001open session and it's 603 and there will no action to report in close session with that. We'll start with the pledge of allegiance led by Miller 7th grade student Lilia. This meeting is being transcribed and summarized. Good evening everyone. My name is Olivia Gentlemen. I am a seventh grader at Miller Elementary. And now now everyone stand up. Place your right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. And that brings us to recognition of inclusion journey. Rosemary Napoleon Aela director Thank you so much. Good evening, Lancaster School District Board, executive cabinet, staff, and community. My name is Rosemary Napoleon.
002I am the Analo Valley Sula Program Administrator. I come tonight to celebrate all of you and your hard work for the students with disabilities in the Lancaster School District. Over the past several years, Lancaster School District has engaged in a deliberate and strategic shift toward inclusive practices for students with disabilities. The journey has been about not implementing a single program. It has been about aligning beliefs, systems, and instructional models. In 2018 to 2019, only 43% of students with disabilities were in general education, 80% or more of the school day. Research consistently shows that increased time in general education correlates with improvement in academic academic outcomes for students with disabilities. The special education department back then that included Beverly Shoemaker, Christine Boule, Myra Nunees, Angie Science, Valencia Rachel Holmes founded this work in four beliefs in
003the special education department believe that all students were general education students first. Special education is a service, not a place. We are part of multi-ter systems of support and all means. Lancaster school district transitioned away from segregated specialty models in some of the target targeted schools and in this they open learning centers provided specialized academic instruction in a push and model co-eing model and tiered academic and behavior systems. Lancaster School District began with pilot schools including Nancy Corey Elementary where inclusion increased by 9.3% the first year with a commitment of their leader David Denny. At Sunnydale the district with the leadership of Dr. Wood closed all my moderate special day classes and implemented learning centers. This allowed all students to return to the home their home schools which is what their goal is. Sierra Elementary
004with the vision of Rebecca McConnell transport specialized academic instruction by becoming one of our first in full inclusion elementary schools. All students began their education in general education. They launched learning and they launched the social emotional learning center to support the whole child fostering a sense of belonging. Dr. Fountain was also committed to the Lancaster School District's earliest learners beginning in 2023. The district committed to inclusive entry points in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and preschool. Inclusion was not the goal, but the starting point. An open and honest focused dialogue focused on student needs was established with Gina Whipple, the child president. She never hesitated to call or email to support teachers in how inclusion works in our schools. Throughout this process, conversations remained student centered and the district strategic plan under the leadership of Dr. Maretti
005continue to guide Lancaster toward equity and inclusion. And your work continues with ed services implementing learning centers districtwide. And these include departments such as curriculum and instruction, climate and culture with Kim Cochran, curriculum with Christa Thompson, multilingual learners with Sydney Queen, equity with Alicia Casey, even the LCAP with Dr. Wood, and of course their leader Bart Hoffman. Over the past several years, inclusion rates defined as students are spending more time in 80% or more. In 2019 it was 43% and within five years it rose up to 68%. The growth represents real access opportunity and real belonging for students. The academic results are equally encouraging as in 2025 which I was so proud to see your test results. 64% of students with disability improved in English language arts. 59% improved in mathematics. Students with disabilities were
006no longer in the red on the California dashboard and the district has exited students with disabilities in differentiated assistance which is probably the only district comparable to you in the Analopee Valley who has done this. These outcomes are not accidental. They align with statewide research showing that when students with disabilities have access to general education, measurable outcome both follows. While we celebrate the progress, the work continues. The data reflects goals, the growth. But Lancaster School District's commitment goes beyond numbers. Your work ensures that every student belongs, has access to rigorous instruction, receives appropriate support, and achieves measurable outcomes. And the Lancaster School District has demonstrated this that when barriers are removed, students rise. as your AB software director. I thank you for your leadership and this important work that you continue to do. Congratulations. Thank
007you very much for recognizing our district for all the hard work in this area. And um we want to congratulate all the teachers and staff and uh uh school personnel that are uh helping to bring this about. So great great job. It's great to see those results. Uh next we have our enrollment group. Yes. Total UTK through 8th grade 13,61 currently learning department non GTK 351 a total of 13,952 students which is a gain of 43 from my last group out of that 13,952,195 homeless 101 foster and 725 related armed forces. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have our curriculum highlights with Miller school Miller uh staff and students. Thank you so much for having us trustees and members of cabinet as well as members visiting us tonight. We are happy to be here and
008with us I have brought Mr. Mercia and his fabulous choir. I know that everyone is here for the kids and I will share some words with us after but we are um here for you guys. You're the reason we all want to be here. They are a little nervous but well prepared and they have some wonderful presentations for you. Keep a fantastic music teacher. We are so grateful to have his wonderful artistic abilities at our school. So what I want to just briefly talk I promise I I know that we have a short period of time so I won't talk long but I do just want to briefly touch on um just the magic of the K8 experience. And so I was blessed to get to enter into Miller its first year going full K8
009and adding that eighth grade year. It had been a long long time since I'd had the middle school students um way past my years at Pyth. So I did have to do a little adapting back into remembering what adolescence were like in those sixth through eighth grade years. But as I'm readjusting, I am remembering how much I love those years and how much I enjoy working with our middle school students. And when you want to click Yes. Okay, we just have the wrong presentation. >> Sorry. the K8 experience. And I know Dr. Marietti um has helped lead this charge in our district, but it truly is magical. And most of you know that not only am I um a leader and a principal in our district, but I'm also a parent of students in our
010district. And I have gotten the opportunity to bring my students, my personal children with me. And I have a little one that's experiencing the elementary wonderful experience at Miller. and I have one that'll be getting ready to go into our middle school experience. And what you'll find at the K8 experience is stability and continuity for our families. They don't have to switch from the teachers, the staff, the environment, the culture that they know. They don't have to take their students to two different schools. It's a family from the time the students are in kindergarten to the time they're in eighth grade. It's the same office lady that helps them with their attendance concerns. It's the same third grade teacher that greets them at the gate in the morning. It's the same campus supervisor that takes
011the concern phone calls when a bruise comes unexpected at home. And that family carries through from the child's experience in kindergarten through 8th grade. And we do have so many students who've been at Miller all the way from kindergarten to 8th grade. And it truly is that family experience. those family connections and engagement. The relationships that are built between the staff and the families are phenomenal because we carry our students with us for year after year after year. In addition, we have enhanced leadership opportunities for our students. One of the most precious moments that you'll see is a seventh grade student bending over and tying the shoe of a first grade student as you walk along our campus. And it's just so wonderful to see how our ASB students will plan a October fall festival
012or a Valentine's Day treat for the little ones during recess or lunch because they want to plan those fun activities for the little ones on our campus. [snorts] And what we're seeing is improve behavior and school climate. So, at Miller, our goal is to build an art and media academy. And so, just where we're at right now. Struggling with this clicker. All right. So, we've dabbled in the visual arts. We have some teachers that are working with that. We work predominantly with Luna Arts and Ed to work on the visual arts component. Um we use watercolor, pencils, clay, pastels and we start that work in kindergarten integrated with the curriculum in our social emotional learning curriculum. We use a lot of um different mediums from the time the kids are young. And our goal is
013that by the time our students make it to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade where they actually have a designated art period with our full-time art teacher, they've established some of those visual arts skills so that their experience in the art class in the middle school years is enhanced because they've established those skills and they're bringing them with them to that art class in middle school. So you can see the little clay. We'll do modeling. We also offer a dance program through dance moves which is a program that I launched when I was at Sierra when we contracted with the local um dance studio with the help of um ELOP and working that program. We brought that over to Miller as well and we are lucky enough to have the assistance of ELOP who is an
014amazing support with this program and so we have the opportunity for students to take professional dance classes after school free of charge and so they can experience that as well as our full-time music teacher who you got to see. And so that begs the question, what is next? And our next adventure is we are working with Lancaster High School to have a program that metriculates to the high school in the media arts. And so we'll be working with Lancaster to identify some base level skills that our students can carry with them when they metriculate to Lancaster High School that will help set them up for success in their media arts program in the high school. And so Alicia Casey has been working closely with that with us with that and we are looking forward to
015enh enhancing our art and media program and adding the media arts component next Yeah. >> Thank you very much. And don't go too far. we have some uh awards or prizes for the students that participated this evening. So if they could uh come back up to the All right. Not easy. Okay, thank you again, Miller, for uh sharing with us uh your vision for your school and uh it's neat to see all the programs that you're planning and implementing over there. And uh thank you very much and uh we really appreciate that. And again, great job with the choir. Uh you guys did fantastic. Okay. Uh that brings us to our next presentation uh school counseling program highlights. Good evening everyone and thank you so much for having us here this evening. We are super
016excited for our counselors and for our coordinator of mental health services, Mrs. Trish Wilson to present to you the highlights of the work of our counseling program. Mrs. Wilson. Um I'm Trish Wilson. I'm the coordinator of mental health for the Lancaster School District and I am privileged to oversee the counseling program in our district. Um tonight we are going to be sharing u the important work that our counselors do. And before we start the presentation, I would just like to recognize the counselors. If you could stand up in February and um and I just want to recognize the the hard work that they do and the professionals that that we have um as our school counselors. So, thank you. Um, I would like to introduce Christian Liver to start off the presentation. >> Thank you
017so much, Chris. All right. So, good evening, president, board members, superintendent, and the members [clears throat] of our community. My name is Christian Liers and I'm the school counselor at Jack Northrup and I am honored to speak on behalf of our school counseling department. Before I talk about what we do, I want to begin with a moment of gratitude. First week of February was National School Counseling Week and across our district, counselors felt genuinely seen and appreciated. I was reminded that the work we do is not done in isolation. is done alongside incredible educators and staff who show up for students every single day. Districtwide, our counseling department is made up of 30 school counselors and one counselor on special assignment who focuses on attendance. All school counselors hold a master's degree in their personnel
018services credential reflecting the level of training required to support students academics, social, emotional, and postsecary success. Currently, our ST school district student to counselor ratio is 426 students to one counselor. Despite this, our counselors provide comprehensive support across tier one, tier 2, and tier three services from classroom lessons and prevention work to small groups, crisis response, and individualized student support. As many of you know, our district serves the highest concentration of foster youth in the state of California. Because of this, our foster youth receive targeted and intentional support from our school counselors who work to ensure stability, advocacy, and access to resources, often serving as one of the most consistent adults in the student's life. >> Good evening everybody. Um I'm Jessica and I'm the school counselor at Linda Vente. So I'm going to talk
019a little bit about what a program is. So, um, Lancaster School District, as a counselor, I can say is a great place to work because we don't just simply show up to work as counselors and kind of let the day take us as it may every single day. We have what is a program and so program is intentional and it is data driven. We follow ASCA which is the American School Counseling Association. That is our kind of like our governing board. It is it sets the golden standard. Um and so what this program highlighted the four we the four the four spokes are define manage deliver and assess. So define what is a school counseling program. Um we have three pillars which all school programs kind of align themselves to which is based off student
020achievement um academ so student achievement sorry student achievement college and career readiness and social emotional development of a student. And then we go into the manage which is actually the meat of what a program is. And so we use data. We have several data points that we look at. We look at like the school site plan which every site develops. We use the LCAP. We use even our office discipline referrals. We look at that data. The ODR is put into SIS. We attendance [clears throat] and power school. So we sift through all of the data before the school year even commences to manage a program and say what we're going to deliver. We create a goal that outline um that aligns with the school district and also with our sites. So we see that demonstrated
021is in our annual goal. 10 sites within our district have a goal that is based off of attendance. Um which we see a lot of PSA has a huge goal and a lot of effort and time goes into improving school attendance and decre decreasing chronic absenteeism. Um and so we use a lot of like we have classroom lesson plans. We have an annual calendar. We're before the school year even starts that we develop so that we kind of have a guiding light that is driven by data. And then lastly, we are delivering our student services which we'll talk about in the next slide. And we are assessing assessing our program always. What is working, what is not. We do that through pre and post assessments in almost every single service that we um implement. And
022why do we use Pascal? because we like research, we like evidence. Um, research shows that school programs that align themselves to the ASKA national model have student improvement in attendance, achievement, and discipline, which is something that we all want our students. Thank you. We're discussing the framework of the work that we do as school counselors. So in addition to what Jessica just mentioned um something that we do as school counselors and the role of school counselors is we use this uh multi-ter system support framework to ensure that students are being provided with and necessary support to improve the academic social emotional behavior and you know college career development. And so when we look at uh tier one systems looking at how do we serve 100% of our students we look at specific interventions and incentives
023that support our students to continue improvement. So when we look at uh tier one um example the way that we deliver and support our students at school is we're looking specifically at teaching teaching our content curriculum something that we collaborate as counselors. We have a community counselors that work on that to ensure that we have uh the necessary uh teachings that the students need. Uh we also look at um taking initiative on school events. So a lot of school events that you may see around the school district uh the counselor may have been involved in developing that, making sure they're part of it. I just think of one of my favorite ones that I did with uh my school and sorry I forgot to introduce myself again. I'm Michael. I'm school counselor at Bryce uh
024was we did a hiphop and living awards, right? So we had an event where we try to you know engage our student uh community whether it's parents caregivers even our local organizations to to support us and helping us uh advocate for our students. Um so when we look at the tier one system we looked at how do we provide support for all students but we recognize that not all students might benefit from that level one foundation. So we also look at tier 2 um targeted supports where we start now focusing on about 15 to 20% of our student population uh priorities that our school needs priorities that our schools um need to focus on in order to improve more student outcomes. So when we're looking at tier 2 services now we're looking at providing uh
025individual counseling, group counseling, crisis response. There have been a lot of situations that happen throughout the year. you'll usually see a group of counselors there supporting school communities. And um in addition to that, we're also looking to make sure we're supporting a a number of our foster youth and making mental students to ensure that they're also not falling to the cracks and also getting that additional advocate to support them. So when we look at um the final level of system of support, which is our charity individualized system, at this level we start focusing on about 5% of our student population. student to more um more targeted more intensive support and at this level we're focusing now more on collaborating and consulting with various stakeholders to ensure that students are being supported and so as school
026counselors some of the work that we do is we ensure that we're being involved in a lot of school communities whether teams student study teams um what have you right the various school communities to ensure that we're driving the work that we do as school counselors so I'm going go ahead and pass this on to my colleague Alex or Mr. Alejandro can go ahead and explain it. >> My name is Alejandro Gonzalez. I'm the school counselor at Mariposa Computer Science Magnet School. Also having trouble with the slides. Um we just want to provide our uh our midyear highlight which is a pretty much a snapshot of our district-wide data. Uh so as you can see um our counselors and the ones behind me have completed uh 2,7 25 uh count uh classroom lessons uh ranging
027on topics such as suicide prevention, kels choices which is our conflict uh management uh curriculum uh bullying prevention attendance which uh like one of my colleagues behind mentioned is a big focus for all of us making sure our kids are in school environment um being able to better themselves and you know be a productive members community and also So academic perseverance um teaching uh students to you know not back down from the challenge and you know the the challenges they face not only in the classroom but in the community being able to persevere and uh rise through those. Um, additionally across the district, we completed 71 um, C counseling groups that focus on self-regulation, uh, attendance, like I said, which is a big focus across the district, social skills and executive functioning. Um, just trying
028to provide the students with the necessary skills to succeed, not only as students, which we see them as, but also as the uh, the people that uh, they're going to grow up to be or becoming. Uh, focusing on the whole person and being able to u, you know, directly target the social emotional needs of every student here. And then additionally we also uh deal with the pamphlet of suicide assessments, mental health referrals, making sure that uh when students are uh in need of additional support that may be outside of our range, they are seeking that and we are finding that um those completing those referrals so that the students are able to get the help that they need and uh you know like I said uh being able to target and support the whole person.
029And then finally, our counselor support uh through other things uh such as uh developing behavior contracts, behavior intervention plans as well as incentive charts. And then um just kind of speaking for my colleagues behind me also uh being able to be that consistent that empathetic um that consistent empathetic and you know guiding force on the school campus. goes a lot probably beyond just you know the data we're able to show you but being that person on campus that's something they could turn to and support um you know when they uh need an ear when they need some support when they feel like you know everybody on campus or even at home or in the community or not um giving them that that time and space just being able to show up for that person and
030tell them you know I'm on your side let's work through that and acknowledging that students aren't in their their final product they're not their their their truest form yet but doing what we can in the time we have them so that we can get them We have a short video that we'd like to show you. Um, The school counselor that tell us learns big problems and small problems helps people um like communicate with other people like tells us choices teach us how to make better choices. Miss Molina is the school counselor and she helps and she does counsel choices and helps you um and helps you get through school problems. >> Good and good guys. So go in rooms and stuff their faces and stuff and then help us with doing the right and stuff.
031and making us do good stuff. >> Help like people like just kids, girls and boys with stress and letting go. >> Make us feel safe at the school and let us talk about anything that's on our mind is when a student needs help or they're going through something. The counselors are there to help them and they give them ideas on how and they help um students >> help us learn, do things right, and be respectful. >> Our counselors deliver a variety of tier 1 MTSS practices. One of these [music] practices is planning and engaging students in schoolwide activities and events to recognize kindness week, bullying prevention month, and attendance [music] awareness month. Our counselors also deliver classroom lessons throughout the year that are uniform across the district. Some topics include how to maintain excellent [music]
032attendance, self-control, suicide prevention lessons, conflict resolution skills, bullying prevention, and behavior responsibility and accountability. [music] This is a tier 1 MTSS practice because all the students [music] in the school receive these lessons. One of the other ways our counselors support student is by offering lunch bunch groups where students can come to the counseling office during their lunchtime [music] and play games and take part in activities that encourage social skills and create a positive school climate. Family engagement is another area of emphasis for our counselors. Our counselors deliver parent [music] trainings on topics such as how to implement counsel's choices, which focuses on how to solve problems in the home environment, the importance of attendance, and the benefits of our school-based mental health resources. College and career readiness is an important part of our counselor's work.
033They assist students with exploring career and vocational options while planning college visits. It is never too early to plan for the future. Small group counseling is a tier 2 intervention that our counselors provide to some of our students. The small group counseling can focus on topics such as anger management, how to develop healthy friendships, and executive functioning skills. Our counselors are able to assess the effectiveness of the groups by using [music] pre and post data. Attendance is an area that spans across all tiers of intervention. Our counselors are integral parts of the attendance teams [music] on the school campuses. They help to look at overall students attendance and trends at tier 1, focus on group of students who are struggling [music] with attendance at tier 2, and work intensively with students who need individualized attendance
034support at tier 3. >> In my anger management group, I learned when somebody's calling me names to ignore it and when somebody's hitting me to go tell an adult. I was in the girls group and it taught me to have a good relationship with my friends. >> I was in girls group and I learned how to be kind. >> Hi, I'm in the attendance group and staying in school helped me play more sports and do more activities. >> Hi, I'm in the attendance group and what I learned from being in it is to be on time. I was in a group um with Mina and um um I learned about how to treat people the way they want to be treated and and to be to participate in things and I had a lot of
035fun in it. >> My counselor taught me to be respectful and nice. >> My counselor taught me my counselor taught me how to use Myer taught me how to be so many nice and show me. >> My school counselor been teaching me a lot of stuff which he have been teaching me to be kind and to be respectful. >> In group counseling, I learned what a healthy friendship looks like and set the boundaries and how to problem solve when I have problem with my friends. >> Whenever you're feeling sad, you can go to them and they'll help you while playing a game. I participated in an emotions controlling group and I learned how to control your emotions and walk away when someone does something to irritate you. >> I learned from my counselor to not
036bully people. >> I learned from my counselor to use counsel. >> I learned from a school counselor how to stay calm. >> So, what is it something you always wanted to do but was too afraid to try? >> Roller coaster. >> Go roller coaster. Oh, that's a good one. Thank you for inviting us to share all the practices and interventions we provide our students and families. We appreciate your support >> and that concludes our presentation. Are there any questions? >> I do uh not a question but uh thank you. Um, suicide prevention in your schools is fantastic. Um, we have not had any that think of and I hope we don't and I think it's because the counselors bring that up to the students and let them know that there's someone there for them. So,
037thank you all very much. question about the ratio that you have between your students students black students. So, um you see how we break down a lot of the programs that you're working with, but how do you really navigate with that in >> it's it's a challenge. Um, some of the schools have two counselors um and some of the schools have one counselor. So, um there are sites that have 700 students with one counselor and they they work really hard. They're running all day long. Um but they they work hard to provide the basic um supports to the students and to make themselves available. Um certainly we're able to cover more ground when we have when we have you know multiple counselors on a on a site but we are very unique um because there's
038a lot of elementary school counselor or elementary districts that don't even have school counselors in elementary school. Um, and we're lucky enough to have at least one in every elementary school. So, >> but we're always looking to to add more. So, >> Thank you for all you do. Um I know um we started out uh we had counselors that would work with several schools and it was our goal to get at least one counselor at each school. So I'm really glad that we've reached that goal and um we really support you in all your work and uh we know you with a lot of students and and you're very essential in in helping them and helping the teachers and the staff of this school. So thank you. Hats off to everything you do. It's uh
039fantastic work. That brings us to our LCAP midyear review for Melissa Wood. Good evening. I can certainly say that uh one school in particular decreased suspensions due to their two counselors. Thank you guys. Sure that's the same everyone. All right. Thank you for having me up here today. um board executive cabinet tonight is the local control accountability plan midyear review. Uh today's plan or evaluation of the midyear rather is um not something that we turn into Lego. It's not something that we turn into the CD. It's just simply a snapshot of where we are at the midyear point and where we're going. So the midyear review, it provides a midyear progress update on the LCAP. It shares early outcome trends. It reviews the alignment of expenditures to goals and it identifies focus areas for the
040second half of the school year. Included in your artifacts is the budget overview for parents. You can see that in the LCAP, $245 million was allotted for us to reach our goals. And you also have another artifact called the midyear review. That is a template that was actually given to us by LEO. We're not required to have any template in particular, but um Anita over at Leo who supports us with the LCAP, she created this for us and why why not use it. Uh as you can see here, you have the full document, but this is a sample for how to read it. So, as you can see here, if you look at a one, that stands for goal one. 1.5 is goal one, and it's the fifth action. I chose the fifth action because
041it's a good example of everything that that uh is involved with this template. So essentially what uh the midyear requires is that we look at the alcap each one of the goals and all the actions within and how we're dealing with the metrics to measure the effectiveness of those actions and how much money we have currently put towards those actions. So back to 1.5, that's goal one. Action number five of several actions. Action number five is focused on intervention where it says yes or no. Is LCAP funds going towards that particular action? The answer is yes at a districtwide level. We're focused on English learners, foster youth, and low income in this particular action for all schools. And then you'll take a look and you'll see the metrics that we are using to check the
042effectiveness of our action. So here you'll see CASP and you'll see I ready and the different subgroups that we are looking at for this particular action. You'll notice that it says determined partially determined and we also have not yet determined. And what that simply means is is the metric finalized. So yes, we got the California dashboard. We have the results. So it is already determined that for the subgroup right there, you'll see it's 98.4 points below standard. We that has been determined by uh the dashboard this year. Although with the Ready, that's different. It's partially determined because we're still measuring throughout the year and their final terms at the at the end of the year which at the end on the actual L cap we'll be able to give you an end of year review
043there. So that one is still going and of date you'll see that the practically $22 million there that $22 million is how much money we have spent [snorts] since December 2nd. So this is a point in time because we have to stop it at some point in time. That's the last posting of the first interim report that Maria gave uh for our expenditures for action number five. This is also a point in time in our implementation and metrics. So first semester is where we drew the line for our metrics within our implementation. So our midyear snapshot is obviously with all of this data you can have so much analysis done and have so many conclusions or wonderings from all the data. I'm just giving you the highlights tonight of some of the things that um
044the directors and I have had conversations surrounding this information. So most LCAP actions are still in mid-year implementation. $97.7 million of $245 million budgeted has been expended. Chronic absenteeism still persists. Suspension rates are showing that they are stable but achievement gaps still continue. It is interesting that uh LEO had a differentiated assistance convening. So school districts that have atrisisk groups got together and LEGO supported us in looking at our actions and whether or not we have been effective in our implementation of those actions. So the directors discussed everything that you're about to see and we had conversations on where we need to pivot. We also have had conversations on maybe how our goals should be read next year and the more appropriate or continuously improving our metrics for the future and what what should we
045be looking at next year. We particularly like the uh the style that the state has chosen. You remember the 5x5 t table and you go all the way to the right if you gain 15 points. So, we're celebrating growth. We're not just trying to meet what seems like an impossible benchmark. And so, we're going to take a look at our LCAP metrics and see, can we really focus on target [clears throat] growth rather than just focusing on whether or not a student is ex exceeding proficiency at the state standard level. These are the conversations we're having as a result of uh this midyear review. So, LCAP one is focused on academics. Next slide. Its key findings is that year-over-year we're showing improvement. That was obvious in our dashboard results. We improved in most of the
046categories. And in the ELA, we scored a yellow, which means that we're doing better than last year. We actually did orange in math. And because it was all the way over on the 5x5 table, that showed an improvement as well. I ready is indicating partial progress at 2 to 12%. One of the concerns that we have about this metric is that is at the midyear anyway, how many students have already met the grade level standard, not where they are at the midyear standard, but because that's the way we report it in the LCAP. That's the way you see it uh at the midyear. So, we're having conversation conversations about that. And of course as you know midyear or uh literacy requires acceleration and something very fascinating in every single convening that we are having every
047single conference that we are having. There is a stress on getting to know our kids from birth. School districts that find our kids and get to know the families from birth are having better success at kindergarten literacy. And I'm sure Kelly Fountain would love that comment that I just made. Uh midyear expenditures are at 62.9 million. And then with go LCAP goal two, we are focused on equitable learning practices and positive learning environments. Next slide. We are seeing through the youth that elementary engagement is improving. We're seeing that middle school belonging still remains low there. So that's a focus and we are seeing that our suspension rates are stable overall. Thank you counselors which are not here. Um the midyear expenditures 10.5 million. ELCAP goal three is about safe and supportive environments and some of
048our key findings is that attendance rates remain above 91% chronic absenteeism persists for priority groups that are at risk and safety perceptions are moderate at our middle schools. Uh there the perception is actually better at our elementary schools. So our midyear expenditures is 20.8. I'd also like to say that the youth truth is measuring from a parents perspective, a student's perspective, and a staff perspective. So, goal four is a little different than our first three goals. Goal four focuses on equity multiplier, which is actually not a district implementation. It's a sightspecific implementation. And in order to be part of your equity multiplier funds import and in order to qualify for that you have to have a school who has 25% or more transient rate. So the kids that start the beginning of the school year
04925% of them are not the same school the same kids that finish the school year. And because of that they're they get massive amounts of money. But what's awesome about that money is that they do they don't have a timeline for spending that money. And so what we've noticed is that we can have multi multipleyear plans that our director of equity has been helping the principles on. So those schools that qualified for that uh funding source was Desert View Vista Middle School and RISE. Goal four f focuses on culture and climate and a lot of that work is coming out of PBIS and capturing kids hearts but not the work that we already have in place. Equity multiplier requires that you're building upon or expanding your current program or initiating new programs. So, our work
050is being done with the principles, the instructional leadership teams, and our director of equity. I'm involved quite a bit. Sam is involved quite a bit uh community schools, but the big work is between the principles and Alicia. So, we have targeted leadership. We have identified schools and they're in their mid implementation as far as climate and culture with trying to make improvements on uh creating a climate and culture that kids that have high transient rates can feel like they belong in that school. Midyear expenditures come out at 4.7 million. Goal five is very similar to goal four except it focuses on academic achievement. slide. Goal five, the key findings is again sightsp specific academic interventions. Now we have a robust goal one for academics within the LCAP. So this has proven a little more challenging
051because remember the focus of equity multiplier is to create new implementations or expand upon the ones you already have. But they're hard at work and and a lot of the focus that is in inclusive practices that Rosemary's talked about earlier, our director of uh SULPA and the region. They're in the early implementation stage with this at 1.4 million. Those schools, you can see that's about 25% of what they're spending on culture and climate. Looking forward from here on out, we know that we need to prioritize achievement gaps and early literacy. We know we need to focus on middle school engagement. We know we need to continue to focus on chronic absenteeism. We also know that the point of this midyear LCAP is so ed services understands their budget better and ensures that the effectiveness of
052the programs that we implement is money well spent. Dr. Maretti has focused more than any superintendent I have ever known on the principal knowing their budget on the director knowing their budget and LEO has tasked us with the goal of being within 10% of what we plan and budget so that way we can have tighter tighter uh funds and be able to monitor for effectiveness more efficiently. Uh they also said that school districts who are in their early implementation phases of trying to be within 10% within 20% is an acceptable range. 15% is within accept acceptable range but 10% is the target. So for every thousand that a principal gets they should be within $900 to $1,100 in hitting the target on what they plan to spend that money on. They're all here today and
053they're hearing that and I'm sure they'll tell you their plans are about 40 pages long now that they are really honing in on all the dollars they're spending. That's all I have for you tonight. Are there any questions? Yeah. So um does part of our cap include um one term funding and then if so how are we planning on staying that as that used up? So, it's interesting because we have we might have said in the LCAP that we were going to put, let's say, $1 million towards something, but one-time funding comes in and it might be a more desirable fund to take it out of. So, some of the times when we're not on 10%, it's because these onetime funds come to us and they're more desirable to spend up front. The onetime funds
054are not a part of the LCAP. What's a part of the LCAP is the LCFF funds which is our SE our supplemental and concentration grants which are ongoing but depending on enrollment and need and also our base funds which is a part of that LCFF equity multiplier is dependent that could be a one-time fund depending on um if the school qualifies with the transient rate we find out this month who qualifies for next year. Um, also CSI funds are a part of that, which is whether or not a school qualifies for that. And I'm happy to say that there's only one school in the school district that's going to qualify for $650,000. Sad, we're down from 2.1 million, but it's for a good reason. So, no other one time funds. Those are the sources that
055require the old cap. Thank you for the update. Yeah, sounds like you guys are right on target. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. That brings us to action items approval of vote for candidates for the 20206ba delegate assembly listed are school district from east side school districtio from west side school district we have a motion by Mr. to win by Miss Charlson discussion. All in favor? Carries 5. >> Oh, it's a good team. We have a good group up here. We've all been on the sub a while. So my uh way of set up participate keep you for serving in that capacity. Appreciate that. Next we have individual action items business adoption of board resolution 205 2016 Cindings and approving the for modernization and construction project Monista Elementary discussion. All in favor? Motion
056carries. 50-0. Item B, adoption of resolution number 2025 2632 publishing a merge citizens oversight committee for bonds issued under measure L and measure LS motion by Mson by Mr. discussion. >> Can I get a reading on that? What this means exactly? >> Yeah, this is the uh requirement of the state when you have a bond and we have to have a bond committee and this is to set up that bond committee meeting which is going to be by the middle of March. Bond committee goes over to make sure that we're spending money the way it's supposed to be and there's an audit that goes with it. We have any takers of those yet? Yes, we have a call in post. Motion carries 50. Item C, adoption of board resolution 2025 2633 making CUA findings and
057approval a categorical exemption for modernization and new construction project discussion. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries 5-0. Item D, approval of amendment number one, new agreement with Ruwelling and Moody for architectural and engineering services for Sunnydale Elementary School, modernization of two existing kindergarten classrooms. By Mr. If you discuss all in favor I opposed motion carries 5-0. Item E, approval of amendment number one to the agreement with Fwelling and Moody Architectural and Engineering Services for Desert View Elementary School modernization. Have a motion second by Miss Ceer, second by Mr. Giles. Any discussion? >> How many uh architectural services did we have on this? And this this is a little is actually all three are the same CFW and part of our modernization program and that serves as a requirement by DSA for any minor changes
058that we make in this low voltage is an increase of $1,000 for the sun because it's only the two existing classrooms and the others are 2500 piece and that's where the entire projects to those >> question is blowing and voting the only for this is on these I can get you through CFW please do I all in favor >> I opposed motion carries 5-0 item number F approval of amendment number one to the agreement withing and waiting for architectural and engineering services for Nancy Corey modernization construction. Do we have a motion? Motion by Miss Charleston. >> Second by Mr. Any discussion? Favor. >> Motion carries 5. Okay. Item 15, individual action items, human resources. A approval of director one of information technology systems. AC Gr have a motion by Giles. Second by Mr. W. Any
059discussion? >> Uh Casey has over 20 years of professional experience across technology, industry, and the educational field. He currently serves as a network systems analyst for Lancaster School District. He holds a bachelor's degree in network operations and security, a masters of business administration, and a master's degree in IT management. In addition, he maintains multiple certifications in networking, cyber security, and project management. He is most proud of his commitment to his continuing education and professional [clears throat] professional growth. In his free time, he enjoys working with stained glass, building furniture, and restoring classic diesels. Good evening for the opportunity to be part of the team. >> Very nice. With that, all in favor? Motion carries 5. Congratulations. It's a password. Souls work. >> Yeah. Stay in class. Uh, welcome. Uh, thank you very much for all
060your service and we look forward to continuing your work with the Lancaster Dist. And next we have uh item B, appointment of interim principal Parker. We have a motion. Okay, Mr. Giles, any discussion? Todd is an assistant principal at Endeavor right now, but we have a we need to fill a staffing need. So step up. All in favor? I post two carries. Congratulations. And next we have item C, approval of supervisor of operations, Mr. Bryley. Do we have a motion? >> Mr. Second by Miss Usler. Any discussion? >> Yes. Uh Christina has been Christine's been a Lancaster School District employee since September 1st, 1998 when she began her career as a health clerk at Mariposa Elementary School. Ben served as the attendance clerk, then promoted to the school secretary at Linda Verde. And [clears throat]
061for the past seven years, she's worked at the district level as an administrative secretary 3, where she brings extensive experience and dedication to her role. She's completed an associates degree in business from Eastern Gateway Community College and holds several professional certificates from CSEA earned through her role as chaper. Um, she is proud of being a mom, Gigi. That's a grandma, right? And a wife. And she's very passionate about being the Gigi and a devoted dog. She loves yoga, the beach, and truly values spending quality time with her family and close friends. She's with us tonight. >> And with that, all in favor? Carries. 5-0. Congratulations. >> I would just like to say that um I'm I'm honored and I look forward to working with local center and community and I'm excited. Um they are a
062great team and I'm with them and serve our community. Um I have my husband, my beautiful daughters, my granddaughter, my mother-in-law and my great family that I have that are here to support me and um thank you very much. >> Thank you very much and we welcome you and your new position and we look forward to all your help with that. Thank you so much. Uh, next we have approval of expanded learning opportunities program supervisor Julie Marus. Do we have a motion? Move >> by Mr. W by Mr. Giles. Any discussion? >> Uh, yes. Unfortunately, Julie is not here with us tonight. She is fulfilling her contract with her other employer, but she is online and listening or watching. So Julia received her BA in child development from Sea Sun in 1998 and has worked
063in education ever since aside from a short break to raise her children. She has spent the past 15 years with Gorbin Learning Network Charter where she served as a supervisor as a Santa Clarita Resource Center. One of her greatest professional accomplishments is the work she has done in building and supporting a K12 learning environment allowing unique opportunity to watch students grow and develop throughout their entire educational journey. Outside of her career, Julie's extremely proud of the life she's built with her husband of 32 years and the compassionate children they have raised together. In her free time, she enjoys baking, reading at the beach, and spending quality time with the family. All in favor? Motion carries. 5. Congratulations, Julie. Next we have addressing the board. Uh any individuals who wish to address the board may complete
064a speaker card and present it in supporting the superintendent's assistant or other district official prior to the start of the meeting. Personal information such as a student, parent, guardian's name, address, phone number, date of birth, email, other direct information as defined in code 49061 may be excluded of the minutes of the meeting by submitting a written request. Superintendent President shall recognize individuals who wish to speak, visuals wishing to present testimony to the board concerning specific items on the agenda. Once that item has been moved, seconded is on the floor for discussion. Time limits of 30 minutes per person and 20 minutes per item shall be allowed according to board bylaws 9 to board members may ask questions for clarification purposes. However, no action may be taken and no discussion may take place on an item
065not on the posted agenda for the Browning. Uh with that, do we have comments from ETA, CSCA? >> Good evening. I'm Lisa, CSCA vice president. I just wanted to take a moment to thank the district and wonderful. Thank you so very much. Thank you very much. And also G. Uh any comments from the audience? There are several comments from the audience. The first is going to see Lindsay. Good evening school district. So I'm here on behalf of council the contract. So we are here to let the community know that the data from the neighborhood legal services shows a serious racial disparity in school district. Black students are suspended at nearly three times the rate of white students and about four times the rate of Latino students even for similar behavioral issues. Student students with disabilities
066are showing currently at 16.1% Latinos 5.5%. White students 5.7. The actual rates being reported for the general population is 12.03%.3% 03% 3.3% for Latinos and 4.06% for the white students. These numbers suggest that discipline is not being applied equally. Black students are far are far more likely to face punishments including informal removals and school suspensions and out of school suspensions while white peers committing similar behaviors often do not face the same school consequences. The reports being provided by neighbor neighborhood legal services also raised serious concerns about students with disabilities. Black and Latino students and special educations are being suspended and punished at a higher rate despite often needing additional academic supports and behavioral services rather than exclusion from the classroom. Even more troubling, the percentage of students identified with disabilities is twice as high as
067expected based on the school's demographic makeup. This is not just about discipline. It's about equity across access to education and whether schools are providing support and pushing certain students out of the classroom. Guys reported about $24 million being spent in the school system. And I know for as a grandparent, like she said, a GG, you take it very serious. Have special needs grand children that have to come into the school system and they're treated differently and they're treated as if they're not understanding what's going on in these classes, whether it's kindergarten, first grade, second grade. All of a sudden, they have a behavioral problem. All of a sudden, they have to be sent home. All of a sudden, they have to sit in a class where they're not interacting. getting those social skills that they
068need to interact and learn the things that they need, whether it's general education classes or their special need classes. So, you know, what you guys are saying today is not actually true of what's actually happening in you guys' school district. >> Thank you. Next speaker is um Aaliyah Ward I believe. My name is Rosen Ward. I'm the parent of Selia Ward. She's an eighth grader at Pyth. I'm here to report ongoing bullying, harassment, threats of violence, and multiple serious physical assaults involving my daughter along with the failure to follow California educational codes 4890081, 48900R, 32261, and 234.1. The bullying began in 2023 while my daughter was at Desert View Elementary. After multiple reports and what I believe to be insufficient interventions, she was forced to defend herself. To uh to better protect her, I enrolled
069her in Lava for the seventh grade. [clears throat] This year, she returned into in-person school at Py Elementary, and she's earned straight A's and a 4.0 GPA. She's also received strong recommendations for the slower academy from multiple teachers. However, shortly after enrolling, the same bullying resumed and became more aggressive. On December 12th, 2025, several students, including the same um student she had been prior invol uh prior involved with came to my home intending to attack my daughter. I filed a police report and informed the vice principal, Miss Hunter, the only solution that she offered me was independent study. um I disregarded it because that would interfere with um the required electives that my daughter takes. On February 3rd, I went to the school to speak with administrators regarding my concerns. Threats of violence and vulgar
070language were used towards my daughter by three other students during mediation with a counselor where they asked my daughter, "Why doesn't anyone like her?" That was also supervised by Vice Principal Hunter. My visit resulted in verbal altercation and it didn't lead to any resolution. The only assistance I received that day came from deputy nurse in Mars uh Mars who advised me to contact the school board for further support. He also advised me that if I wanted to get a restraining order that I needed to bring that information to the school, something that the principal could have told me. On February 6th, my daughter was assaulted by six or more students on school property. Prior to the attack, she was report she reported it to a duty aid and the students had threatened her and were
071following her around during lunch. Immediate immediately after making the report, she was cornered and physically attacked. I wasn't allowed to talk to staff or ask about any accounts of what they had seen and what had happened. She required emergency medical treatment. Her injuries were documented with the police and she was prescribed prescribed medication. She was excused from school for a week and and she's now afraid to go go back to school. her GPA has dropped from a 4.0 to a 1.6. What is deeply concerning is that the students involved were not were not disciplined and my daughter was recommended for um detention. I'm asking for a full investigation and for um you guys to involve yourself in better control. Thank you. My name is I am writing this because I need help. For a long
072time, I've been dealing with bullying. This has made it very hard for me and has hurt my feelings and my ability to focus on my work. When I have asked for help, I not I didn't I did not feel protected. I've been trying to do my best in school and stay out of trouble. I I feel sad that some things on my on my record do not show what I have been been gone through. I've been I am asking if you listen my situation again and consider and reconsider the red. I'm asking for help to to help to help stop the harassment and protection so I can feel safe at school. share your review of my incident at my record. I want to warn you. I will be thankful for the chance to talk to
073you about the next speaker is Armani Bell. Good evening members of the board. My name is Armani Bell. I am the guardian of Casai Roach student at Pyute Middle School. I am here because my brother has been bullied and physically attacked at the school due to his sexual or orientation. This was not normal conflict. This was discrimination that escalated into violence. In addition, our family has suffered devastating loss. We lost our mother on January 8th this year. And during the time when compassion, understanding are critically important, my brother has instead experienced interactions with staff that have felt dismissive, rude, and hurtful. School have a responsibility not only to protect students physically but also to foster a safe and supportive environment especially for children navigating grief and trauma. Every student deserves to feel safe, respected and
074treated with dignity. I ask the board to recognize this serious the seriousness of this situation. Ensure a few a full review of what occurred. address any failures and take concrete steps to ensure that no student feels unsafe or unsupported in this district. This is about safety. This is about compassion. This is about protecting every student. Thank you for your time. >> And the last one, I believe the last name is make up sand zero. We're done. Thank you for your input and uh we watch staff uh follow up on that and uh thank you very much for your input. We appreciate speaking board. Okay, next we have consent agenda items. Superintendent 17 A to 17 I have a motion second by Mr. Any discussion? All in favor? Second. Post 5 Z on 18 consent agenda
075items, business items 18 A to 18 M. Have a motion. So moved by Mr. W. Second star. Any discussion? All in favor? I motion carries 5. Next item 19, consent agenda item educational services items 19A 19 M. Have a motion by Mr. Giles. All in favor motions 5. We have item consent items human resource services and on this one we're pulling um 20 We approving of a just a yes we're just voting or approving on item A and B C and D have been pulled so it's approval of personal actions number 13 motion by Mr. and secondler. Any discussion? All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. 5-0. Item 21, consent agenda items, student and family services. Item 21A. Do we have a motion? Excuse us. Discussion lot input. Thank you for schools for all the work
076putting that those together. Great plans. With that, all in favor? >> I opposed. Motion's carried. 5-0. Hey, item 22, legislative and policy discussion. each week. And with that, we'll go to comments from the board superintendent. Let's start with Mr. W. You just like to say it's nice to see our attendance went back up from last time about the same number. So, I don't know what took place during the uh maybe it was vacation time, but it's good to see it go up. like to thank Rosemary Napoleon for her information she provided us so much and to uh uh all those that were promoted and or came up for new jobs within our district. It's good to see counselors I didn't know we had 436 students, one counselor. That is awesome that they're doing the job
077they're doing. I know it's got to be a hard job, but it's to see, like I said during the the meeting, that uh the uh suicide prevention is working in our district and uh it has a lot to do with their involvement. So, thank you and thank them all of us. Um Thank you, Mr. W. Mr. Jones. You know what Mr. Win said, I appreciated Rosemary's uh date on the inclusion journey with um the Miller Choir. It was really nice to see the kids sing. They were I was kind of laughing. A couple kids reminded me, you know, they wanted to hide behind the music thing, but they were they were still singing. So, we could see from behind. So yeah, they very cute. Nice to see the update on the school counseling program did
078a great job. All yours are topnotch caps was good. What's going on with that? It's always good to be [clears throat] hard to believe how much money we throw down. You know, we are we did get some results. So, you know, it's awesome stats. So we can look into some of the things going on. I can see what's going on there. You know, had one to hear stuff. Middle school is tough. I mean, my kids have been bullied and just stick with it. Stick with it to try to help them out. >> Thank you, Mr. D. >> Thank you. didn't see Rosemary. Um, very nice to hear that. Um, our special education specials are making progress. I know we've been working on that for such a long time and to actually see um those really
079great results is wonderful. Um, the learning centers, you know, and seeing the um inclusion of our students, I think that's a great um way that we've gone. Um, Rebecca McConnell's McConnell. I enjoyed seeing Miller up there singing and really liked hearing about the K8 environment. That is absolutely favorite. I love middle school kids. That was always my favorite group, but K babies start with and they go all the way through. That's the idea. And so, um, you get a whole family, um, within the school. and such a wonderful way to really help our especially our sixth ads. I love that when you put them all together in one place. Um Melissa, thank you so much for the elap. Um I don't think I've seen you present yet. So that was really nice to see the
080presentation and um get to hear what's going on um with our healthc and um again seeing those raising test scores and seeing that our kids are doing better than they have and that's great counseling program. You're dear to my heart. Thank you Trish. Thank you Kim. It was wonderful to see our counselors and work with them and hear all the wonderful things they're doing. And yes, if we could have like four counselors on every elementary school site, that would be then we would have enough, you know, really over 200 counselors. That would be a really really great number. So, thank you so much. Really enjoy hearing what they're doing out there. Um, and I'm gonna leave it at that. Thank you so much. Thank you, Miss Charlesson. Echo everything to Rosemary and Miller. Also, you
081know, again, I also have concern that not to take away. Um, also congratulations to all the new staff as well as positions and things like that. I like see your own jab. I like the fact that you guys believe in us and that you're sticking around your choices within the district as well. Congratulations [clears throat] to all students. Um it's very hard to get up even sit up here. So stand up in front of roughly at the Sunday night be able to sing. they would expect when it comes to um bullying and um concerns and our suspensions and things like that. We are always very concerned with those things. So, thank you the parents that came up here tonight to voice their opinion um and their concerns about their students and the things that are
082taking place in our district. we do take that seriously and so we will be looking into that to see how we deal with those situations. Um on a lighter note [clears throat] uh if you had an opportunity to get out to our black knowledge bowl last uh week it was really spectacular and if you didn't they're going to have the uh final one February 25th here at Park View starting at 5 o'clock. So, if you haven't had an opportunity to get out, please do come out as well as any of the other campuses that we have a lot of things with black history uh throughout the month. So, I look forward to seeing Thank you, Miss Carlson and Dr. Baretti. >> Yeah, I'd just like to uh speak to um the critique of our disportion
083suspension rate that was mentioned earlier. I just want everyone to know that um we have our suspensions. We cut it in half from 2023 school year to 2024 school year. We're going to continue to cut that number in half again for the 2526 school year. I challenge that um challenge the numbers that were presented. I'd also like to say that um our schools that were lowest performing in the state, we had four schools that were lowest performing in the state. Today we have one. So we went from four to one. So we saw our achievement rise um an additional targeted support we had four schools in additional targeted support for low achievement at least one subgroup and that's been cut in half from 02. So um what I would want to say is that I'm
084very very proud and I think we should all be proud of the work that we've um been engaged in over the past several years here. I [snorts] think you saw a lot of that work presented here tonight. Um those critics I can only say and think of one thing which is the speech T Rose G T Roosevelt gave in 1901. It's called the man in the room speech and what he said was it's not the critic who counts. It's not those who point out how strong how the strong will stumble or where the doers of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena. Those who face whose faces are marred by dust and sweat and blood who strive only air who come up short again and again.
085There's there is no effort without error and shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do these deeds? Who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spend themselves in worthy causes, who at best know in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if they fail, at least fail while daring to do greatly. so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls with either no victory or defeat. I want to thank all the Lancaster staff who are not critics but are actually doing the work. All of you that are in the arena striving every day for all our children, black, brown, white, all our children striving so that they may have a chance in life so that they may succeed. Those of you that are in the arena
086doing the work, and I appeal to all those naysayers, to all those critics out there, come join us. Come join us in the work. Come join us in the arena. Share in the work we do. There's always a place we're here for you here in Manchester. Thank you, director. And uh again, great uh presentations tonight. Uh see Miller uh our K through8 school as we moved uh some of our school sites to K. neat to see the support from the parents and how that school system's working out and uh all the success we have there. Uh also the LTAP, it's neat to see how we're setting our goals and uh funding our goals and working towards that. And again, like Dr. Marian mentioned, we had a lot of success in the state uh uh results
087that we got. So, we're going to continue to strive for that. We're never stopping in our work and uh we will continue to work for better test uh scores, more safety in our schools and more community involvement. But we do we appreciate people that uh want to come out and help join us and help support us. We thank all the staff and parents for all your support too and um great work tonight. With that, we will move to a journ. We have a motion motion. Perfect. All in favor zero.