001Welcome. Welcome everyone. We like the weekend 605. And there's no action uh taken in close session. First item we have is uh student discipline approval of expulsion student number 24250002. Do we have a motion? Second. Second by Mr. Giles. All in favor? I motion carries 4 Z and we'd like to start with the pledge of allegiance. Mr. J, would you read this thing allegiance, please? You wouldn't mind standing with me. Ready, begin. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Welcome everyone. We're so pleased to see everyone here. And we're going to start off with the recognition for the most inspirational teacher essay contest winner. All right. Thank you. Good evening everyone. I'm Bart Hoffman at SIS Supervet Services and it's my pleasure to share with you tonight our inspirational teacher essay contest for 2025
002in memory of Lynn Shedik. A little bit about it. Lynn Shettik was a teacher in Lancaster School District for 25 years. During that time, Lynn was an inspiration not only to her students, but also to the countless new teachers she mentored and colleagues who had the pleasure of working with her. When Lynn passed away, her family saw fit to suggest donations in her name be made to the former Lancaster Education Foundation. After receiving many such donations, the foundation worked with Lynn's family to come up with a fitting tribute to this wonderful inspirational teacher. This is how the idea of inspirational teacher essay came about. Each year, the contest is open to all of our eighth graders throughout the district. This year, we received numerous entries from four schools selected as the best by their sites.
003A panel of judges read the essay and chose a winner from each participating site as well as selecting the overall district winner. The panel included Lynn's husband and former Lancaster School District Assistant Superintendent Jim Shetty, Lynn's sister, Donna King McConna, and her husband Blair McConey along with retired Lancaster District teacher and Donna's sister-in-law Trish Manduca and current Elorado coach Melissa Blanchard who taught with Lynn at Mariposa. Donna, Blair, and Melissa have joined us tonight. So, if you wouldn't mind standing so we can give us some recognition about Thank you for your dedication to this worthy event. Uh the winner chosen from each site is going to receive a certificate of achievement which looks like this and a $25 gift card and have their name added to their school's perpetual black that will stay at the
004site for years to come. I'm going to show you that. Excuse me. This year's site winners from the sites included Rain Willie from Amagosa Creek Middle School. from New Vista Middle School and Claudia Flores from Bolton and Alsbury certificate and $25 gift card at their site later this week. And finally, here to share her most inspirational teacher essay with us is our grand prize winner, Angelica Gonzalez from Miss Shaveis' class at Linda Berde. The subject say is for teacher, Mr. Chimoto, who uh is a retired teacher from us and is with us as well. Hi, I'm Angela Gonzalez and I'm Linda Birdie. I'm in the eighth grade and today I would like to share with you guys my essay. Um, sometimes in life the universe send you a person that you didn't know would impact
005your life so much. And for me that person was my seventh grade teacher, Mr. Nishimoto. In my seventh grade year, I had a teacher named Mr. Nishimoto who taught math and science. Mr. Sishimoto has inspired so many people including myself. He never gave up on any of us and he saw potential in me before I could even lose it myself. He he always reminded me that I could do anything if I put my heart and mind to it. And with every smile, time correction and encouraging talk, he created something in me that I had never imagined would stick with me for the rest of my life. A quiet but loud confidence that I could do anything I dreamed to do. Mr. Mishimto didn't just teach math science. He taught me that the littlest things in
006life can sometimes notice. He always told me to believe in myself even when times get rough because at the end of the day I need myself to conquer any problem. I remember so distinctly one day I was ready to give up completely on that just because I didn't know how to solve a specific angel I don't think you realize how much potential you have. You just have to have strength and keep charm. I truly do believe in you and I always will. And even though those were just words, they anything to me because I knew that at the end of the day, I had someone waiting for me. And to this day, I feel like I still do. Those 30 those exact dirty words have shown me that no matter what I'm going through, I
007can overcome any problem with one thing. This thing isn't particularly bought in a store or made in a factory, but is made within your heart and the help of someone that makes you feel seen, heard, and most importantly appreciated. Beyond the subject he taught, Mr. Nishimoto also taught me the importance of always including others and making people feel like they are valued as he not only made me feel that way. He always made sure everyone he cared for and even people who wasn't asking but like they had a purpose to stand and live. Mr. Nishimoto was the type of teacher that made every student feel like they could not only do anything but that they mattered. Right when you walk in his class, you brought a sense of acceptance and support. He always would he
008would always celebrate each and every student's victories no matter how small and guided them through all their struggles. You could ask questions at any time and he wouldn't ever judge you for not understanding something he led away as he knew every student learns at different paces. He knew how to explain things at everyone's capabilities and always offered support to whoever even to the kids in different grades. To him teaching teaching wasn't just about lessons and grades. It was about building a beautiful community and where anyone felt supported and most importantly seen. Because of that, I've learned to always give someone a chance no matter their learning capacity or the way they work. Because at the end of the day, everyone needs someone to help them in situations where they may feel like they want to
009give up. And because of that small but huge action of Mr. Mishimoto, I too would like to make people feel wanted as he made me feel that way. Thank you. question. Great. Yeah. So, at this time, I'd like to ask your principal, Mrs. Racaba, your language arts teacher, Mrs. Chavez, student can welcome and join us. And I'd also panel wouldn't mind going if members are here as well to come on up. That would be nice. So um at the site I'd like to thank you for your time and uh dedication to our inspirational teacher contest. So I'd like to present you couple things. First Leslie site to site based on where the winning student essay is at. So you get to have that at your site for a little long as you keep winning it.
010Right. And also I'll present Mr. Chavez. It would take this which both have Angelica Gonzalez's name engraved. This is the plaque that And then finally, I'd like to present uh this certificate to Angelica and $300 of gift cards. I think it's a wonderful job. Thank you very much and congratulations. Uh that was a very inspirational uh speech and uh that's inspiring teachers everywhere. So, thank you so much. Great. Uh, next we have employees of the year. All right. Um, thank you. Tonight is the employee recognition night and I would like to start out by just saying thank you to everybody who we're about to call up and and bring up here. It is no easy feat to be awarded the the site or department employee of the year. Do a little math that actually changed
011my entire speech from about an hour ago. Um, so I'm this is an absolute disaster of notes, but if you figure that a site has around 60 to 100 employees and there's really one classified and one certificated from each site that's coming up here, those are some pretty tough odds and it's no it's it's hard to be selected and it's an honor to be selected. So, thank you for what you did. Whether you've been doing something all year long and you're always there or there was one moment where you had to give some kid I'm like a great fire now. But whatever whatever it is, you done something wonderful to be here tonight. And that doesn't discount all the other people who are here and and there probably every single person works at education deserves
012to be employee of the year in their own mind. I don't but do a lot of stupid stuff. Anyway, um make sure I don't miss any points. So, so tonight though, you're going to stand out among your everybody else and it's your year and it's your time. So, I ask you to just smile, accept the recognition and also thank you to everybody's here as the support. You know, I know it's late and we're trying not to to make this go too far into the evening because you've got this great stuff to do. But, um without further ado, here's here's how this prog progress is going to work tonight. Um, administrators, when we call your name, please walk your uh, employee up here and then you can return. Employee stand up here until we do everybody
013in your class. You can do your applause, but once everybody's up there, that's when we want to do the hooting and the hollering and the going crazy. Encourage them. So, um, Charles Charles Coleman, the director of classified personnel, is going to go through all of our class classified employees of the year. Stop from Alicia Gonzalez. Pleasure. Valerie Marino, can you come up for discovery? Gloria Ramirez, District Office. Jennifer Porz, El Dorado, Gonzalez, Endeavor Middle School. Lorie Goza opening academy. Sonia, Jack North, Kaja Oh, Joshua, Sarah, Tolman, Lava, Claudia, Maserata, I think it's true. downs. Okay. Mova P. Thank you, Mr. B. Miller. Joseph Perez. Lincoln Tracy Jr. Cory, just Joy, the best Jennifer Gonzalez. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Middle school. Jasmine Rodriguez. Pro Sierra Pat Hernandez. Sunnydale, Abby, All the Russ Jamal Heburn. West swim
014borrow another round of applause. We didn't announce our district yet. Oh, okay. I'm sorry, Alicia. you get to stay while I say wonderful things about you up here. But give everybody else big round of applause. Get to stand right there front and center. Alicia hates being in front of everybody. She does not like us talking about her so nicely, but Uh, no. Alicia is available at a moment's notice. She is someone who enjoys helping others. She has a unique way of making everybody feel welcome. If anyone is looking for a smile, Alicia has it. She has been our ACMS cheerleading coach. She supports every dance, every award ceremony, every fan concert, sporting event. She is there. Every single one of them. And there are a lot. ino middle school. She is our first point of
015contact to students and family and community members as they enter our campus. She's always willing to support and train others. There is never a day where she fails to come to work with a smile, a clear head, and an inspired approach to her job. She has a quick sense of humor and a positive attitude. Her contagious enthusiasm for her role and for life in general has a warming and lightening effect on those around her, immediately brightening up the experience of being at work and fostering a sense of camaraderie. So, we thank you for everything you do for us at Amaros and we are very lucky to have you. Congratulations. I appreciate that. All right. Uh, next I'd like to call up Beverly Shoemaker, Trish Wilson, Brian Hook, Christa Thompson to give some more awards, special
016categories. Um, my name is Trish Wilson. I'm the coordinator of mental health and I'm presenting district school counselor of the year. The counselor chosen has unwavering dedication, compassion, and leadership that has made a profound impact on the lives of students. Her commitment to fostering a safe, inclusive, and supportive school environment truly exemplifies the heart of school counseling. It is with great pride that we honor Christina Ramirez from Sunnyell Elementary as Lancaster School District School Counselor of the Year. Now for our school psychologist of the year. Um, this year's recipient is deeply passionate about her work and is dedicated to the field and research and has spent much of this past year supporting and uplifting our entire school psych team across the district. She finds true joy in mentoring our new psychologists and it's been inspiring
017to watch how her guidance helps them grow into confident, competent, and compassionate professionals. Please join me in honoring this year's school psychologist of the year, Angie Science Valencia. Okay, now for our speech language pathologist of the year. Um, okay. For this year's speech language pathologist of the year, this individual is deeply committed to supporting to supporting our students with the most significant communication needs, especially those in our extensive needs classes. Her compassion, expertise, and mentorship of uh of our recent SLP grads make her an invaluable part of our team and a true champion for the student voice. Unfortunately, she cannot be here tonight. But please help me congratulating uh Bailey Cologne education teacher of the year. So, it is my pleasure to recognize this year's special ed itinerate teacher of the year. After years of
018serving as a general ed special uh general ed PE teacher, this year's recipient brought his passion and creativity to the world of adaptive PE where he's made a lasting impact with his warm collaborative approach and dedicated dedication to helping every student reach their goals in a fun, meaningful way. Please join me in honoring this year's recipient, Wilson. Brian Hook. I'm the coordinator of health services and to recognize our school nurse of the year. Um she served multiple school sites over the years including Joshua Lincoln, Sunnale, Desert View, Westwind, Endeavor and M Vista. She is a passionate advocate for her students. She works tirelessly to support student health needs at her school sites and she quickly identifies student needs and works to provide meaningful solutions for the student. She's been an integral part of her student
019her school's attendance needs. She supports the process of identifying identifying students missing school due to illness or health conditions and then working to provide solutions to help these students succeed in school. She goes above and beyond to ensure that her students with chronic health conditions have their needs met. She has also worked to ensure that staff receive the health training they need to respond to student emergencies. She ensures that her school sites know who has been trained. She continues to strive to improve the care that she provides and advocates for the work that school nurses do. Like to recognize Melissa Strong Hi, good evening. I'm Christa Thompson. I'm the director of curriculum instruction and assessment. And it is my privilege to introduce this evening um instructional coach of the year. We have about a site
020coach and site instructional coach for all of our sites. We have district instructional coaches um and we have um edtech coaches as well. So, I'm here to introduce tonight's winner of all of those coaches. I've had the privilege of working with this coach for the past nine years. And in that time, she's consistently shown what it truly means to be a dependable, thoughtful, and high impact instructional coach. She's not only incredibly knowledgeable, but also deeply caring, supportive, and endlessly positive. Someone who uplifts everyone around her. She defines the model of what a great instructional coach is and should be. She leads with heart and expertise, and she's always there when teachers and teams need her most. Whether it's g diving into curriculum, refining instructional strategies, or simply offering encouragement when it's needed. It is my
021absolute pleasure to introduce this the district instructional coach of the year, Miss Stacy A. Costa from Lincoln. All right. So, it's time to holler, please. Okay. Anyway, um I'd now like to call up Todd Coleman, director of certificate personnel and Gina Whipple, TA president for the teachers. You guys hear me? Good evening. Hey, I have the privilege and honor to announce this year's uh site teachers of the year and then after which we'll uh we'll announce the district teacher of the year. Again, I've got Gina Whipple here, 12 president. And if we're ready, here we go. From Amarosa to Creek Middle School, let's congratulate Jonel Williams. All right. From Desert View Elementary, Michaela Gothagan. That's Michella from Discovery Elementary. Let's give it up for Té Starson. from El Dorado Elementary, Lisa Mendoza from Endeavor Middle
022School, Jennifer Green Whale. from Bolton and Albury Academy, Gwen Herid. from Jack Northrup Elementary. Michelle Hunter from Joshua Elementary. Cynthia Hurst. from Lava Beatatric Dea from Elementary. Lisa Clean from Linda Birdie. Sarah Lopez. from Mariposa. Natalyia from Miller Elementary. Sheila Barnes. from Mont Vista Elementary. Michaela Ellis from Nancy Corey Elementary. Kathy Dennis Rice from New Vista Middle School. Michelle Ramirez from Pay Middle School. Adri Zamora from the Promise Academy. Jennifer Diaz. Can you guys make it any more quiet? I mean, all right, Sierra Elementary. Let's give it up for Jennifer Rigs. All right, we're going to do the wave in a minute. It's elementary Sharia. All right. And from Westwind Elementary, Karen Rosales. All right, guys. On the count of three, I really want you guys to just do a big celebration. Applause everything for
023the 2425 teachers of the year. 152 school district. We wanted to say thank you very much for being such great representatives of our school district. Thank you. You guys can have a seat. All right, we got somebody in the hot seat. You guys can see um if you guys all know Karen just won the West Wind Teacher of the Year. Um, and I have here with me Michelle White. She's going to say a few words about Karen real quick. Good evening. I'm Michelle White, the principal at Westwind. Uh, Westland would is extremely proud to recognize Karen Rosales as our teacher of the year. With over 30 years of elementary school teaching in West, Mrs. Rosales has left an indelible mark on the student she has served. Your impact extends far beyond academic lessons. You're shaping
024lives, building confidence, and inspiring futures. Your fellow educators have also benefited from your service and leadership. Embody the highest standards of teaching and excellence, and we are proud to recognize you as our teacher of the year. Thank you for your years of service, and we look forward to your continued encouragement and support of our students. It is for these reasons that we again congratulate Karen as West's teacher of the year, as well as the Lancaster School District teacher of the year. This recognition is welld deserved and we are so proud of you. All right. So I don't have any speech for this one. I'm gonna announce the administrator of the year, Kim Cochr, but but truly Kim is the one here in our district that stomps fires, calms people down, helps everybody when the problem
025when the going gets tough. Kim is there fixing everything. She's been an administrator for as long as I have. What are we on like 15, 16? It's crazy. But she is well regarded by everybody in this district. And actually, this is her second year in a row as administrator of the year. So, She continues whenever I call her 6:30 or whatever. But thank you so much for everything you're done. You're helping every single person in this room and the students that are in our district. So I do have some stuff for you. You don't want to open the one that's wrapped for Christmas paper at home. the president doesn't want to just look in her office soon. It'll be so that concludes our ceremony tonight. I want to say thank you once again to everybody
026who is recognized. I also want to say thank you to the family and the friends. Thank you to the board and none of them are here, but the human resources team did a a really knockout job providing all the cupcakes and the waters in the back. Want to take a photo out for employee of the year? Um, so thank you everybody. And there you have it, Mr. Giles. Thank you so much everyone. And uh we appreciate all your service and everything you've done for our district. And uh we're going to take a short break. So please enjoy the cupcakes, enjoy the waters, and thank you so much for all your service. Okay, we're going to uh move back into our board meeting and we'll start out withformational items enrollment reports. Um our enrollment as of
027Monday was total UTK students was 13,950. Early learning had 478 students for a total of 14,428. This represents a loss of one student from the last board meeting and a decline of 221 students from the same time period last year. Of that population, 1,168 identify as homeless, 345 as fostered, and 78 students have one horrible appearance as a member of the armed forces. Freeze. Uh, next we have LCAT update with Dr. Goins. All right. So, first of all, I want to say thank you for the thank you to the board for this opportunity um to just um lock this in. We're getting ready to start or finish off I should say the development of the LCAP local control and accountability plan for the 20 for the 25 26 48 year. Um so that this report
028is going to be based around um the is really going to be the last report that we're going to be doing that's going to be looking backwards. So from here on out we're going to be looking forward. So on the June 3rd board meeting that we're going to be presenting the actual new LCAP well not the new LCAP we'll be presenting the LCAP moving into the 2526 school year. Okay, this presentation will provide a final update with the most with most recent information that we have in terms of the data that we've received um currently talking about our our work with youth troops some of the and we'll be explicating some of those particular pieces to make sure everything is in line where we're moving forward with some of the recommendations that our community um
029has for us at this particular point. Um so looking into this we're going to be going to be providing a final update to the board regarding the progress of the first year of the 2427 local control accountability plan. Want to remind the board that last um last year we we uh we reuped a brand new LCAP put one to the board. We approved it that basically provided a three goal set LCAP with another two goals for equity multiplier. Um the second piece is going to be to provide an overview of the themes of our partner engagement thus far. you're going to see a little bit about what our board what our what our partners our educational partners have um said about us and where we're moving and what they're seeing us to move into moving
030into the next couple years. So remind the board that currently this is the end of the first year. Again, this is what the LCAP looks like in its totality. Um our first three goals are not in a particular order. Um, in fact, we did that on purpose because we realize that we really do need to be focusing on the whole child when we're talking about the when we're talking about an educational system. Um, so academics is definitely at the core of what we do, but we also have to make sure that equitable learning practices are involved so that we're providing our students with what they need when they need it and how they need it to be able to be successful in the schools in their in their schools and the classrooms. And finally, that
031cannot happen without a safe and secure environment, safe, secure, equitable environment. again giving kids what they need and the schools what they need in order to make maintain the the proper facilities that we have. This is important to me um specifically for our community to see because I feel that sometimes or I feel I I know that sometimes the first thing that I hear from families is that um school you don't listen um community or district you don't listen. I we do listen actually and we've actually acted upon almost every main theme that they've provided us with over the last three three to four years. We've done that for years and years and years on end. We make sure that we're consistently paying attention to what our partners are saying. Partners being our teachers, partners
032being our classified employees, partners being our leadership, our other site leaders, our district leadership, and as well as our community members. It's very important that we're talking about this. So some of the pieces that we that I'd like to bring that I'd like to bring to light here is that we do have a we've worked with inclusion. That's what they that's what they wanted. This has become something that we do do consistently throughout our system. They want that we were looking for more differentiated instruction. Turned differentiated instruction into something that we're doing on a consistent basis is training at our at our school sites. Increased resources. That's something that we have maintained throughout our school in terms of providing dual capacity to our families and have actually rolled family engagement into our into our LCAPS
033so that we were able to provide our families with strategies to support their kids their kids at home and to kind of highlight some other pieces supporting teachers with data analysis. We've been able to focus on building PLC's to our LCAP. um student access to resources. Students have access to all relevant materials and tutoring needs that they could that they would that they could need. We're moving towards high dosage tutoring into the 2526 school year. And again, continued arts. This was a big one this year in which we've expanded the arts program significantly. And this year, if you guys, many of you attended the LPAC just recently to see some of to see how big that was. Over 13,000 Well, I wouldn't say that, maybe 10,000 families were actually showed up at at some point
034in time at that particular place. So, that's a big deal. We've done some great work and have increased arts training over time. So the benefit of this update is that we're very close to having already done most of the work with you in this in terms of actually providing you the data. So it's not going to be this is not going to be a focus on data so much as it's going to be a focus on well it's going to be a focus a little focus on data but it's going to be a focus on what the data is saying and then what the themes are from a lot of that output that we're getting from. So, I want to make sure that that's going to be what we're focusing on tonight. In order to
035get there, this is some of the work that we've done over the last couple of months, well, last year and some change. I would take it back to I take I do take it back to March 2024 because that's when we really got our last major survey from handover. But with this, you're going to notice there's over 27 opportunities that we've provided educational partners to provide input um into our plans from our strategic leadership teams on into our small group strategic leadership teams all into our family engagement pieces and town hall meetings and our DAC meetings to be able to make sure that our families are getting some type of voice or getting our families and our community are getting voices into this plan. as well as um as you all know the youth choose
036survey that we give annually to provide our parents with the um opportunity to give us understanding of what's going on from their perspective a whole list of perspective. Another piece of this turns into that we've added into this year was our equity multiplier schools. Well actually last year we started doing it but this year we really ramped it up. Um we've got Joshua Monav Vista, Lincoln, Pyute, Desert View, Sierra Rise, and the Promise Academy. They're currently either equity multiplier or CSI schools. Um and those schools were all consulted um individually with the principles to be able to support understand what their needs are. They in turn are working with their school site councils to make sure that those needs are getting met. And then also we all we completed the self review um talking with
037our um our local our local special educational agency to be able to support us in what we're doing to making sure our plans are in line with what's going on at that level. So a couple things here little bit of data here that I wanted to make sure pointed out. So and I'm going to focus on a couple main areas but I want to make sure we understand what the data is saying. Um this data is measured as a percentage of percent positive responses. For example, when we say 92% perceive higher expectations from teachers, we are or 92% um perceive higher expectations from teachers, we are saying that 92% of our respondents responded positively on a scale saying that they felt that their teachers had a positive and had high expectations of them. That meant
038that they scored on a scale from one to five either a four or a five. So that is a pretty significant jump from where it was where it was in the past from it went to 92% in the 2425 school year from n from 84% in the previous 23 24 year. So that was a big deal. Something to think about and some work that we're going to have to do moving forward. That's 66% from 80% perceiving that they are supported by their teachers is something that we may need to be able to figure out how what kind of resources we need to provide students in that particular space to be able to build that up. We also saw a huge gain from our families and their ability to understand that they believe that their schools
039foster shared goals, respect and fairness and diversity. That's from 70 that's to 74% from 69%. So that's a significant gain as well. So we do have a positive look from our elementary schools as to what the perception is in our in our school. The middle schools we have a positive perception from our students. This data suggests that there is a serious need for our middle schools to support and work with families to a deeper degree specifically um with decision making and getting families ability to get their voices heard. with our middle school staff. A high point is that we have increased our culture of shared vision, respect and communication. So our staff and our staff is our staff is saying that we do provide the opportunity for vision visioning and being able to build those
040pieces with the um to build those pieces with the site administration. And our middle school students are also saying that they're receiving support from their teachers as well. Again, the areas is more on that communication back to the amies that this is happening so that they can have the understanding that this is something that is a big deal to us and that we're making sure it's happening. So, it just turns into that home it seems to be the home to school communication piece. So, this data right here is the most recent um midyear ready data and what I did was I compared it from I compared it from one year to the next. So this is um English language arts in this particular perspective and from this particular chart shows that we're about 1% we
041have about a 1% gain in our English language arts from the midyear last year. It's not a huge gain. That's something that shows that we do have to do we have some more work to do here um to speed that closure of gaps along to make that happen. have 1% gain of students who have 1%. We are gonna have a 1% gain in in terms of the students who have moved from are two year two or more years below to that one year below. And we have a 1% loss in terms of those students who are at that position of two or more years or below in terms of their reading skills. In math, the data is very much the same about 1% difference from one year to the next midyear at the midyear time.
042So mathematics we seem to be about in the same area with a 1% increase at midyear for students at or above and students dropping from the two or more grade levels below by about 1%. So it's about the same type of information. However, there are some bright points here and I want to point these out because this is something that I think is huge and I think we were celebrating this in our earlier meeting today sale our earlier sale meeting or trainings this or this afternoon. So currently or last year we were at 36.2% chronically absent with a gain of five or with a decline of 52 5.7% last year. This year we're looking to be around the 30% mark in terms of our chronically absent right now today. So that means chronically absent is
043defined as a student who is absent 10 or 10 or more 10% or more of the year. So if they're we have 180 days of the school year. If they're absent 18 days, that makes them chronically absent. They're absent 17 days, they are no longer. So instead of 10% markers that we're trying to that we're trying to keep them under. Um our attendance rate actually that's not on this particular document is actually higher than it's been in the last couple of years, which means that we're starting to see that COVID rebound. The benefit to this is that this is considered a leading or a leading indicator that's going to support our language arts, our math, and our movement towards um access towards our students doing better later on. This one is probably one of the
044in my minds one of the biggest ones of the portions of the leading indicators that we really are that I'm that I'm I'm focused around in this particular area 6.6% we saw 6.6 last year we saw 6.6% suspension rate with an increase of 0.1%. Currently our rate of suspension and this is when I say our rate of suspension I mean a student who suspended once. So, every student that's been suspended, not every suspension, we have a current suspension rate of four and a half% and that was as of Friday when I walked out of the office um and at the end of the school day. So, based on this was based on current enrollment. If this remains constant, we will experience a 2.1% decrease in our suspension rates which will be a significant decrease in
045suspension for us. Um currently to date we have 659 students of our who are who have been responsible for 197 suspensions in total throughout the district with 23 21 schools. So all that being said this data has been shared with all of our all of our partners and they have seen it. They have diagnosed it. They have played with it. I've had them do small group work with it. And this is what we've come up with. There needs to be a focus on empathy, equity, and engagement from all staff, classified, certificated all the way through. That's something to work on. That was something coming from our town hall meetings. Proactive mental health supports. We're feel like we're doing a pretty good job with the mental health supports at this point. We feel like we can
046ramp that up. Most people really appreciate those that work that we're doing. Safe, fair, and inclusive practices. We've got that. I feel in a very good space and we've been focusing on that for the last couple years and we continue we will continue to do so. Opportunities to lead belong for the kids. So the kids being having the opportunity to have a voice in their academics and in their lives. One of the kids I actually did a focus group yesterday um at Miller and couple weeks ago or a week ago I did one at Amarosa Creek Middle School and the week before that or last week was Endeavor Middle School and then the week before that was Amarosa Creek. I'm sitting there talking to these students. One of the beautiful things that they're saying is
047that we're having the opportunity to be able to say what we want and we're getting it from our our staff is listening to us. They like that. So that's something that is a big deal for our kids. They want that voice. They have that opportunity those they have those opportunities. Then we have academic support and access um mastery based advancement. Um the idea this is something that our parents came up with the idea of mastering skills and moving forward. This is very much in line with the work that um that Miss Thompson is doing right now with standardsbased grading. So that's as that rolls out that's going to be something that's going to be super supportive for our our families and they're going to love being able to see that. That's one of the things
048they really want to see. Um also universal tutoring. Um this is going to turn into our high dosage tutoring that's coming in and we also have tutors already in our system right now after school program and during the school program through our AVID program through AVID as well. So we've done some good work in it in acquiring those. And then grading clarity. Obviously with standards grading, parents want to make sure that they know what they're how they're holding their kids accountable at home and what they're doing with their children. The last little bit here talks about classroom environment. Um not going to lie, all parents um all of our families are in favor of small class sizes and prep courses in the summer prior to them um having the opportunity to for kids to come
049back to school. Parental involvement and accountability. the parents um and the families were asking for more parental involvement and accountability um for the parents in in some of those areas. Um positive parent engagement, they want more positive parent engagement, language specific needs as well. Social emotional and mental health is a again not just for the kids but also sometimes for the family as a whole. So some of that work too. So reach reaching that and again through uh Mr. Yum's department, student family services. That's a that's something that we are actually focusing on working. And then again, enrichment and motivation, reading lists for the breaks. They want their kids to do homework during summer and during um during those off times, Christmas or winter break and during spring break as well. So, so at this
050particular point, this is where we are at in terms of our family engagement in terms of the LCAP. We are getting ready to move into the actual building of the actual plan and we'll be rolling that plan out to you um on June 3rd. You'll be getting it in front of you on June 3rd to be able to look towards approval for the next for the following board meeting I believe on June 17th. Are there questions? It's hard to follow people getting awards. I'm going to tell you about that. It's not easy and it's not fair. It's okay. We were told you were going to do it an hour and a half. I'm going to give you that one presentation very much. So, no questions as usual. Thank you very much. Next we have individual
051action items superintendent of resolution 2024 536 closure of leadership academy. So yes we don't take this lightly. The closure of one of our schools the leadership academy um um is very small. Also, the impact on the community is not great. However, we were really fortunate to be able to transfer many of um the former students into our Cubs program at our various sites across the district and that seems to be working well. We're going to continue to provide support and resources for our Cubs program so that they can continue to have success with this group of our students. So, um they're asking for the board to officially close the learning academy and um move on to future cussion by Mr. Second by miss any comments or discussion I agree a lot effort into that sure
052if he's still here Very good. Thank you for the student. Yes, it's definitely has uh served its purpose over the years. I know it served a lot of students and their families provide an alternative uh that helped those students uh get back into the mainstream uh education and a lot of them went right back to their school sites. Uh but I'm glad we're continuing that program. We're just putting it at the school sites already. So I think they'll have even more services they'll be able to have at school. All in favor? I I carries 30. Okay. Next we have individual action items business adoption of resolution 2024 2538 temporary transfers from the schools fund maintain by the Los Angeles County treasurer. We have a motion. Any discussion? All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries 30.
053Next we have item Bion of resolution 2024 25339 prairie inner fund cash borrowing. We have a motion by M by Mr. W. Any discussion? All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries 30. Next item 15, visual action items, human resources, approval of assistant principal. Carla Tobar, Carla Tobar. We have a motion by Mr. W by Musler. All right, Mr. Stovar has been in education for 17 years in New York and California. This is her ninth year with the Lancaster School District and she is presently the coordinator of assessment integrated technology and multil- language multilingual learners. She earned her mers of science and education in a bilingual teaching extension from the city of New York City University of New York Hunter College and a master of education from UCLA principal leadership institute. She is proudly training for
054her third half marathon. And then lastly, Carla enjoys new adventures with her husband, visiting photography exhibitions and listening to audio books. She's with us in the audience. And you'd like to have a vote. All in favor? I post. Motion carries. Congratulations. So, I wanted to say thank you so much for this opportunity. I'm excited to continue uh being of service to Lancaster School District and United is a really special place. I was lucky to be a teacher there for many years and I'm really excited to soon return to continue supporting all the incredible students, staff, and families at the school. And I'm really excited to be working alongside uh Lina Verde's incredible uh principal and to continue the amazing work that's happening there. And I also want to thank Cindy Queen, the director of AIM
055for her supporting leadership and my credit role. And my husband is here uh members of the wonderful Eli family and my family might be watching on YouTube. So thank you so much and I look forward to a great school year. Next we have approval of expanded learning opportunities coordinator Darren Marquez. Do I have a motion by Miss Hussler? Second Mr. W. Any comments discussion? Mrs. Marquez has worked in education for 20 years. She started as an afterchool team lead, promoted to instructional assistant, and became a teacher at Discovery Elementary as a second and fifth grade teacher. She has found great passion in supporting Discovery as a key component for after school programs and assisting by being their administrative design. Her educational accomplishments consist of two credentials and two master's degrees. She's a proud wife and
056mother of four amazing children. Karen is also passionate about the basketball program she developed with AB Hoop Arena, focusing on children with special needs. Her hobbies consist of quality time spent with family and friends, camping, snowboarding, and boating. And she's also with us in the audience. All in favor? I post. Congratulations. I just want to say thank you for this opportunity. I look forward to working with Erie Robinson and all the children in the after school program and expanded learning opportunities. Today my husband joins me and our four children for this new accomplishment. Thank you again. Next we have approval of coordinator of special education Nicole. A motion from Mor discussion. Certainly Nicole has been a school psychologist in the Lancaster school district for 10 years. She currently supports Bolton and Albury as well as
057various schools around the district on special assignment. Nicole graduated Suma Kumloud with with honors from California State University of Northridge with her mers in school psychology. Professionally, she is proud to support Lancaster School District and area SULPA through many different staff trainings, developing the manual for identifying students with learning disabilities with the patterns of strength and weakness model. This is a long one, supporting school psychologist interns, and her role in the creation and implementation of the district's alternative dispute resolution program this year. Nicole enjoys spending time with her family, painting, and camping, and she's with us in the audience. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I bless over 10 years now. Real quick. All in favor? I motion carries. Congratulations. Thank you. And next item D, we have approval of principal Martine Herrera second
058by Mr. W. Any discussion? Currently the assistant principal at Discovery Elementary School, Mr. Herrera has had the privilege of serving in education for 27 years. First as a parent educator, teacher, assistant principal, and principal. He is proud of his resilience to get back on his feet even when setbacks knock him down and take the wind out of him. In his free time, Mr. Herrera enjoys casual hiking and watching his favorite sports teams, the Dodgers, Lakers, and Raiders. And all in favor even though you're a Dodger still vote yes carries 30. Welcome. Okay. Honored, grateful all the people that were involved in election process. with this important role. I'm looking forward to environment. Very great. Thank you. And next we have item E approval of supervisor of operation four byler second Mr. Wait, any discussion? Jason
059started with the Lancaster School District 24 years ago as a substitute custodian and worked his way into the maintenance department where he's been for the past 21 years. He worked his way up from custodian one to maintance three to maintenance four to maintenance five to maintenance to maintenance six lead. He is proud of his contri contributions and leadership on many remodel projects by creating full and Osbury site remodeling the park view educational complex and most recently the site 27 renovation which has transformed it into a new facility and home for the maintenance and operations departments. When not at work, Jason enjoys camping with his family, visiting new places, and trying new things. Vote in favor I post motion carries. Welcome. Okay. And with that, we'll uh let's hear a great round of applause for all
060our uh new. And next we have individual action items. Student and family services approval of agreement for AVID tutors with agents. Do we have a motion? We have a vote to pull it. We can we can pull that. We have a motion by Mr. Wayne. We have a second. And that's for to the next meeting. All in favor item six. Next meeting. And that brings us to addressing the board. Any individuals who wish to address the board may complete his part and present any supporting documents to assistant or other district official prior to the start of the meeting. Personal information such as student, parent and guardians name, address, phone number, date of birth, email or other directory information is as defined at code 49061 may be excluded from the minutes of the meeting by submitting
061a written request to superintendent. Board president shall recognize individuals who wish to speak, individuals wishing to present testimony to the board concerning specific items on the agenda. I do so once that item has been moved seconded and is on the floor for discussion. I have limits of three minutes per person and 20 minutes per item shall be allowed bylaws 9322. Board members may ask questions for clarification per purposes. However, no action may be taken and no discussion may take place on an item not on the posted agenda for the Brown Act. Uh first we have comments from PTA CSA [Music] Als that we're going on to item 18 agenda item superintendent items 18A to 18B. We have a motion by Musler second by Mr. Wing. Any discussion? All in favor? I posted motions carry 30.
062Next we have 19 second items. Business items 19 slave hold we have a Mr. Wler any discussion You recall, Mr. Win, there are two buildings here on the the Park View campus. Uh just north of the TLA facility and south of uh room 1617 18. Those are are two of the older 1940s design buildings uh that were showing u being seismically compromised and they could no longer house people period. So uh the plan has always been to demolish both but we're going to take it one step at a time. So this is uh one of those two. Any further discussion? All in favor? I opposed. Motions carried 30. Item 20, consent agenda items, educational services, items 28 to Mr. Any discussion? All in favor? I opposed. Motions carry 30. Um 21 consent agenda items. Human
063Resource Services favor Item 22, consent agenda items, student and family services, items 22A to 22ler by Mr. W to uh see dental hygiene practice various miles on our camp. um you had on that are it's just nice to be able to explore the community. This is one of those along with Penny Lane and others that really speaks to us supporting our lane has helped a lot with counseling a lot of the kids and uh it's a huge asset. our community health and our schools. A lot of great organizations. Uh with that, all in favor motions 30 legislative and policy discussion. at second reading for some and first reading discussion moves us on to comments from the board and superintendent start with Miss I work with Nishimoto um early on in my career here in the
064Lancaster School District and it was great to hear um giving him such accolades. Um wonderful person, wonderful teacher and great award to congratulations to all employees that are recognized tonight. Um I know that they're just a sampling of the wonderful people that we have in the district. Um and it's great to see people come out and um and want to really celebrate with them. Uh, I'll say congratulations all of our new administrators. I have their names written down, but I saw that they all kind of um I won't read their names, but um thank you and and I think that they'll do a wonderful job. It looks like a great group of people. Healthcap, thank you, Jordan. Um, again, wonderful presentation. Um, it's good to hear about the truth survey. It's nice to hear what
065community has to say, what the kids have to say, what staff has to say. Um, and good to see that there are some areas where we're growing. [Music] and a lot of uh especially the new employees that we have, not employees, but the new special education Um, Justin, congratulations. I hope you follow in your father's footsteps. It's all the others that loaded Thank you Mike. Thank you John. Thank you Charles bringing us some great employees of the year. have to a second round of applause to her because she is my grandson's she has moving on from six fortunately that I wished he could stay there but he's moving on to the others I like my grandson has a baseball game tonight. I he did that on his phone when I did not know how he
066does not know but they hang up. This boy says hello room say hello wish you the best and uh spoke to her and she's doing well in St. us. So, everyone that is part of this district, thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. W. I just want to acknowledge like everyone else and echo um uh the celebration for all of our employees of the year. What a fantastic opportunity to recognize uh individuals that exemplify our professions across the district. I know you're absolutely right when we say that they represent the many many um individuals that do outstanding uh work with our our community, our families, our facilities, our students um throughout our district. So, I also want to acknowledge that this week is classified appreciation week in our district. So, we will be spending the
067week celebrating all of our classified employees and all the wonderful work they do from the classroom to the offices to the to our fields uh our kitchens and and throughout our district. So, I just want to acknowledge them this week and celebrate them too. So, thank you. Thank you, Dr. Maria. And I'd like to u repeat what everyone has said. A great celebration. I always love to see the them walking up the aisle with the flowers. I think that's a neat part of our celebration. And I like the photo um opportunity we have here at the back. I thought that was really cool in like that. Um again, uh it's great to see all those teachers and staff and that all the hard work they're putting in and for them to be celebrated. Um thank
068you Dr. Goins for the LCAP update. Um was neat to see uh our arts programs. Had a chance to go to the uh one of the Eltech performances and that was neat because I know we used to do that before with our fundraising. It was neat to see that returning and kids and families loved it. they has had so much fun with that and glad to see uh up and suspensions are down and it was neat to see the input from the different uh groups and I'm glad that we're expanding our partners with our families. Also was neat to see uh the ideas for future uh what we can do. Uh and um congratulations to all the new uh appointees. Great to see their enthusiasm and all the different positions. We look forward to working
069with them. Um close to the end of the school year. So up the good work everybody and thank you so much. With that we will adjourn at 7:50. motion. Yes, sir. Second by Mr. W. All in favor zero. Well, good night everybody. Let's take some cupcakes.