001[Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Good morning all. The time is now 10:30 on September 3rd, 2025. Welcome to this special meeting of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, including close session items. I'm going to take a role. Miss Newell, >> present. >> Dr. Rivas, >> present. >> Mr. Meline, >> uh, Miss Grigo, >> here. >> Miss Gomez, >> here. >> Miss Ortiz Franklin. >> Uh, board president, >> present. >> And I see Mr. Melvin is here. And I see the superintendent is here. >> Okay. I'm going to report out on the purpose and authority for today's meeting. I'll read the today's purpose and authority for the meeting and then we'll take uh public comment and then the board will recess into close session and I'm going to read it slowly for
002our translations folks. Uh under tab one conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation under government code section 54956.9. There's one case under tab two personnel pursuant to government code section 54957. There is public employment uh for chief financial officer and deputy chief procurement officer in the superintendence evaluation. Under tab 3 conference with labor negotiators pursuant to government code section 54957.6. The negotiator is Dr. Murphy and the employee organizations represented are Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Teamsters 2010, California School Employees Association, Los Angeles County Building and Construction Trades Council, Los Angeles School Police Association, Los Angeles School Police Management Association, Service Employees International, SEIU, Local 99, Teamsters, United Teachers Los Angeles, and District Represented Employees and Contract Management Personnel. Uh the negotiator for uh is Miss Nevera Reid for the uh unrepresented employees chief financial officer and
003deputy chief procurement officer. Now we will go directly into item specific comment and the first individual signed up to speak is Mr. David Tokovski. I think I saw you in the audience Mr. Tokovski. There you are. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. I'm speaking on potential litigation. As you know, the test scores in the virtual schools of LA Unified are abysmal. They're damaging to children's education. Their equity, the equal opportunity. You need to take a look at those and see if there is a point of litigation that you could pursue against the federal government for its damaging children's education by creating an atmosphere of fear in which they are taking refuge in the Florida virtual schools or whatever standards are being used because the achievement
004level if you look at it just for a second math and is three standard deviations below the districts. Even though the district has improved in general, the virtual schools are pretty damaging. Uh the state budget, you're bringing on your new new or re renewed uh CBO today. Um, have you formed with the governor? We're we're now at the point even though we're finishing up legislation, we're now at the point making asks from President I mean governor uh who is pursuing visibility when the Trump administration's cutting and damaging education. He's pursuing education. And this is a perfect time to be speaking about agenda items, hundreds of millions of dollars to put on his agenda uh for his January announcement, which will be done roughly uh Thanksgiving time. And finally, um counterintuitive. It took me a long
005time. I know enrollment is really important in a school system, but Prop 98 gets little discussion and little understanding. If you look at LA Unifi's budget over the last 10 years, the amount of money LA Unified has received from the state has grown each and every year grown. It's increasing. And the number of students is decreasing. When the students decline, it doesn't mean you get less money. You get money based on Prop 98. That means you're getting more money per children, per child, which is roughly about $25,000 a kid. Now, it was about 10,000 when I sat in your place. And so, you need to look at that growth of revenue and when you talk to your CBO, see if he understands Prop 98. >> Thank you for your time. The next individual signed up
006to speak to Tab One is Cozette. Cozette is not signed in online right now. Are you in the room, Coette? >> Not here. >> Okay, we'll go directly to tab two. Personnel, uh, we have, uh, Matt Wley calling in. So, please press star six to unmute yourself, Mr. Wley. You have two minutes to speak. Why don't you begin? Matt Breley. I see you're on the line with us, Mr. Rley. >> Yes. Good morning. I'm sorry. I was just unmuting. Good morning, board. Uh just calling in again about the uh superintendent evaluation here. I uh Matt Raley from Broadway Elementary and other schools in the district. um wanted to talk briefly about how really the decisions that the superintendent has made have you know while well-intentioned maybe have not always been to the advantage of all
007the students around specifically you may be getting some misguided information from folks in district west which I know many of my parent counterparts have spoken about. I would really recommend that the board emphasize with the superintendent when they deliver his review that he needs to listen to all of the stakeholders and that if he makes a mistake, he should be allowed to fix that mistake. We're still reeling at Broadway Elementary from the poor decision made by the superintendent and by his staff to get rid of Michelle Garmin as our principal. It's not the the way it was. And really, it's an opportunity for us to hopefully set course right here for us to keep Broadway as one of the top schools. Broadway is the top language immersion school in Los Angeles Unified. Why would we
008not want to continue down the path of of making Broadway one of the best schools? Please make sure to focus on allowing him the grace to correct these mistakes and allow him to get this fixed over at Broadway. We really are still reeling quite a bit. Thank you. >> Thank you for your time. Uh looks like Cozette is now online with us. Cozette, please press star six to unmute yourself and you have two minutes to speak once you begin to tab one. Cozette. >> Okay. Thank you board for your time. My name is Cozette and my child is a student in LA USD. I'd like to reflect on past lawsuits that illustrate the need to foster equity towards the Asian community on Mandarin language students and their families remain neglected by the district. One notable
009case focused on harassment and bullying. After reports emerged that administration had not properly addressed incidences, the settlement led to special programs and training to ensure a safer school environment. Yet, MI families have been bullied by an eccentric parent through illegal recordings and harassment which we've complained about but have not heard back. Additionally, lawsuits were settled relating to overcrowding in schools. Concerns were raised about inadequate facilities which impacted learning experiences. L USD committed to infrastructure improvements. The class cap is supposedly 20, but our Mandarin students remain in class sizes of 25 plus each year with no TA support from the district. Currently, LA USD is facing litigation over alleged misuse of 77 million, redirecting funds meant to hire new arts teachers to other expenses. Likewise, our forensic accounting team found similar redirection of funds intended for
010students at Broadway that were illegally spent on other initiatives, showing disregard for our Asian community and devaluing our Mandarin students as though they don't deserve the funds allocated to them by law. Yesterday, I became aware of the ACLU's letter to LA USD regarding the district's attempt to silence Broadway parents. Agnes Camal violated our First Amendment rights when she forbade us from using social media or the Broadway name in unofficial conversations. These lawsuits serve as a reminder to hold the powers that be accountable. The district preaches about access to educational resources in underserved communities. Yet, the issue of systemic of systemic Asian hate led by Lydia Kasa Stevens must be resolved. Our students have been left without standardized testing, without a Mandarin curriculum, without Mandarin books on library shelves, and without any Mandarin speaking representation within
011the ranks of NMED. This neglect towards the six other immersion programs within NMED who are largely made up of immigrant families undermines the equity and access to education that LUD supposedly claims to stand for. Thank you. >> Thank you for your time. Okay, moving on to tab three, conference with labor negotiators. We have in-person and remote callers. I will call on the inperson folks first and also note that Miss Ortiz Franklin is here with us. Um, let's see. Uh, Diana Gen, are you out there? And after Miss Gen is Maria Daisy Ortiz. Uh, Miss Gen is going to speak in Spanish. So, if you'd like to hear what she's saying in English, please put your hands up and we'll get you these translation headsets so you can experience simultaneous translation. Gracias. >> Good morning, members
012of the board. I know that you will have a spe a special close session meeting or with labor negotiators. And honestly, we're very worried as parents. uh you should probably as parents are in I believe that you should probably be as well. There's a rumor UTLA has said that they would ask for a raise which is 40%. And I believe that is an insult. Last year they were given 20 or 25% of a raise and besides they had received a retroactive pay and we are asking for parents to give to receive a tip so that they can have dinner somewhere because of the work that parents do but this is a retroactive pay. This they're giving the money based on something they haven't done. I believe it is an insult knowing that you will be
013asking and announcing what the parents uh union are asking for. Excuse me, the teachers union is asking for. I went to my son's school and this is one of the best middle schools in the area and the teachers were saying that it is 100 to 81% A B 70 to 81%. C 60 to 41% and D is 40 to 21%. Basically from 20% and below is an F and I remember that when my children my older children were at school 50% and before below it would be F. Therefore you are lying to our children now. Stop lying to our children and stop agreeing with this mediocrity politics or policy that they're asking for. In the contrary, you're lowering the standards. Why? Because you are approving this or you're not realizing. Why are you sitting here?
014Don't pretend you don't know. Honestly, it saddens me knowing that you're lying to my child, telling him he's h he's he will be he will be obtaining the grade of a B when he's lying to the community and they're not progressing. >> Uh, Miss Maria Daisy Ortiz, I see her out there. Please come on up. Miss Ortiz is going to speak in Spanish. So, if you're using the headphones, please keep them on. Good morning to all. My name is Maria Desi Ortiz and well yes obviously you will always hear from me education is not a negotiation because the only thing that our students have to succeed in life is to have a quality education in which you are not responsible of or you are not satisfying the necessity and the competitive necessities of our students.
015In the contrary, you are disturbing their dreams because of the them of what you're doing. Honestly, I want to tell each and every one of you, especially the superintendent, that there is a goal called academic excellence. Academic excellence. What is excellence to you? To have teachers that are not located the appropriate place having uh bad campuses, that's another deficiency. and graduate children with the D's. That's another deficiency. Is that what you're calling excellence or do you not know what excellence means? For me is f it's academic falseness. And you can't continue to stag our children's education negotiate with the unions but with results because teachers continue to give a mythology that sometimes doesn't allow our children to learn. It is very low and therefore you need to have innovation, you need to have creation and
016you need to have a projection to where children explore their potentials. It is not a good teacher if he gives enough fs in the contrary is a teacher who shows the ch the child or the student to have content. This is why you what you should negotiate. When Burbbeck was a focus school, it was a focus school because it was a trash school of LA USD. All the teachers that worked that did a bad job at other schools were sent there. They had to work with elector Greenman so that everyone can reapply and 85% were new and also with the curriculum of instructions. That's what you should negotiate, quality of education. Thank you and have a great day. >> Thank you for your time. Okay, the next speaker is Marcela Garcia. Marcel Garcia signed up
017to speak remotely, but she's not online. Are you in the room, Miss Garcia? Next is Raquel Diaz. Raquel Diaz, you signed up to speak remotely, but you're not online. And you are also not in the room. And Karina Lopez, also signed up to speak remotely, but not online. Uh, that concludes uh item specific comment. The time is now uh 10:44 and the board is going to recess into close session. Okay, welcome back. The time is now 2:58 p.m. on September 3rd, 2025. Uh, Miss Newell, Dr. Rias, Board President Schmurson, and Mr. Melvin are all in attendance. So, we have quorum. I'm going to report out on the items uh discussed. Just tab two personnel. The board of education appointed San Bravo Karimi to the position of chief financial officer with the term beginning on September
01817th, 2025 and ending June 30, 2027. Terms and conditions will be available upon the finalization of the agreement. The vote with seven eyes. The board of education appointed Dana Greer to the position of deputy chief procurement officer with a term beginning on September 17th, 2025 and ending June 30th, 2026. Terms and conditions will be available upon finalization of the agreement. The vote was also seven eyes. And now we're joined by Miss Grigo. So we have five board members. Um that concludes um business today. Um unless there's any objections, shall we adjourn? >> No objections. Okay. The time is now 2:59.