2.24.26 Board Meeting

001Good evening This is the February 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 our 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 p.m 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. So I'll turn it over to the clerk to report out During closed session by a vote of five to zero the board took action to release 19.8 FTE of temporary certificated employees effective June 30th 2026 pursuant to Education

002Code section four four nine five four By a vote of five to zero the board took action in closed session to approve the memorandum of understanding for a student agreement By a vote of four to zero with one recusal the board took action in closed session to approve the settlement agreement for OAH case number two zero two six zero one zero one one seven by a vote of five to zero the board took action in closed session to approve the addendum to a student agreement and The board voted five zero in favor of the acting superintendent's recommendation to change the educational placement of students 2425 G Thank you. We'll move on to six point zero flag salute start with our Pledge of Allegiance I'll ask trustee Kaplan us to lead us in the pledge tonight

003Acting seven point zero acting deletions corrections to the agenda acting superintendent. Is there any changes to the agenda? Just one update on item thirteen point ones attachment It is revised to include line thirty two and line thirty three, which is five furlough days for certificated directors Thank you Move on to eight recognitions. There are no recognitions this evening, so we will not And we also are missing our student board members We had added the extra meetings and so we will loop our board members in for the futures But thank them for their service. So move on to ten point zero employee association reports. This is an opportunity for us to hear from our bargaining and organized labor groups. So up first is LEA Amy Thompson presidents She is here and I want to recognize Tara

004Lutz as her vice president as the vice president Good evening board president Drewan members of the board acting superintendent Bichette and cabinet. I'm Amy Thompson president of the Livermore Education Association representing educators nurses counselors psychologists speech pathologists social workers and specialists who ensure our students success every single day a budget work group consisting of two board members All four cabinet members and one representative each from LEA CSEA SEIU LMA and CMC Why am I echoing? Met on February 12th February 18th and February 20th to determine budget solutions for the 2026 2027 school year The board members were in the room strictly to observe the process With President Drewan being present at all three meetings while trustees Kaplanis Bueno and Vanden Heuvel alternated attendance All four cabinet members attended the first two meetings and then two

005of the four cabinet members attended the final meeting The resultant budget reduction recommendations on the agenda tonight are a consensus recommendation of this group The group started with fourteen point eight million dollars in needed cuts for the 2026 2027 school year We went through the 2526 budget to identify budgeted expenses that could be released and found three point one million dollars We then went through the 2627 budget to identify budgeted expenses That could be released and found an additional six point three million dollars This left five point three million dollars in actual cuts to be made from there the group agreed to having a qualified budget certification and Planned to use three million dollars of the required reserve to pay expenses for next year This decision resulted in a remaining two point three million dollar

006balance for actual cuts The group determined the cuts in three tiers Items in the third tier will be restored first then second tier items will be restored However items in the first tier will likely not be restored Restorations from tier two and three could potentially be funded from the offered retirement incentives and from the Medi-Cal collaborative for Medi-Cal reimbursements if the LEA retirement incentive is met an additional 246 thousand four hundred and ninety two dollars will be available if the CSEA retirement incentive is met an additional one hundred twenty two thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars will be available the district has requested two hundred and seventy six thousand dollars and 490 thousand dollars from the Medi-Cal collaborative to fund ongoing positions one time for the 2627 school year The reduction recommendations do have some

007best budgeting practices that were not included in the original budget Such as the reduction of ten full-time equivalent general education teachers due to declining enrollment The budget group was told that this reduction can be achieved without exceeding class size caps and without the creation of additional combination classes It is believed these reductions can be made through attrition from retirements Resignations and the release of temporary contracts and will not require layoffs The reason the budget work group was comfortable planning to use three million of the required reserves in the 2026-27 school year as a budget solution is due to the potential money in the governor's proposed state budget That may come into our district next year, but is not yet included in our district budget This state funding includes one point two million dollars in ongoing

008money for an increase to the special education base grant 6.2 million dollars in one time money for the student support and professional development block grant and $700,000 one time for the learning recovery block grant Additionally, there is eleven point one million owed in prop 98 funding guarantee that is not included in the governor's budget proposal Lea has encouraged our membership to write to state legislators and Request that all of these potential funding sources be included in the final adopted state budget If any parents or community members are interested in joining this writing campaign You can find a draft letter and the contact information for our state legislators on the lea website at livermoreteachers.org under the community updates link an Issue that some may not be aware of that has been unfolding simultaneously And parallel to

009the budget issue is the risk of losing positions that provide programs and services directly to students Due to the expiration of grant funding and the expiration of an MOU These positions are for the building trades teacher at DelVal one counselor at the DelVal Vineyard campus campus and our elementary counselors and social workers When the building trades program was implemented at DelVal, I was hopeful that the program would expand The program provides students with exposure and pathways to career opportunities in the building trades These are viable career paths for our students and it would be a shame to cut this program These are skilled jobs and our students who excel at spatial thinking Mathematical precision and physical agility should have the exposure and opportunity to enter these career fields Our counselors and social workers provide vital

010support to our students for mental health Social emotional skills and support to our families in need of connections to services These people are essential for improved outcomes and student success Our district has committed to fulfilling the needs of our young learners But without these key support providers the students will be the ones to pay the price and our district will not be able to fill its promise I am not pointing out these pending cuts to be gloom and doom I Am inviting continued partnership to solve these issues. I believe we need to first precisely define the problem How much will it cost to keep these programs and services for students? then we need to brainstorm for all of the possible solutions and Finally, we need to identify and implement the solutions that are viable There

011is no one person in this room who is the smartest person in the room the best solutions are developed with input and insight from many different perspectives I am hopeful that we can work together to solve this next set of issues and Continue to move our district forward for our students. Thank you. Thank you next CSE a president Mamie Christovich and I want to recognize Victoria stories the vice president Good evening president June members of the board acting Superintendent Pichette and cabinet. I am Mamie Christovich president of the Livermore chapter of CSE a the California School Employees Association To say that we have been through a lot in the last few months is a major understatement The recommended reductions list that initially came to me on New Year's Eve had reductions for CSE a totaling

01274 point four eight seven five FTE which would have amounted to close to 100 CSE a classified employees That is nearly 20% of our bargaining unit or to put it in perspective One in five CSE a classified employees That was devastating and I knew that we could not sit still and let that happen when other options had not been adequately explored Following the separation agreement with former superintendent Gibson The board made a decision at the February 10th regular board meeting to form a budget work group Rather than accept the district recommended layoffs without question That was not without some level of risk due to the timeline and I commend the board for your courage and wisdom The board gave labor an equal seat at the table in the budget work group Something that LEA president

013Amy Thompson and I had advocated for repeatedly without success The board directed the district to open up its books and give us equal footing in making some drastic Recommendations to address our enormous deficit It is easy to look back now and think that was the easiest most logical choice to make but we had hurdles to overcome The board fortunately did not give into pressure to rank the recommended reductions and instead opted to think outside the box While other school districts immediately looked to mass layoffs to address budget shortfalls Our board was astute enough to give labor the opportunity to make positive change happen It does not escape me that this is rare and on behalf of my members I would like to thank board president droon and all our trustees for giving labor a voice

014I appreciate the courage you took in reading the room and taking the road less traveled There was very little time to make it happen and I'm sure there were skeptics, but we achieved what we set out to do in three days CSEA members are stunned as I know others are as well and wonder why this was not done before the list of reductions came out Or at any time after that that is very unfortunate I believe some jaws literally dropped after our second day when we found ways to reduce our deficit from 14.8 million to 1.9 million. I wish to acknowledge the tireless work of LEA president Amy Thompson She possesses extensive knowledge and fierce determination in pursuit of protecting services to students and The effective collaboration between LEA and CSEA makes our entire district

015stronger I also wish to acknowledge the work of the budget workgroup. We had many difficult discussions to make and I appreciate the group's willingness to listen offer a difference of opinion and Reach consensus as I said that took three days and if this had happened had been done two months ago it would have spared hundreds of employees from despair and Prevented the complete breakdown and erosion of trust within our staff and community There are valuable lessons to be learned here And I hope that the board will direct the district to continue to engage our labor unions with respect and genuine transparency and collaboration Only then will we achieve true success in our partnership The approach that the district has taken has divided us and that cannot and should not continue I hope that we can

016get to a place of trust and respect for one another In the meantime the board has a decision to make to make today to approve budget reductions that will address our deficit for 2026 2027 and into 2028 it does include some layoffs mostly due to staffing realignments Speaking for CSEA is saddens me to lose up to 30 para educator positions But I am hopeful that with attrition through retirements and resignations that we could avoid significant layoffs. I Also expect that our hiring freeze will still be in place and that paras who receive layoff notices will be offered opportunities first for vacancies in any classification I will be watching closely to ensure that the district recognizes that classified employees possess knowledge and skills Gained from current and prior work history that are valuable in a variety

017of different positions in our district Being mindful of the para educator reductions and remembering back to last year when the district recommended the reduction of 15 employees in my unit I do not want to be back here again next year fighting against more layoffs Please approve the reductions in the three tiers as recommended and if additional cuts are necessary Please make sure that they are made from the top in management and not staff that serve students It is important to note that the FTE reductions that are being put forth today for CSEA are still subject to bargaining But district leaders have committed to working together with CSEA to make this happen Before I close I would like to acknowledge Our very dedicated CSEA members and the way they have stepped up to advocate for themselves

018and their colleagues You don't always see them or hear from them because they have families and work multiple jobs But they make their presence known when it counts I am very honored and humbled to lead such a strong and brave group of people who trusted me and The process when they signed a vote of no confidence in our former superintendent Despite deep fear of retaliation That is truly not an easy thing to do, but they chose unity Solidarity and empowerment they chose to stand up for what they believe in and to our board of trustees Thank you again for remembering that classified employees are administrative and clerical staff Paraprofessionals and all support personnel are not just an FTE or line items on a budget report There are people with families bills and lives that they

019have dedicated to supporting and caring for our students every single day Thank you Next SEIU President Kirsty Governor And I don't see her here Next CMC Sarah DeGroote is the representative and then finally for LMA Jeremy Wilkins is the president So we'll move on to 11.0 public comments on non agenda items If you'd like to address a topic that is not on the evening's agenda now is the time for you to do So if you have not already submitted your TAN card, please do so now per protocol No additional speaker cards will be accepted once public comment begins We ask that you limit your comment to three minutes and then each speaker may speak once If you're here to speak on the item to the item on the agenda including the budget reductions You would

020select a blue card to speak at the appropriate time for that agenda item and the budget productions are 13.0 To ensure everyone has a chance to be heard and we maintain a respectful environment. Please refrain from clapping or other Other reactions if you agree agree with a speaker simply raising a hand is appreciated Again public comments are limited to three minutes As a reminder we as a board 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 questions clarifying questions of staff and or refer matters to staff for follow-up with that being said We have three speakers. So i'll call up kelly for go. So first followed by kathryn villa senior Good evening president drewan trustees acting

021superintendent pichette and community members My name is kelly for go. So and i'm an honor and i'm honored to serve as a school counselor as well as Be a parent for two daughters in this district I want to begin by sincerely thanking you Sorry, thanking you and our bargaining units for reducing the proposed cuts from 14 14.8 million dollars to 2.3 million dollars That decision speaks volumes. It shows that you listened That you value our students and the staff that serve them You showed us that you understand the real impact. These reductions would have cost our students As counselors and social workers, we see every day how critical mental health support is for all of our students tk through 12th grade The loss of the school-based mental health grant represents more than funding It represents

022the loss of counseling sessions for students in crisis small groups for anxiety and grief Family outreach and tier one proactive prevention work that keeps all of our students engaged and learning I respectfully ask that when the governor's funds are released to school districts You consider prioritizing the restoration of what was lost through the sbmh grant These services are not extras. They are essential to student safety well-being and academic success Thank you for your leadership your willingness to adjust and to listen And for continuing to keep our students at the center of your decisions Thank you Up next, Catherine Villasenor followed by Sy Matin Good evening Um, it was brought to my attention that At junction school that they gave handouts for the children to color concerning Muslims And it was like four pages And then

023I thought well, that's a religion. So what about other religions and I wanted to know Who makes the curriculum and who approves something like that? and I just want equal time like um, if they do ramadan like for february. Well, how about lent for christians? You know so That's that's what I wanted to say. Thank you Up next sy mitten Congratulations for your job, and um, i'm basically thankful to have a chance to speak over here um I was terminated from my job and this in september 10th of last year and although i've been busy busy consulting and teaching in the colleges and stuff but And I didn't want to come back over here But I decided to do it because I just feel that this thing is happening very wrong very wrong I believe

024I am very disappointed of what happened I was accused and abused and then discriminated by two principals principal of mindenhall and principal of the run of the high school I was accused wrongfully by misbehaving a student at livermore high school And I kept complaining and complaining about these I need a resolution in fact the principal of mindenhall Apologized to me and asked for forgiveness In our meeting that we had and he was Ready to put in the writing make it official, but hr stopped that and then the semester has happened um My teacher asked me to cover for her in nepal because she was going to be maternity leave I went to the principal of the granada high school and then he Shouted at me. He bored me from entering school He called the yard

025duty to block me from entering the school And not only I didn't get a job. I was bored from that school And then when that misbehaving student happened in livermore school Apparently according to information that came to me later by principal The principal cleared me but somehow hr And is not cleared me from entering that school for more than the whole year So and then later on apparently I heard uh one elementary school principal who is the wife of the middle school principal And created some issues as I had used a phone or something in which I was picking up my assignment You know basically so to the assignment so hr and the whole district this is a Listening to my complaints taking action to it and find out who is did what? Who is

026right? Who is wrong? They use those Incidents and fired me This is very bad This tells me that something is very wrong in this district Why it should be like this? and then I contacted At that time is urslo president and then mr Wonder now and talked to them and they said hr will take care of it And the new hr director basically fired me. Thank you So I'd like I'd like to find out an answer. Thank you Thank you So move on to 12 Point zero communications formal written correspondence to the board of education shall be acknowledged if received By the board or in the superintendent's office by 4 pm the day before the meeting Formal written correspondence received after the cutoff time will generally be acknowledged at the following meeting Please note our

027board electronic communications received via the livermore valley joint unified school district 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. Is there any correspondence for the board? And if so, please summarize Yeah, there were eight pieces of correspondence received in total four community members wrote in support of our school counselors Negro negro submitted a letter regarding the 2025 26 audit One community member expressed support for various student services One community member advocated for retaining the livermore high school vice principal position currently included on that budget reduction list And a petition was presented urging the board to safeguard programs staff and services that directly benefit students Thank you So move on to 13 points here discussion action items

02813 one is approval budget reductions So i'm going to start this off So in december the district negotiated a tentative agreement with the livermore Education association that required budget reductions at the last board meeting trustee bueno suggested And the board agreed to the creation of a work group to provide a recommendation on reductions the work group would be comprised of Cabinets and one represented from each of the bargaining and organized labor groups with two board members Uh To board members present but serving In an observation capacity only as board president. I observed each session for consistency purposes trustee kaplanis observed session one trustee bueno observed session two and trustee vanden huval observed session three Again, the work group was composed of cabinets and representatives from each bargaining and organized labor groups each member with equal

029status and voice The rationale for this composition was that these individuals possessed the expertise and institutional knowledge To meet the charge of providing a recommendation for reductions. This recommendation included three main parts The work group was tasked with first identifying aspects of the existing budget that might be frozen or freed to lower The amounts needed to be reduced. I know it's a double negative Lowered the amount to be reduced, but I think you get where i'm going Next the work group was to review the list of reductions and come to a consensus about whether a positive or qualified certification was recommended Finally provide a tiered list of reductions that provided guidance on which aspects should be brought back first With that context established. I would turn the time over to acting superintendent bichette to review

030the work group's recommendations We'll then move to blue cards and then to board discussion and action Thank you president druane on february 12th the budget work group comprised of district leadership labor representatives and board Leadership met to develop a fiscally responsible plan to address the district's projected deficit The work was conducted in alignment with established norms emphasizing collaboration transparency and student centered decision making At the initial session the group reviewed its charge and examined correspondence from the alameda county office of education regarding the calculated cost of the tentative agreement Providing important context for our district's financial outlook members then engaged in detailed analysis of potential cost savings measures Including review of our select general fund expenditures contracts and gift accounts with all considerations evaluated for legal compliance operational feasibility Collective bargaining obligations and fiscal solvency

031requirements During subsequent full day sessions on february 18th and february 20th the work group made substantial progress toward A comprehensive reduction strategy through collaborative discussion and data informed analysis. This group reached consensus on a plan a package of reduction that reduces the total adjustments needed to approximately 5.4 million Although we will be moving into a qualified budget this plan reflects significant effort to minimize impacts while maintaining core educational services I would like to extend sincere appreciation to the members of this group for their professionalism and commitment to the district's long-term stability The resulting plan a is being presented to the board of trustees for discussion and potential action at this meeting So i'll move to blue cards, I have two blue cards, you'll have three minutes each so up first is emerson I think it's

032emerson visaya Followed by denise curry Um, my name is emerson visaya and i'm a student at granada high school Um, I have come before this board many times before and you've heard from me and many other students in regards to the board's Proposition to transition athletic trainers to stipends You've been listening to us and we thank you for that Your newest compromise has been to reduce the hours of our district's athletic trainers. This compromise is only so effective Just this week athletic trainers have been unavailable to so many students due to the limitations of their hours Reducing athletic trainers puts the schools and trainers in an unfair position They no longer have to be they will no longer will be able to treat every student equally They'll have to choose between sports and between athletes

033and between games We see your effort to consider our athletes and we are grateful that you're listening But we are asking that you look for your reduction somewhere else somewhere safer We are willing to work with the board to reach an optimal solution that protects our students We look forward to cooperating with the best interest of our student athletes in mind and thinking about their health and safety Thank you Thank you next denise It's on Good evening president druane members of the board cabinet members and acting Superintendent placette I am here today to say that I appreciate the actions of the board the cabinet and the leaders of our unions In thinking out of the box and creating a budget that I think that most of us can live with There is one thing however

034That concerns me 12 years ago I was transferred to vineyard and one of the Mandates that I was given at that time was to bring the middle school curriculum Up to the 21st century You have no idea how difficult that was in the first couple of years The the middle school and the high school Was not invited to curriculum meetings. They did not have the same materials as the other schools did It wasn't packet based necessarily, but it definitely wasn't the same education that you would receive In a comprehensive middle school It took two years For me to get my name and some of the high school teachers names On the list so that we would be invited to the curriculum committees It took another year after that for me to get supplies from different

035middle schools so that we would have the same Our students would have the same opportunities and rigor as the other students were receiving in the district In the last three years I have watched what I put my heart into Be dismantled And now that the program is being Done away with it just breaks my heart it also breaks my Heart to see the students that are not going to be served at the middle school because there will be no place for those students To go And they do need something different Right now at vineyard Starting next week. I have 15 percent of the population And yet you're considering cutting that program That that that as a budgetary decision doesn't make sense to me But what doesn't make even more sense is the fact that I

036have students that I know are going to need help next year And there's not going to be anyone there to help them So, please reconsider The middle school program at vineyard it is So important to the students that need it And the parents that depend on it Thank you very much for your consideration That's the end of my blue cards. So i'll open open up to board members for questions and discussion trustee capuanis It was very interesting to be at the first Budget group meeting. I appreciate all the time and creativity That went into the collaboration. Thank you to all the people who are diligently at this I was thankful to be a very small part of the process and I have lots of questions tonight since I was only allowed to be at one

037of the three meetings So my first question I have a lot. Do you want me to just go with all of them? We'll go with a couple And then we'll move to other board members and then come back to you if that's okay. Okay um Acting superintendent pichette What portion of these proposed budget reductions is due to the la 2026 tentative agreement approved by the board members? Including president jurent and clerk vandenheuvel who refused to recuse themselves despite knowing they would personally benefit financially for the pay increases What How I would answer that is due to the Budgetary position that we were in and the state funding we were not able to make Competitive compensation increases without making budget reductions So what is that percentage? That we have to reduce as a result of that

038ta of the specific lea ta If you just want the um lea component of it I would we would need to pull that and get back to you On that. Yeah, because right now we've because of the me too historically that's been given we calculate everything for the total Compensation package was was 13.1 million For the total with lea plus all of the me too Okay, thank you because there's been a lot of different Numbers floating around so I just wanted to make sure this was accurate and on the record another question I have is um What is the actual number because it says uh, it was 2.8 million. It was 5.4 million What are what is the number we're at? The number of reductions So we started at fourteen point eight got it And

039then we're able through this work group to make adjustments and reductions to get us where we need it to be Which leaves us with what number left on the table for reductions currently? It's five point four million. Am I correct? Yes, this is five point four million before um utilizing some of our um required reserves of three million dollars To reduce the amount that is being reduced for 26 27 Okay, so it brought us from five point four to two point four million Okay, so then moving forward. What is the amount that we'll have to reduce for spring 27 and 28? You know, i'm going to turn that over to assistant superintendent wasley to Yes, um, so I will be updating that number more accurately with second interim Um, which will actually be brought forward

040to the board on march 24th Um to give them some a little more time to just make sure it's finally tuned to before submitting to a coe But based on current projections And our first interim multi-year projection updated with all of these reductions that we're making We are currently projected to need an additional 11 million dollars In reductions for 27 28 school year with three million of that being one time to restore our required reserve And that is also contingent on at the state Budget that will come out for 26 27 and where that lands us with projected revenue at that time Okay, so just to make sure I have it because i'm writing it down In order to be fiscally solvent going off of what is currently proposed on the sheet It would be

04111 million reductions for the 2728 Correct, correct. You have no additional state revenues materialized for 26 27 and the state Proposed or the governor's proposed Contribution that doesn't come out till june Yes, we'll receive the final state budget in late june early july and final layoffs would have to be in may correct by may 15th Okay Let me keep going We'll move to try we'll move around and then we'll come back to you. Okay trustee prusso In january I Spoke about process and I shared my concern That the board had been placed in the position of reacting to a list of reductions rather than receiving professional recommendations developed through Appropriate channels and I ask that our professionals administration cabinet and labor partners engage in difficult work of bringing forward A plan that protected student-facing positions

042to the greatest extent possible And tonight I believe what I asked for I should say it's not just me other board members also asked for this But I believe that tonight what I asked for in january is sitting before us I know that over the past several weeks And months the work that work has been done and that it has not been easy And I want to thank all of the people who were in the work group for their for their and work during I think an incredibly challenging moment Specifically uh our cabinet our acting superintendent Michelle pichette, um, also kayla wasley for continuing to work through the numbers I know like the many recalculations refining and the fiscal analysis is is something that she's um been up to the challenge for and then I

043also wanted to Say that I appreciate our labor partners in addition to them our lma and cmc representatives For coming to the table and engaging in serious solution oriented conversations also has been mentioned My fellow board members who were also there as observers of this process What sits before us tonight reflects collaboration and it reflects professional expertise And it reflects an effort To hold as tightly as possible to student-facing roles That does not mean that this list is painless it is not There are real people attached to these positions people who serve students and families with care and dedication And I want to acknowledge them directly Their work matters and their impact matters and none of these reductions are a reflection Of the value of the individuals in these roles As a trustee, I have

044a responsibility to ensure the long-term fiscal stability of this district And that responsibility sometimes requires decisions that are deeply difficult Because the experts in this room have done the work that I asked for bringing forward a professional recommendation grounded in knowledge and operational Knowledge, I will support this list of reductions I do want to note one point one point that I mentioned at the last board meeting as well I support this plan with the understanding that the me too provision particularly as it relates to our lma administrators Will function as a one-year pause with the intention of revisiting it next year I believe that attracting and retaining strong administrators is critical to the health and the stability of our district um, and so that's one thing that i'm hoping and I don't know how that

045plays into this, but um, I Would like to see like more Structure around that so that they understand what that will be Um, finally, I just want to express gratitude to everyone who engaged in this process I know we've had a lot of community members who have engaged in this process whether they've come to the board meetings And spoken to us in public or whether they've sent us emails texts Phone calls, and I just appreciate that. We have a community that is engaging and cares about um, Public education and I think that's important um So that's basically what I wanted to say. I don't really have any questions Um that I I support this this is this is what I asked for and again It's not easy, but it's it's what we need to do.

046So That's all trustee pueno Thank you very much This is a a pivotal moment for the district Anyone who's been kind of watching even as a casual observer the last couple of months We had packed board rooms and a lot of concern Um, I believe just as one person on this board, um that our ears and eyes were open and we are listening Um, what's pivotal here is that the district in my opinion could have gone in two directions One is a very very difficult path as someone who's been in government my whole life to recover from And on the path we're currently on I think it's on a trust building a forward path There's going to be some aches and there's going to be some pains And I don't mean to make light of

047it in any way because there are real people and real programs on the other end of it But I will reiterate that we did not get hit by something while traveling down the tracks. This was not hurricane katrina This was a misalignment in some areas staffing issues in other areas And I do not see this now nor did I see it then as an us versus them But maybe it was portrayed that way This is an us issue us being Everyone who runs this district we as board members the people who work here the community and us Got into a room with leadership from every group and came out with consensus in three days That says something about the character Of the people that are here that care for the children of this district Um,

048I think that I would be remiss if I did not give full credit while there's a lot of parties the representatives of labor every Every group their duly elected officials lea csa seiu lma our confidentials Everyone was in that room their leaders were in that room and their leaders worked together with our leaders And we have an acting leader in mrs. Bichette as our superintendent Despite any change despite all the the rhetoric and the high temperature They came out with consensus and many may not Fully understand. I don't want to understand appreciate What that means? It's extremely difficult to reach consensus when you represent people who might lose their job or programs that may be hampered or eliminated Nevertheless, everyone got in that room Did their job no one's arms were twisted everyone worked together

049And I think that from this process this working group this task force we will come out of this much much stronger The alignment issues working with our new with our managers in our district folks that are here in our leadership We're going to come out of this thing stronger And it's a very difficult process But I personally want to thank the representatives of labor And even though some of them aren't afl cio some of our managers and confidentials Um, they do represent and they're duly elected to represent the interests of their people It's a big deal. It's a pivotal moment and it's been successful. I fully support it I'll go to trustee vanden heuvel and then back to trustee capone's um Yeah, the the day that I spent in that work group was very eye-opening

050to see the the level of consensus and um Willingness to um To give up something it was very very interesting And I think that one thing that we've we've done in those three days or what that they did in those three days Just to build on or start to build on trust and I think that's the one thing that we need um I also want to just commend every Every person that was part of the creation of this document that's before us right now Being in that room That you know temperatures tempers rose to the point where I I thought perhaps we reach a point where somebody's going to just walk out of the room But everybody remained a hundred percent committed to walking out with a proposal that everybody could work with or You

051know for lack of a better term and when I Continually hear people say, you know, you know, just think of it. It's just business. It's it's it's just you know, you You can't take these cuts these reductions personally When your job when you're in education your job is more than a job and it's it's it's a calling And I think it is a calling for just about hundred percent of our whole team So everything feels quite quite personal so again my commendation to this work group to get to this level of Of one accordness. So this one consensus is very impressive and I hope And I expect maybe that it's a sign of things to come in this next season of of our school district um I will say in the in the next week

052or weeks I'm going to continue to express my opinion about how I think that this board should prioritize these reductions going forward um, there's a tension I would say between my personal philosophy of how A large organization like this should be run and then the opinions of the people I'm elected to represent And i'm going to do my best to keep Our mission of educating children top of mind in the weeks to come as the true impact of these decisions becomes clear um And I want to join with fellow trustees to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you to to all the people who called and visited and emailed parents students teachers administrators Really helping us helping me understand what each of these decisions look like from your Uh unique perspective Your voice matters and

053I thank you very much for that, but i'm in full support um of this uh This this process and this sheet so trustee coplanus Thank you. Thank you Okay, i'm gonna go off the actual sheet so on line three What are we shifting from the general fund to the cafeteria fund? And can this put the cafeteria fund in jeopardy of being fiscally solvent in the future? That is the shift of a software program that is currently being utilized by the child nutrition program that's been um funded by the General fund and so that's being shifted over as it should have been coded there originally and then also a warehouse worker is being shifted from general fund over to child nutrition Based off of the workload on our warehouse workers from our food service program and

054based off of current projections and our Largely increased participation. Um, the cafeteria fund can afford that ongoing Okay, and this will have no impact on students. Correct. Okay. My next question is um What were the remaining funds in the discretionary block grant intended for? before the funding shift Uh Currently they were for our secondary social science adoption so for curriculum Correct How will this change impact students? so We would hope that there's additional funding next year that we can put towards our social science adoption We know how outdated that curriculum is especially for secondary. We are um, we are Moving forward with our elementary social science adoption. It's been a long time in the making but we do have funds to move forward with that adoption Thank you um The next thing is on line

05512 Why is this reflected as two hundred eleven thousand and not three hundred sixty four thousand? Yes, that is due to the difference between the the salary costs for the remainder of the school year being vacant, um Minus taking the separation cost mining out the cost of that vacancy for the rest of the school year and that is the balance of what's owed The increased cost. Okay. Thank you. I just want to make sure that was accurate on um Line two through fourteen Are they just temporary band-aids for this year or do they actually solve the underlying structural issue? That we created when we recently approved our lea pay bump And how are we budgeting for any future cost increases tied to that? um, yes many of um These items are one time. Um, some

056of them have been repeated like the funding shifts that continue on next year that we're able to continue Um are reflected in our 26 27 budget adjustments um as well as some additional reductions for chromebooks, um And then if there was any hiring freezes that were savings that were not filling the position moving forward Then those were being pulled out of the budget, um moving forward But if they are planned to be filled for next year, then those are added into the budget And so these are many of them are one time reductions and so the cost is still budgeted in to our 26 27 budget And 27 28 budgets. Okay. Thank you. And then for line, uh, 10 through 11. What is sb hip? School-based something right? Um sb hip Stands for let me

057look it up student behavioral health incentive program And so this is a grant funding that um, the districts actually receive funding from different insurance companies So kaiser anthill bluecross, um and various um insurance providers to increase, um behavioral health support for our students One more time. I just want to make sure I wrote it down student behavioral health student behavioral health incentive program Thank you and then um online 18 What does realignment mean here? Are we realigning or are we reducing? Thank you for that question so our it's more of an alignment program So we've had lots of different programs throughout the district that have had a name with not much of a description And so we're going to look at our contract language and the credentials for the programs And so we'll be aligning

058for example our tnp program therapeutic neurodiversity program up at altamont creek Will be renamed to counseling and rich to align with our middle schools and our high schools So just to be clear is this reducing at all some of it is but it's due to our enrollment in our program, so for example, there's a um Position a teaching position at crochet elementary. They will be overstaffed next year We don't have enough students to fill the program So that's a reduction of one teacher The other teaching position is at jackson elementary where we added a mild mod program this year But next year that program will be absorbed by royo seiko Okay um the next question I have is um For line 20 through 33 has this board ratified an agreement with the respected unions and

059district leadership? And is this is this for this year only or is it going to be permanent? So that's the me too. Um, and so how me too works is You reach an agreement with say your teacher's union and then tip and then you have to bring forward that um increase for your other bargaining units such as um management and cmc And so then the board approves the new salary schedules as well as any health and welfare benefit increases and so if the board Approves this and the me too is frozen except for the health benefit contribution What will happen is that we won't be bringing forward a revised salary schedule for those groups But we will be bringing forward the approval to increase the health benefit contributions. And so it is permanent in that

060They won't receive that increase for 25 26 or 26 27 And then it would come before the board the next time um, or any of our other labor unions, um received an increase for the me too Thank you for that explanation um the next one is on line 39 Does this include csba conference travel? at all it does um line 44 what restricted programs are now covering general fund expenses And what uh, which specific items and how will this affect students? um, yes, so um That is continuing on the shift of the cafeteria um general fund to the cafeteria that was also included in 25 26 as well as um some magnet position moving moved to magnet El stipends being moved to title three and or the continued to continuation of our wellness coordinator being

061um shifted over to restricted funding sources We have grant funds for that. Um, so there'll be no impact Okay. Thank you Um after sitting on our most recent pcic meeting just a little like two weeks ago The feedback came in on that communication to parents in the greater community was very valuable If we eliminate the director of communication and engagement, how will this impact students and their families? I'm going to speak to that and all the reductions on this list as far as fte is concerned It's it's all fte with including our director of community engagement will have impact Our director of community engagement is written into our l cap because it is part of our l cap goals Reaching out and engaging with our families is part of our strategic plan as well And

062so there is impact and I will just state that as a Period statement. Yes, there will be impact Can I give an example? I'm a parent. So I just want to understand well This is what happens when you have reductions, especially at the district level and i'll speak to that as a director is that when you have a a a Department of two people which is currently our community engagement is department of two people To a reduction of one person We have to look through all of the initiatives that are happening in that department And some have to some of those initiatives have to be reduced because one person can't do the work of two So we have to prioritize what is happening in that department and make sure that we're only doing the essential

063duties Okay, I might have more questions on that later um The next thing is for line 47 Um, superintendent pichette. Can you please clarify this for me based off the reductions? Um this reduction plan are we on track to exhaust reserves by the next fiscal year or just hit qualified status? And then triggering deeper cuts in 2728 So next and i'm looking at assistant superintendent walsley because she can explain this much better than me But as I understand it for next fiscal year, we are on track to have cash And so we are not in a negative budget, but we would be moving into qualified and as Assistant superintendent wasley stated it does mean for 2728 We will need to relook if we continue on with the same amount of funding and the funding that

064we think we were going to Be getting without any restoration of prop 98 or discretionary block grant funding that we Will need to make 11 million dollars in reductions for the 2728 school year I just want to make sure we're not making um Um Qualified budget a norm here so Looking onward we could potentially be remaining unqualified It yeah, it depends on a lot of things but yes Okay Um, okay. So assuming there's no changes to the robin of the revenue and spending and temporary fixes um And if the state provides no additional funding will we face a negative budget? Um certification if we don't make the reductions as miss wasley said stated 2728 For 2728 so made next year for 2720 correct If this plan is approved And will remain in debt ultimately raising

065costs for taxpayers Are we being fully transparent with employees and the community about the district's true fiscal outlook? I believe we are being truthful with our fiscal outlook That's most important. Okay. Thank you Yeah, I just had a quick comment. Um, we've had emerson come a few times and I noticed that The athletic trainer, uh is on tier three. Could you maybe just explain how the tiers work? Um to maybe help answer her question. Sure. So tier three would be the first items to come off the list if there was money that We were able to Secure for this year going into next so those are the first items to come off the list are those positions Thank you Just want to go for it Just one clarification on that and just so we can

066because we may understand things that are not in the general discussion of the community relative to How may works? Maybe we can just speak just briefly to what happens in the may revise Yeah, the may revise, you know, we throw terms around but I know as a just someone who lived in the community. I had no idea may revise was even a thing and maybe we can Kind of just discuss that briefly and how historically that has affected the budget. Absolutely. Go ahead miss wesley Yes So for the state budget process we get the original look at what the governor is proposing for the next year's budget In january and then once additional state revenues come in you pass april tax deadlines we find out What the statutory cola officially is because april is when

067we get our last data point needed for cola The governor revises the state budget proposal in may with much more solid information than is available in january. So typically moving from may To june the final budget adoption you have a little bit better of an idea of what you can actually see There may be there's more negotiations that occur between the legislator and the governor But typically you have a good idea of what funding will be available for school districts there might be just some small changes and how it um Is finally determined of how it will be allocated to school districts. Um, but typically What we've been seeing in the may revise has been largely coming to fruition And so that'll be our next really telling point of where our school budget will likely

068be At that point and so we listen to not only What um, let's say legislators office are selling us in the analyst office as well as school services of california casbo Of what they are hearing from the legislators and the governor of what they think will actually um come to fruition for funding So all that is to say that we don't know what our revenue is going to be but that will be determined In late may the may revise and we'll be aware of that Late june. Yeah. Yeah may revise will give him to give us an idea, but we won't find out officially until late june And that the order of things just to maybe reiterate to the public Is that the reason for this exercise is that we have to have we have

069fiduciary oversight Happens to us by the alameda county office of ed We need to meet certain statutory obligations to show that you can have a balanced budget because any employee that might need to be Laid off attrition or otherwise has to be noticed by march 15 So those actions have to be put into place like this point two five reduction But then we're going to see what the revenue comes in, but there's a period of time we're Of somewhat uncertainty That relatively accurate So the restoral if there was one would be based upon revenue that we could we can't count on it now You can try to project it, but we will not know what that revenue is until june Okay, just your person. Yeah, I was just gonna ask I Was mentioned. I can't

070i'm not sure who mentioned I think it maybe was amy about a possible Possible revenue from the retirement incentive and the medical club collaborative So we might have that information sooner rather than later Yes So for the lea retirement incentive The amount we're looking that we need is 25 people and we are currently at 20 and it needs to be turned in by March 1st, okay So once we have that information then that can be incorporated if We're able to include those savings that will be incorporated into our savings and then i'm working on additional information for the medical Collaborative on additional or allowable expenditures. Okay, and so Once I can get that information to them Um, they'll be able to make it so with that maybe the with the medical Collaborative that might be

071shifting funds like if you could use those funds for something and then shift those funds back into general fund Is that correct? Okay Quick question. What would that total be for if we combine the lea? Retirement incentive in the medical collaborative They're varying amounts but likely between Probably around six hundred thousand dollars upwards of a million dollars But six hundred thousand dollars is probably more likely Because we already included some of the lea retirement incentive Our retirement savings costs because there were retirees that submitted prior to the increased retirement incentive and so they will be retiring still where the retirees that have Submitted during this window for the additional retirement incentive they can withdraw their retirement notice and continue to be employed with the district Okay Thank you I wanted to thank the work group

072members for their steadfast dedication and professionalism over the course of three very long days Discussions were intense And the path forward not always clear I will say that my respect for each member's expertise and institutional knowledge was reinforced However reductions are often are often painful and I would like to recognize the impact on individuals and groups Once we have a clear picture of the state's budget for us for next year in may If additional reductions are necessary, then I would strongly recommend the budget Advisory committee or committees to take up that work as soon as possible so that this can happen over the course of several months With all that being said I support the recommendation by the work group Any other discussion or questions? from the board If not, I would entertain a motion

073I move in support of the Acting super intense recommendation on this item I'll second I have a motion from trustee bueno and a second from trustee pruso any discussion on the motion Clerk, can you call the roll? Myself. I trustee bueno trustee caplanis Um, I appreciate all the work that's been done and i'm all for keeping jobs um, but i'm also I also take the job of being fiscally responsible and solvent, so i'm not going to support this trustee pruso I President drewan. Aye That motion carries for one And we are going to take a short break and then we will come back. So we're breaking it 709 Thank you. We're coming back into Coming back into session. We're at 13.2 local control And accountability plan l cap mid-year update since discussion only Call up.

074Mr. Madhart Good evening board president drewan members of the board acting superintendent bachette members of cabinet members of the community matthew hart I'm your director of assessment and accountability And i'm here to provide you with a mid-year update on the l cap for this year There's no action necessary with this but the law does require that we give you An update in the middle of the year just to let you know How things are going both in terms of the the metrics that we use to evaluate our support of our Of our vulnerable student groups and then the actions that we've promised to take in support of those same groups Objectives for the presentation is to just review the dashboard which there are a lot of metrics on the area within the l cap they

075all Not all many of them come directly from the the california state dashboard Which I have presented to you before in all reference I think some of that during the the course of the presentation To share the mid-year update for the 2526 l cap and then to provide an update on the actions expenses and metrics as I said In comparison to the county and state of california just taking a look at the dashboard and the speedometers We are slightly above you know the the average for for california and then right even with alameda county that includes of course districts that we've sort of Traditionally maybe achieved a little bit less than as well as districts that we've maybe kind of achieved Traditionally a little bit more than and that puts us in the middle The

076dashboard this year was a good one for us that we increased in in multiple places Including the one I think we're most proud of which is the jump of two levels on the on the lp or el progression Indicator we did have a drop on the chronic absenteeism. That was our only drop for the year And this is a this is something I went over at length. I think it was back in october, maybe november So the purpose of the l cap mid-year update to provide to the board and the public an update on the implementation of our current l cap Excuse me to enable to us to plan for changes that may need to be made Based on just revised estimates of revenue and budget and student performance and in the share mid-year outcome

077expenditure and implementation data in current years l cap I The l cap is a it's a it's a big document with a lot of things in it But I think it's useful to just think of it as as having two major sections One is the metrics section and the other is the actions section and those actions are connected to both expenses and to the metrics in various ways But really when you think of it as how do we evaluate how we're helping our student groups? And what are we doing in support of those student groups? I think that's probably the easiest way to summarize and simplify the l cap That's what i'll cover Within the presentation you do have the full mid-year l cap report Within the the the board item, this is a summary

078and there's these these colors aren't they're not like an official thing They're just sort of a helpful visual cue as to kind of how we're maybe moving forward Towards the metrics remember that with the l cap We have a three-year l cap with a with a baseline which is the year before the first year of the l cap and then An expected outcome at the end of the three years New for us and something that will be on our minds as we finish up this year and move into next year Is that we are supposed we're supposed to not have l cap items that are Judged to not be effective according to the metrics to which they're attached and that's new as of this l cap cycle for the state Of california It'll be very

079interesting I think over the next year to kind of figure out what that what that means in reality how that changes the document itself and Excuse me how it changes the discussion around the document At any rate, i'm not going to go through every single one of these these are every we have Goal number one is essentially an academic goal. How do we help students meet their academic achievement goals? Lots of lots of green and yellow is kind of is, you know, a sort of partial improvement towards where we're going Green is very healthy. We have two reds both focused in writing. We have discussed as a district, especially at the beginning of the year Just early concerns on things Certain places with writing that's kind of run counter to some data in other places

080like the cask for example But when focused on writing we've seen a little bit that has maybe dipped I know there's a focus on us for the beginning of the year and continues to be how can we help improve? The writing skills of all of our students, but especially those students represented directly by the l cap And then these are the actions for goal one the academic goal The mid-year l cap report basically asks you to say like have you done like full implementation partial or no implementation? We've at least partially implemented everything some some things are not like one of the things is summer school For example, well summer school isn't here yet, right? And so we've spent some money on that but not the full amount that we have budgeted and I think

081just looking at the items themselves it's usually Fairly clear what when things are partially implemented because they just haven't gotten here quite yet everything else we're definitely I mean we're looking to spend the money that we have so Here's more within the Academic all green right? We've we've we've spent the money that's intended for these for those actions These are the metrics for goal two, which is Kind of a social emotional behavioral goal, right? How do we make our our schools a safe and healthy place? You can see all the green there, which again isn't like an official color It's just meant to be a visual cue as to how healthy the the progression is towards the intended goal Lots of green there. Obviously we feel very good about these metrics Here are the expenditures

082within this goal and again green we have we've implemented I'll quick note on 2.6 people always ask like why that's that third column contributing? Why is it called? No, all that means is that is is the item paid for directly out of l cap Sometimes there are things in the l cap where the money doesn't come out of the l cap, but we have to include it Anyway, this one for example, we were as a district in a differentiated assistance For the the achievement of our homeless students on multiple categories So we had to have an action in support of them within the l cap the money didn't come out of the l cap, but we still had to have it in there to show how we were helping to Resolve our status our differentiated

083assistant status And here are the metrics for three, which is a community engagement goal There are three for this which are all sort of based on survey We've discussed before kind of how we made changes for to our survey structure within the last few years And we are making progress And then the metrics for this Are all i'm there there they are and we've implemented everything that we can this year It's a reminder about how this will go. This is our mid-year l cap. No action is required. Discussion is welcome Uh, we are currently working with multiple groups on our l cap advisory committee Dlac i've presented to dlac and gotten feedback from dlac already that's going to continue at the next dlac meeting We're going to take feedback from all those groups Uh from

084all interested parties that will create a draft l cap We will then finalize that there are rules that I know you're familiar with but we you know show that to the public The public has an opportunity to ask questions the superintendent responds to those Uh, you will be finalizing the l cap along with the the budget for next year in june Uh board approval and then that will be sent on to the county Uh where we have had good luck the last few years in getting it approved on first read which is always Um the goal I welcome questions or comments trustee bueno My brain's not here We have the same socks. I don't trust you. That is true Thank you for for this A lot of the questions have been answered. But before I

085Have another question. Do you in this mid-year review? Do you then also? Mess with the levers and let go. Oh, we got to do a little bit more of this We're gonna do a little bit more of that or do you just is it? Yeah There isn't a ton of change. Usually it's like we planned to do this thing. We made this document It was a plan you passed it the county approved it How are we doing an imp? It's like an implementation report sort of so with this there is there is room in place for For adjustment there, but that's not really typical the place where that really happens is in the annual update That's the one where really we go in and you know make alterations based on What seems to be working

086or not the pressures of you know expenditures and budget that's that happens more with the annual report in june Yeah, that's that's helpful to know Are you When it comes to that the the writing mastery you kind of talked about that. No, let's talk about a through g Completion it's still below that 60 percent mark Is there a specific Structural barrier why we're just not seeing that a through g growth Yeah, we this is it's a hot topic and we've discussed it to a certain extent here as well There are there are many factors that go into a through g I would say that the dominant one that we have identified the one that really The hinge that seems to determine whether or not students graduate from us Prepared and ready for a four-year college

087for the most part is completion of algebra 2 If students, okay make it through algebra 2 then they're ready and if they don't then they're not Our the reason for that is is kind of a matter of practicality in our graduation requirements Like our graduation requirements for english are the same as the requirements for uca through g compliance, right? But that's that's not necessarily the case with math, right? So our graduation requirements are lower than what a through g would require So some students make it and some don't that one more than any other There are sometimes also some students will make it through math, but won't get the world language Portion for example that does happen a bit but by far dominant I forget the exact percentage, but I know i've worked it out

088before and it's it's like 85 percent is because of a Not having not having math. I'm glad you're able to see that that's helpful because then you know Helps you to go. Okay. What and the the other thing that i'd like i'm as i'm envisioning where these Short falls come i'm trying to figure out if it's it's if it's known or if you can see which subgroups in our Population is most affected by this and maybe even connected to parent engagement You know, which parent groups are are engaged which ones are not Are you is that a topic of discussion in that is that something you can see or that you measure? well in terms of math and I think we We See where our achievement is isn't hitting where we want it to along

089the way right to a certain extent Whether a student completes algebra 2 We start to have clear ideas of where that may end up all the way back in like fifth grade for example And that's true for like all students, but especially true For traditionally underserved student groups who are who are vulnerable and where we have seen achievement gaps in other places as well in my own opinion, I think we're we're you know the work of Director of elementary chris connor and director of secondary jason krolikowski have both focused on the long game right of How can we help prepare students if we know if we start to see things that are happening in third and fourth and fifth grade? That end up sort of paying off, you know, either sophomore junior or senior year

090within high school What can we do to really help support students on the way? I know the work that mr. Connor has done this year is is absolutely incredible And in engaging students with and teachers with looking hard at our instruction and how we support students in math you attended a CSBA presentation of the golden bell based on the work of jason krolikowski and and the work that he had done with the Secondary math protocol. So there are things happening at all different levels to try to support that I would in terms of that quite like when will we see I think and we're already seeing some Minor gains, but I think that's just like problems can snowball over time achievement can snowball as well And I think that if you're looking at it in

091the long term, we'll start to see improvement in that area Accumulate as time goes on one last question is about Some improvement that you see in in suspension rates Attendance improved overall chronic Absenteeism, you know aside Are are those gains discipline attendance are they are those gains equitable across subgroups that you know, or is it? In general when things rise up with some like if there are Groups that have bigger achievement gaps When things go up in general you tend to see an even greater focus or distribution of improvement within the ones that have the achievement gap Right. That's not always true. But in this case it is mostly true. We saw huge and important rising in some of our student groups More so even than what we saw at the at the standard mainstream

092level all of which by the way speaks to the incredible work on Like PBIS that's being done by Mallory rachel and all the schools and site leads involved with that. Thank you for that trust you prusa I just have one comment. You mentioned the writing Having a Sort of different You had you talked about different than casp. What are the metrics? That you're looking at are the assessments that I guess that you're looking at for the writing and that maybe might for the one that dipped Yeah, yeah, that's the district writing assessment. Okay. It's a it's an on-demand writing task Uh that we have it fulfills several different sort of obligations that we have one is to have local Indicators within the metrics another is that we need local indicators for a use of like

093reclassification student reclassification for our english learners, for example It's an on-demand writing task. The the rubric for it is is based on language straight from the state standards It's just meant to and for both in that case. It's both structure and convention Uh that students are rubric scored on and that's what that's the way the specific assessment is different. I mean the casp I guess ele is not going to have that writing component in it It does but it's just it's very different. It casp is really just much larger. There's a lot more in it Uh, then then then kind of just on-demand writing there's there are elements in there that assess like Editing and right, you know like formatting for example, right? There's a lot in the writing section that isn't necessarily within our

094district writing assessment. Okay. Thanks trustee bueno I just want to thank you. I know that you're able to summarize that and put it forth uh you know very uh Succinct manner so I appreciate that. It's not an easy task A lot of work goes into the back end of that As part of the data collection and did you see anything that you were surprised by? That kind of outside you showed some of the accomplishments. We had some two-tier jumps But surprises that we may not have again deficiencies That we do not have answers for or are we clearly just working through steps as part of a plan? I don't know that any of the the data was especially surprising I know last year and really last we talked a lot about el progression and how

095could we get you know, and And I sort of said at the time I think good stuff is coming and that's because I knew what was happening behind the scenes This sort of logically would pay off. I don't know the metrics are necessarily surprising. I think it's it's What is um, I guess we're thinking about is all right so we're getting better at all these things and then We sometimes it's like an academic achievement whack-a-mole and then we see another thing right? Like we have had massive improvements in early literacy and reading and you know We're working on math and we're starting to see improvement there and then we see writing and it's like well How do we focus on that while maintaining the work and sustaining the incredible work that's been done? And that's

096not to say it's you know It's a kind of careful calibration of when something is sustainable on its own And when do you expand without starting to move into initiative fatigue? And so I don't necessarily think it's surprising But I think that a thing that we think about is is how to continue to to scale up the work In other ways Uh that that sustain what we have while while addressing the the issues that come about as other things improve Makes sense. Thank you very much Just a couple on this I have a lot of questions again Okay Thank you. Mr. Hart for the presentation and updates I'm happy to see the strong gains in the ct completion and the algebra one proficiency as well as many others Um, my first question is how will

097we explain to parents that despite the l cap driven gains in attendance chronic Acneutism suspension rate ct completions mouth proficiency. We're still cutting deeply Like a cta a cte worker and a counselor I'm, not sure what what kind of answer to give to that. I know that I support the consensus recommendations of the of the of the group Certainly the l cap and some items in the l cap are are part and they're within those budget reductions list Um, I think we take that and then we move forward as best we can to minimize damage wherever possible There's a lot of stuff that gets as i've already been talking about none of those cuts are easy, um, they it is impossible to I think the group did amazing admirable work in keeping things Um, I

098don't know damage neutral as much as possible. But at a certain point Like things do start to hurt and I think we minimize I think that that group minimize that damage as much as possible But there are other things that do hurt and some of that is involved with the l cap as well So which of those outcomes will suffer under the proposed tier one through three reductions like an swa? worker a vp the tv tip tosa the gen ed teacher at vineyard I would think it would be the actions directly Expensed by those like whatever action is directly connected to that expense, right? And so I would have to call out specific things on the budget reduction list Which I don't know we want to necessarily go through line by line But whatever is

099on the budget reduction list that is in the l cap. I would assume that we would see By the nature of a cut a reduction within that action Okay, the dashboard reflects an orange and red performance in la math proficiency Which evidence-based phonics focused reading programs and direct instruction math curricula are funded here? Could you repeat the question for me one more time? Um based off our e la math performance and proficiency which evidence-based Phonis phonic focused reading programs and direct instruction math curricula are funded here Is it okay if I phone a friend on this? I I could speak to it, but I want I mean I want to give you a good answer And so i'm going to invite a director of elementary chris conner up so he can give you the best

100answer for that And just the question was what was funded out of the l cap. So just Go ahead you can come up though. Yes Thank you for the question trustee copas Um over the last four years, we've appointed reading plc systems, which have improved tier one instruction and tier two Interventions through our universal access system The curriculum for tier one and tier two Is grounded in the science of reading research, which is a multi-disciplinary research um more than five decades old which is finally a transfer into practice right now, so Give me some specific examples of evidence-based curriculum for phonological awareness in tier one, we use hegerty Which is a renowned curriculum and it's fully aligned to the science of reading research We teach that in kinder and first grade and then For phonics

101and decoding We use ufly Which is out of the university of florida It's also fully aligned to science of reading And we teach that in kinder and first and we'll be expanding that into second grade next year We also use a sonde curriculum in grades two through five for vocabulary and word study and that is also Fully aligned to the science of reading research All of all of that curriculum we brought in in the last four years and to ensure we had evidence-based effective practices And then for ue time for every pillar of reading phonological awareness phonics fluency vocabulary and comprehension We have research-based effective interventions that were fully vetted by my team And before we trained our teachers on them so Yeah, so we've got a really robust set of early literacy curriculum And

102we're seeing the results Yeah, yes, and then do you just sorry i'll just so What actually gets paid for directly at the l cap for example is like an mtss tosa that is able to help teachers to implement all the curricula that That mr Connor described I I don't think any of the curricula are directly paid for out of the l cap But obviously we want to make sure that we have practices in place to to help make sure that goes well And that's what the l cap helps ensure right? Thank you both for the work you do. I have a few more questions and thank you. Mr. Connor for your explanation Sorry to put you on the spot So by what date can we expect a district-wide gain of five to ten percent? Percentage

103points in absolute proficiency and not just closing the sub gap groups For which assessment? For the ela and math proficiency For cas proficiency. Yes, and you asked for when can we expect a five percent jump five to ten? Ten percent would be a lot. Um, I would say Math is lower so you can expect higher gains as we improve like It's with assessment it's sort of easier to go from say Thirty percent to fifty percent than it is to go from like sixty percent to seventy percent, right? Because people are already achieving at a very high level I would say that we could see math gains in the five to ten percent range I would say within the next three years and I would say with reading it's take longer because it's higher, right? So

104I would say we could be approaching How about that early literacy stuff's really going to pay off as students hit into middle school for example So I would say we probably start to approach a five percent improvement within the next five three years as well Those are guesses by the way, I hope I don't know if I can uh Win money based on that bet, but i'll try okay and the l cap allocates roughly about ten million dollars in supplemental concentration grant dollars How much of this actually reaches the classroom versus central office and consultants or training It's about it's seven point one. I'm actually sure I mean that is actually within the annual report There are there are split outs of exactly what's going where I don't have it on on hand Um, but

105the l cap is a publicly available document and we can look up information from that later and provide it if necessary Just just as a matter just a clarification. I want to just make sure we understand so the l cap l cff It's l cff supplemental funding and that's that seven point one million dollars There are other like when like trustee kaplan is when you're asking about Such as the things that mr. Conner was talking about the curriculum. They're not necessarily funded in the l cap However, we have lots of wraparound funding that we use that are restricted funds like restricted lottery You'll see some of those as a non-contributing action in our l cap plan Um that help with those like to your point, excuse me to your i was getting excited with my

106hands I'm, sorry like to your point of increasing ela and math So we will put some of those action items in there, but they're not necessarily funded out of l cff supplemental. That's seven million Okay, it's yeah it There's a lot that goes into that 120 page document Okay, then I have another question then are we protecting programs that drove gains in chronic absenteeism suspension and behavior And what discipline policy changes in l cap support order and safety? That's all within area two. Uh, there were some items on the original budget reduction list that um Have are not on there anymore. That would be like cwas and kid connection For example, those are both entirely funded out of the l cap and those have been preserved off the new budget reductions list everything really everything

107within Uh goal two is all exactly in line with what you're asking So how do we measure classroom disruption reductions? We don't have a metric specific to referrals primarily that comes through the suspension metrics that are included Expulsion metrics and in terms of disruption that'd be about where where we uh, where we keep track of those Okay We've been getting a lot of public input regarding safety for sports facilities bathrooms Does any l cap action or related policy protect single sex spaces in girls sports based on biological sex? And how is that reflected in safe environment metrics? There are no explicit mentions of that within the l cap that I know of And then um, lastly, how will parents receive advanced direct access to all l cap funded instructional materials? surveys and guest speakers Um

108and their content prior to implementation and what clear opt-out process will be provided The l cap doesn't so the l cap actually can't pay for core curriculum That would be we have to pay for that in other ways because that would be supplanting Everything within the l cap has by its nature has to be supplemental. So extra right so we pay You know, we pay for it We don't pay for the curriculum that mr Connor described but we pay for the tosa to help us implement it right that would be right, you know, we we pay for Like a number since diagnostic out of it, for example things that we couldn't pay for otherwise But the curricula I I can't think of a single piece of curriculum that's funded out of the l cap we

109try to stay away from that as uh acting superintendent peshet described to be in general because you you get into tricky waters with um supplanting Okay, so just not the surveys or the guest speakers. That's not paid out of l cap There we have survey monkey within l cap. That's to engage our public but that's There's nothing specific to students within that usually Okay, thank you, okay 2.9. I'm trying to it says percentage of low-income English learner and foster youth students served by cost And so i'm curious Is it better to have more students covered by that or is it less good because it's kind of a it seems like a contradiction But i'm just curious about the the numbers related to that I think that it's a funny one in that way I would

110I think we've we've seen it as good because we don't want to miss anybody, right? We don't want A vulnerable student group anyone within that sort of going unnoticed or any issues being unexamined sometimes cost being examined by cost is as much as Like nothing might come out of cost But if the cost team takes a look at the student data takes a look and says Nothing to see here then that student has been supported by cost because you're you're just considering whether the student is On their way to doing what they need to do and what supports if any are necessary Sometimes no supports at all are necessary So we've usually interpreted that as we want our vulnerable student groups served by cost in that manner I will quickly say too that all of

111the metrics in here We have some local leeway on exactly which metrics we we have But they also fit within broad categories that are mandated and determined by the state So I'd have to go look up exactly which category that fits but there's none that are necessary like um, and i'm not saying You said this but they're not there's no like superfluous ones. For example, there's definitely something in there That's like how exactly are you measuring how you're serving? Your your vulnerable student groups with intervention practices and there's something about that that would that that metric would be looking to evaluate Yeah, that's fine. I just assumed it was a more nuanced because it's not you know when you have a metric It's like we don't want that to be zero, right? it's You know

112if they're going well, yeah Yeah, I definitely know you're saying it's a funny one, uh, any other questions from the board this is discussion only so Thank you. Mr. Hart. Thank you We will move on to 13.3 new board policy 1445 response to immigration enforcement invite miss tracy christmas up good evening board president drewan trustees acting superintendent pichette Cabinet and members of the livermore community My name is tracy christmas and I am the director of student services and i'm here to present board policy 1445 as well as the rescinding of board policy 5145.13 So this is a mandate coming from um the attorney general's office. It is a mandatory action that every Um school board in the state of california has to complete by march 1st They've also created a website that we will be

113required to upload proof of approving this and adding this to our board policy Board 5145.13 Is also named response to immigration enforcement. We are rescinding it and replacing it with board policy 1445 which actually gives a much detailed response to how we are to act in the event of Immigration coming and requesting information from about our students parents or staff So this is the background. I won't um bore you with everything on here But as I said, this is mandated by education code 234.7 It is a new policy But as I said it goes into a lot more specificity on how we are to respond and the policy that they want us to follow when represented with the situation with the situation of immigration enforcement trying to obtain information on our students parents families or

114staff Some of the key provisions are that incorporates requirements of ab495 and aligns policy language With the california attorney general's model policies. I put an example that kind of um Describes all of these bullet points here for key provisions. So for instance on policy 5145.13 one of the requirements this policy has five very small paragraphs to it and one of them is Consistent with requirements of the california office of the attorney general the superintendent or designee shall develop procedures for addressing Any requests by a law enforcement officer for access to district records school sites or students for the person? immigration enforcement It's very vague. It just says we're supposed to create a policy the new board policy Specifically addresses this it says that the district shall deny the request to the extent practical unless Something

115is provided with specificity with conditions like a valid judicial subpoena a warrant or a court order It also states how to process this request and requires the district to fully disclose The description of the request and any documentation provided unless prohibited by a valid judicial subpoena To the person that they are requesting information from It is a recommendation of the acting superintendent to rescind board policy 5145.13 and approve the new board policy 1445 response to immigration enforcement and as I said, this is mandatory and We did not add anything to it It's actually verbatim that we would create it upload it to our board policy and then update it to their website by march 1st Showing that we are in compliance You have a blue card. So i'll step off one blue card Invite joanne

116morrison to come up and speak for three minutes, then we'll move to board questions and discussion Good evening president prussell members of the board acting superintendent For the druid I can't break old habits acting superintendent pichette and cabinet Um, I fully support this policy. Um, except for one phrase and If you have the policy in front of you it says Basically district staff shall not do any of the following unless there's A condition in place like a judicial warrant. This is right at the beginning and there are There's a number two Seek or require information or documents to the exclusion of other permissible information or documents Regarding the citizenship or immigration status of a student or the student's family members To the exclusion of other permissible information or documents means that You can't ask for

117these other sensitive documents only to the exclusion of other documents But if you ask for the permissible documents Then you can ask for these other sensitive documents in other words If you ask for one permissible document Like this is to establish residency in the district. Usually this happens, I believe um, so if you ask for A pgd statement with the address on it then Because you've asked for this permissible document under this language You can ask for any of the immigration information or citizenship information that you want And I don't believe that that's really the intent of of this, uh Policy, um, I don't find that language in the education code um and I it contradicts The paragraph before it where it's forbidden to solicit or collect information or documents regarding the citizenship or immigration

118status Of a student or the student's family members period at all so I know that you have a deadline for this. I would ask you to adopt this provisionally So that when we do the whole manual we could go back and look at this again And maybe adjust this language because I really think it's an error Thank you Thank you trustee bueno and just procedurally when we've done policy we do first read second read and something that's Have we just kind of moved past that just to be timely here? Because this is or we change the procedure For in the past if it is a mandated policy that a requirement We have not had to do a second reading we the first reading is sufficient On policies that are not mandated that we are making

119changes to at our discretion Those two are done with two readings We haven't done a policy reading in In quite a while, right? Yeah but That is at the discretion of the board not as it's presented to the board. So the board historically You get a first reading And we would if it's something that's boilerplate or a mandate or there's it's timely we would waive Second and make this first and final correct. Is that your so this isn't a procedural change to how we're going to operate This is just out of maybe necessity So that was when when putting together the agenda I clarified that this was a mandate from the state That this was the direct language and so we had the discussion of first and second read And because it is mandated from

120the state similar to what we've done in the past then I presented it this way got it Thank you and then Are we prepared looking at like the third paragraph? I understand the change. It's a third paragraph from the end. It begins with the superintendent or designee It just talks about developing procedures and training. Do we have that in place like we're able to execute that or we're okay with that We are prepared to execute that yes, but we've we've been updating our site principles and our sites with the new Legislation that has come out regarding immigration Okay And certainly that's something I know this is real sensitive and stuff So, you know the request that we've received under public comment, you know provisionally. I have no issue with that You know, it's like we

121want this to be right I know that there's a lot of thought that's gone through this the state's been dealing with this very sensitive issue I want to make sure kids feel safe in school Thank you This kind of follows up with uh, trustee bono is saying so there will be some type there already is training that's going on for principals and staff Yes, so it starts with our principals our principals then take it back to their sites Um, but we have been doing this last year since i've been here updating the principals with the new updated laws regarding immigration Okay, I just want to make sure we're all on the same page on how we implement this Yes, thank you trustee vanden heuvel um first question is about um Can we accept this provisionally?

122Because we want to you know, we we understand the intent of this policy, but some of the language can be used so The board can vote to accept this board policy We will implement it in the the board policy manual now Depending on what the direction we go with our board policy full manual Which I know is on pause right now and I understand that we can then of course revisit this board policy I I don't think there's a problem with that the other questions trustee capone's just for clarification purposes, so We vote this into policy How does it abide by both federal and state law? I know it's a state mandate, but I just wanted some clarification Well, i'd have to get back to you as far as how this relates to federal law

123But I know that this is we follow state law and this follows state law that I can tell you. Okay. Yeah in um In reviewing this policy, I thought that this is about responsibility and belonging uh responsibility because It's our job to make sure that every student can learn in a safe and you know welcoming Environment and I also like that this update brings us into compliance with state law And then reinforcing privacy protections, hopefully And providing clear guidance for staff. I think that's really important and then belonging I feel very strongly It's part of my personal values that no student should feel Uh fear of discrimination at school and I see this policy as part of our commitment to Equity and dignity and just good governance. So I support this. Uh this policy change

124I think that's the thing that I would say is the is the language on that first two Just clarifying that that's not I'm not a lawyer and making sure that the commas don't change the intent of it because I think as I read it is to You know that Unless that they're not allowed to do that. So I think just revisiting that Would be good Yeah um Any other comments if not entertain a motion I move in support of the acting superintendent's recommendation on this item I'll second that I have a motion from trustee bueno a second from trustee vanden heuvel. Any questions on the motion? Not clerk can call the roll Trustee bueno, aye. Trustee puesso. Aye. Trustee kaplanis. Aye. Myself. Aye. President druan Aye that motion carries five. Oh We'll move on to

12513 for approval of tentative agreement between Service employees international union local 1021 and lvj usd I'm sure there's many people in the audience have been waiting for this. So Dr Benders, please Thank you So on february 3rd seiu local 1021 the district reached tentative agreement on article 32 Which is the me2 article in the seiu collective bargaining agreement? And with that, um, it includes a four percent increase to the seiu salary schedules effective january 1st 2026 a 1344 dollar Ongoing increase toward health and welfare benefits effective july 1st 2025 And these provisions will be paid out no later than april 2026 and so with this item includes a revised salary schedules um And the fiscal impact of the me2 agreement is here in the board I will read it for you. It's 263 dollars 732

126in 25 26 with additional cost of 1,000 69,602 dollars in 2026 2027 At the general fund at eighty eight thousand five hundred and twenty three dollars and twenty five twenty six with an additional cost of 56,000 968 in 26 27 out of fund 13 that's a lot of numbers and This was based on the lea Tentative agreement and then because of we have a me2 clause in seiu collective bargaining agreement This is the tentative agreement reach And it is the acting superintendent's recommendation to approve the me2 tentative agreement with seiu any questions from the ward I have a question trustee caplanis Is this amount already included in our reductions for the 25 26 and 26 27? Yes. Okay There's no other questions. I would entertain motion a move to um Support the recommendation of the

127acting superintendent to approve the me2 tentative agreement between the service employees international union local 1021 and lbj usd So a motion from trustee van hoevel a second from trustee prusso any discussion on the motion Clerk, can you call the roll? trustee caplanis Aye trustee bueno You said uh trustee prusso. Aye myself. Aye president truen. Aye. My motion carries 5-0 We will move on to 13-5 approval of service employees international union local 1021's proposal to lbj usd for 2025 2026 reopener negotiations Great. Thank you. So on october 8 2025. I brought before you Seiu's sunshine proposal and that proposal included two monetary articles and two additional articles to be identified at a later date That later date is now here seiu has identified article 22 effects of layoff artificial intelligence and article 23 Classified layoff procedure

128seniority as there are two additional articles to sunshine It's the acting superintendent's recommendation to approve these additional sunshine proposals Any questions from the ward? If not, I would entertain a motion I move to approve the acting superintendent's recommendation to approve seiu Local 1021's proposal to lbj usd for 25 26 re-opener negotiations second Motion from trustee prusso second from trustee bueno any discussion on the motion Clerk, can you call the roll trustee prusso? Aye myself. Aye trustee bueno trustee kaplanis Aye president druen. Aye my motion carries 5-0 move on to 13-6 Which is the election of representatives for 2026 california school boards association delegate assembly Turn it over to acting superintendent pichette Tonight the board is being asked to take action regarding the election of representatives to the california school boards association Delegate assembly for sub

129region 7-b alameda county Our board may vote for no more than four candidates to serve as csba delegate assembly members for a two-year term beginning april 1st 2026 through march 31st 2028 there are four available seats seats for our sub region and the candidates are Charles jones from pleasant and unified school district kyla senegal from san lorenzo unified school district as the incumbent and our very own christian bandenhovel for limbermore valley joint unified school district At this time only three candidates have been nominated for the four available seats The board may also choose to write in the name of an eligible board member to fill in the fourth seat if desired Biographical sketches for each nominee have been provided for your review the complete ballot must be returned No later than march 16th 2026 At

130this time I will turn it over to the board for discussion and action and please note It's one ballot for all five board members. Yeah, I was going to clarify so we could have We could do it one at a time or if there's a motion for all three or two of the three But in the end we as a board vote We get one vote as a board correct under just as a as my comment on this I would try to consolidate the vote And that we vote and we our selection would be christian bandenhovel our very own And and we vote for him and we vote in So we're not so it's not to dilute the vote It would make you the high vote getter conceptually conceptually I think I should Recuse myself

131of this vote. No, no, but you don't vote for yourself. You can vote for yourself. Just like in a regular election. Yeah Yeah I know one of the people on this list. Mr. Vandenhovel and Um, I think he would be excellent. I think he'd do a great job. He would represent as well I'll do my best. It is nice having someone in this seat to kind of come back and bring us information and yeah I agree um so it sounds like they're wanting uh to to vote for Our own christian bandenhovel. Is there any appetite for including any any others or if not I would entertain a motion for candidate christian bandenhovel I move to put forward christian bandenhovel as the lone candidate with an affirmative vote Motion from trustee bueno, is there a second?

132I'll second. Okay. I have a motion from trustee bueno second from trustee pruso to move forward our Vote would be for the sole candidates, uh christian bandenhovel Any discussion on the motion? I'm assuming you can clerk the votes. So yeah, let's do that myself. Aye trustee bueno. Aye trustee caplanis Um, i'm just gonna say a real quick comment that we're in a major budget deficit And it's to my understanding and why I did not choose to be a delegate at this time Because it's going to cost the district additional funds to cover all travel and mileage expenses for this position So I can't support this or anything else we can't afford now Um, that would be at the district's expense Trustee pruso Aye President druid. Aye that motion carries for one So we'll move into

133number 13 7 Uh employee of interim superintendent update. So just to kind of inform the community in the last board meeting Uh, the board created an ad hoc committee to look into the possibility of finding an interim superintendent So i'd turn the trustee bueno and trustee pruso serve on the ad hoc committee So i'd turn time over to you to if you have any update to provide for us Thank you very much. Uh as directed, um, we've been Working on this and collaborating trustee pruso and I and at this time we have uh, no update to report outward Thank you And we'll move on to 14. Oh, I have questions. I'm sorry. Oh, i'm sorry Um, how many candidates have you guys interviewed and who Don't think they can provide right? I think it would

134be premature Um currently because we're working and so we're working on it and we'll report back when we have a product and we'll report out Any other questions? I just want to know like how the process is going. I know you guys are Working on it. Can you talk can you speak to that? Yeah, that's what we're doing Well, like Can you say what you've been doing? We're looking at what the issue is and what potential solutions could be and we're collaborating on that and When we come to a summation, we'll bring it back to the board. We're not going to make any determinations as just an ad hoc group Um, it's our intent to explore The issue and then report back and get seek recommendations from the full board Okay, I just wanted to

135know how the process is going. Thank you Any other questions? Thank you um We'll move on to 14. Oh consent item motions. There are 11 consent item motions on the consent agenda this evening Is any board member wish to remove one for specific discussion? I would request to remove a and b Both rezos 1a and 1b or 14 to a and b 14 to a and b, okay And not the not the minutes A question on the minute. So Can we pull? Pull both of them. Yes, sure. So we'll pull 14 1 a b 14 2 a and b Actually, wait It's just 14 two not one 14 the minutes are 14 1 a and b so At least yeah, I need to put that you could um pull a and b Okay So then

136do I have a motion for? the rest of the consent items Or do we talk about? No, we there's two separate votes. It's as you as you prefer Well, let's let's handle the the first the The rest of it. So it'd be 14 c d e f g 14 3a and 14 4a I move to uh approve those consent items mentioned, uh, 14 to c through g 14 3 and 14 4 second So motion from trustee vanden heuvel second from trustee pruso any discussion on the motion Clerk, can you call the roll? Myself. I trustee pruso. I trustee bueno. Hi trustee. Kaplanis. Hi Hi President druin. Hi That motion carries unanimously. So now what's We'll go in order. So we'll go with 14 a or 14 b for 14 a I just had a question

137on the minutes as far as If there was a vote taken in closed session on I think it was i'm getting the two dates um In one of our closed sessions. I just want to be clear if there was no vote taken that needed to be reported out Or included in the minutes If you're asking which one are you talking which sorry, can you just give the date? Are you talking about 2 6? Yes, I think it's 2 6 it looks like in here if i'm looking at the minutes that it says that There was no action taken during closed session. So what you're asking Yes, I just want to be sure um, because like Livermore vine reported out that there was a vote So I just want to make sure so it's accurate The

138action taken Did not need to be reported out It didn't need to be in our minutes. That's correct. Okay, but it was Carried after the fact And so that's how that information came out Okay, just want to make sure we're clear on that Thank you 14 b We're good. Okay Maybe we'll move on to 14 to a And we can handle both together it's one in the same sure yeah, and it's simply an acknowledgement I didn't want this to close out without the community Of seeing this it's on consent because it is procedural Um that is this is the acceptance of the maryland avenue elementary school steam renovations and improvement Um, this is an old school And the school was built in 1957 This is all community support Between the bond funded 10 million and

139we had a state match of 15 million It's about 25 million That has gone into this steam academy for the kids at maryland avenue Some of the just the highlights And I know that people don't really think about hvac systems, but in 1957 those probably weren't real Needed they weren't probably needed Full upgrade to every classroom's hvac. That's the heating ventilation air conditioning systems. The fire alarm system was completely redone Two new tk classrooms expanded kindergarten tk play area Two renovated steam classrooms the entire outdoor courtyard and learning space was expanded Renovated the entire library new blacktop renovated play field expanded parking and drop off The first in the district to put in ev charging stations Painting the color scheme the pride if you've gone to any kind of an event at maryland avenue Joe

140manier The pride at that school has been elevated and it's a really good accomplishment And it speaks to how our community supports education how the district has seen to seen this through And and one of the other things that we did there was there was a small thing just the drop off area Some of the infrastructure they needed some money and just a thank you on behalf and I won't speak for everyone on the board But I I think I can Um congressman swalwell's office put in an extra 500 000 so we could get that drop off area and very often as People in public and communities were critical of a lot of things It's easy to be critical, but I think that we need to acknowledge the community The state congressman swalwell, this is

141a big joint effort That is a very old school and if you drive by it now It looks like a steam academy and it runs like one and when we look to do student achievement Some of our most underserved and challenged children go to maryland avenue and they have for a long time And when you put in the infrastructure, it's the old field of dreams analogy. That's why I just wanted to acknowledge that Coordinating this entire project And I always like to praise kim mcneely. She is our director of the bond And we could not have done this without her She's done a remarkable job at keeping things on budget on schedule. This one came in slightly under budget So people always want to know what happened to their money This is a slightly under

142budget right on time as expected and a lot of collaboration So that's the reason I pulled this is just simply to acknowledge this Thank you, so we have 14 1 a b 14 2 a b If there's not We could do them all together or if somebody wanted to do them separately I would entertain a motion I move on the All items that were not included in the original consent I'll second So a motion from trustee bueno the second from trustee prusso any discussion on the motion Clerk, can you call the roll trustee? Keplanis? Aye trustee bueno. Aye myself. Aye trustee prusso. Aye president druin. Aye Motion carries unanimously We will move on to reports and requests And we'll start with trustee bueno Well, okay, I didn't know if you were calling if it was

143actually me if it was someone else you were calling I just wanted to make eye contact. That's all All I want to update and i'm just going to reiterate a little bit Is that i'm extremely proud of the working relationship that we've developed in rapid fashion And what that means for this community going forward is a pivotal moment And there's 13 000 kids that we can never lose sight of And I think that most people individually have never taken their eye off that It's the collective that's where we get our strength And I think that this collective exercise that we've just gone through Will broaden that strength and it's going to help those 13 000 kids. The only reason anyone's in this room Or should be in this room ever is to help those kids

144and I think tonight was a pivotal moment in doing that So I look forward to working with this group trustee keplanis Since our last board meeting i've continued to have many meetings with concerned students parents and staff affected by these reductions I valued attending the first budget collaboration session, but was disappointed to be excluded from the following two On a positive note the seventh and eighth graders impressed me at junction spelling bee last week And i'm looking forward to the upcoming district competition as well as many other upcoming events trustee vanden heuvel I want to say a huge. Thank you to miss bachette uh president druin Uh, miss wasley who is ready with the numbers like just on the spot Leaders of our bargaining unit a lot of extra work and several of you. I

145know Did this as volunteers like just extra. So thank you so much for that um now all I will say is that i'm going to be using that Tool that lea provided on their website littlemoreteachers.org To contact elected state officials to encourage them to make changes to how we're currently funded things are broken And uh, I would just say I would encourage any of you that have a little energy Or frustrated with all these reductions and things to contact your elected officials um To do the same and join me in that that's it trustee pruson Yeah, I just want to briefly talk about One thing and that is that um president druin and I recently met with our Um representatives senator steve mcgurney and assemblywoman rebecca barocon to discuss the pressures facing our district And

146districts across our region and the state We spoke to them about the strain created by rising costs healthcare expenses Uh, and the expanding responsibilities placed on public schools Schools today are asked to provide not only strong academics But also mental health support nutrition behavioral services and stability for working families And these critical these are critical services and we are committed to them But the funding model has not kept pace with those expectations We also raise concerns about the structural challenges in california's funding system and um Just looking at greater stability and predictability and funding that would allow districts to support students and staff To reduce the annual strain That so often shows up. Um Every year as we have to as we go through negotiations and sometimes, uh reductions Um Both both senator mcgurney and

147assemblymember, um barocon were attentive and clearly understand the pressures that we're facing At the same time they too are navigating a very constrained and complicated state budget environment And so there are no easy answers Um, but I believe that the conversation was thoughtful and constructive One moment that stood out to both steven and I is that they mentioned that they don't receive a large large or any correspondence from constituents And we laughed out loud because we have a very um We are fortunate to live in a community that is very engaged especially in and passionate and vocal about public education So I would encourage anyone who is listening or anyone who cares about stable and equitable school funding To reach out to their offices through their website portals. It sounds like lea also has if

148you go to their website So i'm going to put that out for them as well links so that you can You can reach out to them. They were they would be I think it sounded like they would be excited to Hear from people they were surprisingly they didn't get a lot of feedback um and I think You're not aware of some of the issues if you want to reach out to me Or I think they're on lea's website. There's some information on there as well If you need talking points or if you have any questions, i'd be happy to help you with that I think that's something that is really important and though it's Not going to help us this year. It's something that we should start thinking about The funding is not working the

149way that it is and it's something that we can advocate for together Um as a community So I would love for livermore to be the community that pushes this through and I think we have The passion to do it if if there's any in the last few months. We've seen that passion So please reach out to me if you have any questions. I appreciate lea also putting that out on their website as well And um, let's see what we can do we can get um We if we can get just get a message through them and maybe go and go to sacramento together and I don't know Do something so that's all I have Yeah, just one of the two points building from trustee prusos comment that representative bower cam Said if she gets a

150hundred comments on any issue, it's stratospheric so I think that we have an opportunity to communicate that's the needs that we have and So I hope that the community can reach out And communicate that to her So most of my board related activities in the past two weeks have been observing the budget reduction work group I wanted to thank them again Additionally, I want to thank employees of lvj usd the community and my fellow board members for engaging in this process over the past two months It has been exceptionally challenging and the challenges are not over. However I believe that we are on a path towards rebuilding trust and Um that a primary way of doing this is through meaningful collaboration With that i'll turn the time over to our acting superintendent pichette Oh one

151comment just one clue. I know you like that. You should have the last word. I just want to add one thing Deliberately Um, I just want to acknowledge to the public what a remarkable job two weeks into the position of president That stephen druane is done He sat through those three meetings. It's not a matter of just being there but mediating um entities Going into the room that are Grand canyons apart and to come out of that room Just the presence of being in that room to bring people together and then to watch the work and oversee it It was a remarkable job and it needs to be noted and I appreciate it in January 2026 a current junction student who participates in our elop aces program was diagnosed with leukemia One of the student's

152parents is also a valued junction staff member In response expanded learning site lead vanessa oropeza proposed organizing a community care mess To support the family a camera a care mess is a family-centered fundraiser featuring food booths games raffles and entertainment Local vendors and community members generously donated food and supplies ensuring that 100% of the proceeds Would directly benefit the family and assist with medical expenses Through the collaborative efforts of elop aces staff junction office staff and staff from maryland elementary The community came together in an extraordinary show of compassion and unity The event took place in may nissen park and raised close to 17 000 for the family This effort reflects the strength and generosity of the livermore community And the deep commitment of our staff to supporting one another beyond the classroom The family

153shared the following message of gratitude quote. We are very happy That everyone's effort and unity are being recognized. We would also like to My co-workers and all the people who participated and made this event so special for our family to be recognized as well We are deeply grateful for all the support and love we received. Thank you very much from the bottom of our hearts Ended moments like these when a child faces the unthinkable and the entire community steps forward not because we were asked But because they care we are reminded that livermore is not defined by buildings budgets or boundaries But by the compassion we extend to one another This unity this care and action is who we truly are Thank you The next regularly scheduled board meeting will be held on tuesday, march

15410th at the district office 685 East jack london boulevard livermore, california open session will begin at 6 pm. This meeting is now adjourned at 8 27 pm