001athlete and student leader. Ashton is the deputy chief in the fire and EMS magnet program in Dorsy. After high school, Ashton hopes to attend a 4-year college and then pursue his dream to become a firefighter. Thank you, Ashton. Your ambition and leadership inspire us all. When I put on the uniform and gear, I feel a great sense of pride and I feel a great sense of joy and responsibility. Hi, my name is Ashton Johnson and I am a junior here at Dorsy High School and I'm currently deputy chief of the fire academy program. I am also a student athlete. I play baseball, track, and soccer. After graduation, I would like to pursue my college career at LMU, UCLA, or USC, and my main goal is becoming a firefighter. The best thing that motivates me is
002my mom. She's always a hard worker, always doing things. She's a perfect example and role model for me and why I am the way I am. Growing up, my uncle, he was a firefighter and when I was about 2 years old, I was brought to the fire station and I remember that like very vividly and it was something that I was like, I want to do this and I just always liked it. I like helping others and just showing empathy and compassion to other people who are in need. Ashton is being recognized because of his dependability, reliability, responsibility, and his maturity. He's a great leader. He uh leads by example and uh the students do have a great amount of respect for him. He's a 4.0 stellar student and as a leader, he's a compassionate
003mentor because he mentors our young cadets when they're struggling. He's softspoken, but he's a quiet storm. As a fire deputy, he is very reliable. He is always there to give the extra helping hand. He steps up all the time. Kevin Burton, I've been working with him my 9th grade to 11th grade year. He sets the bar for maturity and what I want to be in life. Language access plays a crucial role in fostering meaningful communication at Los Angeles Unified. This week, we proudly celebrate the incredible work of the district's translations unit, whose dedication ensures that students, families, and school communities can access vital information. With translations in many diverse languages, we extend our heartfelt thanks to the team for serving as the linguistic bridge that connects and strengthens our diverse communities. Translation is the way
004that we convey information from a source language to a target language. Always keeping in mind consistency across the district so that parents feel that they are welcome and that they can be able to engage with teachers with administration and get the information that they need in their language. I am L Rolan and I am director for the translations unit. translations unit team is very important because in a time of crisis or when they're speaking about their child's individual needs, parents need to get their needs to the school. We provide interpretation in over 60 languages. So that sums up to be thousands of hours of live interpretation. From meeting with a parent to board meetings to events, conferences, we are that link that ties families and school communities. I grew up pretty much bicultural, bilingual. We
005would speak only Spanish with my grandma, only English with my father. So, I naturally was an interpreter since since I was a child. This is the perfect way to kind of dip my toes into our communities here in Los Angeles. The community social work is what I feel is an honor to get to be a part of. I know my team is out there doing their job, but also doing it with attention, with care, but you can also see them really looking at the faces of parents to make sure that they're understanding, that they are engaged, and with a love for language that we all have. That's what I appreciate about my team. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] testing. Okay. Okay. Good. Thank you. [Music] down. Hey [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Uh-huh. [Music] Pap dancing. Hallelujah.
006[Music] Hallelujah. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Good morning everyone. We're going to start in just a moment. And right on Q. Uh good morning. The time is now 11:02. Welcome to the regular board meeting of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education. The date is June 3rd, 2025. I'm going to take role. Uh, Miss Newell present. Dr. Rivas present. Mr. Melvinne, Miss Grigo, Miss Gonomez here. Uh, Miss Ortiz Franklin. And board president present. And student board member uh, Lopez here. There we are. And Miss Ggo is here. Just in time. Yes. Okay. So, we have a quorum. It's now time for the pledge of allegiance. Um, Mr. Melvin is not there. Are you willing to do it, sir? I am willing to do it. Okay, let's do it. Everyone, please stand. Face the flag.
007Put your right Put your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I aliance to the flag. Thank you. Please be seated. Okay. And as we did at the committee of the whole, we are going to put a slide up that contains the recently approved and implemented land acknowledgement and it will be popping up on the screen any moment. Now, as they're pulling up the slide, uh we're going to do a moment of reflective and silent reading of the land acknowledgement. Um, and then when we're done, we will slowly come back to ourselves and and uh move into board president's report. So, please take a moment to read the landing land acknowledgement. Is it too small? I'm a slow reader and I'm I'm done. Thank you so much for that. Okay. Uh board president's reports. Okay,
008we are ready for our um labor partners. Let's see what labor partners do we have in the house. Come on down, please. Thank you very much. Present yourself and the labor group. Oh, and Superintendent Carvalho. My name is Helen Lopez and I'm the first vice president for CSEA LA Chapter 500. We have over 4,000 members across LA USD. We are office technicians, administrative analysts, and library technicians to name a few of the varied occupations that we hold. Classified school employee week was May 18th through 24th. And it was nice to be appreciated here at the Boj Building with Coffee Cake and especially by Scott Schmarlson's office who was thoughtful enough to host a small gathering honoring classified employees at the local district north office in Lake Balboa. Classified employees are vital to the everyday operations
009of a well-run school. Yet, in many ways, we remain in the background. The bus driver who picks up and takes a child to their school site. the campus aid who supervises the children at recess. School police who patrol and keep our school safe. The plant manager who fixes everything from a broken shelf to a clogged faucet. Classified employees are the silent majority who keep a school running on a daily basis. I would like to ask each board member to consider hosting a local event next year to honor classified employees at the local district office. at the local district offices, excuse me. Our gathering in Lake Balboa was small but important in acknowledging the efforts of so many employees who help our children and students every day. Also, the low school the local district offices play
010a vital role in allowing classified employees to gather in a location that is convenient to their work site. As you very well know, LUSD spans an area over 700 square miles. So, acknowledging classified employees in their local area would go a long way towards improving employee relations and allowing classified staff to feel seen and appreciated. The Bojer event was wonderful for the classified employees who work here, but for our members at school sites, it's not practical for them to miss several hours of work in order to event in order to attend a celebratory event in downtown Los Angeles. So, I hope you will take that into consideration next year when celebrating classified school employees week. And I just want to say congratulations to the classified employees who are being honored Thursday at the Personnel Commission
011for the everyday heroes that they are. Thank you very much. Our next labor partner, please come on down, introduce yourself, and tell us who you represent. Good morning, board members and superintendent. Um, my name is Maria Miranda. I'm the elementary vice president at United Teacher Los Angeles. For the last four years, the district has failed to comply with the state education code requiring 55% of education costs be spent on classroom compensation. The district is projected to fail to meet this standard for the current school year as well, showing little improvement over the last year. As fiduciaries, the board should correct this budgetary mismanagement by voting no on the application for exemption. The district continues to report that this failure is due to CO 19 related costs, but no other major urban district in the state
012have had this problem. Spending on non-staffing education expenses more than doubled during the same period, growing to $1.3 billion in 2024, 2025. Why have these expenses continue to balloon? When will the district provide transparency about them? The reserves grew by 3.6 6 billion dollar during this period. Yet we begin each year school year with thousands of teacher vacancies in our schools and high levels of turnover among new teachers. The solution to this problem is more transparency and investing in the workforce. In bargaining with our union last week, the district had no response to our salary proposal, a proposal that would significantly address recruitment and retention of teachers. Instead, the district proposed no improvements to classroom staffing levels, no planning time for primary school teachers, and increases to class sizes for certain special education classes. These
013bargaining proposals take us in the wrong direction. We recommend the board vote no on the application to LEO for an exemption to the 55% rule. Thank you. Thank you very much. And uh Miss Ortiz Franklin, are you with us for the sake of roll call here? Miss Ortiz Franklin. Hi. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Any other labor partners present who wish to speak? Okay. Please come down. Tell us who you are and who you represent. Good morning, president, board members, superintendent and colleagues, labor partners here today. I am Maria Nichols, Ala Teamstster's local 2010 union president. We are in the final stretch of critical LCAP and budget decisions. The proposal proposed LEU budget under AB1200 is labeled qualified not positive supporting solveny for two years but the third year remains uncertain. While this is
014a realistic reflection, it is also important to note LAUSD holds substantial excessive reserves. By any reasonable measure, this is a positive budget. Why does this matter? Because this budget defines our district's priorities. What LAUSD deems important. And right now, just as UTLA shared, they're going through collective bargaining, so is all teamsters. We are actively in collective bargaining with the district. While we may not always agree, we are finally at the table engaging in honest datadriven conversations and that in itself is progress. LUSD has on multiple times commended all teamsters for coming to the table with qualitative data from our surveys. And we are steadfast in using data to make informed datadriven decisions to add language in our contract to implement fair and equitable expectations of practice. Survey results from the field are clear. Unsustainable workloads,
015working conditions, and a lack of work life balance remain top priorities. LD has said that a salary employees, administrators work until the work is done. But when 60% of our brothers and sisters report working 60-hour weeks as the norm, we have to ask our LUSD partners and LUSD collective bargaining team where is the line? Though past bulletins define an 8hour reasonable workday, there is no clear enforced mutual understanding. We have been told flex hours are available, but 55% of our brothers and sisters say they can't use them due to the crushing workloads. So when do flex hours truly apply and when does it become extra duty pay? All the teamsters are proposing contract language to define both flex hours and extra duty pay. There must be clear consistent procedures across all regions. Emergencies like mental
016health crisis or DCFS interventions at 10 11:00 at night when students are picked up for their well-being go far beyond the flex hours coverage. This deserves equitable compensation. But our labor partners in LA USD does not see do not see it in this manner. This ambiguity leads to inequity where a few decide what's compensation driven. Emergencies are not subjective. We are asking we are demanding transparent consistent criteria and internal calibration by the district. Let me be clear. All work must be compensated. All work must be compensated. Teachers receive an hourly rate for PD. Admin received a reduced training rate. We ask, how is LUSD investing in the very leaders responsible for driving instruction, leading school communities, and implementing district strategic goals, especially in the area of academic excellence. Teachers receive an hourly rate for supervision
017of CAP field trips. admin receive maybe 30 minutes before 30 minutes after students arrive or flex hours. You have a big job ahead of you in reviewing budget allocations including salaries for senior leadership staff some of which are in the high $200 $300,000 range. Our administrators, we have been told over and over again by our LUSD labor partners in negotiations that they are compensated with the salary that they are making six figures. We agree we make six figures but not like that. If we were compensated at those levels, EDP would not be an issue. But we are not. And so it is. that EDP is the number one priority based on 70% of member responses in our surveys. We have shared in a transparent manner narrative qualitative data that demonstrate the types of emergencies our
018principles are facing and the types of working conditions that they have. We had been transparent, have shared it all with our LAUSD labor partners in negotiations. This is a principle, a necessity and equity. This is about equity. We urge the board in the district to stop the double standard. Teachers and administrators are salary employees. Treat them as such. Treat us equally with dignity and respect and fairness and compensate us for the work we do. An effective school requires teachers and administrators to work hand in hand to ensure building and trusting relationships at the school site to ensure monitoring systems and instructional priorities are put in place. We are not enemies. We work hand in hand and we need one another to build strong foundations for our students. So I urge you to stop the inequities,
019stop the double standard and invest as much as you do in our teachers rightfully so. Invest in your staff leadership as well. Thank you. Do we have any other labor partners who wish to speak? Okay, thank you. Then we'll go on to committee reports. Okay. Okay. Can we start with our curriculum and instruction committee? I I surprised. Sorry. Yeah. All right. Thank you so much. So on May 15th, I chaired the last curriculum and instruction committee of the school year. We had a presentation on the topic instruction in the inclusive classroom by Dr. Jose Sto, the executive director of special education. At LUSD, we focus on inclusion as a rightful presence equity model that looks as as students civil rights to have access to grade level peers and instruction. We also heard from the school
020sites and their respective experiences implementing an inclusive classroom. We heard firsthand from the principal at Stanley Mosque Elementary School where 87% of students with disability are served in the general education setting. We also heard from staff at Vista Middle School, Venice High School, and the North Hollywood High School Zoo Magnet. Some of the recommendations that came out of the committee included bringing back centrally funded inclusion liaison, additional funding for common planning, and the need for how to videos on planning a block period for inclusive classrooms. So, we will return next um semester and if anybody's interested in participating, they can reach our office. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Ggo. Thank you so much. Next, we're going to have the committee of the whole led by Dr. Rivas. Yes, thank you, board president. Uh, the committee
021of the whole met on May 20th, 2025. The meeting included the following key presentations and discussions. Miss Lydia Kosa Stevens, executive director of Motelingo Multiculture Education Department, preview the 2025 plan, Motelingo Plan, highlighting its focus on advancing language equity and honoring the cultural and linguistic assets of the district students and families. The plan is built on extensive community feedback and aims to transform the experience for multilingual learners. Uh Dr. Andrew Thomas, director of the independent analysis unit, provided a critical analysis of the governor's may revise, discussing the impacts of um a reduced prop Proposition 98 funding, economic uncertainty, and potential federal cuts. He offered strategic considerations for the board to navigate um the evolving fiscal landscape. The committee of the whole uh meeting will be scheduled for the upcoming school year. Public participation is highly
022encouraged uh at future meetings which will be available online and in person. Thank you. Okay. Next we will have Dr. Revas again with Greening Schools climate committee. Yes. The Greening Schools and Climate Resilience Committee convened on May 28th and covered the following key presentations and discussions. Heroes for zero awards ceremony took place. Mr. Christos Cressilio led the award ceremony to recognize outstanding students and educators for their efforts in sustainability, waste reduction, and the creation of green spaces within the district within their school sites. These contributions were celebrated for their positive impact on the community and their role in advancing sustainability goals. And um the partner in in the Heroes for Zero awards was Le DWP who were also very gracious um and generous in providing scholarships for all of the semi-finalists and finalists. Eco sustainability
023office updates were also provided by Mr. Christos Scrilio and Mr. Jamie Torrren uh pro uh who provided an update on the eco sustainability offic's initiatives including the implementation of the board's resolution to strengthen greening efforts through community partnerships. The discussion focused on the ongoing work to expand climate literacy, green spaces, and sustainability across the district. The committee expressed disappointment with the lack of progress on the greening resolution and the com uh commitments made by the board in February. The committee also emphasized the need for an immediate resolution and called sorry the uh emphasized the need for immediate resolution and called for the draft report to be provided without further delay um as soon as possible. Uh the 2025 greening forecast was presented by Miss Christina Tes um outlining over 700 million in planned greening investments
024including outdoor classrooms, shade structures, and green schoolyard upgrades. The presentation emphasized equity in the allocation of resources and ensuring that the most vulnerable schools receiving the support they need to combat climate change impacts. The committee will be reconveneed next year in the 202526 school year. Thank you. And thank you, Dr. Rivas. Next, we have Miss Ortiz Franklin with the school safety and climate committee. Thanks, Mr. Nelson. We held our last meeting uh a couple weeks ago and I heard some follow-ups from the uh operations team on recommendations and um suggestions throughout the year um which we will be compiling and sharing with everyone. But just to highlight uh some big themes were around streamlining and making clear the school experience survey questions related to school culture and safety so we know exactly what we're asking
025and what we're looking to improve. Um expanding our SOSAled parent training and the outreach to make sure more families are getting access to such great trainings. um being more equity focused in our resource allocations of various staffing including PSWs and uh other school climate positions which we also recommend being fully staffed before the start of the school year. We heard from two schools at the last meeting who have been lucky to have full staffing in these climate positions for the last several years and that full team effort uh really showed through in their students um saying they felt safe on campus at a growth of five and six% at Pomaa and Orchard. So, thank you for their presentations. Um, and our Rex will also include unifying some best practices for safe passage partners and having
026lots of activities during non-instructional times like lunchtime and after school. Um, so we will send around our recommendations. Thank you to the committee members for your participation all year. Um, and thank you especially to operations and wellness who have been implementing some of these uh recommendations and will continue to lead the charge on the work. Um, thanks so much. Thank you. Next we have Miss Gomez with Children and Families and Early Education Committee. Thank you, board president Charlesen. Last week, we held the final meeting of the Children and Families in Early Education Committee for this school year. During this meeting, we had the opportunity to celebrate uh the wonderful Dr. for Dean Tagawa's retirement and recognize his invaluable contributions to our district, his leadership in the early education division and the broader community as well
027as our community partners for their active engagement in our work this school year. Um we also got some work done. We had a presentation about u that was a partnership between the division of adult and career education and the early childhood education division on how they are working together to expand access to education for our youngest learners. um our dual generation programs including our family literacy program and supporting training for careers in early education for our workforce. Um we also discussed and finalized the committee's recommendations for this school year. Um, and the topics are expanding trauma-informed and whole child approach, bringing more outdoor learning spaces to our early education programs, considering strategic expansion of our early education programs, including the use of previously shuttered early education sites, strengthening quality and measurement across all early learning
028settings, setting strong foundations in literacy and numeracy, and enhancing family engagement and communication tools. Um you can find these recommendations on our website um on LUSD's website. It's also under today's board meeting materials um for those at the deis. There's a hard copy for you as well. Um and please take a look. There's a lot more detail. I I didn't want to spend a really long time sharing all of them, but encourage you to take a look. Um and I'll take this time just to appreciate the fantastic staff, teachers, principles, and other committee members who took their time to share invaluable perspectives um throughout the committee this school year. I will also thank my staff and the board secretariat staff for supporting our meetings. Thank you, Miss Rivas. We have a report from the charter
029school committee. The charter school committee met on May 29th with key presentations and discussions. Miss Mara Wilmont Wilott and Miss Jean Janet Borden provided an update on the collocation process for the 2526 Proposition 39 cycle. The discussion f focused on ensuring transparency and equity in the collocation process with a particular emphasis on how the district can improve the collocation experience for both students and educators and how regional and sight specific dynamics are being addressed. Animo Watts principal uh principal Oadelli, alumni, uh Karen Sanchez, and 12th grade student Mariana Liddell shared the school's success stories, including student growth in ELA and math. They highlighted the school's commitment to an inclusive culture and parent satis satisfaction as critical elements to their success. The committee will reconvene once again in the 2526 school year. Stay tuned. Thanks. Thank
030you very much. And now it's my pleasure to have our school board member report from Miss Cortez Lopez. Thanks so much for that introduction. The last student advisory council meeting took place on May 17th where students came together to conclude and finalize their efforts in contributing to the local control and accountability plan. Our students have worked tremendously to on improving the state of our of our district through virtual and inerson meetings to promote our student priorities. The student empowerment unit also celebrated the class of 2025 as they move forward with their futures and take the lessons from their time in our district to truly embody the phrase ready for the world. As I deliver my final report as student board member, I'm filled with deep gratitude and reflection. Representing the students of LUSD has truly
031been one of the greatest honors of my life. As we move forward for the next academic year, students have expressed that we must remain vigilant in opposing federal efforts that cut Title One funding to schools serving low-income communities that undermine newcomer English learners and immigrant protections, reduce mental health and public health services in schools, as well as reducing stigmas around minority populations such as LGBTQ and immigrants. These issues are personal to the thousands of students in our district and I do not want the effort started here to end. We must continue advocating fiercely and publicly against these attacks federally on student dignity and opportunity. Finally, students on our virtualmies have expressed the state of their schools and academic experiences, stating that a large majority of students spoken and desire to share their concerns regarding distractions,
032disruptive fire alarms, internet troubles, and background noise. I asked the board moving forward to look into the my voice survey for virtualmies, place them as a priority to improve the state of the thousands of students in our district who are taking classes virtually and ensure that they are still receiving the quality education that take place in in-person schools. And as I conclude, it is my pleasure to introduce and welcome Jerry Yang, a junior and incoming senior from North Hollywood High School and is the next student board member. Please round of applause. Jerry brings a sharp mind and a deep understanding of of the problems our students are facing today. I have full confidence that he will lead with integrity and vision. And I ask that this board continue to support and listen to him as
033you have to me because student voices only matter when they are acted upon. Thank you so much. [Applause] And thank you again, Miss Cortez Lopez, for all of your work this year fighting for our students and making sure that they get fair treatment and are heard. And I appreciate that very much. Also to my committee chairs, you have no idea how much work it is to go into a committee and get it ready and started. So I want to thank you guys for all of your hard work. I did it. I know the committee work is very very hard but very beneficial. So thank you all chairs. Thank you so [Applause] much. Okay. So now we move on to the consent calendar. So the um what the board does is it sets a consent calendar.
034It's votes on which a number of items will be taken at once as opposed to voting on them individually. It's a procedural efficiency that bodies like this use. So what happens here is I read through the items on the on the agenda and then by uh voice folks designate whether they not they want it to be on consent or for discussion. Any questions or comments about a particular item will be moved to discussion rather than the consent uh calendar. Uh okay. So I'm going to read through uh tab one define and approve three campus reconstruction projects and amend the facility service division strategic execution plan. discussion. Uh, tab two, define and approve five accessibility enhancement projects. Consent. Consent. Consent. Uh, tab three, define and approve five sustainable environmental enhancement development for school projects. Consent. Tab
035four, define and approve 27 board district priority and region priority projects. Consent. Tab five, define and approve Birmingham County Charter High School aquatic facility placement project replacement project. Consent. Tab six, 2025 2026 special education local plan area local plan. Consent. Tab seven, approval of the renaming of Oaks Leadership Charter. Consent. Tab eight, approval of the renaming of Boil Heights Hill Dola Senior High School. consent question. Oh, question. So, that goes on to discussion and then that's miss new bill. Tab nine, approval of community advisory committee membership. Consent. Consent. Consent. Tab 10, approval of procurement actions. Question. That goes on discussion. So, I have a question from Dr. Rivas and Mr. and Miss Grigo and Gonz. Thank you. Tab 11, approval of facilities contract actions. Okay, so a good discussion for uh Wilson. Uh tab 12,
036approval of routine personnel actions. Uh tab 13, approval of nonrine personnel actions. Consent. Tab 14, uh, provisional internship permits, consent. Tab 15 cannot be on consent, nor can tabs 16 or 17. So those votes for those in the audience have to be taken uh individually rather than as as a group on the consent calendar. Uh, tab 18, donations of money to the district. Uh, tab 19, report of cash dispersements and report of corporate gift card, corporate credit card charges. Consent. Tab 20. Approve the proposed update of the debt debt management policy. Consent. Consent. Tab 21. Application for exemption from the required expenditures for classroom teachers salaries. I'd like to postpone. You'd like to post a yes. I think that procedurally I believe um we need a motion to withdraw it from from the entire board.
037Let's go with discussion then. Okay. Discussion those tab 21 folks. Correct. Uh tab 22 approval of the certification of signatures for fiscal year 2526. Consent. Uh let's see. So tab 23 these are all these are public hearings but they can also be on consent. Approval of the renewal petition for Castle Bay Lane Charter. Consent. Consent. Tab. 24. Approval of the renewal petition for Dixie Canyon Community Charter. Consent. Consent. Consent. Tab. 25. Approval of the renewal petition for an AIO way technology center. Consent. Consent. Tab. 26. Approval of the renewal petition for Hannes Charter for Enriched Studies. Consent. Consent. Tab. 27. Approval of the renewal petition for Heesby Oaks Leadership Charter. Consent. Consent. Tab. 28. Approval of the renewal petition for Nwood Preparatory Academy. Consent. Consent. Tab 29. Approval of the renewal petition for Lockhurst Drive
038Charter Elementary. Consent. Uh tab 30. Approval of the renewal petition for Nestle Avenue Charter. Consent. Tab 31. Approval of the renewal petition for Plane View uh Charter Academic Charter Academy. Consent. Consent. Consent. Okay. Tab 32. Approval of the renewal petition for uh Serrania Avenue charter for enriched studies. Consent. Consent. Tab 33. Approval of the renewal petition for van uh go charter. Consent. Tab 34 is not for action. Uh tab 35 is version two including a a waiver of board rule 72. And this will be a time certain. So sometimes I think it's procedurally easier to put these on discussion and then once it h once the clock hits two we go to that. everybody. Okay. So, that will be on discussion. I'll note that it's a version two. Uh the version two has been distributed
039to the public, to the board, and is posted online for your review. Uh tab 36 is um not for action. Tabs 37, 38, and 39 have been withdrawn for action at a subsequent June meeting. So, that will either be, I believe, on the 17th or the 24th. So, that's 37, 38, and 39 are off the agenda for today. And then tab 40, minutes for board approval, consent. Can I can I ask you to put on the mic just so that we get it on the record? Um, item seven, I have a question. Okay, so item seven is approval of the renaming of Hesby Oaks. So that will go on to discussion. So tab seven is discussion for Dr. Rivas and I'll ask sorry I have questions on tab 31. Sorry I missed it. Okay, so
040tab 31 is approval of the renewal petition for plain view. Um I'll move that on to discussion and that was uh board member Gonz had a question tab three. Okay. So tab three will be moved from consent to discussion and then that's uh board member new bill and I'd like to move tab six to discussion. Okay to discussion. Okay. So that's uh Miss Grego tab six. Okay. I'm going to read through the work we just did uh to make sure I didn't make any errors and then we will um move the consent calendar and start taking the public comment for items that have been approved to be placed on the consent calendar. Okay. So item number one is discussion. Two is consent. Three is discussion. Four and five are consent. Six, seven and eight are
041discussion. Nine is consent. 10 and 11 are discussion. 12, 13 and 14 are consent. 15, 16, 17 are discussion. 18, 19, and 20 are consent. 21 are discussion. 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30 are consent. Uh 31 is discussion. 32 and 33 are consent. 34 is not for action. 35 is discussion of version two. 36 not for action. Uh 37, 38, and 39 will be put on a subsequent agenda. And tab 40 is consent for tab three seeds. Did you say that was consent or discussion? That is for discussion. Miss Newil has a question and I can put you on there too if you like. No. No. Okay. All right. Um, may I have someone move and second the consent calendar? Move it, please. May I Before Mr. superintendent. Um I
042do understand there are a number of questions and maybe lingering concerns or confusions regarding uh item 21. And even though even though um as as most of you know I was not available the past 72 hours or so. Um as I've reviewed the data it appears two things. Number one, I believe that this board would benefit from additional information regarding how this district for the better part of two decades has computed has calculated classroom expenditures, which in my opinion has done so in incorrect fashion. In fact, it appears based on my last review and based on lastm minute conversations with staff that over the past three years, the district has not only met has exceeded the 55% requirement. However, it has reported incorrectly based on a practice that goes back 20 years. Um, but because
043this is lastm minute information, I think the board would benefit from additional context. uh and additional information also provided to some of the speakers that have focused on this topic. I think it is the fair thing to do. Much like you, I was not aware of of the miscalculation issue that led to the district believing that it needed to submit a waiver to LEO. I can tell you that for the 2425 school year, uh we are at over already at over 58% and that will actually increase. Last year we were at 59%. last year is the year in question. That would necessitate the submission of waiver, but once recalculated based on um actual state requirements, we don't need to. So, we're going to look at two things. Number one, is there a need to submit
044a waiver, I believe, based on late information that since we closed out that year and that year has already been audited probably, as opposed to a recalculation and a resubmission. It is a complex issue but simp simply said just think about it this way there are expenditures that would count against the district that were not deducted for example transportation expenditures are massive they were included in the calculation even though they are to be excluded as well as a number of other position that should have been included in the calculation to benefit the district like teacher assistance in special ed classrooms and they were not based on old information. So, um I believe that the board would benefit from additional conversations about this prior to a vote. The good news, the coralary is a positive one.
045How we get there, however, I believe needs a little bit more beating up. Okay. So, similar to the request you made earlier, it's not an issue of pausing, postponing. We're going to withdraw item 21 and then bring it back to the board if in fact we deem it necessary to do so. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Okay. So, for sake of clarity, tab 21 has been withdrawn. All right. So, I believe the I had a mover was Miss Gonz. Thank you, Miss Gomez. And uh and a second from Dr. Ivas to move the consent calendar procedurally. Now, we hold calendars before the board to discuss um as they would see fit. So, there is public comment. We'll now go through the public comment that is associated with the items that have
046been placed on consent. So we have let's see under tab two defined oh and as a reminder so for items that are placed on the consent calendar it's items that are for specific action by the board today. Um if you have public comment on those specific items uh the board rules state and we most respectfully request that you stick to the topic of the item that you signed up for. It doesn't have to be perfectly aligned. Uh but just for the sake of um making public comment equitable for those who are here to actually share, we uh respectfully request that that you do that. And you'll see many examples of the right way to do it and maybe even one right now from Mr. David Tokovski. Are you here? Mr. Tokovski, you're listed as um
047being here in person. Let me check on Zoom to see if you're here. Mr. Tokovski is uh not here for tab two. So we have public comment next on tab nine. So tab nine. One moment. Ah here comes Mr. David Tokovski. Please come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Sir on tab two. Define and approve five accessibility enhancement projects. Thank you sir. Okay, the timer is upside down. Is that a challenge to the speakers? It's reading upside down for I I can I can come fix that. But All right. So, it looks like I have five minutes. I assure you it's two. Okay. It used to be three until you got here, Mike, but today it'll be 22 minutes because Corey Booker has sent me a message about uh speaking
048at length. It's not backwards. It's transversed. Okay. Wrong. But I'm right. What do I have now? 11 minutes 62 seconds. Oh, that's a good idea. Reset. For the record, does the timer cause you any impediment to proceeding? No. Okay, great. You have two minutes once you begin. Thank you for correcting the timer. Um, thank you board members. I'm speaking in favor of item two. Obviously, the the great idea that uh Ray Cortinez, former superintendent, designated a significant amount of money to use from the bonds to help remedy um the accessibility for students and faculty and parents and community with disabilities. And so, this is an item that I'm speaking obviously in favor of. It's a small item, but later in the meeting, you have a $1 billion item that you just put on consent. My
049friends when I used to be on the school board would laugh that the board members would speak for 45 minutes or an hour on an item of $45,000 and then an item of a billion dollars. The the clerk of the board would say, "Move it. Second, done." You ought to dig in to a billion dollars a little bit. I know we have a committee that's working on special ed and instruction. And of course, special ed is beyond just this compliance document. It's the entire district because we understand special ed to mean both uh the students who are identified with IEPs as well as the entire school. And so that's the entire budget. But what you have before you today later is the special ed budget of a billion dollars. It's share of it from the
050federal government is inadequate. But a $20 billion budget is whatever you decide to do with it. And if you want to designate it in some ways for either integration of classrooms or stronger services, that's your policy choice. That's your budget choice. But to put a billion dollar item on consent is beyond uh uh my awareness. That means somebody probably came before the meeting to your rooms and said, "Are you okay with that item? Is that description okay?" And if you collectively get a conclusion to an item before you come out in public, that is referred to as a serial meeting and is a violation of California's Brown Act. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. The next public comment we have is with public comment on tab nine. Public comment on tab nine
051that is approval of community advisory committee membership. So, we have three folks calling in for Tab 9. Uh, these folks are at least one of them is going to speak in Spanish. So, if you'd like to hear what they're saying in English as they're speaking Spanish, you'll hear in Spanish over the speakers, um, please put your hands up and we can get you these translation headsets if you do not speak Spanish. So, for simultaneous translation, we're handing out these headsets. When you put the headset on your ears, they turn on automatically and will be automatically set to the English channel. So once those are handed out, we'll begin uh the public comment for tab nine. Okay, we're all set. Let's see. Uh Norma Gonzalez, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two
052minutes to speak once you begin. Norma Gonzalez. committee to be open and I'm also an example of that this committee never originally accepted the parents like myself that considered themsel they considered us disruptive. Why? Because we raise our voices. Because we try to advocate as parents for the necessities of our children for wanting to have an information and also because the office would always limit us. They did limit us from participating. It was a series of requirements that they asked and they accepted only certain members like only from certain points. They said who is allowed and who isn't allowed to try to explain and what I tried three years consecutively and I completed one year I spent this entire time in this in this committee and they didn't accept me and I'm grateful now that
053they were able to accept me but now right now I'm a lot more happy that a lot of parents like myself are going to be in this committee raising their voices learning learning that us we need to be here Latino you know, parents likeelves that don't know the language, that don't speak English, that we only speak Spanish, but that we have the will to be able to know and identify and know what are the services that this district provides our students because there is money, there's a lot of funds, there's a lot of money. So, please don't be accompllices the board of of education, please. And parents, keep fighting, keep raising your voices because this committee is now democratic for everyone. We will finally be able to elect ourselves with our own voices. We don't
054have to be waiting for somebody to to somebody to like us to be able to incorporate us. Thank you for your time. Okay, we have Maria Duran. You're listed as speaking remotely, but I do not have you signed in in front of me. Are you in the audience, Miss Duran? No, Maria Duran. Uh Teresa Gaines, I see you are online. Terresa Gaines, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Teresa Gaines on tab 9. Hello. Hi. Hi. Good morning. Um I I am speaking on item nine. Um, I understand there's some people who wanted to discuss certain things. I am, um, again, my name is Teresa Gains. I'm calling from Broadway Elementary and I'm calling in regards to, uh, community engagement regarding Broadway Spanish language programs.
055Um, and that we have a demand for more transparency. So, Superintendent Carvalo, Dr. Kger, Mrs. Camo L USD board of directors um and our administration. I am writing I am writing or talking to you as a concern and deeply invested parent in the Broadway elementary school community and I urge you to provide clear transparent answers about the future of the dual language program. The Spanish immersion program at Broadway for too long has been left in the dark and heard conflicting reports of actions which may impact our program's future. Our community deserves direct communication and honest dialogue about what lies ahead. Not only for Spanish immer immersion programs, but for our school as a whole. The time has come for the district to step forward. We are formally requesting an in-person town hall meeting led by
056the district and school site leadership where parents, teachers, and community members can be heard directly from you. This meeting should also acknowledge the immense value the Spanish immersion program provides not only to Broadway Elementary but to the broader Venice community, the neighborhood community, and to LUSD's vision of expanding bilingual education across the west side. It should also recognize that the success of Broadway Elementary is rooted in the dual language programs. No one program stands on its own. Again, not no one program stands on its own and it is the combination of the strength of each of these programs that derides the school's success at Broadway's Elementary. Our school is considered a model school and our Spanish immersion program is one of the original Spanish immersion programs on the west side which others have been modeled
057after. Thank you very much for your time. You see it? We we appreciate your time. Thank you so much. So, that concludes that tab. Moving on to the next consent item is tab 12, approval of routine personnel actions. And so this is an item that could have anything to do with uh staffing a school site, any action that the board routinely takes with uh personnel and uh the personnel on the schools. So we'll move directly into public comment. Looks like we have uh full boat of folks who are in person and remote. As is our normal course of action, I'll call on the people who are listed as in person first and then we'll transition to the folks who are speaking remotely. Um, and I apologize if I mispronounced some of these names. Uh, Jaylen
058Marray, are you here? Jaylen Marrae. Then after Jaylen is Marie Marrae. Please feel free to correct my pronunciation. I'll do better next time. And then after that is uh Simone Baker. So, first uh Chayen and then Marie and then Simone. Please come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. I see movement and I hear hushed tones. Are are any of the folks coming down? Are you just making ready? Okay. Okay, great. Thank you. Then the microphone's right up here and the two minutes will begin counting down when you begin. Good morning. I am a parent at Broadway Elementary School and I stand here before you with concerns. I am a vetted parent. I have been at Broadway for 10 years. I have three beautiful girls. I have a 15-year-old daughter that
059has successfully completed Broadway and Mark Twain that it's now at Venice High School. I have a third grader and a first grader. My oldest daughter completed Broadway in 2021 and my youngest is now completing first grade. I have a third grade daughter and when it is all said and done, I will exit Broadway with 14 years as a volunteer and a vetted parent. I chose Broadway Elementary School for my first daughter after I had enrolled and private school education on the west side of Los Angeles. It was a route at the time that I wanted to take for my daughter and I thought private school was the route that I wanted to pursue until I toured Broadway Elementary School. My daughter entered in 2015 and I have since been there for 10 years and we
060are currently under the toutelage of Michelle Garmin, our principal. And I come to you with a concern for her leadership. I come to you with a concern for your involvement through LUSD. My daughter has successfully metriculated. my oldest daughter that I mentioned to you who is now in high school. And as the call you just had before ours, I stand here with a concern for the pathway. I ask that you take our voice from Broadway, from both programs to let you know that we need resources. We need you to hear our voice collectively as a community. We want to work with you That's that's time if you just want to finish your thought and could you announce who who you were? I didn't catch it. My name is Shaolin Marray. Shallon. Thank you. Thank you.
061Marie Marie McCrae, are you here? I'm sorry. Oh, so we have an accidental sign up. Okay, that's that's no problem. Unless you want to speak. Well, I'm I'm only allowed to give each individual speaker one slot. So, giving additional time to a second speaker violates the rules that we have set out. And I know that seems a little archaic, but it's so that we can maintain everyone having exactly the right amount of time. If um if Marie wants to let my staff in the back know for someone else to have a spot, we can call that person at the end if there's no other signups. Um so Simone, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Sorry, I wrote something, but I'm not public speaker and um this PP thing makes
062me nervous. Sorry. Um I'm Simony Baker. I am um from Broad Elementary School. Um I grew up in Brazil and I never had the opportunity to speak Chinese growing up. So I'm very thankful that LSD superintendent Carvalo gave us this gift of language immersion school. And I'm here today representing Broadway because I know the challenges of offering a language emerging school in the second biggest district in the United States. Is hard enough to offer quality instruction not to mention a second language. We have the mentoring program in our school since 2010 before adding the Spanish program. We have both programs in our school and since then we've been working hard and still don't have curriculum standardized testing and textbooks. Still working with LD LD to make sure that we have this. We know change don't
063happen in a day and I can attest being a leader in our school volunteering. I fund raise, I recruit, I work hard with both programs that every time that I come with a project to put permitting boards in the school, reopen the library, work in teacher development, every time I talk with principal Rashelle Garin, the very first question she asked me is how is this going to benefit our whole school and all our students? Because we have both programs here. We have Spanish and we have Chinese. That's her concern always making sure that all the students in the school are taken care of. So when we learn last Friday that her job is in danger, we're very concerned because this is someone who came in our to our school as a teacher that later came
064as a instructional coordinator and now is a principal and knows our school. So we put together everything to be here today and to urge board members, President Superintendent Carvalu, please take a look in our school, understand our challenges and understand that we need, she's essential for us to keep the pathway and the excellence of our school. Thank you for your time. Thank you. All right, so the next three listed folks to speak are Mercedes Younger, Michelle Chen, and Belinda Ma. So Mercedes, come on down. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. And then it's Michelle and Belinda. He's coming with me. Okay. Okay. Hi, my name is Merse Younger and this is Fred, my husband. We're brand new kindergarten parents at Broadway Elementary and we're here supporting our principal, Rochelle Garmin. She is
065one of the reasons we chose Broadway. We are a couple of those annoying parents who created a spreadsheet and visited thousands of schools including private, public, charter, and magnet schools. We even hired an educational advisor to give us the inside scoop on all the LA USD schools. We are that ridiculous couple. Ultimately, we moved from Studio City down to Venice to attend Broadway Elementary and Principal Garmin played a massive part in that decision. Principal Garmin delivered one of the most inspiring speeches at our recruiting session. She has facts. She has figures along with a plan for the future and an exciting vision of how the school can grow. She knew names of her teachers and the necessary support for from her educational specialist to her vice principal. So you can rest assured that she has
066her bases covered. We always prioritize diversity in one in as our top consideration. We wanted at Zemo to be surrounded by a multicultural community that values education above all else. In our recruiting session, it moved me to tears when a young black father asked her if his two boys would be safe in our school. She was able to reassure them and share her personal experience. You must understand that having a principal with children at your school means she is invested. She cares. We both have master's degrees in arts. Like most parents here, we value education immensely. The parents who chose Broadway are motivated. They are educated and they value their children's education. They collectively raise over half a million dollars a year to reinvest in this school and support Garmin's vision. But they are not
067easy. We as a parental body are not easy or easily satisfied. We expect a lot. We have Can I just finish? It's It's so quick. Please finish your thought. We have two proud and excellent immersion programs and both have reached out to you with high expectations. We are a school of truly annoying pushy parents who will do anything to get to get what our children need and deserve. Can you imagine dealing with this every day? Look at your look at look at all of them back there. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you. Please support. Thank you. Okay. Uh Michelle Chen. Michelle Chen, come on up. You have two minutes to speak once you begin and after Michelle Chen is Belinda Ma. Good morning members of the board. Superintendent Carvalo. My name is Michelle Chen
068and I am the parent of a second grader at Broadway Elementary School. My par my family chose to go to Broadway because between the leadership there and the language immersion programs, it is truly a unicorn of an institution. Principal Rochelle Garmin and her teachers and her staff are the reasons why I believe that my child will thrive at Broadway. Principal Garmin doesn't just lead the school. She is a role model for my child. As a direct result of the district's mandates imposed on Principal Garmin, Broadway has had a really tough two years. And in the face of that adversity, Principal Garmin has maintained her composure and dignity. She supports every student and every child and every parent, even when the parents may not support her or agree with her decisions. Principal Garmin has had personal
069attacks launched against her. And I have yet to see her lose her outward calm. And despite the obstacles that have been thrown her way, she has never strayed from doing what she believes is the best for the students at Broadway. Principal Garmin is the embodiment of perseverance, hard work, and diligence. The district has discretion in employment matters, and we understand that. But I implore the district to please reconsider its decision to let Principal Garmin go. Because if you fire a competent, strong female leader, a committed educator, what our children will hear is that it doesn't matter how dedicated Principal Garmin is to their education. It doesn't matter that she knows each and one of those students names. And it doesn't matter that she is the single most qualified individual to lead Broadway. And what we
070as parents hear is that our children are not prioritized. Our children don't come first. Politics comes first. Thank you for your time. Belinda Ma. Belinda Ma. And then after Belinda is Bridget Stewart. So Belinda Ma, the two minutes is yours. Good morning, esteemed superintendent and board members. My name is Belinda Ma. I am a passionate uh parent of a second grader at Broadway Elementary. I am another one of those passionate parents who have to speak up when I see that things aren't the way they should be. I'm here to speak on behalf of our school, the unique double double dual language immersion program, which is a top performing school in the district. And we um I feel like we are shining example of excellence, which is attracting parents from all over LA. And I am
071one of those parents. I live in Culver City and I petitioned to get into this school because I believe in this school. We are a community of energetic and dedicated parents who are fervent advocates for our children. As we all know that fervent fervent advocacy creates healthy discourse and sometimes a lot of discord. Um I I know that it is um I would like to appeal to our better angels of our nature and look at the challenges of our school holistically and not take simple solutions that will not actually solve the problems at our school. We are tempted to listen to the pessimists and the naysayers and enact these simplistic solutions. Replacing our principal will not make these problems go away. These are bigger problems that need to be solved with leadership that we all
072trust. Our principal is one of those people that we trust. She is homegrown. She's been an educator. Um, and she's been at our school for almost 20 years. I encourage you to listen to the hundreds of parents that have are in support of our program of our principal from both programs. We have more than 500 signatures on a change.org um petition. Um, we have all the teachers at our school support principal Garmin. They they appreciate and value her leadership. They appreciate everything that she stands for. And I believe that if you if you give her the chance to lead our school without restrictions, empower her to make the decisions that will help our school and move forward and and make these problems um turn into solutions, then I think that she will be um the
073one who will keep the parents and the teachers from leaving the school that you that we are seeing across the district. We don't want that to continue. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. Uh, Bridget Stewart, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak. Why don't you begin? Okay. Good afternoon. My name is Bridget Stewart and I'm a parent of a second grader at Broadway Elementary. I'm here to speak out against the district's decision to remove Principal Michelle Garmin, a decision that would directly harm students with IEPs like my daughter, Violet. As a parent of a child with special needs, I cannot overstate how rare it is to find a school leader who truly gets it. Principal Garmin doesn't just follow an IEP. She fights to make sure it's meaningful. Under her
074leadership, Violet is thriving. She's learning in a general education classroom fully included in the dual language program and receiving the services and support she needs to succeed. That would not be possible without a principal who understands inclusion, who listens to families, and who holds the school accountable for doing what's right. Removing Principal Garmin doesn't just jeopardize Violet's progress. It sends a message to families like mine that our children are not a priority. That the systems we rely on for protection and support can be disrupted overnight without a notice or explanation. This is not just a staffing change. It's a disruption of legally protected services and educational stability for our most vulnerable learners. Principal Garmin's deep knowledge of the IEP process, her commitment to equity, and her trustbased relationships with families are irreplaceable. I urge the
075district to consider the real impact of this decision, not just on policy, but on the actual lives of children like Violet. Please do not undo the progress we've fought so hard to make. Keep Principal Garmin at Broadway Elementary for the sake of every child who depends on her leadership. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. All right, Dina Woo. Dena Woo, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. And then after Dena, we will transition to the folks who uh have are calling in remotely. I didn't prepare a speech, so I'm actually going to y my to James Baker if that's okay. Come on up. [Applause] Thank you, President uh other board members and carv uh super carvalio. Uh you've heard quite a bit. First I want to thank
076for the latitude that you're providing the parents here today to talk about a subject that uh may be tangential to this particular agenda item. Obvious is important to us. Uh you've heard quite a bit of support for Principal Garmin. I'll spend just a few seconds reiterating that uh she held a meeting, a town hall meeting yesterday in our auditorium. And uh coming in the end of her second year, the leadership and strength and compassion and engagement she exhibited towards all parents from both programs was extraordinary. The fact that numerous teachers uh of the 25 at the school took time out of their classrooms to go and make sure that the parents understood that the teachers were unified behind her. leadership made a significant difference to helping parents understand that the school is in good hands.
077Uh I remember Principal Wong who was previously Broadway said the biggest challenge for her is to remind the parents that they don't drive the bus and I think principal Garmin is finding that to be also a challenge but she's stepping into it and really doing an excellent job. For the rest of my comments I wanted to talk about the pathway for both the Mandarin and Spanish program. Uh there's been deep concerns about whether that pathway is intact as students leave uh the bilingual uh programs in the west side and move on to Mark Twain and then on to Venice. Uh there are students on weight lists. Uh there's deep concern and I just if if all of you had been in the school this week when for instance my third year was given his third
078grade certificate of bilingual competency of literacy. the smile on his face, the smile on his classmates faces, the achievement that they've gained. It's my favorite time each year when they get the certificate. To tell someone as they leave fifth grade and Broadway that they don't have a pathway to continue that beyond is gutting for a child and that's not the message we want to send them. Thank you very much. Okay. So, we have Paige Chen. You're online with us. Paige Chen, please press star six to unmute yourself. And you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Paige Chen, you're online with us. Miss Chen, please press star six to unmute yourself. And you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Hi, this is Pen. I'm gonna yield my time to a fellow parent,
079uh, Cindy. Okay, I think I see the parent waiting in the wings. Come on up. Um, your your time is ticking. Hi, good morning. My name is Cindy. Please forgive me. I'm a little nervous. Um, like I said, my name is Cindy and I'm a proud parent of two students at Broadway Elementary. My fourth grader who is in the Spanish program and my second grader who is in the Mandarin program. Um, I want to take a moment to express my appreciation for Principal Garmin. She has been incredibly supportive and committed even while facing a challenging situation. It's not fair to replace our current principal, especially when she hasn't been given a real chance to succeed. She stepped into a difficult environment with pre-existing issues. And instead of blaming her for problems she didn't create, we
080should recognize the effort she's making to turn things around. Change doesn't happen overnight in a school community. It takes time to build trust, create progress, and foster meaningful results. As a parent, my deepest goal is to help my children grow into better versions of themselves or ourselves. More prepared, more compassionate, and more capable. That starts with a stable and supportive school environment led by someone who genuinely cares and is trying to make a difference. Principal Garmin deserves opportunity to show what she can do with the proper support, time, and resources. Replacing her now would only restart the cycle of instability. Our school and our kids need consistency, not more disruption. Um, I am Hispanic. My goal is for my kids to be better. Um, my uh youngest child is in the second grade and she
081is triilingual, Mandarin, Spanish, and English. Um, thank you. Thank you for your time. Eugene Y, I see you're on the line. Eugene, yeah, you're on the line. Please press star six to unmute yourself. Eugene Y. and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Good afternoon. Thank you, Superintendent Carvalo and L USD board of educators for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Eugene Yay and I'm a proud parent of a second grader and an incoming kindergarten at Broadway. I'm here to share my unique perspective on Principal Garmin's amazing leadership and the meaningful impact she's had on our school. Earlier this year, I approached Principal Garmin with the idea of launching our first annual all student science fair. A project involving every grade in every classroom. She embraced it immediately with enthusiasm and
082creativity. Her support wasn't just administrative. It was hands-on. She helped bring together staff, families, and students to make it a true schoolwide success. Over 166 science projects submitted. The science fair became more than an event. It became a moment of unity, pride, and learning for the entire school. Radical change like removing principal Garmin is not a constructive solution to the challenges we're facing. It would just deepen them. Instead, we should invest in solutions that unite, not divide. The science fair event at Broadway stands as proof. Principal Garmin took a complex idea and turned it into something that brought our entire school together. That is the kind of leadership we need. Leadership that listens, adapts, and inspires unity through action. By choosing to support and strengthen this kind of leadership rather than abandoning it and removing
083it, we show our children that adversity is not something to run from, but something to rise above. We teach our students that progress is built through creativity, resilience, and teamwork, and that giving up is never the answer. I urge the district to support and work collaboratively with principle garment to keep her at Broadway and address all the systemic issues that face our school. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. And our final remote caller is Annie Hang. Annie H, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Annie H. Annie H, you were online a moment ago. I do not see you now. Annie H. Oh, there you are. Please press star six to unmute yourself, Annie. And you'll have two minutes to speak once
084you begin. Tab 12. Annie H. Hi. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to me speak in support of Principal Garmin. I'm honored to speak about Principal Garmin. She's an extraordinary leader and colleague. She's a great listener, a thoughtful collaborator, and a steady, decisive leader in challenging times. I've watched her support our school community with strength and grace, especially during moments when others have buckled under pressure. Her journey through LUSD is a shining example of what a lifelong commitment to public education should look like. From teacher to specialist to principal, she has walked every step with purpose and her leadership reflects a deep knowledge gained through years of experience. As both a staff member and a parent, a staff member who was inspired to become a staff member by Principal Gorman, I'm
085personally grateful my children transferred from a top tier Santa Monica district into LA USD and we committed to Mandarin immersion despite my child's hearing challenges. Principal Garmin made sure our family felt included, empowered, and supported. That's why I was truly shocked and confused when I first heard rumors that she might be let go over the summer. It felt unimaginable that someone who represents the very best of what LUSD stands for could be at risk of being removed. Principal Garmin embodies equity, access, and excellence. It is a privilege to work with her and an even greater privilege to have her leading our school. Thank you. Thank you for your time. That concludes speakers on tab 12. Next, folks who have public comment on items that are on discussion, please not providing feedback to uh to the
086most recent speakers, but uh I know that regional operations based on obviously the concerns have been addressed uh is ready to have a conversation with the parents uh today uh in the back room. Uh I know somebody from uh region west will be in attendance as well should the parents want to take advantage of that uh opportunity. Thank you. All right. So, the next public commenters, two consent items, it looks like are on tabs 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, uh, 30 and 32, and 33. So, those items are actually public hearing. So, I'm going to read a statement and then we will begin taking the public comment on those items. So, tabs 23 through 33, actually excluding tab 31, uh, are public hearing. Before t action is taken on the following board reports,
087a public hearing must be held. This constitutes a public hearing on the following. Castle Bay Lane Charter, Dixie Canyon Community Charter, Anadia Way Technology Technology Charter, Hannes Charter for Enriched Studies, Hesby Oaks Leadership Charter, Nwood Preparatory Academy, Lockhurst Drive Charter Academy, Nestle Avenue Charter, Plain View Academic Charter Academy, Serania Avenue Charter for Enriched Studies, and Van Go Charter. Maximum of 15 individuals who wish to speak to the board and each of these items will be heard. Those who wish to speak should sign up online. speakers will be called by name. And just as a reminder, Plain View Academic Charter is on discussion and will be discussed um when we get to the discussion items. All right. I also want to explain a brief um procedural point when it comes to public hearings. Our board rules
088state that any member of the public can give comment to appear before the board one time. However, in state law and statute, there is an exception for public hearings. Those are matters that come before the board. They're defined as public hearings and are given uh wider latitude for speakers uh before the board. So, in the instance of public hearings, an individual can sign up for every single public hearing that is before the board on that particular day. So when you see an individual today appear more than once, it is solely by virtue of the fact that state law and statute requires us to allow people to sign up multiple times on different distinct items that are called public hearings. Um and if that put you to sleep, I'm happy to answer those questions uh later
089if there's any confusion about it. Uh so tab 23, we have uh two public speakers to speak about uh this particular charter renewal. Uh Mr. David Tokovski. I know you're here. There you are. And then after Mr. Tokovski is Maria Louisa Palma. I see you out there. Please go ahead, sir. Thank you very much. A public hearing um is a opportunity for people in the community of this charter school, an affiliated charter school. There is not the word affiliated in Edode. It's not there. It just says charter school. Okay? It only says charter school and conversion charter school. Okay? So, every right and privilege that gives autonomy to independent charters is also a right to a place like Castle Castle Bay. They should have all the autonomy and all especially if they're achieving well and
090that the demand to the school is high to achieve what they want to do to design their program. And that would require of course support and assistance from local superintendent as well as the central charter office. There's nearly 60 people in the charter office now and barely one of them works on helping these high demand as Mr. Schmurson knows successful predominantly middle class on the SCS schools. This one is in Porter Ranch. And as you know, um, for some reason, and maybe Inspector General knows better than I do, but the agreement with the developers in Porter Ranch did not produce enough land and school to handle the community of Porter Ranch. And so we had a recent dust up that Mr. Schmolson solved uh with the district staff. But the problem is that that developer
091did not provide what is statutoily required because somebody in demographic said, "Oh, we have room at Chadzsworth or we have room at Cleveland so we can move the kids from Porter Ranch over to these other places." That's not what the parents and families bought those homes for was to be in their neighborhood. Neighborhood schools and affiliated schools are those. Thank you for your time, sir. Uh Maria Luis Palma, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Hello, my name is Mariel Lisa Palma and I'm speaking today on behalf of Oliada, a nonprofit organization. What is the effect of parent involvement and academic excellence? Well, you saw a great example here today with all these parents who came out from this Broadway Elementary, Castle Bay Elementary in Porter Ranch, which is all
092the way at the very tip of Porter Ranch next to ET Park. Only as locals know some of the that terminology. Why does it have the great academic performance that it does? with 46% of students at level one in the ESPback, 49% at level one and the math. Why? Because the parents actively seek out those schools. It isn't that the school creates this. It's the parents, just like you heard today. I'm one of those parents that sought out schools. You heard it directly from the parents here. The parents move into those neighborhoods. They also use other people's addresses. Yes, that happens continuously. Those parents are driving their children's education. They have resources. They have education. They have the time. They have financial resources. But most of all, they have information and therefore they are empowered
093to drive their children's education forward just like the parents here told you today. So the parents are the key. These parents self- select themselves when you see these schools that have this type of academic performance. So what about the schools where parents don't have those resources which is the bulk of schools in this district? What is it that the district can do there? Well, the district has to provide a genuine welcome to the parents first of all which is missing in the culture of this district. You need to provide those parents the information in a simplified form. That's how you can replicate those results. you can begin to create that because when you have a base of parents that are informed, that then feeds on itself and you get more informed parents at that school,
094more active parents that are willing to be there at the school. You need these kinds of parents that are involved. Thank you for your time. Uh let's see, we have David Tokovski for item 24. And Mr. Tokoski, if I could ask you a huge favor, just for the sake of transitioning from one to the next, if you could stay close, I would I would most I would most sincerely appreciate it. Most legislative bodies have a place for people to sit and write, but this one doesn't really have. All right, the two minutes is yours. Um, thank you. Um, I'm speaking on affiliated charter. Um, in this case, Dixie Canyon, another one of Mr. Schmurson, who's not here, um, at this point. uh successful schools or maybe it's in somebody else's district. I'm not sure. But
095my point about affiliated charters is that students from other districts can uh legally come and attend our higher performing schools if they're affiliated. And so why just the Valley West schools as affiliated? Why not have schools for example like even Tuca Lake Elementary School which is having troubles is right a stone throw away from Burbank Unified. families are closer to our school at Tuca Lake. Tuca Lake. Can you imagine getting Tuca Lake back and involved in LA Unified? Tremendous community of strength and wealth and horses and other things like that. But we don't do anything. We put instead we had an a charter. You can enroll in LA Unifi's distance learning program on a sign of all places in Pasadena Unified. There was a billboard saying join LA Unifi's online. It's not even an affiliated
096charter, so people can't even legally do it. I don't know who who put the sign there. Probably the billboard company, not not the superintendent's team. But if that online program were an affiliated charter, we could be enrolling people from Oregon to Mexico. We could have 40,000 more kids online instead of some distance learning program out of some other state or something like that. We have schools in Torrance, in the city of Torrance, in other cities that are performing higher than the schools of those school districts. This is exactly what Superintendent Carvalo has talked about in the marketplace of things. If we've got strengths like Broadway Elementary School, where my mother taught for 22 years, that thing turned from declining enrollment under 200 to over enrollment. And that's close to Santa Monica. As you heard, Culver
097City parents Monica coming over to that school. Thank you. All right, Maria Daisy Ortiz, you're signed up to speak in person, but I do not see you in the room, and a check online reveals that you are not here. That brings us to tab 25. Mr. David Tokovski, you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. And Mr. Tokovski, you are the sole speaker on 25, 26, s or s o l, 28, 29. I'll take it as as the sole speaker. This is an interesting another support of of the affiliated charters as districtrun charters. They're ours. They're union. They're union charters from top to bottom. Not just like green out just the teachers union and then the other pieces are not union. Why not celebrate and expand these? This is a pretty pro- union board,
098but we do nothing to attract and send letters to the independent charters who are having financial problems, enrollment problems, and say, "Hey, come on over. Bring your 236 or look, this charter is only 236 kids." And if you listen to Mr. Schmurson, that means we might have to close or consolidate that school. But if you look at the academic performance of a small school, it's actually doing better than an elementary school at 900. And we don't talk about shifting the enrollment of an elementary school that's not performing well with 900 kids, but we start talking about little schools in in in in Tanya Franklin's area or Miss Grigo schools or Miss Rivas, smaller schools. Take a look at their test data before you start talking about consolidating controlling because or or closing. These are public
099spaces. They're embedded in communities and they're highly demanded. These affiliated charters, the previous strategic officer said, "Oh, there's no more room in them." And then she retired. Okay. Well, that's not a very strategic plan. And hopefully Mr. Cole Gutierrez, ex-lobbyist for the charter school association and also adamant independent charter can take his wisdom and experience and knowledge and do something to grow the affiliated charters. I am guessing that a five-year plan on growing affiliated charters would bring 10,000 kids back into the school district. Thank you. Thank you, sir. That was tab 25. Let's hit tab 26 while you're with us. Mr. Tokovski, as you know, you signed up for 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30. So, you're the only one. I'm in the Cory Booker School of uh filibustering because it seems to me that
100this issue of affiliated and district run charters goes in one ear and out the other. I I mean, I'm not on the Van Go charter yet. That would be only going in one ear and wouldn't have a second ear. But hopefully you're paying attention because you keep saying we want to grow the enrollment of this district and you don't celebrate except for you know ceremonial celebrations. Why not advertise these successful places? They're all all over the margins. There are 80 plus districts in LA County and LA. I I remember when I represented the city of Southgate. Southgate goes to four separate school districts. They go to Downey, LA Unified, Parammont, and Lynwood. And if you look closely, usually the five city council people in Southgate all live in the Downey school district, and then they
101start complaining about LA Unified. But what do we do to offer these higher performing schools in LA Unified and Southgate to families that are overcrowded in Lynwood Unified or into Paramont? absolutely nothing. Dumbfoundedly, this board and the team that it's hired has done nothing except for the moment that Tamar Gallatson tried to make all of these schools that are before you right now independent charters and Superintendent Cortinez stepped in with a little budgetary manipulation to attract them back as an affiliate. But are we learning from them? Are we learning that they still have challenges too? Particularly special ed. I think on this one at Hannes has a few data points that raise some questions about even successful middle class schools are still having challenges on special ed which is a billion dollar item before you.
102Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. That was tab 26 and it looks like Maria Daisy Ortiz has arrived for tab uh 24. Miss Ortiz, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Maria Daisy Ortiz. Miss Ortiz is gonna speak in [Music] Spanish. here to talk to confirm the charters. First and foremost, I want to say that I've been working with my school was colllocated and one of the things was the process that the parents of the school that were being colllocated, they couldn't even speak or get together that for me honestly wasn't something equitable equitable and I had to make a lot of investigations based on what was happening with the charter schools and that's what I want to talk to you about.
103The charter schools have developed based on the incompetency that the district has. The parents get frustrated based on the results that the children are having and besides that other charter schools are working but they are also below the 50%. One of the things that I would like for you to bring up to investigation is how many charter schools send after two years the students back to LA USD and that's called a pingpong. when they want to open they grab all the students because it's about other things that the charter schools are doing organiz private organizations big businesses and and how much intelligence and they also make everyone bleed based on the the LA USD's uh budget and this investigation is something that we would like to have how many charter schools after two years come
104back the students come back. Many of the charter schools don't have the teachers with appropriate credentials and also parent involvement is not effective. I know that this is probably for LUSD is not a priority but this makes a big difference. Honestly, they should begin to know that co-locating a school is not the solution so that the schools can be full. Schools were created to reduce and these schools are old. They're and they're not colllocated. They're called invasion. You're up. Tab 27 for Heesby Oaks Leadership Academy. Thank you very much. The previous speaker is confused between independent charters and districtr run affiliated charters. And so I'll just repeat again I support hes oaks which has been uh a little creative in in expanding what to like TK8 now. So they use their autonomy to come up
105with new ideas. Now granted again this is not Ted Alexander affiliated charter which is more of an SCES with a high number of title one but at least giving people the autonomy the thinking possibility in some sense um you wonder why leadership just doesn't like some of the districts up in other counties have just made their whole district an affiliated charter a district on charter gives the whole district the autonomy to do things. It's a little bold. Okay. And and Judy Burton before she left LA Unified and became the head of the alliance charters tried to make the entire area of Miss Gonz's into um an autonomous region which because many of the original charters from Vaughn Street, Monagu Fenton were all in the first 20 or 30 charters up there all this it was
106that's where the revolution started. And of course, you know, a previous superintendent who was kind of a centralist, Roy Romer, said no or or she didn't ask enough. But really, there is no reason why four board members and Mr. Schmson should take the lead because he's the he's the the board member of the largest CMO, charter management organization in the state. It's not Alliance. It's not Green Dot. The largest charter organization in the state is LA Unified. You have more charters that are affiliated district-run charters than any other organization. And so to take the instructional lead to do something and not to just sit by and lose the opportunity to grow enrollment, not to just do attendance checks, but to grow the frigin enrollment of the school district. Thank you for your time. Thank you
107for your time. That was tab 27. Let's head to tab 28. Mr. Tokoski, before you get too far, you have two minutes to speak once you begin, please. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. I support um the renewal based on the data of Nwood um affiliated charter. Um the these independent charters by statute they're the same thing as independent but we constrain them dramatically even though their records are quite good. In fact we burden them in some ways. Until recently each one of these affiliate charters had to write its own LCAP. Okay. And smartly the district stepped in and said wait a second these are districtrun charters. They're they're part of us. we can manufacture and take that burden off you and help you by producing I don't know if it's one or two or three
108examples of uh a fill-in- thelank uh LCAP for these schools. So the district sometimes steps in and helps these I don't even know what the number is 60 70 or 80 uh uh charters and provides services and and assistance and so what can we learn from them because they are disproportionately our middling classes which also says something about kind of like what's going on at Broadway which is a which is a class warfare and race warfare knowing a lot of that since my mother taught there for nearly 20 years and I grew up in that school and across the street in the Fox Venice Theater. I know that neighborhood. I know it's gentrification. I know the housing projects that are there and and it's a difficult thing. But we ought to be replicating these places.
109There is so much public land. So much public land. I think the value, I checked this week, it needs to be corrected if I'm wrong, of the land of LA Unified is $47 trillion. 47 trillion. Okay, which is uh Elon Musk I think all his properties together only come to his companies to 1.7. So you are 40 times more wealthy than Elon Musk. Thank you so much. That was tab 29. Let's go to tab 30. Wait. Yes, sir. It's you. Thank you. I'll I'll nestle myself or is that Lockhurst? Nestle. Nestle. Okay. Um well, I again I support the initiative. If you take a map of the district and I know Mike Romero understood this and others that along the borders of LA Unified are other school districts where there are no continuation schools. For
110example, there's no Mallister school in a bunch of these districts. And if you made Mallister an affiliated charter, that means kids could come from other districts to get the great support and assistance there. But we don't do that. We we we we don't innovate based upon or replicate. That's not even innovate because the innovation has already happened at Mallister. You replicate it and you open it up. And there's a reason why we fixed up Ramona High School to do that because it's right on the new train line. So kids can travel from other districts up the train and across the train and from Isuza and come right down into to that school. But we have to make Ramona High School for girls an affiliated charter so kids can get the great services that we offer
111in LA Unified to brag about what we do. It's just beyond me. The lethargy. I don't know what it is. The lack of innovation anemic as I've said before, but it's an opportunity. these schools that are coming before you and the filibustering I am doing here today is to say that if you don't move on this, if you don't find a way to make it yours to celebrate it, you're heading into a time where it's sort of the reverse of when we built 100 schools. You have to grow your enrollment and succeed on what you're good at. Thank you. That was tab 30. Uh let's move on to tab 32. 31 is for discussion. Tab 32 is on consent for Serania. Okay. I thought we were in plain view. Okay. So to speak. Okay. So
112tab 32 which you pronounce that right and unlike Hilda Solis but that's a side step. Again I would like to say that there is the opportunity to use the laboratories of democracy. the laboratories of these affiliated schools to check things out. For example, instead of sticking with a a welligent or whatever its name is and being behind, today you're going to accept three million measly dollars from the county that got $85 million to build the children youth behavioral health initiatives. By proportionality, we should have been getting $45 million to LA Unified from the county. But we said, "Oh, we know how to do this." And so they gave us a measly $3 million and we didn't sue them for whatever reason, probably because we it was a self-inflicted wound. But why not take all of
113these affiliated charters and start a program of CYBHI in them while you wait for the the Titanic to suddenly get together because you're now a year behind. In September of last year was when you could begin to submit to buy more nurses, to buy more social workers, to buy more PSA counselors, to buy more counselors, to buy more um of the counselors that Tanya Franklin is always talking about. These things could all be bought by reimbured monies. Roughly $50,000 per person that does this kind of work. Roughly, maybe more. but use the the creativity or the autonomy of these schools in a way that helps you grow your enrollment, grow your revenues, pronounce something big that you're doing because I'm not so sure if the the advertising in Pasadena of our online program was celebrating
114the best program we have in the district. Okay. But there we were advertising that, not advertising the opportunities of affiliated charge. Thank you for your time. That was tab 32. Now we move on to the final uh public hearing of these items is tab 33 for Van Go. Well, appropriately it's the last one. And um I don't know who put Van Go as the last one, but it's of my concern that while I'm talking about these issues and I think they're catching some attention, Van Go is a beautiful artist or Vancock. You have the ability to create things and do things. You have two heads of instruction. Two heads are supposed to be better than one. Okay? You have the opportunity to do good things based upon the good things that exist in this district,
115but they fall on deaf ears. Van Go. Here's a school again in a highly demanded school and the middle school it feeds to which is part of the district that has retained some of the middle class which is an important ingredient. Mr. Melvoyne knows that, Mr. Schmurson knows that, Mr. Superintendent knows that. We have got to speak in some language to all of the families of this county and the cities and we have examples everything from the challenging places of the Carlson Medical School and Mallister and Ramona to these middle class affiliated charters. But where are we replicating these things? And some of these are simultaneously magnet and affiliated charters. Don't don't don't let me forget that point. So we know the magnets are unique. We didn't end up like John Daisy's Boston clubbing each
116other during desegregation. We had these opportunities called magnet schools and we succeeded in growing them. It's unbelievable. And Mr. Superintendent has celebrated them recently in winning national awards. Well, why don't we look at the affiliated magnets and what do they have that's different than the affiliated alone or the magnet? These are this is skunk works. This is a research and development. This is replication. This is a $20 billion organization that has more wealth than Elon Musk and all those sickopants in the White House. But you have to behave and think big. Thank you. Thank you for your time, sir. Uh Maria Louisa Palma, come on up. You have two minutes to speak to item 33. Hello, Maria Luisa Palma again speaking on Van Go Elementary, another elementary school in my neighborhood in Granada Hills at
117the northernmost tip uh of this district. Um another school with higher than I would say normal uh ESPback scores. 71% meter exceed English language arts on the ESBACK. 70% meter exceed on math. So what goes on at these schools? How is this possible? Well, not just because it's a charter, but this parents are very involved, the parents that send their children to these schools. But we need more of that type of information to get out to all the parents at this district to explain the importance of all the standardized tests, whether whether that be the ESBACK or the I Ready. That's the way that these parents, the informed parents look at these tests and the results of these schools. We look at it as these are tests of the school. When the school when the
118scores are low, we view the school as deficient. We view the district as deficient, not the students. We don't think it's the students fault. It's not the family's fault. We view it as a deficiency of the district. But unfortunately, when we have parents on the parent committees such as the pack and the DAC, the parents there are not clearly informed on what their role is at those committees. They're consistently told things that we have to keep students of priority, that all the parents are there to learn. No, that is not the purpose of the committee. The purpose of those parent committees are to be critical of the district processes. It's not there to be cheerleaders for the district. They constantly tell the parents that we're here for the students, here for the students. But the
119critical question those committees, those parents are supposed to be asking is what is it that the district is not doing well? and recommend improvements on that, not to take home information for their own families. They're there to represent broadly the parents at this district. So, how can you bring those informed parents into these committees from these types of charter schools and replicate those results? Please think about the parent involvement. You need informed parents at this district. Thank you. Thank you for your time. That concludes the public comment on all consent items. It's now appropriate to take a vote. We have a motion and a second already before us. And I will take role on the consent uh calendar. Miss Newell. Yes. That's a yes. Dr. Ivas, yes. Uh Mr. Meline, yes. Miss Grigo, yes. Miss
120Gonz, yes. Miss Ortiz Franklin. Sometimes the video popping up is a little slow. Miss Ortiz Franklin. Okay. Uh, board president Shmelson. Yes. Um, well that that's a six. Oh, sorry. Here, here, here. No, no, yes, is correct. Okay, this is correct. That's six of seven. So, the consent uh calendar passes. There are now uh discussion items for tab 1 3 6 7 8 10 15 16 17 and 31 and 35 is a time certain. So um tab one for discussion. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Um this was about the rebuilding of um Marquez Elementary School and uh I believe that schools need to be restored to what they were before. My only concern was that I had read that there was uh a drop in enrollment in the school. But I remember I spoke to Miss
121Tes and she assured me that demographics said that there will be an increase in enrollment and that school would be able to uh almost be at capacity in time. My fear is that I don't know who's moving back to the Palisades. I don't know if families are moving back or childless people are moving back. I don't know. I really don't know. And I'm worried about that. And then I just heard recently that it may be a span school at uh Marquez. Maybe. I don't know. I don't know. And that would be, you know, delightful because right now I'm not sure where the kids go for middle school. Is it uh Paul Riverier? Paul Riverier. And that's bursting. I know. So, it would be nice. Uh if it were a span school, that would be great,
122too. So, that was my only concern that so much money would be put into the building of the school. And would we actually need that space with declining enrollment all over LA USD? That was my question, sir. Oh. Good afternoon, board president, board, and superintendent. Just specific to your comment, Mr. President, uh about the span option. During the extensive engagement process that we engaged in for about three months with the Marquez community, the Pali Elementary community, and frankly the larger Palisades community writ large, one of the points of discussion that came up was about contemplating turning one of the campuses into a span school. After extensive uh conversation and also a lot of sharing of data with our folks showing that there's frankly plenty of seats available at rear v uh river middle school that
123option was I don't want to say taken off the table but at this point it's not something we're contemplating. There is there is land there is space at the Marquez campus. If there should ever come a point in time where there's an actual need for additional middle school seats it certainly can be contemplated. But as of right now, we're looking at rebuilding the two elementary sites. Okay, I appreciate that. And I know there's land and I know there's space. I just want to make sure there's people. That's the part that I'm a little unsure about. And uh I I leave it to demographics and I know that you guys are very uh very very good at predicting uh future enrollment rates. I just want to make sure that we're not building a school that'll be
124empty. Well, I certainly don't want to take credit or blame for master plan and demographics, but they are an amazing team. they they do uh forecast our enrollment uh very accurately year after year and and in looking at the patterns for the Palisades area particularly in a time of rebuilding when then there's there's a general I wouldn't go so far as to call it a consensus but there's a belief that there are families landowners that are moving out who may not be interested in an extended rebuild process and this in turn may bring in younger families with school age children that's one of the key data points that we're contemplating in this rebuild I think one of The important elements to add as well is both uh Marquez and Palisades charter elementaryaries are affiliated charters.
125And when you look at the enrollment, it's both resident and non-resident students that we allow to actually enroll at the site. And so we know that there's flexibility in just the enrollment patterns. There highly desirable schools and so we believe whether there's resident or non-resident that there will be student participation at the site. Mr. Superintendent, it's been stated, but obviously we've had many many conversations as u as Mr. Chait indicated with the community uh through town hall meetings, conversations with municipal and county leadership. Uh we have information regarding uh the pace at which uh permits are being issued for the rebuilding of um family homes in the Palisades. And the general consensus is that um individuals will be coming back and if anything the trend will be one where younger families uh will move in
126in a more aggressive pace than what we've seen in the palisades because of legacy homes that have been passed down from uh generation to generation. So we have full confidence that this is an appropriate investment to satisfy the needs that will be evident very very soon uh in in that community. uh the current enrollment, you know, do not be do not be deceived by the total enrollment in the accommodating schools at this point because in some cases individuals had to move to different neighborhoods away from Norris Derry for example or from Brentwood. But those same individuals showed up at the town hall meetings and they said once reconstruction is finished and we are able to return. It is our intention uh to actually go back home and go back to our school. Well, I appreciate
127that and I am um satisfied with the answer and hopefully people will move back, children will come back and we'll be able to fill the school. So, thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. Sp. I just want to thank you for the question too because those are the questions our team was asking like a week after the fires. Um you know the demographic data and looking at the history of schools like Marquez that pre pandemic had an enrollment that with Pali Elementary almost was close to a thousand for two elementary schools and what does that look like if we build one and the metriculation pathways through through um Paul Rivere and Pali and what are these demographics going to look like? So Mr. Chait and Mr. Salceto and the superintendent all answered it, but
128I just I appreciate that and that's and and I want to use this opportunity just to thank the district for the robust community engagement that there are almost daily town halls including I think three maybe this week um uh with these communities and with the broader community knowing that we're building schools not just for the current constituents and for the next five years but for hopefully the next 50 and God willing 100. Um, I also think that, uh, you know, in in representing the Palisades and spending a lot of time out there with that community, the district's response has been one of the bright spots in the last few months. It's hard to believe it's been six months, but um, both with the quick relocation, um, the community engagement, the fact that the bungalows are
129already on the campuses of Marquez and Pali High, I was there just over a week ago. Um, and that we're already having the conversation about getting students back into permanent facilities in the coming years. So really amazing work. I appreciate the support of my colleagues on the board um in in ensuring this quick recovery for the community that's been through so much. So thank you all and I thank you. We have a word from our superintendent. I I really love bungalows. You know that, Miss Tes. I just love the West Valley loves bungalows. Yeah. I just want to make a a quick comment on on you know it appears obviously that there's a certain degree of speed of expediency associated with this project. That is true uh for a number of reasons. Number one, uh
130we understand that as a result of current and the possible the possibility of the future tariffs, cost escalation particularly associated with concrete, steel, lumber um is going to be unavoidable. So the longer we wait, uh the costlier it will be to build. Secondly, um based on the news that we have learned about FEMA reimbursements uh which we will depend on um may uh may change not only the type of reim reimbursement but also what qualifies for reimbursement and the total value of the reimbursement. Another way of saying that is the longer we wait uh the higher the possibility that the reimbursement uh will be reduced. Um thirdly uh you know very few schools in our community have gone through what that community has gone through in terms of losing uh both their homes and their
131schools. So normalizing the condition as soon as possible uh is obviously a high priority for us. One last point which is an important one is we are very very hopeful that we will be able to recoup the lion share of the initial investment through measure US as a result of very aggressive pursuit of insurance coverage. Um secondly through FEMA reimbursement. So this is an investment that is going to be reimburseable um soon enough considering all the factors I just described. So, it's the right time at the right uh for the right reason with the right financing possibility in place for the full replacement or the partial replacement of these three schools. This new bill, I had a question as you were talking about the US funds. Are there earmarked charter bond funds for said projects?
132and would it come from that bucket so to speak? Good morning. Yes, there are um funds designated in the facility school upgrade program specifically for charters and um the funding for Palisades High School is anticipated to come out of that funding category. That's um a little over $250 million. That will leave approximately $188 million assuming that the Birmingham High School project, which is also at the board today, gets approved. Um the district's kind of longstanding practice has to fund affiliated charters because um they are and do report to the district out of the other categories and to fund independent charters with the category of um funding for charters. So we're using both. For Palisades High School, we're using funding designated for charters. And for the two other schools, we're using what's called major modernizations. So
133the other two schools specifically will not necessarily come from the charter bond funds. Correct. And I would add that um we want to preserve some money in the charter bond funds so that we can continue use bond funds to fund the prop 39 make ready projects as well as other critical repairs like the Birmingham Pulit independent charters that don't have a way to pay for those repairs. Thank you. Anybody? Kelly, Miss Gonz. Yes. Um, well, I really appreciate our leadership on this and and the speed with which we are we're moving forward to restore these campuses. Um, just two questions because I think it's alluded to in the materials but not spoken to in depth. Um, measures around health and safety to ensure as these camp campuses are repopulated that our students, staff, and families
134um will will not be impacted um by um by the wildfire impacts. And then around fire resilience moving forward, what um changes are we making looking ahead so that these campuses can be uh resilient in light of the ongoing climate crisis and threats from wildfire? Sure. I'm going to speak to the uh climate resiliency one and then Jennifer Flores from the Office of Environmental Health and Safety will speak to what we're doing to ensure ongoing uh safety uh monitoring and uh determinations regarding staff and students rehabitating those three campuses. So, regarding resiliency, we are using essentially um the highest code which is kind of class A for this area that's in a fire zone. It requires special fire rating for your exterior materials. Um, in addition, we're going to incorporate other um, uh, protocols and
135design standards above and beyond what the code requires. Um, all of these buildings will essentially be built to a higher standard than what was there before. Um, which did not meet current code. So, we're going to be providing to the highest code. Um this includes lessons learned, double glazed windows, ember resistant vent screens that we learned was probably the most protective measure um in this area. And then also just how we distribute planting material across these sites and what type of planting materials is also going to be important. But know that we're very actively um addressing climate resiliency in these and all of our other projects. And now I'll have Jennifer Flores speak about the safety measures. Good afternoon. Carlos Torres, director for the office of environmental health and safety. Uh thanks for the questions.
136Good afternoon everyone. Uh obviously we are going to be taking a very proactive approach with our um uh with ensuring that environmental safety is is is at the forefront. want to make sure that our students and our staff are protected at every step. And so what that means is from right now we're conducting environmental testing indoors, outdoors. Um and we will continue to do so. So as we identify issues, they're being addressed. Um, as the as the buildings are being cleared, we're working with our facility service division to make sure that they do their part. And then we come up uh during and afterwards to ensure all their work is once it's done that we can now then take a an environmental and a safety uh mindset and look at it from that standpoint. Is
137it ready for our students? Does it smell like smoke? All those questions have to be addressed before we'll allow students to be back there. And it's not just a testing now, but it's a testing now, during, uh, and ongoing and afterwards to a certain degree depending on what what our findings are. So, thank you. Thank you. May I just add is Christina there still? Yeah. um driving back and forth to Bodri, you know, I listen to KN&NX and I hear this company that always talks about their fireproof building materials and I was just wondering if we are I don't know if they mean fireproof or fireresistant, I don't know, but they say it'll withhold, you know, the commercial goes it'll withhold everything. And I was just curious um if we did any research into that
138uh building with that material that is mostly uh fireproof. Are you familiar at all? Um I am very familiar with the non-combustible materials that we're going to be using um both at the sites and other sites. So yes, we um are looking at non-combustible materials that have a very high fire rating. Um so it's a degree of how long they're basically exposed to fire and how long they can withstand fire at a certain temperature and for what lengths of time. Um, just note that we are using the highest standard on these projects and I appreciate that. If I hear that commercial, when I hear that commercial again, I will send you the name just for your information. Thank you. That's great. Anybody else on uh tab one? Okay, Mr. McClean. All right. May I have
139a a motion to vote? Moved by Miss Gomez, seconded by Mr. Melvin. Uh, now the vote on tab one. Miss Newell. Yes. Dr. Rivas. Mr. Melvin. Yes. Miss Grigo, yes. Miss Gomez. Yes. Miss Ortiz Franklin. Okay. Board President Schmura. Yes. Five eyes. We will come back for Dr. Reebos and Miss Ortiz Franklin. So that brings us to uh tab three. Define and approve five sustainable environmental enhancement developments. Why don't we move and second this right now? Move it. Moved by um and a sec. Moved by Mr. Smson and seconded by Miss Gomez. I believe it was Miss Newell. Yes. Okay. I just had a question on the if there is a list of community um partners who support the schools with the seeds grant. Do you know if is there a list? Yes, there is
140a list. And then how are we paired? How are the schools paired with those partners? So, we have a list of um greening partner organizations that we grow as more partners become available. Um we typically provide that list to schools who indicate that they would be interested in the seeds program. Um and if they're not able or successful in finding someone, we can step in and also help if we know of um capacity within these organizations. Um, we have new partners, uh, Breathe Southern California that just came up who's interested in doing work with the district. So, if you have a school that is interested in seeds and they're unable to find a partner organization, just let us know and we can see what how we can help. Got it. So, t typically the school
141would choose their partner from this list. Yeah, there's various ways. Sometimes um they'll identify a partner, sometimes a partner works locally in that area. For example, on this one we have at Stoner ES they're working with the Bologona Creek Renaissance. So it's very specific to the area that Stoner is located in. And sometimes it could be a Friends of the School organization or the school itself that is um putting in uh funds to do the greening plant materials or doing a day of greening. Thank you. Sure. Anyone else for tab three? Okay. All right, the vote on tab three. We have Miss Newell. Yes. Dr. Rivas, Mr. Meline also just stepped out. Uh, Miss Grigo, yes. Miss Gomez, yes. Uh, Miss Ortiz Franklin, yes. There she is. Thank you, Miss Ortiz Franklin. Uh, board presidentson.
142Yes. And Miss Franklin, while I have you, we'll put you on video in a second. It's not showing on the main screen, but I see you on my screen. I'd like to collect your vote for the consent calendar. Yes. Thank you. And then for tab one. Yes. Also, thank you very much. Thanks. Right. That brings us to tab six um 2526 special education local plan. Uh we have three public commenters which we will take before the discussion on that particular item uh begins. Um let's see. We have Juan Maldonado. Are you here? I'll check to see if Mr. Maldonado is online. Juan Maldonado. I'm not here. Uh, and then we have remote caller Erinda Morita. Erinda is going to speak in Spanish. So, if you'd like to hear what she's saying in English, uh, please
143put on these translation headsets or put your hand up if you do not yet have one. Okay. Erinda Morita, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Good morning. My name is Elinda Morita. In special education, parents are not having the necessary help. You are not helping to fill out the documents in the schools and the parents do not know how to read and write. I have asked for them for me to fill out the enrollment paperwork and they don't help them. It's because sometimes there was a parent that uh a parent had taken the student out of the hospital due to a problem and I was so saddened to see the situation that the parent was going through with their child. I tried to help
144them as much as I could and with the time I had but you need to pay attention and what how the district is feeling and the board and provide the help and education that is necessary. Respect parent voices and the rights of the students. Our schools are not being are not preparing the students 100% and we want results not just words in the schools. We want officers for our students and avoid deaths and please listen to our uh complaints and we want safety in the streets inside as well and wherever for our students so that they are so in the future they can be good people for society. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Uh, Norma Gonzalez, I see you're signed up to speak remotely, but I do not see you online. Are you
145in the room? Norma Gonzalez? Okay, so we have that concludes the public comment for tab 6 and we have um board member Grigo with questions on tab 6. Thank you. Um yeah, I wanted to ask a few questions just for clarification or more details on um the report and I'm looking at table one special ed projected revenue reporting items D1 to D3 and there's a table and it says state mental health federal mental health uh revenues and if can you just explain and and describe where this money goes to? Sure. Good afternoon, board president, board members, and superintendent. Um, yes, primarily certificated salaries such as psychiatric social workers, our resource uh specialist, teachers, program specialists, our ERIC's program specialists support the work with our NPS, MPA department as well who work under psychological services. So,
146is it still really loud? It's so loud. Um, so this money goes directly to does it go to health and human services or to the special ed division? To the division of special ed. Okay. And um there's also it says certificated salary expenses and um I know that their certificated salaries includes program specialists and other you know outside of the classroom, not just special education teachers. Can you describe what it is? Absolutely. So I'll give you uh this is not an exhaustive list but I'll give you a category. We have special education teachers will make up 416 million. Um we have related services providers, APIs's um central region and sped center and more admin support program specialists. We have uh professional development and additional time for IEP coverage that is also funded and private school
147support which totals $616 million. Okay. And then the other question I have is there's a section on uh services and operations and other outgoing and finances. What are some of the items that go in that category? So that is a lot of the uh capitalized equipment that we purchase for our students uh through related services. That includes mobility standards such as supine gate trainer, supine prone standards, gate trainers. That can include eye gaze systems. uh anything that's over $5,000 that we need to purchase for our students as outlined in the IEP. Okay. And though so this is money that comes in to us for these purposes, right? But we do we also um have to allocate from the general fund to supplement some of this? So if you look at the breakdown of of the
148actual budget, um 7 750% is uh federal funded for about 150 million. Uh 513 million is state federal fund which makes up about 25% and then the rest uh is locally uh contributions of 1.3 billion which makes up about 67.4% of the actual budget. So we are uh supporting all students with with that funding. All right, that's all I have. Thank you. Anyone else for item? Kelly, Miss Gomez? Um, just was curious if the CAC in in being presented the um SULPA had any uh comments or or feedback that we should know about. So, we did uh engage our CAC, although this this part of the process every year does not require CAC uh signature to submit. in an effort to be partners with the work and transparent with the CAC, we did provide like
149for example the program uh descriptions through me at meetings and then we actually provided them a copy of the budget and we let them provide feedback. Uh we did in inform them that there would be minimal changes basically the certification updates of of people who reviewed the plan. Um there was minimal feedback from them but any feedback that we receive we're we we store and we keep because we are going to do the full evaluation next year and that'll help us next year as we start planning to revise the SULPA plan. Okay. Thank you. Um any more questions on the item? All right. May I have a motion in a second for tab six? I'll move it. Moved by Miss Gomez. Second. Close. I felt like a tie. I think Miss Newell, Miss Newell, you
150got that. You got that second. Okay. Uh, vote on tab six. Uh, Miss Newell, yes. Dr. Rivas, Mr. Melvinne, Miss Grigo, yes. Miss Gomez, yes. Miss Ortiz Franklin. Miss Ortiz Franklin. All right. Uh, board president. Yes, at least four. So, I'll come back to Dr. Ivas, Mr. Meline, and Miss Ortiz Franklin for their votes on tab six. The next discussion item is tab seven. We don't have any public comment on that. Uh, Dr. Revas had some questions. Um, and right on Q, Dr. Revas is coming out having just eaten a nice bit of lunch, I'm sure. So, let's let her settle in. And uh as Dr. Revas is settling in, I will ask her if she would like to record her vote on tab one. Yes. Okay, that's a yes. Then, uh tab three. That
151is a yes from for tab three from Dr. Ivas. And then for tab six, yes. Okay. Thank you, Dr. And now we're on tab seven with uh your questions. Okay. Um well, my I I am I am voting yes on this. I just had um some questions because I found it interesting um the rationale for the school to want to change its name. Um one second as I get to this one. Uh item seven. Right. Yeah. So it mentioned that the the parents, the faculty and students as well wanted a change because of um you know folks that did not know the about the school that it was actually is an L USD school but because it had the name charter. Oh, I'm sorry. Is this the wrong one? That's item eight. This is uh
152Solis. Item seven. Oh, but I had questions on item seven. Fisby. Yeah, I had pulled that one out. Okay. So, no, no, no. My apologies. Seven is Hebby, eight is Boil Heights. I have no questions for Boil Heights, but I had one for ahead. So, in answer to your question, our understanding from the community is that they believed that there was a perception from the larger community that this school was not in fact affiliated with LUSD because it had charter in the name. And so therefore, what they wanted to do was to pull chart the word charter because to be clear, there's also an authorization coming forward, a renewal authorization coming a few items uh down the road by Mr. Jose Cole. So they will continue to be an affiliated charter, but for the purposes
153of the name, they're going to go with Heesby Oaks Leadership Academy. Right. So, um, my question, so the the reason they wanted to change their name was because I wonder if were they experiencing, um, low enrollment? Were families coming in? I just wanted to see like the background as to what led to the change. From our understanding and talking to the community, particularly administration, there was some confusion from prospective parents about whether or not it was an LUSD school or not. That said, there didn't seem to be necessarily an impact on enrollment, per se. It's just what the external sort of the the optics of the school and that's what they wanted to change it. You got it, Dr. Um do you know of any other charters affiliated charters that also may be um experiencing
154the same sort of um we we went back and looked I think it was a question it may have been from you or from another board member about other charters that have done this same process of removing the word charter from their name. We found about four including uh one uh that used to be called Milikin Middle School which was an affiliated charter is now Louisie Armstrong. I can't speak to the why there. Um but again this one specifically said that was their key rationale. Um do you foresee any of more charter affiliated charters maybe wanting to change that because of the optics? I just found it interesting and peculiar that that that's you know because as you heard earlier affiliated charter schools are you know um very soughta and they have high enrollment very
155desirable and for this particular school they sort of felt like that was the opposite of it that you know um folks parents who were interested um thought that it was an independent non-affiliated then wanted an affiliated so I just thought that was interesting I mean I'm voting yes on it I just wanted to get more background on um this particular experience. We're not aware of any other schools that are currently experiencing that same phenomenon, but certainly we can look into it. Okay, that's all. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? No. Okay. Just with that same school, how long has it been in existence? I I would have to go back and look, but Hesby Oaks is not I I live in the general area. Hesby Oaks has been around since I want to say at
156least the 60s or 70s. It's an older site. It's an older site, but when did it become an affiliate charter? I'd have to go back and check. I'll get you the information, but it's been a district school for a long time. Any other questions on tab seven? Okay. Uh, may I have a a motion to hear it? Actually, tab seven. Move it by Mr. and seconded by Dr. Rivas. Okay, the vote on tab seven. Uh, Miss Newell, yes. Dr. Rivas, yes. Mr. Melvin, Miss Grigo, yes. Miss Gonz, Miss Ortiz Franklin, Board President Schmurson, yes. And student board member Cortez Lopez. Yes. So, that's four four member yeses. So, we'll return to Mr. Mr. Meloyne, Miss Gomez, and Miss Ortiz Franklin for their votes on I'm here. Oh, there you are. Great. I'm sorry. Thank you
157so much. Uh, and what was your vote? I'm sorry. Yes, that was a yes. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay, we'll come back for uh Mr. Melo and Miss Konz. This brings us to tab eight. Um, can I have someone move and get a second for this one? Moved by Mr. Smurlson. Second. Seconded by Miss Newell. We have three members of the public making public comment on this item. So I will go to that right now. Let's see. In person is Emanuel here. Uh Leo or Leo. No. And uh let's see. We have one person online. Antoneta Garcia. Garcia, are you in the room? Miss Garcia is not online. So, none of the public speakers are here and I believe we had some board discussion on tab eight. Uh, Miss Newell. Yes. Uh, had a question
158just in regards to the current campus that the school is at, like what's on the campus. Is there a middle school on the campus? Is there collocation on this site? Yes. No. No, it's a they're both high schools. They're two high schools. Yeah. So, there was a Boil Heights STEM magnet that was in Boiler Heights and they were colllocated at Hollandbeck and then there was a Hilda Celiss uh magnet pilot school. Well, yeah. Right. And um no, it was the Hilda residential school and then so Bohe needed a home and so they merged they consolidated both high schools. So there's two different high schools in this learning complex. There's not a middle school. So two high schools on the complex with an enrollment of how many on each high school? We have the principal vice
159principles here if they want to can come up and speak. Yeah. Yeah. Come on up. Hi, my name is Jessica Korea, one of our coordinators along with Anet Rio, also a coordinator. Good afternoon everyone. So, we have a magnet with about an enrollment of of about 130 135 and then the residential school which is the other half. So, a total of 260 students. So, 260. So, that's one school of the two on the complex. Is that correct? We're one high school. So last year um the ILA Solis campus was closed. CD code closed. Our school moved into this campus and we I like to say inhaled the students that were there. And so now we're currently one high school named Boy Heights Elas High School. Got it. And so then the ask is to change
160the name to East Side. High School would be the residential and then the magnet would be east side STEM magnet. Okay. So, east side would be the high school and then the magnet would be east side stem magnet. Got it. Okay. Just trying to make some clarity there and just you know was thinking was there a middle school there? Was there another school there? This is all high school. All high school. All high school with approximately about 260 students, some magnet, some resident, community school. Got it. Thank you. Uh well, since um I have an opportunity to just voice my strong support for this uh renaming uh which proposes renaming Bo Heights Hilda Senior High School to East Side High School at Hilda Learning Complex. Yeah. So um the name uh change reflects both a
161physical and symbolic shift with school uh with the school's relocation to Hilliz learning complex the community has gained an expanded home for academic growth especially STEM and a renewed opportunity to serve broader cross-section of east Los Angeles east side Los Angeles. The renaming process was thoughtful and inclusive in full alignment with LU USD's policy on ren naming and renaming schools. And I want to thank the students, the parents, the staff and community members who participated in a very meaningful way. Their voices made it clear. Eastside High School at Hilda Learning Complex best honors both local identity of the east side and the legacy of national leader Supervisor Hilda Solis. So, thank you so much for being here. If anyone else had any questions here, thank you for being here. Anyone else? Okay. All right. It's
162already been moved and seconded. So, Miss Newil, yes. Dr. Rivas, yes. Mr. Melvinne, Miss Grigo, yes. Miss Gomez, Miss Ortiz Franklin. Miss Ortiz Franklin. Back to Mr. Ortiz Franklin. Uh, board president. Yes. and student board member Cortez Lopez. Yes. Uh Mr. Mc Nick Melvin for tab eight. Tab eight. Naming of Boil Heights. Yes. And can I record my votes for a few others that I missed? Yes. Tab seven. Yes. Okay. And then we have uh tab six. Yes. And tab three probably. Correct. And tab three. Yes. six, seven, and three. That's all I have missing for you. Thank you. Okay, so that was for tab eight. All right, moving on to discussion for tab 10, approval of procurement actions. I think I have a note on this about an item that has been pulled. Tab
16310, attachment B uh item AA, I believe. Let me make sure that I'm absolutely right. Yes. So tab 10 attachment B item AA A has been uh pulled. So you will not be voting on that item on tab 10 procurement. Can you repeat that again? So um tab 10 attachment B item AA is not up for vote or discussion today. has been it has been removed uh from consideration and it seems that there are a lot of questions on procurement. So we have um Dr. Rivas, Mr. Smurlson, Miss CGO and Miss Gomez all having questions on procurement. So what was the AA item name? I'll look I think something about Zoom transportation. Okay. Oh yeah, Zoom. That's right. Okay. Okay. Um, my question is on item DD, Amazon Web Services, page 268, 27 million. So,
164I believe that this is not precisely on cloud hosting services, but it has to do with online security. I'll wait. I'll wait. No problem. Um, and I'd like to know, my question is, has the district made any progress in considering hiring $27 million for one or two cyber security engineers permanently as opposed to contracting it out annually? So that would be my question. Has the district made any progress in considering hiring one or two cyber security engineers permanently as opposed to contracting it out annually? Going to ask our CIO so come and speak. Um I just since I got here is AWS uh Omnia contract. Um so Omnia contract is to provide hosting services for our services that we already running on different environment either on prem or in the cloud. The uh there's no
165staffing. It's just a licensing cost. There's no staffing. No staffing. That ends that question. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Who is next? Yes, I'll go. Item D, the Care Sol Solace Inc. Is anybody here for the Care Solace? Um, I was just interested in sort of the impetus for starting this one-year pilot program. What uh brought this upon and what do we expect to learn after the one-year pilot program? I know that the they're prioritizing um to provide mental health services for pri priority schools continuation high schools and what was the other one the virtualmies. So I just wanted to know what prompt prompted this um this one pilot program. Yes. So we we felt that there was an opportunity especially when we're talking about tier three supports um that
166tend to be a little more intensive to have a case management mechanism where when we make referrals to third parties who provide you know in-person counseling services on online or virtual counseling services uh carol has this experience and bringing resources to our psychiatric social workers our pupil services and attendance counselors as they're making referrals for families. And so as we're thinking about the envelope of mental health, telemental health, telephysical health, this is that next tier of support that we hope that will bring some I would say more well-rounded services for our families. And will also these schools also have opportunities to um seek or have referrals for the other existing LU mental health that are yes sort of more important. Yeah, that there are multiple tiers. So your tier one and two which tend to
167be more low touch and more initiated by families or our counselors. This is a generally more intensive support. Um but yes so it's part of the I would say the tools that schools will have. And how will the success of the one-year program be evaluated to determine its potential or success? Yeah. I think one of the things that we're looking at is just overall participation um referral conversions. Um so sometimes we refer we connect families but does it convert into therapy sessions and supports. These are things that we want to look at just in terms of does it meet you know family desires demand and are they actually following through on kind of the promise of services. Will you also survey the students that were that were gain support? Okay that is all. Thank you
168Miss Grigo. Yes. I also have questions about item D. Um, so if I if I'm understanding it correctly, it's a referral service. So who's going to be making the referrals at the pilot schools, continuation schools, and um, virtual academy? Who is the person charged with that? Hi, good afternoon. Joel Cisneros, executive director with student mental health and wellness services. So it will be pretty much anyone at that school site or parents themselves. So essentially primarily right now what we've done in our launching we started working with our PSWs, our PSAs, our healthy start navigators, counselors and they can be the first source of referral. After that we can have um also parents as well. And um do these referral places are they uh ex uh do students need to have medical insurance? How will we
169know if it'll meet uh the students need if they don't have any of those? It's available for all. So what the partner will do is work with the family to identify whatever needs that they have. So if the families have medical then they'll work with the medical options. If they have private insurance they'll work with them and they'll look in any other you know in between. So if they want to do reduced cost they can do that but they will assess essentially kind of those those needs. Care Solus is going to be doing this and then um will who will help the families submit paperwork fill out paperwork. I know that a lot of our PSWs do that work right now when they're making referrals, but if it's if it's a parent calling car solas,
170who will be the person who will support them with paperwork if they need it? So at that point essentially what the role of our staff will be to connect them to Keros Solace and they will engage in that back and forth of completing paperwork because at that point it is kind of a function of Keros Solace and working directly with the parent. Uh so that's where we will support as much as we can but essentially it's a handoff to to the partner. I see. Okay. And um let me see here. Okay. So, in this and we've been using this this service already. We have not. Oh, we have not. This is a pilot year. Yes. Okay. And um but it's not necessarily going to be used at schools where there are no PSWs. It's not
171going to replace a PSW. Oh, no. Absolutely not. No. This is really meant to to supplement any all of the work uh that we have at we know for all of our uh staff. Actually, when we met with staff, PSWs, and navigators, they welcomed this as an added resource for them as they're trying to help families get connected to essentially 247 yearround support because that that that's really kind of the big the big piece. All right. Well, uh, when will we know how this is working for our students? What is a timeline for us to hear back? We can certainly come up with a kind of a good cadence to report back out. So we launched about three or four weeks ago. We've done a lot of the training. We're beginning to start tracking uh
172accountability measures. We have very strict metrics that we're looking at looking at essentially number of referrals. How many of those referrals have actually become connected those families connected to a resource. We're also instituting feedback from our staff because we wanted to make sure that we're getting input from them. Uh are they getting satisfaction surveys as well? And you just mentioned training. Who have you trained on this? Our PSWs, our PSAs, our healthy start navigators, and the next wave is to kind of continue working with our nurses and essentially all of those out ofassroom personnel. And we're also emailing and connecting with leadership at those sites. All right. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Go ahead, Kelly. Thank you. Oh, it's not it's not on the side. I don't know if your question's on this one. It's
173on overall mental health because I also see on item I which I don't have a question on item I but there are um we have N key health services and the guardian center. So it'd be good for um if you could provide like a list of all the mental health supports that are supplemental because you know um we we you know get requests from our schools or also from parents and and students or also teachers that of mental health supports that they need additional. So if we had like a list of all of them and where um I know for this one is being prioritized for these you know uh type of schools but um all the other mental health supports because we're you know I know that we're um approving a lot of contracts
174andus so it' be good to know all like a whole entire list of them just just so we have and can so refer folks as like well here it is or also refer them to you of course but if we can pro know all of the you know sort of theus and contract contracts that we have be good to know. Yeah. And the Anki is under our no cost agreement. So, we'll certainly and I think our team is working on updating our website regularly where we have all of our no cost providers, but but that'd be great. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Sure. Go ahead. Uh, Miss with that and um as you update your website, is it possible that that's connected to our parent portal where parents can see that or families can see that?
175We can certainly explore that. that that sounds like a really good idea and see if there's a way I'll work with the IT team and see if there's a way to update that. Right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Just wanted to know just trying to make as many avenues for our families to be able to because currently we do have on parent portal access to our no our no cost telemental health and that's a good pathway where we actually allow parents access resources but what I'm hearing you say is more of a list that lives in parent portal. So I'll circle back with it on that. Thank you. Okay, Miss Gonz, thank you so much. Um, I have a question on item E, and I think uh, Mr. Mount is here to to help with that one.
176Um, but it's a contract with school services of California for a comparative analysis of the district's staffing patterns. And I was just wondering if you could expound upon what we expect to to glean, what information we expect to glean that we can't already find out um, as a result of this study. And is it simply a comparison to staffing in other districts? Are we looking at um norms or benchmarks or guidelines around what staffing levels are most appropriate for student success? Yes. So this is actually per board request. So the earlier this past year, the board asked for comparisons in California of other large uh urban school districts that had similar student patterns of enrollment. uh so similar up uh urban settings uh that were also considered academically successful by the state of California in
177its you know admittedly uh limited assessment of those sites. But what were their staffing patterns uh and so uh it's taken us a while to find somebody that will actually do that work. It turns out that there is no one other than SSC that does that work in California. It requires that they do data analysis as well as uh visit school sites. Um they're choosing uh of the 15 largest districts, they're going to choose seven of the 14 besides ourselves. Uh and they are going to be looking at staffing patterns at school sites, right? So this excludes central operations because our central operations is unlike anything else that they can compare it to in the state, but they can compare high school, middle school, and elementary staffing patterns for the board. The other reason for
178having there's actually two studies pending. There's this one which is California specific which compares a bit more apples to apples because of the the legal framework and the educational framework of California. Uh but we are also engaged in a conversation with great city schools if they too would be able and willing to do this type of work for some of the largest school districts nationally which aren't quite as applesto apples but they compare more directly in size. And with regard to the kind of exclusion of the central office component is that a decision that's already been made like has that scope been finalized or is it possible because I think uh even though the size is not exa like the percentage maybe the percentage of staff that are not directly at school sites might might
179be an important thing that we want to take a look at. It is uh the work has been declined uh because of the complexity of our uh categories of employees and how many we have and how different they are and how much they vary uh from the rest of California. Uh the work was considered uh not able to be performed. What we can do is we can look just grossly at the folks that do not work at school sites in other districts, but their categories and their their pattern uh they can't make a match to it for us. So the the work was actually requested and was declined. Got it. Okay, that's helpful clarification. And then can you speak to uh like the written report that that is expected to be produced? Will that be
180publicly available? And how do you expect that this will um be included as part of our budget deliberations throughout the school year? The report was commissioned specifically for the board. So it will be available to the board. Uh if the board would like to post it somewhere, that's really at the discretion of the board. Uh we are looking for a draft. I believe the draft is due I'm going to get it wrong. I'm seeing if Nope, I'm by myself. Uh so the draft is due at the beginning of October. Uh and we have been pushing hard. Initially they said not until December but I want it by the October for the board uh to begin our conversations for fiscal year 27 so that the board has that data because I heard you loud and clear
181that without a comparison it's a really you're having a conversation without necessary data. So we're doing what we can to get you that data in a timely fashion. Thank you so much. Those are all my questions on that one. It looks like maybe someone else has questions. Yeah. There's one question that popped up for me. Um will there be any stakeholder input particularly where the labor partners in in this study? Uh no it's an analysis. So they are just they are just looking at our different schools and types of schools and they're providing a comparison uh to other schools and types of schools throughout the state uh that that match our student profile and that they're urban. Uh so there's no it's simply a data analysis and then a lot of interviewing confirmation with districts.
182And the reason SSC is the only folks uh is the only company that seems to be involved in this work is first of all it's very complex. Secondly, they have access to every school district in the state and a relationship with all of them because that's what they do. They are a spin-off of our state government uh from the 1970s. uh and so they have access and they they have the ana the analysts that are able to do that work but they actually aren't engaged uh they're engaged with PC and HR as far as clarifying job cards so that they're making sure they're comparing Apple to Apple uh but that's the only actual interaction but eventually once we do receive the report we can based on you know u the findings or the recommendations that
183are made we can seek other um input based if if we decide to take action or or use some of the recommendations. Absolutely. And and the conclusions being drawn will not be any kind of opinion. It will just be an analysis. So it'll be the data for the board. It's there for the board to draw their own conclusions and share as they would like or not. And this will be helpful for what sort of purpose in the end to help us in what ways? It was to provide you I believe from the discussion that the board had that they wanted comparisons in California to be able to look at our sta staffing patterns. I understand that. But once we get this analysis, it'll help us make decisions in what ways about staffing for the district?
184Staffing. So this this is directly connected to the uh fiscal stabilization plan or strategies that we're looking forward in and norming or looking at staffing. Yeah, I think norming in particular uh so fiscal stabilization plan potentially. I think it's it was hard for the board to say well how do we know whether this is high low or in between or what does what do other people do and and in reality uh we don't know so that's why we we asked for the study it is the first study like it being done um just for public understanding that the reason we asked for this is because to help us understand making making decisions moving forward correct a more informed decision yes okay yes thank you Sure tab 10 and we have some more questions questions. Miss
185Gonz, yes, thank you for president. Um, well, this one's not a question, but on item K just uh which is the uh contract with Amplify around the reading difficulties screener. You know, I raised some concerns at the previous meeting where we talked about uh the screener, the new screener requirement. And just to note that um I intend to vote no on this in a similar vein. Not that I don't think reading difficulty screeners are really important or um I think our district is ahead of the game when it comes to dyslexia. We have robust um assessments already um for our youngest learners around reading levels and reading proficiencies. Um so I will just be consistent and and be voting against that one um for the record. And then I do have a question on item
186T and I think I see Dr. Motra um or someone back there. Um so this is on the contract with LA County Office of Education. Um, and because it's related to the children and youth behavioral health initiative, which I I think there's been some questions and conversation about publicly, I was just wondering if you might be able to clarify what exactly this um revenue contract is for and um what does it mean in terms of what's new or different for for the district and our students through this contract? Yes, good question. Again, Joel Cisneros, Student Mental Health and Wellness Services. So this is a revenue contract from LEO and essentially what it affords us is an opportunity to build out our fee schedule project under CBHI which is a $4.6 billion investment that took place
187from the state to essentially help build behavioral health pathways across the uh LEAS or across the school districts. So for us what that meant was is an opportunity to be able to directly bill to manage care plans which historically for behavioral health services which historically has never happened in the history of the state. So for us this these dollars will help us build out that infrastructure associated with that um development of that project. So specifically what we'll be using these dollars for will be for our electronic health record uh build out and pay for some of those uh the buildout of that and then also to build out the capacity of staff training and then most importantly be able to identify PSWs that can help with the roll out of this fee schedule project. So
188would you describe this as kind of a initial step towards building the foundation to be able to um kind of expand the provision of our services in this area? Yes. So it's going to be able to expand that and then be able to now draw down dollars and tap into that funding stream that historically again school districts have been unable to which is really exciting because we are providing these services that um should be billable to to health health insurers. So it it's great that we have access to a new revenue stream to be able to provide these critical services to our students. That is correct. And just a note, you know, the majority of districts that were part of cohort one, of which we were part of cohort one, um started actually submitting initial
189reimbursement requests and claims in December. We submitted our first in February, March. Um, so today we're one of the first set of districts actually has now starting to submit based off of the new fee schedule started with a pilot group and we're going to continue to grow and onboard more of our providers, our psychiatric social workers, other staff who can actually bill against this particular program. But it's it's a learning process, but we're also leading the way with Santa Clara and a number of other uh districts in in the state. Can I just ask on this specific one, Mr. Melson? So, the um how is the 3.7 million allocation uh determined because my understanding is that it's like north of 40 million countywide um or even more than that and we're like we have 40%
190of the kids in Lake in the Grer County. So, on things like this, I like to just say, you know, we we should be getting more closer to 20 million. So s there was general advocacy in this space in that the county um implemented a formula that weighted more greatly the per pupil allocation. So that you look at enrollment readiness a number of factors to determine the kind of grant cybhi grant allocation from the county. Their determination was that LA Unified, given our kind of infrastructure and our current fee schedule that we had for our medical programs, that we were a little more advanced than other districts. And so they were um they actually provided a greater amount to uh other districts in the county. Um what we ended up requesting was a collective amount
191of about $11 million uh to support uh staffing staffing up some of the training uh necessary for the program. What they granted us was 3.7 million. Um we we've circled back on the advocacy. They felt very strongly that they're resourcing schools, school districts that have no infrastructure. We're part of cohort one. we were already recognized as having a more advanced infrastructure and so they felt that we didn't need as much uh to execute on the program. Well, I guess kudos to the team for the progress that's been made, but maybe in the future our applications we should reflect greater need and less accomplishment um just to try to get, you know, more. So, um Okay. Well, thank you. So, Carla, I believe you're Miss Grigo. Go ahead. Oh, yeah. I have questions about this as
192well. So, um this is going to with all of these uh filing for reimbursements, we should be seeing some more money coming in, right? So, will that where is that money going to go? Is it going to go to uh school mental health services? Uh the general fund. Do you know where that's money is going to go? And if Well, answer that question first. Yeah. So, it'll go to the general fund to support student mental health and wellness programs. Okay. And have we started receiving some of that money since we filed in our first reimbursement request in February? Have we seen some of that money coming in? Yes, we have. Uh we've seen close to about $4,000. Again, we started with a pilot program because we wanted to make sure that, you know, I know
193it's not a lot of money, but essentially it wanted to work on the scalability and work out all the various structures. So for us in the in August, we will be rolling this out across our entire PSW program and uh perhaps even our wellness program as well. And so PSWs have been trained to pilot it right now. We have a group of about 20 PSWs that are are essentially our focus group uh that have um been working on this for the last several months. And I'm wondering if have they given you any feedback in terms of the workload? Does this take um a lot more time than say when they were doing the other billings for medical? What is the the comparison? The feedback has been the feedback has been very favorable and essentially what
194we found and what we committed to uh is making sure that we looked at all the services that were already being provided. And then essentially on the back end and essentially on the on the uh coding side of the platform we could just direct those services that had already been documented already been delivered and now seek reimbursement. So essentially we wanted to disrupt the workflow as as you know disrupt we didn't want it to disrupt it. So we wanted to keep it as simple as possible for PSW. So the feedback has been favorable at this point. Okay. because that is a concern that I've heard. As you know, our PSWs have a ton on their plate. Our mental health consultants are like up to here. That's how they describe their workload right now. And so,
195I think it's positive and it's great that we're doing this because it will bring more funds in and we know that we need more PSWs in our district. Um, but I also want to make sure that we are uh either paying extra time if it does require extra time for PSWs to complete this work. Um, and that we're not pulling from the work that they do in the in the at the school site with our students. That is a concern to me. I want this to happen, but I want us to make sure that it's not pulling from the work that they do with the students. Absolutely. And I think that fundamentally that's always going to be our focus. And again what what our driver has always been it's services you already are providing you're
196already documenting and now we can actually reimburse for that. So it's actually it's not disrupting anything and and that's what our pilot group essentially has the feedback they given us as well but we're always monitoring for that. And what is the expected amount that we should um see coming in from these reimbursements? It's the one thing I want to kind of set expectations on. And just to give you an idea, um, since the inception of districts starting to submit claims, as of the beginning of Maine, there was a about 1,800 claims submitted statewide. That's which represented about $17,000, of which the program administrator, Caroline, has paid out about 22,000 of those claims. $22,000 worth of those claims. And so it it's when you're looking at the universe of dollars, we're talking about a program that
197may draw down about $800,000 to $1.2 million annually utilizing this fee schedule. And that's just based off of current kind of roll out. May that change? May there be, you know, adjustments to the program? Yes. But as of right now, that's what we're estimating is the total kind of net draw down that we would get through the program. Can you repeat the estimated total? It's about 800,000 or 1.2 million. Thank you. Anyone else on 10? Go ahead. This new bill, this is on O. Item O. Thank you. So I know um from reading we originally opened the contract and it was fulfilled with 16 and then we expanded with 152 million and then now the request is for 36. My question is with the services that are being referenced here or put together, when is
198a timeline that we see these deliverables and when we see how and when do we get updates of the progress of the system upgrades because there's so many different ones and since 21 there have been substantial increase but when do we get the updates? So these are for existing work that in progress. Um for example uh and most of it is operational. There are some projects that's also is built into this. Um the project the board typically get an update uh either through the BOC when we give the quarterly report for the bond programs having been complete. These are u providing a staff augmentation um contract for those resources. Um as far as the operation part is covered under my uh MYS SIS application system which typically we roughly spend something around uh between 4
199to8 uh million dollars for the next uh for the remaining of the year to be able to keep the system active. So these are operational costs and uh those operation cost typically is just a pro like a day-to-day activity to maintain the application as they are. The contract is just going to keep us for the remaining of the year. we're going to come with a new contract a new bench for the uh post January which is essentially that's going to have uh foresee for the next five years of the enhancement and then what would the average be there because this started out but then there was a subsequent increase is that just to continue to make it function so the original estimate was for one year not five years of the contract that's the reason
200you see that uh increase from one uh so the second amendment that this contract received that was the actual expenditure for the contract. So historically uh that's the cost of the contract which I believe is about uh I would say about 20 uh 200 yeah it's but 200 for for years for five years. Yes. So we should see that again now and and you're going to see less because we now have a security bench contract. We use this bench as well to provide a lot of our security services before security contract bench being produced. So this contract kind of I would say overdrafted overdrawn because we were using for security implementation since 2022. Now since we have a security bench approved by the board actually one of the security bench already is in the in
201this board report. This contract going to reduce the new contract is going to be much less than what it is. So are we able to see a report and how it reduced because of what we've already had? Yes. Uh so at the time that we prepare it is going to come to the board for review and approval the new contract and we're going to show the forecast projection and what would be the expenditure. Right. And I know we had asked in another meeting as far as updates to some of the items that are here as far as I know I'm sure I'm I'm hoping that it's here that we see some of those upgrades with field trips and items like that where parents were doing stuff online. I think we had asked for it. Would
202that be included in this operation? Some of the enhancement yes parent portal enhancement they are all included in this in increase and also as well as the new contract when it's coming all of our application enhancement they are all included but uh if the board require need a a full briefing update about a specific project we can work with the superintendent office and prepare the report for any specific product or project that you're considering the bond typically it goes through the bo and you receive a copy cyber security we send it through the quarterly report anything outside of these two we can work on case by cases and bring the update. Got it. Thank you. Anything else for 10? This was a long 10. I have some questions. Go ahead. I think it's in 10.
203Item N. What are your questions? Oh. Oh, there you are. Jacob and Teresa, come on up, too. And so, um, so I know you've answered some of these, Kristen, but I want to put it out for the public to also know uh that I have these questions and and the responses. So, um, let me see. I'm looking for them right now. Oh my goodness. All right. So, um, so over the last five years, how many teachers has TFA brought to the district? So over the life of the current contract that we are operating under, we have brought in approximately 115 teachers into the system through Teach for America. And just to give you some context, over the last three years, we have hired 6,386 classroom teachers. Over the last Okay, thank you. And what has
204been the retention rate for these teachers beyond the two years that um that they commit to? Yes, thank you for that question. So the first cohort that was covered in the most recent contract started in the 2122 school year and the three-year retention was 52%. four-year retention was 48% and we have seen an increase with the next cohort starting in 22 23 up to 61% and so we look forward to seeing what the data will reflect at the start of next school year regarding three-year retention for the next cohort. So 61% is the retention rate for when did these folks start those in fall of 2022. Okay. Okay. So three years. So um of the folks that you um hired um say five years ago, how many of those folks are still here or beyond
205three years? What percentage? So again, for the one cohort where we are in the fourth year, the current retention uh percentage of that cohort is 48%. 48. Okay. And um how many I know that this is speaking to LA USD, but I'm wondering in TFA, how many are placed in charter schools? Do you have that? I do not have that exact number. And then do we when they leave, do we know do we have any data on whether they leave the profession or go to another district or do we know do we follow them after they leave our district? if they leave after two or three years. My understanding is that TFA remains engaged with them through their alumni engagement team to determine whether or not they are still in the profession. And do we
206know how many remain in the profession and go to other districts or that is not data that we have available for our specific employees who have left? Okay. It would be nice to have that information to track where why did they leave the district if they went to another district or another uh organization that they went to work with. It would be good to know that information. That's all I have. Thank you. I just wanted to add to that um as we are encouraging our TFA members, what is that encouragement from LUSD? So I'll just share that the division of human resources does have a robust human capital management strategy where we work with our principles to build their capacity in developing relationships with early career educators to promote retention across all programs and new
207hires. Um and so a part of that is to highlight the teacher leadership and school leadership opportunities within the district in terms of a vertical articulation of a career ladder where they can become national board certified participate in induction to clear their credential at no charge to the core member and then pursue their administrative credential through our programs. So do are we keeping track of these particular group of individuals on that track to see how many have taken that career ladder to stay within the district and move up within the profession. I will say that the vendor has been very responsive in terms of helping us track the number of educators who remain within the system and they report that we have in excess of 150 educators who are still LA Unified employees within the
208classroom. Um we are also working to make sure that we are recruiting a cohort that is more reflective of the students that we serve. And so we have seen a shift in recruiting folks who attend more of our local universities who have ties to the community. Um approximately 35 to 45% of the individuals who are coming in are our own alumni who graduated from LA Unified schools and all of these things we we believe will promote retention moving forward. That's good to know because I think prior they were coming from Ivy League schools and not necessarily local. Yes. Correct. And if you see those folks come into contract that those will not be the folks that you are seeing who are coming to contract for LUSD for the most part right and then in the
209recruitment of the particular candidates are the principles selecting that or is the district selecting them? Yes, that is a great question. So HR will screen all of them for eligibility to make sure that they meet the minimum requirements for the teacher job class. And then they are placed on a list and made available to principles just as any other candidate would from any of our other partners. And so principles have we we are only invoiced uh for a teacher in the event that a principal selects them and they onboard and contract with the district. All right. Thank you Dr. Reves. Yeah. Yes. Um two questions. How does this investment, which is roughly 15,000 per candidate, compare in cost and long-term impact to other district run or or teacher preparation programs? So, ju just to clarify,
210Dr. Revas, the cost per core member would be $2,500 per year. Um, and so I would say that, you know, we would have to go back and check regarding how much it costs to train a, let's say, a district intern, but I would say that it would be in excess of $5,000 for each individual teacher that we're training. Um, this is 2500 for how many years? So, it's $2,500 per teacher per year for two-year commitment. So, in theory, if the Yes. If the teacher onboards and stays with us for those two years, we would be charged at $5,000 for any year that they remain with us thereafter. There is no fee, but then the retention is about 48%. Right. You mentioned that. Okay. Um just for the public, can you share more about the opportunities
211that the district has implemented to scale up internal pipeline programs like teacher induction programs um and also classified uh staff pathways or residency models uh beyond renewing external contracts like this? Absolutely. Um so first I will say that currently the district has um eight teacher residency grants with five different university partners where we seek to provide living stipens to offset the cost of attendance at our local universities where folks are enrolled in credential programs. We do hire more than 100 of these folks per year who come to us fully credentialed. Beyond that, we do have a career ladder program that supports more than 300 current classified employees who are seeking to become credentialed teachers in high need areas or uh registered school nurses with us. So, there are additional pipelines for teachers. Yes. Yes. It's
212part of all part of pillar five trying to build a diverse workforce. So, having very diverse sourcing strategies to make sure that we're getting the best candidates regardless of where they come from. Thank you. That's all. And Dr. Rivas, uh, regarding the retention, I know it's 48% for that first cohort, uh, from 2122, they're still with us now, but if you look at the improvement in retention based on the new recruitment strategies and and employees who are LA Unified alumni, um, whereas we're typically around 93% this time of year, this year's cohort, we're at 100%. for the second for the the 23 24 cohort where in the past years they'd be around 68 70% at second year they're now at 87%. And then similarly the year three um where they would in the past be
213in the 50s like 52% they're now at uh 61%. So we are seeing a steady increase with each cohort um in the last few years of what percentage of them stay. So, uh, we're we're excited to try to welcome more and more of them to become long-term LA Unified employees. So, thank you for the to the team for that great work. Okay, my turn. Um, one of my uh, Teach for America teachers is a principal now in LA USD. So, you know, there's all kind of things happening. But I didn't understand a question that Carla asked. Maybe I misunderstood. Did you ask how many te teach for America are trained and placed in a charter school? Did you say that? Do we place te do we us? Not us just in general. I thought you
214know I apologize. I thought you were with teach for America. That's why I was asking you that question. I just asked her, so I apologize. But no, what I was asking is if in general, do we know how many of the TFA teachers or or or young people who go through TFA are placed in charter schools and and my apologies, Jacob Guthrie, HR and Teresa Reginain, certificated employment. And and what I'll say is my understanding is that you know like this contract that is being proposed calls for up to 40 teachers per year for LA Unified. And so then the remainder of the cohort that they recruit would go to other district partners or independent charters. Okay. Now I understand. Thank you. Thank you. Um, Jacob and uh, Teresa, I think that the questions asked
215today were so fantastic and I hope that you'll watch the recording of this for next time for the statistics because there were a lot of questions that you really didn't have the statistics for, but it's good to have. So, watch the mood the meeting again. Okay. All right. Yes, sir. All right. Okay. Thank you. And we have uh, two public comment on this item that we need to get to before we actually take the vote. And we have a two o'clock time certain that has become a time uncertain. So we're we're running a little bit behind. And I I want to thank those waiting for the time certain uh for their patience. Um Dr. Peter James just because other board members got to comment. Oh boy. On this item, that's my boss. I apologize. I
216didn't see your hand up. Please, please go ahead. No, that's okay. Um, and Jacob, you might have gone away already, but it sounded to me like the Teach for America core members represent less than like 1% of the district or am I off in my math there? Less than 1% of the hires. Yeah. So, again, over the last three years, we've hired 6,386 classroom teachers and Oh, that was over three years. and then 115 Teach for America. Correct. Okay. So, a little bit more than one person. Closer to two. Um, so it's helpful to just know the level of scrutiny for, you know, a really small program. And, um, you know, I appreciate my colleagues questions, but I just I'm sure, you know, for the public, it it helps to be very clear that alumni
217go off and do lots of things. We received lots of messages from principles and coaches and teachers who've been in the district. So, I want to appreciate the folks who reached out and told us their stories of how they got um hooked on educational equity uh because of this program. And I just wanted to raise my hand and say I am one of them and so are a couple of my other colleagues on the board here. And so, um, you know, I really appreciate the mission, um, bringing people into the district and, uh, loved being a core member back in 2005 and have stayed committed to the mission, um, that one day all children will have the opportunity to excel, um, and, uh, looking forward to being able to renew this contract and have more
218folks stay with us longer and appreciate the, um, additional focus on L USD alumni, which I'm also so uh, appreciate the connection to the roots of LA Unified. So, thank you for your efforts. I know it's it's been a long um process and thanks to the Teacher America staff that I know is there um and placing in some of our highest need communities that really do need people to stay. So, I appreciate the conversation on retention. Um and I hope we can all work together to make sure folks do stay for our kids. So, thank you. Okay, so we have the two two public commenters. Dr. Peter James Watts Jr. I see uh out there. come on up. You have two minutes to speak once you begin and then we have one remote caller. So,
219uh the floor is yours, sir, when you begin. Good afternoon board members. Uh my name is Dr. Peter Watt Jr. and I'm the CEO and a co-founder of the Wata Power Foundation uh and the Village Initiative. And I'm also a proud member of the Teach for America Los Angeles Advisory Board and a former LUSD educator where my journey began 28 years ago at Compton Avenue Elementary School right here in this district. And what matters most to me is this work that ensures our students, especially our black and brown students, have strong and committed teachers who reflect their brilliance and their lived experience. To multiply the 2% of teachers nationwide who are black men, we need every pipeline working together, and that includes Teach for America. I'm a I'm proud that uh teacher village two of
220our current fellows are also TFA core members one serving as a special education teacher at John Ley Middle School and these teachers are showing up every day with deep purpose and are receiving support from both our residency programs. Uh through us they receive a therapist, a life coach and affordable housing. In TFA's coaching, they get coaching as well as resources during their first two critical years in the classroom. TFA's incoming cohort including includes a majority of LUSD alumni and 16% of them identify as black. This is the kind of intentional recruitment and long-term investment our district needs. I'm proud that Teacher Village is a partner of LUSD and I believe that Teach for America should continue to be one as well. And I respectfully urge you to vote in support of the contract renewal and
221continue build a trusting and strong diverse teacher pipeline together. Thank you for your time and your commitment to the future of our educators and our students. Thank you for your time. Okay, we have one uh remote caller call Carla McAulik. Carla, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Carla Mccauik, can you all hear me? We can. Please go ahead. Hi. Excellent. All right. Good afternoon, board members. My name is Dr. Carla McCulla and I'm proud to be a part of a network of organizations that together form a powerful trifecta in service of Los Angeles students. I began my career over 20 years ago as an H.B.CU CU alumni and Teach for America core member at Gumpers Middle School where I was mentored and uplifted by
222veteran L USD educators who helped shape the educator I would become. PFA gave me the foundation. L USD gave me the roots and together they gave me the tools to lead with creativity, purpose and deep community connection. I taught sixth grade English and history, served as department chair, and successfully advocated for a theater class. Many of my students had never performed before, but by the end of the year, they were center stage in a production of Westside Story that made the front page of the Los Angeles Times. Since then, I've served as dean of discipline, a school administrator, a university professor, and now I've come full circle. I'm back in the classroom as an itinerate theater teacher serving five LA USD elementary schools. Each week, I introduce hundreds of students to the power of the
223performing arts, helping them unlock confidence, creativity, and joy. Some of my new students are actually the children of students I taught years ago. Teach for America and LA USD have partnered in the name of students for more than 20 years. Together, we built bridges between the local and the national, between fresh perspective and lived experiences with the urgency that this moment demands. So now more than ever, we must lean into collaboration for the sake of our children as we prepare them to be the world changers they are destined to be. Education is the force that changes the world. And I respectfully urge you to vote yes on the renewal for the Teach for America contract. Our students deserve every strong partnership working in their corner and together collaboratively we truly can change the world. Thank
224you so much. Thank you for your time. Now time to vote on tab 10. May I have someone move the item? Moved by Mr. Meline, seconded by Dr. Rivas. Okay. Now the vote on tab 10. Uh Miss Newell. Dr. Rivas. Yes. And abstain from N. Abstain for N for Dr. Revas. Yes. On everything else. U Mr. Meline. Yes. Miss GGO. Yes. But no on N. GGO is yes for everything except item N. Miss Gomez, I'm a no on item K and a yes on the balance. Gonz is a no on item K and a yes on the balance. Uh, Miss Ortiz Franklin, yes. Mr. Artis Franklin is a yes. Uh, board presidentson, yes. Student board member Cortez Lopez. Yes. Uh the time is now 2:25. We're 25 minutes late for our time certain uh for
225tab 35. Um did you want to take a public comment and then introduce it or Okay. Well, can we introduce it and then wait? Yeah, it's your part. Yeah. Yeah, let's do that. Because we've been waiting for 25 minutes. So, do you want to move it or Oh, it's already on consent or we just It's not on consent. Actually, we can we can move it and second it. bring it to the table right now. Yes, I move. I'll second. Moved by Dr. Rivas, seconded by Miss Grigo. Okay. So, I um so this is a resolution that I'm very honored to uh present the celebration of play day on June 28th of this year 25 and promotion of play equity. Uh play is not a luxury, it's a lifeline. And on June 28th, 2025, Play Day
226will unite communities with movement, laughter, and belonging. Thanks to the leadership of LA84 Foundation and the Play Equity Fund, this national celebration reminds us that every child, regardless of zip code, income, race, or ability, observes the transformative power of play. Yet, too many still face barriers. That's why this resolution matters. It reaffirms our commitment to equity and by ensuring all students can access the lifelong benefits of sport and movement. And it empowers our schools, families, and partners to activate joy through our summer of learning through local programs and through community play. Play is essential for youth development, fostering physical health, cognitive performance, and emotional growth. Yet many children, especially black and Latino communities, youth and with disabilities, and lowincome families, face barriers to these opportunities. This resolution seeks to close that play equity gap, ensuring
227that all children can benefit from sports and movement. On June 28th, Play Day will be celebrated with a block party at the LA 84 Foundation and West Adams featuring music, sports, art, and food with 100 additional satellite sites across the country. We encourage everyone to join us in this celebration of play and community connection. As Nelson Mandela once said, sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has a power to unite people in a way that little else does. Let's let this resolution be our call to inspire, to unite, and to uplift every child through the simple essential act of play. I've also accepted a friendly amendment from Miss Grego to explicitly name southeast Los Angeles cities and other municipalities within the district's boundaries to also promote this
228uh this day of play. Everyone at the horseshoe should have copies of this second uh amended version and members of the public can also find copies in the front. It's also available online. The resolution now highlights the importance of partnering with with all local jurisdictions to promote and expand access to play opportunities across the district and also to join us on June 28th. Now, let's celebrate, let's commit, and let's play forward. all this time. I'm uh at this time I'm pleased to introduce James Lopez, MSW, director of advocacy for the LA84 Foundation and Play Equity Fund and also Celeste Sto, executive director for Playwork Southern California, who will share their remarks on the importance of play and the work being done to promote promote play equity. Thank you. The floor is yours. Thank you. Good
229afternoon. My name is James Lopez, director of advocacy for the LA84 Foundation and Play Equity Fund. Thank you, Dr. Rivas, for the introduction, and it's my honor to be here for the second consecutive year to speak in support of the 2025 playday resolution. I want to thank the entire board for your leadership and for supporting the important role of sport, play, and physical activity for our district, for our students, and for their families. Uh we're grateful that you're taking this action to pro proclaim play day and share the importance. Uh, at the LA4 Foundation, we believe that every child, no matter where they come from or how much money their household makes, has a right to quality sport, play, and physical activity in their schools and in their communities. Research has consistently shown that sports
230participation in physical activity lead to better academic outcomes, uh, better physical and mental health, and more resilient adolescence and young adults. But despite this fact, across California, youth are not meeting CDC guidelines for daily physical activity. And in LA, 64% of youth are physically active less than 5 days a week. This resolution will help us continue to build the conversation, build our collective awareness of what we call the play equity gap, and also promote collaboration and solutions. Please join us on Saturday, June 28th in the West Adams neighborhood to celebrate the power of sport, play, and movement at our second annual Playday Block Party. It's a free event for everybody, all ages, where kids and families can enjoy food, music, art, but most importantly, the power of play. Let's unite on Play Day to lift
231up the importance of play for our communities. Visit l84.org to learn more and register for the free event. All are welcome. Again, thank you Dr. Rivas to the entire board and superintendent Carvajo for this uh resolution. We look forward to working together to close the gap. See you at play day. Good afternoon. My name is Celeste Sto. I am the executive director for Playworks Southern California. We have been a partner of LA USD for 17 years. Um and we are um wonderful partners with Play Equity Fund in LA 84. Um, our business is play and our vehicle is recess. If we want to make an impact, we go where the kids are and they are on the playground. Um, for us, um, we want to thank again Dr. Rivas and the board members for allowing
232us to be in the district, but also for uplifting play in such a meaningful way. Um, it is important that LUSD and the broader education system acknowledge and uplift the importance of sport, play, and movement. Now more than ever, the play equity gap continues to grow for our communities of color, and we must act. Playworks is proud to engage LUSD kids and educators in this movement through play-based programming every day on playgrounds. When kids play, they're better focused in the classroom. They develop those relationship skills that go beyond the playground. And data shows when they feel engaged and have fun at recess, they want to come to school. Through play, we promote joy and wellness for all kids. especially the highest need communities. And we do this through partnering with schools through the BSAP program.
233Today for students, this feels like fun at recess, but for us, the data shows um we do an annual survey each year, and this year alone, 99% of educators are saying the importance of playworks and play is getting their kids more physically active. 99% of educators are sharing that play helps kids relate and build relationships with peers. 99% of of educators believe that uh playworks creates a welcoming environment through those play environments. Educators are saying play matters and play absolutely brings out the best in every student. With that said, I invite all the board members to in to come out to a PlayWorks recess any time. Um I've created and and shared out at the back of the um space here a story of Delasia, a LA USD student has grown her youth leadership through
234some of the programs that plays provides as well as what is supported through play equity fund and LA84. I want to thank everybody for ensuring that LA USD students continue to reap the benefits of the power of play. Thank you so much and we look forward to being a part of the play day in June. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you James and Celeste for your insightful remarks and continued advocacy for play equity. So to summarize, Play Day is more than just a celebration is a call to action. Together we are working toward a future where every child has access to the joy and benefits of play, sports, and movement. Thank you to our partners and to all of you for supporting this important initiative. hopefully able to vote on it. Let's continue to champion
235policies and practices that ensure all children have equal opportunities to play and thrive. Thank you very much. So now I'll move to anyone who wants to make a comment or I would I would. So since I've always been a secondary educator as a board member, my favorite place to visit is the elementary school and even more favorite is the pals and the UT case. I watch them and I see how much they advance academically. And that has a lot to do with the physical activity that they do. I bet you they do 50% physical and 50% academic because when I watch them in the yard, they learn to cooperate with each other. They learn to respect each other. And it's just a wonderful experience to see our little kid. They're going they're our future. I'm
236telling you, those kids are going to be number one. And I'm just so proud. and I hope I can be a co-sponsor. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry. Oh, I was just going to thank you for bringing this. I love the um play it forward pun. Um and I'd love to join as a co-sponsor and I appreciate um Dr. M. your um uh inclusion of the language around the partnership. I know we've been working as a board around community school parks and really opening it up. And as I say every time I have the opportunity to if you're a constituent or a user, a kid, a parent, you don't know that there's the county, the city, the district are all different entities. You just know why is this the one maybe green
237space in your community locked on the weekends. And so the more that we can do and have financial partners to help us open the gates and get kids to play um especially when so much of their lives are structured uh is just really wonderful. So thanks for bringing this uh and thanks for having me as a co-sponsor. Yeah, thank you um Dr. Rivas for accepting my friendly amendment um that will make the language more inclusive of the southeast LA cities and all other nonLA municipalities. Um, I was an elementary school teacher for 12 years in special education and PE that I would do with my students was primordial. I mean, it was the way that the students could focus the rest of the day. Um, and they did get along better when we started off
238with PE. So, and I'm not a PE teacher, but I figured it out. And um, and we would have fun in the morning before we got to class. And so I totally agree with um the presenters that uh play uh support student learning and social emotional well-being as well as um building relationships with one another. Um really testing out conflict, right? What happens when you say, you know, when you're out and you don't want to be out and how do you handle that situation? And we could have educators facilitating that conversation. So, I'm I'm really glad um that this has come through. The other thing is I want to again emphasize the the need to partner with county or with city to open up our schools to park uh as a park as a weekend
239um um activity for kids in the neighborhood. I know one of my schools, Walnut Park, has anou with the county, I believe, and they open their their gates to the community to come and use the school. They have a huge green field and then there's also a park next door that they also use during the day for picnics or reading or anything like that and it happens to be the only park in the neighborhood in that whole community I should say. So um that's important that we just keep that in mind. The other thing I want to do is I know this is about play but also I want to uplift uh PE teachers especially in the elementary school because we don't have them. They're not uh they're very few and far and we need
240them in in elementary school. In fact, students in elementary school have to meet a certain number of minutes a month and which I'm glad that we have that. Um, but we also it could be helpful if we had staff who could do that and uh who has a credential in physical education and support our students in all the motor skills that they need uh to to you know as they develop and get older. So thank you again. I appreciate this uh opportunity to be a part of this resolution. Thank you. Let me just mention uh Carla that that is so true about elementary school PE teachers. Schools that can afford an elementary school teacher who is a PE teacher as a certificated PE teacher. When they take the kids out to the yard and teach
241them true physical education, the teachers themselves meet together and they plan and they go over data. So, it's a double it's a double uh wonderful thing to have PE teachers in elementary school. So, that's my plug for PE teachers. PE teacher, Miss uh Newil. Yes. Um appreciate you bringing this and I was there last year and it was amazing um just to be in the community and have everyone take part in what brings so many of us together. Uh being a physical educator, uh it is important. I think it was one of the areas we touch the lives of everyone at a school site when you're in a secondary because you get to see everybody. And so with this initiative and adding the schools, which I think with the parks and the county is so
242critical because when you have just the natural connection. I mean, I was fortunate to work at a school that was connected to a park that you can walk over. We use those facilities and then to have other schools similar like that. I just saw so much growth within those students. And so as you bring this forth, I'm so grateful and if I can be a co-sponsor as well, I just appreciate the work that LA84 is doing as well. Student board member, thank you. I want to again reciprocate the just admiration about for this resolution uh Dr. the arrivas and how highlighting how vital our public spaces are for especially elementary school students whether it's community recreational leagues. I would love to see the expans expansion of culturally inclusive play as well. I've recently seen with
243the high population of Latino students in our district, um, a lot of schools are offering folklorico or spaces where there's a high Korean population, Korean fan dancing and a lot of more students are particularly engaged when they see themselves in play and exercising in a way that feels close to home is something I believe can also be added to this. But again, you are so right. So many of our students strongly resonate with the idea that it is a lifeline and another way for students to engage it with their peers, especially after the pandemic. And I would love to see the expansion of these block parties with LA84 to other areas outside of West Adams to continue engaging students with their summer of learning and also getting them physically active. So, thank you. Anyone else?
244I just wanted to add hopefully we'll get that 1% over on the other side. I'm not sure why we have 1% that's not in compliance. But yeah, before we go to public comment, could we take a quick picture and then come back? Is that all right? Absolutely. Just right here in front of the day so we don't leave. Everybody wants to come and take a p pick. You didn't have Oh, Tanya, I see your hand up now. Sure. I guess as people are transitioning to photo, uh, I just want to appreciate Dr. Evas also for bringing this resolution. Would love to be added as a co-sponsor. It's so important, I think, um, for us to reach our academic goals that we promote health and healthy activity. Um, and I wanted to also appreciate the reference
245to Walk to School Day this coming October. So, thank you, Dr. Rivas, and would love to be added. I'll make that note. I don't think they're every Yes. Yes. Yes. It's a We're so excited to see you with everybody. That's true. Okay, we have a full slate of public comment on this item. All right, let's see. We have 10 folks signed up uh all in person. I don't see them in the room, but I will read through the list. And I'll also note there are no uh remote speakers signed up for this tab either. Lel White, are you here? Ian Kirsy, Amir, uh Maria Hernandez, Mackie Draper, Juan Mandi, I do believe you're here. Mr. Mandi, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. I'll call the other speakers while he's
246on his way down. Brian. Oh, Ryan will be going next after Gandhi if he's here. There he is. Okay. Mr. McGani is going to speak in Spanish. So, if you'd like to hear what he's saying in English simultaneously, please put your hands up and we'll get you these translation headsets. Good afternoon. This very sad. I congratulate you. Well, I had a meeting with some people today and we were talking about safety, right? And I was remembering that people don't understand about safety. Everything is mental health, one thing or the other. But honestly, they have no idea what it is to create security parameters so that our children can walk in a safe way to schools and that they can come back. And the the principal said, "You know what? Our job is inside the schools.
247Outside what happens outside? I don't care. At the end of the day, I don't live around here." What a great answer. This is the most honest answer that I've heard my whole life. And I am here today and this was full of employees today. and it seems like a cemetery now because they came to do their business and they left. Therefore, I think this is the biggest problem. We need to start working more seriously. These people have well the children are being pressed are being pressured by gangs. They're selling them drugs. There are many ways to take children to the addiction in us. I believe that the words of these principal was great. We only answer to what's happening inside. We don't care about what's happening outside. Therefore, and we all wanted, now that we
248were speaking about the trees, I wanted to uh to do something at Hoover School. I wanted to do a pilot plan where it seems like we're in jail there. Everything is concrete in that school. Um there was an organization that was called for the Friends of Trees. And you know what they said to me? That they can't do anything, but the district has prohibited based on the policies for it to be open. And there's there aren't any parks there. There's no green spaces. There were a lot of gangs, a lot of violence, and there are a lot of robberies. And we were talking there are good things that can happen, but we need political support from you guys. If not, we're wasting our time. Have a great time. Okay. Crystal Corona, are you here? Cindy
249Nunes and Eman all all not here. So, I also want to mention that this resolution is seeking a waiver of board rule 72. Sometimes we take these votes simultaneously. It's a resolution that doesn't require immediate action like the other resolutions do. Um, so we'll just take that vote simultaneously if that's okay with everybody. Yeah. Um, and Miss Gonz, I don't know if she wanted to make Oh, just appreciation um to Dr. Rivas for bringing this resolution. I think play is super important and I'd love to be added as a co-sponsor and continue the conversation about how we can integrate play more in our everyday instruction because we we need so much more of it. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So, here we go on the simultaneous vote for the board rule 72 waiver and
250the actual resolution. Uh, Miss Newell, yes. Dr. Rivas, yes. Mr. Melvinne, yes. Miss Grigo, Gonz, yes. Miss Ortiz Franklin, yes. Uh, board president, yes. And student board member Cortez Lopez. Yes. And um Miss um Ortiz Franklin, can I uh confirm your vote on tab six? Yes. On the south? Yes. Yes. May I also have your vote on tab eight? Yes. And Miss Gomez, may I have your vote on tab eight? Yes. Do you need me on seven also? Yes, on seven also. Yes. Okay, I have collected all the votes that I needed. Um, so on to the next item number 11. Tab 11, approval of facilities contract actions. Dr. Revas had questions and so did uh Mr. Schmurson. Um, and why don't we take the get the move in the second while folks are getting
251the notes together. Move it. Moved by Mr. SME, seconded by Miss Gonz. So, if you'd like to go, Dr. Reeves. No, no. I I'm going to uh withdraw my uh question. Yeah. Okay, I had a question for [Music] items Q&R to comes down. Hi. Um, I just see that there are several contracts with grant writing services. This contract pertains um item Q, but I would also include item T. Could you please inform us on the pending monetary goals for these consulting services? If we're um are spending 2 million and six million, what is the least we are expected to gain from these services in terms of dollars like 10 million or 20 million to ensure the effectiveness of these contracts and others want to make sure we um are establishing metrics that we're getting um
252you know return on our investment. Thank you. Christina Ches, chief facilities executive. So, I'll give you a quick rundown of QR and T. Um item Q is to augment existing staff um when we have several competing deadlines and we don't want to miss the opportunity to apply for grants related to facilities construction improvements. we can turn to this contract um to help us make sure that we are able to make those applications and apply for supplemental funds. This is an up to amount. So, we're only going to use them on an as needed basis. Um and we were we are planning to use them especially for additional um grant applications for water control board, EPA, state forestry and fire protection um California OES, anything that is kind of above and beyond the routine facilities applications
253we make for state bond measures. Um item R is very specific. This is a requirement of the state that whenever we apply for state bond audit um I'm sorry state bonds that we have to audit our own applications. The state used to conduct these audits about seven years ago. They pushed that on to um school districts to conduct those audits themselves. There's a backlog of applications into the states for these funds. We want to make sure that we're not um jeopardizing our opportunity to get those. So, we want to continue to make sure our um applications are audited and this company is going to be producing doing that for us. And then item T is specific for um disaster recovery that's related to the Palisades fire. Um this is a very specialized application to make
254applications both for FEMA and for insurance. The good news on this one is that FEMA does reimburse 5% of the total amount that you receive um to pay for these consulting services because they recognize it's such a niche kind of specialized application. Um so we expect that we have to front with general funds that we will be seeking FEMA reimbursement for this consultant services. Thank you for that club. Just going back to R, you mentioned the the backlog. So I was I was concerning um that 523.4 million to the state um we could lose these funds. So just want to know how did this happen? I know there's uh you you mentioned that if you can just elaborate more and is a department responsible for overseeing this um issues under staffed or is this a
255lot of audits that have to take place or just why the backlog was so was so large? So uh just to clarify the backlog isn't our backlog of audits need to be done. It's the state's backlog for reviewing those applications. Got it. Okay. So the states lets us know, hey, we're now going to move through the approval or review process. Please make the audit has to be conducted and because the state has this backlog, we're now dealing with the state's backlog. So the backlog is costing us 523.4 before or no, these were these were projects that um uh that we are looking to fund any that we're applying for anyway. Um we just need the state requires that an audit be done of all applications. Now that these applications are ready to be audited, we'll
256be able to do these audits addressing the state's backlog of project and the 523. What is that particularly connected to? Oh, that is only that is if the audit isn't conducted. So, education 41024 is the code that required that now school districts do these audits rather than the state. And so, um we need to make sure that the audits are done so that we are collecting the 520 523 million from the state for Yes. from the state. Okay. Got it. Okay. Thank you for that clarification. Appreciate it. That those are all my questions for this item. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, I'm double checking for Miss Ortiz Franklin. No question. Okay, so we have the motion and the move in the second for this. Uh, I'll take the vote. Miss Newell, yes. Dr. Rivas, yes.
257Mr. Meline, Miss Grigo, Miss Gomez, yes. Miss Ortiz Franklin, yes. Uh, board president, yes. and student board member Cot Cortez Lopez. Yes. Uh, Mr. Mwine announces a yes for tab 11. And now we just need Miss Grigo for tab 11. Okay. The next item for discussion uh is tab 15. Believe I have one public comment on tab 15. Maria Louisa Palmer, come on up. Good afternoon. Marisa Palma speaking on behalf of the taxpayers and Olada, Inc., a nonprofit organization. How is it possible that I am the only person speaking in a city with millions and millions of residents? Apparently, nobody dares to tackle this complex. Uh maybe uh it doesn't have to be that complex, but it looks like to me the district overly intimidates and makes this more complex so that people don't speak.
258Uh item number 34. Interestingly, you should review that agenda item. It was listed on the agenda as receipt of depth report DPT. It's not an abbreviation for department. It's the debt report, debt t. That's quite misleading, isn't it? Because it's a very important piece of information. The debt report that tells us exactly how many bonds we have outstanding. All kinds of information. Now, on item 15, a billion dollar bond issue, and we have no finance committee at this district. I find that unconscionable. But yet, we have these other resolutions that are put forth by members of this board. I find that to be very telling about the board members priorities. So either you consider that finances, bonds, and so forth are low priority or they are dangerous topics for your political careers or you lack
259grounding in the subject matter or you want to keep secrets on the district's finances by design. We continue to have no public, no documented long-term plan for facilities use for this supposed 80 billion unfunded facilities needs. We've had vague statements by a number of the board members about potentially having to consolidate programs and schools considering the decreasing enrollment for so many reasons that we have decreasing enrollments. We need to see the projections for facilities needs in the reality. the taxpayers who pay property tax, which is everyone here, don't saddle us with unnecessary debt any longer. Give us the projections on enrollment before you continue to spend more of our property tax money. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Um, may I have a move and a second for tab 15? Move it. Moved by
260Miss Gonz. Second by Dr. Rivas. And here's the vote. Uh, Miss Newell. Yes, Dr. Rivas. Yes, Mr. Melvin. Yes, Miss Grigo. Yes, Miss Gomez. Yes, Miss Ortiz Franklin. Yes, Board President Shorosa. Yes. And student member Cortez Lopez. Yes. Okay, we'll come back to Miss Ggo for tab 15. Brings us to tab 16. I do not have any public comment on that item, but I will double check. Uh may I have a move and a second for tab 16? Move it. Moved by Miss Gonomez. Second. Seconded by Dr. Revas. Is there any discussion? We have none noted. Uh but it has to be on discussion. Okay. Um Miss Newell on the vote. Yes. Dr. Rivas. Yes. Mr. Meline. Yes. Miss Grigo. Miss Konz. Yes. Miss Ortiz Franklin. Yes. As for Miss Ortiz board president, yes. And
261student board member Cortez Lopez. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Same for tab 17. We do not have any public comment. May I have a move and a second? Move it. Move. Second by Miss Gonomez and seconded by President Schmuren. Uh and the vote. Uh Miss Newell. Yes. Dr. Rivas. Yes. Mr. Melvin. Yes. Miss Grigo. Miss Gomez. Yes. Miss Ortiz Franklin. Yes. Uh board presidentson. Yes. And student board member Cortez Lopez. Yes. Also come back to tab 17 for Miss Grigo. This brings us to tab 31 approval of the renewal petition for plain view academy charter. Um this is a public hearing. Um before the matter is heard, a public hearing must be held uh for the renewal petition for Plane View Academic Charter Academy. Uh speakers who wish to sign up should sign up online. They
262have already done so. Um I will also note that this um recommends approval of the charter with benchmarks as discussed in attachment. So um Miss Let's move it first. May I have a move in a second for tab 31? I'll move it. Okay. Moved by Miss Gomez. Second seconded by Dr. Rivas and Miss Gonz I believe you had questions. Yes. So Plane View Academic Charter Academy is a school I represent in board district 6 and I support it. I believe in its mission and I've seen the commitment of its educators. I was there just a couple of months ago with principal Magdaleno and his instructional leadership team. They shared about the um intervention program that they have, the support that they're providing to um students who may be struggling. Um I I do have some
263questions about the benchmarks. Um so I I guess I will just note that unlike most of the affiliated charters that we've looked at today and most of the affiliated charters in general, this is a high need school. It's a title one school. Nearly 90% of its students are considered socioeconomically disadvantaged. The majority are either current or former English learners. And I'll contrast that with some of the other affiliated charters today who don't even have enough English learners to meet the NS size requirement of the state. Um, so I appreciate that the staff holds all of our charters to the same high expectations whether they are independent or affiliated. Um I do want to ensure that the benchmarks that we set in place are setting high standards but are also achievable um for our schools and
264thinking about how are we supporting schools towards school improvement um and not not just holding them accountable um utilizing uh goals that might not be attainable within their charter term. Um, so what does real accountability look like and how do we as a district support affiliated charter schools who may be struggling um as they are our schools in in a unique way as compared to independent charter schools. So I was just wondering if you all could share a little bit about um the setting of the particular benchmarks that are proposed for plain view um and how do we ensure as a district that an affiliated charter like this one that's serving a high need student population is getting the support that it needs. Um those are good questions. Um, board member Gomez. Yeah. No, it's
265good. I'm Marlo Wilmont, interim director of the charter schools division. So, I want to reiterate, as you stated, we applied the same criteria for our independent charters and our affiliated charters as far as looking at assigning a benchmark. And so, that criteria is um what we're looking at is if a the a school or student group is uh below the state and red. So as you can see for uh plain views data on page uh 1329 they uh were uh lower than the state and red for all students and the three numerically significant student groups for ELA. We did do an all students uh benchmark and an English learner benchmark because as you already noted the Latino and student uh socioeconomically disadvantaged student groups make up the majority of that all student um student group.
266So if the all students make increases then those student it'll be the student groups. Um so that's for the English language arts and then for um the LB um we look at that's on page 10331. uh we look at uh if it's lower than the state and also very low status and then red. Um so that's the consistent approach we've applied uh for both independent and affiliated charter schools and really um as you can see in the benchmark it's really to demonstrate increases. So, what we're looking for is that um and it's on page 1324 that they'll increase or increase significantly from the prior year in their change level on the dashboard. And so that's the all students the and then the English learner student group we did identify and pull out um as a
267um to be looking for increases. And then in the LP also um we're looking for them to increase or increase significantly. Um as to the support for the affiliated charters, we do work, you know, the region is aware and works closely with the school. The director um does often participate in our oversight um and we've had conversations around these assignments and these benchmarks and understanding their data. And so they um were have been part of looking at the original benchmark they had with the plan. the support was the region was built in there. Um and so that is that is how they get that support. Do you want anything else Jose? I just add one one other note to your broader point in in ascribing the the benchmarks in addition to the consistency. All schools
268are seeking to increase at the end of the day for the next renewal we'll be looking at whatever the applicable law is and ensure that that's applied. So for example, this school plane view had prior benchmarks for their plan which they met right in providing that and they made significant progress in mathematics as we've talked to the region but they also recognized they needed to pick up with ELA. I had an unannounced visit to the school and they've done a lot of work with writing as well uh and seen those rubrics with the teachers. So they're on that track. Uh and now it's it's trying to have parity so that both subject areas, you know, students are doing well in both subject areas. But but I want to underscore we will follow applicable law. The
269benchmarks alone will not determine if a school is renewed or not. We'll have to look at that whole picture. And so when they would be up should the board approve it today, we will look at the progress in the benchmarks uh in view of also the the applicable law. Got it. That's a helpful clarification because the the standards that are set by state law for renewal are different than than those that we apply for the benchmarks for example. And I guess the one thing obviously improvement and increases is our goal. I I would just challenge the improvement every single year as that that might be a challenging construct for schools to meet. We know every year you get a new batch of students and for whatever reason sometimes kiddos may come in with greater struggles
270or greater needs. Um, so that might not always translate to an improvement every single year, but if students are meeting their growth goals, which I think that the school is demonstrating through their I Ready data, they're meeting that that one year or more of growth per year. Um, that's progress. I appreciate the focus on our emergent bilingual students. I would also say that every year construct again becomes challenging because as students uh successfully reclassify they then exit our English learner um student group cohort and there you know you often see like a strong year and then maybe a drop the subsequent year. So, it might just be something for us to study and think about um whether what are the what are the right types of benchmarks that really push for that improvement and where
271we want to see schools for renewal um but are maybe not setting up unrealistic expectations in terms of every single year we're seeing that same sort of trajectory. Yeah, and that's a good point. And I will add though when we do the renewal we do look at the entire term and how they met the benchmark or didn't meet the benchmark and it's reviewed on an annual basis part of oversight conversations and such. So it's looked at the entire duration of the charter term how they did on their benchmarks. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. That's all for me board president. Um, just a question. It's not on on this item, but just overall on all the charter uh renewals, the affiliated charter, just for and I'll ask you this. I've asked you this before, so
272I'll ask you again. Uh just for the public's understanding, can you walk us through the process and criteria used to determine six-year renewal and fiveyear renewal uh for any charter and how academic operational financial performance factors into that decision for six year and for fiveyear for um high performing or middle performing just walk us through that if you don't mind. Thank you Dr. Rivas. So the law does not clarify a necessary a criteria for uh six or seven years for a high performing school. So, as you said, a high performing school can get a five, six or sevenyear term. But we did develop a consideration um sheet. And so, things that we look at is how they met high performing criteria. So, there's two ways. You can either get uh across the board in all
273indicators a blue and a green. That's high performing criterion one. or you can get high performing criterion too where you're looking at your uh overall schoolwide and student groups being higher than the state. So as part of what we developed then for a six-year term where those would be schools that met the high performing criteria two in order to get to a seven-year renewal where we were looking at a high performing criterion one. So that means blue green across the board. In addition to that, we look at um their overall oversight record. We look at any notices or tier interventions um to make sure that they haven't received any of those in the last year. We also look at any potent in benchmarks and make sure they met the majority of their benchmarks. And then
274we look at make sure there's no issues in equity and access and and school culture. So that's the overall criteria that considerations that we've set in order to look at recommending a six or sevenyear term. This is consistent for all independent and affiliated use consistently. This is consistent for all affiliated and independent and it's available on our website too. Okay, great. Thank you. I just want to clarify. Anyone else? Okay, Mr. McClean. believe we have one member of the public who is here to give us some public comment and it is Mr. David Tokoski. Come on up. You have two minutes to speak. Mr. Tokoski to tab 31 Plane View Academy Academic Charter Academy. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this item. Um and very good questions on data and uh the law
275is the law on the 567. It's it's in statute. um public hearing and you have one person or two people speak out of 10 million people, the board ought to develop some policy for posting for public hearings so that at a school the parents and the community know just like when we take houses or for school for imminent domain. We blanket the neighborhood and we let the neighborhood know that there's an issue coming up. Just like when there's liquor licenses, we blanket a neighborhood and let them know. You are not letting the public know in a clear way that there's public hearing. Just like Williams, to hear the UTLA officer today say that there are um uh loads of positions that are unfilled in the district is either inaccurate, okay, and nobody said it's inaccurate,
276or they ought to pick up a Williams compliance piece of paper that should be posted in every school and fill it out. Affiliated charters, I support the one that's before you with benchmarks. Palisades um Marquez Elementary is an affiliated and Palisades Elementary is an affiliated and you're downgrading the size of those schools. Let me tell you, eight private schools have been burnt down. That's nearly 5,000 students in the marketplace in that neighborhood who are paying lots of money to private schools. If we really had a strategic enrollment team, they'd be out there talking to families in those schools. Uh, and meanwhile at Palisades High, we're probably uh not thinking about there's no girls softball te uh field. That's a title n complaint. There's no performance venue. There's no auditorium in which to do things. Those
277things ought to be built if under leadership we could get FEMA and the insurance to take care of it. Remember, all schools were obtained at one time over the last 100 years as public land in the greatest common good with the least private injury. you must think about play, arts, community things that could be in all these lands. And finally, the information you received on CYBA hi CYBHI um was BS. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Uh that concludes public comment and discussion of tab 31. We'll now take a vote. It's already been moved and seconded. Uh Miss Newil, yes. Dr. Rivas, yes. Mr. Melvin, yes. Miss Grigo. Gomez, yes. Miss Ortiz Franklin, yes. Board President, yes. And student member Cortez Lopez, yes. Okay, we will come back to Miss Grigo for a couple
278of votes. Um, uh, board member new bill on tab 10. I don't I didn't record a vote for you. I think you'd stepped out for a moment. May I record your vote? Yeah. Yes. No on K. So for um board member new bill, that's uh no on K, yes on the balance to use Miss Gonz's phrase. And um board member Greg, I I need to collect your votes on tabs 15, 16, and 17. Yes. So that's a yes on 15. Yes. And a yes on 16. Yes. and a yes on 17. Yes. Okay. Give me a moment to review action. Okay, that concludes all the business for action and now we're going to move into public comment. A whopping 17 minutes early than we had anticipated. I do have folks online. I do think I
279see a few folks in the room. Uh, we'll take the folks online first since I know for sure they are there. Um, let's see. Jamila, I see you're on the line. Jamila, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Jamila, hello. Can you hear me? We sure can. Please go ahead. Give me one second. Sorry. Good morning. My good afternoon. My name is Jamala Fenta and I'm a student at the leadership and public service virtual academy and a resident of B member new builds district. I first chose virtual learning to help care for my grandparents to face serious tough challenges. Being close to school means everything to me allows me to support them while still focusing on my school. Virtual learning made that bond possible. But
280this year that balance has started to fall apart. Many of our teachers who still teach entirely and have been forced to report to to physical campuses and I see that create a whole new set of problems. One of the major problems is a lack of privacy. As someone with an IEP, I know that I have been forced to be con confidential and private due to federal law. Because of shared spaces, multiple teachers can hear IP meetings as well as students and others in classrooms. This is a major issue. which is a potential legal issue for USD and do not feel comfortable during my meetings and I know other students feel the same. Imagine that you had another meeting right next to you in this very room and distracting. Would that feel would that make you
281feel comfortable? Would that help you focus? The answer is probably not. Let's also talk about the environment. Bo member new barrel my representative. You have spoken about quote green efforts by LSD on the LD website. This policy unnecessary land leads to more calls on the road pollution. I accept the le lucan services policy frustring strong for me gave me a comfort and a safe place. It bought my home life with my learning. Please don't take that with me. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Let's see. We have uh Lupita Varela on the line. Lupita, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Lupita, can you can you guys hear me? Yeah. I would just suggest you speak slowly and as succinctly as you can into
282your device because we're It sounds a little bit muffled. Sounds a little bit muffled. Okay. Hello everyone. My name is Lupita Vela. I'm a senior at the leadership and public service virtual academy and a resident of board Franklin board member Franklin's district. This year LD decided to send virtual teachers on campus just to teach entirely remotely. LA USD is making many teachers drive over an hour every day to school in LA traffic just to have to drive back home in some more traffic. LA USD has been very vocal about their stance on climate change. February 8, 2022, the school board approved the transforming teaching of climate change. Board member Kelly Gonz You stated, "As a former science teacher, I recognize the urgency of action on climate change and the need to ensure our students are
283educated about this threat and empowered to take immediate action." Board member Ortiz Franklin, you said, "I'm proud to support today's resolution to integrate the teaching of climate change in our district to reflect the urgency of this global issue. If this is true, let's look at some statistics. The school year consists of 180 days. Let's imagine that a teacher drives to school every day for those 180 days with a non-EV car. That's roughly 60 pounds of carbon dioxide produced each hour they drive. This teacher drives 2 hours each day to and from work. That's now 180 lb each day. 180 lbs has turned into 900 a week. In a year, that is 32,400 lb from just one vehicle. You heard that right, 32,400 pounds of carbon dioxide being produced from one vehicle, just because L USD
284decided to force remote educators to teach on an in-person campus entirely remotely. This is only adding onto the already extreme global climate change problem. When you multiply 32,400 by 300, how much do you get? 9,720,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. These are astounding numbers. Board members Goness Franklin Newell Dr. Rivas Zoe Grego and Lopez I am urging you to rethink this policy. Give virtual teachers the option to work from home. We can be smarter. We can be kinder. We can do better for teachers, for our environment, and for students like me. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. Okay, so I'll call on the folks who are listed as in person. Um Gela Perez, are you here? come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. She's fast. Thank you.
285My name is Grisella Perez and I'm a proud of member of United Parents of for Educational Justice and our partnership for Los Angeles. Parent of three sons. One graduated from Roosevelt and actually attending Cal LA. Another one is still ninth grade for Roosevelt and my third one is in sixth grade in Holland Middle School. I want to start by recognizing your hard work during these tough budget times. From declining enrollment to less state funding, we appreciate Superintendent Corvalo efforts to avoid layoffs and plan for a year focus on finding efficiencies with equity in mind. As partners, we're asking for your help for real community input. We need transparency. Please release the LCAP and draft 2025 2026 budget for next Tuesday, June 10. These three days are not enough for families and community groups to review,
286understand, and meaningfully engage with feedback in time for the June 17 hearing. We need clarity on what will be up for a vote and want to make sure we provide helpful feedback from students and families. Most importantly, we urge to protect equity, don't make the deepest cuts where the needs is greatest. Senny is a lifeline for our highest need schools. Taking away funding and school level decision making threatens the real progress we have made. Every school is different. Principles must have the flexibility to meet the students needs. Equity isn't a nice to have. It's a necessity. If we fail to act now, it will take years to recover. Please consider excluding heightened schools from these changes and protecting the resources that help students succeed. Let's keep our most vulnerable students front and center as we
287move forward with transparency and a strong commitment to equity. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. Sandra Roachcha, you have two minutes to speak once you begin. Hello. Good afternoon, members of the board. My name is Sandra Roachcha and I am the parent coordinator at Aspire Titan Academy. Aspire public schools are such an important part of my life. I was part of the first graduating class of Aspire Oolen and I am proud to say that I now work at Aspire Titan Elementary. um to serve in the community that has helped me shame it, shape me into the person I am today. I am here today to share some of the amazing things our school is doing to support our students. At Aspire Titan, we place a strong emphasis on social emotional learning. We
288equip our students with tools and strategies to help them recognize and express and manage their emotions. We have a check-in checkout program at Titan where we give individualized attention to some students where we discuss how they are feeling and set a personal or or academic goal which really sets the tone for them throughout the day. Additionally, every classroom has a safe space set up where students have the choice to go to when they need a break. Our school recently had a kindness campaign and a peer mentor program where all students were paired up with a buddy from a class to discuss topics such as self-awareness and problem solving. The students engaged in several activities like problem-solving wheels and an affirmation quilt that can be found in our hallways. We are constantly connecting with our families
289across different mediums. Whether it is on Instagram or a school messaging platform, our families are always up toates up to date with school events and important information they would need to know about. We frequently communicate with families about local community events such as free food drives and community cleanups. Families are also encouraged to get resources on our family wall in the lobby where we provide directions to our nearest mental health centers and immigration resources. This is just a fraction of the things we do at Titan. We really pride ourselves in serving our community the best we can and finding new innovative ways to do so. We invite you to come visit our campus and experience firsthand all the great things we do every day. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for your
290time. Ma Tjo. Feel like Mao might be here somewhere. Approximately. All right, then let's go to Marcavius. I see you. Please come up. Come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. And then after Marchavius will be Takur Singh who I think I also saw in here. Hello, my name is Mark Quavius. Mark Quavians. A lot of people kind of get that confused. Um I'm from Memphis, Tennessee, but I was a teacher here um in LA. And um the kids, the black kids specifically, they really need the resources and they really need people to protect them in certain ways that is really important for their future. Like I grew up in Memphis. The Memphis education system has its problems, but I've never seen anything like Los Angeles. And um I wasn't planning
291on speaking today, but as a former educator and as someone who is very passionate about getting students what they need, specifically black students, um I just had to use this time to advocate for them. So injustice here is injustice anywhere, like in Memphis where I'm from. And thank you for listening to me, but um we need to continue to fund these students, specifically black students. Thank you. All right. Thank you for your time. Hello, my name is Lel White. I'm an L USD alum. And it seems like for years, you know, students, myself included, alum and current students have been coming and urging the board to continue to protect black students. And as the second largest school district in this nation, you guys have a responsibility to lead the way and set examples. Um, you
292guys have a lot a lot a lot of influence across the country. Um BAP never existed anywhere until here in LA USD. Now there's a BAP in Long Beach. Um thankfully that I did have BAP and I do have folks like Joseph and other staff like MA that you know supported me and you know I'm a firstg college student and I made it by the grace of God. But I know that there's so many of my peers that the system is set up for them to fail and you guys are enacting those same policies and you guys must protect black students, undocumented students and queer students especially under this current administration. um when when it all comes down to the end, we will be on the right side of history and y'all won't. So, I
293urge you guys to do better. Thank you for your time. Uh Takur Singh and then Ma Tjo. I think I saw Mr. Trey walk in question. Um, is the order set in terms of which because um I was wondering if M Dr. Gamage can go before me or is it a set order? Uh, well, we'll go with in the interest of time, I apologize. We'll go with you and then in the future perhaps you can reach out to my office if you're interested in the specific order. Okay. Thank you. All right. Good afternoon. I am Fakur Singh. I'm a member of the superintendent student advisory committee, a resident of your district, board member Artis Franklin, and a student from the leadership and public service virtual academy. This year, over 300 virtual academy teachers were suddenly
294required to report to physical campuses to continue teaching entirely remotely. While I applaud LD's commitments to sustainability in the future of our planet, it has moved remote teachers to in-person campuses, many of which are far away from their homes, which contradicts these goals. Instead of being placed on campuses near their homes, teachers have been placed indiscriminately. Many have been forced into extensive daily commutes as high as four hours in a single day, adding to traffic pollution and burnout. There are also the learning issues. Teachers have been placed into shared rooms. As students, we often hear other teachers in the background. Teachers are provided headphones, but some refuse to wear them because it may cause pain or discomfort. How can my teachers be the best possible for students like me in this complex environment? We're also
295actively conducting a survey for teachers. We're still gathering responses, but so far 100% have indicated that they have some form of distraction in their workplace. That that includes burglaries. 100% have also indicated issues with workspace quality such as poor ventilation, bathroom issues, and yes, that includes rodents and rodent droppings. We have the data to prove this. Going back to the environment, this policy, which is totally unnecessary because these are remote teachers still teaching remotely on in-person campuses, has led to more hours in traffic and more pollution. Here's a quote from LUT's website. The Los Angeles Unified School District is committed to becoming the most sustainable and environmentally friendly large urban school district in the country. Board member Ortiz Franklin, my representative, who often appears on Zoom at these meetings. On your website, you state, and
296I quote, "I urge Los Angeles County to develop and commit to a more proactive, urgent, and equitable approach to climate change. How is it sustainable and equitable to hurt students who are learning virtually, primarily due to health reasons, bullying, homelessness, a lack of transportation like me, or other reasons, and who come primarily from marginalized communities? How does that make sense? How does that support the environment? And most importantly, how does that support us as students? We ask that you change this policy." Thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. Uh, Ma Tjo, uh, Mr. Mr. Treyo is yielding his time to another speaker. Thank you. Please go ahead. Good evening members of the board. My name is Crystal Corona. I'm a junior at Deora High School and I'm here once again to talk
297about the crucial movement that has been gaining momentum in our schools, the students deserve movement. As a community, we need to recognize that our students deserve more than what is just considered the bare minimum. We students deserve the time and effort that goes above and beyond into our education. We deserve to feel more than safe, supported, and inclusive in learning environments that prioritize our well-beings and success. We need to stop investing in school police departments that target and harm black, undocumented, and LGBTQ students. Instead, we should invest in community-based safety initiatives that prioritize student well-being. Our school should provide wraparound services, including mental health support, academic counseling, and extracurricular activities to support the holistic development of our students. We are asking for our students to be heard, especially those who feel targeted. I am asking
298you to ensure that their concerns and ideas are heard and valued. As educators and community leaders, it is essential that you prioritize the needs and voices of my peers. By working together, we can create more than just an equitable education system that supports and the success of all students. As a student, I know that access to joyful spaces and physical activity helps us thrive. That is why we need to make sure that every school has a safe inclusive environments for all students to play and grow. As we prepare the budget for this upcoming year, we need to see investments in expanding BSAP dream centers and support services for LGBTQ plus students. This will help us towards a future where every student receives a safe and supportive environment. Thank you very much. Thank you for your
299time. All right. Is Cheryl Kono here? Cheryl K. Channing Martinez. I think I saw Mr. Martinez. Come on up. You have two minutes to speak. Why don't you begin? So, Channing Martinez, uh, Strategy Center Police BAP. Uh, glad to be finally speaking in public comment. It's so competitive to sign up for public comment. I've missed the last four months because I've missed the cut off by a few seconds. It is as hard to sign up to public comment as it is uh to get into Harvard quite honestly, which is kind of amazing. Um and uh speaking about Harvard, I just think, you know, it's time to talk about them compared to LUSD. This district based on the Harvard case last year, the year before, I can't remember. uh moved to remove race from the Black
300Student Achievement Program based on a federal ruling. And now here we are uh years later, I mean a year later or so, and here's the Trump administration uh you know, promising to bring down fights on every major city, including the next the second biggest uh school district in the country. And board members are thinking that somehow the biggest second biggest school district is going to fly under the radar. I have to be honest. I've told that to major federal foundation heads and they're like, "What? That's ridiculous." They're not going to fly under the radar. You're the second biggest district in the country. And if under a Democratic uh administration, you're willing to give up race as a key determinant, then I I'm worried about what LUSD's response is going to be when the Trump administration
301comes to Los Angeles. to give you a comparison by numbers which I think is really hard to face is it is in my opinion a little shameful that it takes Harvard who you know they have problems they are a little bit anti-lack but they are standing up against Trump whereas LUSD a whole year in advance a whole year in advance of Trump already said that they're going to give up black students rights what does that mean when the whole district represents more black students than all of the black students that are enrolled in Harvard Harvard and you're willing to give it up, right? We're asking you to spend $100 million on BAP to protect immigrant students and to really, really, really not just say statements about LGBTQ students, but actually stand for their rights. Thank
302you for your time. All right. Uh Carolina Gamage, are you here? Come on up. You have two minutes to speak. Why don't you begin? Hello. Thank you for having me today. I'm Karolina Gamage. I am the validictorian for the virtual leadership and public services virtual academy. I been in this academy since the very beginning when they transferred from city of angels and um as a student who has made their entire life around school and education and dedicated their time to be able to give themselves up for their future and I've been trying to manipulate the system where what I've noticed as a student who has parents who are disabled and can't be in the risk of exposure of in-person school that LUSD is not supporting properly virtualmies as they should. This also was to me
303supported when they forced over 300 of our educators in person into cubicles that are not comfortable for them. they are in very poor environments which is harming us as students and it's really complicated for us to perform into our best ability the same way as students across the LUSD would be in person. So we are asking you here today to please consider taking what is best for students and looking at the choices that are possible to improve the education for us as virtual students in as well as the students that are in person. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Uh Dr. Jason Gamage. Dr. Gamage come on up. You have two minutes to speak. Why don't you begin? Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Jason Gamage. I'm head of cyber security over at Long
304Beach Unified School District. Um, and I'd like to talk about uh my daughter's experience um in the virtualmies. Um, as she just came up, she's the validictorian in her class. Um, she's graduating with a 4.9 GPA and she had absolutely zero help with guidance counselors for getting into college. Absolutely zero help. And I don't understand why. more so um when she did have college classes, she was assigned to Santa Monica Community College, which I guess you stopped supporting. So, what happened was is I was told um when she tried to sign up for classes for the final summer to be able to get her transfer degree for psychology in a an AA transfer degree, her principal didn't sign off on it. In fact, she declined it when she was asked to sign off on it.
305I even called in and talked to, you know, people everywhere about this to get it fixed before the close date was. But did she not? She didn't sign on it. she actually rejected it. So, she was unable to sign up for any Santa Monica community classes based on that from that point on. So, no further classes. This entire year, she couldn't take another class because of that one signature. Why that happened, I don't really understand, except for one thing. The entire time that my daughter's been in virtual academy, it feels like I've been explaining what she needs. It seems like when she joined it, it was a remedial program and it wasn't designed for exceptional students. They created somemies for exceptional students, but things like AP classes. I mean, when she started, she was an
306honoral student who didn't get her honoral classes. In fact, she had to come back later to be able to take the honors classes one month before December on her on her freshman year. She then they also gave her one year of of honors geology. That one month she completed the entire year during that time because of a mistake that was made. This entire time has been, you know, lots of mistakes getting classes, you know, assigned to her for AP classes. I had to fight to get AP classes to be able to even get them into the program. I had to call, I had to write letters, I had to argue about this. Things that are really bother me are retention with the teachers. There's been a lot of turnover with teachers. And a lot of
307that has to do with what these kids are up here talking about, which is you ask teachers to come in and work in locations that are, you know, they're abysmal to be honest, you know, for some of the things. They're, you know, cockroaches in the classrooms are pretty pretty bad. So I I just want you to think about that. You know, if you're going to continue with virtualmies, I think they're valuable. I think that they know my daughter's proven that they're valuable for the district, but you do need to put some more support for them. And you definitely need to look at teachers because retention is important. Thank you for your time. Teachers. All right. Joseph Williams, are you here? Joseph Williams. And then Alexis Hill. Trepidation. Mr. Mr. Williams, you want to come up
308and speak? Please come on down, sir. We have a whole a whole room of people waiting. I deleted it. Um, good afternoon. My name is Leo Seron. I'm an 11th grader at Migo Contas and I'll do Students Deserve. I'm here today even though it's finals week and I am incredibly busy like a student all across the district. I'm here today to demand that LUZ uh board protects black undocumented LGBTQ plus students across the district. Nearly 60% of all uh of students in the LA County have at least one immigrant parent and hate incidents targeting Latino uh communities rose by 19% just last year. Undocumented students deserve to feel safe, supported, and empowered in their schools free from fear. Uh that's why we're demanding full funding for dream centers and the expansion of these safe spaces
309throughout the USD. They must be prioritized. Uh we're also calling for deeper investments the the black student achievement plan. BAP is working uh uh black eduation rates have continued to rise in AP enrollment among black students up 11%. This isn't just a program. It's a path to equity and justice that must be fully funded. And for LGBTQ plus students, the data is clear. Nearly 60% report being bullied or mistreated at school. But when students have access to protective supports like an inclusive curriculum and affirming staff, the risk of self harm drops significantly. That's not a statistic. That's a lifeline. This is a critical moment as LE finalizes next year budget. We demand that black, undocumented, and LGBTQ plus students be protected. We know that the district has the money to show it really cares. We
310must build a budget that puts the needs of students front and center. Thank you for your time. Alexis Hill, are you here? Alexis Hill. Alexis Hill. No. Uh Maria Daisy Ortiz, I see you here. Come on down. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. Miss Ortiz 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 can get you our translation headsets. So, if you'd like to experience simal translation, put your hands up and we will get you the headsets. Once you put them on, they're automatically activated and on the correct channel. Okay. Gracias. Good afternoon to all. My name is Maria De Ortiz and I want to corroborate with what the previous speaker said. Uh it is true for
311public comment you you reduce the time because it is true you expanded to 20 because but 20 is 40 and now it was 15 for 3 minutes it was 45. Therefore you reduced it. If you don't know how to do math, well, I want to clarify this for you. Now, to expand public comment, for it to be more accessible, you should have 25 for 225 instead of 50, right? And this would show that you are open to listen to public comments. And I would like to talk about the resolution that Miss Reva placed to compliment or to better. And I've been a person who loves to work with students and I've had the opportunity to work with students to know them more. And for me, these are people is they're imminent. And this sports is
312something so important to every student and sports should exist for every to for everyone and it's not the practice in middle or high school because they come and they invite students and this is where I don't agree because they these practices need to better they come and they haven't practiced and many of these students never been in a league they've never been in a team for many reasons parents don't have time there are reasons right therefore it is not correct for them to come and for them to choose the best students. This damages a students self-esteem. We should have sports with different levels for beginners for the people who know and for comp for for competitions. I would like for these practice practices to better in reality with everything that's happening with the emotional these
313are helpful and along with arts and I want to tell you that art is not just painting there are musical arts and in some schools musical arts doesn't exist like how to play piano violin guitar different instruments in which many of the time this is why enrollment is so low because they look for schools where they can they can accomplish their dreams. Good afternoon. Okay, Khalila, are you here? Kala, I don't have her online. I do have people calling in. Um, let's see. Gypsy Ayala Vasquez, please come on up. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. Thank you. Um, first of all, I'd like to say thank you so much to Superintendent Carvalo for um, being so transparent and authentic and sharing your migration story um, on online platform. I really appreciated that.
314Gracias Matley. Good afternoon, members of the LD board um, of directors. My name is Gypsy Vasquez Aayala and I'm a third generation chana born and raised in Boille Heights and I proudly serve as the manager of advocacy and engagement for Aspire Public Schools the Los Angeles region. I'm here today to share an important initiative that reflects our collective commitment to the safety, dignity, and empowerment of our students, families, and communities. Over the past several months, our team launched a series of know your rights presentations designed to equip families, students, and community members with up-to-date factual information about their rights, especially during times of uncertainty. In partnership with our executive director, Dr. Chris Carr, we developed two versions of the training, one for families and one for staff. These trainings included current policy updates, practical scenarios,
315and a rob a robust list of resources and supports ensuring that both our employees and families could feel confident, prepared, and protected. From the start, Dr. Ken, Dr. Carr and I knew that this work couldn't be and shouldn't stay within the walls of Aspire. We made it a priority to share the presentation deck and all accompanying materials with the broader charter and district school community. I personally distributed these resources to several educational organizations and explicitly encouraged them to adapt, revise, and make it their own. This information belongs to the community and it is crucial to its survival and well-being. I want to take a moment to give a special call out to board members Carla and Tanya. We are proud to have Aspire Schools located in district five and seven and deeply value your leadership
316and partnership in serving our students and families. Finally, I warmly invite you to our next know your rights training on June 11th. The flyer gives the information and we would be honored to have your presence. Gracias. Thank you for your time. All right, Gina Zulika. Gina Z, are you here? Gina Dina Z. All right. And then we have Cheryl Kono. You're on the line. Cheryl Kono, please press star six to unmute yourself. And you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Cheryl Kono. Hello. Hi. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes, you can hear me. Okay. Um, I would like to give my time up to Emanuel and Elena. I'm going to connect them right now. Okay. Can you hear Emanuel? Say hello. Hi, I'm Emanuel. Can you hear him? Hello. Yes, but please speak
317up is and we'll we'll add a little bit of time to the timer and and thank you because we're on our way to the meeting but we're not there yet. So go ahead please Emanuel and then Elena. Okay, my name is Emmanuel and I am a senior at Narbon High School and also student reserve. I'm not going to be at the meeting at this moment, but I would like to say that um on behalf of the VA program at high school, I think that it's really fundamental to black students um opportunities to advance their educational welfare. I think that education is so important, especially for LD, which is um the first or second largest school district in the nation. So that's really um impactful to see that BAP programs around all school campuses are currently
318getting defunded. So I feel like it's just important to recognize that black students um are really really really impacted by the opportunities that are at certain schools. So if there's a school that offers less opportunities for black kids in another school that gives black kids more opportunities, black students are most likely well they'll be driven to that other school instead of um the specific school in question. So, I think that making all schools um accessible and resources and and equitable um and resources and academic engaging opportunities for black students, I think it'll help them um Hello, my name is Elena. My PSW is important to me because it provides the support that is needed when a crisis is in action. I I feel supported to listen to by my PSW and some of them I
319could always go to when I go through something. Some of who I go to support. They always help me with my past struggles and they'll be there to help and guide me to get better. They make me feel sense of comfortable talking to them. She helps me put my name in my emotions to help me better understand. She has helped me by giving me ways to talk about challenges and manage stress. She helps build love and faith. I've learned positive ways to express myself through my PSW. In my PSW group counseling, I learned everyone's got your back. PSW counsel helped me in every way. The PSW counseling allow me to see the loss of my peers and to see the see more than the surface. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you for
320your time. Uh to the folks calling in, the the connection wasn't great. We couldn't quite hear We couldn't quite hear what you were saying. It sounded like there was a a bad connection. Okay, so we have Cammy Laria, Cammy L on the line. Please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Cammy Lami Laia, I see you're on the line with us. Please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak. Hello. Hi, my name is Cammy Lauria. Um, I am a school-based PSW and um I work at two smaller elementary schools in region South. During a meeting of the school safety and climate committee on March 27th, um L USD operation said that the top three student mental health and wellness service
321goals presented in response to the need for more PSWs were promotion of social emotional learning among all school personnel, the expansion of collaboration with community- based organizations and resources and the subcontracting and outsourcing of outside mental health services. So this respect this response does not directly address the question posed by operations department administrator which was what is being done to increase the number of PSWs. This is a question that many other asked during public public comments and have po been posed in school community members are highly concerned. We would like our top priority to be expanding PSWs with central district funding for PSW positions. one PSW for every school. Right now, we are able to cover one PSW for all schools with over 600 students, and we're very grateful for that. But I can speak
322for my small elementary schools. We are suffering. Um, every year the funding goes down. Students and families who depend on PSWs ask myself and the administrators, will our PSW remain on campus? year to year. This is always an an ify question and the students really depend on the PSW. I know firsthand how my role positively impacts students, family, staff, and the overall school culture. This leads to enhanced mental health and increased attendance, grades, behavior, and graduations rates. Again, our top priority should be one PSW per school. Thank you. And that concludes general public comment. I am the last people. So the meeting we've all all the business has been conducted. I believe you had an adjourning motion. We have a uh a certificate. Ah yes, a certificate for the student board member. Um, never forget
323you. I'm just so proud to have Annelli as our student board rep coming to all the meetings working with all the students in the district. We are just so proud of you and I congratulate you. Have a wonderful wonderful career after LUSD. [Applause] Okay. Do you want to say a few things to the board members? Oh, okay. Okay. So, I I'll go first and just say that it has been just a joy and such an honor to have you um just like all of our schoolboard members, but I'm talking about you right now. um honor to have you and you have been very dedicated, very outspoken, very eloquent in how you have um expressed yourself on on behalf of your peers and I'm going to miss you. We had an opportunity to get to know
324each other and I shared my experience as a college student a long time ago and just so so glad that you're going to be going to UC Berkeley. ego bears and um studying political science just like me and I just see myself reflected in you and um just you know words can can really express how deeply deeply I care and just so proud of you and I'm sure just your parents are as well and just want to say to all of the LUSD students that you have been very well represented by Miss Anelli Cortez Lopez here on the days and look forward to um just having you back and sharing with us your experiences and know that this will always be a place of your home for you and just excited and just proud of
325you. Okay. Well, Nelly, this has been a great time because it's your first, my first, but I just want to say that in Echo, you have really been just an example um for your peers. you articulate yourself and just express deep um thought into everything that you bring to the board on and representing your peers from the schools and I am grateful to be able to have experienced that here with you and look forward to what you're going to do um and bring back to this district. As I often say, this district is a district of legacy and your legacy will continue on and I just appreciate you. Um, and when you go off and come back and share your stories to those around, I know you will continue to inspire many. Uh, so thank
326you for your deep heart thoughts, your deep heart um, intellect on many, many topics and continue to uh, lift up and pay forward in all that you do. So, thank you so much for gracing us here on the deis and being a part of the voice for our community in LUSD. Thank you, Mr. Melvoyne. Thank you. Um, it's been such a pleasure and privilege to serve with you on the board. You know, as I was thinking, we're all is the season of graduations and we're all thinking about what we're going to say to graduating classes. And I was with this class, with your class in particular, what you all have been through with pandemics and strikes and unrest and climate change and like the the salience and just the brilliance of your generation. I've been
327thinking like really you all should be giving us the graduation addresses. And um then I thought about the opportunity and the privilege has been to serve with you because every month we have the opportunity actually to have just that which is to have your voice. um and your wisdom and your thoughtfulness. And like my colleague said, you're such a capable representative, not just for the students of LA Unified, our our greatest constituency, but for all of us. Um and we've learned a lot from you and we've appreciated your advocacy and as you've passed the torch to the next generation. Uh you know, your your successor is lucky to have your guidance. Um I hope as my colleague said that you won't be a stranger that you'll come back. It's nice to see some former LA
328Unified student board members who end up here and it was fun to honor them all a few months ago. Um, but I think, you know, and I'm sure my colleagues and the superintendent join me in in thinking in this job and in this political climate, we're asked a lot like how do you stay optimistic and how do you stay positive? And it's because we get to spend our weeks with young people who are not just the uh future, but in like a week or shorter, you'll be the present uh when you graduate. and the present is bright because of your um brilliance uh and look forward to voting for you someday, Annalie. So, don't let us down. Thank you, Mr. Meloy. Mr. Superintendent. So, Annalie, you're not only an inspiring human being, um accomplished at
329a very young age, but with boundless promise. Um, you know, we are in the middle of graduation season. I'll tell you what I what I'll be saying to a lot of individuals. You know, the world you're going to inherit post high school is not a perfect one. And the solutions that my generation and generations prior failed to bring uh to our collective existence are the solutions that now are on your plate to devise, to create. um your poise, your intellectual capacity, but also your courage and your compassion are truly admirable. Um, I was very impressed from day one when you gave your sort of acceptance speech and you reflected on your family, your heritage, your culture and uh when someone leads with that and continues to lean on that just not just for the benefit
330of your family but no doubt for the benefit of those who can identify with your journey. You're you're watching you're witnessing someone who is true to themselves, who is following a basic core of decency with well-defined values and principles that will serve you well in your life. Good luck, even though luck is not something you need at Berkeley. Good luck navigating the political times we're all living through, but that you don't need as well. You have the right amount of courage. And thank you for just being an inspiration to us all, particularly an inspiration to many that I've seen you interact with, whether it was the superintendents, student advisory council, leadership groups. You're always there and you're always there in a present way for everyone. Have great time at Berkeley, but not too much of
331a great time. And then come back. Come back and teach us all a little something. Thank you. I'm going to have uh Mr. McClean, board secretariat. Yes, you know this lady. Go ahead. Normally I would decline, but he's one of my seven bosses, so I can't. Um I my high school experience is no barometer of success to be measured against. So when I see a student in the boardroom, let alone at the deis, I'm so impressed because it takes a lot to add that to to the load uh the emotional, the physical, the intellectual load that students have to bear dayto day. And to be here doing what you're doing is quite impressive. Um, and you know, I know that there's a lot of grim talk about the future of LA, the future of LA
332County, the future of our country, but when people come into the boardroom and do what you're doing and are not yet out of high school, I mean, we're going to be okay. So, like I I really I really appreciate um the student I don't I really appreciate the student board member participation even though I try and play it real cool. Like I don't want to be a part of the thing. I is a neutral, you know, but I think it's I think it's pretty amazing. So, um, also, uh, go Bears. I was a very late entrant to college and I will throw the Go Bears in there and that's a it's a great place to go. So, thank you. Thank you, Miss Gurgo. Yeah. Um, Anel, one of my favorite parts of our board is
333you. It's the fact that you always enlightened us with the experiences of our students, the stories that you brought about their needs and um how we all always need to keep that in mind. And you modeled vulnerability as courage and strength. You shared so much of your story. Um truly you were my favorite part, my favorite voice here because you spoke to to so many of our most vulnerable students. You always always went back to that. So, thank you so much. I'm so happy for you that um you're graduating and you're moving on to a university and I know you're going to do great things and I'm not worried about the future because of people like you and the other youth who show up here after school to come and demand things from us. So,
334I'm not worried because I know you guys have this. I know that you will continue to hold humanity accountable to the highest standards. So, I appreciate you so much. I'm very happy for you. I want you to have all the fun that you can at Cal. I don't want you to hold back. All right. Yes. Go all out. Enjoy it. All right. And I am also going to say go Bears. Take care. Miss Goness. I'll start with the Go Bears. Um, but Anelli, I didn't realize this was your last meeting and I feel like I'm not emotionally ready to say goodbye to you just yet, but um, you have just stepped up within seconds of joining the board. um you so seamlessly took on this role so beautifully and I feel I'm glad that board
335member Grigo said it because I've I feel like you were also my favorite on the board and and that when you joined us you just lifted the caliber of the discussions at the deis um and you are brilliant and you are bold and brave and that's what I've really taken from you I feel like particularly at this moment where as you have so eloquently stated our our students, our school communities um are under attack, are feeling trauma and fear. You are exactly the type of voice that our students needed at this time. I can think of no one who has done who would have advocated and represented them better than you. Um and you have done so authentically and with intention to ensure that the voices that we don't always hear from are the ones
336that you are centering. And so I'm just so grateful that you that you took the time to be with us during an incredibly hectic senior year. I'm so happy for you. you're going to do amazing things and if you run into any issues at Cal I know I did um please don't hesitate to reach out um but you're going to do amazing things and I'm just grateful to know you. Thank you, Miss Gomeon. Um, Anelia, the greatest thing I can say about you is that I feel that you are one of the board members just like us. And when you come to this meeting, I know you're prepared. You know what to say. You've read the materials and you're a regular board member just like these adults sitting here. So, I'm very, very proud of
337you and I thank you very much. Want to say a few words before we end? I asked. We tried. We tried. Go ahead. All right. Well, I am just without words for the amount of support I've had throughout this entire term and the privilege I have to represent the students of LUSD and highlight the most vulnerable populations within our district. It's not a position that's easy. And I talk with the next incoming board member, Jura Yang, about the importance of staying grounded in what you do. And yes, you do go to events and you have special placards like this one right here, but at the end of the day, you're representing again the sec school, the nation's second largest school district. And I'm just so thankful that I always say my background is a blessing,
338not a barrier. I come from a title one school in in region south. I don't have the traditional pre-ol experience. I attended college prep programs like many of my peers. And there is still so much work to be done that I feel so blessed to have been here and have experienced this, especially with the current federal administration that's constantly trying to undermine the accomplishments and the work of the students that are in LUC. lowincome immigrants, LGBTQ, undocumented, and I would like to say this is just the start of a beginning. And no matter what, I know that our communities will come together and the work of a student board member is not done. And I hope that in the near future, we can all connect again and continue working towards change in our communities because
339our most vulnerable populations are currently under attack. And it's vital that we continue to come together as community, not with fear, but with hope, with resilience, and that one day we can all come together and continue finding solutions to the world's most heartbreaking problems. And again, just my gratitude to everyone here and to every single student in every single student who voted for me or didn't vote for me when the current elections were going out. the majority of students who did. I thank you for trusting me with this position and for allowing me to represent you the best way I possibly could. Thank you, Anelli. Thank you so much. Thank you. So, before uh before we finish up, we have to get a vote from Miss Grigo. I need one vote from Miss Grigo on
340tab 31, approval of the renewal petition for Plane View Academic Charter Academy. Yes. All right. Thank you. And I just want to do a very brief uh adjourning motion for Mr. Bill Lambert. And Mr. Lambert was a proud alumnest of Fairfax High School. Began his career in 1955. As a teacher at Monte Elementary School and later continued educating students at Canterbury Elementary School and following his early experience as a teacher, Bill continued his ongoing educational advocacy. The most important thing of his advocacy was he was one of the founders of UTLA. He was an elementary teacher and he served as the president and secondary probationary teachers association, one of the many predecessors organizations that eventually led to UTLA. So we thank Mr. Lambert very much. Thank you everybody. Thank you. And unless there's any objection,
341uh, the meeting would adjourn, but also perhaps it might be a good moment to take a photo with the outgoing student board member. So, are there objections to the meeting adjourning? No, there are none. The time is 4:07 p.m. Thank you, everyone.