001[Music] Good morning. Welcome. The time is now 10:03 a.m. on May 14th, 2025. Welcome to the regular meeting of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, including closed session items. I'm going to take role. Miss Newell, Dr. Rivas present. Here, Miss Grigo here, Miss Gomez here, Miss Ortiz Franklin. And board president present. Okay, we have a quorum. I'm going to read the p the purpose and authority of the reason the meeting is happening today. Then we'll go into general public comment and following general public comment the meeting will recess into close session. Under tab one student discipline matters pursuant to education code 48918 CF. Tab two personnel under government code section 54957. Uh there will be public employee discipline dismissal and release and public employment. Under public employment, the following will be uh
002looked at. Director of Facilities Maintenance and Operations, Chief Procurement Officer, Chief of Transitional Programs, Chief of Police, Deputy Director of Facil Facilities Program Support Services, Senior Director, Office of the Deputy Superintendent, Business Services and Operations, Chief Eco Sustainability Officer, Three Regional Superintendent, Deputy General Counsel, Chief Information Officer, Director of Transportation, Senior Administrator, Enterprise Applications, Executive Officer of the Board of Education, Chief Executive to the General Counsel, General Counsel, Deputy Chief Facility ities executive, chief human resources officer in the chief facilities executive. Also, superintendent evaluation will occur under tab three pending litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9D1. I'm going to read the names of the cases. If you'd like to see the listing of the cases, please go to our website. if you want to look up the case numbers and look those up in
003turn on the Los Angeles uh superior court website under pending litigation government code section 54956.91 uh there's John do101 vla there's Claudia Rivera vla USD JG a minor um by guardian at lightum Simon G at all va USD uh Q Edge Wilson A Monzan va USD JH VLAU USD Celis Salas Va USD Jane Doe VLAU USD Jane Doe V LUSD Laughman at all v California Department of Education at all. That last um case won't appear on the LA County Superior Court website. It will be on the US District Court of Appeals of the Central District and the 9th Circuit. uh under anticipated litigation, government code section 54956.9D4, two cases of anticipated litigation and under conference with labor negotiators pursuant to government code section 54957.6 the negotiator for the positions that I already read. Um I'm
004sorry, the negotiator for the following employee organizations. Um, Associated Administrators of Los Angeles Teamsters 2010, California School Employees Association, Los Angeles County Building and Construction Trades Council, Los Angeles School Police Association, Los Angeles School Police Management Association, Service Employees International, SEIU, Local 99, Teamsters, United Teachers Los Angeles, and District Represented Employees and Contract Management Personnel. Uh, and then the negotiator is Miss Nevera Reed for the unrepresented employees, which is the exact same list that I have already read. And then also being looked at will be a conversion from senior management contracts to regular classified. And those two positions will be director of capital planning and budgeting and the executive director beyond the bell programs. Okay. Now we go to public comment. So public comment is either item specific or general and germanine to any business
005that the district um conducts. And so first comes item specific comment relative to the tabs that I have just read to you. I'm pulling up the most updated list so I don't waste anybody's time. Okay, there are no speakers to tab one. To tab two, we have seven speakers. Um Juan Jose Mandi, I see you're here in person. Please come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Mr. Mandi is going to speak in Spanish. So, if you'd like to hear what he's saying in English, please put your hands up and we will get you these translation headsets. I'll also note for the record that Miss Newil is here just shortly after the 10:00 hour. Good morning. I came back um being a witness of how is it that what's we don't
006work hard at we make a big deal of and how we come to a festive uh results of how our children are losing our future opportunities and we are allowing political interest and financial interest and we're not doing anything that honestly will impact I was a victim of a group of afroamerican people in South LA. If there was wouldn't have been a camera, then they would have probably stabbed me or killed me. What's going on? There is a problem that's called invers racism, inversion racism, where we are being seen like criminals just because of our colors. Not to say yesterday was whites, now it's we're the opposite. They are seeing us as criminals just because of the way we look. And I want to talk about the superintendent's evaluation. I believe that one of the
007biggest problems is the members. As members, we have the right to claim and tell you where you're doing wrong, but you're being you're confused and you think because it's everyone else, including Mr. Carvalo, you believe that our job is to applaud you so that you can do your work. If you were elected, not you don't just have to comply with the ones who finance your campaign, but also work with the people who honestly are the ones who are benefiting from your decisions, whether they be good or bad, so that we can have success. And I believe that I'm going to say something, Mr. Carbalo you not even you not even the president has been able to say to say that you have a member that has a bad added a bad law is he's a
008dictator and Mr. Blasencia, that's his name. And just by me saying his name, I believe he's gonna he's going to demand me. He's gonna and there's article there's a in article one, he's added clauses clauses to silence parents. There's a dictator and we can't allow that here at the district. Thank you. The rest of the call folks are callin. Maria's here. I see Maria. Okay. So, I'll call the names, but I don't see the folks as actually being here. I just have the P general public comment being listed, but I will read the names nonetheless. Maria Daisy Ortiz. Oh, there you are in the audience. Please come on up, Miss Ortiz, for tab two. Bueno Diaz. Good morning. My name is Maria Dei Ortiz and I am here because of the superintendent's evaluation. And as
009an evaluation, I believe that he's doing things incorrect. first and foremost because he is sending an administrator to use his power and his position to mediate to intimidate and harass and and this is for the areas that are more vulnerable for immigrant parents to say that public comments will be investigated for what? So they ICE can come so that they can be deported. What's happening this me these meetings and any meetings are open to the public according to the green act and besides that we have constitutional rights we are free to express are we in Cuba or Venezuela but this is what people do when they lie they create another lie and they begin to harass and question this is why I ask for disciplinary measures from for the PCS administrator because he's harassing and
010he says that it was order from he's taking orders from the board members. Therefore, you are the ones who gave him these orders so that he can act this way. Are you really afraid or what's going on? Honestly, these things can't happen when these meetings are being financed with public funds. I need to know who gave him or who gave Antonio Placencia the authority so that he can create these declarations without connecting his brain and the laws that have to do with these committees. I ask for changes and measures. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Mr. N. Davis, are you here? Mr. N. Davis, Marcela Garcia, Marcela Garcia, not online either. Karina Lopez. Karina Lopez, listed as speaking remotely, also not online yet. Raquel Diaz, also not online. and Juan Carlos Delgado, are you
011here? Also not online. So that concludes for tab two. Now tab three, conference with legal counsel. We have Mr. David Tokovski listed as being in person. Um I don't see him in the room. Mr. Tokovski, are you here hiding behind a pillar? No, Mr. Tokovski. Uh we'll move along. brings us to general public comment and I can identify that some of those folks are here so we will begin with general public comment Singh please come on down and then after Mr. Singh is Maria Luis Aalma and then Dian so come on down Mr. is saying you have two minutes to speak. Why don't you begin? Hello again. Good afternoon. I am Thakur Singh. I'm a member of the Superintendent Student Advisory Council and a student from the Leadership and Public Service Virtual Academy. This year,
012over 300 virtual academy teachers were suddenly required to report to physical campuses to continue teaching 100% remotely. While I applaud Lust's commitments to sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint, it has moved remote teachers on campus, most 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 4 hours in a single day, adding to traffic, pollution, and burnout. Why add more carbon into our atmosphere? The learning environment has also been affected due to this policy. Teachers at the virtualmies have been placed in shared rooms. As a student, I often hear other classes in the background. This also means a complex and limited space for teachers. How can my teachers
013be the best possible educators for students in such a disruptive, limited, and noisy environment? For students like me, virtual learning has been life-changing. My mom, a single parent, struggled to manage two kids in a job without private transportation. Learning virtually gave me the support I needed and a space to thrive. It enabled me to become one of 10 finalists for student school board member this year, as well as earn several awards, including being one of 16 LD students to win the $20,000 Warren Christopher scholarship in 2024. However, the issues with this policy make it much harder for students to attain this sort of success. If LUSD is truly serious about climate action and student success, give remote teachers the choice between teaching from home or teaching on campus, but at the closest location possible. With
014over a thousand schools within LUSD, this is easily doable. Teachers should not have to spend unnecessary hours away from their families, hours which could also be invested in students like me through extra one-on-one support. Something teachers were formerly able to offer on Zoom but are now unable to due to extensive commutes. Furthermore, LHD has also allowed teachers to alternate which days are on campus as to end the issue with shared spaces and disruptions and also reduce emissions. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. Maria Louisa Palma, come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. And then after Miss Palma, it's Dion again. the public's right to petition the government for redress of grievances. There's a lot of talk here in this very room about students rights to express
015themselves. But do those rights extend to parents or to the public? We have first amendment rights to free speech in the constitution and also in our state's constitution. And the conversation in question that you've heard other parents speaking about this morning happened on May 1st at the parent advisory committee um in the sface the department ironically of student family and community engagement. The director, Antonio Placencia, made a long, long statement where he continued to chastise the public, to warn us, to intimidate us, and tell us specifically that when the public speaks of public comment, he mentioned that statements are directed toward our personnel. And that's a direct quote. So, what does this mean? That the public can't call out the actions of the staff, especially when it's directly related to the committee's functions. He said
016that we have to speak to the issues and the topics. So who's going to decide that? The district officials what's appropriate to speak or not. And he mentioned that those are the same rules of decorum there that you have here at the board. He directly mentioned that. So the question is who ordered that? We were accused of slander. We were told that personal remarks were made against staff that profane remarks were made. He mentioned the word investigate. Parents and the public are going to be investigated. So what is it that we're looking for here? He said, this is a quote, that we needed to act in an environment to uplift one another. So what does that mean? Criticism is not allowed, only agreement. So he threatened us that we would have our microphones paused or
017that we would not be able to be a to speak on the microphone. Don't these threats infringe infringe on our free speech rights? Don't they chill free speech? Was this action authorized? Was it directed by Mr. Carvalo, by members of the board? So, I urge all of you to investigate and create a formal retraction to those statements, a formal apology, or else we will have to conclude that it is under all of your directions that you are trying to chill our free speech rights. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Da Guen. Diana Guen. Okay. Monica Razola, please come on down. Missola is going to speak in Spanish. So if you'd like to hear what you're saying in English, please put your hands up and we'll get you a translation headset. Then after Miss Razola
018is Ekitina Singh. [Music] Good morning. My name is Monica Arasola, mom of two students in the district. Everything that I hear is just junk. what you're doing with the parents trying to shut us up with our free speech. Uh give us our time and and it doesn't work. I will tell you that I we're asking school police to return to the schools. I was seeing yesterday how the young people coming and demanding things. It's incredible to me that parents are being silenced with hands to our mouths. And you know, if they say, "Oh, remove math because it's too stressful for me." Are you going to vote to remove math because we don't want these kids to be stressed and you don't want them to be depressed? It's sad that you're not hearing the parents. It's
019very sad because us parents are the ones that are the parents of the the ones that are underage. what is going to happen when they leave? Who's the responsible one for them? I'm disillusioned honestly with everything that happens in PCS or whatever it's called now fa f as face but I'm very disillusioned but before my time is being over I want to ask you Carla since you support so much the educators in my lome school the teachers don't have parking because we have a charter school that to be honest takes a lot of time for the school because they start at 9 8 in the morning pardon and our students cannot park. The bus arrives with the uh special students which you also support and the bus can't park where they should because those charter
020schools cars don't permit them to much less us parents in LCON. So our kids are late because of that. It's an incredible traffic jam. The teachers want to be able to park. They can't. And it turns out the parents are are parked there too. And it's a terrible situation. I don't have enough time, but I have so much to say about Sing. Come on down. You have two minutes to speak. Once you begin, good morning everyone. My name is Ikitina Sink and I am mother. Oh. Ah, sorry. Good morning everyone. My name is Ikitina Sink and I'm mother of Takur Singh who speak up previously and I have a daughter Tatiana Singh they both students for virtualmies after 2020 uh many families return in person uh assignment but situation for me stay the same my
021both of my children uh doing online education with virtualmies it's very helpful I would like to emphasize that I don't have a car unfortunately I don't drive I was in car accident and I have an anxiety to drive and it's very uh helpful uh for me as a working mother that my kids stay home. I have opportunity to go to work without worrying who going to bring them where and how it's possible to manage. And in addition to that, I was able to combine my work and my education. On this Saturday, I will graduate from Cal State Domingus Hills with my master in public administration program. uh thank you for these opportunities for my kids be able to study virtually and for me doing my uh things but in this year something changed uh when
022virtual teacher were reassigned to be back to school I feel that it's a little bit unfair why it's unfair can you imagine they driving more than one hour some of the teachers they they driving more than one hour just to be in this common room uh this seeing uh several teachers in the same room create uh obstacles. I can hear I was coming uh inside the room giving food for my uh for my kids kids at one of the days and I can hear how other teachers explain to another class which uh another educational materials and I feel that it's it's create distraction uh loss of concentration and especially for me as a person with an anxiety it will be hard to concentrate. So what I want to ask please uh be helpful to the
023teacher and let them stay home because it's online school virtual academy. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye. Thank you. Okay. Tatiana Singh, are you out there? Come on up. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Tatiana Singh. Okay. Decline. All right. Looks like the rest of the folks are remote. I'll call uh on their names and then they will unmute themselves. So, I have a concerned parent. Concerned parent, please press star six to unmute yourself and you have two minutes to speak. Concerned parent. Good morning board members. Per IDA, IEP team members may be excused from IEP meeting for two reasons. One, if the area of curriculum or related service is not being discussed or modified and two, if the area is being discussed or modified, but the parent and IEP
024team agreed to excuse the member. I want to focus on the second. General education teachers, particularly in secondary schools, often ask to be excused in part of um in part or entirely from the meeting. most of the time with the excuse that they feel that they need to go back to to their class and teach. It appears that teachers don't feel that their attendance is necessary. The law doesn't state that as uh that as an an appropriate excusable reason to be excused from the meeting. Parents often feel obligated to excuse members because they are made to feel guilty if they don't agree to excuse teachers or related service providers. I am speaking out of ignorance, but is the district bargaining parents rights away as well? Please investigate and inform school sites via memorandum about following
025special education federal law. As contract negotiations continue, the public needs to be informed how you are bargaining our children's education, safety, and parents rights away. I kindly ask that you publicize this information so that parents are able to provide input on contract negotiations. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Paulie K, I see you're online. Paulie K, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Paulie K. Good morning. My name is Paul and I'm a senior at the Business and Entrepreneurship Virtual Academy. I appreciate the opportunity to speak in front of you today about an issue that has directly impacted the students, teachers, and staff at the virtual academy. Since the implementation of a policy requiring teachers and staff to report to an inperson site each
026day, our learning environment has been negatively affected. In previous years, teachers were successfully working from home. And since all of our instruction continues to take place online over Zoom, I've not seen any benefit as a student in having teachers commute in person to a school site only to teach over Zoom from a classroom shared with another teacher. Even though our teachers were promised good internet connection to have their own room and to be able to teach as any other teacher, the shared classroom settings they must be in has created background noise and audio overlap as multiple teachers are sometimes simultaneously hosting Zoom meetings in the same space. This makes it difficult for both students and teachers to focus and be present without interruptions. Please imagine that a second board meeting was happening right now in
027this very room just a few feet away. You would likely hear overlapping voices, bits of different conversations, and it would be hard to concentrate, harder to speak confidently, and frustrating to stay engaged. This is especially difficult for students with learning challenges who may find it even harder to stay focused when another teacher or staff member is speaking at the same time in the same room in the same Zoom meeting. Furthermore, during weekly ROA check-in meetings where students are encouraged to discuss academic goals or personal concerns, it can feel difficult to speak freely knowing teachers might be in a shared room, even if no one is intentionally listening. The idea that others might overhear can make students too uncomfortable and prevent them from opening up and receiving the support they need. Additionally, please think about how
028much money you could have saved just on overhead expenses. And all of this money could have been used to benefit students in virtualmies. Also, LA USD is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% across its portfolio. And allowing virtual academy teachers and staff to work from home again would help move the district closer to achieving this goal by reducing commuting related emissions. Please reconsider the current policy and allow teachers and staff at the virtual academy the option to work from home just as they did successfully before. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you for your time. Okay, Jamila Ibrahim Fua. Jamila, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Jamaa, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to
029speak. Hi, can you hear me? Yeah, we sure can. Please go ahead. Okay, thank you. Good morning. My name is Jim. I'm a student of the leadership and public service academy. I first showed social to self support my grandparents to help. Being closer means everything to me allows me to support my focus on my education. Culture school made that possible. But this year things have changed. Many of our remote teachers have been moved on to campuses. Even though the student seems entirely aligned causing issues with students across choosing noise echoes over following PA there also is for teachers at the on-site location that makes them focus. is not to conquer the challenges that he used to have and which teachers feelings that I was doing distressing on site evol. I often have to figure things
030out on my own which takes up more time and so I can't be away from my grandparents family as I was before to return to but work teachers should have the option to work from home or work from campus to work in person should be they should have rotating on campus day to work and make it easier to focus and if needs to stay full most of all should be allowed to let help me balance my education you my responsibilities please don't please don't make that balance impossible thank Thank you. Thank you for your time. Okay, Alex Halo. Alex Halo, I see you're on the line. Please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once again. Can you hear me? We can. Please go ahead. Okay. Good morning, board
031members. My name is Mr. Halo. We can't hear you. We heard you begin, but maybe. Okay. Can you hear me now? Yeah. Yeah, we can. Thank you. I'm sorry. Oh my god. No need to apologize. My name is My name is Alex Halo and I'm a senior of the leadership and public service virtual academy. When I first started due to COVID, it was a struggle for me. But I found amazing teachers all throughout my three years who supported me. Their passion for teaching and their years of commitment made me a better student. My grades improved. I found a lifetime friends and rose above my anxieties. Gratefully, the virtualmies became a safe haven for me during times of uncertainty. You take the success when you pass policies which are counterintuitive to the students. Forcing teachers to
032drive multiple hours to schools to sit in cubicles and go on a computer for remote work makes zero sense. going against your environmental goals and most importantly hurts students by limiting support time. All my peers see the struggle teachers go through yet they stayed for us because they saw our potential. Meanwhile, L USD is hurting us. You are the LU USD board. You should be doing a better job at taking care of your teachers. The teachers are amazing when they're not suppressed by unnecessary requests. This way, our education and this district may better improve. If you really cared about your students across all virtualmies, you'd also care about the teachers who do it with a passion and have suffered under these policies. You work for us. We Angelenos pay you through taxes and we as
033students ask that this policy be reversed. Have a good day and thank you. Thank you for your time. Okay. Uh let's see. Briana Hernandez, I see you're on the line. Briana Hernandez, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Briana Hernandez. Good morning. Can you hear me? Yeah, we can. Please go ahead. Okay. My name is Brianna Hernandez and I'm a sophomore at the Leadership and Public Service Virtual Academy. I chose virtual learning after experiencing intense bullying at my previous school. It was affecting my mental health and my ability to learn. When I went virtual, I finally felt safe. I could focus. I could breathe. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I belonged. But lately, that day of space has been
034changing. This year, many of our teachers were moved to physical campuses. Even though they're still teaching online, it might not seem like a big deal, but it's had serious consequences. Background noise, shared classrooms, announcements for fire drills, and distractions made it hard to concentrate. In fact, yesterday my teacher had a fire alarm that made her leave our Zoom. This happens often. Some days it feels like chaos. And it takes me back. It takes me right back to the stress I worked so hard to escape. Worse, teachers are exhausted. They're spending hours commuting, hours which could be spent on me and other students. They no longer have time to run clubs that help us with friendships and community. The one-on-one support we used to get has also become rare. And for many of my friends, that
035extra support was the difference between giving up and pushing forward. If LUND really wants to support students, it needs to protect the programs that work. Give teachers the option of working from home. And if they decide to stay in person, don't make them spend unnecessary hours in traffic. And this pretending this policy isn't hurting us. It is. Virtual learning saved my education and myself. Please don't take that away. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Okay. Uh uh Kristoff Christopher, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Christopher. Uh hello. Can you hear me? We sure can. Please go ahead. Okay. 3 2 1. Let's go. Hello. My name is Christopher Selores and I am a sophomore at the leadership and public service virtual academy. I
036chose virtual learning because it offered a better fit on h on for how I learned best. At the time, I was in an unstable place with myself even now, and the virtual academy gave me consistency, support, and the chance to grow without the daily challenges that come with an in-person school. However, this year, things have changed, and not for the better, I must say. Hundreds of virtual teachers were reassigned to physical campuses, even though they're still teaching online. Now, some of them have to commute up to hours each day, and that is not sustainable. It's exhausting, wastes valuable time, and adds pollution and puts more drivers at risk on the road. In fact, several teachers have been in accidents, including in an accident in which one of their cars flipped entirely upside down during their
037unnecessary long drive since this policy was enacted. Students feel the effects, too. Many teachers are now in a shared room. This makes it common to hear other classrooms in the background, which is distracting for me and everyone. Even worse, it raises privacy concerns. Our private discussions with our teachers might be overheard. That doesn't feel like a safe or focused environment to learn in. Also, many mandatory events such as fire drills disturbs our learning time by teachers by not being able to help us with any concerns or with one-on-one tutoring, which is not available anymore since the driving of schools. There are there are better solutions. Teachers should have the option to choose between working remotely or on campus, but as as close as a location to their home as possible. And if you're thinking, well,
038they have to they have to be together. No, they don't. Many teachers already work at locations outside of the main welcome centers, including two just teachers at a single high school. There should be a rotating onampus schedule to end the daily distractions both we as students and teachers have to face in the classroom. Thank you for your time and goodbye. Thank you for your time. Isabella Telles, I see you're on the line. Isabella Telles, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Isabella, hello. Hi, can you hear me? Sure can. All right. Hi, my name is Isabella Tees and I'm an LC virtual academy student. I live with ADHD and while virtual learning has helped me in many ways, allowing me to work in a calm
039environment, recent changes by LEC have made that a lot harder. This year, over 300 of our virtual academy teachers were moved to physical school campuses even though their teaching is still 100% online. This decision has a big had a big impact on students like me. Many of our teachers are forced speech from shared classrooms where multiple multiple virtual classes happen at the same time. It's loud and it's chaotic. As someone with ADHD, it's incredibly difficult to focus. I find myself struggling to stay engaged while my teacher tries to speak over the noise from the other online classes happening just a few feet away. This isn't what virtual learning is supposed to be. It's not helping students like me, and it's not fair to our teachers either. Some of them are driving long distances just to
040teach in a building that wasn't made for online learning in the first place. This also creates fatigue for teachers. How are they supposed to be good educators when they're being forced to show up at a location far away that they didn't apply to work at? LSD says it values student success and teachers. I'm asking you that you show that you mean it. Please make it so our teachers work at campuses closer to their home. They should not have to drive over an hour to get to work and another hour to get home each day. they will be less tired and will have more energy and time to give to students like me. We all deserve a chance to succeed and that starts with giving our teachers what they need to teach and students what they
041need to learn. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your time. Erinda Marita, I see you're on the line. Please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Erinda Moritainda Morita. Good morning. My name is Alina Morita and everybody here I remind you that the schools have issues that affect all of us and students are the ones that are most vulnerable to fight in any kind of violence. We want officers back in uh school sites. I urge all of you to pay attention and also I ask that you comply with the committee rules and that parents are respected. I understand that LUSD is here to support, to help and guide parents. The committees, the committees are not to be intimidated or be made fun of or
042make people feel less than just for questions that are related to a school. You're here to collaborate and be transparent and treat everyone with respect just like you are treated as well. And we are not going to get tired of advocating for rights. You're not going to silence us. The other day I went to the faith committee on May 5th. LA USD took 30 minutes to fix an issue, a technical issue about the meeting over Zoom. That is those errors always happen and they happen at the last minute. I understand that you are professionals and you have technicians. Half an hour is way too long. That could happen to me, I think, not you. So I ask that you practice what you preach with love, with compassion and respect and that you take into account
043my public comments that I made yesterday about the Williams complaint and the public comments where that I make wherever in LA USD in my school and writing over internet. Thank you. Ryan Olivia Rhodess, I see you're with us online. Please press star six. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Please go ahead. Okay. My name is Ryan Olivia Rhodess and I'm a student at the leadership and public service virtual academy. Um, to start off, I joined the VA after I got really sick with COVID and I had to move with my family. So, just so things wouldn't be overwhelming, my mom enrolled me into the VA. Um, honestly, it was the best thing that could have ever happened because I finally had consistency, support, and space to heal and grow. And I was also
044able to make new friends and connections, especially with my teachers. But now, the same program that helped me is being quietly underminded. This year, many of our teachers were reassigned to physical campuses even though the purpose was to be remote and teach at home. Um, that's led to loud, chaotic classrooms with background noise, echoes, and interruptions like fire alarms and PA announcements. It's not a learning environment. It's a distraction, and it takes away valuable time. Um, also the one-on-one that had been a part of this program was very impactful, especially to me. And I feel as though it is slipping away and teachers are commuting for hours, crammed into shared rooms and stretched thin, and we are also the ones paying for it. So, if L USD wants to claim it supports equity, sustainability, and
045student success, then it's time to act like it. Let teachers work from home. Place them closer to where they live and respect the students who depend on this program to succeed. Don't break something that works. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. Ashley Mareno, I see you're online. Please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Ashley Mareno. Good morning. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Please go ahead. Okay. My name is Ashley Moreno and I'm a senior at the student and chairperson of the schoolside council at the um leadership and public services virtual academy. For me as someone with the health condition, virtual learning was a great option. I was diagnosed with epilepsy at 14 which means I have to be under the
046full moderation of my mother to make sure I do not have any convulsions as I have three types of seizures that may affect my attention spans. In person, I would notice fellow students would record other classmates seizures or any health episodes that would so happen catch our attention. And this honestly made me incredibly uncomfortable. So virtual learning gave me a space to concentrate and learn, but that's changed. Earlier this school year, L USD reassigned our virtual academy teachers to physical campuses despite the fact that their instruction is still entirely online. This decision has created major challenges for both staff and students. Some teachers now spend hours commuting each day just to conduct virtual lessons from a different building. This isn't helping student learning and it's adding strain on teachers, more traffic to our roads, and
047more emissions into the air. It goes directly against LUSD's goals around sustainability and staff well-being. Worse, many of these placements weren't made with the location or practicality in mind. Teachers were sent to campuses far from their own home rather than to a nearby school. This makes burnout more likely and hurts our teachers. For students, the impact is very clear as well. Our teachers are often placed in shared classrooms where multiple virtual lessons happen in the same space. We also often hear fire alarms and announcements that have absolutely nothing to do with our school in the background. It's loud and it's very distracting. It makes it harder for us to stay engaged and focused in the class. There are also common Wi-Fi issues since onampus Wi-Fi for the teachers is very wacky. As a chairperson of
048the SSC at my school, I work with teachers and students very closely and I hear about the issues with this policy regularly. I also see it firsthand as a student. So, I think L USD should give remote teachers the option to work from home or allow them to choose the closest location to their home so they don't have to drive for hours each day. This policy has hurt me. It has hurt my friends and it has hurt thousands of those other teachers. I ask that you put teachers, students like myself and the environment and future. Thank you. Thank you for your time. All right, Sean, are you are you online with us, Sean? Or in the room? I see you're not listed online and you're not in the room. Uh, Miss Lukans, I see you
049are online. Miss Lukans, please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Miss Lukans. Hi, my name is Miss Lukans. First off, a big thank you to student Takura Singh who encouraged us to speak about these virtual academy VA issues today. We hope to be privy to more of his and the other students public service and leadership skills in the future. So I'm a 20year LOC substitute teacher. I've been working with the VA since they began and we're all speaking today because we believe teachers deserve respect and common sense policies. What do we mean by that? Well, recently hundreds of remote educators were reassigned to physical campuses even though we're all still teaching online. Now, some are spending hours commuting just to open their laptop. That's time
050lost. Time that could be spent supporting students. Let's also consider this. Driving longer means more pollution, gas or electricity used, possibly more accidents, and less time, less efficient time utilization. The safety of educators like myself, you, our time, and the planet matter. I support a 30 minute commute limit, although the shorter the better. And I also support a rotating campus schedule because this could allow teachers to share on-site days, reduce crowding, and reduce distractions for students and teachers alike. When I was at home teaching, I would hear those bells going off, but my students would not complain. But it's more than time and the distractions. It's about other conditions. Did you know that some of these classrooms have a press roaming around? Sorry, I've been vegan for over 20 years. I value all life, but
051I can tell you they don't belong in the learning spaces. It's unsanitary. It's unacceptable. And allegedly, Gene Hackman's life partner passed away due to a virus from their excrement. Something you might want to think about. All right, I think that's my time. If you want to support our students, we must support our educators with clean classrooms, smart policies, and respect. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Okay, Lup Lupita Valera, I see you're on the line. Please press star six to unmute yourself and you have two minutes to speak. Good morning. Hi. Do you guys hear me? Yeah, we can. Okay. Good morning. My name is Kita Varela and I'm a senior at the Leadership and Public Service Virtual Academy. I don't know what happened yesterday, but I was registered to call in and was
052not connected. Well, here I am today because this is important to me and my well-being and nothing will stop me from speaking about it. At the start of the school year, LUD assigned virtual academy teachers to report in to inerson school sites even though they're still teaching online. This change has caused real problems that can't be ignored. Some teachers now commute unacceptable hours each day. That that's time lost from helping students like me. That also means more cars on the road, more pollution, and a bigger carbon footprint, which if I'm not wrong, goes directly against the district's climate goals. This is the result of many teachers not being placed near their homes. Many were sent across the city with no consideration for commute times and students feel it too. Teachers are often working from shared
053rooms and it's not uncommon to hear two classes happening at once. There often are also fire drills at the school grounds that many teachers are made to report to including my teacher which takes a significant amount of time away from learning and learning of my peers. Teachers also experience Wi-Fi issues because onampus Wi-Fi is not very good at all which always takes away significant time from our classes. It's distracting. It's confusing and it takes away from the focus we need to succeed. Virtual learning has made a huge difference in my life. I struggled with social anxiety, health issues, and transportation issues in person. Going virtual helped me to thrive and make connections. It offered me the space to grow and reach goals I otherwise would not have been able to. Thanks to virtual learning, I
054have been able to minimize my anxiety and participate in many extracurriculars such as the swim team and academic decathlon. But when policies make it harder for teachers to support me, the opportunity starts to slip away as well as for other students. We can be smarter. We can be kinder. We can do better for our teachers, for our environment, and for students like me. If Luc wants to be consistent with its commitment to student success and sustainability, Roman teachers should be placed at locations closer to their homes, no further than 30 minutes away when factoring traffic. Rotating onampus days could also help ease space and space issues and cut back on emissions. Thank you and have a great day. Thank you for your time. Okay, Dion again, I see you're here now. Come on up. You'll
055have two minutes to speak once you begin. Miss Gin's going to speak in Spanish, so if you'd like to hear what she's saying in English, please put your hands up so we can get you a translation headset. Brazil board. Good morning, members of the board. My name is Diana Guen and I've been president of of par English learners for four years and I represent the pack as a president and as a chairperson and I want to tell Miss Grigo that we've given you two invitations so that you can be part of or you can visit our committee and you haven't been there. Honestly, this is a very small space that we have in collaboration with you all and that for you to neglect or not allow us to invite you and but we're the representative
056of parents and also we've uh received uh threats from Mr. Placencia saying that he's going to cut the mic that he doesn't want parents to speak about the personnel work. Many parents we make complaints of what personnel does and he also he's told us at a last meeting that we can't do that because this is harassment and I'm not sure what else but when they are pointing at a parent just because they come in here and they talk about the problems. Isn't that harassment? Who can I complain to? What office can I complain to? Because that's the office that is causing the bullying. This doesn't exist. Mr. Mr. Cavalo, we've asked you for meetings, but what they tell us is, oh, uh, the person in charge needs to be there. Therefore, the person who needs
057to guide this meeting is Mr. Antonio Placencia because we are we're we are not asking the meeting directly with you all and we know that we have to let the membership know and we let the membership know of the med of the committee and we are letting them know we want to have a meeting with the members of the district and we know that there are many situations in regards to parent involvement that uh we can't take in our committee. Therefore the board members we are the correct p people with the correct information so that we can manage this. I want to know who of you will receive us so that we can talk about important topics for the parents for pack committee because these things are happening and you are assuming that you can't
058hear and as we mentioned Mr. Blancencia if she's still there is because you don't want parent participation and you don't want to follow or allow parents to continue and make a difference in your children's life. If you don't want that then continue allow him to be the your spokesperson. Isabelle Gonzalez, are you here? Isabelle Gonzalez. Good morning. Last time I went to a LCAP meeting, I felt very intimidated. I had fear because of Mr. Antonio Placencia and the parent involvement and student involvement office. Yes. The same office that apparently that they're there to listen to the parents voice. This is the same one that is now taking away our right. Freedom of expression. Why does public comment exist if if it's not to express about the conduct of another employee of LUSD when you are
059not doing what you are being paid for? Because we're paying this with our tax dollars. It is our right to express ourselves and now you want to put a zipper in our mouth. Why? If everything and each and one of you would do this correct thing what we come here to express for the well-being of our students then I wouldn't be here present. It is bad to ask security from our school officers. Is it bad to speak when Mr. Placencia is not giving good results? After giving my comment and before finishing the LCAP meeting, I felt terrorized. I felt I was being intimidated and investigated by this person. Therefore, I ask that you give us a public a a public apology and also Mr. Placenta needs to give us a public apology. We will not
060allow anyone to violate and step all over our first right which is ex expression, freedom of expression. If something was to happen to me in the future or another parent that comes here and talks about the bad work that you're doing is because of all you changing the topic. This this is what they're giving around. This is what they're giving around the schools. And where is the Williams complaint? I also ask for you to give these type of ambulance around so that someone who wants to give a Williams complain and all L USD schools like this one for your time English and in Spanish for your time. Okay, we have two folks who showed up to speak to tab two. We have Marcela Garcia. Please press star six to unmute yourself and you have two
061minutes to speak to tab two. Marcela Garcia, you're on the line with us. Miss Garcia, please press star six to unmute yourself and you have two minutes to speak once you begin. Okay, we'll move on to Raquel Diaz. Raquel Diaz, I see you're on the line. Please press star six to unmute yourself and you'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. Raquel Diaz. Raquel Diaz. Okay, that concludes public comment for all the items. The time is now 10:56. The board is going to recess into close session. Okay, welcome back. The time is now 5:02 p.m. Welcome to the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education regular meeting, including close session items. I have a number of things to report out and then the meeting will adjourn. Actually, first I'll take a quick role.
062Uh, Miss Newell present. Miss Rias present. Mr. Melvin here. Miss Grigo, Miss Komez, Miss Ortiz Franklin, and Mr. present. Okay, that's four. We have a quorum. Under tab one, student discipline, the board of education approved the expulsion of students in case numbers 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90,91 with the recommended dispositions. The vote was six eyes and one absent. Tanya Ortiz Franklin. The board of education denied the conditional enrollment of student in case number 25 and 27 and the board of education approved the conditional enrollment of the student in case number 26 with the recommended dispositions. The vote in both matters was six eyes and one absent. Tanya Ortiz Franklin. Under tab 2 personnel, the board of education authorized the dismissal of three classified employees. Uh the board of education authorized recision of a
063probationary to non-reelection of one certificated employee and the board of education authorized the nonreelection of 29 certificated probationary employees. The vote was six eyes and one absent with Tanya Ortiz Franklin in all three. Let's see. Moving on to tab three conference with legal counsel. The board of education authorized the settlement in the following cases. Uh, John 101 do vla USD. The vote was five eyes, one no Mr. Melvin and one absent, Miss Ortiz Franklin. Uh, Claudia Rivera V Laus JG a minor by and through his guardian at Lightum V LUSD. Uh, the vote was six eyes and one absent in both manners. Uh, Tanya Ortiz Franklin was absent. Uh, William A. Monzen Key va USD. The vote was four eyes, two nos. New new bill in Meloine and what absent Ortiz Franklin JH by and
064through his guardian Ed Lightum va USD the vote was five I's one no Mr. Melvinne and one absent Tanya Ortiz Franklin. Uh in let's see Elia Celis Solace VLAUSD, Jane TD do VLAUSD and Jane Doe Vla USD. The vote with six eyes and one absent and all three Tanya Ortiz Franklin was absent. Terms and conditions of each case will be available upon finalization of the agreements. in uh Laughman at all v. California Department of Ed education at all. Um the board approved settlement. Terms and conditions will be available upon the finalization of the agreement. The vote was six eyes and one absent. And that concludes all that I have to report out. Time is now I'll move to 504. Mr. Melin has moved to adjurnn. Are there any objections? No objections. Okay. Okay. Times 504.
065Thank you. Thank you. [Music]