001Good evening. This is the February 10th 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 community to observe in real time. 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. Clark, can you report out? Yeah, in closed session tonight, the board by a vote of 5-0 approved the settlement agreement between LBJUSD and employee 17100. And also in closed session, the board unanimously voted to approve an agreement to resolve a
002dispute regarding a special education dispute in advance of litigation. In exchange for compensatory education, the student agreed to waive claims against the district. That's it. One last action. The board took action in closed session by unanimous vote to appoint Michelle Pochette as acting superintendent effective February 10th, 2026. We're on to 6.0 flag salute. I'll ask Ms. Danielle Mackey to attend or to help us with the flag salute. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I don't have any deletions or corrections to the agenda. So we'll go on to 8.0 recognitions. We'll bring back up Ms. Danielle Mackey, proud principal of Joe Mitchell TK8 school. She'll recognize Joe Mitchell's counselor
003and office team. Good evening, board president, members of the board, newly appointed superintendent Pochette and cabinet and the community. I am Danielle Mackey, proud principal of Joe Mitchell TK8 IB school. Tonight, before I recognize the amazing staff members behind me, I want to say that the staff at Joe Mitchell school are an incredible group of educators that truly make a difference every day. I couldn't bring them all with me. Michelle Seigling, my vice principal, and I would like to formally recognize the staff members here tonight whose work is often invisible but whose impact is undeniable. Our office staff and our school counselor. The office staff members are often the first adults our most vulnerable students encounter each day and sometimes the only ones who see the full picture of what a child is carrying into
004school. Our office staff are not only answering phones and managing paperwork and staff members, they are monitoring student health needs and responding immediately when something is wrong, getting to know families deeply, often across years, and recognizing when a change signals that a family needs support, opening doors early so students have a warm and safe place to be, deescalating situations before they become emergencies, and but not all acting as trusted steady adults for students who need predictability and care to function. Our office staff members include, please raise your hand when I say your name, April Mata, my executive secretary aka superwoman, Chris Polarimo, our registrar and attendance clerk, aka the quiet hero, Jeannie Crampton, our ASB and parent liaison, aka mama bear, and Liz Boycen, assistant to the registrar, greeter, ICE provider, so on, aka the
005office angel. Okay here we go, sorry this is very emotional for me because they're all wonderful people. Our counselor, Kimberly Woodworth, is the heart of our school. I know, sorry. Anytime anyone comes to Joe Mitchell for a visit, I always take them into our wellness center. Kimberly has created a calming environment where students feel safe to be who they are or just take a break from school or when peer relationships get hard. She also is an integral member of our cost team which is called coordination of services team who meets every week alongside other staff members as our mental health support team. This team works at the intersection of learning, safety, and well-being. So Kimberly supports students experiencing trauma, anxiety, grief, housing instability, and food insecurity. Kimberly coordinates with families, teachers, administrators, and outside agencies
006so students don't fall through the cracks. Kimberly responds immediately in crisis situations to protect students and maintain stability on campus. Kimberly helps students regulate, re-engage, and remain in school which is foundational to any academic success we expect. For many of our students, especially those who are at risk and vulnerable, she is the reason they are able to stay in class, stay regulated, and they stay connected to school. Our success as a school is not accidental. It is built on a team approach and these individuals are essential members of our team. When students feel safe, known, supported, learning can happen. When they don't, it can't. We want to publicly acknowledge the professionalism, compassion, and quiet leadership of our office staff and our counselor. Their work changes outcomes for children every single day and we are deeply
007grateful for them. We recognize these amazing staff members not just for what they do but for who they serve and for the reality that the support they provide is often the difference between a student succeeding, struggling, or disengaging entirely. Please join me in celebrating them. Student board member reports. Student board member reports are an opportunity for us to get a glimpse of what's happening in our school sites. So we'll turn over to trustee Deepak from Livermore High School. January was a thrilling and jam-packed month for Livermore High School Cowboys. Winter sports have slowly come to an end with the varsity men's basketball team adding the regular season on a successful note with a winning record of 79, showing the complete transformation of the program over the past year. They opened up league play with a
008win over Amador Valley earning their first e-ball league win in over 13 years. In addition to the basketball team, the boys varsity soccer team, Big Granada, and rivalry matchup and all the four winter team sports have recently qualified for NCS with the wrestling team sending multiple athletes to win major tournaments with prestigious placements. At this year's California Athletic Directors Association Conference of athletic directors from across the state will be recognized for the contributions with specific honors given with the north coast section. This year James Petersdorf has been named for the 2026 north coast section athletic director of the year. Livermore High School has also recently had plenty of student achievements worthy of recognition. We are proud to announce that 18 Livermore High School students recently earned their state FFA degrees this year, the largest number
009of recipients of any chapter in the entire north coast region. This is an outstanding accomplishment and we congratulate our students for their dedication and leadership. In addition, freshmen from Mrs. Mangiardi's fourth period class researched local community issues in Project Citizen, a civic education program, and impacted their local community and developed a public policy to address local issues. They met with Mayor John Marchand, Mayor Carla Brown Balch of Pleasanton, and Diana Roberts from the Tri-Valley Conservatory and showcased their urbanization and land conservation findings at the Veterans Memorial Building in Pleasanton with the other high schools and project citizens. Livermore High School has also been named to the 2025 AP School Honorable for the 2024 to 25 school year, recognizing our efforts to expand access to advanced placement coursework and support student achievement. LHS offers 22 AP
010courses across 42 sections with 20 AP teachers and this recognition reflects the collective work of our faculty and families in maintaining strong academic opportunities for our talented students. Recently, members from Livermore ASB have held a voter registration drive with over 50 plus students registering to vote. In order to recognize the accomplishments, the New Voters Association, which is recognized by the United Nations, has awarded them with a civic engagement plaque. In addition, Livermore ASB has also recently created a kindness wall where they have wrote every single student's name, which is over 1,800 names, on a wall in the school. This aimed at recognizing our student body to make them feel known and cared for. The Livermore High PTSA is currently running a fundraiser with a generous matching opportunity and CHEF is pleased to partner with the
011PTSA to support students, teachers, and entire school community and to help every donation go further. Any contribution, no matter the amount, is appreciated, so please consider supporting Livermore High School and additional details are available on the PTSA socials. January was an exciting year for the Cowboys and we are excited for how the rest of this school year pans out. Thank you and it's a great day to be a Cowboy. Thank you, Trustee Diepock. Up next, Trustee Gruss from Granada High School. January was an exciting month at Granada, filled with major athletic achievements and school-wide events that continued to strengthen campus spirit. The winter ball dance took place on January 29th and was a huge success, bringing students together to celebrate the winter months. Shortly after, Granada faced off against our rival Livermore High, an intense
012basketball matchup, ending off in a strong victory for the Matadors. As winter sports prepare for postseason play, both boys and girls teams have been training hard in anticipation for upcoming playoffs. An incredible achievement, both the boys and girls wrestling captured the E-ball championship, marking a proud moment for Granada Athletics. Additionally, spring sports have officially begun, signaling an exciting transition into the next athletic season. Granada Athletics has also seen continued success across multiple programs. Girls basketball and soccer both earned impressive wins against Livermore High, further highlighting the strength of our winter sports teams. As we look ahead, the school community is eagerly anticipating the start of winter sports playoffs and the continued success of our student athletes as they represent Granada on a larger stage. Beyond athletics, Granada students have been excelling in academics and the
013arts. Marin Lenica was also recognized as the Livermore Rotaries Club's January Student of the Month, honored for outstanding contributions to the school's community. She's an extremely dedicated student to her studies and takes multiple AP and IB classes. She's also an outstanding flag football player who's committed to Milligan University to continue her academic and athletic career. Additionally, our Granada High School Jazz Band had the unique opportunity to perform at the Golden State Warriors game yesterday, proudly representing our school on a professional stage. On campus, Mr. Conover, our principal, has introduced a fun and exciting name that tune game for third period classes, adding an element of excitement and friendly competition to the school day. Looking forward, leadership is already preparing for several major upcoming events. Planning is underway for the Granada Fiesta on March 21st, which
014is a large scale music celebration for the school community. The March Madness Competition is also in the works, promising spirit participation as this is one of the school's most anticipated activities. Additionally, Junior Prom is quickly approaching with tickets officially going on sale this month. As we move forward into the spring semester, Granada continues to thrive the student engagement, athletic excellence, and a vibrant school culture. We look forward to all the upcoming events that we have in the upcoming months. Go Mads. Thank you. Up next are employee association reports. It's an opportunity for us to hear from our bargaining units and professional associations. I believe that Amy Thompson from Livermore Education Association and Mamie Krustovich from CSEA are going to present. I want to recognize Tara Lutz as the vice president of LEA and Victoria Storti
015as the vice president for CSEA. Oh, new mic. Good evening, President Drew and members of the board and cabinet. I'm Amy Thompson, president of the Livermore Education Association. I am Mamie Krustovich, president of the Livermore chapter of CSEA, the California School Employees Association. We decided to give a joint presentation to the board for efficiency, understanding the board has many items of business to address tonight, and the messages we would like to convey on behalf of our joint 1,271 members are substantively similar. First, we would like to present to the board a vote of no confidence in superintendent Tory Gibson, undertaken by both CSEA and LEA membership prior to the announcement of Dr. Gibson's departure. We feel that even in light of the current circumstances, it is still important to present this information to memorialize how
016our members feel and to share the reasoning. Despite considerable fear of retaliation, the signatures that were collected include 90% of permanent LEA members and 90% of CSEA members who voted no confidence in Dr. Gibson as superintendent of LBJUSD. The reasoning stated on the petition is as follows. Mismanagement of the district budget, including fiscal decisions that have resulted in reduced resources, staffing challenges, or negative impacts on classified and certificated services and student support. Failure to meaningfully engage and collaborate with certificated and classified staff and leadership in decision making. Decisions that negatively impact staff morale, retention, workload, and workplace safety. These concerns contributed to a breakdown of trust in district leadership among LEA and CSEA members that was beyond repair. Now that the decision has been made to part ways with Dr. Gibson, our members are relieved
017and appreciate the board's swift action. However, we are keenly aware that there is a lot of work that still needs to be done to address the budget deficit. Therefore, we are jointly requesting to be provided with accurate and timely information and to be included as partners in problem solving and finding solutions to the district's financial situation. At last Friday's board meeting, the board noted that not much had changed on the recommended reductions list. We agree. We did not see the deficit reduced by any number of cost saving measures, some of which the board had directed. If there was truly a spending and hiring freeze, then we should see some estimate of savings, but that was not included. What if we look at all current contracts and close open POs that are not essential? Why don't
018we review unspent encumbrances and unencumber them to allow available funds to drop to the bottom line? We need to go through position control for all bargaining units and remove positions that will not be filled this year and then scrutinize whether those positions should be rolled into next year. If not, let's remove them from next year too. Let's look at which restricted funds may be used for current salaries to free up unrestricted funds to roll into next year. These are smart business strategies that have somehow been overlooked by this administration. While we have heard that these things have been done weeks and months ago, we do not believe that this is true. If so, why did the superintendent attend a symposium at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa in Indian Wells from January 27th to 29th
019that cost the district thousands of dollars? This should have been canceled, but the spending freeze on non-essential items somehow did not deter her from attending. While this is not an enormous amount of money, it all adds up. This type of spending exemplifies a true lack of understanding and accountability by the people who are supposed to be scrutinizing our budget. If the leaders of our district are spending money on things like symposiums, then what other expenditures are being approved that shouldn't be? Trust is lost for good reason, and district leaders need to rebuild that trust with staff and the community. Until then, we ask for transparency and an open partnership so our ideas are genuinely considered. As we all know, this work needs to begin immediately, but the district has kept us at arm's length. Nevertheless,
020we are confident that together, we will be able to provide different points of view that may not have been considered previously. We ask the board to direct district management staff to work with us and provide access to full and clear information. While our members were disappointed in the cost associated with the separation agreement with Dr. Gibson, we understand that this was likely the most direct and efficient path to move us forward in finding solution and focusing on serving students. Finally, we would like to request on behalf of our joint 1,271 members to be included in the selection of the interim superintendent from the start as well as the long-term superintendent. Thank you. Thank you. Up next, SEIU. Kirsty Governor is the president. Is Kirsty here? Next, Sarah DeGroote is the representative for CMC. And then
021finally, Jeremy Wilkins is the president of LMA. Moving on to 11.0, public comment on non-agenda items. If you'd like to address a topic that is not on the evening's agenda, now is the time to do so. If you've not already submitted a TAM 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 that each speaker may speak once to ensure that everyone has a chance to be heard and so that we can maintain a respectful environment. Please refrain from clapping or other reactions. If you agree with the speaker, a simple hand raise is appreciated. Public comments are limited to three minutes per person. As a reminder, we as board members may not engage in discussion, take
022action, or give an opinion on an item not on the agenda. However, the board may briefly respond, ask for clarifying questions of staff and or for matters to staff for a follow-up. With that being said, I will call up Kelly Fragoso first, which will be followed by Marina Bunce. Good evening, President Druin, board of trustees, cabinet members, and newly appointed Ms. Pichette. My name is Kelly Fragoso and I'm the school counselor at Mendenhall Middle School and I'm also a parent of two students at Rancho. I'm here tonight as an advocate for mental health support for all students at all of our schools, speaking both as an educator of over 20 years and as a mom. Last year, I served on the strategic planning committee. We clearly named the importance of student health and wellness. That
023commitment is reflected in the final plan to increase and maintain mental health positions at our elementary and middle schools and expand wellness centers. At last week's board meeting, the data also confirmed what we see every day. Our community members, district leaders, and school sites agree that mental health services are essential moving forward. The loss of the school-based mental health grant puts all of this at risk. We do not currently have a backup plan. There is no plan. With counseling and social work not funded through the general fund, we face either the loss of services or service breaks and care at schools including Croche, Altamont Creek, Arroyo Seco, Lawrence, Jackson, Maryland, Rancho, Sunset, Smith, Joe Mitchell, Junction, and Mendenhall. Our students deserve consistent, reliable support. Thank you for considering what's at stake. Thank you. Up next,
024Marina Bunce, who will be followed by Katherine Villasenor. Welcome. Thank you. Good evening, President Druin, Board of Trustees, Cabinet, and newly appointed Michelle Pichette. My name is Marina Bunce and I am an elementary school counselor in the district, also a parent of a second grader and seventh grader in the district. I was the first counselor hired for the SBMH grant. During my tenure, I have built two wellness centers and counseling programs. I teach TK through fifth graders about mental health, how to identify triggers in their bodies, and strategies to reduce anxiety. Elementary school counselors meet with children one-on-one or small groups and help them through incredibly challenging times. I have supported a seven-year-old who lost their parents, a 10-year-old whose housing was unstable. I assisted a nine-year-old in identifying her abuser, which led to his
025arrest. I've done suicidal risk assessments on kindergartners. Recently, I had a fifth grader share with me that she feels the safest in the wellness center because of the pride flag I have displayed. This is just a fraction of the daily duties I perform. By not absorbing the elementary school counselors and social workers and the general funds, we are saying this work is not important and we are prioritizing something else. These young kids should have their life in front of them to write their own story, not be saddled with untreated trauma that sidelines them forever. Without any support, these issues left untreated will tax the teachers, admin, and broader services of our town, including other students. Please consider this important counseling function within our elementary schools for our most vulnerable students. Thank you. Thank you. Next,
026Catherine Villesonor followed by Veronica Torres. Good evening all. I just wanted to say that last month when people were yelling against the superintendent, I thought it was really vile and rude and very unkind and that's all I wanted to say. Thank you. Up next is Veronica, I think it's Veronica Torres, will be followed by Eleni Paschal. Good evening board members, cabinet, nearly appointed, Michelle Persett. I'm coming to you again in three places, an employee, a mom, and a grandma, and I'm going to talk to you about our elementary counselors and wellness centers. I just want to start off with tonight with a comment that my grandson made today. He's a fourth grader at Cochi who last year and the year before, and since we've been back in school since COVID when he was a kindergartner,
027daily phone calls, daily panic attacks. This year and since last year when he met up with the counselor there and started attending the wellness center on his own basis instead of eloping from school, and if any of you have ever chased a first or second grader who was eloping, it's a great workout. He now serves on the student council and he now stays in class, he finds ways to cope, and he enjoys using the calmness center, which when I asked him today, what would be the worst thing that could happen if you lost your wellness center this morning before school, because he's been worried about this. He said to me, Grammy, I just want you to know if there's no calmness center for me to go to, it's going to be all bad again. This
028tells me that we have children, and not only from that, but from my experience of being at an elementary school, a high school, we opened the first wellness center at the high school, and her children become herd adults. So why are we being reactive and not being proactive by ensuring the funding, at least in the general fund for now, and if the next grant comes in, great, but if not, at least we have a plan. Let's help these children who are coming in. They didn't get the, right now our students right now, they didn't get a normal start to school. They started in COVID. They started coming, and now they're in a world where things are so crazy. They're hearing things because parents are watching news. We're having conversations as adults. Things that they should
029not have to worry about is taking over their mind, and the last thing I want to say is I've been affected by several, over my career, teen suicides. That, ones that did not end attempts, and the attempts that after talking and hearing had said they had somebody that they felt comfortable with when they were littler, maybe they wouldn't have been in the situation they were at now, and a lot of them do not receive that at home because parents, we're not trained. We don't get an instruction manual. All of you are parents, I believe, and you know there's no instruction manual when you get handed them at the hospital, and I just want to say thank you to our counselors across all grades for their job that they do, and please take into consideration the
030importance of funding these counselors and wellness centers. Thank you. Up next, Lainey Paschal will be followed by Emily Waffler. Good evening, everyone. My name is Lainey Paschal. I'm a parent of an eighth grader in this district. I'm a queer person. I'm also on the board for PFLAG Tri-Valley, which is a local LGBTQ nonprofit. I'm here to read a statement from PFLAG Tri-Valley. There have been a number of people coming before this board and asking you to reinterpret Title IX and how it's implemented in the school district in an attempt to tie it into the budget issue, and let's just be crystal clear about what they are asking you to do. They want you to discriminate against a protected class in California. Transgender and gender expansive students are a protected class in California. They are asking
031you to discriminate against children. AB 1266 has been in California law since 2013, so for over a decade now, and it explicitly protects the rights of our trans and gender expansive students to use school facilities and play on sports teams that align with their gender identity. The board's duty is to uphold California Education Code, not rewrite it. We know that people working in this district have good hearts. We know that our teachers and our counselors, our administrators, and district staff are committed to making sure our students are safe at school, and we cannot for a moment imagine this board directing staff to actively discriminate against a certain population of students because of their identity, and yet that is what these people are asking you to do. We are here to say no, absolutely not. If
032this district decides to throw trans kids under the bus, then it should probably get itself into a better financial position to defend itself against a class action lawsuit for violating the civil rights of children. So to reiterate, uphold California law, stay in your lane, and protect trans kids. Thank you for your time. Up last is Emily Wambler. Good evening, President Drouin and trustees, Acting Superintendent Fichette and cabinet. To the board, thank you for taking the time to meet with the community and teachers regarding the concerns surrounding the recent budget cuts and district leadership decisions. Your willingness to pause, listen, and adjust course at such a pivotal time in the year did not go unnoticed. I recognize that making changes mid-year is not easy, and I appreciate the dedication it takes to prioritize what is right
033for our students, even when those decisions are complex. In the classroom, we see every day how district decisions directly impact students. Budgets are not just numbers on spreadsheets. They translate into class sizes, instructional support, intervention services, and the ability and the stability students rely on. When reductions reach the classroom, students feel it immediately. They feel it in loss of programs and fewer adults able to support them and the strain placed on the educators who serve them. I am hopeful that this recent dialogue marks the beginning of a more collaborative working relationship between the district leadership and the community. Trust is not rebuilt in a single meeting. It is built through transparency, consistency, and meaningful engagement. As educators, we want to be partners in this process. We bring daily first-hand experience of student needs, and our
034insight can help guide decisions in ways that protect what matters most. We understand that the next phase of this process will be difficult. Financial realities require hard conversations and thorough planning. However, I respectfully ask that you maintain steadfast in your commitment to keeping cuts far away from our students as possible, away from classrooms, away from staffing, and away from programs that provide academic support, mental services, and other opportunities. These are not extras. They are essential components of student success. Our students deserve stability. They deserve fully supported classrooms. They deserve a district that demonstrates through action that their educational experience is top priority. Thank you for your time and your willingness to listen and for your continued commitment to doing what's best for our students. I look forward to continuing this work together and rebuilding trust
035in a way that strengthens our entire community. Thank you all. 12 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 p.m. the day before the meeting. Formal written correspondence received after the following cutoff will generally be acknowledged at the following meeting. Please note our board electronic communications received via the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District's website by accessing the formal written correspondence to Board of Education link with all fields completed and verified shall be treated as formal correspondence. Clerk, are there correspondence? And if so, please summarize for us. Yeah, there were 60 pieces of correspondence received in total, and most of these expressed concern relative to budget reductions, offering support for items included on the reduction list, including athletic trainers,
036counselors, get connection, IB against school closures, winter pool closure, library media specialists, TV tip program, vineyard alternative education, health technicians, and Title IX. A few other communications expressed overall concern with the budget itself and communications regarding student protests. Thank you. We'll move on to 13, our discussion action items. Up first, 13-1, employment of interim superintendents. So I'm going to, we do have a blue card on this item, so I'm going to read the kind of introduction that I have. We'll do the blue card and then we'll open up to the board for discussion. So an interim superintendent is a person who provides leadership for a district for a short period of time, usually while the school board looks for a permanent leader. We as a board have several options to decide who will serve as
037superintendent, for how long they will serve, and how they will be selected. So I'm going to present some options relating to each of these for discussion and then ask for action once discussion is completed. So option one, we could ask or even direct the acting superintendent to stay in the position through the remainder of the year. However, if we're interested, option two, we could move to create an ad hoc committee of two board members who are charged with finding us an interim superintendent. An ad hoc committee would not be constrained by the limits of the Brown Act, as their discussions and considerations would be between just two board members. They would be able to nimbly and timely facilitate the process and bring a recommendation to the board for approval. Granted, their efforts would then need
038to be approved by the full board. We would need to decide who would serve on the ad hoc committee and provide guidance or direction as the board. Option three, we could decide that we would like to facilitate and participate in the process together as a board. This would entail posting all of our meetings ahead of time. A layered consideration over all of this would be time. We could have the interim serve for the remainder of the academic year, or in some instances, they may serve longer than that. So I have perspectives on all that I've stated, but I'm going to go to the blue card and then open the floor for discussion from the board. So I'll call up Fiona Solis. You've got three minutes. Thank you. Try it. Good evening. I'm coming to you
039as a teacher within the district, but both my kids also went through school here. I wanted to plant a seed on this quality I feel should be our focus in searching for our new superintendent. This hire is not about direction, it's about repair. The last time we hired a superintendent, we focused on where we wanted the district to go academically. We believe strong ideas and the right educational vision should be enough. But what we learned at great cost is that direction without responsibility, authority without respect, and power without transparency can fracture a district. Today, we're not starting from neutral ground. We are starting from broken trust. Our staff is tired. Our community is cautious. We do not need an educational theorist or a manager. We need a culture turnaround leader. We need a superintendent whose
040first and most urgent skill is rebuilding trust. Someone who takes responsibility instead of deflecting it. Someone who treats people with dignity, even when there is disagreement. Someone who believes transparency is not optional, especially when the news is difficult. What we need is a leader who has a track record of repairing culture and rebuilding an organization. A leader who can sit in discomfort, listen deeply, deescalate conflict, and steadily rebuild a sense of we. Someone who understands that before systems can improve, relationships must be repaired. And just as important, we must not rush this decision. Rebuilding trust takes time, and so does finding the right person to lead that work. Settling quickly may feel easier, but it risks repeating the past. The cost of patience is small compared to the cost of getting this wrong. This hire
041is about restoring faith in leadership, the district, and in one another. If we focus on culture, trust, and responsibility, the academic progress will follow. Thank you. So with that, that's the last blue card. So now open the floor for discussion. Trustee Bueno? I'd like to see in this process, I'd like to see us work collectively. Some of the comments that are made, having trust with the community, and having lived in this community for 40 years, I think that it's going to be imperative that we take a collective approach as we move forward. I'd like to see us, if it's specifically to ad hoc or to the full board, I think having the full board taking our time and having the full board look at this, I support that. I think I'd like to add that
042I don't necessarily, I don't, yeah, I think I don't really support an interim solution. I think I'd like to just stick with an acting superintendent and that we can, I would like to buy time, is what I'm trying to say. Buy time to get to know what the community needs, to get to know what our staff needs, and act slowly, judiciously, wisely, and with a lot of input. Trustee Peruzza? Thank you. I did prepare some comments, and I appreciate the comments that we've received. One thing that I wanted to talk about, and I think it's been a theme that we've heard a little bit today, is in the discussion of hiring an interim, I think it's important that we pause and reflect, not only on the candidate that we are seeking, but also on ourselves,
043as a governing board and as a community. As has been stated, we are in a challenging moment. We're considering an interim leadership in the middle of the school year, while also facing significant and difficult budget reduction decisions. And from the outside, looking in our district has experienced considerable leadership turnover in a relatively short period of time. And I recognize that the circumstances surrounding those departures are complex and nuanced, but I believe that we would be remiss if we didn't ask what our actions past, present, and future signal to potential candidates. And that I think that it's very possible that future superintendents and candidates are watching our district right now. And that if we want to attract strong, high-quality leadership, we need to ask ourselves some hard questions about what conditions that we are creating for
044success, what is our role as a board, and how can we do better? I think also that we need clarity and we need alignment, and we need to be honest about what kind of leader that we are seeking. I think given our current climate, I believe that we need someone who can help calm the waters, provide stability, and move us forward thoughtfully. And that once we make decisions, it's equally important that we empower that leader to do the work, setting clear priorities, respecting roles, and allowing them to move the ball down the field. I think I agree with taking time. I think right now we have a person, an acting person, who understands our district, who understands the moment that we're in, and has the capacity to guide us through the weeks ahead. And that
045as we consider, I guess in saying that, that we have time to try to do this correctly, to take input from the community, and to continue to sort of access that stability that we need right now. I think both Trustee Bueno and Vanden Heuvel said similar things, but I am open to different perspectives and approaches. Trustee Coplanes. Okay. Given the urgency of second interim and layoff deadlines, but also our need to find the right leadership amid fiscal challenges, I'd like to discuss a structured process for the interim role. We have solid options, but I just want to ensure that we choose what's best aligned with our timeline and budget constraints. My question would be, if we could direct staff to maybe prepare a one-page comparison of these paths and the estimated costs and timeline for
046the different options. Do you mean for each of the options that I laid out? Yes. And then just to clarify, when you said that we would anticipate the interim role lasting to the end of the school year, is that correct? So I think I try to prevent possibilities and options. So I think that there's other things that we could do. In framing this and presenting, I was trying to curate what options are possible, but we could be open to other options if people have other thoughts. But those are the ones that in consulting with others, those seem to be the three most apparent options that we could take. Do we have an estimated cost of what this would look like as far as stipends? No. So I'll throw in my two cents. I think that
047the challenge before us, as I spoke on Friday, is the March 15th deadline and that leading up to the March 15th deadline, we have important decisions to make about next year. And I hear the comments wanting to slow down and take time, and I've helped participate in that process. But I also recognize the enormity of the challenges placed before us, and I think trying to find somebody to calm the waters and empower them to help us through these challenging times. I think, in my opinion, I think going with an option two or an option three, but preferably an option two, I think that my preference would be for us to appoint an ad hoc committee who can work, as I had said, nimbly and flexibly. They could reach out to the county office of education.
048They could reach out to leadership associates. They could reach out to our community to see who is this person or who could be this person, and they could bring that recommendation to the board. It's my understanding that we could approve that in a special board meeting to bring in an interim. So I think that there's several moving steps between then and now, but I think at the forefront of my mind, there's two things. We want to do this slow and do this right, but we also have financial obligations that we have to make, and I think that having an ad hoc committee to help us find that person is the best option, in my opinion. Trustee Vanden Heuvel? Can you explain the connection that you see between our deadline to get our budget recommendations through
049and get to March 15th and the need to get an ad hoc or full board start of the process? Is that needed before then? I think in my mind, I've heard from the community that we have trust issues, and I think that we have a reduction sheet, but I think there are many members of the community that are skeptical of the cost of the items that are on that reduction sheet. My opinion is not to go back to square one, but we need somebody that can rebuild relationships, that has a level of expertise to look at the options that are already proposed, but also bring a lens of are there other options or things that we haven't considered up until this point, and then to also collaborate with our bargaining unions to see if there
050are other options that should exist. I don't know if that answers your question, but... Well, I'm just thinking why can that not be accomplished under an acting superintendent versus also... I mean, we can do two things at the same time, but I don't understand the need to move quickly to get to an interim. Why can't we just stick with an acting superintendent and not make any moves? Do we need to? I mean, I think the budget reduction process has been exceptionally contentious up to this moment, and I think that my personal opinion is that I think that we need an outside person to step in and help facilitate this process and get us across the finish line, and I don't mean that to demean or to take away from our assistant superintendents, our directors, and
051everyone that has participated in this process, but people were scared, and the comment that was made about calming and rebuilding trust, and I think that it's my opinion that I think that we need to look outside for that, and I don't necessarily... But I could be wrong. That's my reading and interpretation of it, and I'm one person, and I could be wrong, but I also recognize that a lot has happened in the last few days, and stepping in as an acting is not the same as stepping in as an interim, and so I'm hesitant to place that pressure on acting superintendent Pichette without speaking candidly about that. But I'm one of five on this board, but that's my perspective, and I would love to hear from others. Trustee Bueno? I think it would be very
052important that trust is a two-way street. You have to build it, and even if it's a perception, the perception becomes reality. So if there's enough... We were all set to these meetings, and we can see that even if it's the perception by us, there is some reality to it that there is a breach in that trust, and so to rebuild that, I think you can do both things simultaneous here. We don't have the luxury in the absence of this budget thing looming over us. Yes, we could move forward just on that singular path, but with that, we're going to have to move forward. We have someone who is here and capable and can act, and we can move forward in simultaneous. I think we would be more nimble if it was an ad hoc, and
053we did look for something that was a much deeper rudder in the water to add to that and maybe help overcome whether it's perception or reality, but it helps towards that trust rebuild process. Yeah, I would support that. I guess I just don't want us to make the mistake of both in this budget process. I want to make sure that we have all eyes on that and all energy goes towards making the right recommendations. And then also jumping in with somebody we don't yet know, we haven't yet met as an interim that we hopefully will build. We trust more. I don't know. We could, but there's something to say for the person that we know can do the job for this time, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't immediately start looking for someone. I
054just don't want us to say, okay, you got two weeks to get this done, and this ad hoc committee had better come here with a quick recommendation because we want to get somebody in here before the March 15th deadline. I don't know if that would be the wisest. I think it may be so fast. And so we would not have the focus, maybe, because we're also trying to get through this budget process. Trustee Campos? I have a quick comment and question. If we form that ad hoc committee, I propose that the board members that were not involved with the hiring of the previous superintendent would have first consideration. And along with that, what's the realistic timeline that we would do that search or get feedback? Do we have a timeline? Do we have it? Say
055it again. A realistic timeline for an ad hoc committee to conduct the search and work with the community before the March 15th. We can set whatever timeline we want. This is our show. This is our job. This is our mandate. So we can determine that. We have some guidance and precedent about what things we can and should do. But the onus is on us to make that decision. So we could say find an interim in a week. We could say we would like an interim as quickly as possible. I think that the answer is what we want. For a realistic timeline? Thank you. I personally I don't know that by putting in a timeline, you're kind of giving yourself a self-imposed deadline that I think at this point would be unnecessary. We have someone who
056can act. I see the ad hoc as being nimble. And you could do it simultaneous. So the task at hand, the budget to March 15th, we could work through. We have someone who can act. We can move forward. And simultaneous to that, we are also looking to see if in the community, utilizing all the resources, people that are familiar with the process, looking at ACOE, looking at our community, and saying is there someone that could help us in this endeavor and maybe long term. I don't know. But I don't think that there needs to be a deadline for that action. I think that that action would be open-ended but with a mandate to just do due diligence and see if we can come up with more solutions, more assistance to the issue. I too think
057we shouldn't stop work on the reductions just waiting for an interim. I don't think that's what you were suggesting. But as Trustee Baino said, we can do both at the same time. I think one thing I would... I feel myself sort of in the middle here. I think I understand Trustee Vanden Heuvel's... I think finding an interim in a week seems rushed to me. I'm not saying it can't be done. I think that... Again, I don't think we need to put a timeline on it. But I'm not opposed to starting that process right away. And I'm not opposed to an ad hoc committee either because if we find the right person, we can move quickly. I also... And I was going to talk about this later, and I still will when we get to the
058reductions, is just a reminder that the March 15th deadline, it is a looming deadline, but it also is possible layoffs. The actual deadline is May 15th. So even though we do have to vote on a reductions list on March 15th, it doesn't necessarily mean that all of those... Can I... Not on March 15th. Or sorry, before. It has to be well before that. By March 15th, I guess I should say, by having it all done, that that can change. That that number can change. And so that gives us more time in that regard. And I don't know. I don't know that I said anything that was helpful at all, but... You guys, just so you know, this is really hard to do in public, and we are just doing our best. So hold tight. And
059I think just to build from that, the whole point of the Brown Act is so that you can watch us work through this. That we can only talk to one other person on the board, and then we cannot talk to anyone else about that. Because the whole point is for you to witness this. I really like the decoupling of the two. Of this deadline to get us to March 15th, so to speak. And I also think that... Can we start now by directing our staff to get... Or the directors and the superintendents to get on the school sites to start listening. I think we all... There's a lot of energy out there, and we all need to be in each other's spaces. We need to be across the table from each other. And to just
060say, we're just going to be out there. And make sure that we see everybody. That we see all the people that have experienced fear, have experienced discomfort. And the same with the five of us. And we're just out there, and we started rebuilding trust by being there, and listening ears, and truly being willing to change all while we have an ad hoc committee looking for what's best. But I think this is the cheapest thing to do right now, and we're in the middle of this. Not also hiring an outside person. We're still... We're on the hook with this other agreement. So I don't know, this would be the least expensive thing. And if we can hold off on hiring yet another person, I would be for that as well. Am I correct in thinking that?
061It would cost. Yeah. I'm more concerned with the process and making sure that we're effective, and that we meet the achievable goals. We need to make sure that the employees are valued, that they feel there's a level of trust, that we engage with our community, and that operationally we can meet the goals of the district. Number one goal is March 15th. We have to deal with that. That is number one. Number two, and it can be done simultaneous, is that we look for a long-term solution on leadership. And that may take a while, but there's nothing that says you can't do both things at the same time. And we do a lot of things simultaneously as human beings. We're complex. So let's do both those things to me and be as nimble as possible as
062we do that so that we can be efficient. And I don't think that we should impose one of these reality shows where we put a false deadline. The only deadline to me, and it's reality in my mind, is the March 15th thing. There are people whose lives and careers are hinged upon that and the actions that we take from this point moving forward. And anything we do simultaneous to that to aid in that process and prevent it and to think longer term is going to be to our benefit. It sounds like maybe we can do both. We can maybe form an ad hoc committee and continue with the work with the budget and see what happens. So I'll put in any effort you have. Do we have to put in in terms of ad hoc?
063I'll put in any effort I have to work on that. There are a couple ways that I believe a motion could work. We can make a motion for the creation of an ad hoc committee. We could then make a motion for the who will be on the ad hoc committee. You could make a motion with both of those things. But whatever occurs, the motion needs a second, and then there would be discussion of motion, which is just clarifying what we're voting on, and then a roll call vote. So is there a motion for the creation of an ad hoc committee? I mean, yeah, because there's a couple. You could also, if you needed to do both to make sure, because if we, well, I guess we could roll things back if we can't decide on
064who would be on the ad hoc committee. So I would entertain a motion. Other than the nimbleness, President Druin, of an ad hoc committee, what else are some of the advantages of not having the full board be involved in this process? I think the, I mean, I think the biggest is that they can begin work immediately, that they can reach out and speak without having to worry about Brown Act. As long as the two of them are talking just to each other, they of course then would need to, again, bring a recommendation to us, the full board to approve. I'm not sure if there's other thoughts or about, I mean, in my mind, that's the main benefit. I think in my mind, if there is, and we see that there are two complex issues, but
065in my mind, if the goal is to try to get an interim that will provide meaningful input before March 15th, I think it has to be an ad hoc committee, if that's part of the goal. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that effort could be futile. Yeah, I was going to say, but that may not happen. Because we're not imposing a deadline. They could work nimbly if the solution is not there. Because to me, that second part of it or simultaneous action has really no bearing on the first. The first is going to happen regardless of that outcome. If that action done simultaneous is successful, then it could potentially aid in meeting the obligations of the March 15th. But it's not necessary. It's just, to me, it would be best practice. There might be a
066solution that's looming that we don't know about, someone who could assist us in that process. But I think that if you don't explore it and explore it quickly and nimbly, that we might be sewing ourselves short and purveying ourselves from having a potential aid in this process. I would move in support of forming an ad hoc committee for the purpose of an interim suit. I have a motion from Trustee Bueno. Is there a second? I'll second that. So I have a motion from Trustee Bueno with a second from Trustee Vanden Heuvel. Is there any discussion on the motion about what we are? I guess we're just the creation of an ad hoc committee for the purpose of finding an interim superintendent. To bring to the board for the board to vote on. Yes. Great. Clerk,
067if you call the roll. Myself, aye. Trustee Bueno? Aye. Trustee Capuolos? Aye. Trustee Prusso? Aye. President Druhan? Aye. That motion carries unanimous. So next would be we would need discussion on who will serve on the ad hoc committee. So we heard a comment from Trustee Capuolos. Do we have other thoughts or additional comments? I don't know. What would you foresee the qualifications necessary for this for this role other than being on the board? At least 18 years. But out of the five of us, who would be that? Okay. Are you asking me? Asking everybody. I'm asking everybody. I mean, I'll respond to the question to the extent that I can. I think that one of the primary concerns is, at least in my mind, is a time commitment. Whoever it is has to be committed
068in the next, you know, as soon as possible to this process. I think that an openness to, and I think some of this is, if we make a choice on this, is hearing some of our recommendations for what we would like regarding that interim and keeping that in mind as they move forward with that process. I, yeah. Other comments from other people? A level of expertise, I guess. You've got to be a good people picker. I think that, in my mind, I and another trustee served on an ad hoc committee recently, a relatively powerful one. So I think that my preference would be to, you know, and thinking of the time commitments. I would prefer to, I mean, if you all chose me, I would do it definitely. But I would, my mind moving into
069this is that both trustee Prusso and trustee Bueno have served on the board longer than the rest of us. They've served through three different superintendents. They've gone through bringing in two superintendents. And so my preference would be to place the challenge and the mantle to our two most senior trustees. And I mean that just on serving. And to trustee Kaplan's point about involving people that were not part of choosing this latest superintendent, is there a way to build trust better by choosing either myself or trustee Kaplan, isn't that? This is our conversation. Thank you. You know what I mean? Like in order to say, okay, we were also having people who didn't, weren't complicit in, you know, whatever we feel went wrong in the previous pick. I don't know that that is germane. I think
070that a little bit of experience and understanding the process as Prusso has served and role president. So have I for eight years and clerk. We've both been clerks and both been president. And I think that, you know, and we work together, all of us work together well. And for a process, I mean, I don't think we want to overthink it too much. I think that if we work together, to me, this is going to be key. The key factor on this is going to be how connected with the community are you and the educational process and how familiar are you with the people at ACOE and those type of things. And if you can work with that, if we, if we have those connections, it's just utilizing existing connections, not trying to develop anything, reaching
071out, seeing if there's something that is there that can help us as a district. And I think that if that is the two people, if this ends up being the two, I can work easily with Emily. That's a great list. I hope you can work with me and then we can actually figure that out and, you know, see if we can come up with something. We're co-owners of a scissor lift. So I guess that means we have to work together. I am willing to put in the time to do this. And I would also just like to say we are just looking for an interim. And so having the opportunity beyond that, I think the entire board would be involved in that opportunity. And we don't have to talk about timelines or anything right now.
072I wouldn't, but to your point, you know, and I respect and understand that. And I do respect both you and Trustee Capuanas and what you've brought to our board and would hope that we would be able to capture that. With that said, I mean, if that's the route that we're going, I wouldn't mind taking a few minutes since the is our only opportunity to talk about it is to just talk about the rest of the board, what your preferences are and what we might be searching for. My preference would be Trustee Boyan and Trustee Prusso for sure. I think she was, I think Trustee Prusso was saying, what do you want in an interim? Oh, what do you want? Okay. Got it. Got it. Got it. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. I mean, I think my preference
073would also be, I think that if we find an interim, I think it's just through the end of the year. I know that some serve multiple years and maybe, but that would be my preference would be whatever we do through the end of the year. And then we take stock of where we are, we move from there. I think that's somebody that has experience, somebody that can repair relationships, somebody that has budget experience. And I mean, large scale budget experience. And yeah, I think that's most of what I'm interested in. But I'd love to hear from other people. What are some of your thoughts about what this interim would look like? Trustee Campanas? I just have a question. I said, for the acting to interim path, could we include safeguards, like a six month review
074or support resources to prevent any type of overload? Can you expand upon what you mean? Just some type of, I don't know, a way to have some accountability for the acting or for the interim superintendent? We could do whatever we want. Like some type of evaluation process, you know, because with a regular superintendent, we would do like a board review. I just want to see if it's a short term or if it sends into long term, how do we keep them on track for doing a good job, have some accountability? Well, the evaluation process for a superintendent is really, you know, if you're going to retain them for the next year, at least in my mind, it provides, it's both a formative and to some extent could be a summative assessment of their work. So
075if we had an interim and we said that they were only going to serve through the rest of the year, we could do an evaluation of that process. But I mean, I guess it depends who the person is. And because once they're, I don't know, other people thoughts. Well, I do think that we have, I know this from before I was Steven and I did a little bit of research over this and we've done this. You can put on the agenda, on every, you could put on the agenda evaluation every meeting, if you like, in closed session. So even if we have an interim, every board meeting, we would have that option to check in with them as long as we agendize it. Does that make sense? Yeah, you are correct. And so that could
076be an opportunity for us to engage in how things are going and that kind of thing. Okay, that'd be helpful. Okay. The other thing that we didn't talk about, but I would think I would like to, for looking for an interim to also look at cost. And so I know that when we look for somebody who's maybe already retired, there's a different, it's just a different cost structure altogether. And I think that could save us some money and somebody who's done the job. But then of course, it wouldn't be a path just from interim to maybe being hired as superintendent or maybe that's still, I don't know. I just want to be really mindful of the cost of this. Other inputs? If not, I would entertain a motion for the composition of the ad hoc
077committee. Yeah, I'd like to make a motion to appoint Trustee Bueno and Trustee Pruso as the ad hoc interim search committee. So I have a motion from Trustee Vanden Heuvel. Is there a second? I will second that motion. So we have a first from Trustee Vanden Heuvel, a second from me. Is there any discussion on the motion? So this is appointing the two of them to serve on the ad hoc committee for finding an interim superintendent and bring that recommendation to the board for approval. So you asked if there was discussion and then I just did it anyways. All right, thank you. Clerk, if you could call the roll. Trustee Bueno? Myself, aye. Trustee Capiloutos? Aye. Trustee Pruso? Aye. President Druhan? Aye. That motion carries. Is there any other discussion or thoughts about 13-1 before
078we move forward? Now's your chance. I would just say, I don't know what the right term is, but it's been a very emotional last month and thank you for giving more of yourselves, trustees, in this process and we wish you luck and hard work in that. And I'll reach out to the community as well to provide as much support as we can. So if your uncle is a retired superintendent, it's really good. Then we will move on to 13-2, to the governor's proposed 2026-2027 budget discussion. Ms. Kayla Wasley? Good evening. Tonight, I'll be presenting a brief overview of the governor's proposal for the 26-27 state budget and what it means for our district at this time. So a few highlights from the governor's budget proposal. The proposal continues strong support for K-12 education and reflects
079the state's priorities around student achievement, access and wellness, with key investments remain focused on universal transitional kindergarten, which we are now fully implemented, expanded learning programs, universal meals and community schools. These programs reinforce California's commitment to supporting the whole child. However, there's still a lot of uncertainty for the fiscal stability and health of the state, which is important for how we plan for the upcoming year. Proposition 98, which establishes the minimum funding guarantee for TK-12 schools, as well as our community colleges, is projected to be $124 billion in 24-25, $121 billion in 25-26 and $126 billion in 26-27. So when the minimum guarantee is looked at, they look at a year in reverse, our current year, as well as our upcoming year, for planning out the minimum guarantee. That tells the state if they owe
080us any backfunding, as well as what they're projecting the minimum funding guarantee to be in 26-27. So to manage the revenue volatility in California, the state is proposing to withhold $5.6 billion less than the calculated minimum guarantee in 26-27. This creates a future settle of obligation that would likely not be resolved until we were going into the 27-28 school year. As a reminder, the settle up maneuver was also done going into 25-26, but only at a rate of $2 billion. And so this is holding back even more from school districts than what the minimum guarantee calculates. The Legislative Analyst Office then released information on their review of the governor's budget proposal. And so they offer a more cautious fiscal outlook than what the governor had projected. The governor's projecting a $3 billion deficit, and the
081LAO estimates a much larger estimate of $18 billion shortfall due to more conservative revenue estimates, largely in state income taxes, as that drives a lot of the state revenue. They also warn of ongoing structural deficits, even with economic growth, as the budget does include reductions, but also adds new ongoing commitments that creates future pressure to the budgets for education. The LAO did flag concerns about the $5.6 billion settle up in urgeful funding. However, their recommendation would be to use that funding to increase reserves as well as eliminate deferrals. And while that is great for the state in the long run, that means that the school districts won't receive funding in our pockets to then go towards our cost. So it's nice to see that they are advocating for the calculation to be done correctly and
082as intended by the law. However, school districts really need that funding right now. Do you want to ask questions? How often does the LAO get what they ask for? And I know this settle up thing is a relatively new thing, and I don't know, maybe I should just let you finish, but I'm just... Well, that's a good question. I think really the LAO, it's what they can convince the legislator to do. So it'll be the governor's going to release his May revision. He goes into negotiations with the legislator. The legislators really rely more on the legislative analyst office, where the governor is relying on the department of finance for his projections. And so it's really how can they, through all of their negotiations, come to an agreement. So it's really what can we convince our
083legislators of, in my opinion. So then for some key investments that were proposed for 25-26, the statutory COLA was revised to 2.41%. It was previously around 3%. In our first interim budget, I projected a 2.3% COLA. So it was a 0.11% increase to our projected COLA for LCFF or local control funding formula, our child nutrition programs, special education, and several other small grant programs. Community school expansion is proposed. However, because of the demographics of our school district of Lynn Livermore, we are not eligible for those funds. Special education, they are proposing to equalize base funding. So how it has worked in California is depending on what SELPA you are a part of, which is each district belongs to a SELPA. The SELPA then distributes the funding and each SELPA has been funded at a different
084base amount. And so they've been trying for a number of years to equalize everybody and get everybody up to the higher base amounts. And so this is a proposal to continue to equalize the funding. And a new or continued discretionary block grant in addition to the one we received in 25-26 of 2.8 billion. The full restoration of our learning recovery block grant that was, we had funds withheld in 2022-23. And the continued ELOP funding to stabilize the program rates. That would be meaningful for our district because currently the way ELOP rates are set is you're either a tier one or tier two rate. Tier one is a guaranteed rate. Tier two gets the balance of what is left of ELOP funding. So this is really an effort to stabilize our tier two rates which impact
085us as well as teacher residency programs and facility funding. There's a continued allocation of $8.5 billion due to the statewide bond that was approved. However, currently we don't have matching funds to be able to access those or very much of those. So then what does all of this mean for Livermore? State funding is not final at this point. As I mentioned in May, they will have the May revision and then the negotiations with the legislator to then get to our final enacted budget in the end of June, early July. Until the funding decisions are made, we can't plan on any of the proposed funding increases. Only the statutory COLA which is pretty rare that the statutory COLA is adjusted down unless the COLA comes in at a lesser rate once we have all the final
086points. But typically the state does not just arbitrarily change the COLA. And then advocacy for funding, I think, is a huge component in today's world because of the $5.6 billion that's being withheld. If we were to receive that, if school districts receive that $5.6 billion in funding, taking a just per student basis of all of California's ADA, it would be approximately $11 million for Livermore. So it is a tremendous impact for the districts. So just I would advocate for advocacy. Advocate for advocacy. She was saying to the community, please reach out to your representatives, Rebecca Bauer-Cahan, State Senator McNerney, and encourage them to release the funds for the schools. Thank you. In addition, student attendance, we are still seeing, we haven't returned to pre-pandemic attendance rates. So continuing to push our daily attendance and the
087importance of attending every day. As a reminder, if a student is not in attendance on a school day, if they're not on an independent study contract, we do not receive funding for the student that day. We are one of, I believe, five or six states in the U.S. that is on a ADA or attendance basis instead of an enrollment basis. So attendance is extremely important, both for the learning of our students as well as our financial stability. Are the one-time funds that are being projected between the discretionary block grant and the learning recovery block grant, I'm estimating approximately $7 million in additional revenue and one-time revenue in 26-27 that we would need to use strategically as it's one-time in nature. And so it's difficult to use those as a short-term fix for long-term expenses such
088as salaries and benefits. Our costs continue to rise through utilities, salaries, insurance. Insurance has gone up significantly due to AB 218. And so just continuing to build in those increases into the budget as well as utilities. And so just continuing to watch and monitor where our spending is and where it's going. Special education support is increasing. However, we still contribute about approximately 65% of our total special education expenditures from general fund. 35% is from state and federal funds. And the balance is made up of our unrestricted funds that we contribute into special education. So we just need to plan responsibly and ensure we're meeting student needs but being strategic in how we do that. And then we'll continue to operate transitional kindergarten or ELOT programs or females for students as the priority from the state.
089And then just a reminder of our upcoming budget and reduction timelines. March 10th will be the second interim budget including the certification of our district's fiscal solvency that will be submitted to the county office of education. Preliminary notices as mentioned must be issued by March 15th. The plan that was put out to the community was final resolution for staffing reductions on April 21st. That of course is flexible as long as they are done by the May 15th deadline. May 14th is the deadline for the governor's May revision to the initial state proposal. June 9th will be our public hearing of the 26-27 LCAP and proposed budget. And then June 16th will be the LCAP and proposed budget approval with the state budget enacted by July 1st. So it is a challenge because it is a
090very backward system that we are making all of our staffing plans and our budget before we actually know what funds we are getting. And so we do have to continue to plan conservatively until we know what those dollars are because the district is at risk of fiscal solvency or insolvency if the funds that if we plan on funds that are not guaranteed yet and they don't materialize. So with that any questions? So many though. With declining enrollment and ADA projections and the need for our 14.8 million in the 2026-27 reductions, how should we incorporate this proposal's uncertainties into unpaid multi-year projections for a second interim? Great question. So for enrollment and ADA for the second interim budget I'll be updating based off of where we are currently at with our TK and kinder enrollments as
091well as the projected roll-ups of all the other grades and just double check where enrollment as versus what my prior projections were and then look at our staffing in relationship to that. And then my plan for second interim is to provide a couple of different scenarios of multi-year projections. So where we are currently at if we only got COLA and then what it would look like if we got some one-time dollars just to give the board an idea of where we are at. So that is my current plan for second. I have one more question too. So for the 5.6 million proposition 98 settle up hold back for the 2526 it could roughly mean you said 11 million possibly less for LVJUSD. So if it's not released do we have a contingency plan if this
092persists into the May revision? Just no funds will be budgeted and so the state will update their budget projections and if that is still included as a hold back there would be no additional revenues budgeted from that. It would only be if the final budget did release those funds that we would then incorporate them into our budget at the 45-day revision in August. Thank you. Trustee Caruso. Okay I have a couple of questions. So the LAO is warning that three billion versus the 18 billion is not like a rounding error. So is what typically where does where do they fall? I know this is like all estimating but when there's actuals? I would say they're normally not from what I've seen historically they're normally not so far apart. Okay. In reading the projections and the
093rationale behind them my understanding is that the governor is really projecting that we've received a lot of additional tax revenue from AI in California. There's been a huge surge in the growth of AI and that has been a huge benefit to California. The LAO is expecting that to drop off. The governor's projecting that to last a little bit longer and so I think it's kind of it's the wait and see game to see how those tax receipts actually come in. We do have the upcoming April 15th tax deadline that could help shore up that and get it closer by the time we hit May revision. Okay and then thank you that's helpful. Okay I kind of asked this last time but I think I want to ask it again. I'm not sure if I was
094clear. I understood so it's there's a good possibility. It looks like the statutory COLA is pretty given like we're using that for our budget. Okay the one-time funding that could bring seven million to us we would find out in May about that. We'll find out if the governor is still proposing it but we don't know at that time if the legislators are agreeing to it so not until the enacted budget really unless the legislators exactly unless the legislators and the governor reach a deal before that which has happened. Okay so my question about that seven million I know it's one-time fund and I know that one-time funds are not sustainable obviously for salaries or any ongoing but my question is if we were could anticipate that what options would that open up for us? I
095think the question that I asked before is could you move funds from the from our required reserve to unrestricted and put the one-time funds in there? I don't obviously it sounds like you guys all know now that I don't know what I'm talking about. It just seems so easy but maybe it's not like what is there something we can is there some creative things we can do to get that? So do you understand what I'm asking? Okay good I'm going to stop talking then. So really what can happen so if the so there's the two pots the discretionary block grant that for some reason the state put it as a restricted resource code as well as the learning recovery block grant. Learning recovery block grant has to have a needs assessment that is included in
096the LCAP and we did that last year as well. The bulk of it though is the discretionary block grant of about six point two six point three million dollars that while it can't be say we are short six million dollars in our reserve of our required reserve rate I can't just move that to unrestricted and move it to our ending fund balance but what I could do is use that six million dollars to relieve costs within the unrestricted general fund so move salaries and benefits of six million dollars over into that discretionary block grant and then that unrestricted six million dollars would fall to the ending fund balance into our reserve. Is it still okay that makes sense except that then it's still one time and we're moving ongoing expenses so that it would be
097a one-year solution and then so no matter what my idea didn't work guys sorry all right I thought that was one of my questions okay I have a couple other sorry everyone just um the other one is about and and what I want to talk about this more we talk about the March 15th deadline and and also the May 15th deadline still not knowing everything's a little bit backwards right um even if when if and when we have final layoff notices on May 15th if something changes could there be a change or do those people have to reapply or how does that work? No we can always resend layoff notices even if you've been given a final layoff notice and so all employees that receive a final layoff notice go on to a reemployment list
098um and so based on seniority they are automatically offered um reemployment um in seniority order. Okay um thank you and then also could you just talk a little bit about what enrollment-based funding would do for our district if we were to move to that model as a state? That's a great question it depends a lot on how the state would implement that there was actually a report released I believe by the LAO um or maybe the Department of Finance about what it would look like for California to move to an enrollment-based funded state and if they kept LCFF funding status quo um it would not be good for districts with um really high attendance rates because right now they're waiting versus we have a somewhat lower attendance rate so they would have to take from
099other districts to get ours yeah so it they can't do it that way then no they would have to really look at what would it look like to then give the base funding based on 100% attendance rates right and so for us approximately 1% of attendance is about 1.5 million dollars and we have an attendance rate of about 94.5 percent and so so if they didn't change that base it may not be helpful for us exactly they would have to change the base they would have to increase okay it was was it 1% attendance equals 1.5 million 1.5 million okay okay I think that's all I have right now trust your point now with the floor moving up it says 24 25 I'm looking at slide uh three yes the floor is moved up for
100the coming year yes and then and then kind of explained in there is a 5.6 million settle up yes so in so for 25 26 um the new estimate so what we were funded on for 25 26 was about 119 billion dollars the new estimate um and that's because they did the um two billion dollars settle up the new estimates for 25 26 is now the 121 billion um and that they're really using to pay off deferrals so we are projected to have deferrals currently in june so they're withholding all of our funds in june and they're going to pay us it in july is the current plan so they're going to use that funds to really give us the funds that were already owed but it's a mechanism of the state to try to
101balance their general fund and then the 26 27 is with the 5.6 billion dollars removed and so there is growth in the prop 98 guarantee but it would be closer to 131 billion um without the 5.6 billion dollars removed so it's so the 125.5 has already had 5.6 correct so considering that it's a procedural um tactic for the state they're waiting on the revenue until the end that would represent a significant increase in funding has there ever been in the last 10 years where this they didn't pay their bill didn't settle up because we hear this a lot i mean we heard it during covid we heard it when the taxes were they moved it from april and they moved it and it went down longer and then they said well we're not going to
102have any money and i know there was discussion here at this board about using just for cash flow and making things we've looked at the county as kind of a cash flow thing and then you settle up at the end but in your experience has there been an instance where the state has defaulted on this no because there is built-in language that if for some reason the state can't meet the minimum guarantee that's called a maintenance factor that then legally requires them to catch up the districts um and so that was in play for i believe 24 25 um and so there is other statute and so there would be legal recourse so the state has always settled up it's more for me it's it ends up being one-time dollars that ends up coming in
103through all of these settlements settle-ups that if it was built into ongoing could it be ongoing funding that district receives so we would the settle-up once settled does not become part of prop 98 i don't know what it would do in this large dollar amount because right now they're using it to really pay their bills on time for the 25 26 school year what was the number that they gave us so when we look at prop 98 for 26 27 school year is the state saying that it's 125.5 are they saying that it's 131.1 131.1 so that is their prop 98 number and then we're backing that out then they're giving us a number to back out because that might be a settlement at the end so given that in that large increase of 10
104billion dollars for the year that creates the new floor for funding but but in terms of operationally there's a settle-up so it could present a cash flow and also an effort when you're trying to balance your budget because you can't book it yes and there's no guarantee of how those funds will come in later it'll also depend on then what are they calculating the prop 98 guarantees in the out year so 27 28 and 28 29 because they're also always looking in advance so if they're projecting then a downward trend of prop 98 because prop 98 is calculated based off the total revenues within california then we receive approximately 40 percent of the total revenues in k-12 in the community college education so if they are projecting downward trends in prop 98 then when that
105settlement settle-up came in they would say this needs to be one time and not ongoing because we don't have ongoing sources to fund the settle-up so it's yeah but there's no instances of that no okay it just it's sometimes i think that we get in this discussion and you know in these public discussions where we're talking about as though the governor or our legislator or the lao is opposed to public education i mean we have a super majority that can override a veto a governor who's arguably positioning to be on the national stage in the fourth largest economy in the world i just don't see this as the time that this state would go back on its word in funding public education i think this might be a an accounting tactic to get where they
106need to go but i don't think that we became the fourth largest economy in the world you know not paying our bills as a state so i mean i have full faith i know that it presents a lot of problems at the local level especially in education because it's funded in such a convoluted manner and you mentioned that we get our funding after you have to obligate which but this this one time it kind of presents i think to some people as kind of like a three card money you know like go ahead and find the p but i think when we look at it from a historical perspective it does put stress but the experience of seeing this process multiple times you know in your position i think that we should be able to
107forecast it relatively accurately and i would say that there's no way to forecast what we would actually receive from that 5.6 billion dollars if it's not included in the guarantee because they could decide to create a whole new categorical and put it into or put it into community schools that's one million dollars of the funding of this year that we have no access to so that's the hard part is that when it's not being projected towards a specific program we have no idea what the state in the future will decide what they want to do with those funds and so yes we i can look at it as a total and say this is what it could mean for our district but whether we would actually have access to that funds is a completely different
108story unfortunately trustee van hoewel every time i hear this i just get so frustrated with how things are done and not done i loved your second line in the report that says that the proposal by the government continues strong support for education and i was like yeah accept that um i i i think i want to just organize a bus or no whenever rebecca bar con is in town or whenever uh jerry mcnearney is in town let's just let's let's show up and you know a lot of energy is going into writing letters to us and emails to us to say hey please help us save us save this program and save this person and when really so much of it comes down to our costs going up and up and up and up and
109up to where our teachers can't pay their bills unless we pay them better and they're you know it's just it's looking at the out years are like when does this stop it's only getting worse so we've got to look at the system and make some changes to this whole thing so um let's put some energy in that my my two cents so i would like to thank uh trustee pruso we had talked about um reaching out to uh state congressperson rebecca bauer cayenne and state senator uh mcnearney and we have a meeting with them tomorrow 1 pm and i think that this presentation is very helpful for us to specifically advocate because we'd come up with some general challenges that are just that challenges that are challenges and then um ideas but um it's an
110opening conversation but people there are elected we're elected representatives but they're also elected representatives and i think you know if you've heard anything from here putting pressure on them and saying to fully fund education is an easy email to them or a phone call to them so we're going to do the best that we can to open that conversation and i hope that it's a meaningful one i hope i'm optimistic that it's going to be receptive because i think it's important for them to understand the challenges that all of our employees and community are facing the challenges that we as a board are facing in making budgetary decisions so i i look forward to that conversation tomorrow i think that's it any other questions this is discussion only and we'll move on to 13.3 formal
111acceptance of the 2024 2025 fiscal year annual measure a parcel tax audit miss wesley yes good evening again so in 24 24 25 um measure a was passed in 2022 and specified in the ballot measure that an audit independent audit should be completed if there are unspent funds we have been fully spending it however the tax collector is always collecting taxes and has back taxes and so it was a recommendation of our legal council that for transparency as well that we should complete an annual audit of our parcel taxes our first year completing the parcel tax annual audit our for the firm nigra and nigra who also does our district audit completed the audit of measure a parcel tax funds of approximately four million dollars and verified that the measure a funds were used in
112accordance with the measure as well as the other requirements set forth by the measure language were followed such as our oversight committee and the annual report that is presented to the board and i'm pleased to present that there were no findings identified through the audit of measure a and so does the superintendent's recommendation to approve the or accept the 24 25 measure a parcel tax audit any questions blue cards on this item any questions from the ward just a comment no question yeah thank thanks for the report and i just want to thank the the group i know this they don't do the audit but the the management of the parcel tax um i served on it as a chair for a parcel tax a few ago and one of the components of that is
113community trust and because of the makeup of that board the mandated makeup of the the parcel tax committee and then it holds up under audit that component the parcel tax for those in our maybe in the audience and certainly at home that has assured us it gives us i think about four million dollars still that it brings in annually and it's used for a program largely and it was the small class sizes and it was a lot of factors that they go into that it changed each time but to keep it in compliance for its intended purpose the the parcel tax committee files a report the auditor looks at it and to me it's just it's reassuring that the that the public's trust is reinforced and that it's maintained and the audit is like this
114i guess it would be the secondary level to ensure that that happens because that is an essential component of our of our budget obligation so i just want to thank the public again for their support and to the committee for maintaining that that trust and that that tie any other questions or comments from board members if not i would entertain a motion oh thank you dina okay i also want to thank the community for their support of measure a and the district for following up with the independent audit to ensure accountability and transparency i have a quick question though how does the citizens oversight committee verify that these restricted funds remain strictly supplemental and are never used to backfill unrestricted general fund gaps so as part of the process it'll now include the annual audit
115but the parcel tax receives detailed accounting of where the funds are spent and how they're spent we largely spend on our elementary science specialist as well as science stem and engineering at our high schools and middle schools and then some to technology and so they receive information about all of that as well as interviews we are bringing in principals and directors to speak to how the funds are used in the supplemental nature of the funds and then how it relates also back to the measure language thank you i would entertain a motion uh i i move to approve uh to support the superintendent recommendation to accept the 24 25 major a parcel tax audit i'll second i have a motion from trustee prusso with a second from trustee vanden huvel any discussion on the motion
116clerk could you call roll trustee prusso i myself i trustee kaplanis aye trustee bueno aye president druane aye board member gress aye board member debak we should call that a grand slam or something like that thank you that motion carries unanimously um we will move on to 13 for approval of memorandum of understanding with livermore education association for retired incentive i'll turn the time over to jessica and we do have a blue card on the side great thank you so before you this evening is retirement incentive mou for lea members who commit to retire for the end of the 2025 2026 school year our district and lea negotiated this uh the terms for this mou and i want to thank lea amy thompson and tara lutz for their collaboration and partnership um and uh negotiating
117this mou so there are two incentive options option number one annual health benefit contribution of 19,000 for six years or option number two an annual payment of 19,000 for six years beginning in 2026 2027 through years 2031 2032 to pay down annually so uh the way this will work if we need a minimum of 25 lea members need to commit to retirement this year for the 2526 school year before march 1st in order to refer to receive the incentives and so if we don't get 25 people we'll go back to the regular within the collective bargaining agreement right now um and that will take effect but we are looking to get 25 people to take advantage of this entire mint incentive the fiscal savings for this will be approximately 650 000 615 000 so you
118base this on thinking about the people who are retiring at the highest step and then those coming in would be at a lower step and so um it's the superintendent's recommendation to approve this mou blue card you may ask your question first okay okay just i get on the clarification it's a good clarification yeah ask the clarification just a quick clarifier when you the methodology on the 615 is that you mentioned it's a people at a higher pay scale leaving but is that necessary are you automatically filling in 25 for 25 or are you calculating any attrition we're calculating the 25 for 25 and kayla do you want to add anything else to that yes currently i'm calculating the 25 to 25 just because um we have not made any determinations on the reduction so
119i don't know in what areas the reductions will occur and so once i know more about when i can um calculate the full attrition savings that number will be updated okay i'll follow up there thanks just like to oh clarification or yeah just really quick okay uh is there there's not a maximum number so it's the minimum is 25 but there could be more that's right okay that's it uh so miss amy thompson you have three minutes you know the drill starting good evening again so i want to share lea's support for the retirement incentive as a potential win-win for at least a portion of the district budget difficulties the estimated cost savings if we reach the 25 retirees ranges from 600 to 900 thousand dollars that estimate could be greater if we are able
120to tag our position control not backfill positions that we are overstaffed in um and that's all i have to say i think this could be a really good win-win thank you thank you so now i'll open up to the board any discussion or questions trustee kaplanis and then to the left um for the march first commitment deadline approaching what's the current level of interest or informal commitments from la members and if we fall short of the 25 how would that affect our budget balancing plan and what contingencies are in place currently we have 12 retirees who have already put in and we are getting phone calls about this potential mo you're getting um approved and so i don't know how many we will get but we're hoping for 25 if we don't get 25 it'll
121go back to what's in the collective bargaining agreement which is 7500 a year for seven years or until age 65 any other questions trustee vanden heuvel first of all i want to thank lea for just out of the box thinking coming up with a lot of this and working with uh with assistant superintendent dr uh bondoris it's this kind of stuff and i think there's all sorts of other things that are being worked out and i really love that so thank you so much for your work on that and um way to go um i'm thinking that the 25 was reached because i think both parties said oh that that we could get there to this right is that yeah we should we negotiated this number but we we definitely came to an agreement with
122the 25 um you know this it's it's a concept of thinking what's the tipping point for this how to make this attractive where are we now and so a lot of thought has gone into that okay and how many uh people are eligible currently on the rolls i will get back to you with that number i have the data but it being eligible meaning we have people who are um we have people all over the map so yeah nope you don't have a you don't want to go for a ballpark figure just i mean if it's you know it's if it's 200 or if it's more like 75 or okay yeah i would say in the 50s 50 in the 50s okay great thank you any other questions or discussion if not i would entertain
123a motion um i move to support the superintendent's recommendation to approve the mou for retirement incentive with with lea i second that the motion from trustee pruso the second from trustee vanden heuvel any discussion on the motion clerk if you could call the roll trustee pruso aye trustee bueno myself aye trustee caplanis aye president druane aye that motion carries unanimously we will move on to 15-5 do you want to take a break let's take a break sorry just shorty shorty five minutes yeah absolutely thank you we're coming back to open session at 8 10 p.m with item 13-5 budget reduction review follow-up from february 6 2026 so there's no presentation on this it was just an opportunity for us the board to discuss and provide further direction so i'm going to move directly into uh
124blue cards so i have nine cards so you'll have three minutes each so when i call you up same old soup just reheated so jessica mandiola is up first followed by veronica torrez hello okay tonight isn't about it's about how we move forward and rebuild trust with the teachers the staff and families it's signaled that this board was listening so thank you and for many families and staff it gives us hope for something that we haven't felt in a long time but a leadership change alone doesn't does not repair what has been broken right now there's a significant damage between administration and teachers between administration and the staff and between the district and the families that you serve the next phase should focus on rebuilding trust because a school district cannot succeed when it operates
125in an us versus them environment our next superintendent needs to understand partnership real partnership partnership with teachers as professionals partnership with families as stakeholders and a deep understanding that every decision needs to start with one question which is how does this affect of impact students i recognize the budget challenges ahead and i understand that difficult decisions will still need to be made but cuts that directly reduce student support and services especially for our most vulnerable learners should be the absolute last place we look as a parent of a child in special education with significant support needs i'm deeply concerned many of the proposed reductions would directly affect the services my child depends on to learn to participate and to succeed for some students these supports are not extras they are differences between access and isolation
126between progress and falling behind and between feeling like they belong at school and feeling like they don't there was a time when no child left behind wasn't just a policy it was a mindset and that commitment mattered i'm asking this board to return to that mindset my daughter noelia works incredibly hard every day to keep up to grow and to be part of her classroom community the support she receives are what make that possible please don't make decisions that take opportunities away from children like her she and every student who needs extra support deserves a district that sees their needs as a priority and not a place to cut when you make these decisions please remember you are not adjusting line items you're deciding whether children like my daughter noelia will have the support they
127need to learn to belong and to succeed now let's please make sure that the path forward reflects the values our community is expecting the collaboration the respect and unwavering commitment to every child my name is jessica and i am a parent in this community thank you thank you welcome back veronica torrez and then up next will be kelly cardiarelli or it might be nelly is veronica torrez here should should to go okay then um i'll call up kelly cardinali who will be followed by shelly casey good evening board president gerwin board trustees and newly appointed active superintendent my name is kelly cardinali and i am one of the three yes only three health technicians in the district i want to start off by saying thank you for the time that each member of the board
128has given to us to better understand exactly what it is that the health technicians do our job is easily overlooked which has been shown more evident lately but the work that we do for the district students and the community is much greater our primary responsibility is ensuring immunization compliance for all students california law requires all students to be fully vaccinated to attend in-person instruction the absence of this compliance can trigger audits from the state and our county public health and can cause loss of average daily attendance revenue without the three of us there would be no one to do this job and no one to do it who understands the way it's done the significance of our work is invaluable it keeps our school community healthy ensures compliance with the state and local laws and
129mandates and prevents unnecessary audits or fines thank you thank you up next is shelly casey who will be followed by ryan willy wiley board president druane trustees and cabinet i am shelly casey a proud registered nurse and lea member i'm deeply concerned about the potential elimination of our health technicians who are my csa co-workers and are categorized as low impact on the reduction list this directly contradicts one of the district surveys which identifies health supports as a very high risk area and opposes pcic's direction to prioritize school safety and student supports health techs play a critical role in ensuring immunization compliance under california law coordinating state mandated screenings and completing required reporting for state and county public health these duties are not optional and cannot simply be eliminated i'd like to answer some of the
130questions raised during friday's special board meeting no their duties cannot be reassigned to other staff unless negotiated with csa yes immunization compliance with state law would be at risk yes this could result in audits and potential loss of ada if unimmunized or under immunized students are attending and increase liability if exposures occur to students and staff yes this would decrease the support in the health offices at all of our school sites no the district office staff did not ask nurses for input on this line item except via our participation in the lea budget reduction survey and no we cannot eliminate their job duties and still be in compliance with education code state mandates and county requirements the proposed elimination of 2.7 fte's represents the entire health tech team while surrounding districts staff a health tech
131at every school every day we have been working with a fraction of what other districts have moving from minimal staffing to zero is deeply concerning and inconsistent with our stated priorities to protect students staff and our district as a whole health technician jobs are not just nice to have they are essential their potential elimination raises serious concerns about student health safety and district liability thank you thank you ryan will be followed by denise curry good evening board my name is ryan willey and i am a student and volleyball athlete at granada high school our athletic trainer ali ortner is pivotal to every student athlete on campus she is essential for injury reduction recovery and reintroduction back into a intense play post injury my coaches have consistently said that ali will always be there for anything
132that we need when we are injured currently there are possible plans to have our athletic trainers at both granada and livermore high schools be unable to help students anymore due to the budget reductions however cutting our athletic trainers would be detrimental to every student athlete in the city of livermore if that were to happen no longer would we have someone to assess the extent of an injury no longer would we have someone to tape an injured shoulder to reduce the pain while coming back from a tear or sprain no longer would we have someone who specializes in athlete health to keep our students safe without taking the proper steps after an injury it can cause major long-term damage to an athlete's body if a major injury is not detected early or if an athlete starts
133playing in their sport too early after an injury that may have been brushed off as minor it can lead to that athlete worsening their own injury and if it does not heal correctly long-term damage is inevitable this long-term damage can ruin student athletes work careers and even cause them to need physical therapy for the rest of their lives athletic trainers easily prevent each of these things they're the only people on campus who know if you are healthy or not to be playing your sport it is at these times that we must remind ourselves what the number one priority is when it comes to student athletics it isn't competition with winning the state championship it isn't getting better and progressing as a team throughout the season it isn't even having fun the number one priority has
134been is and will always be safety cutting our athletic trainers directly attacks that core principle we need our athletic trainers thank you thank you up next is denise who'll be followed by a terror voice oh it's on now good evening president droan board members acting superintendent placette and cabinet i am here this evening representing vineyard alternative school this is the golden year of independent study in the state of california i have just returned from an independent study conference and have learned much to improve vineyard alternative schools programs yet vineyard is fighting for the for its programs as independent study celebrates 50 years in the past 12 years vineyard has survived 11 principles a move to a smaller facility shared classrooms offices with no heating or air conditioning vineyard now has a principle that and staff
135that is dedicated to providing the best education for our students i am here this evening to advocate for vineyards programs and the staff and the students i would ask you to let vineyard grow for the sake of our students i would like to read an email from one of my eighth grade parents we chose vineyard for my son because he is autistic we tried all the tools in the toolbox at east avenue he did not thrive there it was not conductive to his learning he was drowning and struggling with the social anxiety in the in-person classroom my son is thriving at vineyard in the vineyard program he can work at his own pace without constraints of a typical classroom the teachers are very good at giving him his space when he needs it budget cuts
136in any way shape or form would be detrimental to his learning as well as that of the other students who are at a disadvantage my son went from not being able to attend any more than one class at east avenue now he is excelling thriving attending all classes and getting straight a's without any anxiety or meltdown and i've had this student in my classroom for two years when he first came into my classroom i was housed at east avenue teaching from there and one of the teachers there asked me about him and i said he's doing fine he's talking in class he reads out loud when we have active reading and she said that's amazing because he had not spoken five words in his other classes thank you thank you next is tara voice followed
137by gail fair good evening all so just to underline something nurse shelly said which isn't my overall topic but we did a survey within l cap about the reductions and for supports interventions they came in very high concern high risk so the l cap committee is very concerned about preserving everything funded in that area and which includes our counseling mental health supports and health related supports and we do fund one of the health technicians as part of l cap so we underline that concern and encourage the board to take that under consideration um i was also told that my l cap comment last week was a little confusing at the end so i just want to reiterate to the board the concern overall with the l cap committee is that we stop funding district level
138positions that do not have direct student intervention as part of the 7.1 million that lcff supplemental has purview over um additionally we're pretty sure at this point that we're going to lose the mental health grant right so all signs are pointing to that happening for next year but there's at least half of those positions that are ideally suited to come into the l cap budget social workers ideal population right our unduplicated students are foster youth they are language english language learners they are low income and those are predominantly the families our social workers work with additionally the wellness centers the counselors within the wellness centers those are also direct student intervention so we will certainly be bringing our recommendations to the board as a part of the l cap committee but the reductions are preceding
139the finalization of the l cap plan so i want to make sure those are also concerned um switching topics again apologies um i just want to be very clear there's this myth out there so as part of my work i've started getting involved with a colana school district san ramon unified fremont pleasantin um dublin to a lesser extent and there's this myth that school budgets are so complicated nobody could possibly understand them right everybody throws up their hands and they're like oh too much i just want to underline for the community the board the cabinet revenues in any organization are unknown until realized we all create budgets for expenses based on estimated revenues the government is actually a better estimate of revenue than a technology company right but we're estimating revenue we're estimating expenses and
140we do the best that we can that's it thank you up next is gail fair who will be followed by darcy baird there we go it's green thanks hey good evening everybody my name is gail there and uh i'm a parent of students at granada high school and also at junction k8 i'm also a board member of the granada educational empowerment foundation wanted to start by saying something that i think everyone's feeling tonight and i appreciate this change happens at the speed of trust change happens at the speed of trust we're in a time of extreme change and we need trust so as you know in 2023 as concerned parents we came together to the board to say that we want to partner and support educational enrichment at granada the needs that we listened to
141led us to initiate the granada educational empowerment foundation gif or granada if i think it's better supports teachers communication and provides resources to parent students and the community we do exam proctoring we do teacher training we do communication products and community organization well what has that resulted in this year we have 500 students taking an ib class next year 700 students have signed up to take an ib class it's very popular we have done what we've said we would do and we continue to do so so we are your trusted partners we want to continue to provide educational enrichment support to the schools ibe serve students that ap does not serve five percent of ib students are english language learners and that number is growing 25 percent of ib students are students with ieps and
142504s ib is a pipeline for the junction k8 di program to continue their learning in the international perspective through the high school years so yes ib serve students that ap does not i want to put that forward it's not duplicative under current financial constraints we know money matters the ib line item in the budget was labeled as 60k 60 000 that includes the 50 cut that we took this year to the program so many students come from outside the district for ib they bring nearly 200k 200 000 of state ada funds so i just wanted to put that forward that covers the 60k cost by a factor of three some have said that there's a hidden burden of cost for ib because the classes are not full and i'd like to clarify all classes are
143full all classes are full if they're not full they don't run ib french was cancelled because four people signed up so i just wanted to put that forward thanks thank you last darcy hi everybody my name is darcy baird i am the president of the granada educational empowerment foundation and i am the closer for our group today i wanted to take a moment to change to give a little bit of a different edge to this evening and to thank you so over the last couple of weeks the board has been completely generous with their time and allowed us to do some conversations with people about what ib means to our community and have taken time out of your busy lives to allow yourself to be educated and to learn more and we appreciate that as
144this group has come together we could not we really empathize more we are all busy people that run granada eef this is a second passion for all of us and we are a small and mighty group of very educated people i have worked on a lot of teams in my life and i continue to do so this team is by far one of the best most prolific most functional and most cohesive groups i've ever worked with we made a commitment when we started this foundation that we would support the board that we would support our community we would support clark and his team at granada and regardless of who our superintendent is we are here to say that we will continue to do so i think you all know that our community has spoken out
145and there are a lot of people that are really interested in ib and the different things that it brings to our district so all we're asking is that it's hard to get a program going and keep it going if we keep threatening to divorce it we are here to market to support to fundraise to bring people in whatever needs to do to try to make this program as successful to live in our school districts as it can be it makes us unique our surrounding teams do not have it and we are here to help you in any way that we can so please reach out and know that we're here and we thank you for your time and your open-mindedness to learn more about it so that's the last blue card for this item so
146i have before we engage in discussion or direction relating to the budget reduction process i would pause and reflect on the work ahead in particular the county office of education serves as fiscal oversight of school districts such as ours following this board's approval of the tentative agreement with lea the county is looking for signals that we understand our current fiscal situation and that we are taking it seriously for example i understand that the district needs to make significant budget reductions before the march 15th deadline and i'm committed to that work if other board members would like to share a statement or comments i would entertain them trustee bueno absolutely i think it is imperative they all that we all work on this collectively we've been presented with a problem and i think the first step
147in the problem is understanding what that problem is and so i think that we have to work collectively to determine the extent and then work together to solve it and we have a short runway and it's imperative that we get that goal accomplished yes i will acknowledge that this is uh something that we that i will and i commit to solving and i understand why we're in this position and i still think it was the right decision and i will support that and do the very best that i can and i would i guess let the county know that i take it very seriously trustee random as we face the quite overwhelming budget shortfall for the coming years i want to assure my fellow trustees to the cabinet the staff of our district as well
148as the people of livemore that i am fully committed to making the difficult decisions that will get us to fiscal solvency and i'll talk a little bit more about that later just a compliance if you'd like yeah i have something kind of long prepared so bear with me okay the alameda county office of education's january 23rd 2026 letter certified our 25-26 first interim budget as positive but raise serious concerns an eight million dollar cash brow last october ongoing deficit spending reducing our unrestricted fund balance from 12.9 million to a projected 7.2 million by 2728 potential loss of a federal mental health grant and the january 13 2025 teachers agreement costing over 30.7 million through the 2027 28 including 13.1 million in 2026 27 exceeding our current reserves so the alameda county office of education urged
149rapid offsetting reductions by the second interim on march 10th and personnel actions before the march 15th layoff deadline to avoid a lack of ongoing concern or negative certification these pressures explain why our budget discussions have been contentious and slow moving to move forward responsibly i've reviewed prior cbas and related decisions to gain more insight on how this process should be in april 2025 this board approved a cba revision costing under three million with clear ab 1200 disclosures fiscal analysis and a public hearing as required by law that agreement had a relatively small impact and did not lead to major disruptions or cuts affecting schools and programs in contrast the january 2026 agreement is far larger and has created the current crisis requiring significant reductions that could impact classrooms and staff before that in june 2023
150under our three veteran trustees and former superintendent van schaac the board approved a successor lea agreement with an overall nine percent raise the june 13th meeting agenda and video show ratification bundled into budget and l cap items but no dedicated ab 1200 disclosure form no separate multi-year cost analysis for the cba and no explicit public hearing on its fiscal impact before approval if those required steps were missed it may represent a compliance gap under ab 1200 which mandates full public disclosure and county review before final action in fact in may 2023 the board considered canceling the ib program at granada high school due to high costs strong community opposition led to its reinstatement in a reduced cost form no public records tie the ib discussion or any other specific cost cutting measures at the time
151to funding the june cba race if any link existed it should have been openly discussed under the brown act and if there was a link what else was cut to keep the ib from being eliminated these examples highlight why transparency and full compliance are non-negotiable closed session negotiations are allowed but cost disclosures must be public timely and complete and complete process may avoid short-term conflict but erode trust when larger cuts become necessary later while myself and another colleague are new to this board the other trustees may have unknowingly approved previous cbas without full ab 1200 compliance this lack of experience with large-scale cbas could explain some of our current struggles in navigating the much more expensive 2026 agreement that is not an excuse and it's a reason to insist on doing it the right way
152now by separating ab 1200 agenda items full fiscal disclosures public hearings and documented county review i've asked both the district and alameda county of education staff to provide the following items the the 2023 ab 1200 disclosure documents in alameda county office of education review records for the june cba a confirmation of whether the may 2023 ib discussions or any other cost cutting measures then were tied to funding the cba race and if so it wasn't disclosed how did the district pay for the 2023 cba and what was the real process i also asked for information on the alameda county office of education's oversight role both past and present regarding livermore schools including any prior fiscal certifications letters or advocacy advocacy actions for lvj usd regarding cbas transparency builds trust and helps us make informed accountable
153decisions together so thank you for listening i'm committed to open governance and welcome more questions and input thank you so this agenda item allows for us the board to continue our discussion relating to the budget reduction process cabinet is ready to provide clarification and answer questions we have however however where we are now i think providing direction on next steps are likely the course of action so i think given some of the the issues operationally and some of the resources that we have we have amongst the ranks when we do have an issue i don't know what that issue is i don't know the extent and i'd like to have it clarified but amongst us in our rank and file we have some of the most trusted people in any community in our educators and
154staff and i would i would ask that we do some type of a formation of a working group that understands the inner workings i consider myself a layman in terms of this educational process i'm elected to a board but the threshold for my understanding of how the educational process works is relatively low as an elected official i would like as as we're looking at this we have i mean tonight we had two people come up that talked uh that represent duly elected to represent 1200 of our employees i would love to see us put together a group short term if people are willing to be able to give them access to be able to have them work collaboratively to understand the cause and effect i think it's too often that i shouldn't say too often
155i'll walk that back i think it is it's too easy to get ourselves into a position where we may not fully understand the ramifications of an action and so when in the public we see a list that we is known as the cut list and it there's potential school closures and all these things and some of us didn't even know those things were on there until we see it and and then once it's out there you see people clamoring trying to justify their thing you know uh health techs have a role some people may not even know that we had health techs but there are people in this organization that know darn well what they do and what they do every single day having people with that inner working that are that represent those folks
156working together i think we could find these solutions we have a really real i've said it a few times a very short runway here but i am very confident that if we put the right people together in a room and give them the resources and access they need we can find this solution rapidly i'd like to see us do that i'm i'm very aware that a lot of the recent development especially our need to reduce expenses which obviously means reducing staffing levels will mean that we might be losing ground in the area that motivates i'm going to assume here but it motivates each one of our fellow trustees to do the hard work of governing this body and that's student achievement any setbacks in this area breaks my heart but i believe we have the
157staff and the expertise that give us an amazing shot at keeping the ramifications of the actions taken in this room away from students but it's my hope that soon we'll be getting back to the being you know the school board the work of the district leaving some of the distractions what i think they're yeah from the past several months in the rear view mirror and press on educating every student and then i'm well i want to co-sign something like that task force that that trustee bueno just talked about because i am not 100 convinced that we've exhausted all the creative ways that our district can save money or become more efficient in how we use our resources maybe even who gets pulled in to provide consulting services which teams can operate with fewer members and
158then where our accounting team can creatively allocate funds to keep us solvent and i you know just in these short 13 months or so that i've been on this board i think one of the very unique things about a school board our school but all other school boards is that we are a local governance team entrusted with something incredibly important the education of our our children unlike many other parts of government our work is right here it's right here in our own city right here in our own backyard in at home and the decisions made by the five of us directly shape classrooms teachers programs and supports that students experience every single day and that local responsibility is not only unique in the in the work it's not it's not just abstract it's real it's
159immediate it's it's really closely connected to to the trust that our community has has placed in us so a school board also operates differently from any other public bodies we are not here to manage day-to-day operations we are here to provide governance direction stewardship we bring our own lens to set priorities to adopt budgets to ensure long-term stability so that our cabinet and staff can do their work well because we serve students that can't vote for themselves yet and and they're planning for a future beyond the present moment our responsibility and my responsibility i feel this so heavily is not only in today's needs but also tomorrow's sustainability and that's why maintaining this this balanced budget with miss wasley matter so much at this time because when a district enters and we've heard this several
160times now over the last many months when a district enters qualified or negative status local control begins to erode and decisions about our schools can shift away from livermore from our community and remaining fiscally sound is not just simply about numbers on the pages but preserving our ability to make our own thoughtful local decisions in the best interest of our students and our community so for me it's a matter of stewardship it's a matter of responsibility our community has entrusted us with both the education of its children and the careful management of these these public funds these public resources by keeping our budget balanced and stable and and that way we protect local decision-making you've talked about that before how important that is and ensuring continuity for our students honoring the trust placed in us
161so i want to as a board make sure that we leave no stone unturned and weigh even the hardest and most heartbreaking choices so that our district remains financially sound and fully in control of its own direction in its own future thank you um i do want to touch on something that trustee drewan president drewan sorry mentioned on friday that um i just sort of stayed in the back of my mind and and also what we heard from the community on friday as well and we have been hearing for a while is that this process feels rushed and um the truth is that it is and i don't think it's because that we want it to be or that staff wants it to be but it's because we're operating under a timeline that requires us
162to act um that said and this is what um president drewan mentioned i think it's important that we can frame this moment accurately and that is that the immediate deadline before us is to notify employees of possible layoffs it's not a final layoff decision and it's not a formal separation um the the final the final notice comes in before on or before may 15 not on before may 15 i heard that um and i just wanted to point out that we have been in a similar position before last year in early february the board was presented with a broad list of reduction options on in mid-february we voted on the on a resolution that included approximately 40 full-time equivalent positions by may 15th that number had been reduced to around 20 and so that change
163happened through a combination of attrition shifts and funding and updates from the governor's revised budget i also recognize that the numbers we are facing this year are larger and i don't want to minimize the anxiety that that creates for our employees and for our families but i do think it's important to say that these initial reductions don't have to be permanent and that we can take some time to figure those out um and if our financial looks approved improves including after the may 15th deadline that we can bring these positions back um so i think that between now and may we still have a lot of variables that could change our financial picture and we have seen that happen in the past um but i think that also obviously we need to do the work
164and we have to have a preliminary list that we can can look to and um i do like the idea of of having a work group that includes our uh leader the leadership from our bargaining units um and i do think i agree with with uh trustee bueno and trustee vanden heuvel i think he said similarly uh that i think we have people who will be able to come up with i know there's still going to be a lots of things that um are on that reduction list that we're not happy about but but i but i do think that there we still have some options for creativity and again i think i just want to remind the community that even even that reduction list that we do end up voting on is not final
165and so it does give us more time um and and in that time more things could happen with with the governor's budget so i just wanted to say that um concisely i i i um too am interested in the idea of a working group similar to the makeup that trustee prusso described i'm interested in if other board members have ideas about the makeup of this group and then secondly i am interested in the direction that we would provide this group in terms of to me it has to be nimble i mean we have an acting superintendent you've got a cbo assistant soup you have to have people in the room that can answer and anyone who's not a problem solver or any if you're not a shot caller you're not in the room so you
166i think we go to lea and if lea is willing to you you ask amy thompson president you and another person or something and who's your expert and csea and make sure that we're participating seiu but it's a small group that wants to be you know that wants to be there and can commit to it and and you put people in a room and you come to a solution but it can't just be observers i mean it has to be people that are able to get in there and have full access i've gone through a budget exercise like this back in 07 when the world was crashing and we put 11 people in a room and we three days and you came out and we had a solution and it worked and i think that
167the sooner we do it the fuller the access and that we stop this public i'm all for the public discussion but what goes to the public should be knowns and not just hypotheticals because there's people and emotions and jobs and all those things that are attached and when we put something out that's a false flag it causes a ripple now we're dealing with the ripple and and i don't think that that's necessary and that's why i've said repeatedly here i'm not sure what the i'm not sure what the problem is i know that there's a problem but i think that the first step in solving is to find what that problem is and i think that we have very very smart people here and we have unlimited resources in our educators and our staff and
168they're trusted you can't get more trust and so i trust in them to be able to if we can dry i'll say it again if you can drop off your six-year-old with someone you've known for 15 minutes then we can we can surely trust them to do the budget and to figure this thing out and to say what the impacts are and to come back to us periodically and at increments and say this is where we're at and seek our direction and then we can solve the problem i'm very confident that we'll be able to do it this isn't a we didn't get hit by a vector and get knocked off the rails this is just normal operations normal budgets there's nothing happened we got through covid we've been through a lot of things we've
169been through the great recession this is simply probably one or two decisions that put us in a precarious position and we need to look at it define it and solve it and we have a lot of problem solvers so i say give them access and put them in a room on an equivalent level but i want to be more clear like that so are we saying one representative from each of our bargaining units and assistant superintendents yes because i i don't want i don't want us as a board we need to we don't have a lot of time we need to speak very clearly and directly about like i want us to confirm if if this worker it sounds like the majority of us are in favor of working group so who who do you
170want in the room trustee what do you think about the um there's already two advisory budget advisory committees that have been meeting they they've got they've got some knowledge they've they've walked through a lot of these things are there people from that group that can be pulled in how many people are you is it six is it i think that the starting point is that you take the acting superintendent the assistant soup of finance the lea president the csa president you extend to seiu i know that there's some things going on there that you know i don't want to exclude anyone in that sense and if they and they could expand it from there but not to become unruly if the if you think you need uh someone in there because we need to talk
171to sped i'm sure you're going to call assistant superintendent mankian for that purpose if the lea president says i have someone who's really strong in numbers i'd like to bring them in then they bring them in but the start for that group the direction that i would seek is that you grab each of those people one person singularly and let them adjust it we utilize their expertise and trust in their instincts to put this group together and to be nimble enough where it's not unruly i agree and who and how how does that work process wise do they come with recommendations do we hand the process to them do we what is the what do you hope is the final so yes the next point then would be what is what is the direction or
172what is the product that we are looking for if you set a meeting date for them and we say this is the night we need to get you together that's that can be tomorrow it could be the next day after that and then we check in with them periodically the first time they meet within an hour they're going to know this is what we need to do they get this they make they make plans to teach people they run a district they're going to be able to put this together very quickly by noon they'll have a plan and then we check with them at noon on the first day and say what does it look like we sent a couple people in and we say what is it going to look like what do you
173guys think we think we could get you a product by this date yeah okay we check with them periodically we can put the board together we can put two people together and check in with them we i think that it's imperative that there's at least one or two board members that are there because i think we need to ensure that the hierarchy does not exist in that room that there's equivalency and full access and that's where i believe you'll get your best product so i guess i'm seeing this through a lens of you know just the responsibility comes with making some decisions that involve people i don't want to shove that onto others you know i want to protect i want to make sure that like you know we are this table is where where
174that happens and i want to shove that to somebody else i don't know i don't see that if you're asking if it's their decision i don't think that it's their decision yeah i think it's as a decision maker up here we're supposed to vote on something i want to be in i want to be assured that what i'm looking at yeah how it impacts the organization and no one knows how it's going to impact the organization more than the organization itself so we have people within it that i believe can do that if you take our district leadership and you attach them with the people who work here that have already been duly elected and have expertise i think we're going to get a good product we're not going to have those questions like well
175what's going to happen with they could report that to us and say so when we have a question we i believe that i know i will be assured of the impact i don't want to arbitrarily look at something and say well i think we can cut one person here and two people here and then we're going to go talk to these people and make that's unacceptable to me i want to know definitively when we go to vote on something what the impacts are going to be not just in theory but what they're going to be and i think that the people that are here are able to do that because they do this job every day and i can trust in that well we have two members that are part of an ad hoc committee
176do we have uh and i don't think we need to make a motion on this but i like the idea of having a board member i would i would love to be a part of that that discussion or to sit in at least to see how uh how did those discussions pan out at yeah i i would love that i'll say it again i'll put time i'm willing to put time i don't even know that you're splitting between that would be split between two pretty big deals i could work it with christian it's just i think someone needs to be there to make sure that we have equivalency and openness trustee kaponis i'm sorry i don't really have anything to say i'm just okay well if there's not can yeah i i want to i'm
177just as i'm as this is you know this is a new idea um to to approach it like this i like the idea that we that we're taking that we're first asking the question what is the problem that we have and how do we solve it um because that's kind of what what i've just been noodling you know what i mean like i'm just trying to figure out what what this district will look like after this many cuts and then going well there's four line items five line items they're like i'm don't think we want to be that that this school district because i don't think we you know the ramifications of taking making some of these tier one cuts that are still on tier one is smart so i but but then again i'm
178a you know i'm a school board member with a very different job than what these experts do so yeah i like that a lot i see the role of the person of any of us they could rotate whatever and uh president druan i think that having a board member in there is simply an assurance that we as a board get the product that we're looking for that's it that we can check in i don't see us as going in there voting on things or directing or it's simply a matter of we are oversight so utilizing our authority as oversight to ensure that the process moves forward and yields a product that we can use as a tool to mitigate the financial situation that's it yeah and i don't think that that's not that hard it's
179just like you have to be process oriented to make sure that that uh that that product comes out so i'm i'm curious then about the product and the timeline we had i think we had spoke to the well not think clarify my language communicated to the to the community at february 24th i think is the is the deadline that we were hoping to look at a make a decision so i know that you and trustee vannon who will put a lot of time in most recently as board president i think if we had one person that was going to go in there if you were able to do the the time to just oversee it not necessarily get the product but understanding the role of that of being in your role i think that you
180would be an excellent person because it has the authority and if you have the backing of the board to go in there and assure that we look at this and make sure that access is a big thing one of the biggest things that you deal with when you're trying to come to numbers is are these numbers real you need to have access for that not permission not mother may i you need to have access if we can assure that i believe that we will have a good product and it also will build long-term relationships we can move forward people come through battle together can live together a lot more a lot more effectively and i think that coming through this exercise i think the district will come out stronger i think that my my question
181was was mainly about the the products and the timeline to get to the 24th deadline so i mean do we said that i believe that we've given clear direction regarding the makeup i think that we have i think that we have direction that we can give or that we have given so then the question is is the goal to bring a product on the 24th i think part of my question is do we need to schedule a special board meeting between so we can interact with this do we interact with this at the february 24th meeting or do we give the work group time for the february 24th meeting and schedule a special meeting afterwards which would lead to a question of timing no yeah thank you i can speak to that the answer is
182yes and what that will mean is that we will essentially need to over notify um potential reductions and layoffs that's that's one of the things to consider what does that mean that means that if we don't get to a decision if a firm decision isn't made on the 24th let me back up in order to make the do the paperwork and all the notifications a lot of work has to go into that and so if we're waiting that work will continue it's already happening in the background the hypotheticals but if we wait and make the decisions on the 24th the timeline between all of those notifications and the documentation that needs to go with that it's it's rushed and so you risk the potential of needing to over notify which is a common practice but
183just know that that's one of the implications of waiting until that time so if we think we're reducing by i don't know for custodians we might need to over notify by six just because of all the bumping and things like that that can happen so i'm i'm over notifying means that you're more conservatively so you go slightly deeper to okay i i okay i understand so then i guess timeline wise what would be a reasonable if if we looked at a 14 i mean is this is this we want something on the 24th and we're going with that what if we let the work group meet and see what they think they can do if we could have a meeting before the 24th but maybe not set that date just yet and give them a
184minute to i don't know i think everyone's going to be well aware and there's a self-interest to understand that we have a very short runway yeah so given that i can't imagine that leadership or the district is going to say well let's all get our calendars together i mean i would imagine something if my vision would be that some you meet this week in the middle and that we next week try to schedule a special board meeting to get some input and maybe if we have a representative who's there and they say listen we're going to give some feedback to the board we can give some information out through that ad hoc it could come to the board we could review it we could ask questions set a meeting for next week a special board
185meeting but not set it until they've met i'm not sure how this works would there be is there a possibility for board members to rotate into that group for info sharing and just get an update without a full board meeting with you know all of this i don't know if that is possible just that we rotate in and that everybody gets an update and maybe we can ask questions and may i make a suggestion okay um what i'm hearing from the board's discussion is that we would like to put a work group together and we would like to have that meeting take place this week correct we would like to include representatives from csea lea and seiu may i also suggest that we include one person from cmc and lma as well just um for
186the purpose of they have members that are on the reduction sheet as well and we would like two board members to be included as well as assistant superintendents on this work group am i hearing you correctly yes okay and then the product what i'm hearing is that we would like to work as a team to come up with creative solutions collectively and collaboratively of ways to reduce this budget deficit we can do that and i and i to add to that or to clarify i think it is essential that we're open completely open and not just i know that we always we overuse the word transparency people throw it out there but openness means i'm not asking to see it i'm able to see it and we're not answered the hierarchy is removed from the
187room to me that will get us a good product when and that's why i'm saying it has to be a small room and the smaller the room and everyone in that room has purpose and you're going to work towards a common goal may i make a suggestion for a date since we're being specific february 12th which is in two days just give me a thumbs up amy and may me where is may me thursday amy said yes all right we're coming together look at that okay and will someone um can we assure that we reach out to christy yes absolutely yeah yeah yeah we will reach out to all of the the leaders okay i just want to thank the professional for stepping in and saving us from our floundering how's that thank you to
188you okay do we have other discussions or clarifications let's move one i'm so sorry yes one caveat is we may need to cancel the budget community budget advisory committee that is on the same day are we okay with that yes because we're prioritizing this work okay yes i'm good with that okay i have a question real quick how so how is this work group different than the internal budget advisory committee was it because there was no board member no there was board members on it so it was it was that was not the purpose it's very large and really long-term planning and long-term prioritizing and so this is this task force is very this group is more specific for this yep and very small okay i just want to make sure i understand that thank
189you anything else now's your chance um thank you thank you all everyone up here thank you audience for sticking with us thank you community um let's move on to our consent items we have 15 consent items on the consent agenda for the evening did any board member want to remove any for separate discussion if not i would entertain a motion i have a question or i just wanted to let folks you know we've got many items many expenses that seem to be there just in case of emergency um and so we i looked or i talked to miss wasley about the sofos contract and like how we know maybe we can't we don't have to do that maybe we can just hold off on that and it's you know when you when you look at
190the potential and the exposure of uh getting your getting all of our stuff stolen and hijacked or put a ransom note on it for a million i mean it happens all the time to school districts so um um i just want everybody to know that we're you know we're we're looking fine tooth comb and i appreciate that it's it seems like we're not spending anything we don't have to absolutely need to spend and i appreciate that very much uh yeah one of my i teach at stan state university one of my students kind of what you described happened to a school district out in the yeah out in the central valley and it's devastating it's no joke yeah still entertaining the motion i would move it uh make a motion to move the consent items
191in their entirety i'll second i have a motion from trustee bueno a second from trustee preso is there any discussion on the motion clerk can you take role trustee caplaris aye trustee preso aye trustee bueno myself aye president druane aye we'll move on to reports and requests we'll start with trustee bueno i want to thank the public for the tolerance and their patience and their input and i want to uh i want to put it out that i know that we're going to find a solution here again and i won't continue on it but this wasn't a giant event this is managerial stuff that we're dealing with these are known actions and i think that collectively we're going to find a solution i'm very confident but it's real easy today especially with social media and
192everyone having an opinion that way that it's easy for the course of public discussion to take something off of its mission the mission here is very simple we are here to do what's best for the children of livermore in terms of their educational pathway i think that we are all unified in that the public has historically supported that effort all these various programs we're going to look at all the various programs and we are going to do i am confident what is in the best interest of the kids in this district period so i just want us to get rid of the distraction know that we're going to work together and i think it is a great sign tonight that we are seeing here and we can schedule a meeting just out loud let's do
193this meeting and let's make this thing happen and bring our leadership together bridge the gap and put the trust back in livermore so i really appreciate everyone's tolerance on that i just want to thank everybody again for all their input and their patience through this process over the last few weeks i've been very busy with keeping up with everything and seems like everyone in the district from helping in a third grade class in the 100th day of school celebration attending the february pcic meeting school site visits to sunset and laurence the annual cta breakfast meeting with different union groups district management and leadership visiting the granada high school ivy class visiting kid connection at jackson avenue the tk enrollment fair and taking the time to read through all the many emails i've gained so much
194perspective from everyone's hard work and dedication to serve the students of livermore and this reminds me how student focused we need to remain through the challenges we have before us to secure the best outcomes for their educational experience and future thank you trustee vanden heuvel um i just looked at my calendar thought did i do anything fun or you know like that one of the reasons why i signed up to to do this work and uh i did i could find some stuff um i accompanied the livermore high school drama and choir group to see a performance of the whiz in san jose we got on the bus and uh my wife is part of that or she's you know she was asked to help with that and she says here here's eric and you're
195going to just be with you know with you're going to be chaperoning and it was the best thing uh we had such a wonderful time um just dancing in our seats and these students are just amazing we had it was just such a blast it's so proud of you know our students when they are out in the public in the group you know oh boy speaking of being proud of our students um i got to spend i just popped into a classroom yesterday at granada high school um it's aurora's ib classroom i just wanted to see i just wanted to understand better right you guys those students are were some of the smartest like thought intelligent thoughtful kindest i'm i'm so hopeful for our for our district if these are the type of students that
196we produce in junior and senior year we've got and you know like our our junior board members here we've we have done a really good job and i'm really really proud of it and it was such an honor to be in that classroom and those students were amazing i learned a lot and it was it was great so those are some of the some of the the items on my calendar from these last few weeks that made me go okay this is worth it you know all this work all this heartache all these difficult conversations it's worth it so way to go trustee perso i'm just going to keep this short uh i we had the rop board meeting i've been meeting with teachers and administrators and met with maintenance facilities was able to attend
197the kindergarten enrollment fair which was really fun and then probably a highlight also the special olympics basketball for elementary which was also really fun a highlight for me was i got to go to emerald high school which is the new high school in dublin and tour their high school and also go to the our our rop construction class there i'm also on the rop board so that's um why i went we have a new construction class there and it was really great um there's nine students in the class and three of them are from livermore so i thought that that was really exciting um and it's just a great program uh next year this is the first year so it's it's small but it's getting bigger every year and just such a great opportunity for
198these students to go in and really learn about the trades and so i just wanted a shout out to that and i also got to experience uh emerald high school which is like a college campus it's pretty amazing uh but our schools are better i'm just gonna say so that's all i recently attended a student activity at livermore high school that i would care to share about the liver high chamber wins group performed in combination with the eighth grade students from across the district the performance allowed middle schoolers to see themselves as high school performers and play with their older peers but before that happened before the combined performance the chamber wins did something that i have never seen before they played several songs conductorless meaning there was no one in front of them conducting
199it was a thing of beauty beyond the sounds they produced the act of performing in this way forced the performers to rely on each other in wholly unique and challenging ways without a conductor they had to watch each other listen to each other and trust one another literally in concert to succeed in their act of creation we as a district are facing large challenges yet i'm confident that if we too watch listen and trust one another we can see we can succeed in our act of creation acting superintendent would you care to say anything if not it's okay i don't have a report i am grateful to serve the students and staff of livermore and i've enjoyed every moment of my time here so thank you thank you on to 16 next meeting the next
200regularly scheduled board meeting will be held on tuesday february 24th at the district office 685 east jack london boulevard livermore california open session will begin at 6 p.m with that our meeting is adjourned at 9 20 p.m