001[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, baby. Ow. [Music] Heat. [Music] I love you. [Music] Find [Music] out. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Jingle bong. [Music] Thank you. [Music] You got to feel [Music] Good afternoon everyone. Uh welcome to the charter school committee meeting for the 2526 school year. I'm Dr. Rosio Rivas, chair of this committee. And I welcome you all, those who are watching us remotely and those here present with us. Um, as we begin this new year working together, I want to thank you all, families, educators, labor partners, and colleagues for your continued engagement, and commitment to ensuring strong support and oversight for our charter schools. This committee has always been a space for meaningful dialogue, transparency, and collaboration, and look forward to building that work this year. Uh today's agenda includes
002remarks from our labor partners if any are present here today followed by a presentation from the charter school division on charter renewal considerations for for the upcoming uh 25266 cycle this cycle today and we will then hear from members from the public uh for public comment and um before we adjourn the meeting. So I'd like to begin if there are any labor partners present who would like to uh come up to the podium. Yes, Mr. Go ahead, Mrs. Alex. Rosco. I'm the UTLA secondary vice president. Um, I am going to be yielding my time to three educators and a student from community schools that are all being colllocated at the moment by Gra Gabriella Charter. All three schools will speak out and highlight the lack of oversight from the district's Prop 39 division. You will
003hear how this lack of accountability is negatively impacting their progress at their community schools. Now, I yield my time to our Trinity educator. >> Good. Can you hear me? Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Somara Alvarado and I am here on behalf of Trinity Street Elementary School to share the challenges we face as a community school. Our mission is simple. We want to provide stability and consistent services to the families we serve. Many of our staff have been at Trinity for over 17 years. We have built strong, lasting relationships. We see former students coming back to visit and introducing us to their younger siblings or even their own children. These relationships create a deep sense of safety and belonging for our students. As a community school, our vision is to be a hub
004for the community, a place where families feel connected, supported, and safe. But when our energy is required elsewhere to deal with issues caused by Gabriella's presence, that vision is impossible to fully realize. It affects staff morale, it pulls us away from our from our obligations, and it keeps us from serving our community the way we know how. Because Gabriella is occupying our space. We are not allowed to offer kindergarten, first grade, or even special education. Yet, Gabriella is offering both, which is simply unfair. It's crucial for us to be able to offer kinder and first grade. Positive and supportive relationships are crucial from early childhood, impacting future mental health, self-worth, and social skills. Families are forced to split between schools for drop off and pickup, and our most vulnerable students are being left without services.
005One of my own students requires extra support, but without proper resources, I've had to pull out of classroom staff to step in. We refuse to send our students away. We want to house them, welcome them, and support them right here at Trinity. The impacts are serious. Parents and students feel the instability. Stuff morale suffers because we can't fully serve our community. Enrollment has dropped as families look elsewhere for complete services. Meanwhile, delay disruptions continue. Gabriella buses in 6th through 8th grade students during our instructional time. Even though busing was never part of the shared use agreement. What's more, the agreement for the 2526 academic school year makes no mention of afterchool services for these students. Yet, they are our they are occupying our space. These middle schoolers have used foul language around our youngest students
006and even displayed physical intimacy on campus. There is a lack of supervision with students. They are allowed to roam the campus and are accessing areas like staff restrooms. This creates an unsafe, unstable environment for little ones who deserve better. We are also deeply concerned about transparency. Gabriela's reported enrollment numbers don't match the meals served in the cafeteria or the students present during fire drills. Oversight from both Prop 39 committee and the district has been weak. Gabriela even owes Logan $900,000 yet accountability has been missing. $900,000 taken from our students. At Trinity, we know what stability and safety look like because we've built it for nearly two decad decades. Our families deserve to have that for every child. That is why today we are asking the district and Prop 39 committee to step in to enforce
007accountabil to enforce accountability, restore fairness, remove sixth to eighth grade students from our campus and restore our first and first grade and special education services. Our families deserve the opportunity to have a complete, stable and supportive community school. And with your action, we can make that a reality. Thank you. >> Good afternoon. My name is Ron Sword and I am the chapter chair at West Vernon Avenue Elementary School. Gabriella Charter School 2 is colllocated on our campus for grades 6 through 8. We have been colllocated with the middle school for three years now. We were informed we were going to be colllocated in the spring of 2023, the same time we were awarded to be a community school. Despite most of our parents calling into the district to voice their opposition to having a middle
008school colllocated on an elementary school campus, it still happened. The first year was a disaster due to their destruction of property, smoking marijuana in the boy's bathroom, defecating in the urinals, harassing our students, including threatening to break into the home, and threatening bodily harm to a fifth grade boy. Also, because of the overall lack of supervision during recess, their couples would sit on a bench in front of our K through 2nd special day class being inappropriate with their bodies while other students were throwing basketballs at the metal security grates on the windows of our first grade classrooms, as well as sitting on the benches underneath those classrooms, saying the F-word and Bword. First grade students should not be going home telling their parents those are the words they learned in class that day. It was
009so bad that once their principal returned from maternity leave, she apologized for their behavior and said she would speak to the supervision aids. However, the aids did nothing. All of this has been documented and sent into the district. Last year, which was their second year, they hired a dean of behavior which helped. However, during the year, their PE coach left and the subs would be on their cell phone, allowing the girls to just sit, talk, and wander around the campus. Some boys did play soccer on our grass area while others sat. All the while the sub would be on his phone. Consequently, a sign we have on the fence next to our grass area which says Eagle Pride made out of those cups you put into the fence has been picked apart. Also, due to
010the destruction and problems in the bathrooms during their first year of collocation, GCS hired a bathroom safety aid monitor to sit outside the bathrooms. But midway through the year, he too left. This lack of supervision led to more problems with the boy's bathroom and them trying to destroy it by standing and jumping on the sinks. Also, GSC students would vape, which was witnessed by our elementary school students. All this in addition to the high turnover rate among the teachers as well as their band director leaving midy year. Additionally, at the end of the year, they let go of their assistant principal due to budget cuts. This is troubling as their principal is not on our campus full-time, but is split between our school and Trinity Street where GCS has their TK through fifth grade students.
011This lack of supervision on their part has allowed their students to make random 911 calls from the classroom, including just this past week. This has also been documented. Furthermore, this past spring summer, LUSD determined GCS2 did not need three of the 13 rooms they had. As West Vernon is a community school, we need these rooms. However, while negotiating an alternative agreement with the district, GCS proposed either they have full shared access of our library, nurse, computer science for good classrooms, or they wanted one of the classrooms back for which they will pay rent to us for. This proves they didn't really need the classroom back if they were willing to give it up in order to have access to our library and other spaces. Furthermore, they have also asked for space to have parent conferences,
012meetings in the space. they are asking for is the room we wanted to put laundry services in for our community as a community school. They are continuing to ask for space even though their numbers have dropped and they are having to make budget cuts. I know there are discrepancies between the number of students they report versus the number of students as I have actually physically counted their students during the great shakeout fire drills. In fact, the first year they were colllocated on our campus, they reported 200 students. I counted 165. Last year, I counted 140 students. Children in our community deserve to be able to come to school to learn in a safe environment. But having Gabriella Charter School Middle School colllocated on our campus does not allow that. In fact, with their valet drop
013off, they have taken what is a two-way street and forced it into a one-way street where cars must wait to pass. This is a dangerous situation for both vehicles and people. I know their CEO CEO, who is a lawyer, is more than willing to litigate to get what they want. However, I urge you to stand up for our children and provide them a school that is safe, a school where they can come to and learn and make happy memories. I urge you to deny the renewal of their charter. Thank you. >> Hello, my name is Olivia Robo and I have been a student at Logan Academy since kindergarten. I'm currently in 8th grade and I'm serving as our Logan's leadership secretary. I'm here to speak out about the issues I have had as a student
014with Gabriella Charter School. I love Logan. It's an amazing school where I have made so many friends. Teachers and staff build commun connections with students and make us feel welcome at our school and community. Our school's name is Logan Academy of Global Ecology. We should be able to live up to that name. However, there is one big issue and that is sharing the campus with Cabela charter. One of those problems is space. For example, we have science class with an amazing teacher, but with more space there can be so much more opportunities for us. For example, we could have an actual lab as an ecology school. We should have green spaces, but that's not possible with Gabriella Charter School there. Another issue with space is PE. We have to change into PE clothes, but we
015don't have locker rooms. More importantly, in eighth grade, PE standard is to learn how to use weights. But we cannot hit that standard without a weight room. We don't have a weight room, but Gabriella has two gym rooms. It has been really hot lately. When we have inclement weather, we have to go into another teacher's room and be stuck in a classroom when we could, if we had the space, continue our education and be in a gym. Another issue is the Gabriella students. Our teachers try their best to keep us safe. But whenever we go to the yard, we share half of it with Gabriella and also walk through Gabriella's space to get to the yard. We are told not to talk to Gabriela students because of the past aggressive issues. In fourth grade, I
016remember my classmates and I being yelled at and insulted just because we're from Logan. Now, as middle schoolers, that has turned into them wanting to start fight with fights with us. All this has just made me feel very uncomfortable and feel unsafe. I should feel safe at school because I came here to learn. And since Logan staff doesn't have authority over Gabriella students, when the staff do try to stop them, they don't care or cooperate. When staff speaks to Gabriel's authority figures, I have never seen the students be held accountable for what they have done. Although I'm in eighth grade and leaving Logan next year, what really inspired me to speak up is for the future kids in Logan, where my mom will continue to teach kindergarten. It would just make me feel so much
017better if I knew that they and she won't feel uncomfortable like I and my friends have because of these students and have more opportunities than we did in learning. But that can't happen if Gabilla Charter School stays. Thank you. [Applause] Good morning. My name is Ivon Kachu, LUSD proud parent and UTLA North area board of director member and a teacher at uh community school. Uh, Logan Gabriella has lied. They have stolen over $900,000 in rent over the course of four to five years. Gabriella has stolen spaces that belong to our students. They repeatedly failed to comply with safety protocols. They do not come out for evacuation drills. They destroy property. Just just this week, four teachers had their cars damaged due to Gabriella students throwing yogurt and other foods on our staff cars. This is
018a year's and ongoing issue. There's no supervision. There's no accountability, no collaboration with student behavior safety plans, which is common, which you've heard throughout this morning. As you heard from Olivia, we have challenges meeting standards in science and PE because we just don't have the space to do it. Our assets and needs survey says that we need art, music, theater, and dance for our middle school students, but because we have squatters taking the space that is ours, we can't meet that need. Dr. Dr. Rivas, as the chair for charter schools commission and our district 2 champion, we appreciate your righteous stance on charter transparency and LUSD oversight to protect our schools. However, here we are under LUSD supervision or oversight. Gabriella surmounted a debt of $9,000 to Logan, not the district, Logan. Imagine all the
019services that we could have had with $900,000 board. As a reminder, we're a community school. Dr. Dr. Divas, you have been to our campus and we stand with you on your safer, greener schools, shaded schooly yards, and sustainable classrooms. This is what what we want, but we can't. We're blocked. We can't remove asphalt. We can't make our schools cool. Gabriella has bungalows on our yards, lunch benches, lunch benches on our playgrounds. Again, our Anna survey shows that our community wants and needs more parent engagement and activities. But where? Our parent center is the community school coordinator's office, the PSA's storage, the conference room, the meeting room, the little kitchen. At one point, the plant manager was in there, too, but he's been upgraded and been relocated to a closet. Come check us out. Our students
020and families want a wellness center. We have a wellness cart. Why? Space. Logan students and families know why we are here today. They know about the $900,000 debt. They know that LUSD is allowing this crime to continue. I am here to deliver a simple message straight from our students, which is please do your job. I've been told for years that LUSD has their hands tied because of a contract signed by Gabriella. But today, I am leaving you with legal analysis showing how the $900,000 debt can be used to terminate the contract once and for all. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you uh for your comments. Um are there any other labor partners that would like to come forward? No. Okay. So now we will move forward to our main presentation. Um, oh, and before we start,
021I do want to mention we do have Miss Tanya Ortiz Franklin um with us remotely. Um, she's not here present, but she is joined us um through Zoom. So, now we'll hear from the charter school division on renewal considerations for the 2526 school year. This is a particularly significant cycle with 72 renewals expected, 63 independent charters, and nine affiliated charters. The presentation will provide us with an overview of the renewal criteria including academic performance measures, governance and fiscal standards and updates on the resident school median meth methodology which strengthen strengthens transparency and accountability for both petitioners and the public. Um, I want to underscore that renewal decisions are among the most important responsibilities that we have as a board that they must be fair, datadriven, and focus on ensuring that every school provides equitable and
022highquality learning opportunities for our students. Joining us today is Miss Mara Wilmont, uh, director of the charter schools division, who will walk us through the renewal framework and key considerations. Thank you for being here today. Um, the floor is yours. >> Perfect. Thank you so much. And good afternoon, members of the charter committee and board member. Uh, my name is Marla Wilman. I am the director of the charter schools division. I'm here to talk about the charter renewal petitions and provide some updates to our practice. as part of charter schools division's core values which include continuously learning as a dynamic organization and employing authentic, responsive and effective leadership and teamwork. We hope that these updates will provide additional clarity and transparency as we embark on the upcoming renewals. So as you had noted we have
02372 total charter renewals in this 2526 school year. 63 are for independent charters and nine for affiliated. So the forecast is as follows. I will note that for the October and November board meetings, those petitions have been submitted and the remaining board months are projections based on the current information. Um, I will also note this this does not include potential new submissions or material revisions that may be submitted over the course of the year. Okay. So while I will go over uh the charter renewal criteria, we'll just do a brief o overview to ground. Um so we'll start with criterion one. And so criterion one, when we're looking at a charter renewal, and this is for all charter renewals, we want to ensure that it's a sound educational program and that the petition submitted is
024reasonably comprehensive. um as far as there's 15 elements that they must speak to and then not dramatly unlikely to successfully implement the program. I realize the wording on that one is a bit confusing with a double negative but that is the criterion as outlined by law that they're not durably unlikely to imple successfully implement the program. Then criterion two is based on the performance categories. So each school charter school is assigned by the state a performance category of either high, middle or low. Based on that performance category, there are different renewal criterion associated with that. So for middle performing charter schools um until January 1, 2026, we also in addition we consider what's called verified data which is a consideration of measurable increases in academic performance or strong post-secondary outcomes. And I'll get a little
025more into that in the later slides. And then also finally criterion three whereby the charter school must demonstrate non-discriminatory enrollment and dismissal practices and not have substantial governance factors. So this is the overall criteria when we are evaluating renewal petitions. So now we're going to dig deeper into the middle performing criteria. Majority of charter schools are identified as middle performing and essentially if a charter school does not meet high performing or low performing they are identified then in middle performing. Okay. So for middle performing charter schools the consideration is only either you recommend a five-year term or denial. And so what we base what what what it's based on is we look at the schoolwide uh consideration the all student groups and this uh all student schoolwide and the student groups on the California dashboard
026and we start with the comparison to the state. So how is that charter school as compared to the state for all students and for the numerically significant student groups? Then addition greater weight is placed on the academic indicators. So on the dashboard there's four academic indicators. English language arts, math, English learner performance indicator and the college and career indicator. I will note the college and career indicator only applies to high schools. So those are the four academic criteria uh criteria that we place a greater weight on. Then in addition as we talked about it's verified data which is to end January 1, 2026. I do want to make a note here that we are aware of some current legislation. It's SB414, which we understand is on its way to the governor. That would extend verified
027data until June 30th, 2028. So, right at this moment, the end date for middle performing schools is January 1, 2026. But there is this current legislation that may be um that may be passed. I do want to talk to a little bit about postsecary outcomes. So, as I uh post-secary outcomes is a uh form of verified data for high schools and essentially uh what it's what you're supposed to demonstrate is college enrollment, persistence, and completion at rates compared to similar peers. And so, the state identified uh approximately I think it's about six different data sources. I'll give you a couple of them. National Student Clearing House, University of California admissions graduation rates. So, those have been identified and there's a couple other ones um as they can submit it for consideration for postsecary outcomes. Um
028and that's for high schools, middle performing high schools. Okay. So as we just talked about we first look at the schools the charter school middle performing as compared to the state we actually do that for all schools then for middle performing schools we look at verify data and in that analysis as we move down we may have to go down deeper if indeed it's not showing meaningful progress as the law requires. So one of the things we look at is this resident schools medium and when we're median and whenever we're considering a denial of the resident schools per the law we must make findings that demonstrate the charter school has failed to make sufficient progress towards meeting standards that benefit students. Closure is in the best interest and once again greater weight to the academic
029measurements. So how we operationalize this best interest is closure is in the best interest. We look at the comparison to the resident schools. Um and so the resident schools are the schools where the students would have otherwise attended if they were not attending that charter schools. So the following slides are going to detail some important updates that when we are having to do the further analysis in the comparison of the resident schools um there are some updates that we are um providing. Okay. So as I said the resident schools the median is the median or the middle data point if you can recall back to uh statistics right median mode and average we use the median data point and so essentially to get that median you you line up all the the data the schools
030and their data and it's the middle number um and so let me slide so in what how this is organized is what we did last year and then what we're going to be doing moving forward. So, in 2425 uh in our board materials that are posted publicly 15 days prior to the board action and that's required by law when we have to you when we d when we had to go down to look at a resident schools comparison, we did publicly provide the median just the median of all those uh resident schools. So this year moving forward we're going to include the list of schools. So it's additional data that will be provided as part of the board materials. So essentially you will have um all the list of the resident schools and their accompanying
031data and then also the identified median. So that will be part of the board materials um and then as I said posted 15 days prior to the board action. In addition to that we are going to provide these list of schools to the petitioners 7 days 7 to 10 days prior to the 15-day posting. This is all of course if we're going to use the resident schools in our analysis. So essentially 70 days prior to the posting if we are going to use the resident school in our analysis we will provide those list of schools to the petitioners. Another thing that we're looking at is span grades. And so a span school that serves span grades is there's some examples up there. Uh you know a school that serves K through 12 or a school
032that serves K8 or 6 through 12. So essentially not the traditional elementary, middle or high school grades. Um and so when you're comparing when we're looking at the resident school list, the list of resident schools includes all the schools that serve that same grade span. So, for example, if you had a charter school that was serving grades K through 8 and we had to do a resident schools comparison, you would have elementary and middle schools on that resident schools comparison that would um be folded up into that median. Um so what we're doing um moving forward I would like to note our first comparison as I said is the dashboard comparison. We do the dashboard comparison when we even drive down to the resident schools medium. We start first with the dashboard. Let's look at
033the dashboard indicators and how they're doing in compared to those resident schools. Well, the dashboard is not disagregated by grade levels. It is there's no publicly available disagregation by bay levels. So when we do that comparison, then all the schools will be comp included in the comparison when you're doing a dashboard comparison. Um but if we have to drive even further down in our analysis and this is part of policy if we look at the met and exceeded rates and that's called the CASP met and exceeded rates the CASP testing that actually is publicly available and disagregated by grade levels. So moving forward, so last year when we we did draw when we had a drill down to a cast comparison, we just use the median, but moving forward, we will provide additional uh drill
034down of sorts and just focus on the grade levels served by the charter school. So we will only be looking at the met and exceeded rates. So for example, if you had a school that was serving fifth through eighth grades, we would be only looking at the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade met and exceeded rates. Okay, another um consideration is magnet programs. Okay, so the district um on the resident school lists, there are district schools that have magnet programs as part of the entire school that magnet program data is reported out. It's embedded in the schoolwide data outcomes. And so I will note um that there are a handful of whole school academic criteria magnets that LUSD has. Those are not included on the resident school median list and they were never included because they
035don't hold a resident attendance boundary. So we're really just saying the program that is part of the school and we are really focusing on the magnet criteria based magnet programs gifted and highly gifted that you have to have a certain criterion in order to get in. So last year those schools that had a magnet program were on the resident school list. That will still be the same moving forward. That school will still be on the resident school list. The update will be we will identify the resident school if it has a gifted or a highly gifted program and we will also include the percentage of students in that particular program and that will be available since we're providing now the list of schools on part of our board materials. If one of those schools has
036a gifted or a highly gifted magnet, it will be identified as such and the percentage of students who are part of that highly gift gifted or highly gifted program. just to provide additional information as to the comparison schools for full so that everybody understands what schools are there being compared to. All right, some other additional data considerations. Um so core growth model is basically a u method of looking at growth based on cases. It's somewhat similar to the state growth model. There's just a little bit of difference in the way that they handle the demographic piece, but I it was not adopted by the California State Board as verified data. It is not one of the measurements like an I Ready or an NWA. It has not been adopted, but per the state, it could
037be may be used to supplement dashboard results as long as as long as it's mutually agreed upon between the chartering authority, the district, and the charter school. So last year we did not look at core data as supplemental to the renewal analysis analysis. Uh we didn't have any charter schools actually submit core data for consideration. So moving forward this year um we are going to enter in mutual agreements between the district and the charter to if they submit core data for consideration. We have a mutual agreement um that we will consider it as supplemental. I will note we are considering it supplemental to both the dashboard and verified data submitted. So as part of our agreement you need to also make sure that we have your uh verified data for consideration and then consider core
038as supple supplemental data. All right. Reclassification data. Um this is now we're talking about this this is a different topic. Um so reclassification data has not been published by the state. The official data has not been self-published by the state for three consecutive years. Um so last year so we basically had placeholders on our materials and in in in our oversight materials as well kind of stating you know official data is not available. Official data is not available. Well, we understand we don't we we don't have any indication that the state will be publishing official data and so moving forward um we will remove that placeholder. So we will no longer have reclassification identified. Of course if reclassification is once again published by the state we will absolutely consider it. But we will assess uh
039English learners just as we did last year when we didn't have reclassification because there's a lot of different indicators on the dashboard and other data sources to assess English learner progress. So we look at the English learner progress indicator as one data source. We look at percentages of at risk and long-term English learners. We look at comparison to the state and the district. That's part of our data set. We also look at the uh English learner and long-term English learner performance on the dashboard. We know the long-term English learner student group is now on the dashboard. And so that's another comparison we can use when we do the comparison to the state um or any comparison that's that's identified. So those are the the ways that we will assess English learner progress when we do
040our renewal um evaluation. Okay. Okay, the last piece, um, now we're talking a little bit about high-erforming schools. And so, like I said before, middle performing schools can get recommended for a term five years or zero years or non-renewal. Um, low performing schools can only get recommended for a two-year term or a non-renewal. Higherforming schools can be considered for, of course, the five, the six or seven. So it's in the law that we have we can consider longer term lengths for schools that are identified by the state as high performing. This was in practice last year. And this is our consideration sheet that we we have developed that kind of outlines when we are considering longer than a five-year term, these are what we consider in order to um recommend that longer term. So this
041is available on our website. It's the same criteria that we used last year. And as you can see some of the things that we look at. We look at number one if they're high performing criterion one. And all what that means is there there's two ways to be high conforming criterion one or two. One is your blue green across every single indicator even the non-academic ones. So that's what you have to be to criterion one. Criterion two is it's looking at the academics indicators and how the how the school performed according to the state. And so if they're higher than the state schoolwide and for the student groups, then they can potentially be criterion too. But in addition to that, we have other considerations. We want to make sure to look at their oversight scores.
042Uh we want to make sure there's been no uh tiered intervention. Um and then we look at if there's any current benchmarks, no issues with equity and access. um no issues with school culture and climate. Those are kind of things. So, we're going to continue with this consideration sheet even moving forward this year when we look at making recommendations to the board for either a six year or sevenyear term. Um we'll assess this on an annual basis to see if this needs to be revised or updated in any way. Um but for we if we used it last year, we're going to continue to use it and then we'll reassess on an annual basis to see if this still um seems to make sense uh for considerations or if we have to add anything. And
043so that is the end of the presentation. Uh you have any questions? >> Yes, a few. What about low performing schools? I know um how walk us through that process when it comes to low performing schools. >> That's a good question. So, low performing schools, I want to say last year there was a twopart criteria. There was the um per uh be able to provide a plan that identifies meaningful steps that is board approved. In addition to that, there was the inclusion of verified data. So, those were the two criteria under that criterion two where I said it's different depending on what performance category they are. I will say um for verified data as I mentioned for middle performing school is to end in January 1st. For low performing schools it actually ended June 30th
0442026. So going into this renewal cycle right now the criterion's based on meaningful steps as identified in a plan that is current uh currently the renewal criteria for low performance. >> So nothing changed for low performance. Are you keeping the same >> ex? Yes, it's it was per state law. It's per the guidance from the state, but it did change because the verified data ended. So, verified data is no longer part of the consideration of low performing. We'll see with the upcoming as I mentioned the change potential law that's in motion if that will be changed, but right now as it stands, it's it's just that one one piece. >> Just one quick note, board vice president, you may it's June 2025 for the >> Oh, 2025. Sorry, I I I got ahead of myself.
045This was last June. June 30th, 2025. Thank you for that. >> Um, and just walk us as to the the reasoning as to why there were changes. Um, for instance, in the non-renewal, why are you now providing the list? What was um the thinking behind that? What made that change? >> That's a good question. Um so there was actually different types of requests from different types um from the charter schools from board members or different different um people involved the renewal process to say well what what other schools what schools are we are we being compared to so we just you know we determined that just for full transparency and so forth for understanding to just provide the list um as part of our as part of uh our materials. you know, we were streamlining
046um you know, we knew the number of renewals. We're streamlining and we were just, you know, looking at the median, but that's why we're providing the list now. Okay. Uh the next question. Yeah. Okay. The why I don't understand my own writing here. Uh list of schools provided seven. What determines this? Okay. I don't remember my question there. Sorry. Um on page nine, right? On page nine on the supplemental data, um why was this decision to add the core uh growth model data as supplemental? The decision was made because there was a request to consider core. Um we we had some schools submit core and so it was determined that to look at an additional data point as supplemental to to forward the the school to give its full data story. We thought that we
047would do that that it was fair and so but we do have certain um confines around that meaning the agreement identifies certain things they need to provide like I said the verified data they need to provide. Um so it was just to provide a full analysis full treatment if they wanted to submit core as long you know because it was allowed by the state with certain with that agreement and so we determined that we would move forward and do that. >> And how so if um it is submitted the core data how much weight will they carry in the overall um renewal process or >> Yeah. Well, it is supplemental and so we will go through our entire renewal process as we do with any other school and then it'll be additional data provided as
048supplemental after we do all of our considerations. Um, let's see. I have a question here. I mean, these are questions that just came from my head, but I did have some other questions here. Um, for the public's benefit, can you walk us through how the district balances reliance on verified data with contextual oversight information such as the governance and fiscal practices when making renewal recommendations? Are the criteria tiered or uh applied equally? >> I would say well academic performance outcomes is the is is the is the highest consideration. Um, but so we really start with that. So that is our that's how our materials are. We start with that. So the remaining you know we always look at fiscal we always look at governance we always look at operations we look at the oversight uh
049history of the school we look at any tiered interventions but we always start with the academics that's where we always start. I do want to note um and that's why you can see in the criterion as developed by law that is should be the focus is is is the the program it's the sound educational program it's the it's the petition that's comprehensive that leads to a sound educational program these are all connected right you have a strong petition you implement a strong petition that could uh should have a sound educational program and then you should be able to implement that sound educational program um so that's all related to the educational program That's criterion one. Criterion two, back to the educational program, we look at the performance levels. Depending on the performance category, there's analysis
050based on academic data. So, we look at the academic data. So, there's an it's focused on academic data and then we look at other factors. I will note for criterion three um that can stand on its own. So if you do have potentially a school who is doing let's say well academically meeting criteria if you have if they if they have significant and that's an important point significant fiscal and or governance issue or any significant discriminatory practices that could be a basis for denial even if you had a strong educational program. Um there is some notification requirements around that if you are going to consider denial for school under criterion three notification requirements time for the allows time for the charter school to respond and provide a plan and such but as you can see
051as I just broke down the criterion one two is all about the instructional program but we do want to ensure in health and safety factors that their governance that they're they're following all the requirements under you know Brown act for their governance stakeholder resp you know having um due process suspension. So we look at everything totality but yes the focus is primarily on the academics per the law. >> Right. So what would be considered significant would be can you provide some examples of what constitutes a significant factor? >> Yeah ane example of a significant fiscal uh issue would be let's say the school is no longer fiscally viable viable. So maybe they have um some positive academic outcomes, but they are declining in enrollment and we are concerned about their overall fiscal health and that
052they may not be able to continue on basically continue on the school because of their fiscal health. That would be a significant fiscal concern. We definitely don't want, you know, a school to have any concerns about having not being able to have to close partway through the year or something because they can't make their bills, let's say, right? So that's like a viable fiscal viable that would be concerning. Um that would rise to a level of a potential denial. >> What about for governance? >> Governance concerns would probably be kind of around I'll give you an example. Let's say you have a school that's not um uh for not providing special ed services or not implementing the special ed program. Ultimately the governing board is responsible for what's happening on that um on that school.
053So if you had major operational type issues that were resulting in impact to students that would could be a potential governance issue or a conflict of interest if it was identified a significant conflict of interest was was part uh was it was there that could be a significant governance issue. Um I I I know why my question for page six I I remember what my question is. Um the list of resident schools will be included in board members when used. So what determines when the resident schools is going to be used for in the renewal analysis? It's used when we So we'll go back to the initial well um if you look on page uh or slide four back there to show. Okay. Whoops. Let me move one. Okay. So, I I I want to
054bring this slide up because this is where we start, right? Right. So, we start with um and middle performing schools. This is for middle performing schools. We look at the dashboard. Well, we'll look we look at the dashboard compared to state for all schools, but the middle performing schools I'm going to focus on because that has where we get to the resident school medium. So we look at the schoolwide performance and the student group performance as compared to the state. Some charter schools they might be higher than the state um in most of the areas for a majority of the years. And we would consider that a in their academic areas which I said ELA, math, LP and CCI. And so a school like that they may meet renewal criteria based on their dashboard uh
055comparison to the state their dashboard performance. So that's like the first look. Then we also um and and as I said greater weight to the academic indicators we got to focus on those four three or four depending on kind of schools. And then it's kind of the second look the verified data. And so that's the the what we look at too. We all if it verified data is submitted regardless of the performance on the dashboard we consider it. We'll consider the verified data. But let's say a school performance compared to the state um you know they have they they aren't they aren't as high as a state. they're lower than the state, let's say. Um and um then and it's mixed results, let's say. Then we look at verified data. And verified data is are
056you growing the students? Are students making progress? And that's the use of the I Ready, let's say the NWA. And so we look at it's a measurable increases and so we look at the verified data. Okay. So maybe the dashboard compared to the state we have um some low lower areas. We look at the verified data and and it's usually provided for ELA and math, but oh, they've made growth for two years in a row for schoolwide and all their student groups based on the verified data, that would be clear and convincing to us and we would stop our analysis there because that's the criteria. But if indeed let's say we had a school who wasn't as strong as dashboard, their verified data was not clear and convincing and it could be they didn't meet
057growth or there was participation rate concerns or they only gave us one year then we would drop down which we do our further analysis. And sometimes let's say a school maybe is really strong in ELA but math isn't so strong. And so we would do a further analysis. let's see how they're doing compared to the resident schools. So that's when we do the resident schools after we've done the dashboard state the verified data and if that is not does not meet renewal criteria then we drop down to the resident school comparison. Um so on the pending legislation um if it's not successful if and verified data provisions for middle performing schools expire on January 2026 can you clarify how renewals would be evaluated beyond this cycle? >> Well that's a yeah >> would that mean
058relying more on postsecary outcomes or how would the board um weigh the dash or your office weigh the dashboard indicators against clear and convincing um evidence? Yeah, that's a really good question and we've been we've been looking at that. So essentially it would post let me clarify too post-secondary is considered verified data. It's just a uh verified data shorts that looks at a different data point for high school. So that is part of the verified data umbrella. So if verified data was to expire um that would be also not included. We would look start with the dashboard of course because that's required and then we would have to assess you know we do have um some the growth data available from the state we that might be in consideration. We're going to have to work
059with the office of general counsel to determine with the removal or verified data what that is going to look like. So we're still working through that and and we're monitoring that legislation as well. But right now it would just be removed from the law. So it would just be the the dashboard comparison. >> Um from this year's changes to the resident school's median process. Um its aim is to improve transparency, right? By sharing the school list with petitioners earlier and aligning grade levels. From an oversight perspective, how do you see these changes helping to build trust with families and communities in the renewal process? I'm well we're hoping um that just to be more transparent and provide additional information um that that we that that they can see where we're how we're getting where our
060data like how we're getting a median from. So we're hoping that these transparency pieces and this information will build trust not only with uh stakeholders, our charter partners for just to say you know show all the data basically. Um, and we had that, you know, we were using the median, it was accurate, but we want to be very transparent and these are all the schools and this is the median. And so there's no question about it in addition to the other pieces that we're we're doing as far as the magnet programs and such. >> Yeah. On that magnet, could you just go back on and explaining uh the magnet consideration um just so I I get that clear on um >> Yeah, let me get to that. It's page on page on page. >> Sorry
061about that. Okay, there we go. >> Yeah, just one more time on um the uh taking um not using magnet programs. >> So, well, so there's so magnet programs. So, district schools have magnet programs, all different kinds of magnet programs, environmental science. My my my both my sons attended a magnet program in the district at um King. Um and so it's but when we look at their data, it's embedded in the whole school data. there's there's no way we worked with ODA and talked with them to extract any of that particular program data from the whole school data. So magnet program data regardless of the type of magnet is part of the whole school data. So um and Elserino is another one that has a gifted money. So we when we said talk compare Elserino
062we're still going to compare to Elserino. So what we're going to do though is we're going to identify this school. Let's say Elsino because I know it does have a gifted maggot. Elser Arena Middle School will still be on the list just like it was I mean just like we use that as a comparison school. Um but we will identify gifted magnet and the percentage of schools in that magnet. It's just to provide full transparency and understanding. Um because sometimes there's um you know thoughts that maybe oh the comparison's not apples to apples because you know we know gifted maggots and that's why we're focusing on the criterionbased magnet programs where you need an identification for the gifted or the highly gifted in order to attend that magnet. So that's our focus because charter schools
063don't have magnets. they don't have they're not criterionbased. They don't have any criteria set forth prior to attending their school. So we just we don't you know a lot of these schools for example let's say an Elserino for example 20 it's about 20% of the schools are in that gifted magnet. Um and so we just want to point that out. I also want to make a note though that all schools have either a gifted program right or serve students high high achieving students. Um so that so all schools are doing that either through a gifted either through a gifted magnet it could be an SAS school for advanced studies program or it can just be you have a gifted program. All schools need to service high high achiever high achievers whether they're identified as gifts
064or not. Charter schools have to do that as well. They have to identify in their petition how they're going to serve as high achieving learners. Um they don't are not required to identify gifted students or have student programs. It they're not required. It's per their petition whether they're going to do it or not. But they have to show how they're serving high achieving students. that's required. So I just want to make that clarification that we know gifted students exist all throughout schools um sometimes whether identified or not but so but we just want to full provide full transparency. Hey this particular district school does have this gifted magnet or highly gifted magnet as part of the whole school and about 20% of the students are in that magnet. Just so everybody is aware and understands
065what that resident school population is. Feel like I have another question on that, but you know, um I I'll save it for later. Um Miss I don't know if uh Miss Tanya Ortiz Franklin is on it or has any questions or want to weigh in on the presentation. Nope. Okay. Is she there? Oh, I guess she's not there. Okay. Um, okay. Well, thank you so much for this presentation. Um, I appreciate, um, clarifying the changes and moving forward for the new renewals and we'll keep an eye out on on that legislation, see how that's going to impact, uh, the renewal process or the analysis of the petitions. >> Okay, >> perfect. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. >> Um, so now, thank you. Um, we will move
066on to public comment. Um, as a reminder, each speaker will have up to two minutes. Your voices and perspectives are vital to this process, and we deeply appreciate um our public speakers for taking the time to participate um on this committee. Um so, yes. So, Mr. McClean. >> All right, here we go. So, each speaker has two minutes to speak once they begin. As usual, I'll call on the folks who listed themselves as being in person and then we will transition to those as listing themselves as being remote. Looks like most of the folks are in person today. Um, Yoska Mayorga, come on up. The first spot and then after Mayorga is Niko Ruvulkaba and then Dr. Julie Troleti. So, come on up Yoshka Mayorga and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin.
067Um, so Nico, he'll be the one speaking. >> This is my wife here. >> Okay. Who Who's >> Nico? >> Okay. So, I just want to make sure you just get each one of you gets two minutes or one of you gets two minutes. He'll >> speak. I I'll I'll go ahead and speak >> for for the two minutes. Okay. So, I can free up a slot is what I'm getting at because you're both Okay, great. >> Correct. >> Thank you for coming. >> Of course. Uh, good afternoon, esteemed board. Thank you for allowing us to speak today. Um before coming to Granada Hills charter both of our children uh were struggling in school. My daughter and son felt unsupported and both were failing. My daughter often felt disconnected and sometimes would come withdrawal withdrawal
068and uh quiet from school. Uh at GHC everything changed. My daughter graduated last year and is now thriving in her first year of college. Uh the structure the structured curriculum and supported teachers prepared her academically and gave her the confidence and healthy friendships and she now feels that she has a voice. Uh my son is now in eighth grade. He's attended GHC 6th, 7th and 8th and um from the very beginning the teachers showed genuine care. Uh I even remember this time where uh multiple teachers, not one, not two, not three, but four teachers came together to to help him with the success plan. That's something that me and my wife, we were we were shocked. Um it seemed like they had a genuine care and I attribute it to the um the powerful charter
069model that they have. Um the the flexibility they they have that they've designed special programs around students needs and ability to innovate and the culture of accountability they fostered. They allow teachers to truly invest in each child. It feels somewhat like a private school in terms of their care and quality but with the accessibility of a public school. Um my my son himself for the first time he speaks positively about school and about his teachers. He's focused, happy, and motivated. Um, I just wanted to thank you guys for supporting a school that has changed the trajectory of my son and my daughter's life. >> Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate your time. >> Okay, Dr. Julie T, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak. Why don't you begin? >>
070Hello and thank you. My name is Dr. Julie Trilleti and I'm the proud principal of Inenium Charter Middle School in Waneka. I want to share a snapshot of why I choose to spend every day, week, month, and year with the amazing staff and students at ICMS. With an over 90% unduplicated count, our students are primarily socioeconomically disadvantaged Hispanic Spanish speakers who come to us with different stories, backgrounds, and experiences that are so vastly different than my own from when I was an LUSD student. My students have been homeless, unaccompanied minors held in immigration detention centers. They have been sent to America by parents wanting a better life for them. They are children of gang members. They are children of incarcerated parents and brothers and sisters of incarcerated siblings. They've they have experienced food insecurities and
071have witnessed the consequences of drug and alcohol abuse. My students enter ICMS scared, scarred, defensive, and traumatized by the experiences of their young lives. At ICMS, we believe that a mind in crisis cannot learn. Whether it be from hunger, trauma, or uncertainty. As a speaker on addressing trauma in the classroom, I train my staff on recognizing trauma and meeting students where they are at both emotionally and academically. Since COVID, we have been focusing on the mental health of our students and the effect it has had on student learning. Collaborating with teachers, dean of student, my school psychologist and my school counselor, we have created systems to help ICMS feel like a safe haven for our kids. Students know they are trusted. They are with trusted adults and neither their experiences nor their zip codes define
072them. We help them become the person they want to become. Thank you so much. >> Thank you for your time. Gina Hargins, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. And then after Miss Hargins is Ella Ronson and then Greg Perez. Thank you. Hello, I'm Jennia Hargins, the principal at Stella Middle Charter Academy established in 2003. It's the first of nine Brightar schools across Los Angeles. At Stella Middle, we ensure every student is safe, known, and engaged through our three key features. our whole student approach, rigorous standardsbased learning and by championing equity. Brightar is has a model uh in which our counselors are there for every single grade level, one for per grade level to support students socio emotionally. They for nearly two two decades. We ensure that they get to
073find joy and fulfillment in higher education, career and life, including Stella Cluster scholars graduating with both a high school diploma and associates degree at no cost, making a huge impact for our low-income community. Stella Middle's got three big truths. Our students perform better than if our school were not an option. We provide better outcomes for most of our subgroups. And the longer SMCA students are with us, the better they perform academically. With 96% parent satisfaction at SMCA, our families choose us because of these academic outcomes as well as our socioeotional learning program and our Hallmark Brightar life experience lesson trips like taking our sixth graders to Catalina Island for a STEM experience and our eighth graders to Washington DC. as equity champions. Stella middle scholars use their voices to create change like fifth graders advocating
074for upholding universal decoration of human rights or eighth grade students um ensuring that children in the community receive toys at wintertime to uphold the value of integrity that this is just a snapshot of our three schools going through our renewal process including Stella Middle Charter Academy, Rise Coyang Elementary School, and Valor Academy High School. Last year, Stella Elementary's charter was successfully renewed, and we hope to um be able to provide quality educational experiences for them through Stella Middle. We would love to host you and your staff at our campus to see how our schools thrive. >> Thank you for your time, Etsel. >> Good afternoon. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. My name is Itel Ronson and I'm the assistant principal of operations at Alliance Burden Techch High School. Today I'm not speaking
075to you as an AP, but as a little girl who once started her educational career at Charles W. Barrett Elementary School. I continued in charter school for my middle school at Skirball and a high school at Burton Tech. But most importantly, I ended up in UCLA, a school I never thought I could attend, where I became the first person in my family to graduate from college. Each of those schools and each of those communities shaped the person I am today. As a student, I experienced the unwavering commitment that Alliance and other charter schools have for our kids. The support opened doors for me and now I have the privilege of giving that same belief and encouragement back to the next generation. Every day I see myself in our students. I had the same hopes, the
076same challenges and most importantly the same potential. I also want to take a moment to recognize our board members specifically our board member Tanya Franklin Ortiz and also Dr. Rosia Rivz. What an honor, doctor. That is incredible. In a time when many of our students and families are facing fear, you both have led with compassion, you've shown our families that they not only have a voice, but they have power to advocate. Thank you for reminding us that what kind leadership looks like and most importantly for reminding us of what is possible when the center of our work is our students and families. It also makes me incredibly proud to see both Charter and LUSD standing side by side with our students. In a world where division is often pushed, we are showing what is possible
077when we choose unity, collaboration, and the well-being of our kids above all else. During Hispanic Heritage Month, I am especially proud of the journey of my family and so many others who come before me. Our stories, our resilience, and our dreams are what makes our schools and our communities great. Thank you. >> Thank you for your time, Greg Perez. And then after Greg is Dwayne Washington, and then Casey Kokenda, >> come on down. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Thank you. >> Uh good afternoon board. My name is Greg Bettis and I have the privilege of serving as the community schools coordinator at Alliance Burden Tech. Um, I'm also a proud product of LUSD as a student. I remember in high school having um some really great teachers that actually changed a
078trajectory of my my life. Um, which led to them actually put having me pursue a position as a teacher assistant at uh Henry Tage uh middle school. That role was my first job in L USD. Also, growing up in high school, I was awarded the court, so I know firsthand what it feels like to be um underresourced and overlooked. Those experiences not only shaped my childhood, they shaped my purpose today. Um, it g it gave me the conviction to make sure no students feel unseen and that every young person has the support and opportunity opportunities they need to thrive. At Burden Tech, you know, I've been leading the community schools and I think with this this model has really opened my eyes to seeing it beyond a school but seeing as community. I think often
079times there is a lot of division. Every time I turn on a an app or see something I see a lot of divisiveness in our in our country in our city and it's unfortunate and I think right now through this model of community schools which we have in Ali and an alliance burden tech a a lot of schools this is the initiative that can really help uplift and bridge us together and really stand on solidarity and unity. So my message today is that when today when we come together as charter districts, schools and communities, we create much more capacity, more opportunity for our communities. And if we think about communities first and not just as individual school sites, I think we all win. Um so today is just really an expression of appreciation for the
080work everybody is doing and to continue to really value solidarity and unity for our kids. I drive past many schools when I'm going to work and I don't think about I just serve Burden Tech. I'm supposed to serve our community and all schools. So, thank you. >> Thank you for your time. >> Okay, Dwayne Washington, come on up, sir. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. >> Good afternoon. My name is Dwayne Washington, and it's truly an honor to stand here before you as a proud principal at Watts Learning Center Charter Middle School. I'm proud to be a part of a rich legacy that has been serving the Watts community for almost two decades. Watch Learning Center Charter Middle School uh is in many ways the roads that grow from concrete. A school
081that blossomed despite challenges. Watch Learning Center's organization has become the beacon of hope, excellence, and opportunity for many families in the community. Our founders, Mr. Eugene Fischer and his wife, Dr. Sandra Fischer envisioned a place where children could thrive. Their story has been powerful. So powerful that a documentary has been created about their work uh called a school that grows in Watts. The document the documentary is not just about their journey but serves as inspiration as a blueprint to how to replicate success uh for schools uh in our community. as principal is my privilege to carry on their tradition that has made the school a success uh as well as build and create new ones to prepare our scholars for the future. At Watts Learning Center, our purpose is clear to improve the quality of
082life for our community. Watts Learning Center is not just a safe place for students to learn and grow, but a place to become curious and thrive. We challenge our scholars every day to take pride in themselves and their school, both academically as dedicated scholars, but also um ethically as responsible citizens. For example, this weekend we are hosting a Watts learning center community cleanup uh with our student leaders, parents, staff, and community partner partners. Together, we are literally walking the walk, rolling up our sleeves, and getting our hands dirty, cleaning up the surrounding areas around our school to improve the quality of life for our community and beyond. As I close, I'd like to say thank you and let you know how humbled and grateful I am to be a part of this powerful organization. Thank
083you. >> Thank you for your time. I'll note, as the audience can see, Miss Tanya Ortiz Franklin has been with us for a few moments. Um, so everybody's aware. And did she have some questions? >> Yeah, I have to. >> Okay, gotcha. All right. Uh, Miss Coenda, Casey Coenda. >> You're waving. Okay, great. I'll make a note. Um, next speaker is Justine Gonzalez. >> Okay, Justine Gonzalez is also waved from the audience. It's this may seem duplicative, but I'm saying it into the mic so that when we record this, the voice can kind of go through me because nobody can hear the audience. Uh, Terrence Wright, come on down. Mr. Wright, you'll have two minutes to speak. Won't you begin? And then Laora Himenez. Good afternoon. Uh, hello. I'm Terrence Wright, the principal in New
084Los Angeles Charter Middle School in Mid City. Today I'm going to share about our mentoring program where everybody belongs. Where everybody belongs or web is our sixth grade orientation program that began last year and has completely changed our school culture. During the summer, a team of 24 eighth grade students are trained to lead a sixth grade orientation that is full of team building activities to welcome our incoming sixth grade class and help them feel comfortable before the first day of school. Throughout the year, these web leaders meet with their small group to mentor them on topics essential to middle to the middle school experience such as healthy coping skills, bullying prevention, inclusion, study skills, and more. Most importantly, web has ignited a culture of leadership among our eighth grade students, pushing them to be the
085best version of themselves for those who are coming after them. Throughout the year, they come out of their comfort zone and build confidence by introducing themselves to new people, planning events for our school community. Web truly strives to make sure all students believe they belong to our school community. Um before I close, um our school counselor, Miss Cobdo, uh she leads this initiative. She wasn't able to be here, so I'm stepping in for her, but I really wish she was here with me. um what she's done with our counseling program, making sure that every single student in our school knows her, sees her. She does one-on-one uh check-ins with every single student. She knows them very well and make sure that our staff also know who our students are so we can best support them.
086Her work in general has been very transformative for not just our students, but also for our staff um and our families. So, thank you board for letting me share a little bit about this important program and its positive impact on our school community. Thank you. >> Thank you for your time. Uh, La Jimenez, come on down. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. >> Thank you. Good afternoon, members of the board. My name is Laura Himenez, and I am a parent of a student at Logan Academy. I'm here today because I'm deeply concerned about how the Gabriella Charter School's use of our campus space has for years negatively impacted Logan Academy students and staff. When outside schools take over classrooms, hallways, and facilities, it creates serious disruptions. Our children lose access to essential
087spaces for learning, enrichment, and community building. Even simple things like where students line up, play, particularly during sunny days when shade is not abundant. Eat or eat lunch have become more difficult. Drop off and pickup traffic is another challenge due to lack of space. The campus is always in need of cleaning which is ultimately done only by Logan. Logan Academy is a community school that serves neighborhood children. Our kids should not have to be deprived of the muchneeded space. Sharing space in this way disadvantages our students and staff and it sends the wrong message that public school students are less important than outside programs. I urge the board to reconsider how location agreements are handled and to please prioritize needs of Logan Academy students first. Our children deserve a stable, supportive, and fully available campus.
088Please protect our school community and ensure Logan Academy can thrive without losing space to outside schools. Thank you. Thank you for your time. All right, Evadne White, are you here? Avad, I may have mispronounced that name. Okay. And then Mr. David Tokovski, are you here? Are you behind behind that pillar? >> I see you. Come on up. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. And then after Mr. Tokovski is Ava Divas. >> Thank you very much. And the two board members hopefully you're envisioning the post uh confrontational world uh with respect uh to the learning that goes on in charters and collocations and envisioning a world in which both charters and district are losing enrollment so significantly. Last night I celebrated with the Green Dot uh Union Charter Schools um CTA 25 years
089and yet uh they just had a protest in front by the teachers. It was not a picket line, but it was a protest. They uh got about a 3 or 4% pay raise and there was some concern there. But that's democracy. Number two, Broadway Elementary School. I I don't understand why that's not a celebratory moment. There are 500 kids on a green dot animo on the campus. There is a Spanish immersion and a Mandarin immersion that add up to another almost 600. There's,00 kids on a campus that 20 years ago was down to 140 kids. It should be studied as an example of what good things could happen uh with collocation with bringing kids in from other districts. as you get the positive, the middle, and the low ground. It's going to be interesting if,
090in fact, Ocean Charter and Renaissance Arts come in as positive. Both of those schools do not use the curriculum design of LA Unified. They're doing what the charter law allowed, which was to envision different ways of approaching learning, and yet they're scoring at the highest level. It's important to look at those things. And similarly, as you develop issues of of land use for housing, I think it's also important to envision at Collins Elementary School or the Fairfax land that it also ought to be not the confrontation we saw at Brightar, which was housing that still has not happened and isn't on the list of the housing and a Turner school. We ought to be envisioning how to strengthen public space, parks, senior settings, uh, uh, schools, uh, cultural affairs, all sorts of opportunities to reinvision
091public space, uh, and make Al Gore very happy. Thank you. >> Thank you for your time. Uh, Eva, uh, Rias, come on down. You have two minutes to speak. Why don't you begin? And then we have two folks who listed themselves as calling in and then a few questions from board member Ortiz Franklin. >> Good afternoon. Afternoon board members. The first thing I want to say is that um things haven't been clear uh when it comes to uh informing the community and letting them know when um Gabriella Charter School is going to have an increase in students. Uh this meeting I just learned two days ago. So we need to have more information when um the community needs to be involved when it comes to meetings and information. Um second um we have the right
092to choose. I heard comments from one side I heard comments from the other and everybody has a right to be part of what they want to be. uh in this case we didn't we didn't choose we were uh forced to take uh a charter school into our school like more than 10 years ago and that has been affecting us and you can hear the comments from one side and the comments from the other but everybody has the right to choose. Um, how do we feel? Cuz I had three kids that that um started um a school in kindergarten. Three. And how do we feel? We feel like somebody came to our house and is taking over everything. It's taking every everything um the resources that belong to us is being taken away. And that person
093doesn't want to go out. Right? That's the way my kids feel because they started kinder all the way through eight and I still have some uh little ones. Um something that um I'm sorry. So we already know how has impacted us but we need a solution uh that our kids have rights just like them but this is our house and we need them to leave. It's time for them to leave. They make a lot of money. They owe us a lot of money. Thank you. >> Thank you for your time. All right. We have caller Steven Manduk. Stephen M. Please press star six to unmute yourself and you have two minutes to speak once you begin. Stephen Manduk or Manduk. >> Hi Stephen. I see you're online with us. >> Great. Thank you so much.
094Good afternoon. My name is Steven Menduk and I'm the school director at Arts and Action Community Middle School. Arts and Action focuses on integrating the arts through social justice. Arts and Action reflects the East Los Angeles community. Almost 100% of our students are Latino and 95% are classified as lowincome. However, Arts and Action is also unique in East Los Angeles in that 28% of our students have disabilities and almost 15% of our students are classified as homeless. Arts and Action has become known in the community for supporting our most vulnerable students. In fact, local LA USD schools have referred struggling students to our program where those same students have thrived. Last year, we were able to show significant growth on the CASP in both math and English. And our internal I Ready data shows that
095kids were growing on average a grade level and a half each school year. Even so, the dashboard doesn't tell the full story of the transformative work we have done in integrating social justice activism and culturally responsive practices within our school community. Our work is even more critical during a time when threats from our federal government have created a culture of fear for most of our most vulnerable families. We host immigration workshops, we serve as voting centers, and we serve as vaccination clinics. While the work is challenging, we have created a joyful and inclusive school campus where students and families belong. I know that your work is not easy and that you serve many schools. However, on behalf of schools like ours, I ask that during renewals, you consider the stories behind the data and visit
096schools before making recommendations on charter policies and renewals. Your presence at Arts and Action would be especially meaningful during a time when our East Los Angeles community is being disproportionately impacted by ICE raids and hateful anti-immigration rhetoric. We would love to share our practices with you because we know that the work we do with our families and students is making a difference. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you for your time. Let's see. The next caller is Amy Burfield. You're signed up to speak remotely, but I don't have you signed in. Are you in the room, Amy Burfield? No. And how about Allison Elaine Van? Allison Ela Van, you're signed up to speak remotely, >> but I don't have you signed in. Are you in the room? No. Allison Ela Van. So, that concludes
097the public comment portion. >> Thank you, Mr. McClean. Um, so board member Ortiz Franklin does have a few questions for you. Miss Mara Wilmont, if you don't mind coming back to the podium so she can um, you know, go ahead. >> I'm so sorry. I think because the other meetings were at one, our our team was a little confused and so I apologize deeply, but I appreciate you um, taking the time and um, uh, I won't take too much of of anybody's time, I promise. Um, I wanted to ask uh, a couple of quick things. one is about the number of renewals coming this year and I've shared this a little bit um with staff internally but just you know for the public can you help us think through you know what to expect over
098the next couple of months I think next month we've got like 43 charters coming including you know the public hearing and those for action like 35 in November it's just a lot of items do you anticipate us adding any more meetings or um how has the team thought through how we can you know use our limited time to be fair with all of the really big decisions that are coming before us. >> Well, thank you for that question. Um, as to the number of renewals, you are correct. There is a large number of renewals. Um we are expecting um as we said 18 renewals at the October 14th meeting in addition to the public hearing the first public hearing the 60-day public hearing as we call it um for the November items which is 25.
099So, um there are a lot of items um as you know due to um the the the postponement due to the lack of data there we're now in we didn't have renewals for several years and so now we're in they postponed them and now we're doing them and so it's kind of created this bubble right now this year and also next year. Um and as far as additional meetings um at this time I'm not aware of adding any additional board meetings. It will be held been be at the regular board meeting. Okay. And I know we've talked about this and maybe this is also for Mr. McClean and the superintendent's team. Um just as we're preparing, I think, you know, as full-time board members, if we do need to take more time, I think several
100of us would be open to that. Um what I worry about is that the charters that come earlier in the meeting, we'll have our full attention and then later in the meeting as you know, board members get hungry for dinner and need to respond to our own families that we won't have the same level of involvement. And so, you know, I would just ask the charter school division, the board secretariat's office, the superintendent's team to really think through um our equitable like process over the next few um months as we go through all of these renewals. And some of that might be in your preparation working with, you know, who's coming and um you know, how many are being recommended for renewal versus any that are not, if any are borderline, or you anticipate board
101member questions and comments going a little later. I just I'm asking for you know a lot of collaboration here so that everybody gets you know the the fair shot that they deserve. >> Let me also good afternoon board member and thank you for those notes. Um I'll just add that there have been conversations leading up to the this year's renewals and we're revisiting uh those conversations given the numbers with the offices you indicated. Um, so further information there as to any updates, but please know that those conversations uh have occurred will continue to occur uh to try to be as uh streamlined but fair as possible pursuant to law and policy. Thank you. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. And congrats on your new role. I don't know if you've been public, you know, in
102this position since then, both of you. Um, okay. Two other quick ones. You know, I actually think the resident school comparison is helpful for um non-charter schools as well. And so I wondered when the um statewide data becomes unimaroed this September, October, whenever it's actually coming out um for this year, is that information we could just share with our own schools um so that they know, you know, how they're doing to compared to one another. I think both traditional and charter schools. I think it's just an annual good practice for us to share you know what are the choices available to students in a particular neighborhood whether it's you know whatever model of school it is charter you know affiliated independent community school magnet school district school like there are so many choices for families
103um the resident um school comparison is a great tool that I wish we could just make more broadly available so I don't know if the team has thought about this and maybe Jose this is also with Carolyn I know you have like a broader strategic planning kind of group. Um but I would um share that as an idea to consider um just so that we are you know learning from each other but also really giving our families the best information available. So I don't know if you have comments on that. If not that's okay. I just wanted to throw that out there. >> Thank you. Let us take that back for further consideration. Thank you. >> Great. And then my last one um I think we don't have a lot of high-erforming schools. Um, uh,
104I don't know if there's just one this year. Um, maybe Dr. Rivas, this is for the committee to consider, but I'd love to learn from them. Um, I think maybe we had one last year. Um, so I don't know if we're we're making space for presentations, but at some point, um, I'd love to learn, you know, what they're doing to be in that really top tier that lots of our schools would love to be in, too. Um, so whether it's through, you know, the CSD's renewal process and you get like a few highlights or nuggets, um, I would just love to, you know, share some of those best practices that we could be, you know, learning a little bit more broadly from. And it doesn't have to be in a public space like this. It
105could be if if there's space for the committee to have a presentation or it could just be like a one page of highlights of, you know, here's what they're doing that the district might consider um, as we, you know, think about improving all of our schools. So that's my my last you know idea question uh thought for the day but just generally you know looking forward to um uh lots of discussion this year about our um schools with some flexibilities and uh I know the board will have um a lot coming before us. So appreciate the charter school division taking on so much. I know you all are going to be doing a lot with our charter partners and preparing for those um renewal meetings. So just uh thank you and um thanks for the
106presentation and the time today. >> Thank you. Thank you for letting me come up here. >> Yeah, I did want to address one piece of what you said about the um high performing school sharing. We do have um in our policy that they are to add to their petitions how they are sharing promising practices and then we do collect that information as to what promising practice they identify. Um so that is part of our that is part of our policy and part of what we do when we are evaluating and renewing a high performing charter school. >> Oh, that's great. Awesome. Well, looking forward to that then. Thank you. Thanks, Dr. Grievous for letting me come on at the end. >> Yes, no worries. Um, yeah, thank you for mentioning that because I was going
107to mention I know this part of policy and I know there was a resolution that um then board member Goldberg me you know added that to make sure that we're collecting the best practices and also to share. So definitely would um look into doing a presentation whenever you all are ready to do a presentation on that. Um okay well that is we have come to the end um of our uh the first um charter school meeting of the u this academic year. So once again I I do um want to thank the staff at the charter school division you our new director Miss Mara Wilmont uh for your dedication and your staff as well everyone that works in the charter school division for your tireless work. It is a lot of work analyzing all of
108these charters. So, um um I we do appreciate all that you all are doing. Um because I don't think people realize all the steps, all the oversight and visits and analysis and the data, everything you have to comb through to get us um those reports and also to obviously share with the the charters as well so they can u view the reports prior to the board meeting. So, we do appreciate all of your work. I do also want to say um thank you to our labor partners and the um the the community schools that came to speak before us. Uh we hear you. We've taken notes and we will take that back that information and your experiences um to the charter school division and also to um in consideration um to to just know that
109we hear you and we understand what you're going through. Um so um as we begin this school year, I want to express that um this committee I remain committed to continuing this work with integrity, with purpose and unwavering focus for all students for the success of all of our students within within the district. So thank you again for your time and participation today. Uh this meeting is now adjourned. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. [Music]