January 22 2026 - Board Meeting - Open Session

001All right, I'd like to uh reconvene us into our regular open session at 6 o'clock. Welcome everyone to the regular board meeting of the Lake Tahoe Unified School District. Um we do not have any action uh to report on the items we discussed during close session. That's item number six. Next we have item number seven, communication reports. And we have uh reports are limited to five minutes. And first we have our board member reports. Do I have any reports? >> I'll go first. Um so few things. Uh we had our board retreat. Um we had uh the community conversation about cell phone usage and then I had a a good amount of conversations with uh principles and teachers. And I just want to say the overriding theme that I gathered from three say distinct different

002things was just how much the people up here care and how much the community cares. So it's it was just really refreshing. It kind of makes me emotional because I just I love our community so much. But it just it just showed me that when when you have differing opinions but people still care, >> you can still accomplish things. So that was just a little very good >> little thing. So, >> thank you Jesse. >> Kamacho, >> thank you. So, I'll I will echo your uh thoughts. We had a great board retreat. Um it's two days and we went covered a lot and it was just it's nice that we're on the same page for so many things and I'd like to thank Dr. Cutler for having our cell phone um meeting last night. That

003great turnout, right y'all? I was really pleased and we were all there and was wonderful. um I get to be the leazison for the chamber of commerce. And so I reported um yesterday about all the fantastic updates we have going on with the school. And when I was through Christy Kan said, I toured the school last week for the C and we uh went over the CTE programs and you know sitting there. Okay. And she was very very happy you guys. She had nothing but great report on so many different things that are offered to the students and just was real feel good. It's kind of like what you were talking about and having have it just being reinforced that what we're doing is there's some great things going on. Then also I'm looking forward

004to senior projects tomorrow. We were talking about that a little bit. So um I'm sure the students can't wait for 3 o'clock to be over, right? [laughter] I'm sure they're all pretty stressed tonight. So >> that would be it for me. Thank you. Just Anderson, go for it. >> I spent uh uh some time yesterday at the fabulous Be uh Beiju Community School and uh witnessed some classes and various different activities. Some some were doing I Ready testing and and some were were uh oh some we're going to the library. I was in the library for a little while. I love Beiju school. >> [laughter] >> Love it. >> Mea mucho. All right, Trusty Mansfield. >> Um, just the community conversation. All five of us were there. So, I thought that was a >> show

005how much we cared too. It's though and so we got broken out into three different groups. Those who absolutely do not want phones in school, those who absolutely do, and those who are unsure. and I was like, [sighs] I'm unsure. So, [laughter] um, but it was, you're right, the whole community cared and it was, it was not a debate. It was more of a discussion and a sharing of feelings. So, that was good. Um, also I got to go to the science expo up at the high school. Not long, was that last week? >> Last week. and then um was also part of the uh committee for the hollows distinction and I have to say that every candidate that was brought forward definitely needs to someday be on the wall but um [laughter] we had

006to narrow it down. So that was a lot of communication going on, a lot of uh talking back and forth. um our board retreat. Um I felt closer to the rest of our board member. It's it's um it's it's not just our professional development. It's also our our team bonding kind of time. So that was very important. And yes, I'm grading senior projects tomorrow, too. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you for your service. Yes. Uh just to echo that yeah the board retreat we do spend time working on our priorities that are up on the wall and you may see some changes in the future but we um we did talk about uh all of those things and the importance of uh making strong connections with our students. So, um I had an opportunity

007to also go to the science expo and it was really nice to connect with students and and really see their um their curiosity, the the questions they're posing. Very interesting and just different ways of thinking about um the world and how it works. And um I just want to take a moment to also recognize today um a science teacher that we lost and um Carlos [snorts] Zula. And um I know I've been needing to cry, so maybe this is the place I need to do it. But um Carla Zula, I went to college with her in the 1980s and she came to Lake Tahoe in 1997 and she taught as a science teacher here at the high school for over 20 years and she taught AP biology and she really taught the importance of appreciation

008for nature and science and um a lot of students have reached out and told me they that she was their favorite teacher and there's a few ob there's a lot of other kids who also struggled with her because she was tough. She was generous, she was strong, she was very intelligent, and she's very caring and she's been >> superb. >> She was superb. And Bob, I know, is also good friends with her. So, it's been a rough uh four months taking taking care of her and being with her um while she struggled with lung cancer, but um I just wanted to recognize her and um I know the community is, you know, is really missing her right now. So, thank you. And with that, I'm going to let Arya, our student board member, give her

009report. >> Okay. I feel like a lot has happened in the last >> couple weeks. Um, I also got the chance to attend the board retreat. Both Mary and I and I found it really insightful. I think we had some really productive discussions surrounding our board priorities. Um, and it was a great way to learn more about district governance for both Mary and I. Um, and as you guys mentioned, the community conversation about cell phones, the entire superintendent student advisory council got to attend and I think we got to provide and gain some really valuable input surrounding cell phone use in education and I'm excited to see how that discussion furthers. Um, and I also got the chance to be on the Hall of Distinction committee and I really enjoyed it. I'm excited about that.

010Um, at the high school, winter formal is this weekend and basketball season is coming to an end. They're doing amazing. Um, and we started a peer counseling or excuse me, a peer tutoring program that's going really well. Um, as many of you know, right now it's the midst of finals, so it's definitely crunch time. Um, but students are performing really well and it seems that there we're seeing a lot of improvements with the one-on-one peer connection. So, um, piggybacking off of that, um, I'm currently working with our wonderful counseling team and our team at LTCC to start a senior mentorship program for college applications that I hope to get off the ground in the next month or two. Um, and the new term starts on Monday, so a fresh start for all of us with

011new classes and whatnot. Um, I got the opportunity to get in touch with some student liaison from both Myers Elementary and Beiju, and they wrote me a little report they'd like me to share with you. Um, the Meyers kids, um, had tons of positive things to say. They said they love their school. They feel very welcome. All their staff and teachers are hardworking and kind. Um, they feel that they're being recognized for their good deeds, and I love that our young students are feeling that way. Um, and of course they mentioned that they really love their playgrounds, so I figured I'd mention that as well. And some things that they were hoping to see um, implemented and improved upon um, were more reading areas and classrooms. I think that that would be a great focus

012for our younger students um, along with new privacy dividers for tests. And the Beiju kids said that the fifth graders are really enjoying their ski trip and they're currently making presentations about scientists enjoying their research. Um, and they are also have a wonderful school culture and have really supportive staff and students. So, I loved getting to connect with some of our younger students and I hope to meet with them more in the future. So, yeah, >> thank you for sharing. That's awesome, Ara. All right. Um, I hope we're taking notes on that about privacy for testing and more reading areas. Yeah, as we I know we're going to be reshaping some of the classrooms moving forward. So, thank you. Um, all right, Dr. Cutler. Um, we have your report. >> Can I just say that

013again? Man, I got to figure out how to get to not follow Arya. [clears throat] I would, you know, Teresa, can we for me? I, you know, I would just say this. I am so proud of our students um and our students being at this super uh the um the cell phone uh community conversation. Uh really just you guys are so articulate and well spoken and and thoughtful and and I just say that to Arian and our entire entire group. Really, I I wanted to start by saying um h happy new year. This is our actual first um formal meeting in in 2026 and I hope that the year has started you know we we we do school years right so 2526 but I hope the the calendar year has been a good start for

014everyone and and I look forward to a very successful 2026 um I'm going to be very limited on my comments here um and then because I want to bring up uh somebody to the podium during my my my time as well but I just want to say thank you to the board for and I'm going to repeat this a little bit later on agenda for all that you do, especially the time you gave for our retreat this month. Thank you for being there at the community conversations. Thank you for your commitment. We'll talk a little bit more about that. Um, speaking of the community conversation, um, we'll be looking at all of the information gathered, start to compile it, make sure we get it out to folks. And so, if you weren't out there, anybody

015that's watching this or out there and you're interested in getting information, we'll be pushing it out um, regarding the conversation around cell phones in schools. And so so stay tuned. Um and most likely start a committee um of some folks that were there the other night that have bring diverse thoughts around it. Um and and and have a couple students and a couple staff members on that as well. But let's do this for the rest of my time. Um Bill Bill Rodrik who is our SUPA director um is is currently serving as the interim superintendent of Alpine Schools. So, we needed to find somebody in the interim for a period of time to be our SUPA director and um and that's not an easy role and that's somebody has to bring lots of experience and

016knowledge and also then a willingness to to come up here and do this job in the midst of other things going on in life, family and such. So I would like and I'd invite uh Michelle Boyd who's going is our now is our interim SULPA director for the Tahoe Alpine SULPA to the podium just to give you a brief introduction for the rest of my time uh as the superintendent's report. >> Hi, thank you. Um I'm extremely privileged to be serving Lake Tahoe Unified as the interim self director. Although I'm new to Lake Tahoe, I'm not new to special ed and I look forward to maintaining a high standard of quality and excellence and serving our students with different abilities for the remainder of this school year. So, thank you very much for welcoming. >>

017Thank you from Michelle for being here. Appreciate that. >> Maybe longer hopefully. >> Thank you. Can I ask? >> Sure. I know you've already [laughter] >> come [laughter] >> um and because I if you don't mind President Keer tell me because we are st stepping out of a process but I would like to actually just do the item under recognition of January as school board recognition month right now if you don't mind. >> Okay. if you don't mind and you've already approved the agenda. >> Is everybody okay with the modification of the agenda? >> Yes, we're doing it under my report and we'll do that right now because I also want to do this with Optimus real quick. Okay. So, if you don't mind, item number 10 on our agenda is recognizing January as school

018board recognition month. And and I prepared really from CSBA and others a a um in essence a proclamation that I'd like to read. And I want to say this, I just mentioned how much time you guys really give to the job. You know, you shared all that you're doing going into classrooms and schools and and and and attending community conversations and and doing senior projects and all that you give is really important. And I so I'd like to read this right now. Whereas an excellent public education system is vital to the quality of life for all California citizens and communities. And whereas board of education members are committed to children, believe that all children can be successful learners and that the best education is tailored to the visual needs of the child. And whereas a

019board of education members continue to advocate to best serve the children in our community each and every day. And whereas our public education system has faced unprecedented circumstances these past five years as a result of CO9 pandemic and resulting learning loss and and our community much more. And whereas our local board of education continues to act to ensure children's academic, social, emotional, physical, and mental health needs are met so they can become their best selves. And whereas board of education members work closely with parents, school staff, educational professionals, and other community members to create the healthiest environments possible where all students can thrive. And whereas board of education members are responsible for building and maintaining the structures that provide a solid foundation for our school system. And whereas board of education members are strong advocates

020for public education and are reasonable and responsible for communicating the needs of school district to the public and the public's expectations to um to of the district. And whereas the mission of public schools to meet the diverse education needs of all children and to empower them to become competent, productive contributors to the dem democratic society and everchanging world is more poignant than ever before. Now therefore, I Todd Cutler do hereby declare my appreciation to the members of the board of education and proclaim the month of January 2026 as school board member recognition month in the Lake Tile Unified School District. I urge all community members to join me in recognizing the dedication, the hard work of local school board members and working with them to create an education system that meets the needs of our

021children. I would love for us to give the our board members a round of applause, please. [applause] Now I we have some folks from Sir Optimus. If you come to the mic, they have a little something for you guys tonight. >> Wow. >> Hi. >> Yeah, you don't have to touch it. It's good. Just talk. Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. Well, yeah. Right there. >> We're both uh teachers, so we appreciate and uh want you to know how wonderful we think you are. Love the new vision up there. Discover and foster the unique talents and potential of all students. So, we are here tonight to salute you and Paula Peterson is our president of our club and she her car broke down on the way. So, anyway, know that she thinks the world of you and

022uh we would just like to give you a small uh gift card and in appreciation for all that you >> Thank you. >> Shel, if you'd like to say a few words. [laughter] >> Go for it, Shel. Yes. No, just want to say >> thank you to everyone for doing the job that you do. We know it's endless and it can be thankless and [clears throat] we want you to know that we see you and we appreciate you so much. So, thank you. Thank you very very much. >> Thank you so much. >> Yeah. Yes. you calling. >> Thank you. >> Shelly, >> yeah, very good. Perfect. Thank you so much. I I know you guys needed to get going. Um, >> yeah. Oh, we could have we should have waited. Paula. Paula, we just

023recognized the board. [applause] >> Thank you, Paula. >> Paula, would you like to say something? Paula, would you >> guess >> Paula, would you like to say anything to the board? We just read handed them something. >> What you say? Thank you. [laughter] Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Paula. >> Everything you do and we love being a partner with the school district and um >> and next time I won't let my gas run out. Well, I was being told that I needed to get it forward so we make sure we had you guys here, but thank you so much. Um, appreciate being a participant and recognizing the board and board. Thank you for being adjusting our our board agenda a little bit there. >> Thank you. >> Okay,

024>> thank you guys. Bye now. >> Appreciate it. >> We were expecting that. All right. Uh, our next >> Thank you so much Dr. Cutler and um, Soptimus and >> Yeah, thank you for letting us just for a moment. No worries. Um, next is our employee association reports and I do see Bernardet Santana in the audience and uh I don't see Nicole. All right, come on up. >> Good evening, President Keer, board members, and everyone. On behalf of CSEA, I too would like to say thank you to all of the board members. We very much appreciate the support, recognition, interaction that we have with all of you all year long and we appreciate your service. Next, I'm not sure if you know, but tomorrow we are having a negotiation day and we hope it is

025our final day. It was a very ambitious season, but we very much appreciate the work of the district's team and we look forward to hopefully wrapping things up tomorrow. Also, I would like to say Arya, I can't believe it. Every time you're up here and you're articulating everything that's going on at the high school, like Dr. Cutler. I'm in awe and I am so proud of our students and our graduates and our potential [laughter] graduates and that's what it's all about. So, thank you. >> That's for sure. Thank you. >> We [laughter] Thank you. Thank you, Bernardet. Bernard Bernardet, during the retreat, we learned that um that adults can't compliment Arya because she doesn't doesn't hear it. So, it needs to come from other kids. That's not what she said exactly. But what we [laughter]

026but what we started to do was we channel our compliments through other students to her so that it means more. [laughter] No, thank you for thanks for acknowledging her. She's doing a great job. I mean, she's very she's very productive. She's getting a lot she's getting a lot done. All right. We do have Miss Moore. I didn't see you hiding back there. You were hiding. You were hiding back there. Couldn't see you. >> Again, STA also would like to congratulate all your hard work. I see you lots of fun places in town and it's always so meaningful to know that you care to come out and spend time in all of our schools and at all of our functions, our public events. >> Um, today we've had a lot going on. We've started a new

027meeting between STA's rep council and the cabinet here in LTUSD. And in our last conversations, we talked a lot about the safety of not only our staff and our students, also the parents who are on campus and some procedural things. and we've had some really positive work through that and so I want to say appreciations for everyone who worked on that. Excellent. >> We really look forward to our upcoming negotiation season for SDA. Um we spent the long weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada working on some organizing and planning for negotiations. We have a lot of upcoming plans for that. So we really look forward to our upcoming meetings and our LCAP meeting next week. Our STA group has been getting together with some plans for that. So we just want to you know >> Thank

028you. Thank everyone for all their hard work lately and continue on. >> Keep up the good work. Thank you, Miss Mora, for being involved and keeping the teachers engaged on LCAP and other things. All right, our next um item is our public comment and this is for um comments that are not um on anything that's on the already um agendaized um agenda. So on our schedule, do we have any public comments? So, we have not received any cards from anybody for public comment. Um, and nothing was submitted earlier. So, is anybody here that would came to speak on public comment? >> No. All right. Seeing none, then I will not read the little paragraph. Don't do it. Okay. We're going to move forward to to item 8A. We have we have our our favorite part

029of our agenda, which is our student celebration. And we have a number of students in the audience. I can see them as well as our principal from Beiju School. So today we're celebrating students from Beiju Community School. >> Welcome. [applause] >> Good evening, Dr. Cutler, members of the board. Tonight I'm really proud and excited to share our student celebrations. We have four students here from Beiju. um Yadier Vasquez, Tapia, Paloma Smith, Jimea Delgado, and Mason Harris, and they are here to share some of their writing with you. >> Oh, fantastic. >> Um, so our students and teachers have been working hard on a program called Write from the Beginning where we used our thinking maps to show our ideas and our bilingual language skills. At Beiju, we believe that writing is the most public display

030of language. Writing is not a silent activity. It involves talking, thinking, active language production. And because writing makes thinking visible, this allows students to showcase their growing language skills in both English and Spanish. All of our teachers display student writing in both languages on our student writing walls. So, I invite you to um >> read those next time you come by our school. >> This is our writing process um that all students go through uh as they're working on their writing. And now I'm going to pass it off um to let our students share some of their work. >> Good evening. I'm Yad and I'm in fifth grade. My favorite subject is math. My favorite activity is playing video games. I love speaking Spanish and English because I can be bilingual and communicate better. One

031essay I wrote this year is a personal narrative about my best birthday or I started by brainstorming my favorite memories and then plan my opening key ideas details and ending to make sure my story flowed well. I wrote this essay in Spanish and you can see part of it in English on the screen. [snorts] >> Oh, nice. Thank you. Heavenly Mhm. Cleveland checkers. Very nice. Good evening. I'm Po and I'm also in fifth grade. My favorite subject is creative writing and my favorite activity is art. I love speaking Spanish and English because I can help my parents order food at Spanish speaking restaurant. >> That's important. [laughter] >> Here's one of the opinion essays I've written this year. No to school uniforms. >> In my brainstorm, I looked at both points of view and then

032decided which one to choose. >> School uniforms. Many schools use them. Every school shouldn't wear them. Let's find out why no school should have them. First, kids should express themselves. Kids might want to wear other things. They would want to want want to wear common fashion trends. Kids have favorite colors and they could want to show them with clothes. Also, you'd have to wash it a lot. You might only get one and need to wash it every day. Washing clothes is a waste of water and money. [laughter] You could also be wasting time when you could be doing something fun. In addition, uniforms are boring. Some kids might not like looking the same as everyone. Also, uniforms might not have a jacket or sweater for cold weather. Uniforms might be super ugly, too. >> You're

033absolutely right about that. [laughter] >> You can see school uniforms are a waste of time and money, and that's why no one should wear them. >> Thank you. Excellent. >> I think she's trying to influence [laughter] >> for us. No, not while I'm president. [laughter] Okay. >> Hello, my name is Himea and I'm in third grade. My favorite subject is PE. My favorite activity is reading. I love speaking in Spanish and English because I could help more people when I speak two languages. I wrote a creative story or the tale of a scarecrow. I planned my story in sections to show the beginning, middle, and end. I also wrote my story in Spanish, but you can see part of it on the screen. Unesto Victoria Vivian. Victoria. In the end, the vegetables and breads saved

034the scarecrow. From that day on, the scarecrow always looked where she was going. Good evening. My I'm Mason and I'm in second grade. My favorite subject is math and my favorite activity is biking. I love speaking Spanish and English because I can travel to lots of places and talk to people there. In our classroom, we've done a lot of writing this year. This paragraph gives information about how eagles take care of their young, which is something we learned about in my class. First, I brainstormed ideas on a tree map. Then, I planned my paragraph using a flea map. Finally, I wrote my paragraph. Here it is. Kasan pesusantes. >> [applause] >> Excellent. >> So, in the in the words of JK Rawlings, words are a most inexhaustible source of magic, and these students are mastering

035their magic through their hard work and bilingual skills. Thank you for your time. Are there any questions or comments? >> Any questions or comments, board members? >> Outstanding. >> Yeah, I love it. And you guys were so poised reading your stories and your essays that you wrote that we were very impressed. So >> I was very I I was gonna say that I think the writing you did to explain the writing was really powerful and important and um you know you did just as much writing helping us understand about your writing process and I learned a lot. Thank you. Yes, very, you know, can I just Oh, >> I want to say I want to say this. I was giving compliments to Arya for how articulate she is, and she is. You're amazing. Um, and

036I think about these the our future graduates and seniors eventually here, right? And you guys just represented Beiju school, yourselves, your family, and our district. So, well, congratulations. Thank you so much, parents. Wow. Very good. It's wonderful. Thank you very much. Let's get a picture with the board up here. Let's go. Let's do that. Thank you. >> Yep. All right. >> Exactly. [laughter] We did all the important stuff. Thanks for coming. >> Thank you for bringing your students. Good job. Um, our next item is our partner organization update and tonight we have um a nonprofit group called Hands for Hope. >> President Kemper and Trustees. We're excited to introduce you to Miss Jennifer Basset, founder and executive director of Hands for Hope youth making a difference along with David Perez, South Tahoe High School youth

037ambassador. They will be sharing information about the fantastic organization coming to our students in South Tahoe thanks to an influential community member Kathy Haven and generous donor Pay It Forward. Thank you. >> Trying not to trip over it because that would, you know, be a good intro here. Well, thank you so much. And I'm We've got those up there. You're good. Thank you. Um, thank you all for making time for us to present and share. We are so excited to partner with the district on this and in bringing our programs to Hands for Hope. Um, as Alan said, my name is Jennifer. Um, and this is David. Um, and we are Hands for Hope Youth Making a Difference. Click. Let's see. There we go. Um, founded in two wh there we go. Uh, founded in

0382008, we inspire and empower youth in leadership and service. And we do this through our two programs, our education program and our community engagement program where um youth explore, act and lead. They explore issues in their community, take action by designing and picking um service projects, and then they help fill they lead their peers in filling those. Through our programs, youth connect with each other and with their communities, develop critical skills in leadership, communication, collaboration, and um problem solving. They find their passion, their voice, and collectively become civic-minded and socially responsible citizens. There we go. Hands for Hope uses positive youth development methods with the process of service learning in our education program. Hands for staff mentors currently facilitate 11 middle and high school clubs on 10 campuses from Elorado Hills to Plerville in Elorado

039County. and an additional six afterchool committees that meet at one of our two hands for hope youth centers. Whether they are in a club or committee, youth go through hands for hope service learning process which includes investigate, plan, action, demonstrate and peer leadership and there's reflection throughout the whole process. Um, our outreach program is an opportunity for youth, sorry about that. Through Hands for Hope, um, outreach program, youth experience hands-on activities that address both community and human needs, learning firsthand about social issues as well as the power that they have to make a difference in the lives of others. Youth can participate in this program as much or as little as they like. Let's see. Handsfoke currently provides opportunities from Folsam to Plasterville for youth to get involved at their schools through afterchool committees and

040through outreach. We will be launching these same opportunities in South Lake Tahoe starting in late spring and early summer. So, we're very excited about that. There we go. Hands for Hope is currently in its 18th year as an organization. In the past 17 years, the impact youth have made. Um, for those struggling in Sacramento and El Elorado counties is very, very impressive. But we have learned that with Hands for Hope, the process is more important than the the product. Through youth, the youth involved in Hands for Hope programs serve our community. Um, but what goes on behind the scenes is truly what makes Hands for Hope different than other volunteer organizations. We are youth led. Youth are able to lead and plan events, fundraisers, drives, and more by utilizing the youth adult partnership model. Youth

041work as partners with adults, giving them the autonomy over project design and implementation. This level of involvement allows youth to develop skills that they can take with them as they continue through their education and move into a career. I'm going to turn it over to David now so he can share with you why he is excited about Hands for Hope coming and why he has chosen to spend his time being an an ambassador. >> All right. Hi, [clears throat] my name is David Alicia Perez and I am currently a junior at South Hall High School. I'm actively involved in leadership and peer support classes where I have learned the value of responsibility, teamwork, and service. This year alone, I have accumulated over 50 hours of community service. However, as an underclassman, I was not as

042involved in my school or community. At the time, I did not fully understand the importance of giving back, and finding volunteer opportunities felt difficult or out of reach. As a result, I missed opportunities opportunities to connect with others and contribute in meaningful ways. As I became more involved in school programs and community service, my perspective began to change. I realized how much volunteering strengths is not only the community, but also personal growth. Giving back to the community has increased my confidence, helped me build leadership skills, and allowed me to form connections that I truly value. Through the through these experiences, I have learned that service creates a sense of belonging and purpose. With Hands for Hope, I plan to help provide the same positive impact that volunteering has had on me to my peers. I

043want to help create accessible opportunities for students who may feel unsure where to start, just as I once did, and encourage them to discover the value of community involvement. David. Excellent. [clears throat] David, >> appreciate it. [clears throat] >> I am bouncing. It's okay. It's bouncing around. >> It's all right. >> So, what's coming up for South Lake Tahoe? Well, as we move um and are working on our expansion, March 17th is going to be a very big day. We're going to have information meetings for the students on both the middle and the high school campuses. Um and that will allow them to learn a little bit more about our program, the um commitment level and also if about the leadership opportunities and so in spring we will um choose leaders. We will work with

044the administration and um leaders will be chosen for next year's clubs. And then in May our outreach program will begin. We've been working on um identifying uh nonprofit partners to work with us so that the youth can volunteer in the community. Um and we've got some wonderful ones. Uh and then in the summer, the youth leaders that were identified in in the spring will go to leadership camp um and training and they will learn how to lead their peers through the service learning uh process. Uh and then in fall the clubs will launch on both of the campuses. So we are very excited for that. Um just want to say thank you for giving us the time and the attention. And I do want to give a quick shout out to Kathy Haven and Alan

045Reer who are both part of our plaster or excuse me, oh my gosh, South Tahoe steering committee um here. And Kathy truly has been instrumental in bringing Hands for Hope to South Lake. Familiar with our programs and kept knocking or tapping my shoulder going ready ready. [laughter] And then Alan has been such an advocate and we are so grateful. So thank you both and thank you all. >> Um and just are there any questions? >> I do. So, um, when you start up, well, you the organizational start part is coming up this spring. Staff members are going to be like the ones kind of in charge. And do you do we have any inkling of >> of who that's going to be and like times would it be during flex period up at the high

046school or >> so the schools have discussed when what they're thinking will work best on each of the campuses but they have not decided yet. So flex time has definitely come up during the meetings. Um >> and >> exactly. So we do lunchtime at the other high schools on on the western slope and then we do after school for the middle schools because they don't the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders don't share [clears throat] a lunch, >> right? >> And so we're just trying to figure out what is going to work best for this these campuses and the students for them to be involved. We definitely want to focus on students that maybe do not have a place to belong somewhere else that can find a place and grow with us. And having the program

047at the middle school and the high school does allow the youth to to grow in responsibility as they're coming through and learning. And so it's very exciting to see. >> Any other questions? >> How David, how did you get involved with the with the group? you were, it sounds like you've been looking for a way to get involved, but how did you get how did it all? >> So, my peer support teacher, Mr. Tenassi, >> okay, >> recommended me to go to a meeting and Okay. >> ever since then, I've just kept on going because I'm [clears throat] actually passionate about this and I feel like >> it can improve the school >> and get a lot of more people involved >> and just different and it sounds like there's all kinds of opportunities for

048different ways to help. And I mean, I think some of the things that Arya was talking about with like the peer-to-peer whether it's tutoring or just support involved in that too. >> You're involved in that too. Okay, great. Thank you. And then um yeah, it just seems like there's a lot of different ways to help because there's a lot of different kinds of needs, I guess, you know, in the community, >> right? And and and they you probably didn't know how to do that prior to Hands for Hope coming, right? I mean, just opened up a lot more resources and empowering. >> I think David did learn. he figured out how to do it because he's been finding volunteer opportunities, but he shared that he um struggled finding those opportunities. So, we're going to try

049to make it a little bit easier >> for more students. >> Is Hands for Hope Jesse, we saw the map, but are is it anywhere else or is this is just localized? Okay. Oh, it's just great. >> Years ago in Dorado Hills with my two boys. >> Uhhuh. Oh. Oh, gotcha. And so yes, it's been fun to watch it grow and to see the students choose to spend time. >> Absolutely. And David, you never know how this is going to help your career as you [clears throat] >> high school and decide what you want to do. It just really gives you great learning. So how what a great program. Thank you so much for bringing it. you know, uh big shout out Kathy obviously continues to to focus on how we can improve uh serving

050and supporting our community, our youth. Really thank you for that. Jennifer, wow, for grassroots 18 years ago, right, and bringing this to our our district. Thank you so much for that. Um appreciate that, David. Thank you again. very impressive our students and being here and really just having that idea that giving back and volunteering and and being part has such an impact on our community and that's just a great role model as we continue to see our our youth do that. I really appreciate this. So I got a little giveaway for our partners all the time and so I' I've got a little wristband says navigating the path to success as well as a water bottle. I'll bring it over to you. >> Thank you. Thank you guys for coming. Thanks for sharing and exciting.

051Look forward to hearing Yeah, >> thank you. Appreciate your support. >> All right. Well, I look forward to hearing more about it next year, too. So, thank you. >> He wants a picture. David's escaping. Quick, get it together, Ellen. Okay. Um, >> no, they're just doing No, we're not. They're just doing it. the what >> pres president Keer [laughter] >> you should read in the agenda item number 10 and then just refer that we did it during the superintendent report. >> Um thank you Kathy for your support. Okay. >> All right. Our item number 10 which is recognition and recognizing January schoolboard recognition month. That item was handled during the superintendence report item 7 C. And now we are going to move on to item 11 under educational services handled by Dr. Reer. We have

052the local control accountability plan update. President [clears throat] Kemper and trustees, thank you for your time this evening while I provide a quickformational update on our local control accountability plan or LCAP. This evening I'll review the LCAP definition process, input, goals, and action steps. Of course, our work is driven by our vision, our mission, and our board priorities. Here is the definition of LCAP from the CDE. Uh it's a three-year plan that identifies goals, actions, services, expenditures to support students. It addresses state and local priorities, and an opportunity to share our stories in Lake Tahoe Unified School District. These are the guiding principles here of LCAP. performance focused, simplicity and transparency, student focus, state priorities and educational partner engagement. And here is the LCAP timeline. We will uh return with this agenda item in May

053and June with revisions and then ask for your approval in June. Here is a graphic of regarding the update and the adopting of [clears throat] the LCAP. This slide identifies the LCAP advisory committee. Just as uh President Moira said, a big thanks to our STEA leaders who have agreed to combine forces with the task force to provide input collaboratively within these three meetings instead of in previous years. We had three meetings with STEA, three meetings with our task force. So really excited to come together and um well personally reduce three meetings for myself but also to get uh to get perspectives at the same time from from the task force and the STEA. And here's our meeting schedule with our LCAP advisory committee, our parent advisory committee, and our future board dates when I'll be

054coming back to you. Our LCAP survey just closed this week. Our wonderful Jenny is currently crunching the results, so they will be ready to share next week with our LCAP advisory and parent advisory committees. All previous LCAP uh survey data is on our website for for anyone's review. This slide, thanks to uh thanks to Miss Buttery, uh provides just some brief updates and the challenges with our LTUSD budget, which you're familiar with and which you'll hear more about uh tonight. And here's our goals and action steps. If you wish to have a more detailed version, please visit this green link here with the cons uh executive plan which again my wonderful Miss Jenny condensed from 160 plus pages into 14 concise pages on the LCAP plan. Jenny, just as a side note, Jenny gets uh

055incredible praise from our EDCO colleagues and they uh they say that that Jenny's uh the LCAP plan and LTUSD is superior to to many other districts. So, she gets lots of praise from that and she takes a lot of pride in it. [clears throat] So here's our goal. our first goal to increase achievement among all students and actually Kathy Haven helped us to uh revise this goal um which we really appreciated as a parent in previous years under our first goal of increasing achievement is our um action steps including intervention teachers partnerships CTE instructional strategies our reading pals at Tahoe Valley thanks to uh thanks to some of you know many of our volunteers including and a couple board members and our Marcela Foundation as well. Goal two is around a positive climate and culture.

056And our action steps around goal two include the elementary counselors thanks to our community schools grant practices, a wellness coach, five nurses, deans, our school resource officer, family engagement activities, social emotional learning intervention supports and restorative practices uh from our school leaders. And finally, goal three includes maintaining a culture of continuous improvement and growth for all staff. Our action steps include our professional development day, our early out Wednesdays allowing for collaboration and professional development opportunities, and finally our sites uh single focus plans, which you'll hear more about from each site this spring. This agenda item is forformational purposes only. Again, we'll return on June 11th for a public hearing, then again on June 25th requesting uh the board's approval for any revisions that we collaboratively make together. Do you have any questions for me? >>

057Any questions or comments for Dr. Reer? >> I have one. So, we have five school nurses, four elementary schools, a high school and a middle school, and a continuation well or elevated in Mount Tac. So, Which which schools get half a nurse? >> Currently, based on the needs of the schools, our wonderful Mia covers both Beiju and Meyers Elementary. >> Got it. >> And uh nurse Fred over at Tahoe Valley will cover Tahoe Valley as well as um as well as the Al Tahoe site. >> Got it. >> Um we we currently have a nurse who is out. Thankfully, thanks to Miss Danielle, we were able to uh find a a substitute nurse who's working out fantastic. Her name is Summer. I got to meet her today and they've been speaking very highly of her

058and it's it's the nurse group. It's just really a collaborative, great working team. And so, they've been sharing time over there getting uh getting nurse summer up to par. She comes from like a it was an she was a a pediatric um intensive care nurse. >> Okay. >> And so you know we talk about how busy it is at the schools and everything. She said Alan >> easy. No problem. I like this pace. >> Alan if I if you >> one of the things when you think about because of our special needs programs as well um that that impacts that that also how much service we need for for nursing. So that also weighs into it just so we know. >> Diabetics. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> Community schools. >> Curious about the community

059schools grant. >> How long does that extend? >> It's it was a five-year GL grant. I think we're on year three right now. >> Okay. >> And Dr. We So this year in the L I know the LCAP it's a we do a plan for three years. So are we like at year two of our threeyear? So this year it's really about revising what was something that we adopted correct >> last year for the three-year plan. >> Based on the feedback we may based on the feedback advisory committee we may come back with some revision >> and I and I'm sure you're getting this feedback. I mean the the positions that were suspended I think it was your first slide under goal wonder under under academic success. We are missing we don't have the budget

060for English and math supports those staff. So we we did have some intervention aids originally into the grant which we have not been able >> to fund >> fully. Yeah. >> And so then just because those are it just seems like the priority goals of trying to you know increase uh student achievement. I mean, I I heard you say that we're obviously relying on some volunteers, you know, like the reading pals and in some sites, but are there other ideas bubbling up on how to increase that kind of engagement or, you know, working on just seeing more academic success? >> Definitely the the focus continues on the math. You know, we're right in the midst of uh math piloting and adoption right now. starting to get into into the reading and introducing some of the

061information with the you know with some of the science of reading that's come out. Um [clears throat] so yeah primary focus on the math right now. >> Okay. Thank you. Anything else Ara? All right. >> All right. Thank you for the update and we'll see you we'll hear back from you later in the >> I'll be back. >> You'll be back with it. All right. And then we have item 11B which is about our pilot classrooms with meteor education. >> All right. President Trump Kemper and trustees uh LTUSD continues to explore instructional environments that support student engagement collaboration and differentiated instruction aligned with district priorities. The pilots uh 2026 learning environment design developed in partnership with Meteor Education continue the district's classroom learning environments. pilots implemented over the past five years. Uh these designs build

062on prior pilot work by proposing updated classroom configurations for select elementary and secondary classrooms including kindergarten, grades one through two, secondary math and English learner development settings. Tonight we I anticipated that we have meteor friends here tonight, but uh they were unable to make it. We and we do have the presentation here that we could move through. Um it just gives you a picture of it. They were unable to make it tonight, but we definitely wanted to just highlight um the work that we've been doing that the commitment of teachers being part of the pilot program, the the how we've navigated through different grade levels and subject areas to create model classrooms for really our f future uh updates to our schools. And we're excited about that work and and and finishing up these pilots.

063>> Okay, great. Thank you, Dr. Cutler. As you see here, we've worked with Meteor to develop priority learning outcomes such as navigate life ready skills, discover a culture of compassion and community, achieve individual student growth and empowerment, and cultivate safety and wellness. That does sound a little familiar to a recent board retreat that we were at. It's there's definitely lots of similarities between those discussions and and here in front of you. This slide speaks to the service and the mission of Meteor Education. As an educational leader, you know, I really value their work on creating um pro-social learning environments, getting students to talk and collaborate together um and hear from their voices. Uh their graphic identifies the methods, the tools and environments along with relationships to help create a positive, productive learning experience for all

064students. Here are the different types of pro-social learning environments that uh that they build on. And you see in the upper uh lefthand corner, learning pods, if we go around clockwise, the dynamic places, activity zones, and teacher spaces. What they did to do also is they shared several slides of some of the classrooms that we see in the elementary uh rooms that make up at Sierra House. Here you'll see some kindergarten rooms. Of course, you can tell that Sierra House with the triangle-shaped rooms there. Um, there's another one there, too. That's room two, kindergarten. Another uh view of room two, kindergarten. >> Here is a first grade classroom. That's room seven there. >> Um, and then the diagram of of room seven. Another picture of room seven and a second grade room 11 tables >>

065and their diagram of that. They also shared with us some of the secondary classrooms they've developed. Here is uh Woody Peterson's uh >> room in math SV 101 and some other diagrams that they shared with us tonight. >> All right. Also have uh you know revised three of our libraries the high school, the middle school and beuage. So, this item is presented forformational purposes only to provide the board with an overview of the proposed pilots uh for the 2026 learning environment designs. Quotes and a recommendation for pilot approval are on the consent agenda. >> I don't think they're not on there. We were just talking about that. Um so, we didn't we didn't finalize and get those. And so, um but just so you know, we're looking at approximately $150,000 for the five classrooms, not

066to exceed. Um, and we'll have that on the consent at the next board meeting. >> Okay. Any questions >> or myself? >> I I thank you for that presentation. >> That was terrible. >> No, it was it was great. It was great. Love going to the high the Okay, actually is and I don't know if you know the answer to this or not. Any idea what the percentage of schools in California have our this meteor program furniture that they do? >> How many school districts are using >> school districts? Yeah. Are there is it is there I mean do you think like people other schools are going to come up here and check us out because [laughter] our good-looking classrooms? >> Well, I've seen that happen in the in in my past before. Um >>

067just I was just curious if we knew if if it's >> I mean the you know when we finish um through the bond process by the way all I should just just make sure all the all the money that we're spending on these these classrooms are developer fee dollars um and developer fee dollars really can only go to classroom environments and safety and safety of classroom environments is how we spend the dollars um you know developer fees by the way it's like in communities that are just growing and growing and they're getting developer fees it's also to help expand we obviously don't need to expand classrooms but we need to make sure our classrooms are up to date and up to speed. And so we use those dollars. Um, in regards to the question, I

068I I mean, they they're utilized they're they're a company that serves the entire country as >> Oh, that's right. >> So they're not just in California as well. Yeah. >> I've just Yeah. >> Okay. >> Well, I just think we just when you go into the classrooms, it's pretty impressive, I think. So, yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, I'm we're excited about that. We've been working with teachers and and and getting teacher input, developing the environments, getting some standards of what we'd want to create as we go through the bond. And we're going to continue to use as much developer fee money as possible as we go through this process. >> Great. Thank you. >> Because we may not be able to meet every we may not be able to touch every classroom, but we're working.

069>> Well, you know, as we number one, we want to spend develop premium money. That's what we need to spend. But and also number two, as we look at escalation of cost of bond bond money, we have to kind of figure how we're navigating forward and doing it. But where our commitment is to update and upgrade all of our schools, right? >> Okay. >> Great. Thank you. >> All right. Um our next uh item 12 under personal services. We have item 12A, determination of district needs for 26 the school year 2627. And this is an action item. >> Yeah. President Kemp, members of the board, this is an annual item that we bring forward to you. Um, it's pursuant to the provisions of education code section 44955. The board is required to determine the district

070needs should it become necessary to determine the seniority date of employees who first render paid services to the district on the same day. When it says necessary, that is usually in the idea of a reduction in force. With folks here, want you to know that's not what we're looking at, but we do do this annually just in case that our efforts, but I want to make sure that you're aware that is not in our intentions at this time. We still have to do some final assessments of of our future staffing, but we we believe we are not in a year we need to consider that. But it is staff's recommendation that you approve the resolution to determine the district needs for 2627 as presented. >> Okay. Any questions or comments or do I have a

071motion? >> I move to accept the uh determination of district needs for school year 2627. >> Second. >> I'll second the motion. >> Okay. [clears throat] I have a motion by trustee um trustee Heatherton and a second by trustee Anderson. All those in say favor say I. >> I. Those opposed. Okay. Our next item is another action item. It's a declaration of need for 2526 this school year. >> Once again, President Kim, members of the board, this is an item that was um previously brought to the board on May 22nd, 2025 for this current school year. This was on your consent calendar. CC CC CTC is requiring approval in in an action item and recently Danielle brought that forward to me and said we we actually need to bring this in in the in the

072general agend agenda section. The district is required to submit an annual declaration to the California Commission on Teacher Credentiing. This report stating the anticipated number of subject areas and emergency permits that may be needed for the upcoming school year. So obviously we're doing it in the middle of this year. Um, and it is staff's recommendation that the board approve the declaration of need for fully qualified educators for the 2526 school year. Just a note on that. We'll be bringing this to you most likely in May for next year on the regular agenda. >> Yes, we'll see it soon. [clears throat] Okay. >> All right. Any questions or comments or do I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion to approve the declaration of need for 202526. >> And I will second that. >> All

073right. I have a motion by trustee Kamacho and a second by trustee Mansfield. All in favor say I. I. >> I. Those opposed. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Approved. Next we move to uh item 13, business services and operations. We have an action item which is our annual audit. >> Miss Buttery. Welcome. >> Good evening. President Keer, members of the board. The district is required to have an independent audit audit completed annually. here to present tonight's audit from CWDL, Alex Rivera and Denora Gonzalez. They virtually via Zoom. Um, this is an action item for the board. Are they on >> just just >> Oh, I don't think we can see you, Alex. >> We can hear you if you want to. Go ahead. There he is. Thanks, Alex. [clears throat] I can see you now,

074Alex. Okay. >> Awesome. >> If you want to start, that's great. [clears throat] Thank you. >> Yep. Yep. >> My name is a CWL. I'll be presenting the audit report for Lake Taho Unified School District for the fiscal year ending, June 30th, 2025. >> Slide number two, please. This audit was a collaborative effort and we need to recognize and commend Mrs. Kelly Butter Marim Perez and all the departments involved. They were in charge of getting us support for over 200 requests via Shirley. This included providing copies and backup for all the selections we made, countless follow emails, and numerous Zoom calls. They nailed it. So, please everyone join me in giving them a round of applause. Thank you. [snorts] We couldn't have done this without you. Slide number 23. >> Starting off with our district

075report. If you flip past the table of content opening paragraphs, our first opinion, we render four throughout this report. Slide 44, please. I'm pleased to say we express that the unmodified opinion on the district's financial statements is the highest and best level of assurance and honor and expression. In our professional opinion, the district's financial position and the respective financial statements are fairly stated and materially accurate. Slide five. Moving on to pages 4 through 10. This section is called the management discussions and analysises. Here we'll find analytical information including charts and graphs to get a visual comparison of the year under audit with the prior year. Slide six. Following the MDNA section, we have the core financial statements. Starting on page 11 with the statement of net position. This gives us a snapshot of all the

076district money as of June 30, 2025. Page 12 adds a little more detail with the statement of activities, followed by our balance sheet on page 13 that breaks down amounts by funds. Pages 14 through 19 present additional information regarding the district funds as of 30 2025. Slide seven please. After those core financials comes the largest section of the report which is the notes to the financial statements starting on page 20 and ending halfway through the report on page 567. These notes are going to provide additional information regarding significant accounting policies, cash and cash, fair value measurement, accounts receivable, and the list goes on for like 13 more notes. Moving on to page 58, required supplementary information. This section contains additional required schedules and notes, particularly highlighting pensions and postemployment benefits. That takes us to our

077supplementary information on page 664 where it illustrates it district's governing board followed by the schedule of expenditures of federal awards, the schedule of average daily attendance and schedule of instructional time. The notes on pages 73 and 74 explain a little more detail regarding the purpose of the schedules. This brings us to the last three of the four audit reports contained within this financial booklet. Starting with our yellow book report on page 75 where we focus on our testing over internal controls and controls over compliance. The next report on page 77 concerns our federal testing. The district is required to undergo the federal audit because it spends more than the $750,000 threshold. Next year that threshold has been raised to $11 million. The last of our reports is on page 80. This is our state compliance

078report where we must abide by the assisted audit procedures outlined by the 2024 2025 guide for annual audits of K12 local education agencies. This is the broadest area of our testing. If you look at page 81 and 82, you will get a glimpse of all the state compliance procedures performed. All in all, I'm pleased to say that there were no exceptions to either of the reports with unmodified opinions across the board, making this a nice clean audit. Slide eight. With that said, we do have one state compliance finding identified on page 87. Next slide, please. Uh, yep. Yep. During our review of the long-term independent study program at Elevated Learning, we noted that the site did not have proper procedure in place to accurately convert the time value of completed assignments done by students. This

079information is necessary to properly reward ADA, the method under review overstated ADA for the program. [clears throat] In return, the district is required to revise the P2 which will effectively reduce total ADA funding received. To end on a positive note, the district has taken immediate action and we do not foresee this to become a recurring finding. And slide number 10 concludes uh my presentation. And any questions? >> Do we have any questions for Alex? Very and thank you Alex for the work the detailed [clears throat] analysis and evaluation. >> Yes. Thank you for all your time. It's truly been a pleasure working with this great >> Thank you, Alex, for your work on this and presenting for us tonight. This is an action item and it is staff's recommendation uh to approve the 2425 final

080audit. >> Thank you. Any other comments or questions? I just want to say good job uh Miss Buttery and all your staff that were involved in. >> It's a big team effort. It's not just here at the at the sites as well that we ask for a lot of support and information. So, it's a it's a lot of tracking and information and a lot of work. >> Very impressive. I'm aware I I used to go through these audits as as part of the uh independent learning academy and uh I know I know that it costs ADA when we get dinged. >> How badly did we get dinged? >> Um what was the $11,000? It wasn't that it wasn't that huge. Um, and I will say with the um, independent study, they changed their own rules

081last January. So, we had to sort of we were catching up even as they changed their regulations. So, when I went to a training um, and CDE was there and they said, "If you have any feedback on independent study," and I said, "Don't change the rules in the middle of the school year because that makes things really difficult." Um, and the independent study rules, and Dr. Reer can attest to this as well, since CO have changed annually fairly significantly every year. So, we're kind of uh trying to find the best practice and I think we finally landed on it. They think they're making it easier, but not because I don't think they talk to practitioners um they being CDE. Um, and really CWDL has been really helpful with us to make sure that we are

082in compliance. And when we started this school year, we sent all of our contracts to them to make sure they aligned with how they were reading the independent study regs for this year as well. So, I I can't imagine we'll have any additional findings moving forward. >> That's a that's a smart approach. Yeah. To get help there get their help. I'm glad we can get their help [clears throat] ahead of the audit. And then I just wanted to comment um because I know we are also funding a future audit on our special ed program and Michelle's here too so I'm gonna bring this up but I but one of the things I appreciate about this financial audit is it does show um because of the the fact that it looks at federal like the federal

083funds that come in for special ed as well as all the other state funds we get for special ed. I mean, this report is a is a public report for our community to see that um we are spending the special education dollars that we receive appropriately and you know, they're being tracked and um you know, rightfully targeted to the special ed program. And so I hope that um our community advisory committee, our parent community advisory committee has a chance to see this and review it and and maybe this can also be uh provided to the auditor that's coming to look more at our programs, you know, and the specifics of IEPs and, you know, the other aspects of special ed. But I just feel like this report serves as a really nice support for at

084least our the proper use of our funds in the special ed program. >> I will meet with school services in the next few weeks. I actually had contact with them today regarding our um special education. I don't like they don't like to call it an audit >> assessment or review or something like that, >> but I believe the financials are a key part of that but they can pull they can pull from the audit. They will use that financial report. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you. >> So I move to um >> approve the annual 20 annual audit of 2425. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. All right, I got a motion from Trusty Mansfield and a second from Trustee Anderson to approve the annual audit. And all those in favor say

085I. >> I. I. >> Those opposed? Okay. Next, we have um a presentation on enrollment and average daily attendance update for the year. >> So, tonight I'll provide you with an overview and update of our current enrollment and uh average daily attendance or ADA uh and some additional information about attendance. and we'll wait for Teresa. >> All these presentations back toback. >> We're almost there. And I did make adjustments to the presentation based on the um fall presentation I gave. So it is similar, but there are you will see a few differences and I'll note those as I go through. So as always, we start with our the educator in me is always going to start with the definitions. Those are key points. Uh for enrollment, I will refer to average daily attendance as ADA

086because it's a lot of words if I don't for the rest of this. Um and then we have our first princip principal aortionment which we refer to often as P1. Uh Alex referred to P2. So P2 is actually attendance from the beginning of the year uh through the last month. It ends on or before um April 15th. So we did adjust for last year that last year's audit P2 and then the annual ADA. So this winter enrollment what I did on this one based on our feedback that uh I received from you in fall this is our both enrollment and ADA and I gave the percentage of ADA by site. I gave the district percentage of ADA down at the bottom. Um, and this is from the beginning of the school year through uh last

087Thursday, just so I could get this in on time for for you all. Right now, we are hovering around 93% ADA statewide. They're at 92.67, so we're a little above it, which is great. If we canain that, that's what we want. A lot of districts are actually falling below. We're in a really good place postco. So, next we have a three-year comparison. And what I did is put the enrollment ADA. You can kind of see longitudinally and I did adjust those ADA percentages per your feedback in the fall. Um, and you can see in 23 24 our ADA percentage was 92.95. Then we dropped a little to 92.36. Right now we're 93. I would like to get it up a little bit. We did have some drops u from middle school and high school when

088you'll see on the next slide. Um, if I go What? >> That was not I'm missing a slide. That's my on me. I had a comparison um that actually compared winter like where uh fall to winter. So you could see where we have dropped between uh fall and winter and really it's middle school, high school predominantly all that schools have dropped. Beiju was at 98% in the fall and they're at 94. I know. [laughter] So, it's a big that's a big drop. >> What about Tahoe Valley? I noticed the numbers there are on the low side. That's like the lowest of the elementary schools is Tahoe Valley. >> Um, and did that but did it go down? Did it I mean did you see the drop between fall and winter there or has it was

089okay. So, it started off if you look year-over-year with Tahoe Valley their um ADA two years ago was 89%. So, being 92 is sign a significant increase for right now. And I think that's great. So that speaks volumes about what the teachers and principal are trying to do to actually increase that attendance. >> Um where we are right now knowing that we're in declining enrollment. Um and it when I reported in the fall we had lost 179 students between June and September. As of last Thursday we've lost 189. So, and it's an average, so it's give or take one or two. Um, but that and that loss is still happening. With that, we >> another 18. You mean another, not another. Okay. Just >> 179 to 189. Okay. 10. Okay. >> Um, we really need

090to be focused on the ADA and getting students to school because every day does matter. >> This is an information item. Are there any other questions? Yeah, I'm I'm curious about the uh um ADA recovery from independent studies. It's offered from I guess all of the schools. >> Um it's offered how much is it used? How many people are I don't know people take a maybe a 4-day weekend and right >> for for whatever reason I'm hoping that they're going to write an essay or or you know >> work on something that can be credited to them for our ADA >> right I'm not aware of those ex Alan do you have any documentation on that >> don't you have to be three days at least more it has to 3 days. They did reduce

091it to one. >> It does make it really difficult though because then we're asking teachers to provide work. If a student is out for one day, will it or will not be brought back? >> Short the short-term independent study is is so difficult. I mean, it's it's difficult period. This I mean we talk about audits, we talk about documentation and all the changes of the rules and the laws. they've changed consistently and both short-term and long and long-term independent study and how we document and ch is is really difficult. Um so if Allan's got because Allen tracks >> Yeah. So we can we can get that information followed up back for you. >> So >> I mean because like when when when trusty is saying you know do do a par do an essay. So

092often times it's not done and then you know it's there's just there's this ongoing challenge with it >> and I know it's frustrating for teachers too is that they'll comp they'll compile work for [clears throat] students to complete they're gone for let's say they're even gone for two weeks and they bring back a day's worth of work. So they've missed 10 days of school but there's only we can only count enough work for one single day. >> They had the best of intentions when they started out. >> Yeah. [laughter] Right. It's absolutely >> 100% Okay. Well, thank you for your presentation. Um, our next presentation is on the budget, the governor's budget that was released last week. >> Excellent. So, this will be a long presentation. I apologize, but it's our first glimpse um at

093the budget, the governor's proposal. So, we're re reviewing his proposal, and I want to really drive that fact home because this is his first chance. We're going to have trailer bills. They'll come back in May. Things are going to get changed. Um, everybody get provides their feedback and input. There are some things that are on here that are a little questionable in my mind. So, we will um we'll know a lot more in May. So, just keep in mind this is a proposal. Nothing is finalized until it's voted on in June. Um, >> not going. >> There we go. I know, long pause. [laughter] I apparently I'm gonna make it longer just because the So, right now you can see on our timeline that we're in the governor's proposed budget. So, this is the first

094look at the formation for the 2627 budget. I'm not sure why my dates didn't get updated. That's on me. All right. And we are in this budget timeline. This is my favorite slide. And I actually think I'm going to get rid of that other one for it because I think this one is just prettier and cooler. Yes. Thank you, President Keer. I got the cool bloat on that one. Um, so the total funding for TK12 education for the 2627 fiscal year is 149.1 billion, which would fund the highest per pupil funding in state history. The Prop 98 guarantee is 125.5 billion, but there are some caveats that I will address later. The local for the local control funding formula, we're budgeting with a $2.41% 41% cola which is about a $2 billion increase statewide and

095a $ 1.9 billion and I'm going to refer to as that settle up and I will get into more that more later from the 2526 uh would be fully repaid. This slide shows the base grant amounts by grade level and then by year as well as the supplemental and concentration grant which we are eligible for both in the 2627 school year. So this is our this is where ADA comes into play. So the base grant starts with if every kindergartener we have will get that uh $11,595 every and then we'll get supplemental on top of that as well as there's a TK add-on so we get additional money for our TKs which is great. Um, for the 2526 fiscal year, the governor withheld $1.9 billion from LCFF, the local control funding formula. For the 2627

096fiscal year, they're proposing the same withholding strategy, but of 5.6 billion. This is significant because it's not a deferral, which would give districts a timeline of when it would be repaid, interest, as well as an increase of COLA for that repayment year. I look at the settle up is actually a sort of an interestfree loan that we're giving to the state of California that doesn't include a timeline for repayment. um doesn't have a deadline to repay and also doesn't include those increases with interest or um so this is sort of outside what is meant by the spirit of the prop 98 law we did discuss this this was discussed quite a bit at um presentation it went through this last year I'm curious to see what happens is because it's five times the amount of

097the previous Did you want to you >> That's okay. I I just simply say, you know, when you think about this in this $99 um you know, it's we're talking about three million over $3 million to the district as the settle up component. It's just this there's some varying components to this budget that we we'll see and not sure of and and I just think it's really important to know like for that that's that's how much dollars we're talking just in that Right. And um on the right hand side of this, you can see what the amount we're supposed to receive is 121.5 >> state. That's statewide 121 billion and we're only getting 15. >> They're saying they want to use a settle up, which is in terms of deferral, but they don't want to

098call it a deferral because then they have to apply to the the laws um of to what 115.9. So that's where it would drop us down to. So, it'll be interesting to see how this one plays out. So, special education will see a $59 million ongoing increase and equalizing the rate statewide. So, the rate per student statewide, there's been an increase in special ed qualification statewide, unfortunately, which also increases the cost. So, while we will be receiving more money, it probably doesn't uh eliminate our contribution. There we go. You can see on this slide the projected expense per student with disability for the last year in this current year. Our local contri contributions continue to rise with our increased enrollment. You can see um for the last about 15 years how much uh the cost

099per student has gone up for students with disability. But if you think about a third grader that we get $10,000 for, the cost for their education is 20 going to be 25,000. So we're left at about a $15,000 gap per student. >> Come up with that money. >> That's where we contribute >> where we contribute. But it's not like fund. >> I was going to say we don't get we don't generate revenue, but okay. So with this proposal, the community schools would be $1 billion of ongoing Prop 98. So would make it an ongoing, it would be an expansion to hold a whole child uh model and focus on high need schools. Um the while we likely won't have any additional schools qualify, this would allow us to retain staff who support those school sites,

100which this would be a really good benefit for us. But again, likely we wouldn't see it more schools become community schools than what we have. Expanded learning or ELOP proposes 4.7 billion in ongoing funding. This would all two rates district that have a 55% or higher unduplicated students. Remember our unduplicated stu students or UPP are the ones that are eligible for free or reduced lunch. English learners, foster youth, or homeless migrant youth. And they refer to them as unduplicated because you can only be in one category. So, we count you one time. You can you can be both an English learner and have free lunch, but we only count you once. This would help us with budgeting also to stabilize uh the tier 2 rates because it makes projections easier. This funds before and after

101school programs as well as summer programs. We partner predominantly with Boys and Girls Club and they manage a majority of our ELOP funding. The student support block grant will be the additional onetime $2 billion with quite a bit of flexibility for the district to support a variety of programs and expenses. Uh if you recall, they did the s something similar last year where it's a block grant kind of given to the district with not a lot of strings attached to help us support rising costs for the most part. So we used a majority of what we received this last year uh actually to help fund um the insurance benefits increase that we provided. >> Making sure that's statewide statewide. Yeah, we don't get 2.8 Right. [laughter] >> That's >> No, I I mean Ellen, you

102know, it's funny. I was just sitting here thinking about it. Just important, right? This is a So, obviously when you think about then that gets broken into our per pupil, how much and everything else, but that's but there's showing you that there's a state commitment to this. Okay. All right. This budget also proposes continuing universal meals, which is our meals for all program, an additional 100 million in kitchen infrastructure, um, as well as support for literacy screening, which has become a requirement by the state. There are some conditions to consider at this point as well. The state still faces a $2.9 billion shortfall after this. So, this is something to just keep in mind. There's some discrepancies. Also, I'll get a little more into it. If you really want to get into the weeds with

103it, I'm happy to chat with you more later. I now find it very interesting. Wouldn't have thought that three years ago. Um, so the there's a lot of volatility with the stock market. Um, if you look at the S&P 500, they're look fairly stable and solid, but the AI tech firms are like exploding. And I there is the general consensus that they're keeping SNP solid and looking good when they're actually going at almost a 300% increase. So, if the bottom drops out of AI technology, there's a that could be a big problem for um the stock market. and then medical c costs and case loads and all of the rising costs of everything. So, and just for local budgets again, we're in that same situation like most school districts. We're in declining enrollment. We are

104reducing our deficit spending. We still are deficit spending a little bit, but we've reduced it significantly in the last few years. And then that Prop 28, Prop 98 settle up is a little questionable. Where is that going to fall out? What's going to happen? So things that we have to consider um the the property tax offsets reduce our state aid. So meaning that the more property taxes don't necessarily mean we get more money. It ends up being kind of a balancing act. Um the reserve caps are triggered meaning districts cannot carry an ending fund balance higher than 10%. So you if you remember we're usually hovering right around three or four. So, this has not been an issue for us in years past, but there are districts that um this will potentially be an issue

105unless there is a board um can't think of the right word >> resolution that they they carry higher than the minimum reserve. There are districts that carry um that that's part of their >> operating. Maybe smaller districts too even that have >> Well, it's it just varies how the board decides to operate financially. Um, and the 2.41% COLA doesn't keep pace with salary benefit increases, stirs and pers, special education contributions, utilities, contracts. Basically, costs are rising faster than the revenue. So, um, with both of our bargaining units, we have a 2.5% increase for 2627 school year, and we're getting a 2.4% cola. But again, utilities are way up. Every all the costs are way up, insurance is up, all of it. Um, so these are some of the things we'll be focusing on after seeing

106the May revision and building our budget for the 2620 school year. Are there any questions? >> Um, I'm cautiously optimistic. >> I appreciate that and and you did a good job on the audit and uh our budget seems okay for now. Um, I guess uh maybe this question more for Dr. Cutler and you know Dr. reader, but I know you're included in the same team of this idea of planning for declining enrollment. I mean, I know that I know every year we adjust, you know, classroom sizes and teachers and um but and just what is anybody's vision about how we plan for declining enrollment or what what other steps we can do to have those conversations? Well, I think first and foremost, that's why we developed our staffing ratios and we have negotiated agreements with

107staff staffing >> and numbers. Um, and so as we decline, we need to align our staffing to that those numbers. And and and that is the to me that the most simplistic way to do that. One of the things that you also then have to consider is how so as we decline, can we continue to offer all the programs we offer and and we've been able to do that um mostly been able to do that because of the flexibility of some funds that come in and are able to, you know, and and get into community schools grant and all of these pieces. Um so, you know, as we decline, we decline staff. as we decline, we will there there'll be tipping points to regards to how many programs we offer. And and so this is

108not a conversation that we have to jump into right now, but we talk about how proud we are of all the things we are doing and we are and our high school for example with career tech education and all that's there is amazing. yet there's that, you know, if this high school was to continue to go down and down, there's going to be limitations of how many of those programs can stay uh strong. So, those are the implications, but right now, I feel like, you know, I'm keep hoping that we're going to level out. I feel like we're leveling out, but then you look at the numbers dropping. Um, you know, we really feel like that's this 34 3500 student population, even though our AD is a little down below that and the 33 that's

109that we get stabilized. If we can stabilize, then then I think our programs are going to be safe. But I do caution us, right? Because then they also require students to be in them. That's part of the pro piece as well. So, um, I guess it's not a great answer, but to say, but the best way we manage >> the decline in enrollment is to make sure that we decline in staff >> according accordingly with our ratios. >> With the ratios. All right. Thank you. Any other comments or questions for Miss Buttery. >> Thank you for breaking that down. >> That was that was a it was a lot. Thank you. >> Thank you. Great. Thank you. Our next item is our November 2025 board policy update. first reading. That's an information item. >> President

110Kemp, members of the board, we have the November 2025 policy updates in front of you. Recall that we bring um the board policy updates from CSBA at least four times a year and sometimes more depending on what they're bringing out. They're all updated based on law, new laws and adjustments. So, you have the list of those there for tonight. It's the first read with the intent to bring it back um at our next meeting in February for a second read in action. Are there any questions? >> Any questions for Dr. Cutler the policy. All right. Then our next item is item 15, the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> I move to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> Right. I have a motion by

111Trusty Heatherton and a second by Trusty Mansfield. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed say nay. Okay. I voted I. And that's approved. And then we have our items for consideration at future board news. Does anyone have any items they'd like to place on a future board meeting agenda? Seeing no seeing none, I am going to adjourn this meeting at 7:38 p.m.