to turn it over to John Harrigan to explain the beautiful graphic. >> that there's much more to say. >> Really? Okay okay. I was like I don't trust myself to be the best relayer of this. >> I was doing. I was trying to occupy my time when we were meeting. I'm like I got to do something. So in my remarkable I was just trying to jot down what everybody was saying. Yeah. And so really it was like centering student voice right in the middle of the the bullseye is right there and and that's what we've really been focused on is kind of keeping student voice at the center of
079what we're doing. What are they saying? What's their experience? And we don't know that if we don't ask. And so a lot of it it just reminds us to do the listening. And so starting with data so if you go to the outside there's data analysis and that's kind of like the beginning and then you go okay well what do we want to know more about and how are we going to learn more about it? Well we're going to talk to kids. We're going to ask questions. And we can do this with staff or students. Like at Jeff we've done it actually with staff as well as students. So then we do listening and so we come up with questions that we want to know the answers to. And then you make sense of it.
080So then you're going okay well what is this data saying? And it goes back to the ladder of inference. It goes back to all those things that Miss Prestes talked about. And then we go all right let's let's create a prototype. Let's do a safe to fail. And so a big point of what we've been working on is just creating safe to fail experiments. They don't have to be really big just something small that we're going to try that it's okay if they don't if it doesn't work. And where we're next year I think going I don't know if you guys talk about this but doing more with co-creation. So we're actually working on the solution with kids actively designing safe to fail with students instead of us sitting back and going oh okay yeah
081cool we've got all this data and we've listened and we think we know what's good for you. And you know that that goes back to designing for and not with. So the liberatory design process. So we're doing the co-creation and we're prototyping. So that's kind of our focus at least at Jefferson is going to be really on co-creation and how do we do that? Work with students so that we're getting to a better solution. Then we do it and then we come back and we analyze did it work or not work. And then you do this iterative process. But inside of that are some other things. So like what's our site focus? What are we working on as a school? Each one of us we realized had different needs. I think we all knew that.
082But each one of us knew that and so it didn't make sense to say here is our site focus because each one of us may be working on something different each year. And then we have enabling conditions. So these come from national equity project and they really just talk about collective vision effective systems inclusive leadership or trusting community. And so you kind of think about what it is that you're trying to address and what conditions need to be present in order for it to be successful. Then you figure out okay do we need to do something to address deficiencies in these in these enabling conditions that we might need. Not every project that we're going to work on requires all the enabling conditions but it's important to kind of have an idea of what will
083allow or create success. So anyway it was just creating this out of what everybody was talking about and then having something that we could show people like go back to our schools and say here is the process that we actually use when we're doing this work. And so looking at how do we how do we do this? And how do we make it clear that it is this iterative design process that we're really using student voice at the center of all this. So anyway that's Thank you. Thank you. No that's beautiful. I'm I'm really happy that you could help. Thank you. So, um with that, I'm going to turn it over to Dan Arzaga, who is our um teacher on special assignment for equity and ethnic studies. And Dan, um I'm going to hand you
084the clicker when I'm going to talk about you for a minute. Dan has been absolutely key to this work. He is um a a founding member of the equity inquiry and design team. And he also works really closely with all of the principals and all of the school sites, all of the equity teams, all of the student equity teams. So, so we quickly learned, Corrine and I, that it was really hard for us to be um kind of the the the the person who is holding all of this together. And I just want to thank you, Dan, cuz Dan's done a really amazing job. And so, he's going to be sharing with you some of the really amazing work. Um and you have also in the board packet links to um each of the each
085of the school sites specifics. But Dan's going to I'm going to turn it over to you, Dan, now. Thank you. Right. The uh appendices that you have, one from each school, they have a a longer bulleted list of uh um more than what we were were able to put here on these just these few slides for this presentation. Um but it wasn't easy to get these things going. Um this is my second year in this role. And part of the difficulty was the role was created and now what does this person do? And so, I can remember some of those uh early meetings with these principals and and uh as much as I liked hanging around with them, being with them, um some of them I was familiar with already. It was like, "Okay, now
086what is our working relationship there?" Um so, it took a little while to figure out. But once we got rolling and once we found some purpose in it, then we could see there were some great equity work already going on in the school. And how was it we were going to then meld it with some of the frameworks of national equity project and some of the approaches that we were um taking with listening sessions and and then kind of integrating it into what was needed at that particular school site. Um so, starting with how staff equity teams in schools are currently building equity capacity around the district. Again, this is just like one example from each school site. And and then we've tied it to um one of the the building equity capacity, you know,
087descriptors. So, I'm going to start there on the lower left with Westmore. And uh what was nice about working with the staff equity team at Westmore is this past school year, the staff equity team members decided like, "Okay, we want to be able to go in and do these listening sessions that have been happening around the district." And so, it was a great example of the the staff equity team members wanting to strengthen their equity practices by um you know, I went in and and did like a listening session with them and modeled it for them. And then they went and did six separate listening sessions with um group small groups of uh SLE students, students learning English. We all had a common set of questions. Um and some sessions were done almost entirely in
088Spanish cuz thankfully the uh you know, the equity team member was fluent in Spanish and we were able to do those sessions in Spanish. And and then we had a couple uh data review sessions after those those listening sessions. And so, it gives um Westmore uh some great direction going into next school year. Uh at Oceana, their staff equity team um is called the anti-racism committee. They've had that name for uh a while, even before we had, you know, this formally the staff equity teams. Um So, something they are doing currently is is having this book club with their staff. And they are currently reading Why Fascists Fear Teachers by Randy Weingarten, the AFT uh president. And good example of developing equity muscles cuz it's in those book clubs in which you're going to have
089those conversations about equity and race and systemic change. Um up towards the top, Jefferson uh conducted They've been conducting staff training the last few years uh around how to look at data. So, even before John became part of the equity uh design team, um because they'd been privy to they've been uh having discussions about national equity project data protocols and and they knew what we were doing with the EDT, the equity design team. Um they were ready with their whole staff uh training their staff to to look at data in this way. Um And again, a good example of developing an equity lens. Um Over at Thornton, um they are shifting to a school-wide project-based learning model. And uh listening I mean, part of it comes from listening to their students. And what is what
090is going to best meet their students' needs, which is the essence of Thornton. Um and uh again, a good example of cultivating equity mindedness because it's the the school site itself as an institution taking responsibility for meeting the needs of its students. And then at Terra Nova, um with Terra Nova, they have uh they're they're they've identified their equity challenge as, "How can we make calling out hate speech feel possible, safe, and the norm for T&T students and staff on and off campus?" And so, one thing they identified as a need was, "We need to do some discussions, some training uh with our staff about these microaggressions that are happening on campus and in our classrooms." Um and the staff equity team decided that they would It wasn't just going to be, you know, the
091principal up there in the admin giving some sort of um uh you know, slide deck show of of what microaggressions are and so forth. They were going to uh have the staff equity team facilitate this and then do some activities um with the staff. And so, it's an example of transforming equity leadership because it's now it's the equity work is being spread out. Okay. And I'm going to move to the next slide. And again, I've put down there at the bottom transforming equity leadership because with the the uh establishment of the student equity teams at all the school sites, it is again, it is about how do we design with the students rather than for the students. I'm going to start with Terra Nova in the bottom right-hand corner because the that equity challenge that
092they have, it is a school-wide equity challenge. So, with the staff equity team taking on some PDs, facilitating PDs with the staff, the student equity team decided that their their community engagement, their school community engagement um for this spring was that they were going to go into each of the ethnic studies classes, all the ninth graders, and do a lesson uh on microaggressions. Um so, kind of the the same sort of content that the staff was getting in their PD. And then do a a step-in activity to encourage empathy. So, for example, it's a kind of activity where you make a statement like, um you know, I come from an immigrant family. And if you if you also come from an immigrant family, then you would step forward or step into the circle. And then
093you have some sort of small discussion about it. Um So, that each each of these student equity teams is coming up with some sort of project this spring, some sort of school community engagement. And each is responding to what they saw on the data review of the student experience surveys, what they saw in their data review of the listening sessions. Um and so, each one here is different, like could be vastly different. At Thornton, um they really have a structure of Friday community circles. And so, they're in the student team, student equity team, they have decided like, "Okay, how can we include more student voice or input into those Friday community circles. So, one example is um there's usually some sort of uh like quote or wise saying that's included in that Friday community circle.
094And so, you know, maybe from time to time could could the students choose that quote? You know, what is something that resonates with them and they can bring that to the community circle. And so, taking an existing structure and how can we have more student voice and creative input um from the student equity team? Up at the top, Jefferson, um they will be creating an interactive unity wall in the courtyard area to foster a sense of belonging and empathy. It might be something they're still in developing it, but it might be something which they've taken some quotes or song lyrics that resonate with them. And other students can come and interact with it by It might just be a star that says, "Yes, that resonates with me also." Or or a way in which they
095could also add things that resonate for them and other people can then um connect with it. Oceana, um their student equity team will be facilitating a staff PD coming up uh in a few weeks. They will have um >> [clears throat] >> small staff groups work through different scenarios that they came up with. In fact, they just came up with their scenarios today. I was in a meeting with them. And one scenario had to deal with um you know, the comments made about a somebody's hair, you know, the texture of their hair and however intentional or unintentional the the the comments might be in making that student uh feel a certain way, feel bad or embarrassed or awkward. Um you know, how will that how might the the staff or a teacher uh decide to
096intervene in that moment? Um so, there'll be a discussion with small staff groups, but then also the student um equity team will give their input into how would we like the teachers to um to intervene? How would we like them to react to that? Um so, they will be facilitating that that staff meeting, that PD here in a couple weeks. And they've generated the scenarios. And um um they will have action options in order uh to help guide their interventions. At Westmore, um one thing well, what they had seen through their data review is that in the change to the block schedule um the last couple years, that it's like they felt like, "Oh, we needed some some break from the these big blocks of academic work." Um and how can we create and flex
097time can create a break, but there were no flex time offerings that were offering anything that felt like a break, whether it was some physical movement or something creative. Um or even some sort of uh you know, walk or anything like that. They were all academic driven. So, their idea was to use the flex time offerings as have a few offerings that would feel like a break, but how can we structure it so that we are building in um ways for students to connect cuz that was also another need that they they saw that we needed to create ways for students to have a better sense of belonging and to make those connections. So, the agenda or the structure of the flex time will always include um something in which students have to connect by
098name or something they have in common or something in which they have to talk to one another before the actual activity of whether it's games or taking a walk or doing some sort of physical activity. So, uh that they can facilitate others uh flex time offerings coming up. And maybe other teachers will see like, "Okay, I think I would like to have a flex time offering that looks like, you know, this." Um So, that was just Again, these are just the things that they're working on right now. And some of these groups are even have some thoughts, you know, for the coming uh you know, school year because we're trying to just try something this spring. Um they've mentioned already safe-to-fail experiment prototype. And it just means let's just try something, see how it goes,
099and we can tweak it. And if it goes well, then we can look at how do we expand it. And our future goals, um over to the right, that graphic, that is that is our goal. You know, more youth participation, designing with our students rather than for students. At the very top, I mean, that would you know, those two at the top, student initiated and directed, would be great. And student initiated and the decisions are shared with adults. Um I mean, that's the goal we're striving for. We We We got to work up to it. Um what's nice about working with the student equity teams is not only we're working with the students, but for myself, working with all those student equity teams, I'm also working with different staff, teachers, admin. So, you know, at
100uh Terra Nova, the advisors for the student equity team are Megan Carey, principal, and Juan Venegas, uh campus supervisor. Um at Westmore, it's uh Diana Villalobos, who's the student liaison, and uh Rand Buado, kind of a jack-of-all-trades in the office. And uh you know, again, at Oceana, principal Maritza Torres and counselor uh um Matias Johansson. And at uh Jefferson, math teacher uh Christian Ashworth. So, our student equity team advisors, when it comes to just that idea of transforming equity leadership, it is it is spreading not only to more people, but more people who have different roles within the school district and at their school sites. Um and it's it's nice to spread the leadership out that way and then to kind of spread it out to the to our students in that way, too. Um
101our future goals, continue to partner with NEP to support JUHSD moving its equity work forward. Um it's like they've they've provided so much guidance in what we do that uh we know that we we want to continue our partnership with them. Uh develop student leadership skills and agency by partnering students and adults in co-design of safe-to-fail experiments, prototypes, and sense-making about impact and decision-making. Um I'd say especially in the last part about the sense-making and impact and decision-making, I mean, it's for some of our student equity teams, they've um only met a handful of times throughout the school year. It's like, you know, we were trying to figure out are we going to be meet every 2 weeks, every 3 weeks? Are we using flex time? And sometimes during flex time, those students, you know,
102they have to go and take a makeup test. They have to go and and, you know, talk to a teacher about a project. And so, we're still trying to figure out like how do we make good use of our time and and and still move this work forward. Um three, sustain and expand listening sessions throughout the district. Um it was great to have student equity team members at Westmore um do the listening sessions. Um I'd done a lot of them at Jefferson uh with Josh Featherston that first year. And so, it would be great to to kind of use that model, what happened at Westmore, and get other teachers or staff at other schools to do the listening sessions. Um and and you know, again, expand and spread out that equity work. Um and we
103want to especially uplift voices of students who are typically not and who are experiencing equity when it comes to positive school experiences and school is meeting their needs. So, there's as many students as we've already listened to, there's still a a ton more out there who who we need to listen to. And then um four, something we're hoping to do in the fall is create an opportunity or and create more opportunities to better engage with our J U H S D families. Um we want to listen to the students, but we also want to listen to the families and how we create something in which we can get the families to come to an event and create some engaging activities to get a sense of their story, their thoughts and to add to the overall
104narrative of what's going on in this district and how can we then move that work forward and design and not only with our students, with our staff and with our families, too. To create uh just more engaging educational environments where where we have a better sense of belonging throughout the community, students, staff, families. Okay. Thank you. So, I want to say we've got many of our equity design team members here. So, I don't know if the board wants to, you know, any of us can probably answer. Dan and I just presented. So, thank you. Thank you. Mhm. Equity design team. >> Mhm. Thank you. Any comments, board? I have a comment. >> Trustee Miller looks ready. I have a comment. Um number one, I appreciate the attention to dealing with this complex issue. So, I'm
105really glad that Jefferson Union has this design team to deal with the complex issue of equity. And I also appreciate that you already understand the importance of the systems being in place regardless of who's in leadership because um we see some of the adverse effects of systems that were put in place a long time ago. So, I'm really excited about that. It it just really reminds me of a very large capstone project that's just ongoing and just in my opinion, the most critical part is the listening. The listening Well, then the data's very important, too, cuz you you know just the surveys and the responses that you got and that you're letting the you're letting the data direct the future and those listening sessions are so important where people just don't feel heard. And I'm
106glad that you're um tailoring it differently to the needs of the schools, the individual schools. And I'm I'm just excited about this. I'm I'm glad to be on the board here cuz this is wonderful work. So, congratulations for everyone who's involved in this. So, thank you for this. Yeah, just a couple quick comments. Uh first of all, um thank you all for laying the groundwork for uh this big undertaking. Uh we've heard a lot about it. Kind of tidbits here and there from Superintendent Presta. And so, to get this presentation to kind of get an overall feel for all the work that you guys have been doing and putting into it is uh uh it's pretty impressive, actually. Um there's a lot going on and like uh Lisandra said, um you know, just kind of
107seeing how you're individualizing each, you know, schools um tasks for their students and what, you know, what you got to do for each school. Um It it's an ongoing It it sounds like a a big ongoing project. I I you know, two years in, you guys are kind of just getting started, I think. I'm I'm I'm really anxious to see you know, what you know, what comes of this. I I the goals with um you know, the the student equity um or the the equity project in general, I you know, my only question, I guess, would be like as far as your overall goal went, how do you know when you've reached that that milestone of like, "Hey, we're at the top of this rung here and you know, and then it's established and then
108you keep it going." Like, what is have you guys established that as far as what that looks like yet for yourselves in each I know each side is going to be different, but there's got to be like a generalized, you know, feel for that. I don't know if I've necessarily or we've necessarily said what it looks like. I think there are times when I get the feeling that we've we're making progress because, for example, when we I know a big step for us was, "Okay, we gathered all this data, the listening session data. We've got the student experience stuff." And NEP or NEP coaches are like, "Well, get that data back in front of students." And and a big step was putting it back in front of students and then, "How Like, how do we
109there's so much, right?" You know, and so for some schools, it was a matter of, "Okay, we'll take some excerpts and and some from the listening session data, some from uh you know, the survey data and okay, what do you guys think?" And then at other schools, they decided like "Okay, we just want to see like the survey like all of it and we'll kind of sift through it." And so, each school even just kind of deciding how they wanted to deal with the data was interesting. But I when I say I get the feelings of making progress is when the students' eyes kind of light up and they've like never seen data like that. And I think it was almost like they're they're kind of like seeing behind like what's the inner workings of
110stuff. You know, because obviously it's all anonymous data, but it's like, "God, some of them were it was so interesting to for them to think like, "That's what other students are thinking?" Like, for themselves, maybe they've had a pretty good experience in school, but to now be reading that there's a bunch of other students out there who aren't having the same experience as me. It was like, "Okay, that's why we're doing this." Because now now you're building that empathy and you're building that "Okay, now now the questions start going off in their head like, okay, well, what do we Like, how are we addressing this?" Um and so, that's where I know that feeling when I got that feeling like, "Okay, we're on the right track here." Yeah. Thank you. I I also want to
111add, I think there's so many different things. There's not like one, "Oh, this is attained." I feel like we're never going to be there. Do you know what I mean? Like, it's why there's so many sort of cycles. You see all the cycles in in what we're talking about and it can be very easy for me, I think I I can talk in the morning look at something in the morning and think, "Oh my gosh, we're not we're not making enough progress and, you know, this happened and this person said, 'Well, I don't feel seen or heard at all.'" You know, and then two hours later, I'm sitting with another group and I see, "Oh my gosh, there's so much progress happening over here." So, I think it's really like um it's it is an
112it will be an ongoing thing. We're not curing racism. You know, we're not and we're going to keep trying. You know what I mean? So, it's kind of like um any number of prototypes or any number of data inquiries, we can we can focus on this and do some data inquiry, do some do some um safe to fail things and then get some more data and see some progress there. And it might be incremental and it might be big. And so, that's a hard one to answer, but Yeah, I I think one way that NEP had us uh think about it was like, first of all, as it had been said in the in other parts, was like, "Well, don't just jump straight to action because you don't even know what you're looking at." And
113you know, even something small, it's just like that metaphor of a little pebble in the pond, right? Things ripple out. Um and so, just even with small things uh impacting one person or a small group of people and then feeling compelled to like you know, "No, we want to go into, you know, the ethnic studies classes and teach them about microaggressions." And we you know, just providing the opportunity or container to do that and and you know, what impact will that experience have on them, but then, you know, how much more motivated are they are are they going to be to go out and do more of this work beyond that presentation, beyond high school, whatever. One Thank you all. And I'm glad you mentioned equity with ethnic studies because I think because I think
114for a lot of districts, it begins and ends with ethnic studies. And what we're doing here is that we're really we're not just changing systems, we're also changing the culture. So, it's embedded as a big part of who we are as individuals in this district and therefore, the district becomes has that culture. So, I'm really grateful to all of you for the incredible work because you had to look in the mirror at your own biases in order to be able to do this work because that's what I had to do. I I mean, I it's it's amazing how far we've come in eight years. I'm glad you had the timeline, Tony, because I distinctly remember being part of that equity network in Sacramento at CSBA and look and being with other school board members from
115other districts were unwilling to do that work and yet, but there were many others who were. And it was really hard to do and to be able to then come back and I still remember then Trustee Sal Hudden and I speaking at an all staff welcome back and seeing these the the faces of staff who were wondering what it is that we were talking about. There was a minority that understood, but a majority that didn't understand what we were talking about. And to see how far we've come to where it is really embedded to an essential part of who we are is an incredible. Um couple of questions. One, are we planning to do another student experience survey? I'd be interested to see what the results would be if we did survey the students today
116after 3 years of work. It's one question. Um looking at the equity challenge cycle slide 17. My challenge to you is how can we put this in a way that we can in simplified non eduspeak? I mean it I we understand it up here for the most part. But if if we're presenting this to parents, if we're presenting this to local um organizations how how can we do it in such a way that they can see this circle and understand what it is that we're doing? And I think that would be really powerful because this to me explains exactly the focus of the work that that we're doing. Not to mention I think if the challenge I think I threw out to you at some point is can we should make this a presentation at
117the next CSBA conference and we should really apply to do that. And simplifying this will make it a lot easier for other LEAs if they look at this. Um and and then lastly, I just think the fact that um looking at Oceana specifically, the the fact that the students are facilitating the PD is is powerful. That's really pretty cool to hear. So I'm really excited about the work that we are doing and I'm really proud of of how far we've come. To to see, you know, the the the change that we're seeing across the board. So thank thank you all. Thank you for this great presentation for all the work you've been putting into this. Um Yeah, uh we started on this journey in 2018 and was like holy moly, we got a lot. We
118it's in our hearts and we've got a lot of work to do and it felt like I felt like we didn't have buy-in from everyone in the district, which was hard. Um Uh so my question is how big is the buy-in in our district that you feel? >> [clears throat] >> I feel it's I think it's gotten better over the last couple years. I think part of it is with um you know, having the ethnic studies class. I mean, that's just part of it. Right? But it does give more awareness to uh centering issues of race and issues of systemic racism and oppression and and creating very intentionally trying to create a sense of belonging. Um so that's part of it. And as kind of awareness spreads with that and you know, as more and
119more students go through ethnic studies cuz I think this year will be our first year will graduate the ones who first had ethnic studies as ninth graders. Um and so you that's one thing to build on. Um but then there's, you know, even with like newer teachers, more and more taking constructing meaning or you know, doing some of the uh workshop series that Melissa Ambrose and I do with the racial healing and personal growth. Um I mean, all those little things add up to like, okay, you you kind of figure out like there's actually people interested in this work all over the place. They just need a way to engage with it. So whether it is being, you know, part of their staff equity team, whether it's something they're doing in their own classroom, whether
120it's coming to a movie night, you know, on a film that centers race. It's like, how can we best create those uh a way in for them to engage in the work? So in that sense, I'd say it's definitely growing. That's great. That's [clears throat] right. To that, too. Part of it, I think that you touched on, Dan, you um with new teacher taking constructing meaning, you know, this year we um started requiring any new teacher to take grading for equity. So we're starting to put in some systems where anybody who's going to come and work here, we're up front about that. If that's not your thing, you're not going to choose to work here. Right. So little by little. So I I do um have a sense that the buy-in it is certainly much
121more than it was, you know, back in 2018. Um and I think with with people who already worked here, not but also with with new people coming to the district knowing that this is who we are and being very intentional about when principals are interviewing teachers and classified staff, they're talking about it. We're talking about it. So you're choosing to be here because this is who we are. Right. So I think a Yeah. >> You know, having been on the board since 2014, I think that um a big part of that is you. Because it's very this was like a primary thing for you. This was very important for you and you you did the work and you pushed for it. And we were so grateful we had someone that who really believed in it
122as much as we did. Um and then you found these teams who believed in it as well. And it's I like I like to say it's become our identity now. Um it's really becoming our identity and that we've made um you know, like you said, if we have any I remember if we have any new teachers starting, they have to take grading for equity. It's it's um or you can't work here. Um [laughter] so this is who we are and I I love that. Um and this is a lot of work. I you know, I took a look at this. I said, this is a lot of work. They put a lot of work into this. And I can't tell you how grateful I am to all of you for this. Um and like trustee
123Lee said, that slide that slide's powerful, but let's make it accessible. You know, um >> [laughter] >> Noted. I'm like, oh, my head's spinning. Um but it uh there are just so many things when you are sharing everything that uh you know, with the I I just have these questions and I feel like I don't want to take up all the time asking these questions, but I have them. I know. Uh so So the student equity teams, how are these formed? And then also when they're doing the work, it's you have the advisor who trains them or um you know, how does that work? Yeah, I would that was the big challenge at the beginning was like, okay, do we we we just put the word out? Um and have hopefully kids sign up. Um
124do we shoulder tap kids and say, I think you'd be good for this or ask I think you'd be It was a little bit of all of that and it kind of depended on the school and you know, it was a challenge to find advisors to it sometimes because it's it's an it's an extra thing. >> It's an extra thing. Um as much as the work might be important to to the person, how am I going to fit this in? So that's, you know, that's why we decided to try it during flex time because there was a built-in structure. Um so it's a little different at each school. Some uh like Oceana and Terra Nova, they have the bigger groups. They're like maybe 10 to maybe 12 students on their student equity team. Um Westmoor,
125Jefferson, they're a little bit smaller, like six to seven. Um but this, you know, kind of didn't They they opted [laughter] in. They they chose they chose to be there. >> The baby principal goes six up. They chose to be there. They opted in and they show up. And and they help make the decisions in terms of like, okay, what does this data mean to us and what is it do we that's kind of within our realm, our capability uh this bring to try. Um and certainly for all the equity student equity teams, it's like, okay, we how do we get more students become part of this, you know, moving forward? And may I interject? I think Dan has been really key because he we really he, you know, was like, okay, how how do
126we do this? There's not exactly a road map. And so because Dan has worked with each of the school sites, I think you I've seen you kind of learning from, oh, we tried this. And then you've been I think a very valued advisor to the people at the school sites that are leading the student equity teams. And I also want to say it's not just certificated or administrators. There's classified staff that are leading equity teams, student equity teams. And so, I'm also really proud of that. Like it's a super it it's um very inclusive, but it's different at each site, I think. And Dan's sort of the the the thread that goes between. Yeah, along the way, I mean, I help I meet with each of the advisors and I help plan what's going to
127go on or and uh and at times help facilitate. And and some a little bit more than others cuz some of them want just want to have a little bit more facilitation than others and that which is great. Um but along the way, especially earlier in the school year, it was like, "Okay, this is what they tried over at Westmore, you know, and this is what they tried at Oceana." And just trying to keep everybody's mind open to what might work. Um and what can we learn from each other? And at the same time, kind of making sure like you got to do what's good for your school. Right. >> What's going to work for you and your students right now? Um because we were also hoping that it would be a place for students
128who well, students who weren't in ASB. Great. >> Uh students who weren't, you know, in these other leadership positions. In some cases, they are, but in other cases, it's they're not. And so, they're they weren't always necessarily used to having that sort of responsibility of, "Okay, we're going to put this data in front of you. What do you think it, you know, what's it mean or what are you seeing? And then what would you like to try?" And to make some sort of change here at the school. And so, it's like, "Really? Like we get to do that?" Um and so, even at first was like uh you know, if you're not used to being listened to, then it's it's hard to just trust the process early on. But then again, the ones who kept
129showing up and I guess realized like, "Okay, this Yes, we're doing this." And and again, this spring, we'll see how these different projects go. Interesting. That's great. Um so, when you have the listening sessions, you you talk about data that you collect after listening sessions. So, when I think of data, I think numbers. But when you say data after a listening session, it's not necessarily um you gave them a survey. It's more you What does your What does What is the data after a listening session? Yeah, so the listening session is there's different parts of the listening session. We Josh Featherston and I, with the help of our NEP coaches, came up with the sort of format Oh. process in which part of it was whatever the questions were, we had them on posters around
130the room and they would go around and write on it. It would give the students a chance to kind of think about things individually. And if they're writing, that's already data. Okay. >> And so, you know, cuz you might have students who are who are timid or afraid to speak up, use their voice, but they'll write it. Mhm. >> You know? And then then we take them and have what we call it circle talk and and have some discussion with them, you know, and then we're recording that one. And now we're collecting data again Oh. you know, through the recording. And then even at the end of that, if there's something that's come up that you haven't had a chance to say, we give them another opportunity to write something down. So, there's all these
131different ways we can collect the data, whether they've just written it, whether they've spoken it, or done all of that. That's great. The data's information. Information. Okay. And yes, we do plan to to do another survey. >> Mhm. Mhm. Well, great work. Um Yeah, I think that's most of my questions. Thank you very much. Thanks so much, Dan. Um I don't have questions. I kind of my own observation. I It's been so great to be on this board and kind of to be a part of we go to conferences to have everyone give me credit for building employee housing when I wasn't on the board yet. Um it's cool to be a part of that. And it's uh it's nice to know that nice to be a part of supporting that type of work. And
132I think that's a extremely tangible um equity instrument. Um And now it's really nice to be a part of supporting this effort. Um which it goes directly to the kids, which I love. Um to the students. And kind of as a as a teacher, former math teacher, I want to jump in. I want to help out, you know? Like if we had some students who were struggling with math, I'd be like, "What you need?" You know, got a little Pythagorean theorem, there's a some trig functions, little Chebyshev, and whatever you need, right? But like you said before, I don't know what I'm doing. >> [laughter] >> So, um I'm glad you do. And I'm glad it's being shared with the district. I'm glad to support these efforts. It's um and so important for all of
133our students. So, thank you. I I do have one last question. Um first I want to thank also want to thank Rosie and Andy and Tony as well for you know, you guys kind of sounds like you guys spearheaded this way before anybody else got here. So, um just kind of pushing that through and making sure that is a priority for our district and um giving the support that you guys have given through all these years and kind of in your leadership and you know, making sure that everybody's um seeing that as a uh as our identity is really important. So, I want to thank you guys for doing that and kind of you know, bringing us along for the ride. I appreciate it. Um the the last question I have for you though is
134just um more of a curiosity thing. Like as far as your um your national your national equity project coach or mentor or whatever, are you guys um I'm sure you're networking with other districts that are doing this, right? Are you in touch with any districts that may be further along in their in their project that you're able to kind of tap into and or how how often do you guys get to connect with anybody else doing this kind of work to see, you know, trade ideas? I mean, in our time with the uh district redesign, this is a like a three-year cycle, right? We're in our third year. And uh in those three years, we would meet what? Three four three times? Like with with districts from, you know, throughout the nation, Chicago and Michigan
135and so forth. Um And some of the uh first couple years, um my like allied pod group um actually met every month. And part of it was just exchange of ideas, what's going on at your school. Part of it was support and and realizing we're all going through this together and you know, sometimes you need to have a good laugh with other people who have to, you know, battle systemic racism. And so, there was some of that. And then what? We'd have the retreat, right? So, um and that was a chance for where they're in person and and you really get to uh exchange ideas and uh and things like that. And I don't feel like any of us is way ahead of the other. Do you know what I mean? Like I do feel
136like we're all in different places. I think they came here and learned from us and we're like, "Wow, you're doing that." We went to Santa Clara. We went to Walnut Creek. We go there and we're like, "Wow, you're doing that." So, we we're definitely seeding ideas. We're learning a lot of sort of content, for lack of a better way of putting it, content and processes from the National Equity Project. We're all there learning in these really I mean, it's really great PD. And then we're all trying different things. Yeah. And so, we're seeing what other districts are doing, what other schools are doing. Connections are made. Um there's teachers and classified staff and administrators from different school districts from around the country. And you know, the world is smaller. But you just get on Zoom
137with people. So, definitely it's a really supportive thing, but I don't feel like somebody's figured it all out. And you know, it's it's more like, "Oh, let's do Oh, they tried this." We're kind of learning from each other. Yeah, I think it's just good to know that you guys are still you know, National Equity Project that you're doing it, you know, with the people that cuz we're you know, our community's going to be way different from a community, you know, further down the road here in California even. So, I mean, just kind of getting those those interactions are are important for this project. I think so. I just kind of wanted to know what that felt like. Yeah, and one of the decisions decisions we'll have to make is is what our relationship with National
138Equity Project will be, you know, after this third year. Whether it's going to be with another network sort of cohort or whether it's just more uh you know our coaches just working with us directly or indirectly. Yeah, we we definitely want to continue partnering with them and we're kind of figuring out what that'll look like. Thanks again everybody. I do have one last comment actually just all this made me think about what Nicole Anderson when she did the training with us years ago walking us through the history of public education in California and asking the question can a system that was founded on inequities be trusted to fix itself? And I would argue from the conversation today that we sure as hell are doing going to do the everything we can to do it. And
139I think we're well on our way at least in our localized venue. Thank you. I agree. Thanks Dan. Thank you. Thanks Dan. Thanks everybody from the equity design team for being here tonight too. Um we're on item 1683 and I have allowed my computer to lose power. Um They volunteered oh 1683 that's Miss Presta. Okay. So we've got several board policy updates. They are all different and they are all updated per CSBA's recommendations because of law change so we can start with I guess uh board policy update BP 2120 superintendent recruitment and selection. So this policy is updated to reference CSBA's um California Consultants and Leadership Search Services which provides guidance to districts recruiting and selecting a superintendent. Additionally policy updated to remove from the list related to the governing board's search and selection process
140item which items which are rarely carried out by the board and to add duties that a professional advisor may facilitate. In addition the policy is updated to clarify material related to discussing discussing negotiating and voting on the superintendent's contract. Policy also updated to reflect new law SB 521 2025 which prohibits the employment of a person as superintendent if within the past 5 years the candidate was convicted of any felony involving accepting or giving or offering to give or any bribe conflict of interest and embezzlement of public money extortion or theft of public money perjury conspiracy to commit any of those crimes arising directly out of their official duties. So updated to reflect new law and best practices. Any questions or okay. Shall we go to board policy 3515 sex offender notification. This policy is updated
141to clarify that district employee to whom sex offender information is disclosed by a law enforcement entity may only disclose the information when authorized by the law enforcement entity and in the manner authorized. Additionally policy updated to include the purposes for which a registered sex offender's electronic mail address or username used for instant messaging or social networking or other internet identifier may be used by the district police security department or released to another law enforcement entity. So this was just recommended for update by CSBA. Okay, any questions? Okay. Board bylaw 9005 governance standards this bylaw is updated to expand material related to CSBA's professional governance standards including governing board expectations as well as responsibilities for the board as a whole and individual board members. Any questions? Okay. And the final one is board bylaw 9270 conflict
142of interest. The bylaw is updated to add that governing boards are mandated to adopt a conflict of interest code and to adopt policies regarding incompatible offices and activities. Additionally bylaw updated to denote district official as the general term for position to which the district's conflict of interest code applies and to reflect new law SB 1181 2024 and new law SB 1243 2024 which increased the threshold to $500 for certain disclosure requirements and restrictions on accepting soliciting or directing campaign contributions. In addition bylaw updated to permit any district official who in good faith believes that they may be subject to the requirements of the bylaw and has questions is unclear or is unsure regarding the application of the requirements of the bylaw to seek advice from the district's legal counsel with the permission of the superintendent
143board president or majority of the board. Bylaw also updated to include ethics training required by board members who are in office as of January 1st 2025 with the completion by January 1st 2026 and every 2 years thereafter. Bylaw is also reorganized for coherence clarity and consistent style. Any questions? Okay, thank you. Item 16B is student services. I see some board policies. Yes, you do. >> Miss Bassolino. Uh policy 5131 conduct this policy is updated to reflect new law which requires governing board by July 1st 2026 to develop adopt and update every 5 years a policy to limit or prohibit student use of smartphones while at school site or under supervision and control of district employees. Additionally this policy is updated to expand the list of prohibited student conduct to include conduct that is prohibited by
144law related to suspension and expulsion. First read. >> [snorts] >> Any questions? Thank you. Um Sorry. Are we on 16B2? Okay, board policy 5131.7. Weapons and dangerous instruments this policy is being updated to include school officials who are alerted to or observe any threat or perceived threat of a homicidal act to immediately report the threat or perceived threat to law enforcement and add language regarding staff training and align with staff responsibilities to report such acts. No discussion. Will you tell us about board policy 5141.4? Certainly will. This policy is being updated to align with current laws around annual staff trainings and information to be printed on the back of student ID cards. Any questions? Discussion? Thank you Miss Bassolino. Uh Sorry, I was a big part of this tonight. Let my computer get out of
145use. Okay, 17A1 governance handbook. Um I'll read. Uh Luann Berman Rivera CSBA governance educator consultant facilitated a new beginnings uh effective governance workshop for our governance team. That's the board of trustees and the superintendent on March 28th 2026. Uh the Jefferson Union High School District draft governance handbook uh documents aspects of an effective governance system including our agreements about norms meetings guidelines and protocols developed at our workshop. Uh the governance workshop conversations were produced and resulted in the completion of an excellent and comprehensive governance handbook. Whoever wrote this is very flattering. Uh we focus on our sorry, we focus our discussions on uh agreeing on an understanding of the common ground that's called unity of purpose moral imperative shared by governance team members building and sustaining a positive culture based on open communication trust and
146respect these are norms and meeting guidelines and uh completing our governance handbook. The changes that we made to the draft governance handbook sessions are highlighted in yellow in the attachment that is uh the governance handbook is on our agenda for review and approval. Um It is recommended that the board review and approve the attached governance handbook. Uh any discussion? Uh yeah actually I when when reading through the changes that we made noticed that um I wanted to see if we could amend it real quick uh just a wording on a line on page uh it's page 10 it's line two. Um anyone can call for a recess if she or he feels the need for a break. I wanted to add in a they them line in there for that. And then I think I'm
147good on that. Can we do that on the fly? We can. He can just move That's on page 10. Okay. It's line two. Oh. It's highlighted. I think that when hopefully somebody makes a motion to approve they can say with that amendment and we can I can just update that document could they them rather than him, he, her. Mhm. Good catch. Good call. Yep. Is that Just real quick, also, um nothing to change in the handbook, but when we we do have the meeting guidelines in here, and I wonder if it might be useful to have that printed out and maybe on display here in the board room. Oh, that's a good idea. Yeah, just so that's a reminder Mhm. for both us and for the general public. Yep. Yeah. What are meeting guidelines? >>
148it. Yeah, we can do that. Hey, I'm really sorry. I started looking for it, and I can't see it. Just cuz I can't find it. Is it Is it the page that's number 10 at the bottom? It It's page 10 that's on the top of page 10. Uh I don't know. It's not showing on this page 10. It's one of the highlighted yellow spots in our meeting. We said that anybody can call for a recess if he or she needs it during the meeting, and it's just changing that to if they It's showing up on a different page. Yeah. If they need it. Okay. So, yeah, anyone can call for a recess if he or she feels the need, so if they Okay. feel the need for a break. That's Okay, that's good. Okay. Okay.
149Anyone else? I just want to thank the board. Really thank them for being present for each other during that whole meeting. I learned a lot about you and about what we're trying to do here. Mhm. Uh having said that, I will entertain a motion to approve the governance handbook with the change um that Trustee Gallegos specified earlier on page nine. Mhm. So moved. Second. All in favor? I. I. Uh 18 is the consideration of future agenda items, and 19 uh will entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. >> [laughter] >> All those in favor? I. I. Um we're adjourned at 9:19.