001You give privacy. >> This meeting is being transcribed and summarized. >> 608. We'd like to welcome everyone here tonight. It's nice to see all your smiling faces and welcome to the board meeting of the Lancaster School District. Uh there's no action to report from close session. So that brings us to the pledge of allegiance led by Sier. My hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. and all justice for all. >> Thank you very much. First, we have our recognition of our acknowledgeable winners by Alicia Casey's director of student equity. Good evening board members, superintendants, assistant superintendent, and audience. Um, today we are recognizing our schools and winning teams that participated in the Black 365 knowledge bowl for this school year. I am Alicia Case. I'm the director of student equity, access, and outcomes. And I have
002here with me today Jamal Brown who is a local historian raised in the Analopee Valley area and is also the creator of the Black 365 knowledge bowl and calendar. We're going to first hear some words from him around long time president here in the valley. You all know me. I just want to say thank you publicly. I say thank you I think to each and every one of you as I can throughout the night to shake your hands and say thank you. I'm honored to be considered as a community partner year after year. Uh can't happen without me facilitating happen without uh can't have our amazing coaches and of course can't happen without the scholars. Can't happen without Miss Casey and her team but certainly can't happen without you all saying yes and approving it
003and again partnering a partner with me each and every year. So again I humbly say thank you to each and every one of you for that. Again, thank you coaches, scholars, and of course the families who support the scholars who put the ball every year. Of course, a special thank you to Casey and her team. Thank you everyone. I am Bell, a district instructional coach in the student department. And the knowledge bowl is a cahoot style game that celebrates history past and present. We have participated in the Black 365 knowledge bowl since 2014 and it has developed into an event that continues to have students compete in a friendly academic competition and also showcase a student talent. This school year we had 12 schools participate in grades fourth through 8th. The schools are Discovery, El
004Dorado, Endeavor, Jack Northrup, Joshua, Lava, Linda Verie, Mariposa, Monavista, Pyute, Sierra, and Sunnydale. Thank you to um that participated and also to the families and staff who attended each night. A special thank you to the coaches of each team. to teach black history at facts and ensure that students were ready for the competition. Also this year we partnered with the expanded learning opportunities department who provided an extra celebration for all black 365 knowledge bowl participants. Students were able to attend a field trip to see the schoolyard rap performance. It's a perform it's a performance full of fusion of music, storytelling and dance that teaches and celebrates the rich history, resilience and contributions of the communities across the globe. Thank you so much. >> Hello, I am Brandy Tate, the district family and community in the
005student equity department. We as adults are excited each year for this knowledge bowl and the students are too. Today we're going to hear from three of our scholars. The first one is from followed by two students from this. >> My name is Sophia Valdez. I'm seventh grader and the history president at Sunnydale. This is my second time participating in the black school. In preparing for the competition, I have learned that many African-American figures have persevered throughout history. My favorite part of participating in the knowledge bowl is learning more about African-American history and cultures with my friends and of course swimming. Hi, my name is Tony. I'm a fifth grade student at Mis. This is my first time participating in the black. What I learned is black historical music. My favorite part about participating in the
006black marble book is working together to compete. I love the black marble because I am very competitive. It was very fun studying with all my friends and but black isn't the competition. It's about having fun along the way. I've learned is cult favorite part of knowledge is learning about the black history but at the same time having fun and it's a great experience getting first place by last year elementary and shout out and shout out to my team for working hard to get first place very much student leaders for letting us know that that's part of the block 365 knowledge bowl and now it is time to award our team this trip. So when I call your school name if I can have the students as well as the coaches and the admin if you
007can come up front. We do have some papers up front watch and we're going to huddle all up front and we're going to call all four schools and be recognized. After that, if the board and executive cabinet, if you would like to take pictures with their team, you would appreciate. Right. So, we're going to first start with our school that competed with students anywhere from fourth through 8th grade. And so, our second place team from our middle school competition is Lava. Lava Love it. Thank you. Find a spot over here. Okay, real quick. Um, and then if you can just move over to the stairs over there, that would be great. And then our first place team who competed this time in the middle school competition, who won first place, Sunny Dell. That's basically And
008then you guys are going to stay because we're going to invite up our elementary school competition. ition. This was any school that participated with students fourth grade through sixth grade. And so our second place team in our elementary competition is Joshua Elementary. And our first place team from the elementary division is Mont Vista. Just one second for Miss and if there are any other scholars from that competed Paul, if you want to come down, June. Yes. Come on down. >> Oh, and as they return to the seas. And we do want to say thank you to the school board, Dr. Maretti, for continuing to support this every single year. And in exciting news, in May will be our first annual AsianAmerican Pacific Islander. Signed up, we're excited. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. uh
009Jamal School's uh support. You guys did an awesome job. Congratulations to all the students that participated. And uh thank you parents for all your support. All right, we'll give you guys a couple minutes in case you guys need to go get some ice cream or celebrate on the way. Okay. All right. The next item is information items enrollment report. Okay. which are now students 13,957 which is a loss at 13 last our homeless population is still 111 our foster is 305 and students who fosters 717 thank you very Next we have curriculum highlights Sierra Elementary School uh by principal Andre Jones, assistant and principal Cheryl Gayfield, music teacher Miss Vu, and students. and distinguished members of school board administrators and distinguished guests. truly an honor to stand before the dedicated leaders of the Lancaster School
010District. Thank you for this opportunity to share and present some of our highlights and student engagements. This is Miss Gayfield, our assistant principal. Before I begin, let me at least say once again, congratulations to Lola on the wonderful job you did on the pledge of allegiance. Some of our curriculum highlights and activities I'm going to talk about are SEAL which is our social emotional learning, our PBIS, our positive behavior incentives and supports, our walk tolearn counseling services that we have the learning center and our magnificent music. First, our SEAL. Our SEAL is a tiered one intervention where students may go when they're disregulated. It provides a safe structured environment for all our students to calm down and take a break, take a breather. Our runs groups and lessons for six to eight weeks. And depending
011on their progress, students may students may turn out of the program. Students are identified based upon the center of the data counselors and teacher referrals. If you look at the picture up in the upper right hand corner, that's those are students receiving a lesson with our success criteria and our learning intentions. And the one below it are students who are participating in a little activity called yoga. And as you can see the students are really having fun with. Next our positive behavior PBIS power. It is a proactive evidence-based framework designed to improve social emotional competence, academic success, student climate while reducing a lot of classroom disruptions and exclusionary disciplinary problems. Students can earn PBIS points and they can spend them in our Rudy store for dollars. Additional PBIS incentives through dojo points or digital Rudy
012points are given to students by classroom teachers and there's evidence of student positive positivity is measured based on how many points they can earn through good attendance participation and good citizenship. PBIS we off activities once per month and if you look at the pictures in the upper right hand corner those are some of our students that are participating in various activities one being painting. So they're they're painting and throughout the year they've done they've done ornaments for during the holiday season they participated in that. There is no better better joy than seeing our kinders participate in that. So that is really a great great pleasure. That's walk to learn. Walk to Learn is a group of students but wait a minute no one better can talk about our walk to learn than our very own
013Demani Gardner. The body particular Garner. >> Hi. Hi everybody. My name is Dear Marley Gardner. I'm fourth grade Sierra but Hi everybody. Um Hi everybody, my name is Cer. I'm a fourth grade. At first my struggle, I improve. I'm still working on my read, but my center helps me get in. specific needs. They walk and change classes within a specific block to receive assistance in reading using our six program. Students are identified using placement test and mastery assessments. Additional areas of placement include our I ready reading and holistically the child's score across all content areas. This includes test quizzes, cast questions, fabs or IABS. And we have so many acronyms. Those are our focused interim assessment blocks and our interim assessment blocks. Students walk to learn for approximately 8 to 12 weeks. Depending on lessons
014taught and master of those assignments, students may move from one group to another during those eight during that eightweek period. Also, there's evidence of learning through our I rating diagnostics, our mastery test or our SIS comprehension checks, benchmarks, teacher observations, and group work. Next is our learning center. We have a very very engaging learning center. And before I start talking about our learning center, no one better can talk about that than our very own Lola openings. >> Hi, my name is at Sierra. The learners has to help me to be better. The bridg has it easier to help me accomp students to receive tier three instructional support in reading, math, and small groupoup instruction with rotations that include our special education population. Students are tiered based on their IRA assessment data for the end of
015the year attendance and our SIP data. In our learning centers, students go four days per week and receive 35 minutes of support in math and 45 minutes support in ELA. Evidence of this learning includes writing samples, math checks, and progress reports. Teachers and parents are provided with quarterly progress of students who graduate from learning center acknowledged in our awards ceremony. If you look at the pictures u up to the right you will see that's our learning center and in action. Uh that is our upper learning center. You see that the students are in small groups and actually they caught a picture of me in there with with the hat on at the upper up there with the students. I know they learned something that day. uh that they they rotate around and inside the groups.
016I want to thank all my teachers for the learning center and thank you for the support. Would you please stand up please? If you are here to support, please stand up. Next are Sierra's music. Um, at Sierra, we have a wonderful music program and I want to just say thank you to all of our wonderful students for being here. Who else to talk about our music? and our very own Lana view and our Sierra 7. curiosity and encouragement. That's the second grade participated in the program and classes receive approximately 30 to 35 minutes of instruction per week. are previous performances or evidence of the students learning at which that was in December 2025 and the upcoming performance in March 2026. Thank you again. And that concludes some of our highlights here at Sierra. And on
017behalf of the entire staff of CDR Elementary School, I would like to say thank you and thank you very much. It's evident there's a lot of learning and fun going on at the school. And for all the students, we have a great announcement for you who participated tonight. We will be bringing backpacks to your school. for those students that participated tonight just for participating and presenting to our board. So, thank you so much students and parents. We really appreciate it. Great job. The next honor item we have um presentations, requests, proposals and reports. Second interim project. >> Good evening. Members, cabinet, executive cabinet, superintendent, and public. I'm here to present the 2526 second inter budget report for the Lancaster School District. So, the second interim assumptions, the LCFF cola statutory, I created this so we
018can see a comparison between the first interim cola and the second interim cola. Please keep in mind that the second cola is based on the January governor's budget proposal. Um as you can see the 2526 cola is approved. So that's not going to change during the year but the two sub subsequent years are subject to changes because they are projections and on the governor's budget we learned that the two subsequent years will be uh going down by 61 on the first uh subsequent year which is 2627 and by 36 on the third year out 2728. We also uh want to go over uh on the changes to stairs tempers. I also uh put the first interim and then the second interim so we can see the comparison when we build the budget and now where
019we're on the second interim which is the second financial reporting uh on the second interim um the sters and purs uh keep the same as uh when we build the budget because it's the the rates are approved as you can see the stirs are continue to project to plateau in 19.10% 10% and the reason why is because it takes voters action to change uh stars rates the burst rates are different uh they correlate to the market value in the interest rates that's why they project fluctuation and what they're saying on the uh what we learned in the January's budget is that the three subsequent years uh are projected to drop the first one by 0.5 the second one by 0.9 and the third one by 1.3 three. Like I said, this is subject to changes.
020What I like to discuss is with you and present to you is because this affects our multi-year projection and I'll go over with you. So the state revenues, uh, everything is in million dollars. Um, the state revenues are the restricted and the unrestricted all together, but I like to group them by ongoing revenues and one-time revenues. the ongoing revenues as you can see is the biggest bucket of our revenues which is $239.55 million. Um that's where you see the LCFF local control formula funding which is based concentration. Our big big funding for the state we also have a big funding which is ongoing which is ELOP the $24 million and as you can see all the list u equates to 239.55 that's ongoing. Now, we have the one-time revenues. We still have onetime revenues. And
021as you can see, the one that has the arrow is the student support and professional development. This is a grant that we received this year, $3.95 million. And we have four years to spend those dollars in professional development. We also have the learning recovery. It's a new grant. uh the learning recovery actually we received it first time when ESER funds were given to the districts and it was to address the recovery of the learning when ESR came when COVID uh happened um what happened is all the district received their funds they spend their funds and whoever didn't spend funds the state took those funds back and and redistribute we spend it all but so we're gaining $1.25 5 million for the district that didn't spend our total revenues uh for the state in uh dollars
022and million dollars is $255.7 million. Now the federal the federal uh the ongoing revenues are $13.57 million. These are categoricals. So all the titles the IDA which is special uh federal and the homeless grant. Uh and then we have the onetime revenues which is 85 million. of $850,000. Our total federal revenues budgeted for the second interim are $14.42 million. The local revenues also in millions for the district ongoing revenues are $15.62 million. Um why we have a big amount in the local revenues is because special ed goes through is considered local. So we have local special ed which is $12 million and the taxes are DA which is 3.62. So our ongoing revenues 15.62 the onetime revenues 11.82. Out of the one time revenues we have a new one uh cyber security grant for uh
023600,000 and we have interest for 1.08 uh million. So our total local revenues are 27.44 million. all revenue sources for uh the district in millions. So the state 25570, the to the federal 14.42, the local 27.44, all 2526 districts revenues are 297.56 million. Now we're going to go over the expenditures. The unrestricted expenditure, this is separated by restricted and unrestricted. And the unrestricted expenditures budgeted for the secretary for the Lancaster School District are 187.09 million. Out of that 82% is budgeted for salaries and benefits which equates $155.19 million. Out of that 78.24 million are certificated salaries, $30.10 10 million classified salaries and $46.85 million are benefits for both buckets for classified and certificated. Our supplies are 6.73 services 23.16 capital outlet 4.56 and outgo cost minus.2 2.55. So total unrestricted expenditures 187.09 million. Then we're
024going to go to the restricted. The restricted expenditures are $146.83 million. Out of that, 45% is for salaries and benefits, which equates 65.58 million, $23.70 million for certificated salaries, $21.88 million for classified salaries, and $20 million for benefits for both buckets as well for certificated and classified salaries. Then we have supplies for $22.47 million and services for $45.09 million. Capital alley $9.77 million and algo $3.92 million. Our total restricted expenditures budgeted for the second interior for the Lancaster School District are 146.83 million. I want to share this with you because this is where the dollars go and I love it. And we just saw right now the presentation the music performance. So now we're going to performances. We have competitions. We are implementing arts and music and it's exciting. So I wanted to put the
025the pictures for our students. And I have that one and I have this one too. Actually we have that student here in the room. If you can stand up please. Thank you. That's KO. Yes, she performed in the forico. She speaks perfect Spanish. Okay. So, all expenditures uh for the for the Lancaster school district budgeted for the second entry in millions are unrestricted 187.09 total restricted 146.83 83 all 2526 districts budgeted expenditures 333.92 wait Maria so the expenditures are 333.92 you said the revenues were what 297.56 so that means we have a deficit spending right why do we have a deficit spending well we have a deficit spending because we we are spending funds that we received in prior years we're liquidating several years at the same time. Okay. And I'll go over with you
026on the multi-year prediction. Okay. So, this is my baby. This is the multi-year projection. Uh the first year 2526 as we as we went over the revenues are 297.56 million. Our expenditures are $336.47 million. Uh our fund balances, the beginning fund balance, how we started the year, it was $138.40 million. We have a deficit spending of $38.91 million leaving us with an ending fund balance of $99.49 million on the first year. Out of those $99.49 million, the components of the ending fund balance are restricted 47.71. We have assignments. So we have a reserve for economic uncertainties of 30.999 million which equates to 9.21% 21% reserve on the first year. On the second year, our revenues dropped because the cola dropped on the January budget of the governor's January budget proposal. We learned that the cola
027was going to drop and I that's what I disclosed to you. So, the revenue is $287.22 million. Our expenditures for the middle year is 319 $319 million. Salaries and benefits are increased by uh stepping column. Uh and then we have the ending fund balance from prior year which becomes the beginning fund balance on the middle year $99.49 and we have a deficit spending again of $31.78 million. Ending fund balance now is 67.71 million. The components of the ending fund balance is restricted 33.94. Reserve for economic uncertainties 17.27. 27 million. Our reserve on the middle year is 5.41%. So we go to the third year out, the revenues are 293.38. The revenues are going up again because coal is projected to be going up again. Okay. Uh and then our expenditures are 319.72. We're controlling expenditures
028and just increasing salaries by step and column. our fund balances, our beginning fund balance for the third year out coming from the prior year ending fund balance 67.71. We're controlling our uh deficit spending now it's 26.34. Our new ending fund balance on the third year out 41.37 million components of the ending fund balance restricted 17.78 leaving us with a reserve for economic uncertainties of 12.09 09 million available reserve of 3.78%. So I'm happy to tell you that we are positive certification. The state required 3% due to our ADA to have as a reserve and we have 3.78%. Multi-year projection assumptions the cola that I went over with you for this year 2.30 next year 2.41 and then the third year out 3.0. 06 one-time revenues including carryover funds are included on the 2526 budget and
029earark for specific programs and initiatives. ADA average daily attendance is based on last year P2 and will be updated until we receive the new P2 for this year. The 2425 carryover and 2526 ELO carryover revenues and expenditures are budgeted. The 25 26 negotiated salaries increase for T unrepresented and um tal and unrepresented are included on the multi-year projection. Step and column increases are budgeted for 2526 and two subsequent years. CSCA salary increases will be included after AB1200 is approved. Questions please. I like question. I have a question about the attendance. So, it's based on last year's and uh so far it looks like this year's is just a little bit different from last year. So, are you anticipating it'll remain about the same? >> So, what we actually are doing uh with Mr. Coleman is
030we're revisiting the attendance process and the plan that we have on the fiscal stabilization to ensure that we capture everything to the max. And I'm not anticipating a big drop. questions. >> Good to see you. >> Just a quick understanding. So any recovery funds.25. >> Yes. So you're basically stating that you know we utilize the funds that we were given initially and as a bonus we were given additional funds put to work. >> Yes. Because we spend it all. We were one of the very few districts that spent all so we implemented new plans. Remember the learning uh lessons all those things that we have uh executive county plan with all the educators we spent all the funds. And so when they said spend your funds that you haven't spent I was like oops we
031don't have anything. So they send those back. So that's again for our district. Yes. >> Thank you. Anything else? Any other question? >> Thank you. >> All right. With that, we are now on to nutrition services program update and director of child nutrition services. >> I'm Debbie Campbelleria, the director of child nutrition. I'm proud to share with you some of the updates that we um have and with our kitchens every day. This year we've served um so far 600 or 862,000 breakfast. Our preschool we serve family style meals. In elementary school, we doice in the classroom. And our middle schools, we do a more traditional breakfast at the point of sale. Thus far, for lunch, we've served right over 1 million meals this school year so far. That's an increase of 22,000 during the same
032period last year. Our preschool, we can continue to do family style. for lunch. Elementary, we do offer versus serve, and we've added salad bars at middle schools and elementary sites that serve six through 8th grade. They've been um extremely popular at all the sites that we put them at. At the middle schools, we've introduced grab-and-go options, including specialty salads, deli boxes, and yogurt parfets, and we make our own granola, which is very popular. We continue to serve traditional hot lunch options at our all of our service windows. I would like to talk to you about some of the regulations that we have during lunch service. We have strict serving sizes of fruits and vegetables that we must offer. Even vegetables have subgroups naming specific varieties that we have to offer weekly. All grains must be
033whole grain ranch. We must serve at least eight ounces of meats and proteins throughout the week and we offer milk daily. We monitor daily calorie ranges. They have to be between 600 and 650 depending on the age. And we also monitor added sugar limits. One of the most challenging regulations that we have to deal with is sodium limits. middle schools sodium limit is 1,25 milligrams over the course of the week. I shared last meeting that I shared at um a quarter pounder with cheese from McDonald's has 520 calories and 1140 sodium milligrams of sodium in that one cheeseburger. Let that sink in for just a minute. So 520 calories for one burger and 1140 milligrams of sodium but we have to keep a limit of 1225 over the course of the whole week for everything
034that we serve. Let's talk about the budget for just a second. Child nutrition receives reimbursement from the state and federal government for each meal we serve. those funds um from our department pays for all CNS employees salaries and benefits, supplies, equipment, and the cost of food. We are charged with the task of keeping each lunch under $3.50 while meeting all the regulations. In 2024, the USDA announced that it would implement gradual changes in sugar limits. Our district made a conscious decision to serve savory options for breakfast, foregoing sweeter options and only serve white milk at breakfast, reducing calories and added sugars. In the same year, California passed a bill that banned artificial dyes in school food. And although this regulation does not need to be fully implemented until 2027, we began making changes right away
035and removed some of even our popular items off our menu. Our goal is simple to serve nutrition to serve nutritious meals to students that they actually want to eat. We serve a balance of scratch meals along with some popular packaged items. We know that food is subjective. So, we're looking for ways to involve students when we can. We recently taste tested some dumplings at Amarosa. They were a big hit. The kids love them. They're a little pricey, but we're going to include them and incorporate them into our cycle menu. Because we're managing our own commodities, we make conscious decisions to procure clean products when possible. Staying away from additives like soy and corn. When we had the option to procure 100% beef and chicken with no additives, we did. We were able to procure more
036whole muscle chicken to use for chicken strips and chicken patties. The kids love them and they can really tell the difference. However, we procure the whole bird. So that means that we have to use dark meat and white meat. Maybe by ordering corn dogs or chicken tenders that use the dark meat. It's kind of just like a balancing act. We're continually pushing forward to grow and evolve. Perhaps you've heard about the new dietary guidelines for Americans. This is the new dietary guideline. Um, eat real food is the basic gist of it. USDA is in the process of developing proposed rings of what that looks like in the child nutrition programs. While we don't have to make changes right now and maybe not even for a few years, we'll begin looking for ways to implement change.
037We've recently put together a committee of kitchen managers to create and implement new ideas from recipes, packaging, and how we serve meals and options that we have available within the guise of practicility. We're looking into getting ASB students involved so they can claim some ownership with menu choices. We want to implement mobile food carts at the middle schools for um before school breakfast as well as lunch service. I'd like to turn our kitchen a little bit towards food waste. I have to say our kitchens do a pretty good job overall with lunch by batch cooking to the need of the line. If there are any leftovers from our service line and our lunch and supper, we're able to incorporate them into serving them out as a choice the following day. Although we do not take
038food back once a student has taken it. The challenge is leftover food from breakfast in classroom. We were very thoughtful with what we put on our breakfast menu. We use shelf stable products such as milk, juice, and fruit that is easily incorporated back into future meals. As a way to prevent waste, we've cut back on how many main entries we send to the classrooms. For instance, although there are 30 or more students may be in a class, we purposefully do not send 30 breakfast sandwiches, for example. If more are needed, we're happy to bring them to the um classroom to meet the need. We're also in touch with a local nonprofit organization that can pick up and distribute to those in need. Our intention is to create a partnership with them and officially bring the
039contract to board in the coming weeks. That's it. Anybody have questions? Yeah, I had a question. Um, since uh we've uh separated from a co-op, >> how has that helped improve the services? >> I think that it's given us the opportunity to procure different um different product, more whole product without all the additives. um when we can do that. We procure been able to procure our um hamburgers that we serve are 100% um beef. They don't have any additional additives in them and the chicken like I've talked about. I feel like it's given us more um choices and flexibility of what we do and how what the items that we can I know people are really excited about the choices that will be offered to Dwayne. Did you have sh? >> Yeah. Good. Good evening,
040Debbie. How are you? >> I'm good. >> My question regards the uh food waste and I'm glad to see you making some strides by not sending out to each classroom. 12 34 breakfasts if there's 34 students, >> right? >> Um is that program the breakfast in the classrooms worth the waste that we are seeing? or should we revert back to the students coming to the cafeteria in the morning and choosing what they want? >> I feel that's a great question and maybe an um overall um answer for the district. I feel like it gives opportunity for every student to have access to a meal. If um if we go back to the traditional way of serving the waste, but have we accomplished having giving access to students who maybe get to school right when the
041bell rings, not for any fault of their own. maybe their parent was running late or maybe um maybe they just have ride issues or walking to school things that are not in their control. I think that it gives the opportunity for all students to have access no matter what the reason is our participation has significantly increased since breakfast in the classroom. And I would think I'm not directly in the classroom to know the ramifications of students that don't have breakfast versus students that do have breakfast, but I know that I'm much happier if my stomach's not growling. So, I would think that a student can learn more um and be more actively engaged with a full belly. Are we uh adhering to the city's I know the city has waste trash cans and that have
042we had to change our we are mandated to um to yes um to use the what are they the organic waste on trash cans. We're trying to um forego a lot of that with um partnering with a local nonprofit um that will come and pick up the packaged items that we can give them so that it's not going. >> Thank you. One other question is there is no returning back to the top items that have been delivered in the classroom. Is that correct? >> We've made um a decision not to take um cooked items back and to reserve them. We take back the items that the students don't take out of the bags. We can reuse the shelf stable product that we give them, but we've made a decision if it's been cooked not to
043um take it back into our inventory. You can do it. We made the decision as um a department not to do that. >> Can the distributed? >> They cannot. >> I didn't think so. Thank you for uh letting me know that um he actually has had to ask a lot of the questions that I had and one was mainly about what was taking place initially. So, um I saw your slide talking about partnering up some organizations and that's basically meaning that the food that we have left over that would go to these organizations is going to waste. >> Yes. Correct. >> And then um the other question I had is about the consistency of the food that's um served from campus to campus. you know, um are the meals basically the same? Do they differ?
044Um >> there's basically the same there's different menus for middle school and elementary school. A lot of it's the same, but some of it is different. Is that your question? Did I >> Yeah, just trying to because I I saw, you know, I've never I go I get out to some of the campuses some of the time and I just look at some of the things that come across the plate. So I was just a little curious on how that quality control is for each of our campuses in all of the students ensuring that it's subtly free and >> so the that is our goal really is our goal. Um it's my heart that um we serve quality food at every site no matter what site it is. Okay. And um there are more choices
045being offered at the middle school um level. Middle schoolers don't during lunch they don't typically some of them don't want to wait in line or they would rather talk with their friends than um come and eat. And so that's why we are thinking of ways to take the food to them with maybe a mobile cart go out to the quad where they are and would they engage in the meal that way instead of coming into the cafeteria. So, we're looking for ways to um to reach more middle school students. The elementary school is set up a little bit all the students comes to the line where the middle school isn't that it's a greater you already one more. >> Okay. Um, when I was in school long time ago, couple years anyway, we had mashed
046potatoes and gravy. Is that served in the schools any longer? >> Well, we don't peel our own potatoes, but we do potatoes and gravy. >> I was part of detention. Now, we did that and you know what? That was probably the biggest hit in the cafeteria. But now I understand and according to my grandson, the salad bar is the biggest hit in the schools. >> It is a It is a big hit. In fact, we've purchased an additional salad bar for all the all the middle schools have two salad bars. So, if we need to open that second one. >> Good job. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next we have individual action items business action resolution approving the committed fund balance fiscal year 202526 CI 2000 motion second discussion all in favor. I
047>> opposed. Motion carries 4 Z. Next item 14 items, human resources, approval of declaration of need for fully qualified educators. A motion second by Mr. L. Any discussion? Is this a year early? >> Yes. Yes. This allows us to use teachers with emergency credentials to fill positions we haven't been able to do. All in favor? >> I post motion carries 40. Item 15 addressing the board. Individuals who wish to address the board may complete a speaker card and present it once any supporting documents attendance assistant official to the start of the meeting. Personal information such as a student, parent, guardian's name, address, phone number, birth, email address, or other directory information as defined code or 9061 may be excluded from the minutes of the meeting by subitting a written request to the superintendent. Board President
048shall recognize individuals who wish to speak, individuals wishing to present testimony to the board concerning specific items on the agenda. So once the item has been moved, seconded, it's on the floor for discussion. Limits of three minutes per person and 20 minutes per item shall be allowed according to board bylaws 922. And board members may ask questions for clarification purposes. However, no action may be taken and no discussion may take place on item not on the posted agenda for the Brown. It's from GTA GSCA. Good evening. So, last time I came out, I went to share some positive things that I saw at Pyute and then immediately I put a jinx on them. So, I'm going to temper my comments. like to come out and tell you guys some good things that I'm seeing. Um
049I've visited I don't know probably 10 sites in the last week. Uh Jack Northrup looks particularly good. Really really nice um feeling when you go on campus. I don't know if you guys know what I mean, but sometimes you walk on and it's a little tense and and then other times it's really nice and calm and the kids look like they're doing great. And I've seen that at quite a few sites. And uh in particular, like I said, I want to give a shout out to Jack Northbrook and hopefully tomorrow hasn't, you know, expos. Um I also wanted to just talk for a minute about some of the PDs, professional development opportunities been provided for uh certificated and classified staff. um particularly uh some of the CTA uh PD that I've been able to partner
050with um with our joint equity team to bring in. We've gotten a lot of really positive response um from employees on those. So happy to hear that we're going to continue those and even extend the time on some of them. And then also I've attended two of the Saturday uh integrated arts professional development days and they've been absolutely fabulous. So I want to encourage as long as we have the Prop 28 money that we continue to do that because not only is it an amazing opportunity for teachers to kind of gain the skills within integrating arts into curriculum. It's also a really nice kind of positive calm day for teachers to get out there and practice some art. So, uh I encourage you if you haven't been out maybe to pop in uh I don't
051know when the next one is actually, but you'll see it uh pop up. You know what? I'll I'll send it out to you guys by find the date for the next one. Jod Luna and Gina Walsh, two of our former TOAL members, are heading that up and teaching those classes along with some other people. And it's it's been amazing. Just really wellreceived. I've gotten more positive comments from members than pretty much anything else. So, just wanted to make you all aware of that and to say thank you. Have a good evening. >> Thank you. Okay, next we have comments from the audience. This comes from uh some board I was doing I wanted to speak today because I don't I don't feel safe at school and there's a lot of fights that have been happening.
052Sometimes they have to be in a place where there there aren't enough adults to watch or eggs. um expert students. When that keeps happening, it starts to make students feel like there's no school supposed to be a place. It's really hard to focus when you're worrying about when when you're worried about when you're worried about yourself and your friends need to. It's hard. It's hard when you're seeing staff who are struggle to to or get hurt while trying to break up. Adults say they care about student safety. So the parents speak up or ask for help safety. Parents ask for help about safety. Something serious is already happening. Changing policy language about parent groups does not make students feel safer. Adding training does not stop fights. What makes us feel safer is real action, proper
053consequences, removing threats from campuses, but also listening to students and knowing that when something serious happens, it's taken seriously. When students see the same problems happening again and again starts to feel like changing and that makes us feel like our voices don't matter. I'm not here to attack. I just want people to feel safe. I want to be able to walk through campus without wearing lights. I want adults to step in before things get out of control. Students notice when problems are minimized. Notice when things are rushing off, they also notice when you uh >> Hi, my name is speak about On my safety, she experienced a fight. On February 24th, I was assaulted by another student inside the classroom. During this incident, she repeatedly pushed me, called me names, and punched me in my
054body. I did not respond physically or I did not fight back. I tried to avoid this the situation completely. What makes this more concerning is that the incident to the prior to the assault, my friend had already informed the vice principal that I was receiving. He specifically asked if I could be escorted into class to ensure my safe. We were told that the situation would be heard, but no preventative action was taken. After the February for the fall, I reported immediately. The only action I was taken was to stay away from school. However, this was not the first time the student had assaulted me. Last school year, she threw my head into the corner of the club. The only consequence at that time was the suspension and the harassment continued until this day. Since then,
055I will continued to receive threats and intimidating comments. When I reported these concerns, I was told that it was not that big a video and that the administration was too busy. That response made me feel unheard and unprotected. Just recently, the same student repeatedly said to me, "I thought it was on site." I ignored her. She told my friends that she wanted to find me. After school, she waited outside pacing and preparing for a confrontation. I am sharing this not to create drama but to raise a serious concern about student safety. I have followed the proper steps. I reported the threat before the assault. I reported the assault after it happened. I reported continuing crimes. Yet I still do not feel safe on campus. Schools are responsible for providing a safe learning environment when repeated
056deaths and physical assaults are reported. Preventative meth should be taken should be taken before someone gets hurt. A stayway contract alone has not been effective in the situation. I ask the board to review how ongoing threats and repeated assaults are handled especially when they are reported ahead of time. No student should have to feel anxious walking the class or leaving school because previous warnings were the I want to feel safe at school. I want to focus on my education not whether someone is waiting to fight me. I hope by speaking tonight your actions will be taken. So situations like this before they ask. Thank you. Next person is Natasha Dan Dan. My name is Natasha Dan and I'm a parent in this district. I'm here because the recent restructuring of parent advisory language does not
057strengthen student safety or parental voices. It weakens it. Parents in the district have been speaking about real concerns including fights on campus, lack of of supervision, staff misconduct, or what feels like a pattern of minimized accountability from administration. These are not political issues. These are safety issues. When parents raise safety concerns, the response should be transparency and structural improvement, not procedural shifts that make parent participation more control. Moving advisory committee language into board policy while simultaneously increasing district-led training for parents changes the balance of power. It reframes parent involvment from advising and holding systems accountable to being guided and managed. Parents are not asking to be trained on how to support the district. We are asking for the district to demonstrate that it can and protect it can support and protect our children. This update
058does not address supervision gaps. It does not address repeated fights. It does not clarify consequences for staff or student misconduct and it does not create stronger accountability mechanisms for administrators. Instead, it restructures how parents participate. When parent voices become more structured and filtered, it limits the very feedback systems that threat protect students. True engagement is not controlled engagement. It is transparent, responsive, and accountable. If safety concerns are being raised consistently, the solution should be clear safety plans, increased supervision, written accountability measures, public updates on corrective actions, not language adjustments that shift advisory authority. Parents are partners in this district, not obstacles. And when multiple families are expressing the same concerns, that signals a systemic issue, not isolated frustration. We are not here to attack. We are here to protect our children. We ask for transparency.
059We ask for accountability and we ask that parent advisory structures remain strong, independent, and meaningful, not symbolic. Thank you. Um, the next person is Rosalyn. >> Good evening. My name is Rosen Gour. I'm a parent. I'm asking for and protection for all students. Last week in Los Angeles County, a 12-year-old by the name of Kimberly Zolith died after being assaulted at school while trying to defend her younger sister from bullying. What began as peer conflict escalated into fatal injury. This was preventable. Her story is not distant from students in the district, including my own daughter. As I stated on February 17th, my son and daughter um safety concerns began in 2023 at Desert View Elementary School due to bullying. On February 6th, Selena was assaulted by multiple students at Py Elementary, but I informed him
060as well as that I would be able to be taking her to the emergency room. I was told that her injuries were not serious enough to warrant a hospital visit. She had been assaulted by six students. No one was expelled. No one was suspended or given any detention. One of the detctors called her that same night bragging about smashing her hair out and kicking her in the head. After I spoke at the board meeting on February 17th, only after that meeting, Selia was provided an escort for her safety. But escorts are not a solution when the problem is overwhelming and there aren't enough escorts for bully children. and why aren't the bullies being um after I spoke out instead of empathy and protection, she now feels like she's a pest amongst duty aids and staff
061members. Um our child was labeled as dangerous by a duty of the name of R.J. while escorting her. And vice principal Hunter also done my job with that. She needed to be good for three weeks before she could transfer out of one of her classes from bands to leadership. Um, my daughter is falling behind due to the hostile environment and my daughter is not dangerous and she's not bad. Ignoring threats and allowing violence to escalate is bad and dangerous. What happened to Kimberly was horrific and it was preventable. No parent should have to wait for irreversible harm before action is taken. You do not wait for another child to die before effective protection is put in place. Thank you. >> Thank you. black person in this anymore. Good evening. It's actually Raquel Derler. So, good
062evening, superintendent and trustees. I'm Raquel Derler. I'm the campaign coordinator with cancel the contract. I'm here tonight to share with this for concerns I have around disinformation being shared with a parent of a student with a disability by district staff whose responsibility it is to improve outcomes for students with disabilities and to facilitate IEP compliance. I recently sat with a parent in this school district to provide support during an IEP meeting she had with the team. Everything was progressing fairly well until we reached the end of the meeting. At that moment, a member of the school staff asked if they could say something. The individual went on then to ask the parent who was seeking to update their child's IEP before they entered high school if they knew the difference between students with IEPs actually
063graduating and students getting a piece of paper saying they participated in high school. The employee went on to tell the parent that with an IEP, the student would get a piece of paper basically saying they participated in high school. This statement being portrayed as fact to the parent was patently false. In California, students with IEPs have four pathways to graduate high school. They can earn a certificate of completion. They can take and pass the California alternative assessment. They can achieve a diploma with a waiver or I feel like my microphone is cutting out there. Or they can graduate with a standard high school diploma. Let me stress the certificate of completion is for students who have the most severe cognitive impairments. The student in question was attributed with having an above average intelligent by all
064the teachers who were present for this IEP meeting. As an advocate for parents and students, it was alarming to hear what was clearly an attempt by a member of the IEP team to dissuade the parent from seeking an update to their IEP when the child had been diagnosed with one of the 13 eligibilities identified in the Individuals with Disabilities Act. This latest incident is another example to add to the parent testimonies we have heard about with this district not adequately supporting students with disabilities and a culture of dissuading parents from seeking IEPs for their children. I want this board to understand that the district has a legal obligation to educate all of its students regardless of race, sex, gender, or disability. And you as board members must educate yourself on the federal and state laws
065that govern these areas. Thank you. Thank you. >> And that brings us to item 16, consent agenda items. Superintendent 16 to 16 C. We have a motion. Second by Mr. W. Any discussion? All in favor? Motions carried 4 Z. So we have item 17 consent consent agenda items business items 17 A 17 F. Stson discussion. Yeah, I would like to uh say on the purchase order report 14 that our supplying the instruments for the band for the schools for the students who need them at each and every school that has its concert band or a band. The district supports that and supplies those instruments. Just in case you didn't know, our middle schools have outstanding band and music programs and uh I know our kids really enjoyed those and fantastic uh education for those kids
066that take advantage of it. See Any further discussion that all in favor? Opposed? Motion carries 4 Z. Item 18, consent agenda items services items 8G. Second discussion. I had a question on the um agreement with how does that program work? This is student and it's the case coverage. Okay. So it's like for legal obligation. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> I opposed. Motions carry 4 Z. Item 19, consent agenda items, human resources services items 198 and 19. Motion, Mr. W. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion carries. 4 Z. Okay. Next item 20, legislative and policy discussion. Any uh discussion on any of the policy Do you have any update on this brings us to what's from the board and superintendent and um we'll start with Charles must have and history represent uh black college
067which I had a lot of opportunity to attend this year as I have in this bill I see the kids who uh have absolutely no clue whether they won or lost even though they think they do. I think it's all surprising. I think the biggest surprise this year for me was Joshua winning second place was kids were in tears thinking that they didn't place at all. So it was amazing that they were able to come to this place. Congratulations on all participated whether they came in first place, second place or you know not first place they still did exceptionally well. Um thank you very much Mr. Jones and your staff for the pre presentation that um brought forth. It was a really good um presentation. I like what you're doing. I haven't had opportunity to
068get over there. So, I guess that'll be what I do next week. Um as well as the kids that got up and perform their music for you, which is really cute. I've never seen that done. Um thank you very much Debbie for coming out. I had a lot of questions. I'll probably still call you come over and see some things. I haven't got an opportunity to see the salad bars yet. Very interested to get out to see what that looks like. Thank you very much for coming in to um give us that breakdown department. Now moving right along to um Gina, thank you for coming in and show us you giving us an update and letting us know that the trainings are working out well. Appreciate that feedback. Maria Auchel got it. Great job on
069your report. I always appreciate what you do for this district. There's no no way for people to know your value, but I truly truly appreciate. Um, other than that, thank you speakers for coming out and voice your opinions. We appreciate that. Oh, one more thing. Hip bingo. March 11th. Be there. You haven't gone there yet, you need to come there. We're gonna It's going to be a great night. I hope to see you. Going to be a part. Oh, yes. And it's going to be catered. So, it's free food, free fun, free food, family night. Don't have to cook. Doesn't get any better than that. And it's right here at Park. Thank you, Mr. Well, thank you for the attendance report, Charles. It's uh sad to see us fly through the April next year. understand
070that it happens. It's okay. Black Knowledge Bowl. My hats off to Jamal Brown for his work putting this on at not only Lancaster's district, Palmdale High School, and other areas around the country. He travels as much as I used to. He's got pictures from all over the world that of places he and he's just one amazing individual. Thank you, Debbie. Thank you for all your answers. I know that. When it comes to waste, I just hate to see it. And I just wish there was some way that we can uh keep that food in circulation for others even through the giveaway program. Take such uh pride in putting on and being out there. Um, beyond that, Sierra did a great job. Their music program is fantastic and uh I'm just happy to see parents come
071in give us their feedback on their students on the schools and I'm hoping that from that we will uh have our triple uh safety individ go to them and make sure that things are uh same with the IEP and and all of those. I hope we're doing a I know we are doing a fantastic job. So, thank you all very much. I'd like to see more teachers hired. I asked Mike last time, I says, "Are you gonna set up a table at Westside School District when they do their uh job fair?" He said, "No, we can't do that." But we are uh we are hiring quite a few individuals and that's good to see. And I don't know if anybody uh anybody knows that we have somebody leaving our district very soon. Art Hoffman, he
072will be leaving unfortunately. We will be hiring him. I really like BART did a great job for the district and continues until the end of the school year. So, thank you, Mr. Win. By the time you get it's already been said twice, but uh I just I guess one more time I'll give my congratulations to the black college poll winners. They look like they had a good time and all enjoyed this photo op with the trophies. Thanks again to Sierra for their presentation and I love the music. I saw them play the buckets one time. I think it was in front of Elpac. They were playing the buckets. I thought they were going to buckets. But they have like a little tube they play which looks like it'd be fun to chase your brother around
073and you know make make the sound while you're running around house but yeah it looked a pretty fun instrument. Thanks for Maria for the budget report. It's always good to see us that we're on track. Thanks for the update. And my one daughter that goes to Miller says she really likes salad bar who's there. She's about the 50th person in the world. So, well, I got an invite an invite for this weekend. It's advanced force competition. I think it's at Lancaster High. Got to get over there to that just to that program. I think there's two different ones. I think it's four through six and yeah, there's a couple of them. Anyway, so anybody wants to get over there to that, I'm sure they'd love to have some extra support for the dance force competition
074group. Gina, thanks for your foot. Thanks parents for coming in and telling us what's going on over you and hopefully we can get out with that uh coming up on spring break spring break before you know it and uh we'll read off but uh not yet. So everybody uh everybody keep their head down and get the homework done and to do. So kids are starting to slack off. So I'm assuming it's probably universal. my kids don't want to do their work anymore. But uh hopefully that's not anyway. Thank you. And Dr. just want to acknowledge um all the great work we're doing here at Lancaster School District. I want to acknowledge Rose um YSM welcome center who did a few a food distribution last week. our families, our homeless families, our foster families, and our
075children in need. And I can't say much of uh more about the work they do for our community, food distributions, code giveaways, Christmas giveaways, our food. Um because we are um in part partnership with our community and working towards positiveness in our community. want to acknowledge our our um child nutrition services feed our children. Sometimes the food they feed them breakfast, lunch and supper is the only meals they have. We know when we go on on breaks, you know, our students are going to go hungry. Um breakfast in the classroom has been in has has been around for decades. Every single study shows that children are fed. they have food in their bellies and they learn better. Um, so if we have to throw some food away, hopefully we don't, but hopefully we can find
076people that can take that food, but um, it's a it's a very worthwhile cause. I want to thank Sierra and the work they're doing there with our children. We saw great work from the music teacher and administrators for working hard here in Lancaster School District. For our families with concerns, we're here to help. And we're not here to help on Tuesday nights at six o'clock. We're to help every single day. Um, and that's done through phone calls. That's done through meetings. That's done through home visits. I know we're doing those home visits. I knew we're doing those phone calls. And sometimes because of the challenges our families has, um, they they can't for whatever reason, they can't respond. But we're going to keep fighting. We're going to keep reaching out. We're going to keep communicating.
077One of the concerns I do have from the comments I heard this evening, I heard things like remove students, expel students. We throw children away. Having been um a director of court and community school, I've seen firsthand what a school of prison pipeline looks like. I've seen students who've been expelled uh enter into the juveninal justice system. And so, um, some of those children who are, uh, having behaviors, uh, that inappropriate need us just as much as, uh, other children who are doing well need us. That's not to say their behavior is excused. That's not to say it should not be addressed, but it is to say they are human beings that need help, and we're here to help all of our children. We support all 14,000 children. And so I just wanted to say
078that um for those of you in the Lancaster School District who are engaged in the work, don't be discouraged by words for critics. You make a difference every single day in children's lives. You are appreciated and valued and the difference you make in children's lives is important. It would be wonderful if if more people came to uh us seeking solutions um and joining us. We have advisories. I have a um uh superintendent advisory. Um we have our tripleas. We have many many outlets for parents to have voices and community members have voices. And I'm hoping that people will engage with us as a community and work towards solving our problems because the problems we have in our school district reflect the problems that our community has. To think that somehow the issues that our community
079is engaged in magically disappear at the gates of our school is not is is a fantasy. We are dealing with the same issues that our community deals with. We do an outstanding job. We work hard every day and we work tirelessly on that. Um so I just want to thank everybody in this room and everybody listening for the work they do and um we're going to keep working so all of our ch children are safe in schools. Thank you. Great uh board meeting tonight. Great presentations. Um Felicia, Casey, and Jamal Brown. Again, a fantastic season. Um if you ever been to one of those, it's amazing all that those kids learn and um the excitement they bring, you know, to this those uh knowledge bowls uh is really good. It's neat to see that they're
080expanding, too. other uh uh bowls in our schools and and so forth. So, thank you so much for continuing to bring that back. We really love that. Also, um great with program with Sierra and I was a graduate of Sierra School. So, I love that school and I remember uh walking there in kindergarten and going through I remember a lot of my favorite teachers from Sierra School. So, it's neat to see all the things that they're doing still and uh that was a great presentation to me. Um, also the budget report. Uh, thank you. Very informative. And, uh, we also love the page where you show us what it's all for. Yeah. So, all those different programs that we're bringing to our schools. It's neat to see, too, that you spent all the money and
081you got rewarded with more money. So, hey, that's the way it should work. So, I'm glad to see we're doing that. Um, also, uh, the child nutrition services, uh, thank you for that update and, uh, we hear a lot of positive like with the salad bars and all that. So, thank you so much for continuing to expand that beyond and working with it. With that, uh, we are going to end our meeting at 46. We have a motion. >> So moved >> by Mr. Wayne. >> Second child. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries 4 Z. Good night everyone.