001Good evening. This is the March 24th meeting of the Board of Education of the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District. Our meetings are broadcast over Zoom to provide the opportunity for a community to observe in real time. The Board of Education of the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District is now reconvening to open session and it is 6.07 PM. Please be advised that our board meetings are televised on local channel 28 on Wednesday and Saturday evenings and on Monday, Friday and Saturday mornings. All actions approved in closed session must be reported out in open session. And with that, Trustee Perso, can you read out? Yes, I can. In closed session tonight, the board voted by the board by a vote of five zero approved the settlement agreement between LVJ USD and employee one nine zero
002three six. And also in closed session tonight, the board by a vote of five zero approved the rejection of claim six six nine one six seven. Thank you. Move on to six Pledge of Allegiance. We'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance. I'll ask Trustee Vanden Heuvel to lead us in the Pledge this evening. Ready to begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Acting Superintendent Pichetta, are there any changes to the agenda? There are none. All right. Then we'll move on to eight point zero recognition. So I'll call it Mrs. Daniel Mackey. No, that's not correct. This here for Mrs. Mackey for Emma. This says Mrs. Daniel Mackey, principal for Principal
003Emma Smith Elementary School. We'll recognize. So Marnie Angelo. Yeah, there we go. Principal Marnie Angelo. Hi. We'll recognize Miss Tricia Jensen, Site Kid Connection Specialist. Thank you, Marnie. Thank you. All right. Good evening, Board President Druin, members of the Board, Acting Superintendent Pichetta, cabinet and community. I am Marnie Angelo, the very proud principal of MSC Smith Elementary. And tonight I have the privilege of recognizing one of the quiet heroes of the MSC Smith Elementary campus, our Kid Connection provider, Tricia Jensen. Kid Connection is a tier two social emotional learning program that supports students across our district by promoting healthy, emotional and social development and preventing future mental health challenges and creating a positive school environment where life skills can be learned and practiced. And these are not extras. They are foundational skills for the success
004in school and in life. At our site, this comes to life through the way Tricia shows up for students every single day. She treats every child with dignity and respect. She honors confidentiality with great care, creating a space where students feel safe to be honest and vulnerable. What speaks most to the power of her work is what happens when a student's 10 week kid connection cycle does come to an end. So often those students don't want it to be over. They ask if they can keep coming back. They'll stop her in the hallway just to say hello. They want to check in, share a success or ask for help one more time. And that desire to stay connected tells us everything. We know they felt seen, supported and valued. I've watched her sit beside a
005student who's overwhelmed, helping them name their emotions. I've seen her guide children through anger, boredom and frustration, teaching them how to pause, reflect and choose a better path forward. She helps students set goals, solve problems and believe that they are capable of change. And for some of our students, Tricia is the first adult who helps them understand that their feelings are valid and that they have the power to manage them. She collaborates closely with teachers and staff, always seeking to understand the whole child, not just the behavior that we see, but the story behind it. Her work prevents small struggles from becoming lifelong barriers and her presence changes trajectories. We're deeply grateful for her compassion, her professionalism and the steady hope she brings to our students every day. Our school and our children are better
006because of her. Every day, Tricia helps our students learn skills that will serve them far beyond the walls of our classrooms, how to understand themselves, how to manage big feelings and how to believe in their own ability to grow. The work she does is quiet, steady and profoundly life changing. And we are incredibly fortunate to have her in our district. So it is an honor to recognize her tonight. Please join me in celebrating Tricia Johnson. Next, Mr. Tom Fletcher, principal of Sunset Elementary School, will recognize site instructional assistance. Good evening, Board President Druin, City Superintendent Pichette, Board Clerk Vanden Heuvel, Trustee Bueno, Kaplanis, Pruso and members of the cabinet and our student representatives. I'm Tom Fletcher, principal at Sunset Elementary. And tonight I have the pleasure of recognizing a truly special group of individuals, our
007TK instructional assistants. Let me start by saying there's no shortage of folks worthy of recognition at Sunset. This was not an easy task because we have an amazing team. And this year we welcomed 92 four year olds to Sunset. And yes, a few of them were still just three years old when they started back in August. So as you can imagine, they come to us with a wide range of needs. Emotions and let's be honest, a lot of energy. So these instructional assistants have been right in the middle of it all. They help students learn routines that many of us take for granted, how to line up, how to share, how to use kind words, how to open a milk carton and a bag of mini carrots while they're at lunch and occasionally how to
008navigate a day when things don't quite go as well as planned. They support our students through big feelings. They celebrate small victories and somehow they continue to keep the day moving forward with an incredible amount of patience and care. There are moments when tying shoes, managing tears and answering the question, is it time to go home yet? All happen at the same exact time. And sometimes it's often before nine a.m. And the growth these students have shown this year, I just want to say, wow, the students who walked onto campus in August are not the same students that we see on campus today. They are more confident, they're more independent and they are ready to learn. All of this is a direct reflection of the care, consistency and dedication of these instructional assistants and their
009amazing teachers. As a former 12th grade teacher myself, and now having seen TK up close over the last five years, I can guarantee you that people don't fully understand just how much skill, patience and energy it takes to do this job well. I've learned that managing four year olds is not only an art, but it is also a full contact sport. So this team is essential to what makes Sunset such a special place. And our TK program simply would not function without them. So on behalf of the Sunset community, I want to thank you for recognizing their work tonight and to our instructional assistants. Thank you for everything that you do for our students each and every day. So tonight I would like to recognize Martha Carrillo, Carmen Romo, Vanessa Hartwick, Michelle Wentworth, and those
010that could not be here, Kendra Lear, Natalie Galetly Sue, Lori and Jamie Neft. They are amazing. Thank you. Next, student board member reports. Student board member reports are an opportunity for us to hear what's happening in our two comprehensive high schools. I'll turn the time over to Trustee Gross. So far, March has been an exciting and eventful month at Granada. And as we head into the final stretch before spring break, our campus continues to stay active and engage both inside and outside the classroom. Looking ahead, Granada is preparing for one of our most spirited traditions, Greek Week, taking place from March 30th through April 3rd. This is a week long competition between the classes with events every day at lunch, including a belly flop contest, dodgeball and much more. This week will conclude with our
011highly anticipated battle rally and lip dub on April 3rd. Students who have have already been dedicating time after school to practice and prepare, building excitement and unity across our campus as these events approach. This week is one of Granada's most fun times, and it really brings the school together by the end of it. Academically, students are also currently participating in task testing, demonstrating their commitment to academic growth and achievement. At the same time, many seniors are now beginning to receive their college decisions and are starting to make commitments for the future, marking an exciting and important milestone in their educational journeys. Our student organizations continue to make positive impacts on campus and in the community. The Girls for Sports Club recently hosted a blanket sale fundraiser and raised enough money to donate supplies to both
012the girls beach volleyball team and the Granada girls lacrosse team. Additionally, a group of students had the opportunity to take college tours at the Los Positas College and UC Berkeley, gaining valuable insight to their post high school options. Granada's performing arts and music programs were proudly showcased at the 30th annual Granada Fiesta this past weekend. This lively event featured performances from color guard, drum major and percussion groups, along with many visiting teams, creating an energetic and celebratory atmosphere on campus. We're also proud to recognize this month's student of the month, S.J. Martin, who has been ranked number one in the nation for wrestling by Sports Illustrated. S.J. will be continuing her academic and athletic career at Lay High, an incredible accomplishment that reflects her dedication and hard work. Granada is extremely proud and impressed with
013her each and every day. Spring sports are also off to a strong start with several exciting victories. Our softball team secured a big win against Dublin, stunt defeated Crandallet and boys lacrosse earned a victory over Amador Valley. Our badminton team is also gearing up for their first official match after recently competing in a scrimmage against Doherty Valley. In addition, we're excited to celebrate our student athletes at signing day tomorrow, where eight seniors will be recognized for committing to continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level. This is a proud moment for our school community as we honor their dedication and achievements. Students and staff have also been connecting together through fun activities such as Name That Tune, which has become a very popular way to build relationships and foster a positive school culture. With continued
014success in academics, athletics and student engagement, Granada remains a vibrant and supportive community. We look forward to the exciting months ahead and finishing the year off strong. Go Mets. Up next, we have Employee Association Reports. We have do we have Amy Thompson? We do have Amy Thompson. The L.A. president is Amy Thompson. And I want to recognize Tara Letts, the vice president. Good evening, President Drew and members of the board, acting Superintendent Bichette and cabinet. I'm Amy Thompson, president of the Livermore Education Association, representing the teachers, nurses, counselors, psychologists, speech pathologists, social workers and specialists who enjoy who ensure our students success every single day. I'm pleased to share that the L.A. retirement incentive has been validated. This initiative has already proven to be a win win, providing the district with meaningful cost savings while
015allowing for the rescission of two layoff notices. It feels like we're continuing to work together and move in the right direction with students as our central focus. We've reached agreements for the remediation of budget cuts and the piloting of a fee billing program. We're continuing to work on MOUs for AB 560. The special education alignment and updating our intensive, educationally related mental health services MOU. I'm confident that these will be settled in a mutually respectful manner by the end of April. Our district continues to have a projected budget deficit, as will be reported tonight in the first interim report. L.A. appreciates the conservative budget planning. We also value the inclusion of the various projections, such as potential COLA increases and the potential positive impact state funding proposed by the governor could have on our budget.
016One area requiring our continued focus is the building trades program. We are seeking a solution to bridge the estimated one hundred thirty eight thousand dollars needed to sustain this valuable program. While the increased funding of thirty thousand dollars from the building fund grant included tonight is a welcome addition, we recognize that the expiration in August twenty twenty six prevents it from being a fix for next school year. I look forward to exploring creative ways that we can work together to keep this program for our students. Finally, as the board is determining next steps for the superintendent search, L.A. advocates for a rigorous and transparent vetting process. We believe that it is essential that employee groups and the broader community have a meaningful voice in this transition. By ensuring a collaborative process, we can find a
017leader who truly aligns with the unique needs and values of our community. Thank you. Thank you. Up next, CSCA Mamie Christovich is the president. Is Mamie here to speak? Yeah, I will recognize Victoria Storti, vice president. Yeah. Then for SEIU, we have Kirsty Gov. as president. For CMC, Sarah DeGrode is the representative. And for Livermore Management Association, Jeremy Wilkins is the representative. Move on to 11. Oh, public comment on non agenda items. If you'd like to address a topic that is not on this evening's agenda, now is your time to do so. If you've not already submitted a TAN card, please do so now. Per protocol, no additional speakers will be accepted once public comment begins. We ask that you limit your comments to three minutes and that each speaker may speak once. Public comments
018are limited to three minutes per person. As a reminder, we as board members may not engage in discussion, take action or give an opinion on items not on the agenda. However, the board may briefly respond, ask clarifying questions of staff and or refer matters to staff for follow up. With that being the case, we have four speaker cards. I'll call Catherine Villasenor up first, and they will be followed by Debbie Gibson. Good evening, all. My concern with how Livermore Elementary School Junction was allowed in February to teach Muslim customs, yet not Christian, who also had a season of Lent in February. It's not an even show of fairness. And speaking of fairness, seems that by not using Title Nine to benefit girls in sports and locker rooms is honoring a small percentage of the student
019body. Not only is the noncompliance with Title Nine a mistake, so is the refusal costing the taxpayers 16 million dollars of lost revenue for the school's programs, all to favor a small amount of students. The financial loss is just kicked down the road for another year. And while thinking of this, how is it that a religion gets to fly their flags? Do I do not agree that the schools or districts should consent to fly pride flags any month? Thank you. Next is Debbie Gibson, who will be followed by Tara Boyce. Good evening. Whoops. As I have said before, previous meetings, I feel led to pray over these proceedings. Prayer in our school is not something new. However, in June of 1962, it was the last time that prayers were allowed in the classroom. It was
020very a very simple prayer that direct that was directed to God. And the students said, Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon you and we beg your blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country. This decision to stop prayer was the first of many changes that had an adverse effect on our students and society. Not only did our founding fathers rely heavily on the word of God in crafting our constitution, but presidents of this great nation have done so also when addressing the moral fabric of everyday living. President Grover Cleveland said, All must admit that the reception of the teachings of Christ results in the purest patriotism in the most scrupulous fidelity to public trust and in the best type of citizenship. When it comes to education, Herbert Hoover said, The study of
021the Bible is a postgraduate course in the richest library of human experience. And Theodore Roosevelt said, A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education. As a Christian, I absolutely believe that seeking God's presence, knowing his word and seeking his wisdom is necessary if we want to see positive changes in our community and a successful generation of young adults with moral convictions that align with his. He has a plan and a purpose for every one of us. In Psalm 139, 17, we are told how precious also are your thoughts to me, O God, how vast is the sum of them? If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. It is my prayer that each student, teacher and parent would understand the depth of this particular scripture concerning them and
022to each one of us who are here now. So, Heavenly Father, you are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and you are worthy to be praised. I thank you for your word and the promises toward each one of us. I ask that you would bless this time with your presence that we have together, that you would give the superintendent and trustees wisdom in making the decisions for our school district. You have placed them in these positions of authority. According to Romans 13, one, there is no authority except that which you have established. Every person who steps into a place of power does so under your watchful hand. You are trustworthy. I pray, God, that the parents and teachers and the students will be blessed through their decisions, that you would meet
023all of their needs. Most importantly, I pray that they would know you as Lord and Savior. In Jesus name. Thank you. Next is Tara Boyce, who will be followed by Sy Matin. Good evening, trustees, cabinet members of the audience. So I was late to the game, but I watched the March 10 board meeting yesterday or the day before. So I'm tired of hearing about this topic. So I actually pulled the law from California Code Education Code. It's EDC 35107, current as of January 1, 2025. A member of the governing board of the school district shall abstain from voting on personal matters that uniquely affect a relative of the member, but may vote on collective bargaining agreements and personnel matters that affect a class of employees to which the relative belongs. For purposes of this section,
024relative means an adult who is related to the person by blood or affinity within the third degree, as determined by the common law marriage effectively, or an individual in an adoptive relationship within the third degree. So we have three trustees who have family members that work in our district, not uncommon. Oh, and we have a senior cabinet member with an employee who's also family. So just so everyone's clear, collective bargaining. Yes, you can't actually fire them directly, which if you ever fired Christina, you would also have to build your own house, Christian. So that's the first thing. The second thing I'm here to talk about tonight is in my role as an LCAP committee member and budget advisory committee, we need to think about cuts related to any of our mental health services very hard
025before. And I understand our grant is on shaky ground. We have issues with that, et cetera. But the state of the world today, and it's not getting better in the near future. Those mental health services can be the difference of our children feeling safe in the classroom, feeling safe on campus. Or, I mean, I think it's been several years since we've had a student take their own life. But we are seeing a rise in all of that, most especially within our LGBTQ plus or IA plus community. Self harm is becoming way too routine. And with this world being what it is, counseling centers at the school or sorry, our wellness centers, our counselors, they are the people that our children can go to without recrimination. A safe space on the campus where they can be
026heard. Without that, I think the next two, three years will be a very different outlook for Livermore. So wherever the money comes from, we need to figure it out. We can figure it out and keep those very important humans on campuses. Thank you. Up next, Sy Matin. Good evening, honorable President Doran, members of the board, acting superintendent and cabinet. My name is Sy Matin, a telecom professional. The two master's degree in physics and electrical engineering have decided to switch my job and become an educator due to my passion for teaching and educating. I was hired in February of last year as a substitute teacher with the goal to become a physics teacher after I get my credentials. During the seven months of my employment at the district, I worked hard, received admiration of teachers, administrators,
027principals and doughnuts from elementary school students and high fives, a lot of them from middle school and high school students. I followed all the rules and principles and requirements. With the information, this information as a background. Unfortunately, I was attacked, insulted, discriminated and abused by two principals during my service. My repeated complaint in the district was ignored by then superintendent Miss Gibson. And she instead of resolving the discrimination issues decided to order her new director of HR, Dr. Boundaries, to terminate my job. This was an insult to my injuries, an illegal act, which should have never happened. Those principles are Mr. Eric Taylor of then principal of Mendenhall and the other one, Mr. Clark Conover of the principal of Granada High School. They clearly showed me that they are racist. All of these facts and
028details of these incidents have been fully documented and HR has their copies. I am very happy and thankful to board for terminating Dr. Gibson and also which caused all these problems and many other problems for the district and also removing Mr. Taylor from Mendenhall so far. But Mr. Conover is unfortunately still keeping his job. I am respectfully, I am here respectfully requesting from our acting superintendent to do the following as quickly as possible. Number one, reinstate my job immediately without further delay. Compensate me for educational and emotional stress caused by all these issues and pay for my financial losses during losing a pre-assigned job and pay for my lost income from the nine to ten. That's your time. Thank you. Up next, up next, not ups next, up next. Twelve, communication, formal written correspondence to
029the Board of Education shall be acknowledged if received by the board or in the superintendent's office by four p.m. the day before the meeting. Formal written correspondence received after the cut of time will generally be acknowledged at the following meeting. Please note our electronic communication received via the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District's website by accessing the formal written correspondence to the Board of Education link with all fields completed and verified shall be treated as formal written correspondence. Clerk, there is correspondence. Can you please summarize it for us? Yeah, six pieces of correspondence were received. Three expressed their desire for items to be prioritized in the budget and to be spared from budget production, namely the VP at Livermore High School, elementary counselors and social workers. Two requested the board grant the retirement incentive to
030LEA members with only 22 participating, three short of the required threshold of 25. And one writer asked the board to uphold California law by ensuring transgender students are fully protected from discrimination and allowed equal access to school programs. Thank you. Move on to 13 information discussion items. So first is facilities master's plan update part one. I'll invite Mrs. Kim McNeely up to present. Good evening, Mr. President, members of the board, acting Superintendent Pichette and cabinet. It's my pleasure to be here this evening to present part one of our facilities master plan update and to share with you the work that we have been have been involved in. You'll recall that the current that a current facilities master plan is a requirement of applying for state bond funds under Proposition two. And we have used that
031process as a best practice historically as well. So this is our plan for the evening. I want to start with introductions. I am presenting this evening with Jeff Evans and Amy Fine with H.K.I.T. architects who have been amazing leaders of this process for us. Before you is our plan for this evening. And we are going to go ahead and just jump right into the presentation. This is where we're planning to go. So I want to just start us off with the purpose for doing a facilities master plan. It really creates, as the board may recall, a high level vision for the district in terms of our long range facilities plans. We often refer to this as a 30,000 foot view. That is that it is a very high level review, but it does set direction
032for the district. It also helps us guide our building plans to meet educational goals that we have as an organization. But I want to share that, although it is a 30,000 foot view, it as well provides guidance for every step of the work that we do. An example of that might be we might be doing a relatively small project like a playground on a campus. And with the facilities master plan to help guide that work, we would potentially be not locating that playground in a place where we'd want to do utility connections down the road or where we might want to place a building. So it does let us be thoughtful every step of the way with any work that we do in trying to accomplish that big goal and vision we have for the
033campus. It also helps the district and the community understand the cost to reach these kinds of goals. So, as you know, we will present a cost to you relative to the planning efforts. The detailed project planning does occur as we get into prioritization for work and funding, and that's refined. So at this point, it isn't an implementation plan, but it does provide that broad direction. I'd like to turn it over now to my colleagues to provide a little more detail on what we've been working on starting here. Thank you. As some of you will remember firsthand, about five years ago, brought a master plan forward to you for review. And it's pictured there. And so it proves a master plan in 2021. What's been really a credit to the district and to this program is
034that master plan has really stood the test of time. We'll talk a little bit more about the goals of those master plans in a second, because they are the goals are to carry forward. But just to note that it's a really solid foundation for the work that we're doing now. And of course, some of the key findings from that time are that the district's done a wonderful job of maintaining its buildings. But the district had an aging stock of buildings. And so with that, the needs start to accumulate. And that's just a natural thing. And that at the time, we were able to identify needs and sort and prioritize based on age and function. But because, of course, sometimes the function of the building changes, too, but the building still reflects the previous function. And
035so, as Kim mentioned, we are looking to update the master plan now. And, of course, the question comes, when should that happen and why should that happen? And first and foremost, as as you know, you know, the Livermore Valley Joint University School District has progressed. There are things that are different now about the district than, say, five years ago. One of the examples we like to bring to mind is there's a growth plan now. Another one that we bring up is that Transitional Kindergarten is now part of our campuses, and it wasn't at the time five years ago. And so it's natural and best practice to then take a step back and say, OK, we need to update our planning. It's also mentioned Proposition 2 in that past that charged OPSC CDE with establishing guidelines
036for Facilities Master Plans, one of which is that it should be updated and approved by the board every five years. And that, of course, maintains our funding and eligibility. But also the district, to its credit, has achieved a lot of work in the last five years. And so we can check some things off. And so these, of course, are the reasons both in terms of requirements, but also best practices as to why we update the master plan. As we started our update, we started with a reflection on what had changed, some of which we noted for you. And then we, of course, looked at stakeholder input and gathered that. And we'll talk a little bit more about the results there. We established a schedule and then we started to work at evaluating the sites and
037updating and just a little bit about the schedule. You know, this this work started for us in the fall of kind of reviewing, as we mentioned, what had changed and gathering information and then to sort of springboard into revising the plans here as last year wound down and this year has started. And of course, we're in the process now of updating that master plan and getting ready to bring that to you. I'm going to take it back for just a second to remind us all of goals and responses that were identified in twenty twenty one. We as a team believe that these really stand up very well and continue to be guiding principles for us. The interest in creating equity across the facilities in the district, creating program opportunities in the work that we do
038and enhancing what we do, but creating more opportunities to incorporate a growth plan. One of the things that we've talked about is within these plans, identifying should we need to have growth, placing it on the campuses so that it's thoughtful and cohesive. Fifty year old campuses, we all have experiences in the district where we've added things over time to meet growth needs. It starts to lose cohesion at some point. So we've identified areas where we can thoughtfully place growth. It continues to function appropriately. We want to utilize outdoor spaces. We continue to think that that was a gift of covid, that those became more viable instructional spaces. We want to continue to support that. I think we continue to have a goal of removing portables, classrooms and replacing those with permanent spaces where we possibly
039can. We want to be efficient in what we do. I think it's a given, but worth stating. Welcoming and safe, of course, our goals on our campuses and ideally and always inspiring to students and staff as they enter our spaces. With regard to some of our responses as we address building issues, continuing to make sure that infrastructure is appropriately supported as well. There are lots of aging infrastructure on our campuses and continue to be mindful of that, that that what we do is functional, that we continue to create relationships, both with spaces and connectivity on the campuses, so programs continue to work well together. Again, activating outdoor spaces for instruction. Cost efficient goes without saying, but I think it is worth saying that cost efficiency lets us do more with the money that we have.
040That's always a goal. Let's us do more for students, more work on our campuses and constructible is a goal near and dear to our heart in the sense that as the board is aware, but not always the community. Every time we do a project, we're doing it on a live campus. So we have to continue to allow instruction to happen viably on our campuses while we construct. And that requires a great deal of extra effort to make sure that that's done safely and efficiently. So we think these hold up really well and are continuing to guide the work that we do. We do want to talk a little bit more about the approach to the facilities master plan, and I will turn it over to my colleague. Thank you, Kim. So when you see the
041updated master plan, we wanted to share with you how we came to the conclusions we came to. As mentioned, we have looked at your campuses individually. We've looked at the age of the buildings, the maintenance they've received. Your maintenance program does a great job, but programs change buildings, age, and eventually some of them come to the end of their useful life. And so that's how we came up with categories of work to to put for each building. And you'll find the three categories there. The minor modernization are more cosmetic, lighter changes to buildings, finishes. Then you move into what we call a major modernization, which will require remodeling, moving walls. Changing out systems like air conditioning, windows, doors, mechanical things. And finally, if a building has ended its useful life, if it no longer can
042be modernized to serve, we have looked at new construction to really give a campus what it needs. And so in looking at these campuses, we talked to the principals because they really know the campus is best. They're there every day. They're dealing with them all the time. And we created a survey for them, 30 questions that covered all parts of campuses, indoors, outdoors, arrival, how spaces support students, how spaces support staff, what kind of conditions they see. And some common themes stood out with the principals. They do a great job making what they have work. They don't necessarily have every space they'd like, but they get it to function. But TK has created a challenge. There are some rooms that are now serving kindergartners or TK that are not designed for them. Accommodating sped, they
043have distinct needs that are maybe not already on campuses. Technology continues to advance and keeping up with that can be problematic. And then administration needs and student support spaces are at their maximum at some campuses and have been completely outgrown at others. So these were the kind of issues that were brought forth by the principals that we looked at. And then we reached out to the community with a similar survey, slightly refined because they don't spend as much time at the campuses. But we distributed teachers, students, parents and community members via the district website, school bulletin boards and the school newsletters. And we wanted to give as many people an opportunity to respond as possible. So we got as comprehensive a take on those campuses as we could have. And again, some common themes emerged.
044We found that shade at exterior parts of campuses seems to be lacking in some cases. Conditions of fields, they feel need some work. And restrooms, both availability and condition need a little updating. But as you can see, we got 789 responses to this survey from the broader community, which we felt was a really good response rate for something that isn't work happening immediately. So we were very happy to share out those results on the district website for everyone who participated. So I'm going to take it back and just talk about next steps with you very briefly. We are planning to be back in April with the full draft report for you. We wanted to, this is a large topic. So we wanted to set the stage this evening a bit and give you some of
045the background and how we got to the report production. That draft document will be reviewed with you. We'll give you some examples of campuses where we've done the update to the assessment with the hope that that helps make it easier to read the full report, which is lengthy, as you know. At that point, we will also summarize key changes for you so that it's very clear what has been revised since the 2021 report. We have noted this evening a few of those items, but we'll definitely highlight them again as we come back to you. At that point, we will also be providing for you a rough order of magnitude or wrong cost. To give you some idea of probably what you intuitively already know, it has not gotten cheaper to build facilities in the last
046five years, and our needs have continued to grow. So we will share more detail of that with you. I think it's always helpful as we inform you, but also our community about our needs, what the cost of those needs are so that we at least can develop a plan to try to address those. At this point, we're going to wrap it up, and I'm happy and my colleagues to answer any questions that you have. I'll say thank you very much. There's no blue cards on this, and this is information discussion only. So any questions? Kaplanis? Thank you, Ms. McNeely, and I forgot your guys' names. Sorry. And you guys for your... And team. And team, yes. And team for all the work you guys do for our bond department and this great presentation. I had
047a quick question. So in December, we had the national demographics forecast showing declines through 2035 and beyond. I just wanted to know how we're incorporating this into the facility master plan. Most of our needs in the district are related to modernization and or replacement of buildings. We do think that it's still prudent to show a place for growth as we continue to build housing in the community should we need it. But obviously, it would be a district and board decision about whether that capacity actually needed to be deployed. So most of the focus is really renovating our aging facilities. Okay. And then just to follow up, is there any indicators of school sites that are significantly under or over capacity, to your knowledge? We don't do that work in the facilities master plan, but we
048do annually look at capacity in the district and do that assessment every year to see whether or not we have sufficient capacity or the capacity that's available. I just want to know if that was related to the portable piece. The portables are really about trying to take portables that have exceeded useful life and put students in permanent classroom space. So that's really more related to age of those buildings than capacity. Just my curiosity, what's the typical age of a portable? In our district? Yes. 30 plus years. Oh, okay. Thank you. Trustee Poynter? Appreciate the update. To me, this is one of the core missions of the district. And Ms. McNeely, you've been at the center of it now for several years. And so I appreciate these updates when we come every year. And for those
049in the community who might be watching this, our facilities were somewhat neglected due to not passing a bond for a number of years, from 99 up until 2016, approximately. And so as a school district, our only means of doing these type of large facilities in the state of California is to pass a publicly supported bond. So our community has been very supportive of that historically. We had a slight step back, but we would like to move forward with that. And anyone is driven through the community. I think it's Measure J, and there's a lot of signs that are up. East Avenue and Joe Mitchell and Granada and Livermore High School had significant projects, as well as all the other campuses had classrooms, 650 classrooms were all touched. So these type of updates are essential to
050keep us like the TK component or TK for all, greatly affected us in our capacity and stuff. So and then the fields and things like that and bathrooms. So I appreciate the update, and I look forward to getting gaining community support so we can move forward with these things. Trustee Vanden Heuvel. Thank you so much for the update. Lots of great work. I'm a little curious about the survey that you did. 800 people super well, you know, engaged with. What do you do with that information? How do you, first of all, does that move the needle towards shade and restroom, you know, attention? And how do you keep track of that? And how do you let people know about that progress? So they feel like, man, my vote or my input really helped move some
051things. One of the requirements, and we think it's a really good one of the new program under Prop 2, is that we do more actively engage the community and find other ways to engage the community. So this was the first time we attempted a survey. We were really, I think, as my colleagues shared, we were really happy with the level of participation. Huge thank you to our principals who I know are regularly being asked to support us and push information out. I think we asked for the survey to be put out maybe two or three days after we sent it. Almost everyone had it done the first day. So shout out to my very awesome colleagues at the campuses who just really helped us out. And really drummed up interest. I think for, as again,
052my colleagues shared, for a survey that isn't going to have immediate reaction to it, to get that level of engagement was amazing for us. The themes absolutely do affect the work that we do, as do the interviews with the principals. We do believe, we said, and we do believe they know it better than we do. They live it every single day. So we do try to incorporate those changes in. We have yet to be able to actually implement some of this work, but I completely agree that finding a way to give people that feedback, that what they shared with us is in fact impacting the work that we do. I hope and I think that our teacher colleagues would already attest to that, that their input has been represented in the work that we have
053done. And we need to find more ways to make people aware that that input does shape the work that we do. It absolutely does. Yeah, because it's tricky to ask questions in the survey, realizing that you've got limited resources and limited time and limited, you know, you already have a plan. Were there any surprises in the responses in the survey? Oh, wait a second, we hadn't even, we weren't going to touch any of that. No, I don't. I don't think any surprises, but it certainly underscored things that we appreciated the validation that people are seeing the same things we're seeing. I'm sure you have similar experiences when you walk our campuses. Probably nothing we're going to say is like, what? But I think it is helpful to have people underscore the things we're also seeing
054to validate that we are seeing similar themes and interests. Great. Thank you. Yeah, I just have one question. First of all, thank you for coming. And I'm trying to recall from the last time we did this, and maybe this will be part of the next presentation. So I'm just asking in advance if the master facilities plan prioritizes projects. I can't remember if that does, or if that's something that we decide. It doesn't say this one you got to do right away because it's falling down or it does not. It simply provides, as I shared, a 30,000 foot view of the needs. Obviously, what shapes prioritization is funding. So the amount of money we have to devote to it has a lot to do with what gets prioritized first. As you are aware, we get a
055lot of input throughout the district to work toward priorities and detail projects. Ultimately, those come to the board and you all approve what we're working on first and second. Perfect. Thank you. I just wanted to reiterate the thanks and thank you for breaking up into two parts. I think telling us kind of how you did it and then the what will be useful. And then secondly, just thank you for keeping us in compliance. I'll reiterate what Trustee Bueno said that the way that the educational system is set up in California is that the state has funds for large scale facility projects. But if local education associations want to tap into that, they have to raise so it's matching funds. But it's kind of exciting to look forward to what that is. So we'll see you
056in April. Thank you. Thank you. One more. Hold on. Sorry. Just one more follow-up question. I do have a concern because this is contingent upon a bond passing. Our most recent attempt in, what was it, 2022, the community rejected the bond and we weren't in a qualified budget at that time. Out of cautionary movement, is there a possibility that we could see a facility master plan without receiving any extra bond money? Is that possible? I'm not sure. Are you talking about whether we could implement a master plan? Yeah, if we could implement some type of contingency plan if, unfortunately, if a bond doesn't pass. Really in California, and this was said before but maybe said slightly differently, in California, really the only funding source for large capital projects is local bonds and or there are
057other funding sources but they are capital, dedicated capital funds. And as was also shared, the only way to access state bond funds for that same purpose is with local matching money. So there isn't really another funding source for large capital projects. Okay, I understand. Thank you. Move on to 14-0 discussion action items. 14-1 is approval of the 2025-2026 second interim financial reports. Turn the time over to Ms. Kayla Walsley. Good evening. Tonight I will be presenting on our 25-26 second interim budget update. I'm a sudden budget update from our first interim that was presented in December. So the purpose of the second interim budget is one of three required financial reports each year and this report reflects our financial status as of April 31 and includes updated projections for the current year as well as
058our two subsequent fiscal years. Provides an update on our financial current fiscal position and allows both our county office of education and the state to assess the district's ability to meet its financial obligations in our current and subsequent two fiscal years. The report is based off of year to date actuals and all of the most current assumptions available. So while the report goes through January 31 for actuals we do use any all data up to the point that we publish the report to make adjustments to our budget based off of what is known at the time. So in our budget cycle we begin the budget this budget cycle in June with the budget adoption followed by first interim in December and now we're moving into second interim in March. From here we'll move into third
059interim reports which will be required for us this year and that will be presented in May. Then we'll receive our governor's May revision to his budget proposal and that will lead into our final budget and LCAP adoption in June. And then we'll close out the fiscal year in September with our unonated actuals so we're always kind of working in two budget years for most of the year. So overall the projected unrestricted reserve for 25-26 is 4.7 percent. This budget meets the criteria for a qualified certification status meaning the district may not meet its financial obligations for the current or two subsequent years. The budget work group came to consensus when we met over the month of February and March to move into qualified status this year to give us some more time for planning just
060based on the short lead time so we kind of knew this going into this budget cycle but no we have plans in place for trying to get our district back on track and fiscal stability. The benefits and salaries have been updated to reflect our current staffing as well as salary increases and benefit increases. The multi-year projection includes the approved reductions for the 26-27 school year and our restricted categorical funds were updated based off our planned expenditures. So looking at our combined budget the total revenues are approximately 214 million dollars our total expenditures are approximately 225 million dollars which is a decrease in our fund balance of 11 million dollars. The ending fund balance is projected at 15.4 million dollars including this includes our three percent required reserve of approximately 6.8 million dollars. The unrestricted ending
061fund balance did increase from our first interim to our second interim by 712 thousand dollars while the restricted ending fund balance decreased by 3.9 million dollars. These changes are largely due to on the unrestricted side our spending and hiring freeze as well as utilizing some of our one-time discretionary block grant which is a restricted funding source to offset our unrestricted expenses and 25-26 to relieve some one-time pressure on the budget to provide greater revenue or ending fund balance moving into 26-27. So overall in revenue approximately 72 percent of our total revenue comes from our LCFF sources which includes both state and local sources that are tied to our student attendance. Seventy-five percent of revenue is unrestricted while 25 percent is restricted and our total revenues decreased by 787 thousand dollars compared to first interim and
062I'll go into some of the details of those changes. For LCFF revenue sources our revenue projections increased by 312 thousand dollars this is primarily due to higher than projected ADA so our attendance or ADA is based this year on our current year ADA so any increases that we have in our current year ADA will increase our current year LCFF funding re-running our current attendance rates we did improve from last year to this year so I was able to increase those slightly I'll look at those again following this week when we closed P2 to see if we improve even further than what I have projected which then would help our 25-26 and 26-27 budget. For federal revenue we had a decrease of approximately 3.5 million dollars this is largely due to magnet grant decreased funding and
063that's we didn't lose any of that funding but three million dollars was shifted from our current year to next year to support our staffing that we have in that program and so it just better reflects our plan spending of that grant our school-based mental health we also had a decrease of 534 thousand dollars this is a mix of our updated grant awards so far this year we've received 50 percent of our 20-26 grant award and we'll know more following our mid-year report submission but it adjusts for that as well as our actual staffing plan for this year to allow for some of our staffing to be paid from next year's next year's staffing. In other state revenue we had an increase of 833 thousand dollars this includes approximately five hundred thousand dollars in ELOP funding
064ELOP funding because we are tier two meaning that we don't have a high unduplicated population they didn't know exactly how much we would receive per unduplicated student until they calculated the tier one rates and so in February they recertify funding and so based off of that recertified funding they were able to increase our per student allocation which resulted in a five hundred thousand dollar increase and we also received literacy screening professional development funds and as well as an increase to our special education earlier intervention funds that was also updated with our P1 certification by CDE as well as various other small adjustments. In local revenue we had an increase of approximately 3.5 million dollars this is largely driven by our donations received to date we also received a couple of mental health grants our CYBHI
065we love acronyms in schools which is a bridge grant as we move into our fee billing as well as a schooling partnership grant we had an increase of 257 thousand dollars this will be used to support mental health services largely next year but we received the revenue this year so it's being recognized in this year's budget we also increased our early education teacher development grant by 109 thousand dollars we received that grant from ACOE and then we received 50 thousand dollars from ACOE and differentiated assistance to support that plan and then various other programs had updates as well so overall and expenditures salary and benefits represent 82 percent of total expenditures and 92 percent of the unrestricted budget is salaries and benefits 55 percent of expenditures are unrestricted expenses while 45 percent are restricted expenses
066in salary and benefits we had increases across all areas based off of the salary increases i should say in certificated salaries non-management classified salaries non-management as well as employee benefits those increases were largely due to the increased salary and benefit contributions and then adjustments were made to management salaries based off of actuals to date and then some costs were offset by vacancies and carry grant carryover plans so it didn't increase our salaries and benefits as much as we thought it would based because of the freeze in the hiring so our total FTE decreased from 309 FTE to 1294 FTE this again reflects our hiring freeze as well as continuing to align our staffing to our enrollment and our needs as we have vacancies in place so in other expenditures books and supplies we had a
067decrease of 2.2 million dollars that was a mix of both spending freeze as well as the planned grant carryover we had a lot of money just budgeted and magnet grant for books and supplies until it was fully planned of how we would spend it that's when we decided to really reflect that show going into next year so that was a large amount of the decrease plus our spending freeze our support services and operating expenses increased due to program expenditures on the restricted side based off of grants and then capital outlay increased due to spending for our golden state pathways program grant so as i mentioned previously included in the second interim budget is also our look at our two subsequent fiscal years which is called our multi-year projection so when you build a multi-year projection
068you have key assumptions that you use in building that which includes your projected COLA or cost of living adjustment our funded average daily attendance enrollment projected lottery revenue STIRS and PERS employer contribution increases or decreases for this multi-year projection in 26-27 we had previously projected a 2.3% COLA this budget update includes a 2.41% COLA for 26-27 and a 3.6% COLA in 27-28 our enrollment is showing a decline over the next two years was further that we were showing declining enrollment at first interim but there's a further decline projected in 26-27 and 27-28 based on our current TK and kinder enrollment so looking at that and where we're at compared to where I had as projected I did reduce our enrollment projections closer to where we are at currently but still anticipating some enrollments over the
069summer luckily because we are funded on prior year ADA in 26-27 that further decline in enrollment doesn't hit us fiscally until we move into 27-28 so thankfully it didn't negatively impact our budget projections for 26-27 by having a lower TK enrollment yet so that will come in 27-28 if the enrollment does not materialize ADA rates are projected at around 20 sorry 94.5% as I noted earlier this will be reviewed following our final P2 numbers to see if we can increase our 94.5% upwards based off of that we've been trending upwards so if we have another upwards trends in 25-26 we'll be able to adjust that upwards which will help our overall budget picture for our unrestricted funds in the multi-year projection the ending fund balance in 25-26 projected at 4.64% and we dropped down to
0701.47% in 26-27 with a shortfall of approximately three million dollars needed to make up our three percent minimum reserve requirement and then in 27-28 there will be an additional nine point six million dollars in reductions necessary in order to meet our three percent reserve so the expenditures projected in 27-28 include that reduction of nine point six million dollars in expenditures if we did not if we don't make nine point six million reductions moving into 27-28 bring any other improvements happening like revenue we would be a negative budget status for our combined funds we have in 25-26 between restricted and unrestricted funds 6.7 ending fund balance with 15.4 million dollars in 26-27 2.42 percent with 5.4 million dollars in the ending fund balance and then 27-28 with the 9.6 million dollars in reductions 3.48 percent or
0717.3 million dollars in our ending fund balance so then i wanted to look at what would our multi-year budget prospects look like including the state budget proposal revenues as a reminder largely the governor is proposing one-time revenue including the one-time student support professional development block grant the full restoration of our learning recovery block grant and then the one ongoing funding source is an increase in special education funding so that is all incorporated in this multi-year projection for 26-27 and while it does increase our ending fund balance one time from one point i apologize from 2.42 percent in 26-27 to 5.99 percent in 26-27 that is a one-time fix and so we still would have a structural deficit problem to address and determine how we wanted to address that and we would also need an additional
072two million dollars in reduction still with all of that revenue incorporated assuming we use all of it to offset general fund pressures in 26-27 so our state budget things are still looking promising from the state budget the legislative analyst office was previously significantly lower than the governor was projecting for revenues by 4.8 billion dollars they have since revised their revenue projections are now higher than the governor's estimates in 25-26 and then slightly lower than 26-27 so at least they are more in alignment than what we were receiving previously which is promising and they did an upward trend of 4.6 billion dollars in addition this week the department of finance released revenue receipts that have been received to date this year and once again our monthly receipts have exceeded our forecast which is promising for the
073state education but state budget as a whole as well as the education budget and total state revenues received to date exceed the forecast by 6.1 billion dollars so just watching kind of the trends in the economic standing of our state gives us a little bit of insight of at least we don't expect things as of right now to get any worse than what the governor was proposing in the state budget so just kind of watching economic trends helps us know what to maybe expect at the May revise and while with the LAO increasing their revenue they also indicated that the increased state revenue could require a larger reserve deposit at the state level which would then take guaranteed state funding and put it into the reserve instead of the school district so there's always that
074balancing it kind of like we have a three percent reserve requirement as schools the state has set guidelines for their reserve requirement yes so as reserve as revenue increases their reserve requirement increases so we'll kind of watch how that all plays out as well and more clarity will come with our May revision that will be released by May 14th and then as a reminder COLA can be calculated from various different indicators for California we use the government consumption expenditures and gross investment state and local implicit price deflator to monitor or set our statutory COLA and so that is determined by April of each fiscal year for the following fiscal year so this quarter is closing March 31st and so that will be determined in April what our final COLA is but based off of where
075we have been at with each quarterly index period I did a projection of if COLA remained if our growth remained flat over our last quarter what would COLA look like and that would be at 2.52 percent if we had an average growth over compared to our prior four quarters we would increase from 2.41 percent to 2.72 percent and if we had a one percent growth in our last quarter it would be a 2.77 percent COLA so with that in mind I then looked at how would that impact LCFF which is our largest funding source so if we remain flat it would have an increased funding of $163,000 in 26-27 and $173,000 in 27-28 if we ended up at a 2.72 percent COLA it would be $476,000 in 26-27 and $481,000 in 27-28 and if we
076were at 2.77 percent $564,000 in 26-27 and $563,000 in 27-28 so it is positive to see that we've had upward growth in our COLAs and even if we remain flat we still might see a little bit more revenue so I'm hopeful that this last quarter proves somewhat strong at least flat and that we can maybe see a little slight increase in our revenue as well but that will be finalized as I mentioned in April I'm not sure with everything with the federal government it was our 2025 quarter four was delayed due to the last government shutdown so there might be a delay I haven't heard if they anticipate a delay in the final quarter of COLA calculation so next steps key upcoming milestones include our May 12th board meeting which will have our third interim
077as well as our final layoff resolutions May 14th will be the governor's May revision and then in June our budget and LCAP adoption and then at the end of June will be the state budget deadline with that I will take any questions so there's no blue cards in this so I'll go to the board trustee Prusa I just have a few a few questions the third interim is this required because of our qualified status correct okay I thought so but I just wanted to double check because we don't always do that so I just wanted to check on that and then you may you may not know the answer to this but what do you think we can attribute to the increased ADA like was that targeted or did it just happen and how much
078of an increase it might have been in there but I know that it's a good question yeah I was like you may not have the answer but someone might it's the um million dollar question yeah potentially no pun intended does that mean I get a million dollars since I asked the question well you know I think that's that's a question that I have tried to dig into is the data as it relates to the increase in our ADA I know there has been a concerted effort I want to thank Michelle Dawson who's sitting in the back who sent out plenty of communication to our families about the importance of coming to school and even coming to school for just a few minutes to check their children in so if they are often doing important things
079that they need to do that's okay but to check their students in so that we can record that ADA which is really important so I am hopeful that as things settle we are able to dig into the data and see what we did right this year to increase our ADA okay thank you and then um last I think I think last question for now is how sensitive is the multi-year production to shifts and enrollment or state funding well I guess what I mean is like how conservative are your numbers um great question I would say um because I don't include any of the projected new revenues all the revenues I've included are pretty certain um the biggest fluctuation would be in student attendance um because I don't have 26-27 budgeted based off of a current
080year ADA there's less volatility in that and that we kind of know right now in 25-26 what our ADA is and so I feel pretty confident in what I have projected for 26-27 um the more volatility would be in 27-28 if we really see more of a significant decline in enrollment in 26-27 than I'm currently projecting that could have a larger impact on 27-28 um however there were is still the prior year ADA guarantees but I would say I'm conservative in the revenue that I budget um to not include revenues that's not guaranteed at this point right okay just curious I just want to just where that might shift and then I guess I don't really have any more questions but I just a statement that just an appreciation for the team the whole team
081here um Kayla for you and for also I was able to attend the I was the last board member to attend the government what do we call it budget work okay government something the budget work group and I just uh got just was there to observe um and I just wanted to say that I'm appreciative of that group and the work that they're doing and I just want to acknowledge that we still have work to do um that it looks like for next year we still need a 9.6 million reduction I know we're still waiting on numbers so that could change and I'm just wanted to recognize that the group recognizes that and understands that and um hopefully we have more time to focus on that and work on that over the next year so
082I just wanted to acknowledge that and thank thank everyone who's participated in that so that's it any questions oh trust me yeah just one thing that jumped out of me was the capital outlay half million dollars came up since you know we're we can't spend money on buildings and construction and things like that so it's got to be some equipment or what do you what did we what do you know about that um like for the capital outlay that's largely out of restricted programs um we have our golden state pathways program um those are cte grants we've received for both um granada and levermore high school and various cte pathways um but they've had a lot of upgrades that they've made to their programs um to build their pathways and we also have our kitchen
083infrastructure grant funds that we are spending down this year um I believe we had small purchases in um are unrestricted which is typically more vehicles um that we purchase out of there for our fleet of like warehouse and maintenance vehicles are typically what we see more out of our unrestricted capital outlay um and I also restricted we also have additional vehicles for elop as well as that program grows so a lot of our capital outlay in the general fund is restricted based off of grant funds and that's also filtered through your office to make sure that you know to be really aware of the the balanced budget crunch that where we're in and to make sure that we're only spending the money that we really need to make sure that we run our district well
084thank you for that um the uh the qualified certifications scares me a little bit um but uh you know because it carries all the specific legal meaning and as a as the one of the elected officials here uh the the prospect of our district not being able to meet its financial obligations in the future or in the you know in the current year next two years is is concerning but I really like that you have a serious response to this serious issue and and I like how you're um you're approaching it um yeah thank you miss wasley for for presenting it clearly uh for being honest about it and being conservative as well I think that helped I think already we've seen that 9.6 looks better now than what it did a couple of weeks
085ago so I appreciate that and um it's been really encouraging to sit in in board meetings and in in discussions with with my fellow trustees to see the seriousness of stewardship that they all hold um because we want to be you know so aware of what happens in the classrooms and it's we still have work to do and I'm nervous about that but I also think that with all the stakeholders involved I think we're going to get there without uh you know cuts that are too deep for our community so thank you for this appreciate you thank you thanks uh appreciate the presentation a couple of questions uh on on page 19 let's bring it up it just talks uh to me it seems a bit confusing I'm looking for a little clarity it says
086that the lao previously projected state revenues 4.8 billion lower then they revised it and 25 is going to be a little higher 26 is going to be a little lower overall it increased but it doesn't say what the governor actually projected so the governor um projected he the lao was originally I believe it was 4.8 billion dollars lower than the governor's projection and so now um they're only 0.2 billion lower than the governor's projection so we previously um the bigger concern that I noted in the governor's budget proposal was that the lao was so far off from the governor's budget proposal that we weren't sure how negotiations would go between the legislator and the governor being that the financial data they were using was so different um but now at least they're more in line
087for their budget negotiations but it doesn't actually talk about the number that they came to it just says that they were lower but it doesn't actually say what the what the governor's was like what's the disparity it says it will grow by 4.6 billion dollars but what was the governor projected I would have to get back to you with that data oh okay all right it just because one of the one of the reasons I know these are the state stuff and part of this whole state you know we get the money after we spent it and it's not a reflection on the district in terms of the majority of this because you put a budget together you hire people you run a school year and then after it's all over they say how much
088they're going to give you for the year that already happened that's an almost an impossible thing so I understand that we have to be conservative in that but there's also some gamesmanship that goes along with this at the state level it seems like always in the 11th hour they come through and here's the money but we've already had to take all these actions which is somewhat not in this case but often it's the part of that whole march 15th then our layoff notices all of that is because we're trying to be overly conservative which is appreciated but then when three hundred thousand dollars shows up because our ada increased but our attendance barely moved you know I mean those are like their predictions and there's a lot of prediction in this so it's hard to
089capture that as a board member when it's out of context it's difficult to track especially when you're in the billions but there's no reference like we don't know the governor said the budget will be this the lao said it will be this in actuality this is what it came in at you know without seeing it literally the verbiage here just seems kind of confusing to me so I look forward to getting some clarity on that thank you miss wasley for your presentation and all the work that went into putting this together as well as the budget work group that worked on this along the way as well a question I have is on page 18 it says additional reductions of approximately two point million would still be needed for 27 28 is that on top
090of the 9.6 million no that would be the reductions needed if all of the proposed revenue that is in the state budget proposal is realized okay so instead of being 9.6 billion million it would be two million okay and then are we still on track for the state's three percent reserve minimum for 26 27 no we are not we will not meet our three percent reserve requirement in 26 27 what about beyond only if we made the reductions necessary to return back to a three percent reserve requirement so we'll remain in a qualified budget status at that point as well it will so when we adopt the june budget for the 26 27 district budget at that point you don't do a certification status so our next certification status will be determined in december at
091first interim and so at that point we'll determine whether we're still in qualified status or we'll be returning to positive status be the hope at that point okay thank you just building from trustee buenos question I remember when you presented the laos estimate compared to the governor's and it was radically off and he had a I don't know if I should say that it was there were significant differences and I'm just curious if if um if you had heard what how did they reconcile the differences to come closer to the governor if there's sound logic or if it's just magic and mystery um it's really this um receipts to date and revenue for um taxes that have been received and so I think um lao had been they've seen an ai boom and that has
092resulted in additional state revenue and so they were very conservative and they're the rest of their year projections of not knowing if we would still see those um booms in revenue and since they've now actually had the receipts I think they felt more comfortable in increasing so you know every I would say financial person would love to um budget based off of waiting until you actually see what you receive but um unfortunately that's not always reality meanwhile we're all freaking out but it's okay trustee bono just just as a uh maybe a follow-up I know you're keeping your eye on it but just from my perspective as a board member when you talk about it just so it doesn't get gloss over the governor proposing one-time money one-time money doesn't build on the base so
093that would contribute to any towards any future what we would call structural deficit because our our obligations financially are building flat or maybe going upward our cost of supplies and service all those things go up so if they give us one-time money we can't count that for the following year correct correct yes so is there anything in the dialogue with that we're getting from the state if revenues do go up do they have any statutory obligation to make it ongoing money versus like how do they differentiate on the funding based on whether it's going to be recurring or one time um that determination is typically made based off of what they see in their multi-year at the state level so if they're seeing a drop off in revenues that will lower the guarantee then that's
094when they're going to give us the one-time revenue um so if they're being especially conservative in their projections for economic growth then um that results more in one-time money and then also um the maneuver they've been doing where they um don't fund the full prop 98 guarantee that's projected um then results in additional one-time revenue so they for the 25-26 school year they lowered the education funding by 1.9 billion dollars now that 1.9 billion dollars has been exceeded even further based off of 25-26 revenues coming in even higher than they were previously projecting and so now it's the 1.9 billion that they owed schools plus the added revenue that has also been received in 25-26 so that's also attributing to the one-time money that we're going to see in 26-27 and and I guess that's
095kind of the point i'm trying to get to for clarity is that being on the board for 12 years nearly every year um it comes through uncertainty it's gotten worse since covid it got worse because you know they delayed the tax returns and that kicked it all the way they didn't people have to file till october so the revenues the lao came back and said we're not sure what's going to happen it's going to be lower and ultimately it came in in the last two years we had record base funding increases so as maybe it's ai or maybe it's a wealth whatever it is that's building the revenue it's actively being lobbied like i mean people are actually advocating to build base one-time money really doesn't it helps in an isolation but the majority of
096our costs are ongoing so that is i'm trying to get clarity on it's not mismanagement it's not that we did one thing that caused a structural deficit that's what it is is the fact that we need to build the floor so that it runs parallel with our costs and until the state makes those decisions but they have to their credit for two years like was it like three years ago and then two years ago we had the prop 98 that was our record-based funding increase correct yes yes they increased the base above what was statutory required so when do we know that when will that come like when do we actually know when the base gets affected that will know end of june when the state budget is adopted and so people can keep a
097close eye i mean i know i'm kind of rhetorically but it's just that people can look at it because these type of things do have an effect on a lot of people and we've eliminated positions we've noticed people people looking at programs but a lot of this you know it's easy if you're a critic to look at this and say what the heck are you guys doing but we don't make money here there's no revenue source for the district some small little donations and some allocations and little grants and things but the lion's share you know i don't know what the exact number is comes from the state and we're dealing with their accounting system but it has been favorable even in some challenging times the last few years yeah okay and i would say
098there is a large push to raise the base across districts across california to get some of that funding ongoing instead of one time and so we're really trying to push advocacy for that as well as not withholding any funds back from the state budget because the state budget is volatile and so that's why they've been kind of holding the funds back as well as to offset the non-prop 98 side of the budget so as much as we can advocate that we are fully funded as we should be as districts i think is key as well just to note for the legislators for one-time funds they are getting concerned about how much one-time funds and the discretion the districts have been giving so now they're trying to talk about how much local control should be given
099to districts when they re-receive the one-time funds so i would say advocacy as well as being yes being aware of what's going on at the state level and the conversations is very important as we look forward yeah i reserve a lot of hope that and it's not just magical hope it's just being as pragmatic as i can that given the history given the super majority given the overall support for education giving that potentially i mean we have a governor who's going to make a run at presidential i just can't see in the absence of a media or something that we're not going to come through for public education it's one of the core missions of this state and we have the fourth largest economy in the world i truly have full faith that they're going
100to come through i was you had talked about the possible increase to sped funding and or anticipated or projected was that one-time funds or was that base funds that will be um base funds ongoing okay that's great yeah so that looks like approximately potentially one million dollars for our district and ongoing funds i think just in closing is understanding the cycle of how schools are funding is absolutely critical because if you just step in in the moment it's it's it's complex so i and i think you know to trustee boyna's point having historical vantage of the gamesmanship that goes um as part of the process is useful in helping understand where we are and why we are where we are and then lastly sincere thanks to you miss wasley for all of your tireless work
101leading up to this moment i know it's been a long time but also thanks to all of the community and members that helped collaborate in us getting to to these decisions in this point this was community members sharing their perspective about what's um what our district should look like what we value and what we prioritize so thank you to all of those with that if there's not any other discussion i would entertain a motion and move in support of the superintendent's recommendation on this item i'll second i have a motion from trustee bueno a second from trustee prusso any discussion on the motion clerk can you call the roll myself i trustee bueno trustee prusso i trustee kaplanis aye president druane aye trustee chris aye that motion carries unanimous with one's and i'll need to
102get the language from the student board member how to say it but thank you trustee chris we will move on to 14-2 approval of memorandum of understanding with seiu local 10-21 for retirement incentives dr jessica londuras okay thank you so our district seiu team submit and develop an mou which provides the following retirement incentives for seiu members who commit to retire at the end of the 25-26 school year members would have the option to one annual health benefit contribution of fourteen thousand dollars for six years or two an annual payment of fourteen thousand dollars for six years beginning in 26-27 and ending in 20 and 31-32 for this the requirement a minimum membership requirement would be four members of seiu must commit to retire the fiscal impact is 41 approximately 41 285 is the acting
103superintendent's recommendation to approve this mou for retirement incentive with seiu local 10-21 and i want to appreciate seiu and their partnership in developing this mou thank you i have no blue cards in this any question from board members just an expression on it i just want to mirror the the sentiments and appreciation for seiu working so quickly behind the scenes as well as lea and csa and our bargaining groups working collaboratively as part of the task force to solve budgets and you know works in the betterment of everyone this is uh you don't have any win-wins but everyone's winning on this one and so it's a it's a really good collaborative process took a lot of trust i appreciate it trustee kiwanis um i just have a quick question what safeguards are in place to
104ensure that they're um to ensure knowledge transfer and avoid gaps in critical classified positions so um as it pertains to the retirement incentive yes so there are more there are about five i think seiu members right now who have put in for the retirement incentive and so we would be hiring for many of those positions on the budget reduction sheet there was an elimination of almost three fte so there is going to be a little bit of a reduction overall in seiu and custodial but um for every need there it'll be filled with a new hire okay just want to make sure of that thank you there's no other discussion i would entertain a motion i'll move to approve the memorandum of understanding for retirement incentive with the seiu local 1021 i'll second a motion
105from trustee vandenhul a second from trustee pruso any discussion on the motion or if you could call the roll trustee kaplanis aye myself aye trustee bueno aye trustee pruso aye president druane aye that motion carries unanimously move on to 143 superintendent search review and discussion of options regarding the process and this is me so the board of education is preparing to hire the next superintendent of schools for the livermore valley joint unified school district this agenda item allows us to discuss us the board to discuss our thoughts and take action in preparation of that i'd like to provide some questions to frame our conversation and then we'll open it up for discussion and possible action so i think there's three kind of questions that guide our conversation so first what method of support should we
106should the board take should we run the search by ourselves should we hire an outside firm or should we work with the alameda county office of education secondly uh in most of the options mentioned there is still a still varying degrees of leg work needed leading up to candidate interviews in the past an ad hoc committee was created to try to do that leg work leading up to that so the second question is i guess it's multi-part two is does the board want to create an ad hoc committee if so whom shall serve in what direction shall we give to them and if not then then it would mean that the board would need to meet to convene an open session to address those logistics leading up to the process and then third question is
107what did i write finally as board president i've reached out to oh i've reached out to several major hiring firms in the past we hosted a forum to hear from different groups and individuals to event which path we should take meaning we held kind of interviews for hiring firms we gave them 15 minutes to kind of give us their spiel and so i guess a last question would be is there a desire for a similar forum and some of these again these three questions you know should first what support what support should we the board take do it ourselves hire a firm alameda county office of education like if we make a decision on that then that addresses the third question so there are several questions for us to grapple with and i would entertain
108robust discussion first on our thoughts relating to those any of the proposals that we saw and i will say that i included the proposals that iron i'd reached out early last week kind of knowing we were uh that this could be an opportunity for discussion and i posted those that i had received so i'll open it up to some discussion well i i reviewed uh the uh the documents that you uh that you um uh supplied and information about the different options that we could have and um i think those are there's some really click uh credible firms uh good track records i really like the uh hya is it just hya i don't know it's last names for the we call it hya yeah um i like their transition support component but but i
109think being just in such a constrained budget year years um i think that our community is watching how we spend and i think they should be watching so spending thirty thousand thirty five thousand dollars on the external uh search firm is um i think it's going to be difficult to justify at this moment so um especially when the county office has stepped forward and offered to do this work at no cost to us so i also think that beyond that i think there's something meaningful about having a a coe lead this because they're not a hired firm they're you know they're accountable to this county i think they know us they know the community um in a way that i think a national vendor might not know us as well and i i think that
110kind of accountability that kind of transparency um is what this process could benefit from so um i think uh i like the process that aoc a coc has is uh leaner is that a word to describe that i don't know but but it's leaner leaner their process but you know we're we're not starting from scratch um we have people that have done this before on the board so i i think i'm i know i'm answering three different questions all at the same time but yes yes i think uh it would be good to maybe uh go with something less expensive there you go i too i i agree with trustee vanden heuvel um i did look over the proposals i believe hya was one of the firms that we interviewed last time um and yeah
111i think they would all probably all do a great job i also agree with ben and trustee vanden heuvel again on the the process of the price i think the price is right for us and i think the process looks robust and transparent and all of the things that we're looking for um i know they're they lean on us and our hr department and our communications department but so did the other firms so i think that's just part of the package when we're looking at so i agree to me that would be the way i would prefer to go but i'm i'm open to other thoughts trustee katanas are you mulling if you're mulling i can go to someone else sure trustee bueno thoughts um i coming out of uh professional government um will almost
112always advocate at the executive level to have some type of a firm someone overseeing it it's a really difficult process not necessarily just um what you're conducting each day but confidentiality maintain the legal requirements um you're dealing with people that are at the highest level um most of which aren't saying that to their employer so some of them you know they're a deputy or they're an assistant somewhere else um how the the paper works and who's going to do that work it's quite a bit of work i'm sure an ea or a couple of ea's could do that work but do we have the bandwidth to do that work um i i do like utilizing because they do oversee us from a fiduciary standpoint alameda county office of education um i think there's also additional
113resource we could reach out to the um to tony thurman's office you know at the state level and we could do something there um i'm not uh i understand type budget constraint but there's some things you need i mean you have to put fuel in the in the vehicles to deliver the food so no matter how strict your budget is there are certain things you have to do um so if that's a really low number and i know it is a number but if it's 30 or 20 or 40 thousand dollars to hire the person that runs this district for the next years um that's money well spent if it's spent well um but if we can do it um somewhat in-house utilizing existing resources like a coe or maybe the state superintendent public education
114and get some insight and then we could maybe have a facilitator assigned to us that might help us you know do the that process it's just i don't i i voiced it during the last when we've done them in the past um i've sat on hundreds of government interviews and i don't believe that i am qualified to run that process and so i think just as a single board member i'd rather look at it and evaluate the the candidates as opposed to running a process and it's a very difficult process to run internally because that person will be overseen everyone in this district so i think it does take in my opinion an outside entity even if it's just one person um and then in coordination with the board and then we can align our
115goals and things on our objectives yeah your follow-up can i ask about when you referenced confidentiality and making sure we we stick to all the legal requirements you were referring to a self-run search yes you're not referring to alameda county no okay okay because they're going to be adapted that they're going to they understand how to do that yeah okay i i had the same question i was the thing with the county is if i had any concern at all to me this when you do a process like this and if you've ever been a candidate or been part of a nationwide search it's how how do you cast that net it's not that easy it's just like you put it one thing on the internet i mean it's it's all the affiliations that go
116with whoever casts the net so that is one of the assets of a firm that does it if the county could also do that and mirror that you're going fishing so you have to cast a broad net and then how you screen it how you meet the qualifications who reviews things who does backgrounds all the vetting process that's an enormous amount of bandwidth to do that at the executive level so if the county is willing to help us in that endeavor i could certainly conceive of something like that but i'd also like to look at the state level too that they might have some services i just have a few questions as i'm weighing out the pros and cons of using a private firm as opposed to the county in this district have we ever
117used the county for a superintendent search to your guys knowledge no this is a new function that the county is hoping to to how do i say it begin the process of doing that so if it's new to them do we know how efficient it would be well i think i don't know if i would say new to them as far as as far as the process by which i mean i mean if if you look at the the proposal from the alameda county office of education and you look at the proposal from leadership associates that we used previously yeah they're similar very similar right that's i'm trying to weigh out the pros and cons whether we're paying for a private firm or we go with a free alternative if it's free doesn't necessarily mean
118that we're going to get less or whatever you know what i mean but i do recognize too that we're in a qualified budget and people are watching this very carefully carefully but i also think that finding the right superintendent is very important so i don't know i'm just weighing this out as far as the pros and cons go yeah i think i've i've put a lot of thought to this and i'll kind of piggy off some of the comments that others have made i think to trustee bueno's point the cost this is our this is perhaps the most important decision that we have to do as a board is finding the superintendent so that that being the case as i had previously said in thinking of what i would like to have as part of
119the the experience and process of finding finding who that person will be the the proposal from the county office of education hit everything that i was looking for i think that there's lots of benefits to working with the county office of education i think alice castro is re-envisioning how the county interacts within supports school districts i think that if you're looking at it from a trying to think of what incentive you know the county has in it a strong incentive in us finding a good superintendent that is going to you know do a great job for our community so i think for even even subtracting cost and looking at the the package the package that the county office is providing us is a pretty darn good package and then if you add in the cost
120it is a very good package from you know from my perspective but i will say that we i mean if if you look at the timeline that they provide we're not we're we're kind of at the right moment to have this conversation i will say that our next full board meeting is until late april so i'm not if we don't make a decision on this this evening if we want to see other plans or if we want to wait and think about this then i would probably propose us having a special board meeting to try to address this early in april so that we can make a decision so i just wanted to kind of throw that out there that we don't have to make a decision this evening but if we do then we
121start that ball moving forward but i'd like you know i'd like us this is a serious decision so i have a question so whether we use the the county or we use a firm how will their role integrate with our board responsibilities yeah that's a good question and i think some of that is my experience at the university level and working with private entities is that you have to kind of we as a board in all of these need to dictate what role we want to have in that and be very clear about that that we don't just want to hand because there are some organizations that we find us somebody and you know or bring us two people or something along those lines so we need to speaking for myself i think that i
122don't want the full control of running it ourselves for the points that trustee bueno brought up that i think that relying on experts and dealing with the confidential confidentiality issues are things that i don't think that that's our purview to do but i think saying things like we want to um agree to a timeline and talk about what um what role we want to have in that do we want to see everyone that applies do we want to see 10 the top 10 that the county is recommending do we want to have a you know what what role do we have in creating the questions do we want to make them ourselves do we want to collaborate with the county in in creating those so i think um i would advocate with whatever decision we
123go to we need to mistake our claim and be very clear about the role that we want to play in that and that's something that the five of us have to have to kind of decide so i don't know if that totally answers your question but um thank you and what's like a realistic timeline to finding a um or a permanent superintendent so i think um the Alameda county office of education provides a proposed timeline on it and so you know they have a selecting uh selection by june and i think that's perfectly reasonable thinking about the last time that we did this we were somewhat ahead of where we are right now that we had by this point we had the meeting where we were speed dating with the different firms um so we're
124but i think it's a difference of a week or something along those lines i think we're ahead now oh oh we are because i don't think we we meant to talk about this till after spring break which is usually typically the first week of april so it was it's close it's close so but to answer your question this is perfectly a perfectly reasonable timeline you know bar some other unforeseen circumstances okay and then um how are we going to incorporate feedback from the community staff are we going to do any surveys or forums well i think part of the if you look at um if you look at the uh if you look at the Alameda county's proposal they have april may 5th community input session on board priorities they have an online survey that's
125optional in the past we had we had some listening sessions and we also did a survey and then the firm that we used kind of kind of they then analyzed that and gave us here's what your community is is you know valuing in a superintendent but as uh as one trustee said to me i think that we've had in the past couple months we've heard a lot about what our community values and superintendents but i think that it is important to get that input from the community both the broader community but also the uh the district community as well i think that that that i'm not concerned about but i'm just wondering if an alameda county office of education fishing trip would yield a very different type of prospect than one of these professional firms
126and if that means that are even in our previous screening we were just not going to get the the same type of candidate that that's you know or am i not thinking about that correctly i think i i've thought about this and others can jump in but some of the firms i tried to look at california-centric firms and then national-centric firms and i think a big change that's happened in the last 15 years is the internet and the prominence of of job posting sites like edge join and i think that i still think networking is powerful and who you know and tapping people and saying you should apply for that job and i think that part of the county's role they know the the superintendents and the assistant superintendents in the region and i think
127that livermore is a unique space and i think knowing who we are is and who would be a good fit for us is is going to be important um and i don't know that's just some of my thoughts about you know as you said what is the what is the adventure that the county is going to lead us on and how how might their pool of candidates be different from a national firm we did get some some national candidates in the previous one but you know a lot of that is it's expensive to live here and we're a unique space um and so it's a it's a big lift and part of that is also um if if if we go with a national i mean any search we do has the potential to be
128a national search that it's not we're not just going to take candidates from the state but um if you focus on a national search or a national firm there is the potential for increased costs of paying for moving and paying for housing or things like that associated with the candidates that you get so again i don't know if that fully answers your question about some of the thinking that i had yeah i have to me as far as what you say um it's the direction you know my initial comments are that as a board i don't think that we can run the process a coe is well equipped i mean they have oversight over every educational district in the county the direction can be how broad you know that's just simply listen as a board
129we have to probably meet with them and say listen this is what our intention is we want a you know rock star superstar person to come in and you know we have a unique this and we talk with them and we say how what is your intentions oh we only look to pull alameda county or that's just a conversation they're fully equipped to do all of this you know i mean if you look at the firms most of the firms are made up of retired superintendents and such so we have an elected superintendent at the county level you know with the board and they oversee us so yeah we've always gotten along well with them and they they have a big infrastructure there i don't see why they couldn't do it no i like the
130fact that they have incentive to press to do well i like that a lot well you're going to be working with them right like that's a direct relationship yeah and i think of the that some of the firms the incentive that they provide are things along the lines of depending upon the contract if it doesn't go well then we'll do the search for you again and i think that that incentive is less powerful for me than and then the county incentive who you know we're we're deeply meshed and connected i have another question maybe a little more sensitive that i think we we also have to think about who lives in our district and who who we want to have a person in place that's fully trusted by the entire community and so i think
131that alameda county of office of education is maybe a little bit more progressive than we are where we are a little more purple we've got a more bigger mix of people and i want to make sure that the community trusts that the candidates we receive also include candidates that you know of a range of of of backgrounds if that makes sense and i think that's something that we can dictate you know if we want to look at every application that was put in then that's a directive that we can give you know so then anybody that applies we we can look at look at the package yeah i wouldn't want to delay it i mean i wouldn't want to delay or kick the can i'm not of a of a of a mind to say
132well i don't need any more time i mean we're gonna and we're not really bound we bring them in it's a no-cost thing if for some reason we had extraordinary heartburn we said oh my god we can't do this then we re-agendize it and do it again but i don't foresee that i mean this is a group that we report everything to they oversee all our finances they're offering the service and we work with them at least the district does on a day-to-day basis so i have no issue with having them cast the net and after we work with them and tell them what our what our goals are so the second portion and as you if you look at the uh the proposal from a coe if that's the seemingly winning contender is um
133an ad hoc committee to to work with and i think that part of this conversation if we're if we're building a package and i'll need a motion eventually if that's the case but continuing the discussion is uh the makeup of an ad hoc committee and the scope of work of the ad hoc committee because um that can be you know we can give i mean it's the goal is not to just hand the keys of the board over to the ad hoc committee to make all of the decisions but there's a lot of back and forth and working with our staff to coordinate with with the entity and so that's why i'm going to advocate for having an ad hoc committee because the the alternative is that we would have to agendize to meet to
134to make any minor decision ranging from you know who so something could be along the community inputs and we might want to advocate for you know there's certain groups in our community that we want to you to meet with someone like quest or you know lea or something along those lines those are the kind of fine nitty-gritty inputs that an ad hoc committee can give to a coe so that they're that you know that we can work hand in hand to make the process work i support that i think it helps with the timeline yeah and i trust the support so i would support an ad hoc i will just say one thing i if you're you're willing steven i think you should be one of the people on that committee as board president before
135before we get to that other other discussion because i think i think one of the things that i would want to make sure is that um i think that there's there's a lot of room up to when we get the um get the packets right the the candidates and that i think once it hits that point then the ad hoc committee basically stops and then it's our show we're all looking at each of the each of the candidates we are all participating in the um construction of the the interview questions and what that interview experience is going to look like will it be one day or two day um how many candidates do we want to bring in um and those kind of things so i think that again my vision for an ad hoc
136committee is largely up until that moment and then we'll all need to step in at the end it's largely just setting up the skeletal frame correct and which is it's basically just looking for assurances and kind of not nailing everything down i mean a lot of it is we would presume hey we're gonna consult with these folks and they're going to come in and they're going to set it up we're going to have interviews a lot of it but this is the ad hoc i would envision that they're just setting up basically that skeletal frame like this is what it's going to look like in terms of values and goals and what we see as a board that would all happen as a full board correct yeah yeah so are you saying that it's a
137little bit of a hybrid i mean there's a we're not doing this ad hoc thing because we want to move super fast it's just that a lot of these nitty-gritty decisions should be made without having to call a whole board but then there will be some check-ins will there be some extra meetings some extra things yeah we yeah i mean we certainly could but yeah if it's things like you know they want to know are there any other groups that we should be you know we met with these people is there anybody else that we should be beating to how do they communicate with the board they they there's not a mechanism for that they could talk to me the president's or they could speak with people individually there's not a mechanism for that besides
138meeting at our our board meetings but we could also schedule additional special meetings if we if you wanted updates from the ad hoc committee or even at our regular scheduled board meetings we can make sure that we get updates from the ad hoc committee to the extent that they can share uh information because again it is a there's confidential aspects to to the process yep um well do we have um we've i think talked about all three of the questions that i was hoping to discuss um ourselves firm or county office somewhat talked about ad hoc committee uh not necessarily the full makeup of it and then um if we do go with the county then that would eliminate the third question of doing speed dating with hiring firms so i guess then the next
139question would be discussion of the the makeup of the ad hoc committee if if that's the board's will okay can i go jump to question three is that you know the interviewing of the hiring firms is there for me reading the proposal that you that we that were sent to us or that's in the board packet was enough for me but is there is there a desire of the board to have maybe an interview or a conversation with a coe to to say hey give us a little you know sell us on this a little bit more i don't need that but maybe there's other voices i don't need that i mean we work with them they're not an unknown the only thing unknown would be how the process works and so to me it
140would be nice to have um whether they came in and talked with us and then the and we were we were adequately prepared where we would say um just you know from this point just while you're setting up the framework for future little q a we have an ad hoc committee this would be our folks and then the ad hoc committee will give you the framework and then you come back and you talk to all of us on all the particulars it's just and we could divorce from that at any moment if you had to i mean but i don't anticipate that because that's it's a natural relationship it does tell us really well can i make a suggestion for the ad hoc committee are we ready for that i already suggested steven as as
141president and i'm honestly fine with with anyone else but i thought maybe christian might be interested and he hasn't been on an ad hoc committee as of yet and he is our board clerk that's just my thoughts if people want to jump in that's i think part of this is understanding the time commitment and i know that this is um i'm not saying that having having been the clerk the last time this happened um there wasn't this wasn't like every single day but there was time sensitive materials that had to happen we had to meet with people and they have a rough you know a rough timeline but just making sure whoever serves in this is committed to building the skeleton as trustee boino had said yeah while i'm definitely willing to step into that
142the april 28 proposed meeting right there i'm going to be out of town for a couple of days in at the end of april the last week of april that's it but the rest looks good other discussion um trustee kaplanis or trustee boino or is there a desire for you to be on this ad hoc committee or i don't want to make it like i don't think it's competition if you're willing to do it steven's had contact with alice i have faith that everyone around the board is going to be able to do it it's we're not making any great decisions we're setting up a framework but we have to be available and kind of convey the values of the board i think you're both well equipped to do that have full faith you guys
143can do that and you bring it back for the larger discussion we lay out this is kind of what we're looking at and they build the product yeah and i'll say that the ad hoc committee isn't going rogue you know that we have um we have meetings and if we need to do a special meeting to check in with the board that that certainly can happen that this isn't like we'll see you we'll see what the hiring panel just gives us it gives us an ability to be nimble yeah otherwise we have to schedule and everything it just it really slows down the thing so i support that well if there's no other discussion then i think i would entertain two motions a motion relating to the alameda county office of education and then a
144motion relating to the creation and composition of the ad hoc committee and then perhaps we could talk about some of the initial like looking at if we do if we do that then we can look at the the timeline and see what direction if any we want to give to the ad hoc committee i would move in support of pursuing the alameda county office of education for the purpose of um developing the search process for the future superintendent and at the risk of any procedural thing because we only have one item um if it comes to be that that's my motion but if it comes to be that oh we can we had to do it under one because there's only one item or whatever it's my intent that we with both items if they
145have to be under one that would be fine too if i don't want it to be a procedural thing so it's my intent that we go with alameda county office education and that the two people would be that we've for the ad hoc would be trustee vanden huvel and president drone that'll be a separate motion okay but that's my intent in doing so so i have a motion to accept the alameda county office of education for our superintendent search is there a second second so the motion from trustee bueno is second from trustee vanden huvel any discussion on the motion or can you call roll trustee kaplanis aye trustee bueno aye myself aye trustee preso aye president druane i i don't think our students can sorry don't think our student trustees can fill on this
146um but uh that motion carries unanimous thank you and a separate motion as part of that if it's a call to section b under the same item um that that the board uh appoints for the ad hoc purpose to work with a coe on this endeavor our board clerk mr vanden huvel and the board president mr drone i will second okay motion from trustee bueno second from trustee pruso to create an ad hoc committee uh any discussion on the motion clerk if you could call the roll myself aye trustee pruso aye trustee bueno aye trustee kaplanis aye president druane aye that motion carries unanimously so um so if you look at uh the calendar we have a plan it proposes a planning meeting with um the alameda county planning with jody talkington um and then
147a closed session meeting so is there any initial direction that the board would like to give the ad hoc committee at this point i guess i would i think i think the biggest question is what level of control do you kind of foresee in this process i had articulated my vision for for control that i think that having them run the community input session would be good collaborating and what those questions could be with the ad hoc committee would be good um uh are there other aspects of this that you think that we need to we need to be doing um thoughts at least in this initial so we go and we meet with them i would like that the board sees what's filtered so that when we get a product when we get x
148number of candidates that we know what y was that we know what came into the net yeah all of us and why again when they cast the net hypothetically let's say 15 candidates are in the net and we're presented with five yeah what happened to the 10 and why yeah with the five that we do get there should be a vetting process and before hiring there should be a background process yeah that's customary and most government that i'm aware of and if a coe wants to conduct that that's fine i'm okay with that but we should have some assurances of that um so that we're not getting and it gives the community and us as a board and our internal district community it gives us faith in that well how did how did you get
149to these five well there were more that you can't put those names out because there's a confidentiality they'll understand procedurally that but we'll understand as a board and i think that we'll get that level of transparency with a public agency that's all i ask yeah i agree um also as far as stakeholder input i think you guys know what those groups are um obviously our our union our unions and our parent our pcic those are some that come up those are obvious though and and i think what we did last time you know i think those hitting all of those like you said quest uh lvef um pedrosi you know like could we just like just so we're not limited could we like email like maybe you like all of us just maybe just because
150there are gonna be like pedrosi and things like that that we could just send you in the coming days yeah you know send send me and i think um envisioning you know we'll have to see what what they what they envisioned it could be individual sessions with each of those groups or it could be tagging their surveys so that we know that this person is from lvef this person is from this so we'll have to kind of see see what that looks like but i certainly think that there are some groups that meeting face to face are going to be important but we'll see we'll see what what you have to say and things like that yeah so let's call those maybe special interest groups they have special they have a specific person in mind
151but we are the ones elected so i i think i would is it would it be appropriate for all of us to email and say these this is the kind of person i'm looking for this is a type of person that would reflect my values most this is what i look for this is what i will look for in an interview process um would that be possible to kind of write something that fits us like in that first box there in the column the board priorities that drive superintendent searches that's something that we could just gather and take to them i think i would encourage us all to think that and write that down what that is and have that in your back pocket moving forward you know what are the three top qualities that
152you're looking for or what dispositions or you know what are the characteristics that that you're looking for you and what you've heard from the community and keeping those and i think to the extent that we can if we do need that information then we can reach out reach out regarding that yeah i would imagine that would be the first 30 minutes of meeting with their team when they come in and sit down with us yeah what are you looking for in the next superintendent everyone can convey that can i say one more thing no i'm just kidding yes of course i just wanted i've been thinking about this and i wanted to take a minute to acknowledge the significant work ahead for this that our community engagement team will be a critical in this process
153and i know from our previous search how much time and effort and coordination it requires particularly from them and that this won't be an exception and i especially want to recognize our director of community engagement michelle dawson for those who don't know michelle has received a layoff notice and will not be with our district next year and like so many others who have received these notices this is deeply difficult for both the individuals and for our community but despite that i have every confidence that michelle will continue to approach this work with the same professionalism dedication and care that she has consistently demonstrated and i'm grateful for her leadership and her commitment to our district during this time i know that the work of that of that team is going to be critical right now
154and i just wanted to say i appreciate the work that you've done and that you will continue to do so thank you michelle any other comments or discussion on this item some cleansing breaths this is what we're here for okay well thank you all for a productive conversation and at least for me trust in in the process but i assure you that my goal is to try to do to build the skeleton for us all five to make the best choice for the students and faculty and staff administration in our learning community with that we'll move on to 15 consent items there are many do we have any that a board member would like to remove separately for discussion um i don't know if i want to remove anything other than there's a whole list
155of staff members who are retiring and you know i just i don't want to i don't ever want anybody to just leave or retire without being significantly celebrated and thanked and and acknowledged for their hard work and i i don't want to um specifically point at any one in particular for fear of you know leaving somebody out but how does that work um from your department dr bunduras what do you what do you do to to make sure those people are yeah are remembered and are seen and are celebrated well i haven't seen it yet here in livermore but there is a retirement celebration for those who are retiring each year and so they are honored at that time president jerry i'd like to pull um two e or sorry it would be 15 to
156e yep and then three a 3a 15 3a yes i just have questions sure i mean you can ask those questions now if you'd like oh okay um well for um 15 to e it's it's kind of a big purchase but just so we have some clarification with our qualified second interim certification and the 9.6 structural gap um with the spending and hiring fees in place i would just like some clarification to the total cost of the funding source of the chromebooks and why that purchase isn't um can't be delayed or scaled back even more so for our chromebooks we are looking at phasing out chromebooks in the lower grades but right now based off of our aging chromebooks that we do have that this is the need that we have to get us through
157next year as we continue to evaluate and look at what our future holds for elementary one-to-one chromebook program this plan is to split this cost between 50 50 between general fund and elop funds as it supports our lower grades as well still but right now this is a reduction we ordered 1200 chromebooks last year and so we're only ordering 600 to reflect that reduction so far this year so this is starting to scale it back and hopefully next year we'll be able to scale back even further thank you for that clarification and then also for 15.3 15.3a research shows that safe environments directly support learning um are there any um are there any policies or procedures for anonymous reporting um of concerning behaviors or threats and how accessible and effective are they i didn't i'm
158sorry i didn't hear your can you repeat this is for the school safety sure um i just want to know if there's an i know that you know some things we can't talk about publicly but are there any policies or procedures for anonymous reporting of concerning behaviors or threats yes we actually have tip lines that um qr codes at our school sites where school site yes yes and then also um some schools have had a recent um recent drills and i'd like to know in case of a real emergency what is in place to ensure safe reunification of students with their families in a timely matter if they have multiple students to pick up yeah so that's part of these comprehensive school safety plans but if you see in the board cover it states due
159to the sensitive nature of school safety procedures that the full plans are not um are not added to the board packet because we want to keep that reunification plan those plans um confidential right and so yes that we have um and we actually practice here um here in the district office for uh safety drills even within our own for our district staff of how to communicate with our sites and the sites practice those types of things and have those plans in place of how to contact parents to make sure that students safely get reunited with their families i just heard feedback from um parents and they were saying that during the drill process it was a little um difficult during pickup to get multiple students from different school sites so i just wanted to know
160that if there was a plan for that during the um after the drill uh-huh and then it was school pickup time it was difficult to get multiple students just because of you know that type of drill that happened well i'd like to know more about that so okay yeah and then um how often do staff receive training and professional development on crisis response so we provide training to our principals and our principals provide training to staff at their sites um depending on which safety protocols that we are we're discussing um we but it's throughout the entire year uh miss tracy christmas is a really good job of providing the training um that we need for all of our staff okay thank you you're welcome any other questions on any consent items if not i would
161entertain a motion to prove them in their entirety unless someone wants to poll and vote on them separately i'll make a motion to approve consent items as um in in full i'll second the motion from trustee vanden hovel a second from trustee prusso any discussion on the motion clark if you could call roll myself i trustee kaplanis aye trustee prusso aye trustee bueno aye president druane aye that motion carries unanimously we will move on to 16-0 reports and requests trustee bueno doesn't report trustee kaplanis um i have a lengthy report tonight's actions including the 268 000 in savings retirement incentives updated safety plans responsible fiscal measures on the chromebook purchase second interim report seiu mou and superintendent searched and the facilities master's plan update demonstrate our commitment to sound stewardship and restoring community trust following
162the 2022 2022 bond rejection and subsequent challenges i look forward to advancing this important work with the next superintendent i'm also happy to report a fun interactive visit at maryland steam academy with the chamber leadership program i enjoyed the full student-led tour and was quite impressed with the leadership skills of all the students who participated i also spent some time touring las pasillas college and learning more about all the incredible educational opportunities they offer students literally in our backyard and last week i had the wonderful opportunity to meet and hang out with some of our visiting japanese students it was so much fun to learn from and interact with them one student reported back from his family in japan that he had the best week of his life and i'm so proud of all the
163seventh and eighth grade students who participated who participated in the district spelling bee they all did impressively well had a lot of fun being back with the math task force last group uh our last week i always come out with so much optimism and sharpen math skills that i know is making a positive difference for our students i'm very much looking forward to spring break and i hope everyone has a happy easter trust me who uh i love community engagement and then this room is so quiet this week so acting superintendent pichette thank you for for quieting the waters a little bit with your engagement in each at each site uh with the bargaining units with just having collaboration and communication at the top of your list it's it it you know this this is
164the result i think of that a little bit i don't think it's completely in our hands but thank you for that and i hope to see more community members out here to celebrate all the things that we're doing but man thank you so much for that um yeah going to going to to maryland steam academy with uh trustee kaplanis and the livemore chamber of commerce was so fun and uh we're i was just so you know it's just so proud of of that those students and the performance and the trash and show that they had and then what it was just it was an excellent um i'm really happy with um with what the um principal um manier does there it's just it's really really cool um i also attended the spelling bee here for
165seven eighth graders so mr hart honestly drew dipolis drew dipolis go ahead drew dipolis it was ridiculous i was out in the first round so anyways uh these students these some of the eighth grade students were just unbelievable so smart and so humble and what great students um i also attended the combined midland high school choir concert featuring students from granada from livemore mendenhall east avenue joe mitchell junction so um huge shout out to mr abel and miss nash and mr smart and miss boster for just doing a great they're just amazing and they worked really well together and seeing all those students at the same time on the stage at the end was just phenomenal so uh onward and upward and i hope everybody has an awesome spring break happy easter just person um
166i don't have much to report but i just did want to say we're in the middle of spring sports and it brings me so much joy um i love being on the pool deck on the track on the fields it is just so much fun for me to watch our athletes and see our facilities um in full in their full glory in their full use so i just wanted to um a shout out to our athletes and it's it's really exciting to be outside the weather's been amazing so it's it's been fun that's it i've been inside listening to music i attended the jazz concert that included uh middle school jazz bands in the high school element 116 jazz band at the bankhead they played in the we called the foyer it was really awesome
167i also attended the fest festival i don't think that's for concert bands which was a competition of sorts which was fascinating to participate in um it was held in the livermore high gym and some of them were roped off and i didn't really understand and then we moved forward and sat and then as i was listening to the um one of the livermore high bands people were talking behind me and i almost turned around and snapped at them and then realized they were the judges and so there's three judges in the back that are talking into their phones and giving feedback but i was close enough that it was fun to hear them complimenting the students and being really encouraging i was like that was a great solo you know things like that so it
168was really cool um our bands earned e's and s's which i think are excellent and superior but don't quote me on that i also helped support the adult transition program at laurence by eating some delicious chili um and also toured joe mitchell with some japanese japanese exchange students and adults and spoke a little bit of japanese on the encouragement of my wife i took japanese in high school um so that was just awesome great experience all around lots of smiling um they toured the wellness center and hung out there it was a really cool experience so i'm glad that our students and our community benefit from such interactions with that i'll turn the time over to acting superintendent pichette thank you as we move through this school year i continue to be reminded that that
169at the center of every decision we make every program we build and every partnership we foster is one shared goal the education and well-being of our students and what has been especially evident over the past few weeks is how much we can accomplish when we work together across schools and across our community so recently i had the opportunity to welcome the livermore chamber we had the opportunity to welcome the livermore chamber of commerce leadership livermore group and our district leadership team to maryland seam academy the event was a powerful example of student learning in action our recently reclassified multilingual leadership students led campus tours confidently sharing their learning and projects and serving as outstanding ambassadors for our district as part of the day's activity students partnered with their adult guests to design fashion using recycled
170materials which were later showcased on a red carpet for an audience of students and staff in what was coined as the trashin show events like this don't happen by accident they are the result of incredible collaboration among teachers staff administrators students and our community partners that same spirit of student achievement and academic excellence was also on display at our district spelling bees our elementary students competed on march 2nd and our secondary students competed on march 18th we would like to recognize our spelling bee winners for grades four through six first place was waris ub a fifth grade a fifth grader from smith elementary second place was a tie between elizabeth monte the sixth grader from junction avenue and kava prasad a sixth grader from mendenhall middle school for grades seven through eight first place was
171sanjeev chidambaram an eighth grader from mendenhall middle school and second place was hivarti sha also an eighth grader from mendenhall middle school these events represent more than just spelling words they represent perseverance confidence academic focus and the courage it takes for students to stand in front of their peers and compete we are very proud of all the students who participated and represented their schools so well our focus on students also extends beyond academics into global citizenship and cultural understanding for nearly 50 years livermore has maintained a special relationship with our sister city yotsuka kaito japan through this partnership middle school students participate in a cross cultural exchange program where students from yotsuko stay with livermore families attend our schools and experience daily life in our community in october our livermore students traveled to japan and
172were welcomed into the homes of japanese families at a time in the world when we often hear about conflict and divisions programs like these remind us that education is one of the most powerful tools we have to build understanding empathy and peace across cultures finally this past week we saw another example of students coming together through the livermore valley education foundations make time for music choir performance at livermore high school middle school and high school choirs performed together and a beautiful evening of music it was a powerful reminder that music is truly a universal language one that brings students together builds confidence and creates a sense of belonging and community when i look across all of these events student leadership at maryland avenue academic achievement at the spelling bees international exchange with japan and the
173choir performance bringing students together through music the common theme is clear our students succeed when we work together schools families and community organizations all play a role in supporting the education and well-being of our students the work we do together truly matters and as we head into spring break i would like to wish all of our students staff and families a safe restful and well-deserved break thank you for everything you do each day to support our students and our schools thank you the next regularly scheduled board meeting will be held on tuesday april 21st 2026 open session will begin at 6 p.m this meeting is now adjourned at 8 44 p.m