001Great. Welcome everybody to the Tuesday, November 8th morning meeting of the board of education. It's not the morning. Um I don't know if they can see the confetti paper on the ground on the cameras, but we were just thrilled to recognize what was that Dr. Stepp over a thousand years of service today. That was fantastic. Thank you for organizing that. The energy that you always bring to that and to our incredible staff um who really make this district such a special place. It was that was a lot of fun. Um, with that, why don't we call the meeting to order and I would love to invite up Brandon Girtz to do the flag salute. Please stand. Place your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States
002of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. May be seated. Thank you. >> All right. Uh I don't have anything to report out of close session, I don't think. Is that correct? Excellent. Okay. Um, nothing to report out of close session. Uh, may I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> Some move. A second. >> There's a motion and a second. All those in favor of approving the agenda. Student >> I. >> Board. >> I. Motion passes. May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the uh October 28th meeting. >> So moved. >> I second. It's a motion to second. All those in favor. Student board vote. I >> board I. and I'll abstain. >> You were absent. Yeah.
003Yeah. Motion passes. Thank you. Um with that, Dr. Steppp, turn over you for superintendent board communications. Mr. President, we have two recognitions, student and staff. If you join me at the podium, we'll start off with our student, Brandon. Come on down. It's my uh pleasure to uh welcome uh Brandon to our meeting tonight. Brandon Girtz is a senior uh at Agora High School. He's been recently named a semi finalist in the Coca-Cola scholarship program. There's 1,200 students uh seniors who were selected out of a pool of 110,000. So, he is already in the top 1%. >> Mr. President. >> Oh gosh. >> Uh I don't even know where to start. I looked at your I mean I didn't know you could get a 4.5 GPA. I didn't know that was possible. Um so clearly off
004the charts stratospheric student we are so proud of you. Uh we could probably go on and on. We have a proclamation for you just how proud we are of what you've done. When do we find out the next step? >> Uh likely over the next several weeks. >> Oh great. I hope you'll keep us informed. We're all rooting for you. We know we're going to see great things from you. Thank you on behalf of the whole district for the example that you set and we're really excited to see what comes next. the uh >> if the school board would join us down here, we'll take a picture and as the board is assembling a little more about uh Brandon the scholarship he's up for, there'll be 150 scholarships issued in the next couple weeks worth
00520,000. As Mr. Lawrence mentioned, he's not only has a 4.5 GPA, has a 4.54 GPA and a 1510 on the SAT. Brandon also participated at the University of Chicago's Youth Innovators Climate and Energy Program. He's founder and president of the Climate and Ecology Club at Agora. He's the lead tenor sax player for Agora, earning recognition from essentially Ellington International Jazz Festival, Stanford Jazz Institute, and Los Angeles Youth Phil Harmonic. He gives back also. He's a peer tutor, SAT mentor, youth leadership academy participant, and tech support specialist for Los Angeles. Brandon gets from that. Thank you. Next up, Dr. Cipher, uh, we'll be doing our classified employee of the month. Mr. President, members of the board, it's my absolute honor and pleasure to bring to you our classified employee of the month for October. Uh this
006gentleman is an incredibly uh gifted individual uh quick rapid learner as he's been on the job and uh has attention to detail that I absolutely uh absolutely admire and I'm jealous of actually. And uh we so and he's also an extremely positive and flexible individual. We as as you can kind of see in front of us, we like to make a big show and we recognize people and uh we were uh recognizing this individual for employee of the month and uh he's a he's a at the time he was a warehouse uh delivery uh employee of ours. So he is he's at 14 different sites so we don't know what site he's at. We asked some sources where where he was and they said Lupin Hill. And so we were like terrific. So we headed
007to Loopen Hill. We get to Loopen Hill. We go to the office and we ask the office manager, you know, where is he? And uh he she says, "Well, he's with Dr. Marzuk." So, we barge in to Dr. Marzuk's office and uh the gentleman was uh he was Martine was in an interview uh which we did not know about. So, we disrupted the interview and uh shot some confetti. How did the interview go? Okay. >> Yeah, exactly. The funny the funny part was we saw some candidates outside after we just celebrated him. So, uh it and it looks like it went well. He's now a plant manager for us and uh congratulations to him and we'd love to if we can invite uh Martine up and if we can invite uh Scott and David to
008share a few words about >> Mr. President, members of the board, cabinet, it is my pleasure uh to be here to recognize uh our team. Really, I remember your interview and uh I was on the panel. I said, "However the majority decides the decision, I use a lot of sports analogies. This is a blue chipper. There's something here. My gut feeling tells me this is going to this person's going to do something great in the district." And truly, he has. and he's been a big integral part in the cultural shift in the maintenance and operations department where we're really trying to bring that customer service factor and that smiles on faces and greeting and being that team and family atmosphere back there. And this gentleman has done that since day one every day without fail.
009Um resilient and adaptable um just by quick rise. welldeserved uh one of the hardest workers and absolute pleasure uh to work with and um we're super proud of you and you're going to do amazing things at Loop and Hill. So, thank you. So, >> uh I'll say a couple things. I I I um the role you're about to play at Lupin is so important, not just because of the physical plant, but because you'll probably see our students, you'll probably see more students every day than almost anybody else on campus. I know the bond that my kids had with his Roberto at Sumac. It is it's LA. They go back to see him to this day because of the care and passion he had for the kids, not just the grounds. I can tell you bring
010that. That's so exciting. Boy, are we giving you a big assignment. Lupin Hill is I mean this is a school that we are changing the entire concept of what a school plant is. I think you're going to have goats at some point. I don't know if they told you that. Goats are coming. Uh chickens. Uh a full outdoor campus and environment. Something we've never done this district before. And it's great to know that it's in such capable hands. So on behalf of the district, thank you for all that you've done and thank you for what's coming. And yeah, if the goats if you didn't tell about the goats yet, you're going to have goats. Thank you so much. >> There we go. >> Thank you everybody. Um I just want to say thank you for
011this for for this award. It truly does mean a lot to me and I couldn't have done it without the support of my of my maintenance team and the and the maintenance leadership that I have be like behind me too. I couldn't have done it without my wife that's that's always here with me support supporting everyone else. >> Thank you so much. I really I I really do appreciate it. Thank you. You can come down for work because you are a member. Oh gosh. Okay. Mr. President, members of board, a couple other uh things to share about the school district. Uh Miss Cupill and Miss Stein uh had the opportunity to visit year one for the uh ribbon cutting of their brand new field. Super exciting to see the kids on that photo uh and
012the joy and smile on their faces. Um, it is a fantastic addition to that campus. Parents are thrilled. Next slide, Mr. Glenn. Museum of Tolerance. Also visit our high school. Second year in a row. This is a brand new feature from the Museum Museum of Tolerance. It is the mobile Museum of Tolerance working on combating hate in all types of forms. On the right hand photo, you can see students in the actual uh trailer itself. Uh, receiving a module on education. Um and again trying to teach our students um the right way uh to go and how to identify hate speech and and content and uh push back on it and alert adults. Next slide. Sumac also celebrated their Dia de los Muertos. Uh beautiful event and there's a spread from the acorn right there.
013Um Miss Logan and her team do a fantastic job of that every year as well. Next slide. Uh AE Wright, I think this is the first time I'm ever aware of this, but Aight has eight students going to the state all-star choir and band. They are uh Benjamin Roberts, eighth grader. He's a tener. Um Isla Ortman, eighth grader. She's an alto. Ma, eighth grader soprano. Ella Hilo, seventh grader soprano. Uh Ava Joshi, seventh grader. Uh he uh she plays the tuba. She's the one in the going in the band. Hana Miller, seventh grader soprano. Ellie Adar, seventh grader. Alto Austin Hogan seventh grader Alto as well. So super excited for those students representing us in the all state band and choir. Next slide. Uh Agora just had the miracle worker in their performing arts center.
014Congratulations that performance. And later this week, Calabasas will be launching 12th night. Um it starts I think Tuesday night, runs through Saturday. Two performances on Saturday. I'll be there Thursday to check that out. Uh so if you're interested, jump on the uh performing arts education center for tickets for that. Next slide. We have a whole bunch of things going on in the athletic realm. Um Agora is not only um Tri County Champion, they're advancing to the semi-final game this Friday night. Um see, I've got a heck of a lot of notes here. They are playing Ventura at Agora High School. So that'll be a 700 p.m. game. They won their first two games by beating Summit and Orange Vista in overtime by one point. Congratulations to the Chargers. Calabas football also had a great season.
015Uh they made the playoffs and beat Elsagundo in the first round and lost unfortunately by one point in the second round. But cong congratulations to both teams and sets of young men. Next slide. I mentioned this earlier. Super exciting. Um Auror's playoff tennis. Uh they are playing in the division 4 championship tomorrow against Oaks Christian. Um so we're super excited about Agora and the potential to beat Oaks Christian. And Calabasas is in um I don't remember which division they're in. I think they're in division two, sorry. And they are playing Harvard Westlake tomorrow as well in their championship game. And they beat um Harvard Westlake earlier in the year. So we wish the Coyotes and the Chargers both uh good luck tomorrow night. >> And next slide. That concludes superintendent communication. >> Great. Mr. Sele,
016>> my communications are mostly the same. Oh, it's Oh, it's broken again. >> There we go. Now it's >> Now it's fixed. >> Now I'm good. Okay, cool. Uh, so mine are mostly the same as superintendent because I'm going to flaunt how good Agora High School sports is. So, uh, Agora High School is dominating on the field with varsity football making it to the CIF semi-finals. Along with that, our girls tennis team has been extremely successful making it all the way to the CIF finals. Agore also won the cross country league championships two weeks ago. Um, now besides for sports, Agore has restarted its charter of the month program, uh, where we recognize faculty members on our campus. This month was Miss Anesto, a special education teacher. Along with that, we're hosting numerous events and
017fundraisers. Most mo most notable is Jazz and Java, uh, being put up by our sophomore class office. And then lastly, we have silent auction coming up where student council students have gained donations from local numer uh, from numerous local businesses to auction off to support our school. The auction will be held from December 1st to December 8th. Over at Calabasas, uh they have been very busy as they prepare for Thanksgiving break. Football concluded an excellent season last Friday as Mr. Stephanowski mentioned. Uh girls tennis is playing their championship game tonight. Um and also the Mobile Museum of Tolerance came to campus to speak to 9th grade students. Uh the seniors are also hosting AC's candy fundraiser. That's all. >> Thank you very much, Miss Lazar. Um, as I uh draw to the end of my
018first year on the board, I'm still attending a couple of events for the very first time and I just particularly enjoyed the distinguished service awards today and just so grateful to all of our staff who you have given more than thousand years of service. That's an extraordinary figure and just felt so much warmth and love in the room and at times like these just feel so very proud to be part of our ELVUSD community. I uh attended the full concert at CHS a couple weeks back. Uh and it was it was really cool. They held it outside in the quad. It was an outdoor concert which I believe is quite a new thing. And I was really struck just by the range of different types of musical performances. There were everything from orchestral woodwind ensembles
019to amazing jazz groups and amazing vocal groups. I was just really blown away by them. Uh so fantastic concert. I'll be attending uh the fork concert at AHS next month and very much looking forward to seeing that as well. Uh in Agura Hills, I attended the state of the city address which uh state of the city sounded like it was going to be pretty state event and it was actually very entertaining. They put on quite a show. There was a great art show and amazing singing and dancing and uh Mayor Sylvester gave a wonderful speech and congrats to her uh for her year as mayor. I uh did attend the MU mobile museums of tolerance which have been coming to CHS and AHS. Uh principal Aisto kindly invited me to join a uh a human
020geography class uh in inside the mobile museum and I was very impressed. Uh I was quite struck by the fact that the museum of tolerance of course was founded to commemorate the Holocaust you know the Nazi genocide. uh but the programming in the mobile museum was really oriented towards the challenges we face today. It really talked about social media and how social media spreads hate, spreads misinformation and truly uh encouraging our teenagers to be mindful and aware of how hate is spread through social media when they're looking at it. So I really thought it was very very positive uh program and I'm so glad uh that we have it in our schools and uh that's it for me. Thank you. Great, Miss Magus. >> So, I want to uh reiterate uh I was president. >>
021Go ahead. >> reiterate that tonight's uh um longevity uh celebration was really special and it's it's so exciting to see. Not only were the teachers here um working from um 15 years on, but some of them even spent their entire career um elementary through graduating from high school here. And that they would come back and and be teachers in our districts just really speaks volumes for the district. And also along with Mr. Lazar. Um, Miss Stein and I were at the Agora Hills um, state of the city and uh, Mayor Sylvester spent years involved with the school districts and part of her u role as mayor she included um, visiting a lot of our schools that are located in Agora Hills and her theme was um, lights, camera, inclusion and it was just a very
022special I think it was one of the better state of the cities that I've been to. Great. this time. >> Thank you very much. Is my mic on? Oh, yeah. Okay, sit back, relax. Where are my photos? Okay. Um, so Mrs. Cutville and I had the opportunity to visit a few schools and one of them we went to was um, uh, AC Stell. We visited the central kitchen and they have a hydroponic, uh, garden really that grows cucumbers and peppers and they're incorporating it into their food for students and staff. It's amazing. and they have new equipment in there and there that central kitchen is in charge of feeding uh all 10,000 students in our district. So kudos to them. They're constantly working on new menu items, having tastings at different schools so students can
023taste the food, doing scratch kitchen. They are growing, learning, and improving all the time. So kudos to them. >> I would just say update on uh from the the focus group. Uh the chicken sandwich is really popular. So, uh, whoever brought the crispy chicken sandwich in, it's it's very popular. All the kids, all the kids talking about it. So, it's two for two. They like pizza and crispy chicken sandwich >> and sushi. They have sushi now. So, uh, they're they're hitting some home runs. Um, next, ah, I got the opportunity. I was invited to Ms. Levvenberg's, um, statistics class at Calabasis High, and I heard that um, Dr. Ciphers was a little sad he wasn't invited. Is that true? Okay, good. It it was very interesting. They are this the math departments are working on
024the uh book and the theory or whatever of building thinking classrooms and they have these whiteboards all over the classroom and the students are broken out into um groups where they're working collaboratively to solve um really everyday problems. So this problem and Dr. Scon was there as well. Uh this problem was uh how many oh I'm not gonna I'm not I'm not gonna get it right. How many the distance or something steps it steps and height of students had to >> she really paid attention. So she was enraptured by this. >> Well I wasn't the only one confused. The students were too. But anyway so they did a great job. was they had to go up to the football field on their own time and figure out how many steps from one end to the
025other and put and and input their height because obviously taller students had wider strides, right? And then they had to graph it, a scatter graph. So I was there during the whole period learning, listening, and asking questions of the students and they did a great job and they love it the idea of getting up and moving around. So um kudos to Miss Levvenberg and all of our math departments and Dr. scone for um all of your support of our new math curriculum and new ways of teaching math. So um >> over the donuts for I see boxes of donuts. >> I brought them in for the students. >> That's what you notice. >> Not sure not sure we're allowed to bring sex in the classrooms. I'm pretty sure that's >> ahead of time. I got
026clearance ahead of time. So needless to say, I was their favorite person of the day. Okay. So, we also visited Bay Laurel to look at where we took out some classrooms and look at facilities and that was really wonderful to see. We visited Round Meadow and I must say our schools just look great. So, Dr. Gleason and your home maintenance team, kudos. Kudos. The work is fast. Um, and uh our leaky roofs are less, but we still have some. And the schools look great. Um, what else can I say? Uh, >> that's a lot. >> Thank you. And do you want to mention the sheriff? Okay. Okay, that's it for me. You >> uh great. Thanks. I'll I'll be quick. Um uh uh Mr. Zar and I had a great chance to be I don't
027think we've met since we had our meeting with the city council. Maybe I'm remembering wrong. >> Uh no, I don't think we have. >> But we had our we have our regular Calbas meeting with the cities, which was very good to check in with them on a quarterly basis. Parking, driving, traffic issues, top of the list. Um and some other options, but they're they're great partners. We appreciate them very much. Uh, and the Mstein had a chance to sit down with the new captain in the Lost Hills Sheriff's Department. Um, it was a great conversation. We really went through quite a number of things. Um, we talked a lot about uh, vaping. We talked a lot about uh, motorized bicycles, ebiking. We talked a lot about uh, the J team and the support for student
028safety. Um, and uh, it's great to know we have such a really great partner with Lo Sheriff's Department. They they take this seriously. They're engaged. They're plugged in. Um, and uh, I think our captain had big shoes to fill, but I think he's going to be just great. I I I appreciate how plugged in and attentive he was. Um, so with that, we'll move to public comment. I only have one card. Um, Sheldon Lander. Um, for items not on the agenda. Mr. Lander, going to come to the microphone. You have three minutes. The board can't engage in a dialogue with you because it's not on the agenda, the topic you're here to talk about. Is there a beep or buzz at some point? >> Okay, beeps, but you'll see your time on the screen when
029we start. I'm at the top of his full three minutes there and then Mr. Lander, the stage is yours. >> All right. Before I go into my presentation, first of all, I'd like to compliment uh these teachers after 25 and 35 years in teaching and education. It's I'm 65 years in the teaching. I've been doing this. And number two, I noticed on the screen there that you had, this doesn't go on my three minutes, by the way. Uh I noticed on the screen there that you guys are involved with the Museum of Tolerance. Uh it's really good that you have these kids go there because I did go there for the for with a couple of groups. Uh I'm a product of that by the way. So >> we we're lucky I made it out
030and part of my family made it out and so on like that. But anyways, few things that I just need to talk with you on. I want to get this thing through and so on. Tonight, I'm here to address the address on three instances of unprofessional conduct by individuals at Agura High School during the 23 and 24-year school year. Science teacher, Miss Neielson, made false accusations, slanderous remarks against Mr. Lander. She claimed that he waited for her by the vehicle, but there's absolutely no evidence to support this claim. Two cameras cover that parking lot, which disproves her claim. She also denied he was disrupting her class. against there is absolutely no evidence of her claim. How can this be when I'm in two places at the same time in my classroom and inside here? Impossibility.
031The information was then relayed to Miss Neielson's department head, Miss Veron. Miss Veron is a union representative passed on by Paul. She passed on the false information to the special education department head. Passing this false information about employees is not only slanderous but also a breach of confidentiality and constitutes unprofessional conduct. This is a serious offense that may result in termination from the district. Both Mr. Leisto and doc Mr. Ciphers knew of these false accusations and all Mr. Pilipisto could say was and I quote, "This is what it was told to me. Mr. Leisto and Mr. Ciphers both refused to do their due diligence to get to the truth. Mr. Cypus signed a legal document under penalty of perjury stating that these accusations are true even though he knew they were false that constitutes perjury.
032Neither of these claims can be proven and as such are dishonest statements. Neither Miss Nielsson nor Mr. Vernon or Miss Vernon has been given any consequences for other professional conduct and dishonesty while Mr. Lander received consequences for absolutely no reason. There are three instances in which Mr. Lander was assessed by harassed by students, sexually harassed by students and by employees, Miss Hygel, all of which were reported to Mr. Leisto, and he refused to take the proper steps to remediate this harassment. First, a student took an image of Mr. Lander and had it printed on the t-shirt, wore it around campus, and so on. The same student then chose to wear it to a class, and the third time another student wore it around campus. This was deemed harassment after a third offense and nothing was
033done. By the way, that complaint was made to the district and the district did nothing with that. Three students in Mr. Lander's class decided to bring an adult toy and pass it around and it eventually ended up attached to an engine oil pan because of in the automotive program. Not only is this a sexual harassment of Mr. Lander, but also the 30 plus students that were in his class. One of the student was removed from the class and the other two were only suspended for two periods. Ed code 48900.2 recommends the other. The third, Miss Higgelson, pornographic, highly pornographic text messages to Mr. Lander that constituted sexual harassment and the school employee. I have evidence right here with me to show the text messages from that and what was done and so on like that.
034>> I appreciate your time is up, sir. I appreciate you coming in. Thank you very much. >> I'm sorry. Your time's up. Three minutes is what you're allowed. So, thank you for coming. >> Can I continue with this? >> I'm afraid not. We have to keep it consistent for everybody who speaks. You can >> You really don't want me to continue the whole thing. >> Nobody here that will take it. I need one more minute. >> We hold it consistently so it's fair for everybody. >> Can I take one more minute from you? >> You cannot. I appreciate you coming in though. So, thanks so much. >> I don't appreciate that. I really don't. >> Thank you. We'll move on to the next item. Uh takes us to consent A. Um uh is there a
035motion? I >> move >> I move to approve consent A. I'll second. >> There's a motion, a second to approve consent A. Uh, student board. Any questions from the board? >> Nope. Uh, student preference vote? >> I. >> Board vote >> I. Motion passes unanimously. Uh, consent B. >> I move to approve consent B. >> I second. >> There's a motion second. This is a board vote only. All those in favor? >> I. >> Motion passes unanimously. I should see it. I guess the record. Miss Cupill is away today. That's why she's um takes us to action items. Dr. Dr. Gleason has the next two items. Mr. President, members of the board, first item up tonight is a request for proposal for custodial services for our expanded learning programs as well as for emergency services.
036Uh as we expand into the afterare space, our uh facilities and maintenance team you saw a bit of tonight is certainly stretched thin with all our bond projects and all the uh day-to-day operations. Uh similar to the resolution that we passed at the prior meeting, um this resolution will uh afford us, if the board uh passes it, the ability to staff up on the cleaning side, uh the custodial side as we expand LBOST Plus to all elementary campuses next year. >> Great. Any questions? Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> There's a motion, a second. Uh all those in favor, student board vote. I board >> I motion passes the MSA Dr. Bon. >> Mr. President, members of the board, next resolution is an annual favorite. This is the developer fee annual
037report. Uh developer fees are um afforded to us by local developers as they build and or remodel their homes. Uh the intent of those funds is to be used for expanded enrollment that goes along with associated development. This report is by statute and outlines how we spent those funds this year as well as what is encumbered for the future. >> Any questions? We do this every year. >> Uh I have a question. Uh Dr. Gleason, how often can fees be increased and what is the process for that? Who determines that? >> There's a uh every five years that we are for we need to conduct a study to determine if our fees should be increased. We involve uh legal when we uh conduct that study to determine what is u the current uh economic capacity
038of the uh area as well as what is the current housing conditions. >> Thank you. And um we haven't seen major construction in our community in uh many years. We're pretty burnt out ex uh built out but um except for some um housing developments that are coming in. Um, and there's one going in in Agora right now. Are you receiving develop how do you how often do you receive development fees for those types of buildings? >> Uh, in order to be issued a permit from the city, the developer fees have to be signed off and paid for by the district. Uh, the developers in this area have just been fantastic, real partners of the schools. Um, and so I can think of two uh large developments that have gone in the area that have uh
039paid those fees. Anytime you have construction over a thou a remodel over a thousand square feet, we also collect fees for that. Uh we see in communities such as Hidden Hills, sometimes an older home will be purchased and will be completely round uh remodeled from the ground up. We receive fees for that as well. >> Um so you know looking at the list and and the way the money to expended it seems they they're spent on facilities, correct? So essentially we'll always draw on this fund and then we'll go to to measure S monies. Um >> correct. So um we the board might recall we we closed our deferred maintenance fund as we established a fund 20 developer fees because of the construction that's going in as well as uh the new assembly bill that
040requires us to uh utilize what comes in every year into fund 25 our developer fee account. we can use this uh for capital repair and improvement and um that helps us uh uh keep the general fund from being impacted. So um when this you know we have a a very large development that's going in where theater used to that brings in about a million dollars in developer fees. All that goes back into school facilities to make them better for the children um that are in our community but will also come to be housed in that new facility. >> Thank you. questions? Nope. There's a motion, a second. Uh, all those in favor student. >> Oh, was I thought there was a motion. Second. No. Okay, >> I'll move. >> There's a motion. >> A second.
041All those in favor, student board vote. >> I. >> Motion passes unanimously. We're going to sweep the swap the agenda a little bit because our first speaker is not here for our information items. So, we're going to move to uh item number two, review of BPA 6163, animals. Also, Mr. Lawrence, uh, Mr. Charles Heath joining us virtually. >> Oh, he is. Okay. So, I guess we Well, >> let's bring out the animals and we'll get to Mr. Heath. >> Mr. President, members of the board, uh, someone that was watching at home, they may have heard you mention goats. And, um, uh, the goats could be afforded to the Loopin campus if the board passes this board policy. Uh, the board policy for animals had not been updated for well over 20 years. Uh in the
042last 20 years, animals have uh engaged on campuses in different ways for instructional purposes, for living farms as well as of course for uh supporting students with disabilities. This policy is updated along along the aligned with CSBA and allows us to should um the superintendent or his or her designate uh want to have animals owned by the district, they would be able to bring those animals and have them housed here. Um as this conversation of course has been brought up at Loopen Hill. We've been talking about it at facilities committee um as the Loopen Hill u outdoor wonder lab expands. I know Dr. Marzuk has um a first step that she'd like to engage in which uh as the board knows uh the many teachers have u chickens that are hatched in an incubation uh
043chamber in their classrooms. When those chickens are hatched, it's a good learning environment. We uh right now currently take them to the farm uh immediately. This would allow us to take the chickens to our farm, let them grow, and then at the end of the year, uh, take them to a different farm. So, this just helps students learn a greater and broader life cycle. So, the intent is to dip our toe in slowly, should the board approve this, to um, allow and afford animals >> slowly. We want goats, Mr. D. >> Goats are fantastic in terms of weed abatement. They are also hungry. Um, and s so certainly if the board's pleasure is to get goats, I know Dr. Marzuk would love that. I I had a question about the um the BP. The last
044two sentences seem repetitive to me. The district assumes no liability for the safety of animals voluntarily brought to school. However, the district assumes no liability for the safety of animals allowed on district property. >> Just wanted to underscore that point. >> What? >> Uh no, I think it is redundant. Okay, you >> and I have a couple questions on the um AR the striketh through page. There's no numbers. So on my laptop, it shows page six. I asked Dr. Cypress to do the numbering. Sorry about that. >> Um the second paragraph, the district may adopt animals only with the approval of the district facilities committee. Um uh caretaking ownership has been shared. Uh that seems in contrast with the superintendent approving. >> Certainly we can change that. thought was that would be a way to
045engage at least the couple board members in terms of what we are trying to do. But absolutely we can >> I would expand upon that. >> You know, superintendent then then off to the facilities, however you want to word it. And then my next one is um the next paragraph must be animals must be appropriately immunized. Do you want a record of it? >> How how would you know? Yeah, my dog's immunized or my goat's immunized or >> absolutely we would want a record. >> So can you add that also so there's just there's no confusion? >> Got it. So, I have page numbers, immunizations, and tightening up that. >> And then I just had a random question. The only animal we seem to call out specifically is a horse. Uh a miniature horse. It's
046weird to me. Like, have we had untrained horses making messes on our school grounds? It's It's I know we've had miniature horses brought to campus, >> but why are we specifically calling out miniature horses if we're thinking about I mean, I love this meeting. It's like my favorite meeting we had in a long time. Um, why are we concerned about unhousetrained horses? There's a there's a statement I think we'll be seeing important policy. >> Mr. Lawrence, I haven't thought about that. Uh, CSBA, this was in CSBA, I believe, because miniature horses are utilized a lot for therapeutic reasons. Maybe that's the reason they're called out, but I agree. >> I would strike all that out. Calling out one animal seems super odd um to me. I mean, I'm not expecting the goats to be housed.
047Um, so, um, >> yeah, what's up with the CSBA mentioned in Minneapolis? >> This is an example of how much free time CSBA has that they updated this policy. But >> will they use their lawyers? >> Um, I don't think a lawyer looked at this one. Um, but uh, yeah, so if we I think strike that keep it consistent macro versus getting animal by animal. >> Fantastic. Yes, we will remove the horse. >> Who knew this would be such a hot button topic? >> And then Sorry, go ahead. Go ahead. >> No, no. Well, I have a I have a macro level question and that is um that I know of different people who like I know someone who wanted to buy a house in Hidden Hills because she wanted to have chickens and goats
048and stuff because it's not allowed where they currently live. I mean, do we have clear clearance? You know, now that we got rid of Agora Pony Baseball and made the neighbors happy, are we going to anger them again because we've got chickens and and goats and horses? >> I think it's a really important question to make sure there's no city ordinance. I do know that there are several loud roosters that back up the outdoor wonder lab um in the the neighbor community that we hear them often. So uh we're good there on the miniature horse front that have to look at the ordinance. But I it's definitely an important step. The policy uh just in terms of order of operations want to make sure the board policy uh and our insurance was those boxes were
049checked. Of course, uh after that, we would still need to engage committee work when it's time to actually bring uh animals. And that first step, it's a, you know, as as the board knows well, but it's worth stating out loud in the room, um there's a lot of considerations that come along with animal ownership. Want to make sure they're protected from predators. Want to make sure um that they are uh safe around students. Want to make sure that uh as was stated that they are disease free. and then also want to make sure they're taken care of in those days that we don't have um employees on staff and on campus. So all those considerations need to go in place. We just didn't want to engage in those conversations uh knowing that even the conversation
050will be a violation of board policy. And so we'll start there and then to Miss Mangus's great point, we'll make sure that the city ordinances are >> and if the district has to follow the city ordinances, you may want to put that language in the policy or the AR that you know adhering to city ordinancees. I don't know. >> I don't >> Yeah, I don't know. >> I don't know that we do have I don't know either for animals. >> I would have to engage legal. It's a really good question because it's not a residence. So >> no, the district can exempt itself from city. what I thought >> and we have to decide if if again if that's something we want to do is go against city ordinance >> I want goats >> so
051get ones in your backyard I don't know >> all yeah in all ser playing baseball we were getting some goats on that campus in all seriousness it's an incredible weed abatement strategy given the limitations we have for >> uh removal of weeds and foliage so >> do you know in a lot of communities with fire risk they're actually using goats to cut down on the fire risk they just set them loose to kind of start grazing and they they get rid of all the dry material. >> My community does that of Morrison Ranch. We bring in the goats. But >> fancy goats. >> Yes, but goats eat everything. So, not to get weedy here. >> Get it? >> Oh, she'll all night voice. >> They eat everything. So, anyway, so thank you for that. >>
052Uh that lasted way longer than I thought it would. Okay. Uh so, we'll see this we'll see the board policy come back uh in in December. Correct. >> Correct. And I have five notes. Uh, >> no no no house immunization >> or horses. >> Great. Okay. Why don't we move back to Mr. Heath? Um, Mr. Klein, I think he is online. Dr. Stephenowski, are you taking this one or his doctor? >> Sure. >> And he looks like he's jumping on right now. Mr. President, members of the board, measures aware measure E is a parcel tax I believe passed by voters in 2003 initially um in Las Vegas. Uh, it has been unchanged. It was renewed um for 13 or so years and set to expire in 2028 from memory. Um parcel tax is $98 per
053parcel. Um and there is a senior exemption for parcel taxes. Um so our seniors can exempt themselves out of that. Mr. Heath may go through that as well. Um and our seniors do appreciate that option since many of them of course are on fixed income. Parcel taxes also go to the general fund. They bring in a little bit over $2 million uh for us since they can go to the general fund. Um they do not go to capital projects. That's what measure S is for and deferred maintenance. Um this supports our academic program uh class sizes, those sorts of things. Dr. Gleason, did I miss anything in there? >> Dr. Gleason, when we talked about this in finance, you were going to bring that dollar figure to life a little bit for us today. Uh
054can you give us some sense of what that funds if that money went away? >> Sure. that $2.3 million funds about 23 FTE of certificated staff. >> So the absence of that $2.3 million would uh really put us in a position of needing to make substantial cuts to >> how many teachers are at a typical elementary school. >> Typical elementary school would have about 20 to 25 teachers if elementary school is worth the staff. >> So it funds it's funding equivalent of entire headcount of a of an elementary school. >> Absolutely. So it's very it's a very different thing to measure S then and I think this will be very important for the citizens of our district as well that measure S monies were obviously oriented specifically towards facilities whereas this directly affects teachers and
055the goal of a funding like this is to is to close the funding gap between what the state of California gives a school district like ours and what they give LA USD or other schools. So, and that is remind me the difference. It's like $4,000 a student different. >> Oh, yeah. It's uh about about five or six thousand now where LA Unified that's per pupil. And uh you know I think the district has been very disciplined about um not increasing the amount since 2004. Uh certainly inflation CPI have increased those amounts. Um but uh you know so we have been able to adjust around it but to lose it outright would be uh problematic. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So, I think I think to set the stage before we hand in the street. That's what
056the boards here discuss today is it's up for renewal. Um, we need to make a decision about whether or not we put it on the ballot. Um, we've done this a number of times in years past. Um, there's a process that the board has to undertake, which is study it. Um, uh, take a survey of our community to see if there's uh, support for it. You would not want to extend the effort and the resources to put something on the ballot if it's for sure not going to pass. U,, but there's an appetite for it. you want to you want to move that forward through a formal process. Our process of the board would be to appoint uh a committee which we will do if the board decides to move forward. Our discussion today is
057let's move forward. We'll appoint a committee of two uh who will guide this process as kind of the co- campaign leads for the district. Uh and then they will seek to identify community leaders to actually lead the campaign as campaign managers and hopefully uh pass us if we decide to move forward. Um with that, should we turn over to Mr. Heath? Of course. And then a common question, Mr. Lawrence, is can the district spend funds on this? Yes, the district can spend funds as they explore it and gather information and polling information and data for the board to consider it. If the board decides to place on an agenda item and vote to place it on the ballot, then it becomes something the district cannot spend funds on and that's when it would become a
058citizen campaign. But while the G board gathers information to contemplate the decision about whether to place it, whether to renew it, what to do with it, timing, amount, all those sorts of things, uh we can engage with consultants like Mr. Heath. Mr. Heath was very helpful with our measure S uh campaign. So with that, I'll turn it over to real quick just for context. Um the our parcel tax is $98. What is like Santa Monica Malibu's? Santa Monica Malibu is I think four or five times that >> $346 per parcel. >> So three and a half times ours. Uh any other parcel taxes around us >> in our uh local area? Santa Monica Malibu is the closest district. >> Okay. Three and a half times higher than ours. >> Absolutely. >> And Santa Monica Malibu
059gets basic aid and also has a sales tax. So they're in a different stratosphere of funding wines. >> Okay. >> Of the parcel districts of of districts that have parcel taxes, ours is by far the lowest. San Marino's in at 400. Palo Alto, of course, a significantly wealthy city. They're at $700 per parcel. Mr. Heath probably has these numbers better than I do. >> Yeah. I I actually San Marino has two parcel taxes and when you add them together, they're over $1,000 per parcel. Um there are other examples as well. Palo Alto is actually adjust for inflation. I'm working with them on a renewal right now. It's about $950 per parcel. So, by comparisons, your yours is quite low. Uh so uh do I have math what does he have a presentation for us sir?
060Yeah. >> Yeah. Charles you want to jump into your slides? >> Yeah happy to do that. Thanks for having me this evening. Uh as was mentioned I had the good fortune of being your consultant on the measure s bond measure. Um but I also advise school districts on parial taxes and thought we would talk a little bit tonight about uh what the process and timeline would look like uh considering that your existing parcel tax funding is set to set to expire in uh 2028. So, if we can go to the next slide, please. Um, so I thought I'd start with just some of the basics around parcel taxes. As was mentioned, you know, similar type of local funding measure to the bond measure, measure S that was passed, uh, but some important differences that apply
061to paral taxes. First of all, which is probably the biggest challenge associated with a parcel tax is instead of the 55% passage through, uh, P uh, approval threshold that you have for a bond measure, parcel taxes require a twothirds vote. And what you'll find is only about 10% of school districts in California have a parcel tax. And that's because that twothirds number is very difficult to achieve uh in many parts of the state. Uh so that's the challenge. The the upside and the opportunity of a parcel tax is it provides unrestricted funding for a school district. The only limitations on how you utilize parcel tax funds are self-imposed when you write the uh language of the measure that voters approved. So, as was mentioned, the typical focus for a parcel tax is um staffing, teacher
062positions, academic programming, those types of things that you couldn't fund through a bond measure or other restricted funding. Um, state law does require that your parcel tax be applied uniformly across all parcels. You can't have one rate for residences and a different rate for businesses. It has to be a uniform rate. So, that is one one restriction. Um measures often do include uh an annual inflation for uh an annual adjustment for inflation. Um many districts have just an automatic 2% or 3% increase. And if you think about your your tax that was first passed in March of 2004, it's been at $98 since then. Significant purchasing power has been lost over the life of that parcel tax. So um building in an inflation adjustment may be something for consideration. Um, as was mentioned also, you
063can offer exemptions. The most common exemption is for senior citizens. Um, but the law also you allows you to offer a couple of different types of low-income exemptions for uh, homeowners with disabilities. Um, accountability protections that are required for a bond measure like an independent citizens oversight committee and annual audits are optional for for partial tax measures, but are quite common and usually pretty important uh, protections for taxpayers. Uh in terms of the timing for the uh election, um unlike bond measures, you can put a partial tax on any type of an election, the regularly scheduled primary and general elections, but also special elections, and I'll talk a little bit about the available election uh opportunities for us. Um what we found is one of the keys to for success in a partial tax is
064setting the right rate. Um there's typically, you know, the the tax rate is kind of front and center in a partial tax proposal. So finding that sweet spot in terms of the uh the rate that the community is willing to support at the twothirds level is uh is critical to to success. We can go to the next slide. So this is the language of measure E. This was the the last time that your partial tax was approved was in November of 2015. Um the you can see that the uses described there again those are the limitations on the use of funds. So core academic programming, math, science, reading, technology, the arts, attracting and retaining teachers and counselors, technology specialists, and maintaining class sizes. Um, those are pretty typical uses for a parcel tax and provide
065you a lot of uh flexibility and latitude for how you spend those dollars. And then this measure was a 12-year renewal of the $98 parcel tax. And you see the mention of senior exemptions there as well. So as we consider a renewal measure, we would want to re-evaluate all of these terms. Is this the right list of potential uses of funds? What sort of tax rates might we want to consider? What type of duration exemptions do we want to think about the potential for that uh cost of living uh increase that you might build in to help uh keep pace with inflation? And again, this measure uh sunsets automatically in June of 2028. So typically school districts that are contemplating a renewal measure, you know, given that you have, you know, a lot of teaching
066positions on the line with this funding, you don't want to wait till the 11th hour to to renew this. Give yourself an opportunity to propose make a proposal to the community. The twothirds threshold is high. You never plan to use, but it to lose, but it's good to have a a second bite at the apple uh should you need it. >> So if we go to the next slide, >> there's a um a funding mechanism reason why as well, right? the longer we wait, we have to start reporting money differently to the county and then they'll make us look at our reserves differently and all that that >> Yes, absolutely. So, uh given that we need to certify solveny three years out, uh when we get past 2728 as our third year, so this year
067we'll be reporting 256678. So, next fiscal year >> 67. >> Sorry, I had >> I'm sorry. collective audience grow dad joke. >> That was awesome. Uh >> you might have ruined that for the district actually. >> Maybe I won't hear that again. >> My daughter thinks that >> died here at uh 628 67 died at LBUSD. >> So uh not this fiscal year, but next fiscal year and that third year out we'll need to uh book. >> We are actually exactly between 6 and 7, too. 630. >> Look at that. I should say we're right between six seven >> gez. >> So yes, uh for the remainder of this year, we will not need to book the the balance of $2.3 million of local revenue not coming in. But starting next year, year three, um
068should we not have a clear uh pathway to passage, we should uh deduct that 2.3 million of revenue and and plan around it. Yeah. and and what that'll look like as a is an increase to the deficit that we'll need to rightsize with cuts >> cuts. So I mean so that's the tricky part I think some people understand even though we might pass this bond measure in three years and not actually need to have made the cuts if we don't pass it sooner we'll have to make the cuts because we'd have to show it there's a reason why we pull these things forward a year or two earlier. >> Yeah. It would be irresponsible to not make the um the cuts when we see that forecast on the horizon because of the compounding uh impact
069of uh holding on to staff uh till the last minute. >> Hate to have that happen. >> Sorry, Miss Jean. Go ahead. >> Okay, next slide. So, talking about uh timing and different election opportunities, I've listed here the available election dates coming up in 26 when we might be able to uh place a partial tax renewal measure on the ballot. Practically speaking, the April and May special election opportunities, we don't have sufficient time to plan for those given the u upcoming qualification deadlines. So, I think that the June uh 2nd uh statewide primary election is a good opportunity to uh consider. And then beyond that, you have an August special election date and then the November 3rd statewide general election. That will be the gubanatorial general election next year. That's an opportunity that we can
070also take a look at. When considering these these different election dates, it does impact if you were to pass the measure and let's say there were some sort of increase built into that when you would actually realize those funds. So basically in any election prior to the end of July you would receive those funds in the next fiscal year 2627 um after that any new funds received wouldn't be available until 202728. So that's another consideration related to the election timing. Um, also each of these elections, um, if the district places a measure on that ballot, the district agrees to reimburse the county or in your case both, uh, Los Angeles and Ventura counties for the cost of administering your ballot measure. If that measure is placed on a regularly scheduled statewide election ballot, you only
071pay the marginal cost for having your item included. If it's a special election, you have to pay the entire cost of the election, which is substantially more expensive. So, I think another reason why the the June primary and the November general election are good options to focus on, they're far less expensive uh election opportunities. >> What what are the differences in voter turnout between that June 2nd election and the November 3rd statewide general election >> in your district? There aren't major uh differences in turnout compared to what we might see in in other parts of the state. Um, with that said, in uh mid midterm um, you know, gubanatorial election cycle, typically the turnout in the primary elections is in the 50 to 60% range and the November general elections in a district like yours
072tends to be more like 70%. So, there is a difference, although it's it's not as dramatic as you might see in other places. Special elections in some instances will have, you know, as little as 30 to 35% turnout, so it can be quite low. Um but that's a consideration as well. Um and I I'll talk to you about how we sort of evaluate those different uh factors in choosing an election date. Um and actually if we go to the next slide, we can talk about that. Um so the the parcel tax planning process, this is very similar to the process that we uh undertook in the preparation for placing measure S on the ballot. Um, initially we want to undertake a feasibility assessment or just trying to answer the basic questions. If we were to
073put this measure on the ballot, do we think it has a reasonable chance of achieving that 2/3 threshold for support? Um, if so, what does that measure look like? Um, what what's the tax rate? What are the funding priorities? What's the duration? You know, all the various variables that we can um influence when we're putting together the uh the measure. The other question we want to think about in that feasibility assessment is timing. And the the sort of centerpiece of that feasibility assessment is a statistically reliable public opinion poll that we would conduct in your community. And when we do that, we can sample voters that represent those likely to turn out in the smaller turnout June primary election and also sample voters that, you know, represent the the larger turnout in the November general.
074And that way we can look at sort of head-to-head how to support compare between those different those two different turnout scenarios because you get a diff different demographic mix of voters as turnout changes. So through this feasibility assessment, we'll be able to bring back to you a data driven recommendation on which uh um which elections better. We'll also be taking a look at what other competing measures might be on those ballots because obviously that can influence how voters think about your measure if they're considering other taxes at the same time, for example. So, you know, all those factors are are are considered as we're recommending an election date. And if we come out of that feasibility assessment with a green light, we believe that a measure is feasible. We have some understanding of what that
075measure um might entail, then the next step is to begin an awareness building effort. So, as was mentioned, the school district can't um use public resources to advocate for the passage of a partial tax measure or any type of measure for that matter. Um, but you can provide impartial information to the public about your budget. You know, what it is that your parcel tax currently funds, the fact that that funding source is set to expire, you know, what consequences would occur if that funding were to expire. So, typically in the runup to actually calling for an election like this, you're starting to tell thatformational story to the public about, you know, how this this specific measure fits into your broader uh reality as a school district. As we're doing that awareness building outreach to key
076stakeholders in the communities that you serve, we're also working to build the actual measure in the form of a resolution that would ultimately come to the board that would place the measure on the ballot with all the specific terms of the measure that voters would be uh voting on. And then once the board adopts that resolution calling for the election, um that's when we make this fundamental transition from a district-driven planning effort to a communitydriven advocacy campaign. That's typically where parents, teachers, staff, and others kind of step into the lead role to help us, you know, create the organization to run an effective campaign, get the message out, grassroots campaigning strategies, etc. The types of strategies we use to be successful in uh in Measure S. And just to put some dates to this timeline,
077if we wanted to keep the option on the table for that June uh election, the deadline to qualify for that ballot is March 6th. And so, um, you know, we would need to make use of December, January, and February to be prepared to, uh, place a measure on the ballot, uh, at that time. If we wanted to look at the November general election, that deadline isn't until the first week in August. So, we would have a little more time there. But all the more reason why we want to start this process here quickly and uh, and get moving. So, last slide here. Um just wanted to uh throw out a few options that we may want to consider as we're thinking about, you know, what we would test in that feasibility assessment. The type of
078options we would want to present to voters um in a public opinion survey. You know, sort of the the easiest option here is we would just ask them to reup the $98 that's been in place since 2004. Sort of one step beyond that is that we might ask whether voters would entertain uh an adjustment to um help combat inflation. um that can be done through an annual automatic adjustment. You could also uh test the waters in terms of an increase in the overall tax rate. That's another way to to make up ground with some additional funding. Um your last measure was a 12-year uh extension of the parcel tax. We can think about what duration might be appropriate and you know revisit the use of funds and uh those made sense in 2015. Those continue
079to be the right uses. Is there a maximum length at which the the parcel tax could be passed? >> Nope. Um there are school districts uh that have in perpetuity parcel taxes that wouldn't be repealed unless uh you know the voters were to actively repeal it through an initiative. >> So it doesn't have to be like a 100 years. It's just this is a permanent tax until it's until it's rescended. the the way that's typically worded is uh until ended by voters because under that scenario, the way it would be repealed was would be through a citizens initiative, >> right? >> Um so anyway, those those are sort of the the menu of options that we would want to be thinking about. But uh yeah, um again, if we want to keep that June election
080on the table, we need to start the feasibility assessment here in short order. >> Great. Thank you. Next steps for us, Mr. President, members of the board would be um to bring forward a contract to engage Mr. Heath um services as the board contemplates this uh that would happen at the December board meeting if the board's okay with that or the board provides that direction and then doesn't happen doesn't have to happen tonight but we we'd want two uh members of the board to be sort of a service point. Yeah. >> Um we'll do that on the interaction. >> Right. I think uh I guess general consensus is from the board. Um I can ask this right is thumbs up to move forward exploring it. >> Yeah, I think we need to move forward and
081and exploring it and get some polling done soon. Okay. >> So to see if if there's interest in the community. >> Yeah. I mean I think our our community's obviously been very generous with measures in the past for which I think we all are very very grateful actually because it's made a significant contribution to the district. Um, I think folks definitely, you know, don't want new taxes. Uh, but also at the same time, this is so fundamental to what we do. It's about teachers and class sizes and it's it's really fundamental. So, I think we have no choice uh but to move forward. Um, and also any notion of increases or anything like that should be strictly tied to we are going to spend this money on more teachers to reduce class sizes uh if
082we if we decide to ever move in that direction. Um I mean I think the the entire community, parents, teachers, everyone wants uh smaller class sizes if possible. So great. Well um thank you M. I appreciate if there's no other questions from the board on this item. Uh I'll Dr. Steph. I'll work with you on next steps uh for getting a committee appointed and then is our next meeting is later than it usually is. It's December 16th. Is that enough time to get a contract ready and still meet? I I'm just mindful of the fact that we're probably not going to want to survey during the holidays because we're going to get mixed reaction to his homes. That means we're coming out of the survey probably in January. Is that enough time for you, Mr.
083Heath, to be moving if we move forward in that direction? >> Yeah. Uh I mean, if we can get a, you know, formal approval to move forward on December 16th, then we would shoot to be in the field with our survey in, you know, early to mid January and that way we would have data to make decisions in January and February. >> Okay. Great. Right. Thank you very much for appreciate your time and your past help for the community. >> Thank you. >> My pleasure. Thank you. >> All right. One last item. Dr. Stepp. Uh information. >> Believe it's information item. They're not requireing action from the board. Dr. Anderson. >> Yes. Thank you. This is a update to our administrative regulations around GPA calculations. It came up at our last superintendent youth council. um
084a student asked about it that students who take college courses on our campus dual enrollment do not receive an extra GPA boost whereas if they took an AP class or an IB class they would. Um this is very common practice in just about every district including our neighboring districts Oak Park and Valley L USD and so we are adding that beginning this year that if you take a college course on our campus um that you would get an extra grade point boost in your West Virginia's GPA >> and the argument here being that if you're taking an AP course uh and then you pass the AP test you're getting college credit and and a GPA boost. So, if you take the college course, that's the equivalent of p passing the AP test because you're getting
085college credit. So, you might as well get the same uh GPA boost. Is that correct? >> Exactly. In fact, if you take the AP course and don't pass the test, you still boost. >> So, yes, it's the equivalent and uh just being equitable in that. >> And now, this is mostly for I don't want to say show, that's the wrong word, but the UC's don't recognize any of this um from a GPA kicker. private schools do that would be what it be for and out of state public schools. >> So, universities all calculate GPA their own separate way because they want to level it through admissions because all the different districts. When a UC applies, they submit a separate transcript for the college and so they value that differently, but they don't add it to
086the student's GPA, but then the student does get credit for additional credit for taking a college class as being more prepared and more um likely to be successful. Makes sense to me. >> I have a couple couple questions on the second page of the redlinined um BP. Uh let's see. Number one, uh accepted under enrollment courses designed. Okay. >> Which page number? >> There's no page numbers on here. >> That was a setup. >> I apologize. >> And you've heard page numbers in the past. >> I do, but >> Dr. Anderson, you the bar was set. So, >> I know, but I need to make a mistake every now and again, so you appreciate when I do it like that. So, >> no, I do. >> Well, you make your mistake for this year. >>
087See you in 2026. >> Oh, I only got six more weeks to go. >> Okay. So, item number one, no. Dual enrollment courses will receive a weighted grade for courses taken starting in the 2025 2026 school year. So, can we I think um to avoid any confusion, we may want to say that they're taken on LVUSD campuses or on our high school campuses during the school day because that sentence alone says you can take it anywhere. >> Yes, Dr. Scott. >> So, dual enrollment by Hello um by definition means that it's taken on our campus as opposed to concurrent enrollment. >> Right. And I'm coming at this from um from when I was a parent and there were lots of confusion about this item in general, not with weighted grades, but you know what could
088go on the transcript, what couldn't. Dual enrollment. Dual enrollment also meant to parents. Um you know, they were dually enrolled even if the even if the courses were after school at that time. >> Why not just include a definition of what dual enrollment is? >> Yes, we can. Yes, that's what I'm saying to >> some of our dual enrollment classes are online classes and they are after >> Oh. Oh, so even after school courses can. So I would uh add that. I think it's I think it needs to be something full enrollment. >> We will we will add that. So if you pass it with the condition that we add that line, we're happy to do it. >> Okay. Thank you. And then number three, uh let's see. Does this need to change to reflect
089community course courses weighted grades? Number three, students need to be aware that while all honors AP courses designated by board action as receiving weighted credit on a five point will be incorporated in the C. Okay. It doesn't mention anything there about the the community college courses or the college courses. Does that need to be added? >> I don't know where you are. >> Number three. >> He's in number three. Um I think for clarity it would be helpful if it were added. So we could add it there as well. >> Okay. Okay. And since this goes into effect, um the the board policies uh come back as consent a items for for approval. ARS don't come back to us. But since this is in effect this school year, how and when will this be communicated
090out to teachers, counselors, uh parents? >> Yes. So we will begin that communication at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning. So the superintendent council >> actually haven't voted on. Yes. But should it be passed, it will be communicated at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. >> It won't pass until uh December 16th. >> Mhm. >> No, this is an AR. This is not PP, >> right? Exactly. >> Um, so >> yeah, >> AR backpack follows the goes with the board policy. So the AR is actually only in effect when the board policy is in effect. But you can tell them to act absolutely be on the lookout. We're looking. >> Hold on. But then shouldn't there be a BP with this? >> The BP is not being um adjusted because the BP does not give the breakdown about how
091the weighted GPA works. >> Yeah, the the BP is very general. The AR goes into the details about how we're going to enact the board policy. >> Great. Let them know tomorrow morning. >> Yes. >> And Oh, so this isn't coming back. Yeah. So, let them know. >> Yeah. >> Let them know tomorrow because they're the ones who brought the idea. >> We have confetti for you. >> Yes. Uh Steve, >> this passes tonight with you. So you you'll make the changes for the language so there's hopefully no confusion which there >> and I appreciate you reading that with this set of eyes to show us that we could be clear. Thank you. >> Um just a question and I didn't ask for these numbers ahead of the board meeting. So uh if you don't
092know them off the bat, uh no problem. But in terms of numbers of students taking AP classes versus numbers of students taking IB classes versus number of students doing dual enrollment, are there significant differences? I mean do are there a lot of students who tend to do either AP or dual enrollment classes or do a mix of both or I mean is it is it generally a different group that would take dual enrollment or do you see mixtures all over the board? Ironic they happen to have those numbers right in front of me but I thought was about make up for your past mistakes. >> Wow. Gold star. >> Um, thank you. Thank you. I try. Um, so more students take the advanced placement courses. So, I'm going to use class of 2025 data. 435
093students um who graduated had passed at least two AP exams. Um, versus if we look at the college and career, we only had 143 graduates who took at least two courses, the equivalent of that. Um so far less but the idea is that we can grow this opportunity um by incentivizing our students because this is a big cost savings. You don't have to pay for a test and also with dual enrollment you complete a year in one semester so the kids can move more efficiently um through the program. So right now we do have many more students taking it. But I would say many of our students right now in dual enrollment are also AP students. But the idea is we want to increase our access um and equity to get more students who may
094not see themselves as an quote unquote AP student. Yeah. Or collegebound that know you can be and here's some accessible courses that get you college credit and get you a college transcript prior to graduating high school. >> Dual enrollment courses are the ones that we have to not be offered by LVUSD teachers. Correct. that that's why there's they're not like they're not taking AP US history or they're not taking US history dual because they can't because we offer US history. So it's only that's why the number is smaller is it's more of a is it more niche courses or is it >> sure one of the ways you'd like to grow this to be completions for our CTE pathways. So um yeah it could be more elective. We don't want it to compete or to
095take away from our courses we already offered or take yeah it's part of our agreement. Um and so we can't replace a course. So if so that is why that is how we're doing it. So we're doing psychology or music but we want to be able to offer additional courses um to it as well that complement that. >> But dual enrollment can lower class sizes. >> Well yes because dual enrollment um the community college pays for it and we don't. So it's additional sections to the high schools. So then if the kids are in that those classes they're not in the LBSD funded classes. Those class sizes will go down and then meet the goals of Mr. Lazar of having lower class sizes. >> Thank you. That's that's really helpful. I mean, the one thing
096I've been thinking about all of this as well is that the other potential benefit for parents is, you know, so many of us are so concerned about the cost of college and by by being able to do these class ahead of time, you save a little bit of your very expensive college education bill, >> you save a lot of it. >> Yeah. So, >> and I will I will tell you one of the things um that I love about our district and um one of the things I ran on initially as a school board member was opportunities and options for students and broadening those. And this is so amazing for students. My own children took were not AP students. They didn't want to take AP classes, but they both took these community college courses at
097the time. They were offered after school. So they stay after school and take a class and like you said they get, you know, a year's a semester class is a year's worth of class. Well, both of my kids ended up going, you know, to four-year colleges and it's very difficult or can be challenging to graduate in four years. Both of them graduated in four years because they walked in with at least a semester or a year's worth of college courses under their belt. So they weren't super stressed out having to get all these classes at the four-year college and uh saved us lots of money. and um >> and they're both completely off the Stein budget now, right? >> I'll take ref um and one is uh and uh and so it's just a worried
098opportunity for students. So, thank you. >> Thank you. It's great program. Any other questions? See you have a question. No. All right. Right. With that, we'll adjourn. Thank you everybody. You