001Uh it is now 6:00. Item six, report any actions on items from close session. The board has approved a separation agreement by a vote of 3 to zero with a classified employee which includes the employees resignation. Item seven, communication reports. Please limit these to five minutes. Any board member reports? >> I have really nothing to report. I've just been enjoying the summer and am not ready for it to conclude. Nothing to report here either. Moving on. Uh student board member not here next week. Uh superintendent report. Dr. Cutler, >> Trusty Heatherton, and members of the board. Thank you. Um it's kind of throwing me off with you sitting there and doing that. Appreciate that you stepping in. [Laughter] Uh but yeah, I have just a few things this evening. Um number one, I wanted to
002let you know if we we did have on the agenda student board member reports. Obviously, there's no student board members here, but I did meet with our our student board members. Theresa and I did this afternoon. Looking forward to having them here at our next board meeting getting sworn in. Um they just two u just positive young ladies. Look forward to you meeting them and and and they're just going to bring incredible energy and excitement. Um, I wanted to let you know we just got word today we've been waiting to get cleared through TRPA for our first bond project. Um, it's been taking a long process to get going. Uh, we finally got cleared and the uh, that first bond project out at at the field um, area will be actually begin on Monday. They're
003they're a little over a month behind on that. So hopefully that won't be a big deterrent. Um and uh George Rohos from Coming Group will be with here to give you an update on the 28th. So you'll hear more about that just just so you're aware. Um and just you know uh this time of year as it gets excitement to get started in a new school year, I just want to take time to thank all of those that have been working so hard to get ready for a school year. Um and especially uh the the HR staff, uh Edith, Vanessa, and Danielle. They've been working really really hard um in getting after making sure that we have our hirers going and and um you know making sure that folks are ready to rock and roll
004might start from next week and and just to say there's a large personnel order on the consent agenda tonight and and I'm really proud of us getting all that pulled together with so many levels of uncertainties. So a big shout out to them on that. And also um next week is our next Wednesday is our uh new staff orientation. Next Thursday is um our welcome back breakfast and meeting at the high school and welcome all of our staff back. Friday is a planning day for for for teachers and staff. And then of course we welcome students on August 25th and we're really excited about that day. Um that'll be my report this evening. Thank you. >> Employee association reports. Nicole. say real quick. >> Uh good evening trustees, superintendent, and the executive cabinet members who
005are here. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of SAO Educators Association today. I want to begin by acknowledging the work that has been done with our bargaining teams at the table this week. We recognize progress has been made. We appreciate the efforts and the spirit of collaboration that they represent. With that said, we are now just days away from the start of the school year and we are going to go into the new school year without a settled contract. This situation is deeply concerning not only for our members but the health of our district. LTUSD cannot afford to begin another school year with uncertainty, low morale, and unresolved commitments. Our educators and support staff are professionals. We are dedicated to our students and the community, and we come to work every day
006ready to give our best. But we need to know that the district is committed to do its best for us. While we have not yet come to a compromise on how to share the cost of the health care increases, STEA has identified significant savings that it should be applied to offset these costs. The district has reduced the overall cost to certificated teachers by more than 5% through the elimination of the elevated learning academy, the community schools coordinators, and other certificated roles. These cuts are saving the district over a million dollars a year. STA firmly believes that these savings must be used to share the burden of the rising health care costs with the LTUSD employees. These cuts were not easy and the impact is being felt by our community. We are not asking for more
007than what's fair. We are asking for a contract that reflects the shared priorities of the district, stability for our staff, quality for our students, and a commitment to longterm sustainability. We urge the Burward and the cabinet to return to the table with urgency and intention. Let's not drag this out. Let's not let another year begin with questions instead of clarity. Let's reach an agreement to give our educators and our students the strong start they deserve. And at this time, I do have some budgetary documents I'd like to share with you on how those have been made over the last couple of years for that 5% savings if that's okay. >> Here, you know what? Just give them to give them to her and she'll she'll pass them out. Yeah. Yeah. And then she'll have them.
008Thank you. All right. Very good. Thank you for your time today and we look forward to a speedy resolution. >> Thank you. >> I think Bernett >> Bernardet would you like to Thank you. >> Good evening trustees. Good evening Dr. Cutler. Um I missed the last two board meetings uh due to personal family issues and so tonight I would briefly like to speak to the healthc care issue that we are facing. I appreciate Dr. Cutler talking about it in today's newsletter and I know that you all have received letters and different information pertaining to this issue. for our membership. Many people working six hours or more, they must take the benefits and they are not even making $20 an hour. The least expensive uh coverage went from is going from $69 a month to 381.
009that will definitely impact so many of our members. Many have not yet found out what those increases are. So I do think it is imperative for us to share all of that collectively and soon so that people can start the conversations work together to try and solve this problem. In many ways, I think it's bigger than our district. I think it's bigger than all the districts that an insurance carrier can come and raise rates of 25% which that isn't really the computation when you look at how much people are going to pay. So, it seems to me that that there should be an avenue for a positive resolution. Thank you. Thank you, Bernadette. [Music] >> Uh, now we're on to 7E, public comment. Um, do we get any cards or >> I I didn't receive
010cards, but I'm assuming people out there have cards, so you guys want to just run them up here to me real quick? >> Yeah. Yeah, sure. >> Okay. While you're doing that, I'll read my uh statement here. If your comment is on an item that is not on the agenda, your name will be called at this time. If your comment is on an item that is on the agenda, your name will be called after the item is discussed and prior to the final action being taken, if any. >> Please limit your comments to 3 minutes or less. If there is more than one speaker on a particular topic, the board president may limit the comments to less than 3 minutes. No more than 20 minutes of public input will be taken on any one item.
011We appreciate your cooperation in helping us to facilitate the timeliness of our meetings. Also, I'd like to remind everyone that the Brown Act only allows the board to address items on the posted agenda. The board is listening and cares about your comments, but we cannot respond to any of them at this time. >> Sorry for that, but >> and Jo and Jod Dayberry. >> Jod Dayberry. Thank you. >> Good evening board, Dr. Tara Water and audience. My name is Jody Dayberry and here tonight I'm speaking for myself. I was a longtime LTUSD employee going into my 30th year this year. my students past and future as well as our community as a whole. board. I don't know if you're aware that um I wrote a grant along with uh Beth Shepard for community schools. The
012district was awarded right under 5 million 4 million $750,000 over five years for the schools that qualified. And uh that was Beiju Sier House, Mount Tac and Tahoe Valley. I brought community schools the information to the district and wrote what was called a planning grant. This is a state funded grant for Tahoe Valley Elementary which we were awarded. Then I wrote along with a district administrator that's no longer here the implementation grant in which all schools in the district were named and for qualified. Unfortunately, Tahoe Valley's grant funding was less than anticipated because the district on the day that they had to report to the state one day in order to get the $300,000 for the year, we only had 394 students, I believe, enrolled. Many students were allowed to go from Tahoe Valley to
013Meyers or to Sierra House, which was out of their attendance area, thus lowering the number of students at that specific time on that specific day. Eventually, the enrollment came back up and has been. Yes, it's true. >> You have 15 board meeting, >> Jody. You have 15 seconds. I don't believe so. After the board meeting, >> your time is up. >> On June 13th, I or 12th. >> The next day, I received a letter saying that my position >> Jody, your time is up. We're going to be shutting off the microphone intervention teacher. >> Okay. >> I was being cut. My job, the person that wrote the grant, that brought the grants to the district. >> Sure. >> After negotiation, they're over there telling me that my position was being eliminated. >> I don't know
014if you knew that. And since that's been happening, >> Jod, your time is up. Thank you. >> Other letters from the district. >> We ask that you respect the time that we all lot to people. >> To this day, I still don't know what my assignment is for the up and cominging school year, my 30th year in this district. Thank you for listening. >> Okay. Thank you, Jody. Um I I didn't receive any others. Is anybody that I'm missing? Okay, that that's all public competency. >> Move on to uh item eight, uh community partners, uh Boys and Girls Club, Jude Wood. >> Trustees, we're fortunate to have our relationship and our partnership continue with Boys and Girls Club in a strong fashion and so thankful for Thank you everybody for being here this evening. Um
015thankful for Jude to be here and to provide us an update about the activities of the Boys and Girls Club. Juice. >> Oh, here. Don't worry about moving that. >> No, no, the clicker. >> Oh, turn it on. >> That's >> Sorry. >> That's okay. >> I clear a house. I won't take it personally. Oh man. >> Um okay. Well hopefully um that does sound very very difficult circumstances you're in with health care. I have to admit our health care costs obviously we're in the private market went up 10% and we were told that that was really really good. And I was like 10% is really really good. Yeah we've got bigger issues out there in the world. All right. Well, it is my absolute pleasure to be here tonight um and to tell you
016all the amazing things that have been happening this summer uh and all the great things we have planned for the school year as well. So, um for the good of the record, uh my name is Jude Wood. I'm the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Lake Tahoe and uh good evening uh Lake Tahoe Unified School Board and Executive. Do I just click forward? All right, I filled this with fun pictures to cheer your day up. Uh, this is us at the float. I believe you pipped us to the community award, but uh, we were really, really proud. The kids all did that and it was an incredible day. All right, so some statistics from this summer. Uh, we had 420 summer members. That is the largest in our history. uh 67 staff, again
017the largest in our history, and we're particularly proud that eight of those staff are LTUSD uh staff during the school year. So for those who do not have year-round employment, we provide those summer months, and it it's just a wonderful synergy. We held 20 specialty camps, four field trips. We also had eight weeks of climbing, golf, going up heavenly and on the roller coaster and boat trips. Uh we also last week had two nights of club camp out for our fifth and teen which are middle school age group uh where they got to sleep in the club overnight um and engage in all sorts of fun activities. Over 22 children enjoyed that which was really great. And we currently have an art show going on at the Black Bear Lodge. I really really encourage you
018to swing by there if you haven't yet. Um, but we think that's a wonderful way to show the tourists to our community uh the great art that our club produces. Uh, this is a picture of our dinosaur dig camp where before we planted our fruits and vegetables for the summer, we uh planted dinosaurs and then dug them up. So, peak moments from this summer. Um, and one of the emphasises we really have is peak moments. If you think back to your childhood, there are certain memories, certain experiences that stand out. And it's really, really important to us to provide those for our members over the course of a summer. >> So, I just showed you digging for dinosaur bones in the garden. I will say all those kindergarteners 3D printed those dinosaur bones, then dug
019them up, and then put their dinosaur together. Um, the highlight for many was actually seeing a muskrat on the Wild About Wetlands camp. I heard about that muskrat for many weeks. Um, we also built fairy tale houses out of clay. Uh, they're currently being fired in our brand new kiln. Uh, another highlight was kissing a minnow on the boat ride. Um, but this is not, you know, cruelty to animals. Uh, we did put it back. Um, and we have worked really hard this year with our boat program to also be a STEM program. So, looking at the quality of the lake, um, fishing out minnows, replacing them, understanding the ecology of where our kids live. Uh, we built model sailboats at a camp supported by the Tahoe Maritime Foundation. We participated in the parade. We
020had an amazing adventure camp. Um, and we had a new partnership with the Tahoe Ballet and Performing Foundation where our kids got to go for free and spend a week at Valhalla doing ballet and um, dance. Um, and of course the playground. Um, if you haven't seen it yet, please please come over. Um, do Dr. Cutler has offered to race anybody who wishes uh, on our zip lines. Um, but that was it was a soft launch because we still have some more work to do on improving the asphalt, putting out the basketball hoop. um painting, etc. But we're really really excited about it, and I hope you agree that it's it's something special for our community. All right, this is us playing golf. This was a wonderful partnership with uh the city. We got to
021use the city golf course and it was through the first T uh grant, which the city holds. So, what do we have new for the fall? Well, we're very excited to be opening another TK program, this time at Meyers. Um, we feel it's really, really important to support our working families by providing that full day for them. So, when school gets out at 12, our TK afternoon program kicks in and they will be provided education and enrichment until 5:30 when the whole site closes. We are also starting a teen takeover at the Angel of Tahoe site. We realized for our middle school and older kids that, you know, sometimes being around elementary is not what you want to do once you're cool and in middle school. And so the last hour of four days a
022week is going to be just teens in the Angel of Tahoe building where we'll be able to do specialist programs across the whole building specific for that age group. And we really really hope that that will help boost numbers. We were there last night at the Tahoe Learning Haven event about extracurricular activities. We plan to be at the back to school night at the middle school and really just re-engaging with um those age groups. So very this year all sites are now closing at 5:30 p.m. for elementary members. So that's across the board for elementary enabling us to have that 5:30 to 6:30 time at the angel of teens. Um we also have a wonderful new coordinator at Beiju Elementary Damarice Ehart who was amazing there has gone to join LTUSD on your teacher training
023program. So we're very excited for her. Um and unfortunately the funding cuts for Calresh 4 uh enabled us to pick up Alejandra um who many of you know Elizabeth has works here in the district office. Alejandra was a former staff with us and we're delighted to have her return uh to lead the Beiju site. Uh so this is our sailing camp which was sponsored by the Tahoe Maritime Foundation. The kids uh built model boats and then uh took them out to the Truckucky River and uh they floated. So what are some of our challenges for this year? Um like you, we are facing rising costs for everything. Um it's phenomenal. I mean we've been doing so much this summer. Um I I just don't want to even think about what we've been spending again. But
024I think what's really um hurt us is the stagnation of the ELOP funding. So as you may be aware, because a tier 2 school, we actually took a hit, a decrease in the expanded learning opportunities program this year. Um we did a lot of advocacy. I spent a lot of time writing letters going to Sacramento. I even went to Washington DC about some of our other um grants. Um and yay, the good news is that they agreed to increase ELOP funding back up to the original amount for tier 2 schools, but only if you were over 55% free and reduced. Guess what? We're 54. Um and so we have just missed out. And I know it's a problem that you are all facing for the school day. And so, you know, I really um we're
025going to wholeheartedly lend our support to your campaign. I've been given a great t-shirt. Um and so we need to fund our future. We need to fund our schools and we need to fund our afterchool programs. Um we are so fortunate to have the partnership with you all around the expanded learning opportunities program grant and also the afterchool education and safety grant. Um but as everybody in this room knows you get funded at a level and that level is for a number of years without increase sometimes decreases. However at the same time your costs go up. So it's great that first year but after that first year now you're facing a funding gap and that is what we are facing for this year. So, um, don't be surprised when I come round to the community
026with a begging bowl this year because it's really, really important to us not to pass those costs on to parents. Our fees have gone up a little bit this year, but really, I mean, even for a family earning over 200,000 a year, it's only gone up by about $20 a month. you know, it it we're trying to be as affordable as possible whilst also paying a living wage, retaining our staff, and keeping our high quality programming. So, need is everybody in the community to do the fund our futures survey. It's vital, you know, not just for this year, but for future years as well. Um, and the more families, if we can get to 100%, maybe we can get over that 55% threshold. and both the school day and the after school benefit. So my
027plea to the community is do that survey. I've already done mine. Uh and then as I mentioned, we're really looking to boost teen enrollment uh for the coming year offering specialty programs and really focusing on that engagement. Um but as ever, we know we will have a wait list. Um we are so proud we have taken on over 700 children for the afterchool program. Um that is again the largest in our history. Uh we even took some more kids off the wait list today. Um and those children who are on the wait list were mostly those who had not signed up during our enrollment period. Um but we know that come next week or the first week at school, there'll be that panic of the parent who forgot. Um and we're really really doing our
028best to serve everybody who needs us. Um and so to do that we need funding. Um, and if I may, it's not on my uh slide here, but the one other plea to you is um to keep thinking about this snow day issue. Um, whilst I totally appreciate the need to work with Junth, which we also recognize and we're proud to do so, um, random days through the school year are really, really hard for us to accommodate. As I just mentioned, we've taken over 700 kids. If for one day we have to try and distill all those kids down into the Angel of Tahoe site, we just can't hold them all. And then who do we choose? Who gets to come for that day when school is shut, but mom and dad still have to
029work. It's extremely hard. Snow, genuine snow days are much much easier because the majority of businesses shut or permit staff to work from home. So, parents have the ability to care for their child. But last year, it was a beautiful day. No business in town was shutting. We were unable to open because we couldn't accommodate all those kids for just one day. It's a it's an awful lot of work to enroll kids. Um, we do it every break, but for oneoff days, it's extremely hard. And so I just want to put out there it it does create a burden on our families. Um and then they shout at me because we can't help. Um so just putting that on your radar for future thought. >> Any question? I have some more fun pictures actually. >>
030Okay. I have a couple questions. >> So this is the rush as our playground open. >> Um and I do want invite if anybody is free tomorrow, please come to our end of summer party. Um, not only will the playground be open and in action, um, but we're also going to have our amazing bounce houses as has become our tradition now. And it's lots of fun. Uh, and I must give a huge, and I missed a few off here, including yourselves, um, uh, and South Tahoe Refues and, um, the county education department, but, um, we couldn't have done the playground without Tom Hayne. He was out there in the blazing sun every single day for about two months volunteer project. Um, and Hank Conen structures are just such incredible supporters of our community. So, I
031wanted to make sure they got a mention and you might recognize a few of the >> our community. It's so fun. All right, questions. >> Yes. Okay. You mentioned um TK at Meyers. Are you also having the the Cuz you already had a program at Meyers for the first through or kindergarten through. >> So we're now TK through fifth at Myers. >> Okay, perfect. >> Yeah. >> And then >> not dropping anybody off. >> The whole fund our fund our future thing. Do they get can they only filled out once for everything? Does that include your your Chromebook and all that stuff? >> So, a couple things. Number one, I just want to give a big shout out to the person that left me. um is really her behind the-scenes effort that's really come together
032with the fund the future and and all that we're putting forward to this and the spec that that that that that project really is about we need 100% of applicants complete applications completed by our families to to really find those students and families that are need are in need when they do that that is an automatic if they qualify for Chromebook insurance uh for for bus but bus fees and all of those components. So, it's another benefit for that. Is that what you're asking? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> So, it's just a one-time fill out the form. And so, that's >> Yeah. Once they get on that list, >> that's what I'm doing at the middle school and Wednesday. Right. >> Yeah. We have a lot of people helping with the welcome back events at
033the high school, middle school, at um Sierra House in Tahoe Valley to try and get our goal is to get 90% completion rate across the whole um >> you'll have a wonderful QR code to make it super easy for people just to do it then and there on their phone. We're going to have all of we're also going to have our Chromebooks so they can just do it while for their child. Yeah. Yeah, cuz trust me, some kids come to the front and they might as well use that time productively. >> Yeah. You know, and I think one of your questions might have been because if I'm a parent of three children, if I do it once, I'm done. >> Yeah. >> That counts for those three children. I think I I'm sorry I didn't
034I didn't address that. >> True. Yeah, I was also thinking of Chromebooks being one thing and >> Yeah, it's it's on all Chromebooks. Do you want to say anything else? >> Um was it I can't remember now. >> You get you get reduced Chromebook insurance. Super helpful. Love that. You get it? I'm almost positive you get it free if you're free and reduced. If you if you're in that category, but anybody else? >> And if you're not free and reduced, you still get a discount on your Chromebook half price. Yeah. >> Oh, I know. On all student Chromebooks in the bookmarks on the left, the application's there. So, if a student I has a Chromebook that they take home, they can actually do it on their own Chromebook at home. There's a there's a bookmark
035for the Fund Our Future and Sunbox. That's good. Scott or Scott's put them on all of the computers >> and I rode my bike just on Monday to the playground and not but I I'm I know several of the people there and they've been just raving about it the whole summer. So >> it's been wonderful number of community members who've been coming you know who aren't associated with the club and and just enjoying it. So I hope you climbed up the big tower and went down the slide. >> I did not. I didn't get off my bike. I just oo and noded. I have to admit I'm not sure I can fit through the little gap. >> You mentioned the Angel of Tahoe. I'm unfamiliar with that. >> Yeah. So, we um it's the wonderful
036new building. If you just look down Lions as you leave tonight, it has our wonderful um Boys and Girls Club logo on the side. So, that is a building that we built um funded and built um and you very very kindly gave us a 50-year ground lease to do that. So, it's immediately adjacent to the Al Tahoe School. >> Yeah. I just didn't know it had that name. >> Come for a tour. Um it is named after Lisa Moff who was our ma ma principal major donor um for for the building. But um many other things are called Lisa Mailoff and so we decided to go with the nickname that our community gave her and for which she was absolutely deserving and that's the angel of Tahoe. >> Thank you. >> A couple things Jude.
037First of all, thank you so much. As a past Boys and Girls Club board member, our numbers were dramatically smaller, but the challenges were just as real then. Um, and one of my team members at my office has two students there and they absolutely love it. >> Great. >> One of them actually made a decision during one of the teen camp outs to actually sing. So you now you know who he is. >> Yeah. >> Oh yeah. I didn't actually put up a picture of me as Scary Spice. Um, I'm going to burn them. So >> on on the snow day. So the challenge that uh So did we create a challenge with having the set snow days? Is that okay? I just want to make sure I understood that. >> Yeah. And I think,
038you know, >> you do it. >> I we know we're gonna get snow days and sometimes we get them in March. >> Yeah. >> Um quite often we get them in March. And I just think it's very very challenging for parents to have to take a day off that isn't a genuine snow day. Okay. It's a financial burden because there is no child care available and we are unable to provide it for a one-off day. >> Okay. And then additionally, um the list of uh people you thanked, uh Tom is a tremendous asset for the community. So that that whole list is awesome. Yeah. Thank you. >> Great job, J. Thank you for your partnership and everything. >> Everything you do. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> And sorry I scared everybody away.
039>> I will applaud you for the >> Say hi to Eric. >> Good job. >> Moving on. Uh item nine, educational services. 9A is school service services of California special education assessment review. >> Members of the board um as you are aware special education is a vital component of our school district and one of the most important programs that we have and we have uh we we at all times want to make certain that we are um improving and doing all that is necessary within each of our programs. And quite frankly, uh, the special education program has come under some heightened criticism as of late. I will also say though that um, I have been considering the idea that we needed to do a deep assessment of our special education services for a few years.
040Really more for the fact is that we we can always improve. And uh and so um CBO Kelly Buttery and I actually spoke about it last year and after this past year, we made that determination with the direction of the board as well that we needed to consider uh an assessment. We reached out to the uh Cal School Services of California and and discussed that could they possibly do those services for us. And we've asked Ananette Pelleier. I might have said that name just totally botched it. I probably did. Um, but she uh that that what we were looking for and she has provided you a presentation this evening. She is virtually with us tonight. Uh, so I believe are you there? Can you hear us? >> I can. Can you hear me? >> Absolutely.
041And we've got your your your material up and my assistant Teresa will move things along for you. >> Okay. Um, that's slide two. Could we start with slide one? Thank you. Okay, great. Um, I I wasn't prepared for you to be showing I had my PowerPoint up, but I can do this. So, thank you so much for having me. My name is Anette Pelleter. I currently work for School Services of California. As Superintendent Cutler um let you know, um, good evening to the board members. Thank you for inviting me to your meeting tonight. I would am hoping to be brief. Um I have spent 25 years um in special education service with the last 10 years of my service uh mostly in the realm of Selpas and focusing on special education finance which is how
042I ended up moving to school services after I retired um after 25 years of service. So I've now been with school services for about four years and I love the work that I do there. I do a lot of um coaching and facilitating of meetings, professional development and a large component of what we do are studies. It is the 50th anniversary for school services who started out as a management consulting firm that did fiscal analysis for business departments, maintenance and operations and then they moved to add-on HR and with my arrival we have been expanding our special education focus areas. When we do a special education study, we really are looking to help districts identify how they can run highquality, legally compliant special education programs, as is the goal for all special education um services.
043Uh we know that you are motivated to have fiscally sustainable and responsible programs um but that there are limitations to special education funding and impacts with general fund contributions. Uh when we go around the state, we encounter many districts experiencing similar challenges and we know that those may be amplified in your region in a more rural area, especially when we're looking to provide um inclusive practices and to hire uh qualified staff. I actually grew up in the Lake Tahoe area. I grew up in Truckucky. I went to Tahoe Truckucky High School. Um but now I live in the San Francisco Bay area. Um, as part of our studies, we look at data from state certified sort of sources and internally provided data. We look for um information that is part of your system that can
044be leveraged or built upon as a foundation for growth and improvement. And we really hope to help identify some recommendations that can help you on that path and journey towards fiscally responsible, highquality and legally compliant programs. Uh as a program practitioner, a lot of my focus is more assetbased and strengthsbased and looking at what you can do as a system to grow your inclusive practice to ensure equity of access and to really focus on student outcomes. So we could move on now to that um that uh slide two. >> Next slide. >> Uh when we do a study um we are again looking at your local data. We also are looking for comparative data. Your internal information is really important but we know that um often we want to know how are we doing compared
045to others? What kinds of spending do we have compared to others? What is our services like? What types of students do we have? And so we gather state certified comparative data and we also try to engage uh comparable eleas to you and by that we mean of similar size and scope uh so unified districts we also try to match for the kind of region a rural region that you are um that you represent. And when we do a more in-depth study, we also include site visits, interviews, and um and connections with as many of your interest holders as we can connect we can get information from. When we work on a report, whether it's a shorter data study, and I'll get to that towards the end, or a more in-depth um full study, we are
046looking at these five areas. We're trying to identify what's the organizational effectiveness of your department within the structures of your um district and your leadership team. We are looking at what your revenues and expenditures are. We're hoping to help you identify alignment with your other initiatives, other mandated tasks, and your multi-ter system of support so that your special education um services are part of that continuum. We look at what are the cost drivers of special education. Special education is not a lowcost service. Many of the services are mandated on students IEPs, but there are some op options and opportunities that districts can look at that start in general education with pre-referral work all the way to the exit opportunities for students who have been served by special education programs. And then finally, we look at
047special education staffing. We can go on to the next two slides. Yes. Thank you. In your case, when I was speaking with your um leadership team, they also indicated that there may be some additional considerations that we often include in our reports. That includes identifying and leveraging program strengths, building connections within your organization, and engaging with the continuous monitoring and improvement work that is being done across the state. Many um districts often um engage with their county office or with the California Department of Education, but often that engagement is not deep enough, does not allow them to get a good picture of what assets could they build upon and what are their long-term recommendations. Many of those tasks are very focused on did we do the following checklist of activities, whether or not those activities
048led us to some active opportunities for decision-making to improve our own programs. So, we really try to align with what's happening across your entire system and looking at how you deliver service and how that is impacting your overall uh both special ed and fiscal picture. In your case, we also discussed the interest in incorporating some analysis of the impact of your Tahoe Alpine SULPA given that you are joined with Alpine County a as a multidist SULPA and looking at your allocation policy. This is the distribution of special education revenue that comes from federal sources and state sources and um is really up to your local governance council and they are your team indicated there may be some areas for um improvement or reconsideration and alignment with changes in education code. There have been so many
049changes in the last five years of uh specific education code impacting allocation policy, revenue generation and revenue distribution and many SULPAs in the state have not kept pace with the various adjustments to education code. So that would be something that your team had indicated they would like to consider. Um, so when I was asked to bring to you sort of what are some of the options that we can provide and so the there are really three types of work that we do and we develop a scope of work once your team identifies what areas they're interested in looking at. But the three types of work in this area would be a data study. This is a very objective look at statecertified data at data from other eleas that is also statec certified. We do include
050your district's more recent data that is internally provided from for example unudited actuals or from your special education information system but it is very focused on what can be visibly um uh reviewed. It does not tell us the full story. It does not have context. It does not tell us about your students or your staff. Um, but the timeline for that is a little bit shorter and the cost is lower. Um, because those costs start around $25,000. When we do a full special education study, we expand upon the data study components and we gather input from interest holders, current data, and we begin to delve deeper into a variety of high priority topics that might be identified, typically four or five of them. We work to look at what your practice is. We work to
051see classrooms and teaching in action. And this scope of a of work can be adapted to expand as needed. Um, and a full study analysis again takes a little bit longer because we're doing all of that in-person and interview work. And we also are doing a much more comprehensive analysis and report. And those studies start around $54,000. I also do allocation policy work in isolation. This is something that not very many other um uh agencies or companies in the state um provide. Uh but I have been doing them w and with selas focused on revenue and allocation updating policy uh incorporating updated education code and looking at the variety of um impacts from allocation policy. This does not extend into LEA service delivery. So Lake Tahoe Unified School District as an LEA within the SULPA,
052none of that would be incorporated into an allocation study. These are typically a a program setup cost and then an hourly consultation so that we stay focused based on what are the interests of your local team. Um and I find that those um studies can be very helpful and very useful for um teams as they're trying to identify areas for improvement. So those are the three types of studies we offer. They can be adjusted or expanded in your case. um a full data study could easily incorporate the allocation policy components um for you know for analysis um and and for not much more of that um starting study cost. What would not be included and we'd have to figure out how to do is typically allocation policy work engages with the interest holders and the
053governance council to make sure that we um incorporate any actions and adjustments to the allocation policy in the SULPA governance structure which is separate from your board of education. So, if you decided you wanted to blend those together, we'd have to make sure that we made space for the fact that there are two Brown Act governing boards involved in your allocation policy. Um, and so with that, um, these are the kinds of studies that school services offer. I'm very proud of our work. Um, there are, uh, only a couple of other firms doing special education studies. Fickmat is a a public agency partially funded by the department of education that does these studies. Um but they and themselves admit that they really focus on a deficit model. What is need what are needed adjustments rather
054than thinking about who you have where you are and what you could leverage and build upon. And I think that um our approach is really um embraced by many communities. Many other um teams are hoping that CDE will come and do these kinds of evaluations but CDE does not do these types of in-depth studies. Um they only do compliance investigation or complaint investigation. Um so again they would not be able to give you that that full that full picture. Um and so here at school services we are quite busy. Um, but if your team is interested or you as a board are interested, I'd be happy to answer questions and if you would like, I can um submit to you an actual proposal for your own scope of work and thank you for having me
055and um I hope to hear from you soon. >> Thank you very much for the presentation. Um I'm sure the uh powers of be will be discussing it and looking to uh to engage >> and and so I appreciate that. Trusty Heatherton, I would this is an information item. Obviously, it's our interest to bring it back as a discussion item further, but I would love to to gauge the board's interest, desires. Um any if you have questions for Anette, um actually Anette, I wanted to make sure that you did answer that one question right there at the end because there's been questions. Why wouldn't we just bring in CDE to do an assessment? And they and I appreciate that clarif that clarification. They don't do that. Um, and I do want to say that school
056services of California is the premier uh, organization that does this type of work. FICMAT being that public entity is also seen as that. But it's important to note they truly are coming in deficit model meaning what are you doing wrong? Fix this instead of looking at it more more globally right through what's you know what what's your strengths? what your areas is that you can take um have it take advantage of have opportunities for um and grow from as well as hey what what can you really fix and make difference so I appreciate that that component >> um we have had there was enough people in the community that are would appreciate us going through and doing a whole assessment from an outside source not just our own. So, I'm in favor of this. >>
057Yeah. And and and I appreciate that and and and thank you for saying a supportive statement of doing this. Do you have the interest of what level and what depth? And again, we're going to bring it back for discussion. So, I'm not trying to put you on the spot, but as we prepare for the discussion item, it might be give us a good place to to start from. >> If we can also find some maybe we're misspending our money somewhere um and can recoup some of the 54,000 for the full study. I would love to do the full study. >> Well, and the full study obviously dives really deep into that. And Jen, do you see the opportunity or or in your experience, do you see that when folks go that depth that maybe they
058do find some um you know, spending that can be uh captured? >> Um well, you know, I'm going to say yes and no. Um so um for some districts what we do find is that they may have areas where they are allocating costs to special education that actually may be better served under their LCAP or other initiatives because they are serving the needs of all students not just the needs of students with disabilities. But when you identify those kinds of shifts of funding to a different funding source you're not actually freeing up revenue. you're not generating new revenue. Um, another area is in transportation. So, there are some opportunities, but there are very limited windows to generate revenue in special education. Um, and so we do try to encourage districts, especially districts that have um
059certain types of populations, for example, participation in the medical LEA billing option program, uh, participation in any of the California youth and behavioral health initiative programs where you may be able to leverage your services um for more revenues. Um so we do try to look at those especially if you've uh begun those processes or are investigating um interest there. We we do um also sometimes find that we can identify areas where you could possibly have more better economy of scale or efficiency. Um, but I'll be really honest. In our last couple of years, what we are really finding in a postcoid world is that costs are rising, the needs of students have been increasing. And it is most school districts really already have been um making reductions and identifying efficiencies and um potential blind spots.
060And and it's it's not common for us to say, "Oh, we found something. there's five $500,000 under this pile of books. It just is your team probably has already um been looking at those with an eye to desperate need for resources and a desperate need to be really careful about spending. >> Yeah, I I I appreciate the answer because why I wanted to ask the question um because I don't necessarily think the spending of money is going to go save us money, right? I think that the spending of money to do this is deep assessments going to help us identify what we're doing well and where we can grow and what things we possibly need to adapt and adjust. Um and and so it is a level of a commitment to the more expensive level
061but it will be more thorough and de in depth. So just really a decision of the board to say, "Hey, we want to we do and obviously in a in a tight budget time, right, when we think about that." Um but but also knowing that this is something we we do, you know, to settle minds and to to get us focused on, you know, the good work we're doing and not always um seeming to be u >> Contentious. Okay. Thank you. >> Any other board members thoughts? I I support the uh the full study um with, you know, strong concerns towards the budget, but uh in the in the desire to make sure that we're providing the best situation for all of our students, I think it's uh responsible. >> Thank you. >> Well said,
062John. I agree with you completely. I echo that sentiment. >> I think that is a very very thorough direction for me and I appreciate that. So, so, um, Angela, so appreciative of you taking the time to to be with us tonight. I was hoping I'd see you in person. Uh, >> I was hoping so, too, but I I'll be honest. I thought it was at your next board meeting, so I was a little surprised that I was on the agenda tonight. Um, or else I probably would have come up because it's beautiful. >> Miscommunication on our part, but I'm glad that you're here. >> No, it's okay. >> Um, and uh, and and and so Kelly and I will circle back with you to talk about what we heard from our board members here. Um
063and and I'll get a sense from the folks that weren't here to to get to really put together another item for the board. Um and one of the questions is you are very very busy. If we chose to move forward with school services, um what type of time frame could you possibly get started on this? Yeah, actually I was just looking at my calendar with my team um earlier this week and right now we are looking at available weeks in the February to March range in terms of when we could come and do site um observations and and visits. So um a if if you were to move very quickly um there are actually others in line um with sitting and thinking and considering their proposals. If you were to move very quickly, then I
064would guess that that the earliest timing would likely be um late winter, early spring. >> Yeah. >> But we would get that done before the end of the year and hopefully um you know have some on you know on in the moment um advice for you as you were working on budgets. >> Yeah, thank you. That was a really important answer for me just so that folks knew and it's actually why we wanted to push this to the state and I apologize if we >> No problem. >> We wanted to get it moving. Um, so I will I will circle back with you board members. Thank you for your your direction and your thoughts on this. Thank you for the thorough complete presentation. Um, and uh it seems as though we have strong interest and
065and look forward to continuing the conversation. >> I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks so much. >> Thank you. >> Good night. >> Thank you. Bye. >> 9B extended school year recap. Trustees, please welcome special education coordinator Brena Dilman to provide us with a brief update on our students extended school year opportunities this past summer. Thank you. >> You know, before Brena goes, I just want to say we just got done talking about assessing special ed. And and and I got to tell you, I I can't wait for them to say how how amazing an educational special education leader I've witnessed here. And I want to say this specific to the summer. you know, while most people are taking some time off, you are here working hard to make sure extended school year happened.
066And I just want you to know how much I appreciate that and and thank you for that. >> Of course. And I was going to say actually um I have worked with Angette in the past. Um and I I really enjoy um what she does and she really is very very thorough and if we go through with this, I' I'd look forward to it honestly. Um, we're always trying to improve and I think we do some things really great, but I I do believe we have room for improvement. So, I I would look forward to it. Um, so good afternoon everyone. I'm here today to provide you with a quick update regarding our summer uh program for special education students. Before I do that, I did want to provide you with some great news that
067we recently found out regarding our students with disability state testing scores. I know that's not really why I'm here tonight, but I just have to share it with you. Uh, Dr. Dr. Reer, I know we'll be providing more information on these scores in the future. Um, but because I've seen the scores, I just wanted to kind of toot special eds horn real quick. Um, during the 2425 school year, uh, our students with disabilities increase state assessment scores, uh, with, uh, students meeting or exceeding the benchmarks by 8% in English and language arts and by 3% in math. Um, so that's huge improvements and as I just mentioned, we always have room for growth and improvement, but I just wanted to really shout out to my staff and my students because that is that is huge.
068So, we're really really happy. And again, I know that's not why I'm here, but I just had to throw that in there. Uh, so regarding our summer programming for our students with disabilities, our extended school year is a program for students that assists students uh in working towards the same goals that they're working on towards or during the regular school year. Our ESY or extended school year services are only provided in those areas on the current IEP. So, we're not adding any services or taking away. We're just working on the services that are currently in place on their IEP. Um those areas are areas where the student has demonstrated regression of skills during extended school breaks. That's winter breaks, um holidays extended, um or our summertime. Um and then they also have a limited ability
069to benefit from reteing of skills after an extended break. So unlike typical students who we do see some regression over those extended breaks, these are students who when they they have to retach the entire thing. They're not coming back with any kind of concept of the the goals that they were working on prior. Um extended school year is considered and determined to be appropriate by the IEP team. So every year during annual or triannual IEPs, the team discusses whether extended school year is appropriate for that specific student or not. So it is an individual basis. We don't say because you're in this class or because you have this disability you go. It is an IEP team decision. So that's decided by that IEP team. Um so let me go a little bit into what this
070summer looked like. Uh so this summer we ran extended school year from June 23rd to July 22nd. Uh so that's 20 school days. Uh we did not have uh extended school year on July 3rd or 4th. We've noticed in the past those dates people don't show up. Uh so we obviously take the holiday of July 4th, but oftentimes people are traveling on July 3rd as well. Uh school times run from 8:00 in the morning to noon. Uh we do hold our extended school year at the Al Tahoe campus. About 85% of our students are bus using our LTUSD transportation. So we have two bus drivers that transport our students. We had 45 students registered and attending this year. We had four teachers, which means four classrooms with nine instructional assistants. Um and then five substitutes
071were there um and used for coverage um for both instructional assistants and teachers, which in the past has been a little bit of a struggle when you have somebody go out sick for extended school year. A lot of the time that's me covering or another administrator. This year we did find some volunteers that were willing to cover here and there. Um and then we also use our food services. So 40 meals. They got breakfast and lunch every day from that 8:00 to noon time. Um and our wonderful uh LTUSD food services provided that for our students. Uh so that was really great and I do have to just thank our facilities and transportation for providing the food and transportation for our students. Uh what we learned so students in extended school year were able to
072learn both new skills and maintain their current academic skills. Uh we do learning in a number of modalities. We do try and make it fun. We know it's summer. Uh so there is outside field trips, walking field trips, uh in-class experiments. They were, you know, playing with putty, making volcanoes, all sorts of fun things. Uh they do art, science, math, money awareness, and life and social skills. Uh our teachers use programs such as mystery science, unique learning system, money math, and dollar more. Um and then we also use TK and PreK curriculum for our younger students. Um and not included on these slides is the four classes we have are a preschool program. a kindergarten through 2 grade program, a third through fifth sixth gradeish program, and then our older students are sixth graders, usually
073through 9th through 10th grade. Um, we did have one tenth grader joining us this year. Usually when they get a little older, they don't want to come anymore. Um, and the families don't make them. Um, so that's kind of how our extended school year went. This is just a couple pictures. That's our preschool classroom on the right hand side and then our K2 classroom on the left hand side. Um, usually I get a lot more pictures. this year. I just didn't if I'm being honest. Um, but we did have a good time. I was too busy kind of in the classrooms working with the staff and uh having a really good time. I uh live over at El Tahoe in the summer when we have ESY. So, uh it's a it's a good time and
074I I enjoy being over there instead of my office here. So, that's what we have for extended school year. Are there any questions or comments? >> I'd like to thank you for all your hard work. What Dr. Cutler was saying, "I've run into you at 5:15 at Safeway and you're still on the phone talking one time." >> So, thank you. >> Really appreciate all you do. It's tremendous program. Thanks. It's nice. Nice. >> Just to echo everything. Thank you very much, Brennan. And I I hope uh if we follow through with this study and it it'll just make it even better. just use the momentum you've got going and with uh Kelly and everyone else helping that'd be great. >> Yeah, great. >> Nice job. Thank you. >> Next up, personnel services. Introducing the assistant
075principal at South Tahoe High School. Information item. I I was texting with with principal Zena Nino seeing if they were going to be able to make it over from the football game. The football game starts at 7:30 and he told me there were some things they were they were already into be able to make it. So yeah, Dr. Rita, go ahead. >> Yeah, but I'm let Yeah, >> we want to introduce you uh currently working at the football game, Mr. Kyle Tolmes. Uh Kyle was a chemistry um teacher and department chair at South Tahoe High School for the past four years. He is um highly regarded by his colleagues. Um we welcome him as South Tahoe High School's new assistant principal taking the place of Miss Heather Hart who is the new principal of at
076Myers Elementary. So welcome Kyle. You're doing okay. >> Hey we'll make sure we get him uh to the boardroom to make sure he says hello. Um, but if you want to get out to football, we'll be out there and we'll make sure he comes by and says hi to you. >> He was endorsed by students as well. >> You know, he I will say that highly committed teacher, the students have raved about him um and staff. I think he's built trust, but what I understand of him being a department chair and his leadership in science, but also as as part of the department chair meetings and just providing leadership there. We'll also tell you he was a he attended all three levels of leaders and learners. Um um so he went through all of th
077those programs as well. So excited about uh his opportunity to to have this position at this time and I think it's really going to work out. >> Uh item 11, facilities and transportation start of school facilities and transportation update. >> Good evening members of the board. I've I've gotten to work with Kyle, too, so I'm really excited about working with him as the assistant principal as well. Um, I'm I'm excited to be here this evening to give you a facilities and transportation update of where we are at with projects prior to the start of the 2526 school year. It's been a very busy summer and we are still hard at it, ensuring that many of our projects are finishing up and our schools are ready for students on August 25th. So, first I'd like to
078start with the transportation department. Our amazing transportation supervisor, Coral Lethrop, has been hard at work ensuring that we are all dialed in with the updated bus routes and having them posted to our website. I'm also excited to announce that we have promoted a seasoned district heavy machinery mechanic, Kevin Elkins, to our lead mechanic. Kevin has been with the district since 2017, and he's now working directly with Coral on day-to-day tasks, which include all student transportation and routes, along with maintenance, repairs, and purchases within the district's fleet as a whole. Since Kevin has taken the reigns this summer, he's already shown his leadership skills as well as his commitment in embracing the cultural strides that we've been making towards communication and camaraderie within the district. So, uh, we'll go to the EV buses. Our initiative with
079electric buses and infrastructure has been well in the making before I started with the district. That was, uh, two and a half years ago. I'm very happy to finally see these projects soon to be successfully completed. Actually, starting this week, construction has just begun at our bus garage for the switch gear and the installation of seven new fast chargers. We will then be able to add seven brand new electric buses to the fleet, making a total of 15 district-own electric buses. Once this is completed, which is slated by the end of September, all of our route buses will be electric, and we will rely on our diesel buses for only backup, field trips, and emergencies. Move forward. I got a picture of uh there's Coral hard at work at her desk, and there's Kevin at
080his new office. Can I just say, you know what, Kevin got his new position um as the lead and I walked in there and he had cleaned up the the space. I mean, he really is really ready to take it to a different level. Just want to Yes, big shout out to him. >> Office wasn't touched in 30 years. So great in there. He's definitely taken some initiative and appreciate him for that. Here is one of our new DC fast chargers. And this thing is a tank. It's a over six foot tall and it's about two foot by two foot. We're getting seven of those. And uh this will enable us to have enough battery charge for our longer route buses for the afternoon rather than using different buses. Basically, we we can't plug them
081in, do our morning route, and then plug them back in and get enough juice for our afternoon routes. So, this will help us with that. Um, with our facilities, we are hard at work getting the Beiju and middle school libraries completely remodeled, including brand new carpet and paint. Meteor Education is currently on site this week, installing the furniture and assisting the librarians with redising the books. We also did a new TK pilot classroom at Meyers, which they did get new carpet there as well. And they're receiving some new furniture from Meteor Education. This is all developer fees by the way if you recall. Um so this is we can only touch this for for student types of projects. >> Classroom spaces, things that impact their educational environments that we can use developer feed money for.
082>> So um yeah, I'll just show you some pictures. That's the that's the Beiju library just completely gutted. And that's it with carpet and a new paint job. They still haven't received their furniture yet, but they're going to have that by Wednesday of next week. This is the big one. This is the library, the middle school library. And that's the demo we did. And then that's uh the progression of carpet and paint. And here we got we got some furniture in there. and uh librarian that was over there starting to get the put the place back together as we speak. So um go ahead and put that to the end while I finish up here. Our maintenance crew has been assisting with numerous work orders at all locations doing their preventative maintenance and small construction
083projects such as building two new counseling offices at the middle school and installing some doors at other campuses. We have changed all of our district's HVAC air filters, which takes one employee the whole summer long to do, and our basic preventative maintenance on all our motors and pumps throughout the district. Our grounds crew has been working hard to keep our fields looking great. Um, they've also been doing some overdue cleanup at our at our yards and storage locations. And we have recently wrapped up our parking lot striping. I currently have some fencing and gates being constructed around the courtside and Field of Dreams locations at the high school. This is for additional security uh request from Principal Zenino. Last, we have a few items on the consent agenda we plan to complete prior to school
084starting. One is uh for some new flooring at the middle school cap cafeteria kitchen. And last is a fire alarm panel renovation for the middle school as well. So, as you can see, there's been a lot of moving parts this summer, and I'm very happy with where we are at and what we have accomplished moving into the school year. With that, I'm happy to take any questions. >> Way to go, Dave. >> Appreciate that. >> Way to go. Uh, appreciate all the hard work for your from your whole squad. I also understand that you you you spruced up the Meyers principal's office in anticipation of a new principal going in there and I I appreciate that and I know that uh principal Hart will very much appreciate that. So, thank you very much, Dave. >>
085Absolutely. >> Thank you as always, D. Appreciate all the work. >> All right. Well, thank you. Thanks and have a great evening. >> Good job, Dave. >> Thank you. Okay, last item, consent agenda. Do I have a motion >> to accept the ex consent agenda with our amendment on the new addition of the personnel order? >> Yeah, there not necessarily amendment of the personnel order, just just there was a provided information during the the approval of the agenda that there was a um changes to the personnel order. So, we just made that, but it's not amended. >> Okay. Thank you. Second the motion. >> Okay. I have a motion from Trustee Mansfield and a second from Trustee Anderson. Um all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Can I make can I make sure
086I just make sure clarification for folks? The personnel order had been amended throughout the week, but it wasn't amended for the agenda. That's what I wanted to make sure I said. Okay. Thank you. Item 13, items for consideration at future board meetings. Do we have any of those? I'm not seeing any. So that takes us to 14. Ajourn at 7:14.